Chapter Six

 After hanging up with Daniel, Jack got in touch with the SGC and promptly informed that nothing out of the ordinary was going on. In fact, all was very quiet. “Are you sure?” Jack asked in a puzzled voice. “No flashes of light, lapses of memory, people falling down, Stargate opening? Stuff like that.”

“No, sir.” Lt. Murphy said for the third time. “We’re still expecting the arrival of the Kohan delegation but that’s not until Wednesday, sir.”

“All right, let me know if anything weird starts happening.” Jack hung up.

“What’s going on?” Sam asked as she sat down beside him on the couch and then listened intently while Jack filled her in. “I know you hate him,” she said, “but Ares wouldn’t lie about something like this. Something’s going on.”

“Yeah, he’s not my favorite person but he’s a tough motherfucker and if he’s hurt that much it can’t be a good sign for us.” Jack agreed. “When they get the roads cleared out in a few hours I’m gonna try to get to the SGC and see what’s going on.” Yohimbe doesn’t have a Stargate, that’s what Jack kept reminding himself of but that didn’t mean that somehow Hecate didn’t get her ass off the planet and to that outpost where DePeter first spotted Naganti Kanan and Calla when he’d reclaimed her from Daniel so many years ago. Once there they could Gate anywhere and, wherever they were coming from, it looked like the Scouting Party already arrived. “You’re not feeling sorry or …anything… for him, are ya?”

“No,” Sam said with an easy smile, “I mean, well, it’s not good that he’s wounded but I’m not going to run off and take care of him or anything either.”

“Good, cause that roads aren’t gonna be cleared for at least another three, maybe four, hours.”

“Got plans?”

“Several.”

Dinner at the Jackson house was a subdued affair. The stew was delicious and everyone left the table with a full belly but you could cut the tension between Daniel and Calla with a knife even though they were on opposite ends of the table. It filled the whole room. When the meal ended the women cleared the table after which, Nick and Daniel washed the dishes.

“What’s goin’ on, Dad?” Nick asked as he rinsed the stew bowls. “You and Mom have a fight?”

“Not yet,” Daniel mumbled.

“Oh,” Nick groaned. “You gonna tell her about Umpa? You should you know.”

“Not yet. I don’t want her to know anything about anything until I’m sure what’s going on.” He huffed while shoving a glass onto the top rack. A little too hard, a little too rough, the water glass shattered in his hand. “Goddamnit!”

“Ya know what, Dad,” Nick began in as easy a voice as he could muster, “why don’t you go downstairs and work out or somethin’. I’ll finish this.”

The roads would open tomorrow and Calla had an important meeting to lead beginning at 11:30 and so she sat in the living room finally getting down to her lesson plans when she heard the sound of breaking glass and Daniel shouting. She dropped the lesson book and came running into the kitchen. “What happened?” Daniel’s hand met her stare. “You’re bleeding! Let me see.” Calla reached for his wounded paw but he snatched it away.

“Its fine,” Daniel hissed and watched her cringe away from him but the concern didn’t fade from her face or her eyes.

“Daniel, I know you’re angry with me but I can help you.”

Yes she could help all he had to do was hold out his hand and she’d heal it for him. There were those few stray gray hairs in her head staring at him, mocking him, laughing at him. “I don’t want your help.” He flared at her while clutching his bleeding hand.

“Dad!”

“Shut up, Nick.” He growled with a cold stare. “No one asked you.”

“I can help…if you let me.” Calla whispered as her bottom lip started to quiver.

Daniel didn’t think she was only speaking about the wound on his hand. “Leave me alone, Calla, we’ll talk about this later.” He walked out of the kitchen and through the basement door.

“You too?” She asked her son.

“Me too what?” Nick returned.

“Don’t play coy with me, Nicholas. Answer me.”

“I don’t know why he’s so pissed.” Nick mumbled returning to the dinner dishes.

“That’s not what I asked you.” Calla reminded him. “I know why he’s angry.”

The last thing Nicholas wanted to do was to answer her. Yet, if he didn’t then she’d just stand there behind him burning a hole through his back with that icy glare until he turned around and faced her. “Look, Ma,” he stuttered without turning back to see her, “Annie and me we’re movin’ out in four days, right?”

“Yes,” she agreed through lips that didn’t move.

“So everything’s cool, don’t worry.” Gathering his nerve, Nicholas stood up to his full height of 6’8 and turned around to face his 5’0 Mother. “It’s gonna be all right.”

“So then you don’t plan on visiting? Ah, you know, after you’ve moved out. No dinners or dropping by?” She clutched her hands tightly as she stared at him wishing they were both anything but Olympians. “I suppose you’ll come round again once your brother arrives.”

Nick felt like a heel as he bent down to look at her. “It won’t be like that, Ma. But maybe me and Umpa we should stay away from you, ya know, just for a little while.” It wasn’t the shine from the tears in her eyes that caught his attention but the shine from the gray hair near her forehead. “What, did you get paint in your hair?”

What was he talking about? She didn’t know and she brushed her hand through her hair to get it away from her face. “I haven’t painted today,” Calla huffed. “Is that what your Grandfather told him?”

Nicholas couldn’t see the gray hair anymore it was brushed away and in with the auburn. “Yeah,” Nick mumbled, “some. I don’t think Umpa shoulda said anything,” he said in confidence, “Dad…didn’t like it.” Wait until Dad told her about Hecate and all the rest of that happy horseshit!

“No doubt.” She forced a smile for him. “What else did your Grandfather have to say?”

Backed into a corner, trapped like a rat, whatever euphemism you wanted to use was just fine with Nicholas at the moment. “You should talk ta Dad.” He said. “Look, Mom, it ain’t like I’m goin’ far away or nuttin’ like that. The house is just ten miles away and if you need anything I’ll be here in a flash, ya know that, don’cha?” Yep, if what Umpa said was true Nicholas wouldn’t be keeping a huge distance between him and his Mother. That might make things a little rough but he was hoping once she started really showing and not just that cute little tummy she had right now that this feeling would go away. Looking at her, standing here alone in the kitchen, she just glowed with an inner light, she was beautiful, what hot-blooded heterosexual male wouldn’t want his shot with her? “I love you, Mom.”

“Hey ya handsome,” Annie cooed. “Power’s back, wanna go cuddle and watch a movie?”

“Dad’s down there,” Nick muttered. A movie sounded good to him. “Tell ya what, you make some popcorn and I’ll get him out of the basement.”

“You got it,” Annie winked at him. Nick’s mom had a strange look on her face as though she were interrupting them. “You are done with the dishes, right?”

“Yep,” Nick shut the dishwasher. “All done.” He turned back to look at his Mother and gave her a sad smile. Nicholas didn’t say anything else he just left the kitchen and made his way down to the basement. Annie got the popcorn out of the cupboard, tossed it in the microwave and waited for it.

Calla exited the room on her way back to her lesson plan. Daniel would come up soon maybe they would talk and maybe they wouldn’t. He didn’t appear to be in the mood for conversation tonight. The telephone began ringing as she passed it Ramis, Harold read the caller id. “Oh for crying out loud.” Calla picked up the phone. “Hello.”

“Mrs. Jackson?”

“Yes, hello Mr. Ramis, how are you?”

“I’m doing well, the storm’s over, everyone make out all right there?” He asked congenially.

“Yes we came through with flying colors.” She returned in the same tone. “You?”

“Yep, I made it.” Mr. Ramis said. “Is Doctor Jackson available?”

She could tell him Daniel was busy. “Yes he is, hold on, I’ll get him for you.” Calla put the phone down, opened the basement door and heard the muffled voices of her Husband and her Son. “Daniel, Mr. Ramis on the telephone.” She called in a very audible voice.

“Fuck,” Daniel mumbled. “Look, just let me talk to Jack and find out what if anything is going on and we’ll go from there, all right?” Daniel said to Nick. "I'll be right up.” He called to Calla who was waiting at the top of the stairs and probably straining to hear anything she could.

“Whatever, Dad.”

Daniel went up the stairs to get the telephone call, which he took in his office. Calla took her lesson book and her notes and went up to their bedroom where she could be alone and think. Not that there was much to ponder the situation was fairly straightforward the only question was what could be done about it.

By the time Daniel hung up the phone with Mr. Ramis he agreed to let the old man come over tomorrow night around 7:30 and have a look at the notes and manuscripts of Nicholas Ballard. Maybe then the old guy would stop calling and making a pest of himself. “Where’s your Mother?” Daniel asked Colleen as he emerged from the office.

“She went up to bed,” Colleen grumbled, “what’s wrong with you, Dad? I heard you bitchin’ at her.”

“I wasn’t bitching,” he proclaimed. But, yeah, he had been bitching and he didn’t know why. He had no reason to be this angry with her and he didn’t want to be. If that Darkness caused him to want to fuck her all the time in the most delightfully black ways maybe it caused him to get pissed off at the smallest things. “See you in the morning, Cole.” He said in a lighter voice and then made his way to the second floor. Opening the bedroom door Daniel saw his Wife sitting on the chaise by a roaring fire. On her lap was a yellow legal sized pad and scattered around her on the chaise and the floor were several notebooks, text books and her lesson planner. Calla wasn’t working she was just staring off into space. “Hey, you all right?”

The sound of his voice shook her out of the daze she was in. Calla looked up and gave him a small smile. “Sit down, Daniel, I think we should talk.”

“You think we should talk?”

“On second thought,” she mumbled, “never mind.”

OK maybe he was a bit brusque with his question. “I’m sorry I’m so…tense…Kitty. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“Yes you do,” she corrected. “What you don’t know is how to deal with it.”

Deal with it? Ares didn’t say anything about finding a way to deal with it. “And you do?”

“Perhaps.” She said in a dreamy voice. “I was…rather young….when Father sent me to live with Naganti Kanan…” she began.

Jesus Christ! She made it sound like good old Pops sent her away to some Swiss boarding school and Naganti Kanan was the benevolent head master. “You mean when Ares dragged you away from this planet and everything you knew and loved and put you in that bastards’ bed?”

“Daniel!” She gasped.

Balling up his fist but keeping it his lap, Daniel shook his head at her. “I’m sorry, Cal, but how can you be so nonchalant about it? He didn’t just send you away for a little while to some place nice….”

“Ares was upset, that’s true, he had every reason to be. I killed his Lover right in front of him. He thought I was lying about what he’d done that I was making it up to cause trouble….”

“Stop defending him!” Daniel came close to shouting. “After everything he’s done to you how can you sit there with a straight face and shield him?”

Calla ignored him. “I was young and I didn’t understand a lot of things,” she said in a quiet tone. “Do you remember asking me what the painting of you and those women was supposed to be….originally I mean?”

Now what was she on about? “Um, yeah,” he said in an exasperated tone. “What about it? What’s it go to do with…”

“Do you still want to know? I’ll tell you.”

“All right,” cautiously he sat down next to her.

Calla sat there thinking about how to say what she wanted to. “When I was pregnant with our second son, Orion, a ring went missing. Naganti Kanan was convinced that I’d stolen it.” She mumbled. “I didn’t take the ring, Daniel, I never stole anything from him or anyone else, thievery was always looked down upon by Ares he said it was a coward’s act.” Calla drew in a breath and then slowly exhaled it. “Naganti….”

“Kanan,” Daniel hissed. “He isn’t your Master anymore and his name is Kanan.”

“All right,” she whispered, “N-K-Kanan could not find his ring and neither could I, believe me Daniel I looked for it high and low and everywhere in between. No ring. Since, being pregnant, I was concealed away from public view in his chambers he thought I was the only one who could have taken it and since I would not confess to the crime—because I didn’t do it—he decided I needed to be punished.”

Daniel felt his stomach turn and twist, he knew that whatever was coming next he wasn’t going to like it.

“He, ah, he, um, he…” she stuttered, “he decided that…a fitting punishment…would be if his Guard had me for the night.”

Something deep in him gave a sigh of relief. Ugly as it was it….

“I don’t mean a guard, Daniel, I mean his Personal Guard the warriors he kept around him almost at all times. There have always been twenty-five of them.”

That sinking feeling came back but this time it had a brick attached to it and Daniel felt as though he were sinking fast straight to the bottom of Poseidon’s oceans.

“Kanan sat there the entire night holding onto my hand so that their touch wouldn’t burn. He told them what to do and how he wanted it done. Two, three, four….”

“Kitty, stop, oh for gods’ sake just stop.” Daniel moaned. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because that painting was supposed to depict that night, Daniel and instead it turned out to be you and your twenty or more women.”

“What?”

“It’s true,” she smiled sadly. “Daniel, there was a time when Kanan cared for me,” she rolled her eyes and bit her bottom lip, “well in so much as he could anyway, he wasn’t always brutal that was in later years after the bond failed.” Her voice trailed off as her eyes moved away from him. “Before that happened he was almost good to me but when I was carrying his children he was always surly, brooding and mean. One night when he was quite drunk, after one of his special dinners,” she didn’t say it but Daniel knew Calla was referring to one of those nights when a nobleman’s daughter turned 16 and Kanan got to have his shot at her. “He was feeling…melancholy….he asked me why he always felt so conflicted and coarse when I was with child. Why he always went to such vivid extremes one moment asking, Kanan! Asking! If I needed or wanted anything and the next he was growling and barking at me or those around him.” She sighed and took in a breath, “that’s when I realized there must be something different about me when I’m pregnant and there is, isn’t there, Daniel?” He nodded. “When I was quite small, when I first came to live on the Island with Mother and Father, she told me that Darkness lives in the hearts of all men. She said that there is something in me that draws it out, which calls to it like a siren, that it makes them want to….conquer….me and that I can never escape it no matter what I might try.”

“No, you were cursed…” Conquer, that was the most apt description for it that he could think of. “Kitty,”

“I was, yes.” She forced a smile. “You broke that for me but, Psyche’s curse and the Bitter Water they only strengthened…whatever it is about me that makes people….men…want to,” she couldn’t keep going on that subject. “It was already there, Daniel, that’s what Psyche was afraid of, afraid that her Husband would turn away from her and toward me. Do you know Father was only the second man I’d seen in my whole life up to that point. Even Maeve was afraid….”

“Who was the first?”

“Duncan,” Calla smiled a little. “he was the only one Maeve trusted, she didn’t even leave me with the FaeryMen when she would go away.” She explained. Daniel thought that there might be a reason Ares didn’t like Duncan MacLeod, the man had not only met but been alone with his Daughter before Ares even knew of her existence. That must have pissed him off. “It is stronger when I’m with child, I know it is. The men in the Keep felt it, I never liked the way they looked at me to begin with but then it was even more intense.” Before she could stop herself, “David felt it, I know….”

“What did you say? He couldn’t even have known you were pregnant when he took you away to that asylum in Connecticut.”

“Not then, Daniel,” she quietly reminded him. “After you’re affair with Rowan and our night in the cabin.” Calla was pregnant then the only problem was no one knew who the father was. It could have been Daniel or David or any of the men he’d brought home to her. Still, she was pregnant and….

“What did David do?” Without thinking about it, Daniel took her hand in his blood stained one. “What did I do?” Calla didn’t think about it either, didn’t make the attempt at all, but, nonetheless, that lovely blue energy emanated from her hand and enveloped his, within an instant the cut that probably could have used a stitch or two was gone. It appeared on her hand.

“Much better,” Calla leaned over and kissed his cheek. “I don’t want to talk about it, Daniel, we’ve never discussed this and I don’t want to start now. It’s a long time ago. Just suffice it to say that he felt it.”

“Cal…”

“Even before that, David felt it and he was very willing to give over to it.” She spoke over him in a soft voice. “ The point is, I think I can help you to not be so angry at least not with me.”

“I’m not angry at you,” Daniel asserted. “I love you and our baby.”

“I know,” she smiled a genuine smile for him. “It’s not you, it’s me, there’s just something about me…”

“Pheromones,” Daniel interjected, “that’s what Ares said.” Calla was right, Michael Blood even Jack and Teal’c admitted to feeling that pull to her when she was pregnant and they all thought him dead. Though Jack and Teal’c swore up and down they did nothing to act upon what they wanted. Daniel supposed he’d forgotten about these things somewhere along the line. They were, after all, unpleasant baggage so why carry it around? Over the years of their marriage he’d forgotten the condition she was in when he found her and the effect she had on the men around her—pregnant or not. The latter simply became part of everyday life and the stares she got were no longer unusual, she was a beautiful woman. Yes through the course of their life together the battered and bruised little Cha’Dech who came to live with him and never went away (thank God!) faded away and she Became not the Lady Callestah has Fate intended her to be but Professor Calla Jackson, the Wife of Doctor Daniel Jackson, Mother to Nicholas and Colleen Jackson. Other than the occasional bump in the road, the last thirteen years had been uneventful and smooth and he’d gotten soft and let down his guard.

“What are those?” Calla was asking. “Daniel?”

“Ah, um, well, pheromones? Well they’re kind of like an invisible marker, an unsmellable scent that…well…that everyone puts off but you seem to be putting out more of them lately.”

“Then perhaps Dr. Adams can help,” she suggested.

Why didn’t he think of that? “Maybe he can.”

“In the meantime, will you let me try something?”

“Maybe but first let me see your hand.” Daniel told her but Calla shook her head.

“It’ll be just fine in a day or two you won’t know it was ever there.” She assured him. “No worries my love.”

“You don’t think I can do it.” Daniel grumbled.

“Right now I’m concerned with you and how I can help you, later if you want, you can try, all right?”

“All right, Kitty,” he said as he gave in, “what do I do?”

“Nothing,” she said with a smile, “nothing at all. Just sit there and trust me.” Calla rose to her feet and began crossing the room.

“Where are you going?”

“Well, we’ll need a few things; some salt, some water, a black candle I have one in the attic, some dried sage…”

“You’re going to cast a spell on me?” Daniel asked and it was clear he didn’t readily like the idea.

“Not on you…for you.” She didn’t let him say anything to that, Calla just walked out of the bedroom. Daniel followed her.

“If you tell me what else you need I’ll help you get it.”

“All I ever need is you. Just sit tight.”

“I’ll get the candle, all right? Is there anything else from up there?”

“No, nothing else just the candle. Thank you, Daniel.” She said easily and went down the stairs.

Coming back into the bedroom with the items she needed on a silver serving tray she took her Husband into the master bathroom. “What are we doing in here?”

“The bedroom has carpeting,” she mumbled with a sigh and lit the scented candles in the bathroom. “Take off your clothes.”

“Do what?”

“Oh,” she groaned, “you heard me, take off your clothes.”

“O-K.” Daniel undid his shirt, stepped out of his shoes and let his slacks fall to the floor. “All of ‘em?”

“It’s not like I haven’t seen you before, yes, yes, yes, all of them, my dear Husband. This is no time for modesty.” While he finished stripping Calla did the same and then began sprinkling sea salt into the cup of water then charged and blessed it. “Stand over there, please.” She pointed to the space by the door. Calla walked in front of him with the container of sea salt and very carefully poured it onto the bathroom floor until it made the shape of a pentacle which she enclosed with a circle. Taking up the bundle of dried sage, the one she liked to use to smudge the house, she lit it and smudged him with the smoke. Starting at the soles of his feet and working her way upward to the top of his head the smoke wafted around him making him feel both peaceful and energized. In turn she smudged her own naked body. “You’re very handsome, my Husband.”

“Not so bad yourself, my Wife.” Daniel returned with a grin. Whatever she was doing seemed to be making her happy and it didn’t look as though there was anything dangerous about to happen so Daniel let the smoke deep into his lungs and it relaxed him further.

Leading him to the center of the pentacle to stand on the rough sea salt Calla took up the cup of water and dripped several drops of her own Ichor into it from her bleeding hand. “Don’t worry,” she said before he could speak. “Everything is fine.” Calla handled him the black taper candle. “Hold it tightly and tell it what you want banished. Be specific.” She warned. “Leave nothing to chance.”

Daniel thought about how to phrase it for a moment or two and then began to speak but Calla cut him off. “Ah-ah, softly, nothing more than the softest whisper. Don’t tell me, Daniel, tell the candle and the Gods.”

Closing his eyes and thinking her a bit crazy but in a good way, he humored her and put the candle near his lips. “I want to banish the Darkness from my life,” he whispered, “I want to banish any chance of harming my wife or my unborn child.”

“Not bad, now say it again and leave out the ‘want to’ part.” Calla encouraged.

At first, Daniel didn’t understand but as he spoke, he did get it. “I banish the Darkness from my life. I banish any chance of harming my wife or my unborn child.” Much more affirmative, powerful and positive. When he opened his eyes she was holding her hand out to him he went to give her the candle but realized that wasn’t what she wanted. Calla wanted him to anoint the candle with her Ichor. The cut on her hand wasn’t deep and it wasn’t bleeding profusely, still the thought bothered him but he did what she wanted. Dipping his fingertips into the Ichor drying on her palm he smeared it onto the black candle and then put it in the holder—which was sitting on top of a small round mirror-- on the sink without stepping out of the circle.

“Good, very good.” She said easily and then dipped her fingers into the mixture of water, Ichor, and salt, she flicked it onto him head to toe, front and back, like a priest giving out a blessing at Sunday mass. Putting the water down once more she picked up the pack of matches she’d brought with her and gave them to him. “As you light the candle I want you to say ‘by the power of the fire I bring to Life that which I desire,’ concentrate on your banishing, got it?”

“Yeah,” he agreed. Daniel had read about many spells, he’d studied them intensely at one point in time but this was the first one he’d ever cast and he was a bit nervous as he struck the match. “By the power of the fire I bring to Life that which I desire,” he didn’t know why but he did know he was supposed to chant it three times before lighting the candle and so he did.

Flame to wick her back to him and holding her hands high over her head, Calla began to speak. “O Great Goddess Hera, Grandmother, I call to thee. O Great Goddess Hecate, Goddess of the Triple Moon, I call to thee.” Though at the sound of Hecate’s name Daniel wanted to tell her to stop her, he didn’t. She couldn’t know what was going on it had to be a coincidence and besides it wasn’t as though Hecate was going to hear her. “Queens of Darkness and Night, Queens of Life and Death, hear me! Banish from my Husband that which plagues him and causes him to suffer. Take this Darkness from his mind, his heart, his soul, let it bother him no more.” Calla turned around quickly and firmly laid her wounded hand on his Third Eye.

There was a great rush of energy forcing its way into his head and Daniel had no choice but it to let it through. It ran through him like a thief in the night searching here and there, through every nook, cranny and corner for the Darkness within him. Daniel’s beautiful blue eyes rolled back in his head as he started rocking back and forth, the coarse sea salt grinding below his bare feet. Just when Daniel started to think he was going to explode and burst wide open leaving a mess to end all messes all over the bathroom the powerful energy running through, having found and seized upon its intended target, sucked backward like a massive vacuum. It was pulled upward from his toes, up the calves, past the hips where it lingered over his cock for a while before rushing upward through his stomach, lungs, chest, his heart raced and sweat broke out all over him as he fought to keep standing up right. Up further through the narrowness of his neck, over his teeth, behind his closed rolled back eyes and out through his Third Eye into the palm of his Wife’s hand. When the last of it was gone her hand dropped away from him. Shaken and a bit confused Daniel just stood there for a few moments, his eyes closed and trying to get his breathing back under control. “Jesus, Calla,” he muttered finally. She didn’t say anything. Daniel opened his eyes. She wasn’t standing in front of him. “Calla?” There was something warm and fuzzy at his bare feet, Daniel looked down to see her unconscious on the floor. “Calla!” On shaky legs he dropped a bit too quickly to his knees causing a wicked head rush as he reached out for her. “Honey, baby, Calla,” Daniel shook her lightly in his arms. “Come on wake up.”

On the floor her emerald eyes lolled open and she tried to force a smile for him. “How do you feel?”

“Me?” He asked in surprise. “M….” Daniel paused. How do I feel? Great. Bloody fucking fantastic! Like he could go out and run a marathon or sprint up the side of a mountain then come home and have really gnarly sex with her for days without stopping. “I’m good,” he muttered, “how about you? You all right, honey?” Letting out a groaning little moan Calla tried to stand up. “Why don’t you just lay here a minute,” he said and brushed the hair away from her face as he held her head in his lap. “I think it worked.”

“Good,” this time her voice was stronger. She may end up having to do that with Nicholas and maybe even Ares. Daniel wouldn’t like that, nope, not one little bit. Neither would she. Daniel was Immortal now and his energy was stronger but he was not an Olympian it would take a lot of energy and magick on her part to make this work with Nicholas and her Father. “I think I can get up now.” Calla stumbled to her feet with Daniel’s help. “I should clean that up.”

“I’ll get it,” Daniel said helping her into the bedroom and to the bed. “You lay down for a while.” Calla didn’t give him any argument she just let him tuck her under the covers.

“Don’t blow out the candle,” she said before he went back into the bathroom. “It has to burn all night.”

“Ok,” he agreed. Daniel cleaned up the salt and Ichor spatter on the floor, dumped the salt water down the drain, put the smudge stuck on the mirror with the candle and then washed the same Ichor off his forehead before returning to his almost sleeping Wife with the burning candle. Daniel put it across the room on the table by the hearth where he could keep an eye on it. “Hey, sleepy,” he whispered as he crawled into the bed next to her. Calla rolled toward him with tired eyes. “You said you’d let me try now. Give me your hand.” Lazily she pulled the wounded paw out from under the covers and gave it to him. “I don’t know if it was me or your spell but…umm….” He turned it around so that she could see the wound was gone. Then he turned it back again so he could kiss it. “Much better.” Without a sound she cuddled up in the crook of his arm. “Kitty?”

“Yes, my love.” She cooed.

Daniel wasn’t sure how to approach the subject but now seemed like a good time. “When you were carrying Kanan’s children did you get, ya know,…spacey?” He asked and tapped the side of his head with his forefinger.

“Hum, a little I suppose, not like with the twins.”

“And did you…weaken? Like you did with them?” Her head on his chest even in the dim light of the fire and burning candle Daniel saw the gray hair on her head and swore that there were a few more there now than this morning.

“No.” She mumbled.

Daniel had an idea. “Kanan’s people are they descended from the Olympians?”

Calla readily gave him the answer he was looking for. “The Shankuk are bred from Ares a millennia ago, the Goa’uld took them away to a distant planet but they were defeated and Kanan’s people used the N’kte to travel world to world, to stay ahead of them, to hide from them. I don’t know how Father found them after so many years.”

“So you and Kanan were related?”

She let out a snicker that turned to a giggle. “I suppose he could have been eighty-fifth cousin twenty times removed or something. I don’t know, Daniel. The lines are so far apart, what difference does it make?”

“But you didn’t get sick.” He remarked. Maybe that was because Kanan carried Olympian blood no matter how watered down it was. That seemed to be Ares’ biggest gripe at the moment, not that Daniel wasn’t a God (for once) but that he had no Olympian blood. “If you carried an Olympian baby, would you weaken then?”

“I don’t know I’ve never done that. I wouldn’t think so.” She raised herself up on one elbow to look down at him. “Why do you ask so many questions? Is it because you forget so much?” She whispered.

“What have I forgotten?” Daniel asked.

“I was born in Avalon raised in the Faery Realms of Scotland until I was five then Mother came and took me away to live in Greece. I only resided there seven years before I went away. There is much I do not know about my own world and my own kind and much I do not desire to know.” She nuzzled down against his warmth again and let out a small yawn.

He glanced over at the clock by the bed it was only a little after ten. “You’re right, I forgot.” Daniel said softly. Tonight should have reminded him the spell she’d cast was strictly Celtic in its design and execution Calla learned that from Maeve. Not to mention her earlier talk of Duncan MacLeod. “What about Nick?”

“What about him?” She asked with a sigh and pulled the blankets over her bare shoulder.

“You know what, will you do that with him?”

“Will it bother you?” Instead of falling to sleep, she opened her eyes and cocked her head to look up at him. “There was nothing….nothing….bad….about it. Was there?”

Daniel knew that she didn’t mean ‘wrong’ she meant ‘sexual’ when she said ‘bad’. “No there wasn’t anything bad about it.” Still he didn’t really like the idea of her alone with their very grown very naked Son. “What about Ares?” That was an idea he liked even less.

“What about Nicholas?” Calla countered.

“Can I be there?”

“No. You don’t trust our Son?”

But before he could answer it, Calla asked another one. “Or is it his Mother you have doubts about?”

“I don’t doubt you,” Daniel said softly still thinking the idea over. It would be better if they were able to keep Nicholas close by, in fact he’d rather they not move out at the end of the week. “If you have to do that with Nick I guess it’s all right.” Daniel said grudgingly.

“But not Father.”

“I don’t want you anywhere near him, never mind any where near him when you’re both undressed. You know what he’ll do, Calla.”

“You don’t have to worry, my Beautiful Husband, Father doesn’t want me near him.” Her voice was very sad as she closed her eyes again.

“Yeah right.” Daniel muttered. “All right, go to sleep, Kitty. You’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

In his arms she let out a very loud groan. “Ooohhh, did you have to remind me?”

“Sorry,” he kissed her forehead. “You’ll be great the meeting will go just fine, you’ll see.”

“You will meet me tomorrow, won’t you?”

“Three-thirty, Adams’ office, I wouldn’t miss it, honey.” He held her a little closer. The soft petite hand that had been laying still over his heart stirred to life and began tracing long lines across his chest. “Kitty?”

“You said you feel good,” she reminded him quietly.

“I do but you’re tired.” With no conscious thought the arm he’d been holding her close with behind her back started tracing its own path on her bare skin.

“Not that tired.” She waited for him to respond but he didn’t. “Our lovemaking will increase the power of the spell.” Calla coaxed.

Daniel, who had been thinking about how much he would like to make love with her but worrying about those stray gray hairs on her head, smiled above her. If she couldn’t get him with just the physical pleasure she’d try to appeal to his more logical side—well, as least as logical as one could be when it came to things such as spells and magick. “Is that a side benefit?”

“Yes,” she purred. “We should take advantage of it.”

What if the spell didn’t work?

What if it did?

Only one way to find out. Daniel sucked on his teeth for a second letting out a little sucking sound. “Maybe we should.” He agreed in a coy tone. “Did you have a shower today?”

“I did.” She said in the same tone. Cat n Mouse, it could be a very fun with very big rewards.

“Good,” Daniel cooed and slid his body under the covers and between her bare legs. Calla tossed the covers off and he grabbed them and brought them back over his head. “You’ll be cold.”

“And you can’t breathe,” she snickered and tossed the blankets away again.

Rather than continuing the little game, Daniel had another idea. He snaked the covers around so that the blankets covered her right leg, up over his back but not his head and then down the other side to come back up again and keep her warm while he had his way. “How’s that?”

“Good deal,” she said with a smile and lay back against the pillows as the flat of his palm lightly traced back and forth over that smooth bald patch between her legs. Calla looked down to see him licking his lips. “See something…..tasty?”

“I might,” Daniel said easily. “Have I ever told you, Mrs. Jackson,” he said in a more thoughtful tone, “just how much I appreciate this?” A soft wet kiss lay down on in the midst of that sensitive patch and he drew in a deep breath to get the full scent of her. His mouth watered and his cock stiffened as it wafted around in his mind.

“No, but I think I’ve gotten the message over the years.”

“No?” That couldn’t be right, surely, he must have said something at some point in time with regard to this. Hadn’t he?

“In fact,” she said in the same thoughtful voice, “when I first came to you, you hated it. You told me to….”

“Stop shaving.” He smiled between her legs still drinking in her scent. “I did. You looked at me with those big emerald eyes and had no idea what I was talking about.”

“Not a clue.” She purred as his lips got a little closer to their goal and his breath swept over her waiting lower lips. Daniel loved to tease and he was very good at it.

It was true, he thought Kanan made her shave and Daniel wanted her to stop it, not because he didn’t enjoy it but because he didn’t want to be anything like Kanan. “You told me Olympian women just don’t have hair other than from the eyes up, but that you could conjure up some if it really bothered me.” He smiled at the long ago memory as his free hand ran down the length of her smooth leg from hip to calf and back again there was not a single sign of stubble anywhere on that Greek Column. Calla never used a razor on herself in her life she never had any need to because she didn’t have any body hair anywhere save what was on that lovely head of hers. One reason she was always so incredibly smooth and soft to the touch there was nothing to get in the way or cause friction between the skin, his hands glided over her like a hot knife through soft butter. That one simple little difference heightened everything and took it to another level of sensuous.

Nope there wasn’t anything to get in the way when his tongue flicked out and around her hyper-sensitive clit. Later when he slid into her there wouldn’t be anything in the way of his cock and the heavily scented oil she produced slicked his balls and inner thighs, he would feel every last centimeter of it through every nerve ending coming in contact with her. Right now, it was his tongue and lips, which were indulging in their favorite pastime activity as the sweet taste of her, lolled around on his taste buds.

“Come up here,” Calla whispered holding her hands out to him.

“Not yet,”

“No,” she corrected in the same soft whisper while she took a look at his bare thigh, “come.”

“Really?” Daniel asked. Kitty didn’t do that very often but from the look of her she was feeling adventurous tonight, in fact, she’d been feeling very adventurous ever since he got her back from Andrew F. Hartley. He was inclined to indulge her adventurous streak. Tossing the covers to the floor Daniel crawled up her body, laying soft kisses all over her as he went, her hands encouraged him to come closer and further. Part of him wanted to ask her if she really wanted to do this but he refrained, he really wanted to do this and tonight that was good enough. Turning his back to her and swinging one leg over her Kitty scooted down on the mattress until she took his hard cock into her mouth and down her throat and he buried his face between her legs once more. 69 was a wonderful position but it was easy to lose control. While his hungry cock slid backwards down her tender throat—sometimes, like now, he swore Calla could teach the most experienced Sword Swallower a new trick or two—his fingers explored that slick friction-free area between her legs, Daniel was mindful of several things; the Darkness, David, and the baby. It seemed he was unburdened tonight, Daniel couldn’t find anything within him which wanted to do anything other than the most pleasurable of things for both of them.

Calla’s neck tilted fully backwards to take him inside she massaged his heavy balls with one hand and ran the other along the smooth flesh of his cheeks. The hand cupping his sack became slick with her saliva as she sucked harder on his shaft. The hand which was running over his butt cheeks descended to between her own legs, Daniel watched it come down past his chin and pulled away to give her room and watch whatever she was going to do. Still sucking him she slid one finger into her own hot wet hole pushing it deep and hard, the cock in her mouth pulsed as its owners eyes took in the sight. Two or three good thrusts and the little hand disappeared, the next he knew that well-oiled finger was sliding between his cheeks and delicately pushing its way into his ass. Sometimes she had the neatest little tricks up her sleeve.

One good turn deserves another. Daniel followed her lead sliding his own well-oiled index finger between her cheeks and another into the vacant hole while the flat of his tongue lapped effortlessly over and around her hairless snug pussy. Kitty stopped for a moment or two and Daniel clearly heard her catching her breath that made him smile. When she did catch her breath her lips clamped down around him and she sucked him harder while her tongue danced up and down and around his hard shaft and it was him taking a breath. Her hips rose and fell in his face the space between them becoming wetter and wetter with each thrust of his hand.

He was cumming.

She was cumming.

Don’t lose it, Danny.

So far he’d managed not to do that but she didn’t make it easy. Even though he knew he couldn’t get any farther down her throat all he wanted to do was it thrust his hardness into her mouth just to be sure he couldn’t get another millimeter or two. While his hands and his lips moved furiously, his hips remained still and he let Kitty do the work down there. She certainly wasn’t showing any signs of wanting to stop. A few more stokes of her mouth and thrusts of finger that would be all she wrote for him.

Calla was so close but not as close as he was and Daniel didn’t think he could hold this one back much longer. Come Calla, cum with me, let go. His fingers probed deeper inside her.

In a sudden heated rush they came together. Daniel’s face was soaked with her juice while the soft wet walls around him sucked and pulled him deeper. A load of cum shown her throat as his cock pulsed and twitched in her mouth. As he ejected the precious fluid Daniel buried his face between her legs letting out a deep groan of pleasure and drinking more of her.

When the climax was over, he rolled off of her and cuddled up by her side. “Oh the things you do, Mrs. Jackson.”

“I seem to please you, Beautiful.”

“Right down to my toes.”

“More?”

As always, she was just getting warmed up. “Maybe a little more,” he whispered and settled over her. “I love you.”

Calla’s legs parted for him and she welcomed him inside. “I love you.”

After the Second Round Calla seemed satisfied for the night and before long, she was asleep in his arms but Daniel stayed awake staring at the burning candle across the room. It seemed her spell worked well that was good. The thought of her doing it with Nicholas unnerved him. Nick wasn’t a boy anymore. And he was half Olympian. Still, if she insisted and she probably would then he’d have to go along with it. All of that could wait for tomorrow.

Tomorrow was a big day for all of them.

Tomorrow Kitty got her first taste of leadership which she wasn’t looking forward to.

Tomorrow Mr. Ramis would get what he’d been seeking since before Christmas.

Tomorrow Daniel would hear his unborn child’s heart beat for the very first time and Adam’s would give them his best estimate for a due date.

Tomorrow Daniel would find out how much truth there was to what Ares told him today.

Beside the telephone rang, Daniel grabbed it before it could wake Calla. “Hello,” he whispered.

“Daniel, look I know it’s late but how early can you get to the SGC in the morning?” Jack asked.

“That bad, huh?”

“You’ll have to tell me when you get here.”

“Seven?”

“See ya then.” Jack hung up.

Looked as though there were more truth to Ares’ words than Daniel would like, hanging up the phone he pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head.

Calla stirred. “Who was on the phone?” She muttered still half asleep.

“Wrong number,” Daniel said. “Go back to sleep.”

End of Chapter Six
The Cradle Will Fall
Continue to
Chapter Seven