Daniel & Adrienne #60 - Taken

The base shook subtly, but it was enough to wake Daniel from his slumber. Not that he slept that well anyway, but it was better in the past year or so, much better, for reasons that were laying right there beside him, snoring lightly. Groggily, he opened his eyes, scanning the room before he sat up and carefully unwrapped his arms from around Adrienne, slipping out from under the blanket.  He saw her shiver at the sudden loss of his warmth, scooting back for his embrace, so he grabbed another blanket from the foot of the bed, pulling it over her slowly.  Despite the shaking and his exit, she had not awoken, which was odd as of late. Her pregnancy had completely changed her sleeping habits, she slept for like him, her stillness only proving how exhausted she really was. 

When they came home from the mission last night, drained and frustrated, Adrienne was strangely quiet. Equally as frustrated he had followed her to bed right after they showered, neither of them in the mood to return to the lab and move on to their next ZPM possibility. The desert planet had taken everything out of them, mostly Adrienne who had become dizzy on the walk back, Teal’c insisting on carrying her the rest of the way, much to her protest. Smiling, reassured by her slumber, a rest he knew she needed, he leaned over, kissing her head before tiptoeing over to his desk.  

The room shook again, slightly stronger as Daniel approached the workstation, forcing him to grab the corner to remain upright.  He heard stirring from the bed, much to his chagrin, especially since he knew that she needed more sleep.

“Indy?” Adrienne whispered into the dark, “where ah ya? Waz going on? Why be da room shaking?”  

“I’m not sure,” he answered, noting by her speech she wasn’t fully awake and might possibly be able to return to sleep, “just stay there. I was gonna call down to the gate room and see what’s going on.” 

Snatching the phone from the base, Daniel dialed ‘0’ knowing it would connect him to Walter and hopefully some answers.  

“Gateroom,” his familiar voice greeted, no sign of tension or any problem for that matter and that troubled Daniel more than anything. 

“Walter, it’s Dr. Jackson. What is going on?” he asked wondering why the background was silent; if the base was under attack or otherwise compromised there should be a flurry of activity in the observation deck not Walter’s happy reply.

“Sir?” the man responded confused as the room shook again.  

“You don’t feel that?” Daniel spoke into the receiver irritated holding onto the desk, a flurry of cajun swears from his bed. 

“Feel what sir?” Walter answered honestly yet another tremor rocking the room.  This one, slightly more violent, making Daniel stumble, grabbing the chair to keep standing. Adrienne was grumbling something about ‘un transport’ as the lamp on the desk hit the floor, breaking into a thousand pieces and Daniel swore under his breath, the shaking passing, gripping the phone tightly.

“Walter, I’m standing in a pile of glass right now and you mean to tell me you felt NOTHING!?!?” he demanded, feeling a shard already poking into his bare foot. 

“No sir, not a thing,” Walter responded, confusion in his voice. A cracking sound preceded yet another tremor, the fiercest thus far. Daniel heard a bookshelf fall over behind him, books crashing at his feet, forcing more pieces of glass and ceramic under the arch.

“Daniel?” he heard Adrienne call out from the bed again, not frightened but curious, worrying him further, especially since she was no longer swearing.

“Are you ok?” he asked her, straining to see her in the darkness.  

“I’m fine sir,” the gate operator answered.  

“Not you Walter,”  Daniel clarified, holding the phone away from his ear. 

“Yea sha, I’m fine.  But I think ya need to come ova ‘ere.  RIGH naw,”  There was urgency in her voice, not panic or fear but that tone she got when she had found something big, really big. What in the world was going on??

“Walter, send someone down here to our quarters, and wake Sam,”  Daniel ordered, trusting only his wife’s tone and placing the phone back into the receiver. Hurrying back to her side, Daniel hadn’t taken more than three steps when he room shook again forcing him to lunge forward, tumbling to the floor. There was a grab at his arm in the darkness, pulling him onto the bed, where he landing in her lap, her arms wrapped protectively around him.

“Thanks,” he whispered, steadying himself again when he felt her hands on either side of his head.  

“Look sha” she said in his ear, turning his head to face the back wall.  In blurry vision, he could see a dim blue light, not very well, so he reached over to his nightstand for his glasses, only to discover that there was nothing there.  

“I can’t see, and my glasses are somewhere in this mess.” he told her, removing her hands from his head to kneel and search.

“I told you to wear your contacts,” she replied, pulling back the covers to get up and investigate herself, seeing the light clearly, a thin azure shimmer in their otherwise bare cinderblock wall.

“Fine, just add that to the list of things I should listen to you about,”  he grumbled from the floor, unable to find his glasses. Sighing in frustration, he stood, noting that the shaking had stopped as the hazy glow in front of him intensified. Curious, still no sirens, no sign of anyone coming to their assistance. Daniel stepped forward to make his way carefully to the source of the light, hearing Adrienne stand up behind him. 

“I said to stay there,” he scolded, reaching his hand behind him to hold her back.

“Do I ever listen to you?” she retorted, tossing the rest of the blankets aside, but standing close behind him, her now significantly larger belly pressing against his back. Knowing she wasn’t going to let him go it alone, he grabbed her arm to steady her as the shaking started suddenly, his theory of the shaking leaving with the appearance of the light apparently incorrect. 

“This is why Sam says we’re made for each other, forever stubborn,” was how he answered the question, nevertheless letting her win. Holding onto one another, they stepped through mess and broken pieces to the blue luminescence that lie ahead, the light pulsating with more intensity at each step. The closer they got Daniel felt a change in temperature, realizing that there was warmth coming from the glow, almost as if it was a fire except for that glasses or not he could tell that was not a flame. 

“Ja-wer, do you feel that?”  he asked, stopping, shielding her with his body, his curiosity now being over taken by concern for his wife and unborn child.   

“The heat, yeah, and the light’s flickering can you see it?” she asked back urging him forward.  

“Barely,” he squinted, “stay back Ad, something’s wrong.” 

“It’s jus a ligh cooyon, da east coast’s been gettin’ a lot more quakes lately, it looks like dere’s a crack in da wall...”  

******

Daniel awoke laying in hot sand, the noise of the ocean behind him.  He laid there, feeling the heat of the sun on his body, wondering if Adrienne was going to come back soon from their honeymoon bungalow when he realized that this wasn’t his honeymoon, this wasn’t Argos, remembering the light. 

Panicking, he sat up. 

“Adrienne!?!?”  he shouted, looking left and right, but without his glasses he couldn’t see anything but the glowing blur of the sun in the distance.

“Daniel?!” he heard her voice in front of him and glanced up, seeing her form, in black yoga pants and an orange tank running toward him down large sand dunes.  

“I told you not to go closer to that light,”  he scolded, not really meaning it, just fearful of what had happened and where exactly they were.

“I didn’t....” Adrienne replied, “It was more like pulling me toward it.” Daniel nodding, reaching out for her hand to help him up, confirming that he had felt the same. The moment she had called him a fool, playfully, in cajun like she would, he had felt the pull as well, just too fast to step away or push her to safety.

“I’m going to need your help,” he admitted, “I can’t see a thing.”  Refraining from starting in on the contact lens lecture again, Adrienne grabbed his arm, pulling him to his feet.  

‘Where in the hell are we?” she asked, hoping he had some sort of idea of, well, anything. Daniel squinted his eyes and looked around, trying to find anything familiar in the area, some sign this was a planet that they had visited before, but there was nothing. Shrugging, he peered back at her.  

“I have no idea,” he said, but kept scanning the more immediate surroundings in case he could change that opinion.

“At least it’s warm,” she offered. Frowning, Daniel held his hand over his eyes staring out into the horizon, looking for any sign of inhabitants.  

“We need to find a city, a town, some sign of civilization.  If this was a break in a wormhole or a transporter, there must be some sort of technology that brought us here. I think our first priority is to see if whoever is responsible for that technology can help us,” he said.  Without a word of argument, his thoughts mirroring her own, Adrienne ran her fingers around his and took his hand, leading him to what looked like buildings in the distance. 

*****

Hours later, or at least it seemed like hours to his aching bare feet, the city was still in the distance.  Daniel couldn’t tell whether they weren’t moving or if the lack of his glasses was making the distance distorted.  Adrienne hadn’t said much the entire walk, but he knew her well enough to know that she was starting to worry herself, probably aching as much as he was, if not worse, and a quick peek over his shoulder confirmed this.  Beginning to feel hopeless Daniel stopped, Adrienne peering over at him.  

“We haven’t gotten any closer,” she confirmed. Daniel just nodded, looking around for somewhere to sit, noting Adrienne’s hand holding onto her lower back, pain in her face she couldn’t hide. There was a small flat rock a few steps away, tall enough and large enough to be some sort of a seat where she could relax, so he walked over to it motioning for Adrienne to follow.  Sitting first himself, he reached for her, pulling her in between his legs so he could rub her back before the pain got worse. 

“We need a plan B,” he informed her as he rubbed, squeezing firmly the muscles of her lower back, Adrienne sighing loudly in physical relief and frustration.

“I got nothing sha,” she replied, grunting as she felt the tension being released from her lower spinal column. 

“Better?” he asked, reaching for her shoulder and pulling her close to his body. 

“Yea, and Alex’s is really going wild right now,” she responded, leaning back into him. 

“Nice try, no Alex,” Daniel breathed out, shaking his head, “Well, we can’t sit here all day ja-wer, I’m sorry but you’re going to have to keep walking,” he apologized, squeezing her arm tenderly. 

“Maybe we should stay put? I mean, don’t you think everyone’s gonna start looking for us?” Adrienne asked hopefully but Daniel shook his head slowly, his face no where as confident.

“Even if Sam did send the team or a few people through the hole, portal, whatever the hell that was in our room, it would just strand them here as well with no way back. That is even if the portal is still open,” Daniel concluded.  Turning her body to lean against him, Adrienne closed her eyes lightly, trying to relish in his embrace and the ability to relax for a moment, not wanting to tell her husband how tired she was already, how the newest set of changes in her body were far harder on her then she expected. It could be worse, she was telling herself, at least we’re together. Pushing Adrienne away just for a moment, Daniel sat down on the ground, leaning on the rock this time, reaching out for her again. He knew she was tired, they both had slept maybe two hours before they were interrupted, and even if she wasn’t verbalizing it, Adrienne was in pain. Happy he was listening to her, she crawled back into his arms and he held her, kissing her head.  

“We’ll wait a little longer.  Get some sleep,” he ordered gently, his gaze catching the city in the distance that seemed much further away now than when they started.  

“I’m not tired,” she replied, lying. He knew her, she wanted a chance to try to think their way out of this, but the circles under her eyes were so dark, she looked simply exhausted, that he shook his head in the negative, squeezing her tighter, reaching his hand down to rub her stomach. 

“Just try, little Jack needs his rest. I’ll think of something,” he said, smiling into her hair. 

“Not funny Daniel Anthony, not funny,” she argued, laughing anyway at his suggestion. 

“Sleep Ad,” he repeated, and Adrienne leaned back again into his embrace, closing her eyes. 

Sitting there holding Adrienne made him feel a little better, but the truth of the matter was that he was at a loss. He had no weapons, no tac vest, no backpack with anything he could read over.  He didn’t even have his glasses.  He couldn’t tell if she was really asleep or just pacifying him, but she lay still as he ran his hand down her arm tenderly. He was starting to run the entire sequence of events through his head again when he felt that familiar rumbling once more, under his feet this time and held tight to Adrienne scanning their area, squinting to see if he could ascertain what was happening.  Stirring in his arms, Adrienne sat up, rubbing her eyes, she must have been asleep, he thought, her head now darting from side to side, confused.

“What’s happening now Indy?” she asked weakly, her voice so tired, this wasn’t fair, she needed sleep, but Daniel let her go, holding fast to her arm in an effort to keep her near him and safe.  

“I have no idea, it’s that shaking again,” he answered, helping her to her feet, steadying her clumsy rise, however, no sooner had he made sure his wife was alright did he sense a presence behind him.  

“Daniel...” Adrienne was whispering, evidently sensing it too as he slowly turned to see who had joined them, the sun and his poor vision blinding him.  

“I am pleased that you are here,” a voice said, coming from a black figure that Daniel could not make out.  He felt Adrienne squeeze his arm and proceeded with caution, wondering if she was able to make out something that he could not.  

“I’m not quite sure where here is,” Daniel answered, treading the fine line between politeness to a new people and an expression of frustration for being brought here against his will. The host didn’t move from its spot, no sigh of breath or movement in the light ocean breeze, in fact the figure didn’t make an effort to move out of the sun at all, as if it were trying to conceal it’s identity.  

“That is of no matter. It only matters that you are here and you are ready,” the form replied, thoroughly confusing Daniel.

“Ready for what?” he asked, glancing back at Adrienne to see if she, with contacts in her eyes, could see something he could not, but she shook her head subtly, her initial response presumably more out of fear than knowledge. Daniel looked back at the figure, trying one final time to make out any face of some sort, but to no avail.   

“The trails, the labors,” was the answer, the last word triggering fear inside, maybe he had been with Adrienne too long that he was automatically jumping to that conclusion, but long enough, Daniel starting to stand in protest. 

“I think there’s been some sort of misunderstanding.  I’m just a historian, I study things. I’m not sure what kind of labors you had in mind, but that isn’t exactly my area of expertise.  And, well, I’m not dressed for any such labors,” he said as he stood, feeling a hand on his back as his wife stood to join him. 

“That has been taken into account,” the thing, there was really no other word for it,  answered as the ground shook again.  Daniel felt a change in the air around his body, extreme cold and then a heat, scanning himself in fear and curiosity.  He was wearing a leather loincloth and sandals that wrapped up his legs with nothing else, his chest bare, making him feel very vulnerable. Strangely, he could see as well, but as he reached for his face, he realized that his glasses were not there, he could just see as if he never needed the corrective lenses. Puzzled, he peeked over at Adrienne, who was also in different garb, with similar sandals and a long straight orange dress, a chiton he thought it was called, her pregnant belly pushing the dyed linen forward. She, however, wasn’t empty handed, standing with her eyes wide, holding a large club in her hand.  

“What am I supposed to do? And why? Who are you?” Daniel demanded of the figure, looking back, but it remained deathly still.  

“If you are able to finish your tasks all shall be revealed,” it responded, dissipating into thin air.  Giggling, why was she giggling at a time like this, Adrienne placed her hand softly on his shoulder.  

‘If we get out of this I request that you get to keep that costume for, uh, being close,” she joked, Daniel rolling his eyes, turning to face her, reading between the lines in her request.

“This is exactly what I think it is, isn’t it?” he asked, fearing the worst but wanting the verdict from his live expert on Greece and Rome, and as he suspected, his wife lifted her eyebrows, sighing deeply. 

“Without a little more evidence it’s is difficult to say that I’m a hundred percent sure but,” Adrienne began when she heard a roar, her face furrowing into a frown.  

“Scratch that sha, one hundred percent,” she replied, Daniel shaking his head. 

“I’m assuming that’s my Olive Wood club?” he asked pointing to the weapon in Adrienne’s hand, which she passed over slowly.

“I think that’s a fair assumption,” she said as he took the club, turning to face the lion, a large magnificent beast, it’s fur so golden it seemed to shine in the sun, save for the streaks of black throughout his mane.

“I’m going to die fighting the Nemean Lion,” he stated but Adrienne was unable to determine whether he was joking or serious, “You do know Ad that I CANNOT strangle that thing,” Daniel added as the beast approached him, Adrienne already looking around frantically for something, a rope, a vine, anything to help. 

“On it,” she shouted, climbing a small rise to where it looked like some plants were growing, pausing to face him again, her left arm carefully cradling her stomach. 

“For what it’s worth, you make a sexy Hercules!!” she yelled back with a smile, quickly returning to her task. 

“That’s a nice final thought, my wife likes me to play dress up,” he mumbled, redirecting his attention back at the lion.  

“Alright, let’s pretend for a moment that you can understand me. I’m supposed to kill you. You don’t want to die, do you?” Daniel tried, in true Daniel fashion, reasoning with the beast, who disregarded his words, even if it understood them, taking another step closer. Breathing in, Daniel grasped the club tightly.  

“Ja-wer, where are you?” he shouted without looking, hoping that she had a better plan or at least had taken herself and their son to safety. There was no verbal response at first as the lion took another step closer, when he heard heavy, labored running behind him. 

“Ok, nothing.  But you can do this sha, I’ve got foi in ya. After all, ya lift me up like it’s nothing, Anakin and all, ” Adrienne offered over his shoulder, Daniel glaring at her. 

“Never Anakin, Star Wars is off limits too,” he replied, shaking his head. 

“Dammit Indy, stop arguing kid names with me and just club the freakin thing. It doesn’t look like another solution is gonna present itself any damn time soon,” she retorted as the lion moved even closer to them, seemingly angered by their talking. Rolling his shoulders, cracking his back thinking that descended gifts or not that he was too old for this, Daniel gripped the club tightly, peering back once more at his wife. 

“I love you,” he said over his shoulder quietly, like he was saying goodbye.  

“Yeah, yeah, just whack it,” Adrienne pushed him forward, “Imma nah gonna let you die.”   

Summoning up all of his strength, knowing there was no way out of this and he had to protect Adrienne and the baby,  Daniel took a brave step forward and as if shocked into action, the lion charged, large flaxen paws pounding the sand. In a split second the creature was upon him, and Daniel swung the club, missing completely and lunging forward, struggling to keep himself upright. The lion’s tail brushed his leg so he turned quickly, knowing a cat would attack from behind, fearful of how close the animal might be. He worried momentarily about Adrienne, but the lion was clearly focused on him entirely, as he turned, backing away like a bull taunting a matador. It swat a him, toying with him, seeing him as no real threat, and he stepped back, trying not to fall, losing his footing in the sandals.  

“Back of the head Indy, at the base of the neck!!” she directed, trying to point at what seemed to be a weakness in the large animal, one that might now not have the best control over it’s own body. Listening to her instructions,  Daniel scanned the animal frantically, trying to find a way to reach the suggested point of contact, looking back up at Adrienne for a split second while the beast circled him.  

“How am I supposed to get it to move where I need it?” he asked, beginning to circle the beast as well, crouching over, club held out in front of him. Huffing, Adrienne scanned the immediate area again, spying some rocks on the beach that looked like they had been washed up on the shore, racing over to the pile. 

“Heya!” she shouted at the lion, throwing a rock that landed at its feet, swearing under her breath at her poor aim. The lion ignored her, of course, she couldn’t hit the side of a house. 

“Pretend it’s a knife Ad ya coo yon,” she scolded, “why in the hell I can’t complete simple damn tasks is beyond me.” Pulling back her arm, she grabbed another and tried again, chucking the rock at the animal, hitting it square in the head. Swinging its head around, the lion turned to face Adrienne, roaring. 

“Sha there is no way in ‘ell Imma gonna be able to do dat again!” Adrienne cautioned, Daniel taking his chance, bringing the club around his head and swinging, wincing as he did, slamming it into the neck of the animal.  Instead of bringing it down, however, the lion just reared its head back at Daniel, swatting at him, forcing him to stagger back.  

“Ad, I am NOT a greek hero, this is NOT going to work!” Daniel shouted, trying to ward off the lion’s advance with the club, poking it out in front,  but that didn’t seem to deter it very much. Holding her belly with one hand, wincing in pain, a pain that was worrying Daniel,  Adrienne cocked her arm back, throwing another rock, a large one this time, not making contact with creature, but it stopped nonetheless, looking back at her.  

“Hit it again!” she shouted, but Daniel was already on it, slamming the lion in the head with the club once more and this time, the beast faltered slightly, kneeling to the ground.  

“Again sha!” Adrienne screamed excitedly as Daniel pulled up the club up over his head, hesitating, looking back up at her.  

“I don’t want to kill it Ad!” he said, shaking his head while Adrienne threw her hands up shaking her head.  

“I don’t either, but if you don’t it is going to EAT us Daniel!!” she yelled back, pointing at the lion who was crawling to his feet, shaking his head, angry. Closing his eyes, Daniel willed himself to do it, to bring their attacker down, pulling the club into the air as the animal began to approach him once more.  He slammed the club into the large yellow neck and the animal went down, heavier this time, hurt, out cold, possibly dead, he wasn’t sure. Drained, both emotionally and physically, Daniel dropped the club onto the sand, glancing up at Adrienne, who was running towards him.  

“I don’t know who in the hell thinks this is entertaining, but I’m not going to strangle this thing,” he said, directing his fury into the distance, now seeing the animal breathing “I’m not gonna KILL it! Do you hear me!!” Out of breath herself, Adrienne finally reached him, stepping her way around the beast and was about to speak when a wax tablet appeared at her feet.  Confused, she made a face, bending slowly to pick it up, standing, holding her abdomen as she read over the lines, a simple message in carved Greek lettering. 

“It says that you’ve completed the first of the twelve labors and you will now get your reward,” Adrienne explained, handing Daniel the tablet so he could read it himself.  

“A reward, I don’t want a reward! I want to go home!” he shouted at the top of his lungs feeling the change in the air around him, the cold and the heat again. The lion disappeared and in it’s place was its skin, cleaned, processed and made into a cloak, a cloak that Adrienne looked down at, disgusted.  

“That we shall not save,” she stated, “gross not sexy.”  Daniel looked at her rolling his eyes.  

“Can you stop talking like Vala?” he asked, bending to pick up the cape, deciding to take it in case rejecting was not an option if they wanted to get of this situation. 

“I use humor so I don’t flip the fuck out sha, you know that.  You do realize if whoever the hell is having fun with us is going to make you perform all twelves labors, that this was the easy one,” she said, showing for the first time real fear in her voice as Daniel nodded.  

“I know the stories, just not as well as you ja-wer.  The Hydra’s next right?” he asked, Adrienne sighing with a nod.  

“Yep, you get to slice and I get to torch,” she replied, holding her belly, “which is gonna be oh so much fun with Obi-Wan here.”

“I said no Star Wars,” Daniel replied, throwing the cloak over his shoulders, “Let’s get moving, I’d like to get this all over with,” he grabbed her hand, holding it fast, beginning to walk toward a city that somehow he knew they would never reach. 

*****

Time passed again, and as Daniel expected, they were no closer to their salvation, however, strangely enough the beach eventually gave way to a swamp area, overgrown with large exotic plants and surrounded by mushy ground.  Ahead lay a huge lake, gigantic trees overhanging it, their vine-like branches tickling the mucky water underneath. A motion in the lake forced Daniel to halt his advance, and he put out his right arm, stopping Adrienne.  

“We need fire, right” he asked, running the myth through his head, starting to step back, “fire and a sword. Why didn’t I get a sword?” Daniel started to look around, remembering, wondering what liberties his captors were going to take with this myth to prove their point when there was a rumble again, Adrienne tapping Daniel on the shoulder. 

“Here’s your sword my Grecian God,” she joked, Daniel making a face at her title. 

“It shouldn’t be funny Indy, I’m sorry, but you as a Greek hero, it’s just a nice little fantasy I’ve had,” she said sheepishly, his eyes widening in surprise. 

“Really?” he asked and Adrienne nodded.  

“Really,” she answered, blushing, Daniel finally laughing as he started walking back toward a small cluster of plants.  That might be fun if we ever get out of this, he thought, eyeing the fauna at his feet. 

“Let’s try and start a fire because it looks like we aren’t getting a torch,” he replied, leaning down to start collecting any bits of dry wood.  He grabbed a few pieces, his mind not at all on the task it should be, instead eyeing his wife, pregnant or not in that orange dress. Pausing, he looked back at Adrienne.  

“Really?” he asked again, a small part of him inappropriately tempted.  

“Focus Daniel,” Adrienne replied, lifting her chiton to kneel beside him, piling the brush into a stack.  The task of collecting the wood taken on by his partner in crime, Daniel grabbed some sticks and began to try to rub two drier sticks together in an effort to ignite a spark. It looked like he was getting some smoke, slow grey tendrils drifting up from the point of friction, so Adrienne leaned in, blowing on the smoldering lightly. There was more smoke, Adrienne reaching for some dry leaves to catch, continuing to blow lightly again, watching the small fire catch.  She took the flame to their pile of brush and the fire grew, Daniel sitting back on his knees peering over at her.  Sensing his gaze, Adrienne looked over, puzzled by the grin on his face. 

“What?” she asked him. Smiling brighter, Daniel just leaned over, kissing her softly on the lips.  

“We just do everything well together, that’s all.  Ready to tackle the Hydra?” he asked, Adrienne steps ahead of him. Reaching to a pile beside her calf, she wrapped some sticks together with vine, quickly constructing a make shirt torch, wrapping and stuffing the end with any dried plant life she could find. Chewing her lip as she worked, he watched her construct the item with ease, making a note to ask her how exactly she knew how to do this, but before he could even praise her, the end was flaming and ready.  

“Let’s do this Indy,” Adrienne declared, standing, taking her warrior’s stance despite how silly she looked doing so pregnant. Grabbing his sword, he joined her, leading her to the edge of the lake, but there was nothing, the ripple from earlier gone. 

“While I’m glad whoever is doing this has missed some of the details of the myth, like the poison air, they did forget the bow and arrow so you can summon the beast,” Adrienne stated, scanning her surroundings, expecting the quakes and radical temperature changes to begin once more but nothing happened.  

“Don’t worry; I don’t think they’ll let us wait for long,” he assured her, “I’m starting to think this isn’t just some elaborate ploy to kill us.”

Hoping he was right, Adrienne looking up at the torch, concerned that her flames would extinguish before she had a chance to seal any neck wounds, when the water finally began to bubble, foam, move as something sizable approached the surface, its shadow so large the lake seemed to disappear in the darkness.

“Here we go,” she said, holding the torch in front of her body. 

“Do you think they’ll care if we cheat?” he joked, trying to hide his apprehension as the first dragon like head broke the surface of the water. 

“Cheat how?” she inquired, peering over at him confused. 

“Kinda thinking karate girl should do the cutting,” he replied, not meaning it, there was no way he would let either his wife or child go near that thing any more than she already had to. 

“They’re testing ya mon amour, not me and in case ya forgot, I’m crazy big over here with YOUR son,” she answered, placing her free hand on his shoulder, squeezing, her contact giving him the assurance he needed. 

Taking a deep breath, Daniel looked ahead as the rest of monster arouse slowly from it’s prison. Unclasping the cloak at his neck, Daniel did something he never thought he’d do. 

Half naked, without anyone to back him up other than his pregnant wife, Daniel Jackson charged the mythical beast. 

Surprisingly, this task turned out to be relatively simple, with the person or person’s responsible leaving out certain important things about the Hydra, namely the poisonous breath and blood.  Daniel was also surprised how easy it was to actually cut through the head of the beast, but Adrienne was just happy that he wasn’t trying to reason with the creature or come up with an excuse as to why they shouldn’t kill it.  She loved him, she did, but even as hippie like as Adrienne was herself she would do what she had to do to survive and protect her family.  Watching in sheer amazement, and completely impressed, Adrienne stood dumbfounded as Daniel cut off the last head, the monster’s body dropping down onto the shore.  

“Indy!” Adrienne shouted out, rushing to cauterize the final wound. 

“Yea,” he answered, wiping sweat from his brow. 

“You’re DEFINITELY keeping that outfit,” she teased, applying torch to skin, the putrid smell of it making her heave a little and the child inside of her wriggling in disapproval. 

“I know little guy, we’re trying to get you out of here,” she assured him, extinguishing the flame in the moist swamp mud, her dark eyes looking to her husband, “you get to keep the sword, it’s kinda like the reward for the second task, go dip it in the blood.” Nodding, Daniel let her lead, walking over to take the blade and rub it carefully in what blood hadn’t sunk into the depths of the swamps, the air around him cooling then warming, the body of the beast replaced by a down evergreen tree at his feet. 

“Hind or Boar next?” he stood, turning to ask Adrienne, who was holding the lion skin cloak on her hands. 

“In order, Hind, but both are running and capture tasks, maybe they’ll combine them?” she offered hopefully, Daniel looking at her in annoyance. 

“Running task? I think they’ve picked the wrong Jackson,” he offered, reattaching the cloak to his back, searching for a place to sheath his sword. 

“Well, don’t expect this Jackson to do any running. I’m still mastering walking with this,” she reminded, holding her hands at her stomach. She was exactly right, there was no way in the world either of them would be able to catch an oversized angry pig much less a stag like creature blessed by the gods when the air around them cooled and heated, Daniel feeling tightness at his feet, gazing down at them confused. 

“Hermes,” Adrienne uttered, racing to him, falling to her knees clumsily, “the gift of Hermes,” she explained, confirmed what Daniel thought as he noticed his sandals from before had been replaced with a smaller pair, one that did not go up his legs as before, but stopped at the ankles, two flapping golden wings affixed to each side. 

“I don’t remember Hermes in this at all, wasn’t it Artemis? And much later?” Daniel asked, Adrienne standing and shaking her head.  

“They don’t know the myths,” she started, smiling, her eyes doing that thing they did when she got in her zone, her arms already matching their frantic action. 

“They’re not anyone that would know the myth, they are using me, using my brain my knowledge to fuel this, taking just enough to test whatever they are trying to test, not enough to kill us and not enough to harm the baby. Hercules was able to withstand the poison air in the Hydra’s swamp because he was half divine, but as we approached my first thought was how it would affect the baby, and the gas wasn’t there. When you said I should be the one completing the next two tasks my first thought was with the wing of Hermes you could, but it was a damn shame that it was the wrong myth and poof, sandals.  You’re right, they’re not trying to kill us and they’re following my lead,” Adrienne explained, excited. 

“Wait, so if they’re taking your cue, do you feel it’s possible to confuse them, mislead them on the labors?” Daniel inquired, but Adrienne shook her head. 

“No, I don’t think so. They know there are twelve and I’ve already run all twelve through my head, sorry sha, you know how I am, but I think they will let us alter slightly. When I thought of Hermes I was specifically recalling how Hercules chased the hind for a full year and that would not only not be possible, but I would go into labor and you would abandon the quest, sorry, selfish I know, but it was almost as if they agreed,” she said, sadly, regretting not thinking of this before. 

“This is still good, then we need you a step ahead, I need you to think a task ahead and what will make it doable for two geeks,” he requested, turning to a shuffle behind him. 

“Speak for yourself sha, one geek, this geek can kick ass,” Adrienne started, as a large silver stag with solid gold antlers leapt out of the surrounding forest, “get to running Indy, I’ll move on to the pig.” 

Deciding his best option was not to argue, Daniel dashed after the hind, hoping his wife was correct. 

******

Which she was, of course she was, Daniel vowing that he really needed to heed Jack’s advice when it came to listening to one’s wife. The moment he wrapped his arms around the neck of the stag, not even tired thanks to the sandals, the world gave way to the rumbling and temperature fluctuations, the animal disappearing, himself being transported back to Adrienne’s side instantly. She started to caution, her mouth opening to give him an overview of the myth and her bright idea when the boar appeared baring it’s teeth at the both of them. 

“I don’t see Chiron, so just snow?” Daniel clarified, holding his sword in front of him, adjusting his uncomfortable feet in the third gift. 

“Yes, but we’re still in a forest, this planet doesn’t seem to have snow and I’ve been thinking of it, I’m not totally sure if they know what it is,” she answered, hurrying to join him. Examining the area, she seemed to be right, unless of course the boar would give chase, leading them into a more mountainous terrain.  

“Demeter,” Daniel spoke up, glancing over at Adrienne, “she had a torch or something, she’s the goddess of seasons, think about her.” 

“Indy, I tried, it didn’t work, that’s what I am trying to - look out!!” she shouted as the boar charged, Daniel reaching to throw her out of the way, taking a stance to catch the beast who was far too smart for that. It dodged left, right and then zipped under his feet, knocking him painfully onto the forest floor, turning to face him, angry and grunting. Adrienne wanted to race over to him but she couldn’t; she was stuck between her desire to protect him and her equal desire to protect their child. In awestruck fear Adrienne watched as the large beast charged forward again, racing at Daniel, who looked so different now, so much stronger in a way she had never looked at him before, watching him dodge and grab at the pig. 

“Adrienne, think about losing the baby!” Daniel screamed as he backed up, reaching behind himself for any obstruction that may slow his advance. 

“What!?! Are you insane!?!?” she screamed back, her heart racing, trying not to have the thought, the thought of no longer being pregnant, of losing their precious child, the pain coursing through her body already. 

“Trust me!!!” he screamed, however, rather than waiting this time he raced forward, grabbing at the beast, which was slower, seemed to be moving so much slower. Holding her stomach tightly and protectively, Adrienne let the sadness overtake her, trusting in his words that he knew what he was doing, feeling the temperature drop, this time however not followed by heat. She closed her eyes, a vision of her baby being ripped from her, a baby she had not yet seen when she suddenly understood what Daniel was doing. Changing her vision Adrienne didn’t imagine a son, but a daughter, not their baby, but a beautiful young woman, using one of her cousin’s as a point of reference, watching in her mind the youth being led down a spiral staircase deep within the bowels of the Earth. 

“It’s working!!” he screamed, his voice followed by the squeal of a pig she didn’t want to open her eyes to look at, but she refused to lose focus, watching in her mind the beautiful linen clad woman descend into the abyss. There was shouting behind her, his shouting, and her skin tingled and tickled as tiny droplets of cold and ice touched them, soft at first and melting away from the warmth of her skin. 

“Snow,” she gasped, opening her eyes as it flurried all around her, a substance she had never seen growing up, that she hadn’t seen until she was at least twelve and had yet to experience this much in D.C. It fell, faster than she could have imagined, collecting on the ground on a most unnatural manner, even higher in the near distance. 

“Move!” Daniel screamed, at the beast, swinging the sword to drive it in the direction of the snow, urging it onward. The boar drove its tusks upward at him, threatening, but as Adrienne took a step forward to help, Daniel shot her a glare, ordering with his eyes to remain where she stood. Her heart racing, she watched him force the animal forward, toward the growing piles of snow, the boar frantic, looking from side to side for an escape that didn’t end at the point of Daniel’s sword. It stepped, slowly, further and further into the drift when it stopped, giving up, sinking into the white. Breathing a sigh of relief, Adrienne rushed to Daniel’s side, wrapping her arms around him as they watched the beast disappear together.  

“No reward on this one, and to be honest, as the labors passed there were and are going to be fewer,” Adrienne said, looking up, rubbing his bare skin softly. 

“Well, you only seem to care about the loincloth, so I don’t need anything else do it?” he teased, “Next stop, stables,” he continued with a sigh, pulling away and turning to walk into the forest. 

“Since when did you become an expert on the classics?” Adrienne asked, still impressed by his having her impersonate Demeter’s sorrow at the loss of Persephone each fall. 

“Since whoever in the hell this is thinks it’s cute and clever to live out the fantasies of my wife,” he spat, not at her but at the sky, talking to whatever forces might be listening. 

“Just consider it practice sha, you’ll be changing diapers soon,” she teased, trying to relieve his tension, which it did a touch, Daniel pausing to reach his hand behind him. 

“Somehow, though, I don’t think Jean Francois will poop that much,” Daniel answered quickly, Adrienne stopping in her tracks confused, jerking him back. She frowned, scanning the ground, trying to place the name, when she rolled her eyes looking back up at him. 

“Nope, and not Rashid either. The history of the Rosetta Stone is not a basis for child naming,” she retorted. 

“Worth a try anyway,” he responded, started ahead for what looked like a clearing in the trees. 

*****

Surprisingly Daniel wasn’t too worried about the stables. He simply asked Adrienne to reference a children’s film she had forced him to endure, allowing her to play one of her favorite characters in fiction. Standing in the center of the path between the great replica rivers, Adrienne focused on the water, on Poseidon and willed the liquid to them, reaching her hands to Daniel’s shoulders to transfers the idea to him, allowing him to complete the labors. Rushing cool waters rocketed upward at his command, powering into the massive structures, the waste washing away as if it was nothing. 

“Percy,” Adrienne offered as she pulled her hands away. 

“As in Percy Jackson?” Daniel clarified, willing the waters away with his fingertips. 

“Yep, just like Percy Jackson. Short for Perseus, and we already know that it goes well with Jackson, “ she added, smiling, her hand on her abdomen. Cutting his eyes over at the now pristinely clean ancient style stables, he smiled looking over at Adrienne. 

“Closer, but no,” he answered, laughing. 

“Note to self,” she said aloud, “spouse is somewhat ok with Greek heroes as long as their names do no coincide with hot Swedish actors.” 

“Arrows ja-wer, we’re onto arrows, correct,” Daniel responded instead, moving her along. 

“Yep, and my love, I’ve got this one covered,” she replied with a grin, pushing him away and standing back, and the surrounding air cooled, then warmed, the loud unmistakable sound of birds screeching and metaling clacking echoing through the air. Daniel spun around, gauging the size of the flock, a flock that he was horrified to see was so massive the blackness of their wings had completely overtaken the earth. 

“Dear God,” he whispered, seeing there was no escape, that whatever Adrienne was thinking had to work. He started to step back, closer to where she was standing in some meditative state when he tripped over something long, glancing down to see a bow and a quiver of arrows at his feet. 

“Ja-wer, are you planning on doing this?” he asked, confused, Adrienne still in deep concentration. The light rustling of the mob intensified, wings beating in air but none taking off, Daniel having no idea how with this small collection of arrows he could kill them all as the myth expected. 

“No, you are,” Adrienne replied, turning around her eyes glowing strangely. His heart stopped, Daniel backed away from her but she was smiling, delighted by what was happening to her, “Can I just say that of all the crazy things that have happened to me during the course of being your fearless sidekick, this is by far the coolest.” Confused, Daniel watched as she reached out her hands in front of her, holding out a large golden staff, the head bejeweled in such a way he could only imagine. 

“Take it,” she instructed, eerily not in her own southern voice, “shake it and take the longest arrow from your quiver. Shoot it into the sky, into the center of the swarm.”

“Adrienne, are you alright?” he asked, however, doing as she requested, take the large staff, rattle rather, holding it to the sky. 

“Just channeling an idol sha, get ta shakin’,” she continued, holding her hands to the sky, summoning power. Daniel started to do as she did, raising his arm to shake the staff when he caught a glow out of the corner of his eye, coming from her arm.

“Ad....” he began, trailing, watching the owl on her wrist wriggle against her skin.

“Like I said cool. Even cooler than using Vala DNA to shoot stuff, and you know how much I like to do that,” Adrienne answered, her cocoa eyes darting over to the birds, “now Indy you do remember they eat people so in case you forgot, well, we’re people. Can we get this show rolling?” 

“Right,” he replied, shaking his head to refocus, holding the large rattle over his head, moving it back and forth. There was no sound at first, which was troubling, yet the rattle became harder and harder to move as he felt something larger inside of it, rolling at first then turning to a loud clang, the ball or whatever smaller item inside slamming to the walls of its prison. He shook it harder and harder, the clanging changing to a long ding, almost like a bell, long and mysterious, enchanting even, summoning the birds to the sky. 

“It’s working,” he shouted over to Adrienne over the thundering beating of thousands of tiny wings, and she nodded, pulling her hands to her sides and rushing to the box, drawing out a single arrow. 

“Shoot one, dead center, that should work,” she said quickly, reaching for the mallet in his hands, swapping it for the bow. 

“One arrow?” he inquired, Adrienne glaring at him sharply. 

“Oh course sha, there’s the poison of the Hydra on that arrow, strong poison, very strong, it will kill birds the moment it’s near them...” she uttered slowly, calmly, Daniel getting the message that she was trying to fool their captors in the best way she knew how. Drawing back the arrow, Daniel pointed the tip the best he could to the center of the flock, releasing, the long stick racing for the black. 

And then there was nothing, except for sand and ocean waves. 

“I think we passed,” Adrienne offered, hopefully, Daniel not so eager to agree. 

“We’re still not home,” he responded, standing looking around, noting that they were still both in their Grecian garb. 

“You have passed the first part of the test,” a voice echoed from the heavens, no figure this time just loud, damning and omniscient. 

“First six tests, but yeah, hey, who’s counting,” Daniel replied smartly, Adrienne smacking his arm. 

“In the first of the six tasks we tested your strength, intelligence and ability to foresee circumstances. You have done well,” it praised, although the tone did not indicate pleasure one way or the other. 

“Thanks, can we go home?” he now changed his own tune, standing, speaking straight into the sky, his head darting back and forth looking for what in the world had taken them, “in case you didn’t notice, my wife is pregnant and running around fighting monsters isn’t exactly what the doctor is recommending!”

“In the next six tasks we will test your worth,” the voice continued, disregarding his pleas.

“Our worth?” Adrienne now stood, screaming, aggravated, “what do you mean test our worth!?!?” 

“Why in the hell do I get the feeling I’m gonna have to watch Addy play Russell Crow all over again?” the voice behind them asked, Daniel and Adrienne turning around to see their team, their complete team, Cam, Vala, Teal’c, Jonas and Sam, standing before them. 

“Where’s Jack?” Daniel asked instinctively noticing that while their captors did take Sam they had left a second O’Neill behind.

“Thankfully not in a leather strap but hello Glasses...” Vala said immediately, approaching the couple, Adrienne stepping up. 

“Nuh uh mon ami, mine, you have your own,” Adrienne replied quickly, flashing her wedding band, making Daniel flush with embarrassment. 

“Where are we Daniel?” Sam asked, pulling at the sides of her purple chiton, lifting her feet to examine them carefully. 

“I have no idea, but we’re part of some test, and for some reason they, whoever they are, have deemed the labors of Hercules to be the test,” he answered, Adrienne shrugging and nodding in agreement. 

“Have you successfully completed any labors DanielJackson or has the test yet to begin,” Teal’c inquired, thinking back to what movies on the topic he had seen. 

“Six, the first six,” was the archaeologist's answer, Vala laughing in response. 

“How many of those did Addy have to salvage?” she asked, crossing her arm across her own blood red dress. 

“All of them I was just about to say that Adrienne and I have completed six of the labors, together,” Daniel amended quickly, peeking over at his wife. 

“Sure Indy,” she teased, looking over to Teal’c as she continued to explain, “at this point we have completed the labors Hercules was able to complete alone, at least without additional humans. Starting with the next, the Cretan bull, mythologists argue whether or not Hercules had acquired a following, youth, looking to prove themselves or at the very least sail his ship and it appears as if you’re the crew.” 

“Well, I don’t see a ship round here,” Cam offered, Jonas walking to the edge of the shore, staring into the distance. It was then that Adrienne noticed for the first time since their friends arrived that her husband and only her husband was clad in the sparse loincloth, the other men in off white chitons of their own. She felt childishly possessive for a moment, wanting to cover him from the eyes of the others, but she kept her mouth shut, chocking it up to hormones. 

“That’s because this is just turning into the island of Crete, no transportation required,” Jonas noted, pointing out into the distance as the world began to take shape around them. 

“That’s odd,” Adrienne spoke, stepping up beside her Langaran friend, “there was a temperature shift before, like we were in some elaborate self-contained environment.” 

“The Truman Show, like we’re in the Truman Show, just add monsters and stupid clothes,” Cam hypothesized, Adrienne nodding in agreement. 

“Something like that,” she replied, turning back to Daniel, “ok if they’re staying true to form then we’re supposed to offer to help you, but you turn us down out of pride and go get the bull.” 

“How big of a bull are we talking about?” Daniel asked, curious, worried, looking around. 

“Roughly the size of a mastage,” Teal’c answered, Daniel gazing out in the same direction as the Jaffa his jaw dropping at the sheer size of the animal standing on the ridge in the horizon. 

“I’m NOT proud. I want help,” Daniel said quickly, turning to face the group, Sam directing everyone forward when Adrienne began to shake her head, waving her hands in front of her. 

“No, Indy, you can’t, remember, they’re testing our worth. Maybe they brought everyone else here before the mares to see if you would cheat given the chance, the team is both like your reward, gift, whatever AND another part of the test. I don’t think it’s an issue of pride, I think it’s a test of bravery,” Adrienne suggested, making a face. 

“But you were with me before and last I read Hercules killed his pregnant wife, didn’t tote her around while he completed the labors given as punishment for murder of said wife and six sons,” Daniel countered pointing at the bull, “that thing’s the size of a house!” 

“Daniel at this point in the myth though, Hercules has proven his strength and the bull was a fairly simple task. If I’m not mistaken I think he just jumped on it’s back and choked it,” Jonas said, walking to join them as they were gathered. 

“So Daniel’s supposed to jump up on that thing and knock it out?” Vala asked, unconvinced. 

“Yes,” Jonas replied, his eyes looking to Adrienne for confirmation. 

“He’s right sha, you just hop on up there and down it goes,” Adrienne said, forcing a smile. 

“Excuse me everyone, I need to have a word, with my WIFE,” Daniel hissed, grabbing Adrienne gently, very gently, by the arm and giving her the ‘please honey come over with me right now so we can talk in private’ look. Grimacing, she followed, leaning in as he began to mutter. 

“No God powers here?” he asked, Adrienne shaking her head. 

“The bull is the animal of Poseidon, but other than that, no. This was a simple labor, just like Jonas said, very little about the account itself, nothing I can think to alter and virtually no historic dispute,” she answered, reaching her palm to his face, turning it and taking it in her hands. 

“I know that you can do this my love, I know you can. Apollo and I are counting on you,” she said sweetly, leaning to kiss his lips slowly and softly, sliding her tongue gently into his mouth as she wrapped her hand behind his neck. 

“Wait,” he said as he pulled back, “Apollo’s the car. Not a chance ja-wer.” 

“That’s the attitude I’m looking for, now go and kick some bull ass,” she replied, unclasping the cloak, taking his sword and cocking her head at the roaring beast. Taking a breath, he dashed off for the cliff, Adrienne standing back and watching him go.  

“Jonas!” Adrienne yelled, signaling him over. Puzzled he jogged to stand beside her, following her gaze to Daniel’s form running up the hill. 

“Medic trained right? Last time you were here?” she questioned, not taking her eyes off of her husband. 

“Yeah, went back and studied some on Langara as well afterwards, why?” he responded, staring at her in concern. 

“Stay right here. I’m probably going to need help putting my husband back together again,” Adrienne muttered, biting her lip, holding her belly. 

****

“I’ll make a deal with you,” Daniel spoke, to the second animal today, feeling foolish in his blabbering desperation, “if you just fall over and let me hold on for a sec, I’ll....” he racked his brain, trying to think of something to offer the Jurassic sized animal standing before him, “I’ll, well, I won’t choke you.” The bull, however, didn’t move. 

“I can’t do this,” Daniel sighed out, staring up at the creature. It was at least ten feet tall, at least, there was no way that he was going to get on top of it, let alone choke it. Frowning, he looked back down the rise, his friends and family waiting for him to complete this impossible task, alone, with no weapons. 

“Whoever you are, I’m the geek, not the jock,” he said to the sky, breathing out and looking forward at the beast.

“You know, the funny part about this whole thing is that after you, I get to face man-eating horses. Man-eating, carnivorous teeth and all. And they may or may not breath fire. And unless my wife has come up with anything clever, the horses are only going to be part of the problem,” Daniel continued talking to the bull, really talking and for some strange reason it seemed as if the creature was listening. 

“Honestly, I’m only up here because of her, because she told me to do this. Before her I’d probably be back whining to Sam trying to find a way out of this, but, well, Adrienne thinks I can do it, why I have no idea, but she thinks I can and she’s counting on me to get her out of here. See, she’s pregnant with our son, and she tries to play tough, but she needs me more and it’s nice, I like being needed,” he rambled on, the beast standing completely still gazing right at him. 

“I’ve really only killed what I’ve had to here, I swear, I don’t want to hurt you, you seem to be an intelligent creature, so I’m sorry, I really am, and please don’t kill me,” he concluded, looking back to her once more. 

“Please don’t have lied to me,” he begged in a whisper, turning to the bull, dashing behind it and leaping into the air, hoping he could grab the hide and pull himself up. The world around him moved, swiftly, and he reached out, wiry fur in between his fingers, preparing for impact when he landed face first on soft meadow grass. 

“Sha YOU DID IT!!!” he heard Adrienne’s screams and felt her hands resting on his back. 

“Apparently,” he replied, spitting dirt from his mouth as he rolled over, feeling Adrienne adjusting his sparse clothing. 

“How did you do it?” she asked, excitedly, too excitedly, evidently not having as much faith in him as he thought. 

“Just like the myth,” he stretched, taking Cam’s offered hand to bring him to his feet. 

“T says that next is dragon horses, probably in those stables down there,” Cam said, pointing to some structures in the distance, eerily similar to the stables from before. 

“Yea, we need to corner them, bind their mouths and lead them to, well, I’m not sure who provided that -” Daniel started, interrupted by breath at his neck, familiar breath. 

“You get past me,” the voice hissed, a woman’s voice, a familiar terrible woman’s voice and he froze unable to speak. He didn’t want to stand there, appear weak in front of his friends, in front of Sam who he had assured so many times that everything was alright, but he just couldn’t face her, couldn’t say one word. 

“Sword Jonas,” Adrienne demanded, reaching out her hand blindly as she watched her husband stand slowly across from her petrified in fear, not turning around to face the demon. 

“Addy, uh, first it’s Heracles kills Diomedes and secondly, isn’t Hathor already dead?” he asked, handing the weapon over to his friend at her request. 

“Yep, and yep,” she replied, moving Daniel away with her hand, and he let her, his eyes still gazing forward. 

“Addy, thirdly, you’re pregnant,” Jonas added, throwing up his hand. 

“Ahh...my dear, something we have in common,” the goddess sneered, pushing past Daniel herself, willing a sword out of thin air, “he offers good genetic material, I speak from experience.” 

“Someone hold back my husband so he doesn’t stop me while I cut dis cocotte inta ‘orse food,” Adrienne declared stepping forward, bringing the sword into the air. It had taken him a moment to take it all in, realize what was happening, that Hathor was here, or at least some sick version of her and his wife, his pregnant wife was storming over to her, madder den ‘ell as she would say, with every intent to slice her into pieces. 

“Ad no!!” he screamed, Sam grabbing his arm first. 

“I think she has this under control,” she whispered, pulling him back, looking to Cam and Teal’c in case he tried to break away. Pregnant or not, there was a part of Sam that believed this test really wasn’t for Daniel, that it was for Adrienne, who pregnant or not was sure to take this specter down. 

“Look at her! I have to rub her back to get her to walk right, she doesn’t stand a chance,” Daniel said, realizing that at this moment he had about as much faith in her as she had in him and he shut up quickly, trusting her judgement. 

“Husband? He married? Shame really, I could have used him,” the red head taunted, rolling the sword over in her hand, “and you, of all people? Do you realize the greatness he has been offered over the years and he settled for you?” 

“Keep ya vay yay bitch, it jus gives me more time to plahn wha Imma gonna do ta ya,” Adrienne responded, halting her advance, changing the sword from hand to hand, testing it’s weight. 

“I hope you know that hand to hand combat was something that the Go’ould excelled in,” she noted, letting her eyes flare yellow and orange. 

“I ‘ope ya know dat protectin da people ah love is sumtin AH excel in,” the cajun spat back, wriggled her fingers as she let the blade settle comfortably in her right hand, “nah ya ready ta get ya ass whipped?” 

“This is going to quite delightful,” the goddess replied, smiling, swinging the sword behind her back, making a circle over her head, straight at Adrienne....

Who had her blade up in time, her leg up, dear God Daniel thought, she is kicking her, her left foot forcefully slamming her attacker directly in the solar plexus. Hathor didn’t fall, staggering back, catching herself with her right leg, swinging the sword quickly to the side, aiming at Adrienne’s protruding abdomen. 

“Adrienne watch out!!!” Daniel screamed, racing forward to break up the bout, a horrible nightmare image of his child being cut from the womb racing through his head, but Adrienne didn’t jump back, scream, flinch, just stepped back casually, laughing. 

“AdrienneJackson, remember the lessons of Kheb,” Teal’c coached from the sidelines, earning a glare from Daniel. 

“AdrienneJackson is a capable warrior, whether or not she is with child,” the Jaffa continued but before he could counter there was another clang and he saw swords meeting in the air, Hathor pushing down against Adrienne, seeming to have the advantage, pushing her down further, deeper, into a stance she wasn’t sure she could get out of without his help given her current center of balance when there was swift movement, a foot darting out, sweeping the false god, or at this reincarnated representation of her, knocking her painfully onto the ground. Leaping to her feet, Daniel unable to believe she could still move like that, that she was moving like that, Adrienne raced forward, kicking her blade aside, dropping to her knees and pressing the sharpness to her throat. 

“Resign,” Adrienne requested politely but sternly, remembering her training, all of her training, and while she wanted to kill this, whatever this was, it was not the nature of Karate, nor was it the way of the Jaffa to slaughter an opponent without giving them the option for surrender. Hathor, however, did not share this opinion, spitting in her face. 

“He was fantastic,” she spat instead, Adrienne unable to contain her anger at that remark, tossing Daniel’s sword aside and bringing up her fist, punched the woman square in the mouth, breaking her lip against her teeth, a thin trickle of blood oozing out of the side of her mouth.

“Resign,” the cajun repeated, pushing harder on her windpipe. 

“Addy, Diomedes was supposed to be fed to the horses,” she heard Jonas yelling from the sidelines, noting her hesitation. Daniel hadn’t wanted to kill the lion, nor face the bull, anymore than she wanted to kill another person, someone who had hurt him so horribly or not, but this was something she had to do. Gazing into her evil eyes, green now, not glowing yellow orange, Adrienne released her throat gently to utter only these words. 

“You never broke him. He forgot you. You died. You failed. You’re worthless. And you’ll never hurt anyone else ever again,” she vowed, pushing down to break the esophagus when she fell forward into the sand. 

“Ja-wer,” Daniel raced to help her up, Adrienne quickly realizing that she was in pain, her back throbbing with a dull but steady ache. 

“I told you I’d fuck that bitch up,” she whined, letting he and Jonas she noticed, help her gently to her feet. 

“You did Ad, you did,” Daniel assured her, holding her protectively as he looked over at Jonas. 

“Why do you think we didn’t have to face the horses?” he asked confused, Sam face indicating as she approached that she had the very same question. 

“Addy’s the expert, but the story is more about conquering the deceitful Diomedes than the horses. Once he is fed to his own herd, the horses were easily subdued and taken to Eurystheus,” Jonas explained, Adrienne nodding. 

“And we’ve also learned that ‘worth’ apparently lets us cheat some. Let’s just hope my temper tantrum didn’t cost us any points,” she added pulling from Daniel and stumbling some. 

“You honor your training this day AdrienneJackson,” Teal’c declared, reaching to sweep her into his arms and carry her, when Daniel extended his hand, staying his motion, pulling her aside. 

“Ad, I don’t think love will ever be a strong enough word,” Daniel said quietly, only so she could hear, wishing he could put into words how touched he was at seeing her true reaction, how amazed he was seeing her essentially fight, for him, defending him.

“Yes it is Indy, it’s plenty,” she replied, kissing him lightly, returning to Teal’c.

“If it was carrying your offering shug, I be aching like a gator in a trap,” Adrienne requested, the Jaffa taking her into his arms following behind Daniel as he approached the group. 

“For the record, anything I ever did to Daniel was in jest and/or before you came along and, well, yeah, don’t kick my ass,” Vala joked, holding her hands over her head playfully. 

“Jus so we be clear mon ami,” Adrienne laughed in return,  “where mah claim lay naw.” Her tone changed quickly, however, her gaze naturally returning to Sam and Daniel for the upcoming scenario, “the next three are pretty much stealing, the belt of Hippolyta, the cattle of Geryon and the apple of Hesperides.” 

“I’ve got those covered,” Vala volunteered immediately, reaching for Cam, “Cam can cover me and I can at least sneak in, get the belt and the apple. Not too sure about the cows though, might need Muscles for that one.” 

“It’s a little more complicated than that...” Jonas started, deferring to Adrienne since she wasn’t dueling any long dead gods for the moment. 

“Post voyage, which they don’t seem very interested in giving us a ship at all, two of our guys are killed and then Daniel is supposed to go ape shit and kill two of theirs, then we pick up two more and then Hera steps in, all sorts of madness, and that’s just the first one,” Adrienne explained, hugging Teal’c with one arm so he knew how grateful she was for his assistance as her back throbbed harder. 

“Look, they let you stand in for your man, why can’t I slip in, swipe this belt from whomever and slip out. Meanwhile, you and Jonas can figure out the cow problem so I don’t have to,” Vala argued, looking to Sam. 

“She’s right,” Sam admitted, “they clearly let you and Daniel cheat, twice, what if this is part of the test of worth. They brought us all here, to see if can we work together as a team, to see if possibly we are ‘worth’ what ever they are talking about as a collective?” 

“I think it’s worth a try,” Daniel said, shrugging. 

“Vala, the belt is worn by the queen of the Amazons, Hercules kills her,” Adrienne cautioned, instructing Teal’c with a light touch of her fingers that she could be put down.

“Look Addy, if whomever can just conjure up system lords then I’m pretty sure that none of these people are real. We might not even be real, did you ever think of that one,” Vala responded quickly, a thought that hadn’t occurred to Adrienne or Daniel at all. Pondering, Adrienne looked back at her husband who seemed to be in deep thought, trying to think of something to prove or disprove their friend’s theory. Holding up his hand, he rushed over to Sam, muttering quietly in her ear. 

“After, I ended it after,” Sam whispered back quietly, Daniel looking to the others. 

“Unless they have decided to read two minds, it’s them, it’s you all. I don’t think they could get that specific that fast,” Daniel declared, returning to Adrienne. 

“What did you ask?” Adrienne whispered, curious more than anything. 

“About who came before Jack,” he answered quietly, Adrienne’s eye widening, not that she had thought Jack was the only man Sam had ever been with but the expression on both she and Daniel’s faces was something that said there was more to it. 

“Trust me, we’re not the only ones with drama,” he added, directing his attention to Vala. 

“You can try, but I’m still unsure as to whether or not that constitutes teamwork or cheating, like I said, I have no idea who we are being tested by or what for,” Daniel reiterated, hoping Vala understood that he truly did not know what was really going on.

“I’ve got this, trust me,” she stated, turning her back to the group to march directly into the forest. 

“Vala!” Jonas shouted behind her, “Do you know where you are going?” She didn’t answer, just kept walking, waving confidently behind herself with a sashay in her step. 

“So we wait to see if Vala brings the world crashing down on us?” Cam asked, looking back at Daniel, who didn’t seem to think himself that this was a good idea, shaking his head slowly. 

“I guess some things never change,” he replied, taking Adrienne’s hand tenderly and leading her to sit. 

“You need to rest ja-wer, you look pale,” Daniel cautioned, noting the glaze in her eyes, remembering their scare only a month ago, before Christmas, when she had taken the fall in the commissary. 

“But what if Vala...” she said as she sat, trailing, yawning at the mere suggestion of being tired. 

“She’ll either do it, or she won’t but in the meantime, I’m asking you to rest. As your husband and as the father of our child. Please rest,” he said simply, sitting beside her and pulling her onto him. 

“I hate when you’re sweet,” she grumbled, leaning back against him. 

“No you don’t” he answered, holding her tightly in his arms. 

*******

“Daniel, it’s been two hours. I think T and I should go and see what kind of disaster she has created,” Cameron suggested as he gazed in the sky, guessing at the time by way of old farm tricks he picked up as a boy scout. 

“Maybe the last task was considered completed by Adrienne only because she was included in the original six labors, maybe Daniel and Adrienne together were acting as Hercules,” Jonas proposed, a look of consideration on both Sam and Daniel’s faces taking into account something that they had not considered. 

“Or maybe Vala has skill that doesn’t include beating people up with swords and talking takes a little longer, Glasses should know THAT,” she herself announced from the edge of the woods, twirling around proudly, an intricately woven leather belt tied around her middle, cinching the red linen. 

“You did it!” Daniel shouted out, sitting quickly, accidentally startling Adrienne who after a moment’s fuss had drifted off to sleep unable to keep her eyes open. 

“Wait, she’s back?” the cajun asked confused, rubbing her eyes, looking around herself. 

“Of course she’s back, you used to have more faith in me before you hooked up with HIM,” she spat back at her friend, undoing the belt from her waist. 

“Vala the Amazons were some of the most vicious warriors in the world of the Ancient Greeks,” Jonas added, standing himself, walking over to examine the belt. 

“Yes, but they were women. I just explained everything to them and that Hippo woman handed it over,” she replied, handing it over to Jonas as she smiled at Daniel. 

“They just handed it over?” Daniel clarified, not believing a word that she said. 

“Yep,” she answered quickly, beaming with pride, “handed it over.” 

“What did you say?” Daniel now asked, frowning, walking over to Jonas, reaching for the beautiful work of art. 

“I said I have this idiot man friend who is supposed to be playing a hero and he sucks at it and I don’t care if he dies but his wife might and I kind of like her, they reminded me of her, and she’s preggo so she can’t walk here herself. She laughed, said that was a typical man and handed it over,” Vala responded, crossing her arms across her chest. 

“That was it?” Daniel continued, peering over his glasses. 

“I promised them Jonas to marry too, but I think that we’ll switch to the next task before then,” Vala said, straight faced, Jonas looking panicked when ground shook. The thick blanket of dark green forest grass gave way to sand, although this time they were not at the ocean, instead in the center of the desert, the heat of the sun baring down on them.  Looking to Daniel for guidance the group stood, waiting, Adrienne pulling Vala to the side by her arm. 

“Don’t do that again! What if we didn’t pass?” Adrienne hissed, noting Jonas’ continued state of panic. 

“I didn’t, but he’s almost as much fun to make squirm as Daniel,” she joked, pushing her way back to the center of the group. 

“Ok Daniel, what now?” she asked, pushing hair out of her face. 

“Kinda hoping my classics professor has thought this through,” Daniel said, loudly, hoping that Adrienne would hear and that she had enough sleep to have come up with a plan. 

“Yes, ok, the Cattle of Geryon. Alright, basically Hercules raids a farm, pisses off a farmer, kills the farmer, takes the herd back, has a small domestic dispute with Hera and the viola, labor over,” she summarized, her hand darting to her forehead so she could eye the distance. 

“AdrienneJackson, I do not see any farm and am uncertain as to where one would find a farm in the desert,” Teal’c offered, gazing out in the other direction, his dark eyes squinting in the bright sun. 

“Well Hercules crosses the Libyan desert on his way to Erytheia, and wait, that’s right, I forgot. Indy,” she spat excitedly, “where did that bow go? Please tell me we got to keep it.” 

“Here,” he said, unwrapped the string from across his bare chest, Adrienne cursing her pregnancy hormones that now, of all times, were driving her to shoving him into the red sand and taking him right there in front of everyone. 

“Ad, you ok?” Daniel asked, noticing her gazing off in the distance. Flushing, a part of her wondering if he could read her mind, she shook her head, opening and closing her eyes quickly to refocus. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. You take that and shoot the sun. That’s it, just POW, right into the sun,” she stammered out, trying to calm her raging hormones and rapidly beating heart. 

“Are you sure?” he asked again but did as she requested, nocking the fletch into the string, preparing to shoot the bow into the sky. 

“Everything. If we can, we are keeping everything...” she admitted quietly, unable to contain herself. 

“Really?” he asked, holding the bow down, arrowhead at the sand. 

“Oh yes,” she muttered, blushing furiously, walking away. 

“You two ok over there?” Cam shouted, powering over. 

“Fine,” Daniel answered pointing upward once more, peeking over at Adrienne for a quick second before firing, “Really?” 

“Like going online to order as soon as we are home really,” she answered, biting her lip and stepping away, watching the arrow fly into the sky, disappearing into the blinding light.

“What happens now, I’m assuming that we get some sort of transportation,” Sam inquired, the sky going black as she spoke her final words, the group looking at one another in confusion. 

“General O’Neill!! I would like for someone to explain to me the meaning of this!!” 

Sam didn’t need to look to know who was coming, Robert Woolsey power walking in her direction. 

“Robert, it appears that we’ve been transported,” she began, tactfully, her civilian superior throwing up his hands. 

“I don’t need an explanation Samantha, what I need is for you to get your people out of here, Dr. Jackson in particular before he takes the cattle. He can’t have them, I don’t care what his reason is!!” the man screamed, pointing behind him at a herd, an army more like, of massive long-horn type cattle. 

“I shouldn’t have to remind you the cost of each of these animals and in your position General you really need to focus more on the big picture and less on the personal pet projects of your friends!” the lecture continued, Woolsey marching right up to Sam, his finger in her face. Angered, Daniel proceeded to intervene when he felt a hand on his arm, pulling him back. 

“Sha, I think she has to do this,” Adrienne offered quietly, watching Sam stand there and try to reason with her boss in her intelligent, professional fashion, only to be raged at further, talked down to, all the while the man pointing in Daniel’s direction. 

“Are we clear?!” he hissed in conclusion. She stood in silence for a moment, glancing at him, cutting her eyes to her feet when out of nowhere her expression changed and Samantha Carter O’Neill glared into his weaselly little face and punched him, full force, square in the nose. 

“Oh my god,” Vala whispered wide eyed, glancing left and right to see her companion’s reactions. 

“I wonder if now is a good time to ask if I can start getting paid again,” Jonas quipped just as Sam turned back around to face them. 

“Daniel, go get the cattle,” she ordered strongly. Nodding, there was no way he was going to question her after that, Daniel took a step forward when Cam threw out his hands halting him, a huge grin on his face. 

“Oh my friend, allow me,” he said with a smile, turning to Teal’c, “wanna go see how WE used to play as kids?” 

“With pleasure ColonelMitchell,” the Jaffa responded, the two men striding confidently among the animals. 

****** 

It took a bit of coaxing, but without a horse nor a whip, Cameron managed to corral the animals into a pack of sorts, moving them along in the direction of a temple in the distance when for yet another time they were transported, this time to a meadow, the soft green of an orchard in the distance. Eleven, Adrienne thought, remembering that it was not Daniel that would have to complete this task, but for the life of her she had no idea who in the world was Atlas. 

“Alright, we’re almost finished. In the eleventh task Heracles must retrieve the apples but - “ Daniel started, Jonas shaking his head, taking a breath and clearing his throat.

“No, he doesn’t. He tricks Atlas into taking them for him. He bears the weight of the world while Atlas get a brief time in the real world, a brief moment of what could have been, before he hands it all back to Hercules. It’s me Daniel. It has to be me,” he said quietly. No one spoke, with Jonas being back, it hadn’t occurred to anyone to recall how he became a member in the first place and how he had been so easily pushed aside when Daniel returned. Biting his lip slowly, reading the hurt in his friend’s face Daniel started to speak again when Teal’c opened his mouth instead. 

“There was much to bear among our team as Atlas himself bore. You are correct, it is you JonasQuinn and if you desire I will accompany you to the orchard,” he offered but Jonas was already shaking his head. 

“Thanks, but it has to be me. I have to go and bring them back to Daniel. It’s not hard, unless there’s a dragon, but I guess you guys will hear me screaming in that case,” he grinned, making his way to the orchard, Daniel grabbing his arm as he passed. 

“I was glad I had a world to come back to, one that was so well cared for. I don’t know if I ever said thank you,” Daniel muttered, hoping only Jonas would hear. 

“I don’t either, but don’t stress about it. I’ve got some apples to fetch, just come running if you hear screaming,” he answered only with those words and a smile, his friends watching him jog to the edges of the orchard. 

*****

For all of the times that Daniel had told Adrienne that real life was not like one of her movies it sure as hell looked like it when the world cracked open at her feet, a clear indication to the group that Jonas had gotten the apples. The shifting and pulling of earth continued, each of them grabbing on to the person beside them for balance when the shaking stopped, revealing the top of a long twisted staircase. 

“Who gets to go down there?” Vala asked immediately, her eyes scanning the group. 

“Me,” Daniel answered simply, taking a step forward. 

“Us,” Adrienne corrected, following, grabbing his hand when he pulled away. 

“No, me. Neither of us have any idea how this might end. You need to stay here,” he replied, his eyes gazing at her stomach. 

“This started as us and it needs to end as us,” she insisted, Daniel shaking his head. 

“This started as us and now it’s all of us. If anything happens who is the one person here that should be navigating Ancient Greece and getting everyone out of here? Cam?” Daniel responded, getting a face in return. 

“I hate you Indy,” she relented, knowing he was right, that baby or not she was their only shot of surviving as long as this madness continued. Jonas might have read, even somewhat memorized the stories, but he had only a fraction of the knowledge she had of the ancient world and it was her knowledge their captors seemed to be focusing on. 

“It’s just a gigantic three headed dog right? Didn’t that Percy kid in your movies take it down?” Daniel asked, smiling, trying to reassure his wife and friends that he would be fine.

“No Annabeth tricked it with a rubber ball,” Adrienne answered, shrugging, “but you’ve got your dashing good looks maybe you can woo it?” 

“Thank you ja-wer, I’ll be sure to tell the devil’s dog that my wife thinks I’m cute enough that it won’t want to eat me,” he quipped, taking a breath before descending the staircase. 

*****

Hell was colder than he expected, and darker. Chocking it up to his fascination with Dante in college, Daniel tried to focus on the task at hand and he trotted down the cool stone steps. He had attempted to count them since there was nothing else to look at in the black, other than the occasional droplet of water glistening in the unnatural glow that seemed to have no source. Step, step, after step, Daniel having long since lost count when he finally saw light ahead, fire as his imagination had speculated, jogging faster down the stairs to the soft orange glow. 

“Welcome to the Underworld!” the voice declared, not booming or loud but completely monotone, lacking all emotion whatsoever, but there was something in the voice, the words, the tone that shuddered the archaeologist's very soul.

“Thank you,” was all he could think to answer, although being welcomed to hell was the last place he wanted to be welcomed to. 

“You wish to take Cerebus, to complete your labors,” Hades continued, Daniel suddenly realizing that he knew the figure, the same thin figure on the beach, the voice the same as well,  even though here the feeling was quite ominous. 

“Yes,” Daniel answered simply. 

“You know what you must do, do you not?” his host inquired, stepping down from the throne, walking slowly down the stairs, snapping his fingers behind him. Like any good pet, the beast came racing around the corner, the three headed dog of Greek nightmares, the heads themselves larger then his entire body. His heart sank into his stomach; there was no way he could do this, no way he could subdue the beast without help; he wasn’t Hercules. The creature came to a position at the base of the stairs, joining its master as he set his feet gently onto the cold obsidian floor, the center head cocking back to let out a howl. So sinister was the sound that the room grew colder as the animal moaned, stopping as suddenly as it started, looking back at Hades, if that’s who he was, awaiting a command. 

Reaching for his face and pinching his nose, Daniel tried to think of something, anything to help, but even Adrienne’s quick brain, her strength, what he had come to rely on, that couldn’t get him out of this. In the myth, Hercules just conquered the beast, besting him in a wrestling match and swung Cerebus over his shoulder, carrying him back to the king, something Daniel knew he couldn’t do. The dog barked again, this time the three heads fighting amongst one another, the long sharp teeth shining in the light of the fires in the distance.  Sighing, Daniel picked up his head, facing the faceless man. 

“I didn’t take down the bull, I’m sure you know that but I didn’t and I couldn’t have done any of this without my wife, but I’m not quitting. I’m gonna try and I might fail, but I ask you this. If I’m to die at the final task, I am asking that you let my friends go, all of them. I am asking that if I fail, send them back, and do not harm my wife and child,” he requested, taking a step forward and a breath to match. There was a pause from the god, silence, the dog panting to his right. 

“Worthy,” Hades said, waving his hand in front of his face, the world around him fading, no parlor tricks or other elements of Greek mythology, just faded away, his team and small family standing right where the throne had been. 

“We apologize for the nature of our test, but we were unsure of a better way to find out what we needed to know before making contact. We wanted to use something somewhat familiar while still making the challenge worthwhile. We’ve been deceived before,” he began, still under the cloak. 

“Who are you?” Sam asked, no response at first, the ground moving and the city in the distance drawing ever closer. 

“We all had our specialities, that is why we prospered so long, but the Alterans felt they needed to leave and I believe that you know better than most the chaos that caused,” the figure continued, the cloak dropping away, hitting the ground. In it’s place was a small man, slight, dwarf like except for the obvious lack of physical differences associated with dwarfism. He was quite literally a small humanoid, with pupil less red eyes, not sinister but just, very, very red. Smiling softly, the man pushed a tuft of loose black hair from the front of his face, a casual friendly gesture, his mannerism noting that he meant no harm. 

“You’re the Furlings,” Adrienne said instantly, her eyes widening as she looked back and forth between Sam, her husband and the tiny smiling man. 

“Ad, ja-wer, FUR-lings, FUR, this man is not a Furling,” Daniel assured her, Adrienne frowning in return. 

“You let Jack influence your good damn sense sha, think Latin, slow Latin, FUR-lings, who do you think named them? Dollars to doughnuts it was Oma and her buddies,” Adrienne added, confidently, peering over at the small man who was smiling brightly. Laughing, as if he was shocked himself that he had never thought of this before, Daniel shook his head, peering back at the man.

“Fur, latin and to an extent Alteran, thief, stealing, I can’t believe it. But, wait, that doesn’t explain,” Daniel started, realizing that she was right but that didn’t support what little they knew of them the small man himself smiling and nodding. 

“We are borrowers of time, thieves the Alterans named us in jest, but we are a peaceful race, rest assured. Our gifts allow us limited abilities to distort and alter the space time continuum, for short spans, much like the Nox can bend space around their cities,” he explained, holding out his hand, a small dinosaur appearing in it.

“This, I believe is from your planet, from at least a hundred million of your years ago. He can visit with us, for a time, but he will return to his own,” the man explained, the small creature disappearing again, “when he is needed or we send him back.” 

“So you can alter time?” Sam asked, fear, curiosity, anger, all three mixed in her eager eyes, demanding answers. They could have used their help so many times, so very many times, and now they decided to show themselves, after so many had died, after so much had been lost. 

“No, we are borrowers, we can borrow it, learn from it and then we must return it, unless it belongs to us,” the man corrected, summoning up another animal, a Dodo bird, extinct as well, sending it back from where it came as quickly as had arrived. 

“But we cannot alter it,” he continued, “things must be as they were or could have been. Sometimes we have to borrow things from different places and put them together. Some of the people you encountered were my fellows, borrowing an idea or a form for a time, that we returned when it was no longer needed,” he continued, holding his hands to his sides, an Amazon, Woolsey and Hathor, standing before them in those forms for just a moment before shimmering and shrinking to the ground, three miniature humans themselves. 

“I am SOOO sorry,” Adrienne started immediately realizing she had beaten to a pulp and almost killed someone that was not Hathor, holding her hand apologetically over her mouth, “I had no idea,” but the small, blond, not even red headed like Hathor, but blond woman shook her head.

“No need to worry, I cannot be truly hurt in a borrowed and if someone had done that to my husband, I fear I would not have been able to show your restraint,” she assured, smiling, gently clasping the hand of the auburn haired man beside her. 

“Dr. Jackson,” the leader continued, clearly looking in Daniel’s direction, “the rules for bending and borrowing time are complex as I am certain you have learned. Your wife has already encountered one of our mistakes, which I can assure you both has been deactivated and we are grateful that you were able to amend the error on your own,” he added, now gazing at Adrienne, who hands were now resting protectively on her middle.  

“We need you to come with us. You will be safe, we honor our promises and we will help you defeat the Alteran the best we can,” the man said, extending his hand to Daniel, indicating that he join them but he remained still, frozen in time. 

“I can’t,” he answered, shaking his head slowly, “I have different responsibilities now.

I can’t leave.” 

“We understand, but we can show you where you can find crystalline power, or where we knew of the crystalline power last. We know you need them,” he replied, peering over at Sam, torn herself, caught between the responsibly of saving a galaxy and letting a strange new race of people take her friend away from his new family. 

“Daniel, we,” Sam started, Adrienne stepping forward, reaching out for her arm. 

“Mon amour, tu dois y aller. Ce sont les informations dont nous avons besoin,” Adrienne urged with her eyes as much as her words. She was correct, Daniel knew this was the exact information that they were looking for and with only the tests as evidence, he still knew in his heart that they were who they said they were. Nonetheless, gazing at his wife, the roundness of their child before him, he just couldn’t imagine leaving her behind. 

“Venez avec moi,” he requested, but she shook her head, sucking in tears and forcing a smile, their new friend stepping to join them. 

“We stayed silent for too long. We allowed the Nox to flee. We allowed the Alterans to divide. We allowed the Asgard to die. It was wrong but we are here now,” the Furling apologized, heartbreak in his face. Yes, Daniel wanted to rage, you waited and my friends died and Oma gave up her existence, an existence that he was no longer sure was part of the cosmos any longer. 

“Non, je ne peux pas y aller. Je dois rester et continuer à travailler, restez pour le bébé,” she refused lightly, gazing down at the red eyed man before reaching out for him. 

“Allez,” Adrienne whispered, pulling him to her, running her fingers across his palm. 

“Bien sûr?” Daniel asked just to be sure for himself, but there was no doubt in her expression, not the slightest and as he stood there, not knowing where or for how long this journey would take him it was the look in her eyes that told him everything was ok. 

“Oui, allez. Ana bahabak,” she whispered, switching to Egyptian, her declaration of love to match the language of the name he had given her. 

“Wa ana kaman bahbek. Je vais revenir à vous,” he replied, switching back to French to promise that he would come back to her, that he would return to their life together and their child.

“Je sais. Tu le fais toujours,” she answered, leaning to peck his lips lightly because she knew, he always came back, that Daniel was the one person on the galaxy that would never let her down. Her face stoic she pulled away, letting the roughness of his fingertips slip from the smoothness of her hand. 

There was a rumble, the earth shaking, and Adrienne felt her shoulders grabbed by large strong hands, Teal’c, the sky cracking before them, a thin blue light emanating from the center. 

And then he was gone, SG1 standing in the Jackson quarters, books scattered around the floor, a lamp shattered to pieces. Sam quickly counted the group, swallowing when she realized that indeed Daniel had gone, racing over to the phone on the desk. 

“Walter, it’s Sam. I need you to get Jack up and moving now,” she ordered almost instantaneously. 

“Addy, I’m sure he,” Cam whispered, joining she and Teal’c, his worried eyes scanning their friends for support. 

“He will. I guess I just get to annoy Carolyn for a while. She’ll love that,” Adrienne joked, willing herself to keep it together. 

“Adrienne, how do you know?” Sam inquired, her face still bearing the same expression of concern, “how do you know we didn’t just hand Daniel over to Anubis.” The archaeologist shrugged, trying to smile. 

“I guess I can’t be a hundred percent sure, but Sam, it’s the myth. Of all of the things they could have chosen, and chosen given what their name really means, they chose Hercules,” Adrienne explained, Jonas finally nodding in understanding. 

“You see, Hercules was the son of Zeus, he was a demi-god, half divine. After he completed the labors, after atoning for the loss of his wife and sons, after everything, they made him a god and showed him the wonders of Olympus,” she continued, scanning her friends smiling, “I guess the mythology buff in me just sees it as a sign, ya know, a sign that everything’s going to be ok.” 

*****

The rumble made Adrienne sit up in bed, her heart racing, frantically reaching for the lamp to turn it on, falling over to her side onto an empty, cold side of the bed rather than her husband. The bed shook again just as she clicked the light on, the brightness blinding her temporarily. Swearing in cajun, wishing ‘aborde’ on anyone who may have been present, Adrienne swung her feet over the edge of the bed dropping them onto the cold tile floor of her quarters. 

When she opened her eyes she noted no changes in the room, Vala and Teal’c having helped her clean up the mess on her floor before Sam insisted she get some rest, save for a single dresser drawer open, the drawer containing Daniel’s uniforms. Standing, she staggered to the tacky government issued piece of furniture, noting now something leather hanging over the edge. 

“Wha in da ‘ell?” she mumbled, reaching for the object, discovering that it was a loincloth, the loincloth Daniel had been wearing earlier. 

“Indy!!” she exclaimed, whipping around, searching for her love, her life’s companion when she heard a sound at her feet, the sound of paper hitting the floor. Frowning, she glanced down, stooping carefully to pick up a fallen piece of paper, standing slowly as she opened it. 

Needed our friends to “borrow” me some real clothing but I told them you wanted this.

That didn’t seem to break any rules.

Je’taime mon amour

and little Edward too :)