Chapter Fifteen

Colorado Springs, Colorado
SGC

 Back at the SGC General O’Neill was leading his godchildren to the rifle range. “Sorry, we, ah, well, we don’t have an archery range. Not much call for it these days.” He quipped to Nick and Colleen with a smile. “But this should do to get ya goin’.” Jack opened a door and flicked a light switch and there was a state of the art indoor rifle range. “I had it cleared out for you two, you know how to use the equipment?”

“Yeah, I got it.” Nick said taking in the depth of the room. “Sweet.”

“Thought you’d like it.” Jack returned happily. “You can shoot hard or paper targets, with those I’d do the hard targets.” He suggested looking at the opulent bows in each of the Twin’s right hands. “Mind if I stick around and watch a bit?”

“Nope,” Coley said walking up to the shooting bar. Jack took a seat on the bench behind them. “What do you say? Start at 200 feet? Or do you need work on close range?”

“Fuck you,” Nick chimed with a good natured smile, “200 feet’s fine with me.” He punched buttons on the control computer to set up a target range of hard humanoid targets at 200 feet from the bar spaced at ten foot intervals. “Lighter? Dimer? What?”

“Oh come on, where’s your sense of adventure?” Coley asked her brother while she tied her light red hair into a ponytail. “Turn the lights down.”

“You got it.” Nick said and punched in the code to dim the lights around them.

“Hey, yeah, that’s kinda dark, don’cha think?” Jack asked and realized he sounded more like an aged grandfather than their Uncle Jack. “Be careful, that’s all, just, ya know, take it easy.”

“All right, runt, why’don ya show me what’cha got?” Nick invited.

“Step aside big guy, prepare to be amazed.” She returned with a wide smirk and bob of her pretty young head.

“I’m prepared your greatness,” he said and stepped to the side while she raised the bow to shoulder height.

Th-WACK…..THUD

Shhho---SWACK……POW

Arrow after arrow found it’s target and struck home while Colleen moved down the bar as fast as she could plucking arrows from the quiver and shooting them at the hard targets 200 feet away while the computer measured the speed of the arrows and force with which they hit. Ten targets down in twenty-two seconds. Top arrow speed 216 feet per second top force hit 65 foot pounds, accuracy ten targets hit 7 kills. “Well, not too shabby.” Nick complimented. “Now watch how it’s really done.” He shooed her away from the bar.

“Go for it you majesty.” She quipped. “I don’t think you can beat my time.” She turned around to look at her Uncle Jack. “He’s slow. He’ll never match my speed.”

“Oh,” Jack said in puzzlement, “doesn’t look slow. Good job by the way.”

Coley let out a laugh. The look in his eye said that Uncle Jack might be realizing that Danny-boy’s kids weren’t kids anymore that they’d grown up. “Thanks.”

“Sit down and shut up,” Nick advised drawing an arrow from his quiver. Then he was off.

SHA-FUME……SMACK

Th-WISK…….BAM

On down the line behind the bar he went as fast as he could run and shoot. Ten targets down in 36 seconds, said the computer.

“Told ya,” Coley said with a satisfied grin.

“It ain’t done,” Nick grumbled. Top arrow speed 278 feet per second. Top force hit with 105 foot pounds. Accuracy, ten targets hit 8 kills.

“Humph, I see someone’s been practicing behind my back.” She complained looking at the read out on the screen.

“Yep, wanna go again?”

“Line ‘em up.” She challenged. “A little further this time, say 250 feet?”

“275?” Nick countered.

“You’re on.” Colleen huffed as thought insulted by his counter offer.

Jack sat there watching them rack up another round and was stunned by how athletic they and competitive they were as he stood up. Their speed was awesome and so was their strength and accuracy, they had guys on SG teams that couldn’t shoot a gun half as well. The most dumbfounding thing of was that no matter how arrows they shot and how many targets they hit, they each always had 13 arrows in their quiver, no more no less. It didn’t matter what type of arrow was in the quiver, down here they were shooting broadtips and not the neat little magick ones Ares gave them earlier in the day. “OK, well now, you kids play nice. I’m gonna go see what the big people are up to.”

Nick and Cole laughed and shook their heads. “We’re gonna hang out down here for a while.” Cole said. “Annie’s getting settled in and she’s got Lilly, so they’re all right. Come and get us if you need us or if Mom comes back.”

“You got it, I’ll even look in on Annie in a bit.” Jack said. “Good job, both of you, really, really, good job.” He made a fist and swung it happily in the air in front of him with a smile as he left the practice range.

Daniel Jackson barricaded himself in his office poring over the information in the databases online and through pages and pages of musty old books—including his grandfather’s notebooks—searching for any tid-bit that would help them. So far he hadn’t been able to come up with much of anything other than an obscure reference—in Nick’s neat old script-- to Zeus casting Hecate out of the grace of the Olympians and away from the mortals. This entry in his notebook almost made reference to the only technology or machine Daniel ever heard of the Olympians using to defeat a foe. Nick wrote that in Zeus’ throne room there was a great granite obelisk which created a vortex into which Zeus threw Hecate and she was never seen again.

“Hi Dr. Jackson,” said a small voice and Daniel looked up to see Annie standing in the door way. “Lilly’s asleep and, well, I dunno what to do.” She confessed.

“You know something, Annie? Neither do I.” Daniel said with a sigh pushing the books and note pads aside. “Hungry?” He asked. “The mess isn’t, well, isn’t absolutely horrible, what do you say I take you down and get something to eat?” he cajoled and looked at his watch. “Wow, I didn’t realize it was getting late.” But Calla and Duncan had been gone nine hours. Well, looked like he wasn’t going to be invited through the Gates of Avalon today. Nick and Cole were still shooting arrows at targets on the range four floors below. Jack and the rest of SG-1 were probably deep in some strategy session while Ares and Thor were aboard the little guy’s ship assessing the situation from there.

“Is it?” Annie mumbled walking fully into the office and looking down at her own watch. “Well, I guess Mr. Ramis won’t get his copies today.” She sighed without thinking but wondered when Nick was going to come back and get her.

“Copies?” Daniel asked. “Of what?”

“Didn’t she tell you? Mr. Ramis was at the house last night, Mrs. J said she’d make him copies of your books and give them to him.” Annie pointed at the open texts on his desk.

“She did?” Daniel asked with a raised eye brow. “What was Mr. Ramis doing at the house?” That explained why, when he went to retrieve Nick’s old books earlier today, he found them stacked neatly on his desk rather than in the bookcase where he left them last.

“She forgot to tell him you were working late and he came over,” Annie shrugged her lean shoulders. “What could she do? She let him in your office and showed him the books he was interested in and told him she would make copies for him it was almost ten before he left.” She said with yet another sigh and sat in the chair across from him. “Shouldn’t someone call him or the university and tell them we won’t be coming tomorrow or at least let them know that the world is going to end?”

“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.” Daniel encouraged. “Where’s Nick?”

“Him and Cole are still shooting targets I guess. They started a while ago.” Her voice had a wispy longing quality to it.

“They’re fine,” Daniel said. Knowing his kids they were just fine and still shooting their bows without even thinking about those waiting for them. In the month since Ares gave them to the twins at Christmas it became a game with Nick and Cole to see which one could shoot farthest, hardest, fastest. They’d shoot for hours in the backyard and lose all track of time. This time he wasn’t going to get cross with them over it, a little practice was probably a good idea but sooner or later Daniel knew where they’d show up…where they always showed up. “Come on, Annie, we’ll get a little food and look in on Lilly.” It was past five in the afternoon and he didn’t know about her but Daniel hadn’t any breakfast or lunch and it was going on dinner. Nine hours in this place with its cheerless walls, no windows and pumped in air was enough to drive anyone a little nuts, poor Annie must be about as bored and scared as she could be. “I bet we’ll find Nick while we’re at it.” He stood up and his back let out a loud crack.

“When we find Nick he can fix that for ya, Dr. J.” Annie encouraged with a half smile. “He’s good at things like that.”

“Is he?” Daniel asked not knowing just how much more of this conversation he wanted to pursue. He didn’t even like to think about the logistics of Annie and Nick having sex. Nick being almost two feet taller than her it was hard to figure out but Daniel supposed they managed just fine.

“Yes,” she smiled half-heartedly, “he’s so big but he’s very gentle, he’s not rough at all. I’m sure he’ll crack your back and you’ll feel much better.”

Halfway down to the mess Jack stopped them in the corridor. “I was just coming to get you. Any…ya know…. word?” He asked pointing to his head indicating the telepathic link Daniel and Calla shared.

“No,” Daniel mumbled, “nothing.” Slinging an arm around his daughter in-law his voice perked up a bit, “we’re going to find Nick and a bite to eat, wanna join us?”

“Nah, I’ll catch up later, Carter and me we’re working on something. Thor called down, I guess he and..” Jack cleared his throat, “Ares, have a few ideas working. You got anything new?”

Daniel pursed his lips and rolled his eyes thinking about the entry in Nick’s journal. “Eh, ah, mayyyy-be. I’ll let you know more when I talk to Calla.” Maybe she knew something about the banishing machine in her Grandfather’s throne room.

“You got it.” Jack said. “I highly recommend the strawberry jell-o,” Jack said to Annie with a grin.

Sure enough, just as Daniel thought, five minutes after entering the mess a very sweaty Nicholas and Colleen stumbled in to find something to eat. Annie perked up the second she saw him. She and Daniel were still in the line she left her tray on the sliding rack and went to embrace him sweaty as he was. Daniel watched Nick smile, embrace her back lightly and then push her away pointing to himself and waving a hand in front of his face. Annie smiled wider, she didn’t care, she hugged him again.

The four of them sat down to a meal provided by the USAF and a bit of conversation. Jack, it turned out was right, the strawberry jell-o was very good. At the end of the scant meal Nick and Annie disappeared into the quarters Jack provided for them and Cole went to watch over Lilly. Daniel was left alone again and wondering when his wife was going to return. Duncan said it could be as long as a day but he hoped she’d be back much sooner than that. His head felt light and fuzzy, the way Calla’s probably did when she got the faded distant look in her eye—if he were to look in a mirror now he’d see the same blank expression on his own face—and knew that wherever she was Calla was tired it was time for her to rest and hoped Duncan MacLeod was watching over her.

“Hey,” Jack said as he stood in doorway to Daniel’s office with Sam and Teal’c behind him. “We brought you some coffee.”

“Thanks,” Daniel smiled. “I’m sorry I’m really not very good company am I?”

“You’re worried about Calla it’s understandable,” Sam said with a grin and sat down in one of the chairs across from his desk. “Any new pieces to the puzzle? We still haven’t heard anything from Thor or Ares, we contacted them but Thor said he had no news.

“The calm before the storm.” Daniel intoned and sipped off the hot slightly bitter brew, it wasn’t Calla’s coffee at all. Hers was bold and warm but never bitter. “I don’t know…well…look here.” Daniel showed them his notes and Nick’s notes while he told them there was the chance that a machine existed one that could send Hecate away into exile for a second time.

“Why didn’t Ares say something about this?” Jack asked finishing off the last of the coffee in his cup. “If he had a way to get rid of her…”

“Yeah,” Daniel pursed his lips, “I dunno. But ya know, who knows why Ares does anything?” He asked no one in particular. The bitter taste of burnt coffee on his tongue Daniel started thinking out loud. “Ares didn’t say anything about it before either, you know, when Kanan was taking her to Hecate and we all thought she was dead. Ares didn’t say anything about a way to kill her, in fact, he didn’t seem to want to meet her head on at all. So he must be afraid of her…at least on some level, right? You all saw him, God of War, he didn’t look to eager to meet her in battle, did he?”

“No, he didn’t.” Teal’c said. “He didn’t seem to want to send Callestah away with MacLeod either.”

“Nope, not really.” Jack agreed. “If this machine exists and we can make it work then we don’t have a problem.”

Machine. It was so odd to think of the Olympians working their magick with machinery. Everything Daniel had seen over the last eighteen years indicated there was no smoke, no mirrors and no technology to the magick Calla and her kind worked. Why didn’t Ares say something about it? He must have been alive when Hecate was banished maybe he was even present when the last show-down occurred. Why wasn’t he off trying to make the damn thing work?

Nicholas and Annie were currently sharing quarters which once belonged to his Father and where said Father had once or twice or fifty times made love to his Mother. These quarters had a private shower and after that workout Nick didn’t hesitate to jump under the hot jets but he was surprised when the curtain slowly peeled back and there stood Annie with nothing but a smile on. “Want some company?” She asked. “I can wash your back.” Annie invited. They almost never got the chance to do this at home the house always had someone else in it and the shower in the basement bathroom was just a small stall not sturdy enough for anything like what was about to happen. The one in her little trailer was even worse.

“Come on, the water’s warm.” Nick invited as he stepped back to allow her to enter the shower with him. Unlike the flimsy stall at home this one was twice the size and three walls were cinderblock, Nick was fairly certain it would not fall down around them. Stepping in next to him Annie reached out and wrapped her arms around his waist with a deep sigh. The water cascaded over them as he held her closer hoping he wouldn’t have to leave her. Oh my little Annie, he thought as he held her tight, she nuzzled her face into the space between his pecs and he let out a deep sigh. Dad left Mom a lot and Mom didn’t always do so well with it, oh it was never anything like the last time, never anything like Andrew F. Hartley but still, he saw her and the lost lonely longing in her emerald eyes. The more Dad was away the lonelier and more lost she became. Not Annie, though, Nick was sure Annie was tough she wouldn’t be like Mom if he had to go away for a while. She’d be ok.

He hoped.

Annie’s hands slipped from his waist to his buttocks and the water soaked her blonde hair plastering it to her face and shoulders. Nick brushed it away and tilted her face to look up at him. “You said you’d wash my back.” He reminded with a grin. “That ain’t my back.”

“It’s not?”

“Nope, I think that’s my ass.”

“Hum I think so too.” Annie said and gave the firm round cheek in her hand a good squeeze. “But you’re right I did say I’d wash your back, gimmie the cloth.” Nick handed over the white wash cloth and she soaped it up with the softly scented USAF issue soap. Reaching up with her hand she moved his long wet locks aside draping them over one thick shoulder and then began circling the lathery cloth over his shoulders and down his back. Nick had the greatest body Annie had ever seen. That was not to say that Annie had seen a lot of naked men but she’d seen her share in movies and on TV and every now and then in one those dirty magazines but she never liked those very much. By far Nick had them all beat, she never wanted to stop touching him. Spiraling down with the soapy her young slender hand moved across the well rutted hills and valleys of her husband’s back, making sure to get every nook and cranny clean, as she made her way to that firm buttocks she liked to grab. Annie didn’t have to see it she knew by his breathing that the place in front of that sweet ass was stirring to life and looking for her. One soapy hand slid around him to massage and awaken it while the other slid the lathered cloth between his crack.

“What are you doin’, Annie?”

“You know what I’m doin, Nicky. By the feel of it you like it.” She cooed from behind him, Annie loved holding his cock in her hand, it was just like the rest of him; big and meaty. “Want to make love in the shower? We’ve never done that.”

“I’ll make love with you anywhere, baby.” Nick promised, her lips parted in a wide smile he planted a deep kiss on them. “I love you, Annie, you know that, right?”

“I love you too, Nicky.” She said as he picked her up and settled her on his hips. “I love doing this with you.”

“Good cause I kinda like doin’ it with you too.” They’d never done in the shower and he’d never had her up against a wall before but Nick had been thinking about it a lot. After all, Umpa seemed to like it and so did Uncle David. But he wasn’t gonna be like them, nossir, he was not.

Suddenly pushed up against the warm wet cinder block Annie reached around his neck to find purchase and her breath became shallower as that hot hard cock of his rubbed against her inner thigh. He was going to hold her up against the wall and….“Nicky?” She asked breaking their kiss.

“Don’t be scared, Annie, it’s ok,” he reassured her as he felt the face pace of her heart as it beat against his. Having her at eye level with him was strange but good they felt even somehow. He could get used to this instead of always looking down at her which made him feel superior even though he didn’t want to. “Just hold on to me.”

“I’m never scared when I’m with you.” She whispered back just before she kissed him.

Holding her steady against the wall and to the height he wanted her, Nick pulled his hips back and that magnum sized cock of his slipped from snaking along her inner thigh and slid into her tender young body. They’d done this many, many times before and after their marriage but still every time he penetrated her he did it with the most excruciatingly pleasurable piercing sensation. Annie was never sure if it hurt or it felt good all she knew what she didn’t want him to stop. The hot water washed down over their joined bodies while they kissed and made love.

The heat built like the steam around them when Nicholas broke the kiss to catch his breath he found himself looking down at their joined hips. In the water and the heat he took in one of his favorite sites. Annie was so young and taunt that when he thrust in and out of her Nick could watch the ripples his cock made beneath her toned skin just as he could see it now. It always made him hot he thrust a little harder but not too much Annie was small and, having known only him, her little pussy sucked his hard shaft like a snug glove. Shouldn’t wear that particular glove in too quickly. That would be a shame, no, a crime. Like a fine wine Annie should age on her own not because he pushed her into it. Nicholas supposed that was a little something Umpa and Uncle David never understood but he did and by the way she cooed, moaned and suckled the flesh on his neck, Nick thought it was a safe bet that Annie liked it.

Being here in this shower on the base wasn’t like being at home or in her little trailer where the walls were thin. This place was nothing but cinderblock and concrete. “More,” Nick whispered in her ear. “Louder. Come on, Annie, no one can hear. Just like when we’re in our own house and you can let go.”

“Nicky?” Her eyes questioned him more than her voice.

“I love you, Annabelle Jackson. It’s a’right, it’s just you n me, nobuddy’s gonna care. Just you n me.” At his words her insides became wetter seemed she liked that idea. Holding herself tightly against him, her arms wrapped around his neck and her nails sinking into the tough flesh of his back she rocked on him and became more vocal. Nick liked that, his cock twitched and stiffened.

Time stood still and the world faded away while they made love.

“There’s my littlest angel,” Colleen cooed picking up Lilly who was just waking up from her nap. “My girl, did you miss mommy?” She asked and kissed the baby’s soft cheek. “Oooh, I see why we woke up, yes I do.” She said in a silly voice which made Lilly roar with baby laughter. Lilly had a very besotted diaper. “Come on, mommy will take care of that and then we’ll have something to eat. Sound good to you, boss lady?” Lilly laughed and in her giggles Colleen could have sworn that her two month old daughter said ‘yeah’. Laying her down on the bed and stripping off the pj’s Colleen cleaned up Lilly and changed her diaper.

Sandy hadn’t been around much lately. College started earlier for him and he didn’t come home over the Christmas break, when he called to say ‘Merry Christmas’ he said his parents wouldn’t pay for the trip. His parents, they hadn’t even inquired about their granddaughter never mind set eyes on her, they h and’t even sent her a Christmas card or gift. Sandy seemed so filled with good intentions the day Lilly was born but they soon flitted away. “That’s ok, isn’t it my angel?” Coley cooed as she fastened the fresh diaper and tucked Lilly’s little legs back into the pjs. “We’re just fine without them, we don’t need them at all. Do we? No we certainly don’t.” So fuck ‘em if they don’t wanna know you, cuz, kiddo, I think you’re the champagne. With the baby all clean and fresh once more, Colleen took off her top and held Lilly to her breast. Feeding Lilly and feeling her suckle, Cole thought about what her Mother said about not breastfeeding her and Nicky when they were babies and she felt sad. Mom shouldn’t have missed out of this and maybe with her new brother she’d be able to feel what Cole was feeling right now as she stared into Lilly’s sparkling blue eyes. The baby started to coo and giggle as she did little dribbles of milk spilled from the sides of her mouth and down her pudgy pink cheeks. “Ha ha ha ha, yourself, munchkin.” Coley said with a wide smile and held her Daughter a little tighter and a little higher at her breast. “I love you, Lilly. You’ll see everything’s gonna be cool, no worries little girl.” Lilly’s little hands cupped Coley’s breast while she drank and grinned up at her Mother. Right now she was so little and helpless but soon Lilly would be walking and talking and getting into trouble. Not long after that she’d go to school and make lots of friends, she’d take journalism classes and be on the school newspaper. She’d get a boyfriend and he’d take her out on dates. While looking forward to the future pleased her on several levels, Colleen felt sorrow that one day the happy little bundle in her arms would be too big to hold like this and she wouldn’t need her mother anymore. “Not for a while yet,” she said to herself. “For now you’re all mine.” Coley smiled and shook her head, her red hair fell in Lilly’s face and the baby grabbed a small fistful with one hand. “Yes, you are, you’re all mine.”

End of Chapter Fifteen
The Cradle Will Fall
Continue to
Chapter Sixteen