TITLE: "Dinner & Dessert"
AUTHOR: Me! Oh, uh, Verb
RATING: T, I would think. More towards the end, really.
CATEGORY: Humor, Daniel/Other, unapologetic snark.
SUMMARY: Timing Is Everything
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable Stargate SG-1 characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret Productions. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment only and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. This story and other publicly unrecognized events or characters therein are copyrighted to the author and may not be used or reproduced in entirety or in parts without express permission of the author.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Round 4 everybody! Another story for me, different since so far I've always written established characters in the Stargate universe. Thought I'd give this a try. Much thanks to Dessert Blossom-by-the-Sea for a much needed double round of beta'ing as well as encouragement. Please read and enjoy!
Chapter 1 – Need Help
Abbie sighed as the elevator doors slid open. Another Sunday at the SGC. Not that she minded – her work was never boring and she often had to force herself to untangle her mind from her algorithms and ciphers to get some sleep off base. As she walked down the hall, her mind wandered, settling on a now familiar amazement on just how she had ended up a civilian contractor on an American military base. Not exactly what Abbie had in mind all those years ago in university, but now that she was here, she wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Besides, there are some benefits . . .
Abbie felt her cheeks flush, something she was used to when thinking about one benefit in particular – Dr. Daniel Jackson. Daniel had hired Abbie almost two years ago to head the SGC's cryptology department, and to serve as the director of linguistics whenever he was off world or unable to fulfill his duties. In fact, it was one of those off world excursions that was the reason Abbie had been called in on a Sunday night. Daniel had gone to P4X-394 with SG-8, excavating a site they believed was Mayan in origin. Not normally something Abbie would be involved it – she usually went off world with SG-14 – but they had brought back a few hundred pages of text copied down from one of the temple walls. A linguist in her own right, Abbie often assisted Daniel when the volume of translation was beyond that which one person could handle.
Pausing for a moment outside of Daniel's office, Abbie wiped her suddenly sweaty palms on her dress. Even after two years of working with the man, she could never fully control her body's reaction when she was in the same room as he was. Stop acting like a 16 year old and go do your job. Abbie mentally scolded herself as she tapped in Daniel's office door.
Knock Knock"Come in!"
Abbie pushed open the door. Aw, crap. Her pulse immediately quickened as she took in the sight of her colleague, dressed in one of the best cut suits she had ever seen, a light blue dress shirt bringing out the blue of his eyes, and a black tie hanging loosely around his neck. The sound of her entering his office made him look up and give her a wide smile. "Hi, Abbie."
The man smiles once, and I'm a puddle. It was official. She was done.
"Hey, Daniel." Abbie tried her best to sound casual. She had a feeling it wasn't working. "You're all dressed up. What's the occasion?"
Daniel closed his book and stood up from his desk. "I got a call this morning from General O'Neill. Some of our friends from the Joint Chiefs decided to stop by for a visit." He motioned for her to join him beside one of his bookshelves. "So, the General wanted me to show them around the base, give them a little program overview, that sort of thing." He ran one of his hands over the spine of the books on the shelf, as though trying to locate a particular one. "Good thing I always keep my version of a dress uniform on base," he joked.
Abbie chuckled, trying not to let her imagination wander while she watched his hand. "Yeah, good thing. You look very sharp."
Daniel smiled. "Thank you. So do you."
"Oh, um, thank you." Abbie glanced down, trying to hide her blush. She had been in the middle of getting dressed for a night out with her friends when Daniel had called. She was wearing one of her few dresses, a comfortable deep blue v-neck creation, with a hemline that ended just above her knees. Abbie knew it was nothing special, but it was different than her usual business uniform of black pants and a comfortable sweater.
"So, I bet you're wondering why I called you in."
"The thought had crossed my mind."
Daniel pulled a book off of the shelf and handed it to her. "Well, it turns out that those writings we copied down from the temple wall were a bit more complicated than we initially thought."
Abbie looked at the book Daniel had given her. "The Mystery of Text – Codes and Puzzles of the Mayan Empire," she read out loud. She shot a questioning look at Daniel. "So, I'm guessing there were some issues with the translations?"
"No, the translation went fine." Daniel gave a short laugh. "It's the comprehension." He continued to explain at Abbie's puzzled look. "We managed to translate a large portion of the text, but we can't seem to figure out what the text means." He gestured to the desk he was sitting at earlier, pointing at some of the photos he had taken of the temple wall. "Once we got what we think is the best English version of the writing, we couldn't make any sense of it."
"And you're thinking that it may have been written in some kind of code," Abbie said as the pieces of the puzzle started to fit together.
"Exactly," Daniel smiled. "I was hoping that maybe you could take a look at it, see what you can find?"
Abbie stole a quick glace at the clock. "Sure. But I have to be out of here by five. I can continue with whatever I can't figure out on Monday."
Daniel did a bit of a double take. "Is it Sunday?" At Abbie's affirmative nod, Daniel let out a deep breath. "Abbie, I'm so sorry. It completely slipped my mind that you were supposed to be off today." He looked down at the floor. "I shouldn't have called you in."
Abbie laid her hand on his arm, trying to ignore the tingle of warmth she felt at the contact. "It's ok, Daniel." She smiled nervously at him. "It's nice to know you can't do without me."
The meaning of her words hit her as Daniel started to stare at her. "Uh, well, what I mean was . . ." Abbie took a deep breath to stop her rambling. "I mean, it's nice to know that you can call me when you need help." Daniel tiled his head. "Uh, you know, help with translations, and stuff," she finished off lamely. She realized that she was still holding on to his arm. She jerked her hand away, and again wiped her sweaty hands on her dress.
"Um, so why don't I take some of these photos and the translations you've got so far to my office and work on it there." She piled some of the pictures on top of the book and held them to her chest. "I can come by your office before I leave and let you know what I was able to figure out."
Daniel shook his head. "No, I can come to your office and see you before you leave. I need to go and visit Dr. Swanson a little later on, so I can just drop by your office on the way."
"Ok, sounds like a plan." She looked around nervously, not sure what else to day. "I'll, uh, I'll see you in a few hours then."
"I'll be there."
"Ok. Bye." Abbie just about ran out of Daniel's office. It's nice to know you can't do without me? She winced as she replayed that part of their conversation over in her mind. What on Earth were you thinking? And that, she realized, was the problem. She, Abbigail Webber, multiple Ph. D. holder, former UN translator, and master code cracker, was incapable of intelligent thought when in proximity of a certain blue-eyed archeologist. "I need help," she muttered as she strode down the corridor to her office.
xxxxxxx
Daniel waited until Abbie had left his office to sink back into his chair, letting the exhaustion he was feeling take over. Working on a Sunday was nothing new for him – he had already been on his way in when he had received Jack's call. He had enjoyed giving the Joint Chiefs a tour of the facility, always happy to lend a diplomatic hand on behalf of the SGC, especially if these impromptu visits would determine the fate of the program and give Jack a hand.
He hadn't, however, anticipated running into problems with the translation from P4X-398 that afternoon. When he had realized that the translations weren't making any sense, Daniel knew he would need to contact someone from the cryptology department. And it was coincidence that I happened to contact Abbie. The rationalization sounded weak, even in his mind. Dr. Wilson was usually the cryptologist on call on the weekends, but Daniel hand called Abbie for her help, probably out of an unconscious desire to work near her. With her. His brain automatically corrected the mental slip. He had worked with Abbie for two years, having hired her away from the UN's highly prestigious group of translators with a much more interesting job proposition. He had to fight a bit to get her assigned to the program since she was a dual citizen, both the US and Canada, but after the international assignments for the Atlantis mission had gone through, there was very little to stand in the way of Abbie assuming the role of the head of her department. How could we not have hired her after that interview.
Daniel couldn't fight the grin that found its way to his face. Even though he had already offered Abbie the job, Jack had insisted on personal interviews for senior level positions, something about making sure she wasn't too much of a geek. An hour after her plane had landed in Colorado Springs, Abbie had taken over the entire briefing room, giving all of the senior personnel the most entertaining slide presentation entitled "You'd Better Hire Me – All my Stuff's in Colorado Now." In under ten minutes, she had managed to charm the pants off of not only every civilian on base, but Jack and every solider as well. She had this kind of personality that people could trust immediately, and Daniel had known the first time he met her that she would be a good fit with the rest of his team.
Daniel gave himself a mental shake and tried to get back to work on making sense of translation. He readjusted his tie and removed his suit jacket. The simple action caused his mind to wander to his formal attire, and his shock when Abbie had showed up at his office door, wearing a dress. Wow, she looked gorgeous. He had never seen her wear a dress before. At work, she stuck to most casual items, and the few times she had gone out with SG1 for dinner she had worn jeans, but never a dress. Especially never a dress that showed off her figure quite like that one did. And, after reading the same page of text seven times and still not actually absorbing what he had read, Daniel knew any chances of him focusing on work were shot. One look of her in a dress and my brain is reduced to mush. Daniel sighed. "I need help."
xxxxxxx
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