We passed upon the stairs
We spoke of was and when
Although I wasn't there
He said I was his friend
Which came as some surprise
I spoke into his eyes;
I thought you died alone a long long time ago"
Oh no, not me. I never lost control. You're face
to face with the man who sold the world."
The Man Who Sold The World
David Bowie

What the hell was he doing here, sitting in the dark, in the cold, in his beat up old Duster when he should be curled up somewhere with a bottle of Jack Daniels and maybe a little female companionship to warm him up. He had picked up a pair of cheap binoculars at the pawnshop in town today and now he took them from their hiding place under the front seat (many goodies were hidden under there!) and raised them to his eyes. Every night for the past two weeks, he had sat up here on this hill staring down at the scene below him. Every night he waited and watched and every night nothing happened. He was in there, damn it! He just knew it.

The lights of the heavily guarded military base were bright against the night sky and tonight (as every night) he could see several sentries on patrol behind the razor wire. He would never get in there. Might as well just pack it up for the night. It was still early, only 7:30, the package stores were still open, maybe he could get himself that bottle of JD, yeah, and maybe he could find a little of that female companionship too.

He was just about to lower the binoculars, when it looked like his patience might pay off. The big steel door opened and five people emerged from it. One he knew-- how could he not? He had seen that face in his nightmares every night for the past 25 years. He glanced in the rearview mirror, that was not the only place he saw that face. The second he recognized though, he had not met her. She had been in his dreams too, with the other one, taunting him, teasing him. Offering him things she said he could never have.

Fuck that.

The big black man got into a white Lexus with an older white man. The white woman got into her own car, a light blue Thunderbird. He liked that one, it wasn’t an old piece of shit, it was one of those new fancy models built to look like the older ones but faster. The other two walked to a third vehicle, a black Jetta. They stood outside it for a moment talking. From his vantage point, it seemed like the auburn haired woman wanted to drive and the man was refusing her request. He’d give in. He was sure of it. Soon enough the fair skinned and auburn haired woman gave the man with the short brown hair a pout and held out her hand. He laughed as he watched the man hand over the keys and climb into the passenger seat. The outer gates slowly slid back on their tracks and all three cars exited into the night.

With stealthy precision he followed at a slow safe pace and distance. The T-bird and the Lexus didn’t interest him, he kept his eyes focused on the black Jetta, license plate Colorado NCC-1701, but it soon became apparent that all of them were going to the same place. He followed the little convoy over the darkened mountain roads towards the town of Silver Springs below.

Rolling down the window just a smidge and lighting the Marlboro sticking out of his mouth, he thought of how damn cold it was here in Colorado and flicked on the heater. He would rather be back in his little studio apartment in Corpus Christi then riding around these dusty mountain roads with the chill biting at his neck. Back at the Crow’s Nest shooting pool and the shit over a few shots of JD while Willie Nelson crooned on the jukebox. Maybe at the end of the night the bartender, Linda --a big-busted blond woman if there ever was one!-- would let him take her home.

In the end, none of that mattered. After all these years, Fate had finally dealt him a winning hand. When luck like that rolled around, you didn’t ask questions, you just went with it, as he was doing now.

Soon the little convoy was pulling in the double driveway of 1313 Mockingbird Lane; he pulled his old Duster to a halt about a quarter mile up the road. He did not need the binoculars to take in the scene that was playing out below him. The man who had ridden in the black Jetta, Daniel, let himself out of the car and grabbed a firm hold of a for sale sign that was sticking out of the dirt in the front yard of the colonial style house, he tossed it across the lawn with a good natured grin. The other people who had come to gather at this little housewarming party were now opening their trucks and taking brightly wrapped packages from them.

So, it was true, Danny had bought himself a house. He had read about the closing on the property in the legal section of the Colorado sun times three days ago and had cruised by here just to check the place out yesterday. As he dragged from his cigarette, he wondered just where his brother had been living up until now if he hadn’t a home of his own. That answer was easy to grasp, he had probably been living on the military base and sucking off the welfare of others all these years, just as he always did. The little sap. Always so ready and willing to suck up to whoever was around him.

Daniel was sliding a key into the lock of the front door and letting everyone inside; in a few moments, he would take a walk down the cul-de-sac and see if he could get a look in the windows. Not just yet, he lit another Marlboro and drew deeply from the smoke, give ‘em time to get a little lit first, the chances of anyone inside noticing him would be lessened once they’d had time to get a drink or two in them. He caught sight of himself in the rearview mirror, oh what a shame, he thought as he stroked his own shoulder length sun-bleached hair, he would have to cut that off and shave his beard as well. But no bother, it was only hair, it would grow back. Tomorrow he would go to the eye-shop in the local mall (every mall had at least one!) and pick up a pair of glasses like Danny’s. David had always been partial to contacts but glasses seemed to be called for and so he would have to get them. First, he wanted to get into the house. Tomorrow, he reminded himself, tomorrow everything would be set into action.

“Nice place, Daniel.” Jack remarked as they walked into the two-story colonial house that Daniel had closed on this afternoon. “Good job.”

Since his ascension Daniel owned almost no worldly possessions, what he did have left was waiting for him in storage. He had already sent for it, his belongings were slated to arrive the day after tomorrow, until then the house was a bit empty and only three boxes sat in the corner of the living room waiting to be unpacked. The other things, the bed, two computers and two television sets had been moved into the house earlier in the day. His credit card was about to take another hit at the furniture store and the appliance store and the carpet store. Daniel laughed to himself as the thoughts went through his head.

That was all right, after spending the last 3 years living on the base, he had saved just about every dime the military had paid him. For the first time in his life, Daniel was aware of the fact that he didn‘t necessarily have to scrimp and save any longer. “Thanks, I like it.”

“Ok, isn’t it time for the Grand Tour?” Sam asked as she came over to where the two men stood talking.

Daniel led them around the house, upon entering the front door one entered into the living room that had a big picture window on the left-hand wall. The view was of the side yard and a small garden that the previous owner had planted there. At the far end of the living room was the object that had really caused Daniel to buy the house, a fireplace. He supposed she could sleep by it if she wanted to, but hoped that she would spend many nights lying with him by it before they made their way upstairs. Over the last month he had brought her back up to the hillside and lit the fire for her, Calla would lay by it on a blanket or in the dirt and stare up at the stars. To him it seemed that she almost drew as much comfort from the flames heat as she did from him. Lately it had been too cold for Calla to climb the hill in the night, the fire and his body heat were not enough to keep her warm, not up here in the Colorado Rockies where the temperature currently hovered somewhere around 40 degrees in the daytime. Daniel had taken a cue from Teal’c and brought candles into his quarters. She loved them, they were almost as good as the fires he would build on the hillside for her.

Off the living room to the right was a spare room that he intended to use as study. As they made their way through the living room to the middle of the house, they came into a large kitchen. Some of the appliances needed to be replaced and the kitchen could use a new floor but it had a large center isle and chef’s stove. Past the kitchen was a large screened-in porch that looked out onto the back yard where a staunch shed stood to the left and the train ran on rails beyond. It was far enough away so that it should not bother them once they got used to it. Back inside, off to the right of the kitchen was a formal dining room. Upon exiting the dining room, they came to the stairs that lead to the second floor and the two bedrooms and one bath up there.

“I know it needs a little work,” Daniel said as he rubbed his hands together and looked around, “but I can do it.” Jack snorted. “What?” He turned to look at Jack. “I can swing a hammer.”

“Without hitting your thumb?” Jack laughed and clapped Daniel on the back. “If you need any help let me know, huh?”

“Sure. Thanks.” Daniel led them back down the stairs and into the living room where Calla had a platter of cheese, crackers and fruit waiting for them. They didn’t have any formal wine glasses and so there were disposable plastic cups sitting next to chilled bottles of wine. Calla filled plastic cups with good wine, passed around the hoer’s oeuvres. She laughed, she smiled and made genuine conversation, she had given up her use of those one or two word phrases and begun talking to those around her more like an adult. Calla had proven she was intelligent and quick witted over the last few weeks. She just seemed to captivate everyone around her and it seemed to come so effortlessly to her, she didn’t even know she was doing it. Daniel was growing fonder of her every day. Although the last month had not been the easiest of his life, she was a challenge to say the least, he had gone to sleep every night and woke up every morning with her in his arms and thanked whatever Gods there were for bringing her into his life. He could love her, he knew that, but he wasn’t sure if he could love her because his heart told him to or if it was because of the bond she shared with him. As such, he hesitated to give in to what he felt, but that did not stop him from sleeping with her.

“You’re looking good these days, Daniel.” Jack complimented from behind Daniel. “You working out?”

Daniel tossed kindling into the fireplace and then rose to look at the Colonel. “No in the ah, traditional sense, no.” Daniel smiled happily as he glanced across the room at Calla. Now that Jack mentioned it, Daniel realized that he felt exceptionally well, almost like he was in his early twenties and full of steam, ready to take on the world. This morning, as he packed up his shaving equipment from the bathroom on the base, he glanced at his reflection in the mirror and swore that the little lines beginning to appear around the corners of his eyes had faded.

“You’ve really been good for her. She’s really growing up.” Jack remarked from behind Daniel as he bent to build a fire.

“Yeah, I noticed.” Daniel chuckled as he looked at her over his shoulder.

“So have you.” Jack’s tone did not change. “Look at you, finally moved out of the house. Got yourself a nice girl. Before ya know it, you’ll be making babies.” Jack drank deeply from the cup in his hand.

Daniel pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose as he stood up and away from the fire he had lit while he ignored the comment. He knew what Jack meant and that he meant it well, there was no need to argue over it. While he did not fool himself into thinking that a mere month with him had made up for a lifetime of abuse, Calla did seem to be doing much better than she had been when he first brought her here. She had gotten away from her use of the word ‘Master’ before his name, a fact for which he was profoundly grateful. She now had several new friends, Colonel Jack, Major Samantha, Sir Teal’c, Doctor Janet and General George.

Calla did seem to prefer Sam’s company to that of the others but she no longer attempted to shy away from conversation with any of them, not even Jack, if they wished to talk with her. She was curious about the world around her. As well as about, how things worked and rarely did he show her anything more than once and she understood it. Just last week, Daniel had sat down with her in his lab and thought he might show her how to read some hieroglyphics, Calla had surprised him by learning to what amounted to college level Hieroglyphics 101 in an afternoon.

Before she and Sam had returned from their shopping spree she was knowledgeable in the workings of driving a car and had begged Daniel to let her try, just let her try it! Upon her return. The next morning, Daniel capitulated and she had driven the Jetta down the winding country road toward town without any hesitation or problems whatsoever. She had complained that his car lacked the ‘hand stick’ that Samantha’s had.

In the process of showing her how the world worked and trying to be the Adult in his recent situation, Daniel imaged that he had grown up to a certain extent. If he not met her, he would not be standing in the living room of his very own house by his very own fire. He would still have his nose buried in a book somewhere. While he would have admitted to anyone who asked that yes he had purchased the house for Calla, the base he realized was unsuitable for her. He wanted her to live in a place that had plenty of sunlight and where she could walk out the door at any moment she pleased to without having to check in and out. The base really was far too much like Kanan’s keep. What he would not so readily admit was just why he had done so. It was not unpleasant memories the base might have brought to her but because of the men who resided there, which concerned him most.

Upon coming back from their shopping spree at the mall and handing over his credit card, (which Daniel swore was actually smoking when she gave it to him), Sam had related the way the men had reacted to her and told him to keep an eye on her. Daniel had done so. On the occasions they walked the halls of the base together, (she always walked on his left and either held his hand or looped her arm through his own), the soldiers would glance at her. However, when she walked the halls on her own and Daniel caught sight of her and those around her, he watched them leer at her she passed. Daughter to Aphrodite, they would stop in their tracks as she walked by, stopping to take in a long cool drink before she was out of their line of sight. Most of the time it was just as Sam had said; Calla did not notice them at all. Sometimes she did and she would either nod or give them a smile but never did she talk to them. Daniel found himself wondering how much danger was in those leers and just safe she might be, or not. He had started looking for a house almost immediately; he wanted to move her out of there and away from them.

That was obvious to him on the day he had walked into the mess hall to find Calla playing a guitar, which Lt. King had lent her, and singing an old Eagles tune “The Last Resort”. There wasn’t anything wrong in that, not by itself anyway. The people he worked with had stopped shoveling the undercooked food into their mouths and all eyes were on her as she strummed the guitar and say; “She came from Providence, the one in Rhode Island. Where the Old World shadows hang, heavy in the air....”

Daniel had stood out of her line of sight and watched the scene. As he stood there watching her he kept reminding himself that there wasn’t anything wrong with it, really there was not. She was just sitting there happily strumming the guitar and singing the old Eagles song, all eyes were upon her. This was something she often did alone in his room while she waited for him to return to her. Daniel would open the door to his quarters to find the stereo on hi and Calla dancing around the room singing whatever old rock and roll tune she had picked out from her new CD collection. When she did this alone in his quarters it made him smile, but here it made him nervous. “They call it Paradise, I don’t know why. You call some place Paradise kiss it good-bye. “As Calla finished the song, he had walked away from the door with an uneasy mind.

Maybe even that would not have been so bad except there were the comments he received on a daily basis. Nothing threatening by any means, and he probably should have found them flattering but he did not. No, he did not like the men he worked with saying things like;

“Gee, Dr. Jackson, she’s really great.”

or

“If you weren’t dating her already, I’d go after her myself.”

or

“She sure is pretty, Dr. Jackson.”

More than the comments he got or the looks and leers she received, it was her absolute lack of attention that bugged him. Daniel wasn’t sure if she was truly unaware of what was happening around her or if she was just choosing to ignore it, either way, it could turn out badly for her. It was his to see job to it that nothing bad should befall her, wasn’t it? Daniel had begun to understand Kanan’s reasoning when he confined her to the walls of his Keep and ultimately to his chamber alone.

When she wasn’t playing to the masses, he could usually find her at the laptop he had installed in his quarters surfing the Internet. Once he showed her how to work the computer, he couldn’t get her off it. She spent hours playing games and playing catch up on the happenings on Planet Earth over the last 25 years. Daniel was glad he had not informed of her of IM programs, he kept her out of chat rooms as well. He had tried to explain to her that the people were not always who they said they were but she didn’t understand. Afraid she would do something foolish out of nothing more than sheer naivety he had blocked her from entering them any more.

Through her ever-increasing skills with the keyboard, Calla had learned of the assassination of John Lennon, the death of George Harrison, Union Carbide, the gruesome Life and Times of a man by the name of Saddam Hussein, AIDS, and September 11, 2001. She looked up at him that night with tears in her eyes and remarked that in her absence the world had gone insane and that it was a wonder the Mortals of this planet had not managed to destroy themselves.

Daniel supposed she was right.

“General’s starting to ask when you’re going have her take us on this little trip.” Jack said as he took the last drink from his glass. “Any idea on what I should tell him?”

Daniel had stalled on this issue; in fact, he hadn’t really even brought it up to her over the last two weeks. Truth was he didn’t want to bring her to Ares or anywhere near a place where the Olympa might be hanging out. What if they were not happy to see her? What if they tried to send her back to Kanan? “Soon,” he said as he stared across the room at the woman who was currently sharing his life and his bed. “I just want to get her settled in here and then we’ll start making plans.”

“Yeah, I got it. “ Jack reached into his pants pocket. “By the way, he’s really grateful for you letting the boys in the lab have a look at her. “

“Is he? Well, that’s good. “Daniel said absently. Calla’s day with the boys in the lab had not been what anyone of them had expected. Daniel had taken there mainly to appease the General, he knew he was dragging his feet on taking Calla to Greece and hoped that having her spend a day with the Lab Rats would help make up for that in some small way.

Daniel sat with her while Dr. O’Gara and his assistants hooked her up to machines, put suction cups on her head and chest, little alligator clips on her fingers. They subjected her to another MRI this one scanned her brain. Calla sat patiently and allowed them to do whatever they wanted, so long as Daniel stayed with her. At Dr. O’Gara’s demand, she attempted to produce either the healing or the protective energy and could not, once again, she reiterated her assertion that there had to be a need for such things. Daniel began to fidget in his seat; he wanted to take her out of here and away from the Lab Rats. An idea had come to him and Daniel told her that his back ached, would she rub it for him? Sure enough, a few moments after her hands touched his bare skin they began faintly glowing with amber light. The machines around her began to make noise, they recorded her brain activity, heart rate, blood oxygen content and only god knew what else. In a few minutes, he told her that was enough, the amber light retreated back into the palms of her hands. Dr. O’Gara and his boys oohed and ahhed, they thought that was a cool trick. However, Dr. O’Gara wanted to see her make wounds disappear and they wanted to know how her protective shield worked, he was damn insistent upon it. Doing so was against his better judgment but the information could be very valuable to all of them. Instead of taking her away, Daniel provided the need she was looking for by taking a small pocketknife from his pants pocket. He opened the blade in front of Calla who looked at him with a very puzzled expression, although he was certain she already knew what he was going to do. Without hesitation, Daniel drew the sharp cutting edge across the palm of his hand, the wound opened easily and his blood began to pour through his palm and onto the floor of the lab. Calla rubbed her hands together immediately and reached out quickly to grab his injured hand in both of her own. Before the unbelieving eyes of Dr. O’Gara and the Lab Rats, the gash, which probably would have required seven or eight stitches, turned back into smooth unblemished flesh. The cut appeared on Calla’s left palm; Daniel covered it with his own. The amber light turned in on itself and when she opened her hand, again no trace of the wound remained. Before Daniel could look up and ask them if they were satisfied yet, Dr. O’Gara called out his name in a hard voice. Daniel’s head snatched up to see that Dr. O’Gara had drawn a gun and was pointing it at his head. The blue light appeared before him before the lab rat could even think of pulling the trigger.

Calla stood quickly between Daniel and Dr. O’Gara with one hand facing out in Daniel’s direction, a stream of blue light emanated from her palm and surrounded him from head to toe. The other palm faced the Dr. O’Gara and in it was a glowing ball of pure fire. “Holy shit! “ Daniel exclaimed as he tried to duck away from the shield surrounding him but it followed his movements as though attached to him. “Put it down!” Daniel demanded. As the blood drained away from his face, Dr. O’Gara dropped the gun onto the desk and swore that it was not even loaded; he never intended to shoot Dr. Jackson at all. “Calla, it’s all right. It’s over. “The blue light disappeared back into her palm but the fire ball in the other remained. “I have to throw it.” She said in a quite voice as she struggled to maintain control of the growing ball of fire in her hand. “Master Daniel, I have to.” Not being able to control it any longer she thrust her arm all the way forward and tossed the flaming ball at the far cement wall. It burst through the cement, leaving a divide that was more than a foot across in the eight-inch thick cement. The glass partitions in the lab shattered, with the force of the explosion, raining broken glass down on those in the lab and bursting forth into the hallway beyond. The alarms overhead went off, Calla covered her hears to block out the sound and clutched her arms around him. The sprinklers went off in the lab and soon everything, including the five people in the room, were soaking wet. Security guards ran inside the lab with their guns drawn, Daniel grabbed her and held her tight to him so that she did not see the weapons they held. “I’m sorry.” Daughter to Ares, Daniel had not even suspected that she possessed such an ability to defend. “That’s enough.” Soaked through to the skin and watching the smoldering smoke still rising from the cement wall, Daniel took Calla by the hand to lead her out of the lab. A shaken Dr. O’Gara stared at them with his mouth agape as they neared the door; he called out a question before Daniel could get her through the door. “Why is the energy different colors?” Calla shook and shivered from cold as her clothes stuck to her skin and water dripped from the tip of her nose, she held very tightly to Daniel and in a small voice explained that amber, like her Mother’s hair, was the color she associated most with healing and that pale blue was the color she most associated with protection. Daniel stood with her and let her answer the outrageously stupid quick which had been asked of her, when she was done he lead out of the lab and back to his quarters as quickly as he could.

Later that day, while Calla slept safe in his bed, Daniel cornered Dr. O‘Gara (quite literally) in one of the corridors and laid into him over the stunt he pulled. In a very serious voice, Daniel warned Dr. O’Gara that he and his Lab Rats were to stay away from Calla. As Daniel stuffed his hands into his pockets and turned to walk away, Dr. O‘Gara called after him. “Don’t you want to know why I asked her about the colors? That light blue protective energy she produces, since before you knew her, it’s the same exact color as your eyes, you know, Dr. Jackson.” Dr. Jackson had avoided Dr. O’Gara since.

Jack looked over at Daniel as they stood by the fire in the living room he was lost in thought. Calla, Sam and Teal’c were having a very nice chat over a bottle of wine. Sam was giving her opinion on window treatments and Teal’c was saying that suit of armor would look good in the corner by the fireplace. Everyone had an opinion. “Hey, Hammond sent these over for her.” He handed over a small stack of what looked like credit cards. “Now that you’re living off base and all, he thought she might need them.”

Daniel glanced through the small stack Jack had handed him and realized it was identification for Calla. There was a driver’s license, library card, birth certificate, passport and two credit cards, all of them with the sole exception of the birth certificate said Calla Jackson on them.

“They, ah, made her your wife.” Jack shrugged. “I guess the boys figured that you two didn’t exactly look like brother and sister, you know.”

“Marriage certificate.” Daniel stuttered as he continued to sift through the pile. “They forgot the marriage certificate.”

“No, they didn’t.” From his other pocket, Jack produced one piece of paper that said that Daniel Jackson and Calla Jones had been married on May 5 in the year 2003 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. “I guess they thought the idea of you being newlyweds was a good cover, you know, with the new house and all.” Jack leaned in close to Daniel’s ear. “It’s not legal you know. It’s just for show.”

“I know.” Daniel put the items into his shirt pocket.

“These too.” Jack reached into another pocket and produced two solid gold bands. Daniel opened his hand and Jack dropped them in.

“Hey, it’s time to open the gifts we brought.” Sam said as she walked over to where the men were engaged in heavy conversation.

Standing outside in the cold of the late autumn night, David crept up to the window to get a good look at his brother and the woman who was sharing his life. Were they married? If so, how long? Were they engaged? Maybe they were just bumping uglies. He would know better if she was still there come tomorrow morning. David scratched notes into a scraggly notebook as he stood in the shadow of a street lamp peering in through the picture window at his brother and friends. Everything looked so nice. So peaceful. So calm.

Man, was that gonna change.

After an hour or so the little gathering began to break up and David made his way back to the Duster to wait and watch while the T-Bird and Lexus pulled out of the driveway of Daniel’s new house and passed him on their way back up the cul-de-sac. In a few moments, he would make his way back down to the little house to peek in the window. Who knew? Maybe he’d get lucky when he got down there.

“Calla, come and sit with me.” Daniel bid as he tossed two large throw pillows onto the floor before the burning hearth. “As I see it, we have two choices.” He began and she sat next to him on one of the pillows. “We can either sleep here by the fire, or take all that stuff upstairs and put the bed together.”

She did not hesitate. “I would like to sleep by the fire with you. The blankets are in the box over there.” She pointed to a large cardboard box that had earlier served as a makeshift coffee table. Calla kissed his cheek before rising and taking the blankets from the box, she tossed them at him and Daniel spread them out on the carpet in front of the fire. “Daniel?”

“Yes?”

“Why don’t you sleep with Major Samantha?” Calla tossed the last pillow in his direction. Off his game, the pillow hit him squarely in the chest and then fell to the floor at his feet.

“Why would you ask me that?” Daniel returned when he had time to think. “Sam and I work together, Cal, work. That’s all.” He tossed another log into the flames and gave the fire a good poke.

“She is very pretty.” Calla encouraged as she began to smooth out the blankets he had lain on the floor. “Don’t you want to experience her? I‘m sure it would not interfere with your work.”

“Yes, it would.” He sat beside her on the blanket and brushed the hair away from her face. “What’s this about, hum? Are you trying to get rid of me?”

The question seemed absurd, how could she possibly want to away from him when he was the very air that she breathed? “No, of course not. It is just that Kanan had so many women and you spend all of your time and attentions on me. You must be tiring of me by now.”

Daniel smiled without thinking or holding back. “I’ll never get tired of you.”

Calla pulled away from his embrace. “That is very flattering,” she said in a soft voice, “but you are a man, you must....want. Don’t you?”

“Hum-um.” He agreed as he ran his hands though her hair. “I want you.” Daniel kissed her full on the mouth; Calla did not pull away from him. “Just you.”

The idea of her being his only lover for the rest of her days was most intriguing to her, most desirable. It was not realistic. “She has no Master. I know my place,” she reminded him softly, “I am not your wife, Sha‘re is your wife.”

“No, you’re not my wife.” He thought of the identification hiding his shirt pocket that stated otherwise. “You know that Sha’re is dead, she is never coming back to me. You’re not my Cha'Dech.” This were two of those sticking points that he’d kept running into over the course of the last month and he supposed he would run into for a good while to come. He knew that Calla understood Sha’re was dead but she would not stop putting her memory between them.

Daniel had put away the photograph which had been beside his bed the last few years in the hopes that without the constant reminder of his past, Calla would open up a bit more to him. Instead, Calla had found the photograph within hours, (in fact, he was convinced that she had actually gone looking for it! She had to have because he removed it from his quarters and put it a desk drawer in his office) and she placed back in its proper place on the nightstand next to where he slept. Behind it was the staff he had used to take command of her soul during the ritual. That had also come from his office; Calla had placed it behind the photograph in the corner by his side of the bed, just where he remembered seeing it when Kanan lay dying in his bed. Daniel wanted to tell her that, like Sam, she had no Master either, but Calla was not ready to hear that. She was still a long way away from being able to handle freedom on her own. Baby steps, he reminded himself, just so long as they kept going forward together, she would eventually be able to live free.

Without him?

That was not a thought that brought him any happiness. What would happen when she did stand on her own two feet and make her own way in this world? Calla would still be tied to him but perhaps she would no longer want him as she did now. What would become of the bond between them if that should come to pass?

“I’ve got something for you.” Daniel reached into his shirt pocket, thumbed past the new identification hiding there and produced a large hand-rolled object. “Doctor Janet said that you should have this from time to time.” Finding marijuana had been easier than he had ever expected, he had in fact bought a forty-five dollar bag from one of the MPs on the base. So much for the military’s stance on drug use.

“Mansis?” She asked.

“Ah-uh. Why don’t you bring that bottle of wine over here and sit by the fire with me.” Daniel invited. Once upon a time, he had thought himself above the concept of seduction but not tonight. Tonight with the fire, the wine and the mansis, she would be very ready to be seduced, she would drop her veil, if only for a little while and give over to him rather than tell him what she thought he wanted to hear. Calla was the Queen of Diversion and of Telling Lies of Omission. Many times over the last month he had caught her calling attention away from whatever the subject at hand was, usually Kanan or Ares, and piping his mind off in a different direction. She was very skilled at it, most of the time he didn’t even realize she had done it until the conversation was over and he remembered what it was he had set out to do in the first place, before she had called his mind off to something far more gratifying. On the rare occasion she had been unable to divert him from his line of questioning, she had simply skipped over what she did not want to talk about or replied in terms so vague he was left to wonder if she had answered him at all.

Not tonight.

Calla stretched out by the fire with Daniel at her side and a bottle of white wine in her hands. “Then what am I, Daniel? If I am not your concubine, if I am not here to satisfy you, why am I here? What is my place?”

Daniel lit the joint and drew a deep toke from the pine-scented smoke; he leaned down and parted her lips with his tongue as he gently blew the smoke into her lungs. Eagerly she accepted the gift he gave her. “Here with me, as my lover, not my whore.” He leaned in close to her ear. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I find you most satisfying.” Soft lips landed on the nape of her neck. “No more talk of other lovers, ok?” He drew smoke into his lungs once again and gave it with her.

Calla looked deeply into the eyes of the man sharing in the sacred herb with her and saw that he did speak the truth. Daniel did not think of her in the way that Kanan and even Ares had, she was not a prize to be won or lost, bought or sold. Not to Daniel anyway. Afraid to look into the softness reflected back at her any longer, afraid she would fall in there and never come out again, Calla closed her own eyes against the sight of the world he offered her. “It’s just that, if you want her, or someone else. If you want,” her eyes opened to look at him, “us to...”

Daniel put his fingertips up to her lips, her eyes like her voice was starting to trail off and away from him. He took another hit off the joint and shared the smoke with her. “What are you offering me?” His voice was soft and inviting as it waited for her reply.

Calla let the smoke fill her lungs and her mind as she searched for the English word for ya’ku mon and found none. “If you want me to make love to her,” she stopped as she heard him draw in a harsh breath. She looked up to see the sparkle in his eyes. The idea did appeal to him. It appealed to all men, didn’t it? “Kanan would often bring other women into our bed, I can please her.” Calla bid. “You can watch and then you can take her.”

“Been thinking about this for a while?” Daniel asked and smiled as the answer flashed across her eyes; yes, she had been thinking about it. “Is that something you enjoyed?” The joint was growing smaller, it was getting to the point where he could not hold it between his fingers much longer but still he drew a deep hit and closed his mouth around hers, giving the smoke to her waiting lungs. Jesus, he hoped they didn’t piss test him any time soon. This was the only way she would take it. Kanan had made a ritual out of it, one that could be very enjoyable as it was right now, but it was also a control mechanism and Daniel warned himself against using it. Whenever he wanted her to be calm, Kanan would share this with her and in this way only. Kanan forbid her to touch the herb without him. Kanan dolled everything out to her in just the increments he wanted to and in the time he wanted to.

Calla thought about it for a few moments while the smoke settled in her lungs. She had never stopped to wonder if she had really enjoyed the act or not, only that it was a part of her life and something she did to please her Master. Calla began to relate to him one of the Rites of Passage of the Shankuk people. It was one that Daniel found most disconcerting but he listened to her. Each member of the Royal Court turned over his daughter to the king one month prior to her turning 15. For the month before her birthday, she was held in the small tower room where Daniel had been taken. She was locked away there until two weeks after she bled, at which point, after a fine dinner and ceremony, she would be taken away to Kanan’s chamber where Calla would ready the young virgin for her Master. For three days, she would be held in his chamber and give over to him or Calla at any time he requested it. After the end of those three days, she was once again taken to the tower room for one month. If she bled, she was freed. If she did not, Kanan had to accept his heir and his new wife. In twenty-five years, he had failed to produce an heir in this fashion and thus had no wife, only his Cha’Dech.

“And you enjoyed that?” Daniel asked as poured the last of bottle into her cup. At first, he thought she would tell him that her enjoyment had not mattered that it simply was what it was, she loved to use that line of reasoning with him.

“I was not adverse to the experience.” Calla drank down a long sip of the wine. It was the truth, their touch, no matter how wanted or not, was so much softer than Naganti Kanan’s had ever been.

“Is that a ‘yes’?”

Calla sidestepped him. “Or, if you would prefer,” her words staggered but Calla continued on, “another man.”

“How is that possible?”

“If you…touch me…”Calla’s words began to break apart but still she forged ahead, “..when he does…it…it”

“It won’t burn you, will it? Because my touch already registers, it sort of cancels his out, huh?”

Calla raised her index finger to her lips. "Shhh," she whispered and looked around the room with her eyes wide, "it's a secret. You must never tell. Kume?" She sounded like a 12 year-old sharing some deliciously wicked secret with her best friend on the playground at school.

“I promise, I won't tell." Daniel agreed and in that instant he would have sworn he was looking into the eyes of a little girl. “You liked it?” he asked even though he already knew the answer. Calla had loathed it, the memory danced in her eyes and Daniel did not turn away from it. Her mind to his, it was like being the last balcony row of an old theatre, watching a movie which had been run so many times that its colors had faded to almost nothing, only those dark emerald orbs were the screen upon which it played and the sound was turned down low. The latter he was profoundly grateful for, he could see her lips moving and he knew that she was begging, pleading with them, not to harm her. His head tingled and buzzed, in the back of his mind he could quite clearly see a young Calla cringing away from two pair of dark hands which were descending toward her. Calla did not answer him, she only stared at him with those wounded eyes, and she was trying to so hard to find something that she could give him that would equal the material things he had given to her over the last month. “Then why offer it to me?” Daniel reached out to trace his fingertips along the outline of her cheek. Again, he already knew the answer to his question, it was as plain as the fear in her eyes; Calla was still trying everything she knew to please her Master. Especially now when he had given her such a nice place to live, some place which was not constantly surrounded by strangers. Some place much more private where certain things could take place and no one need ever know. “You don’t have to do that anymore. Please, tell me you know that. Lie to me if you have to.”

“It was considered to be a great honor if Naganti Kanan invited one into his bed with me. Would you not like such an experience, Daniel?”

Again, she was trying to side step him. “I consider it an honor every time you let me make love with you, Calla.” He watched as she blushed and turned her eyes away from him. “And no, I wouldn‘t like such an experience.” Daniel told her as he rose from the floor and held up the bottle of wine, “It’s empty.” He smile and realized that his words had two meanings, much like hers often did. “I think there’s one more left.” Daniel crossed out of the living and into the kitchen. A threesome, with Sam? Well, that certainly was an appealing idea, now wasn’t it? If only for a brief moment anyway. As he stood in the kitchen reaching for the bottle of wine, Daniel realized that he had absolutely no intentions of every sharing her with anyone. There would not be another woman and certainly never another man in their bed. Still, the thoughts lingered in the back of his mind as he returned to her with a fresh bottle of wine. Filling the cup again, he kept his eyes away from her. “Twenty-five years is a long time for Kanan not to produce an heir.” Now he did look at her. “How do you suppose that happened?”

Calla stared into the flames while she drank from the cup he had filled for her. Master Daniel loved to ask leading questions. They often played this game of Cat and Mouse. “I don’t know,” she replied in a distant voice, “perhaps it was the seeds I crushed and put in their drinks.”

“Perhaps it was. “ She had given them an herb either a contraceptive or an abortificant, he didn’t know which, so that they would not produce his heirs. “Why stand in the way of that?“

“If he took a wife, I would be cast aside in favor of her.” Now she did turn to look at him. “I could not risk that, especially not when the bond began to break.” Another, longer, swallow of wine slid down her gullet.

Daniel wanted to ask what would happen if he took a wife but refrained from doing so. There was no need to worry her with something that was so far into the future he couldn‘t even see it himself. “No, of course not.” Daniel agreed. If Kanan took a wife, Calla would have become nothing more than another whore in his stable. Daniel thought that she should have longed for such a thing to happen, should have wished it with all of her heart. He looked down at his own hands. Should have. Would have. Could not. As much as she loathed it she needed Kanan‘s touch, just as she needed his now. Especially when that bond began to break, she had to find some way to secure her place in his life no matter how much she didn‘t even want to be there. “And you, Calla?“ Daniel sat back and watched her drink.

Calla was not stupid; Doctor Janet had run her tests and no doubt told Daniel all sorts of things. “What about me?” She did not turn to look at him; instead, she finished the glass and reached for the bottle. “The seeds were very difficult to obtain. Illegal on Tiberia, no form of….” She searched for the phrase for a moment, “birth control…was allowed in Naganti Kanan’s kingdom.” She explained and drank down the last of the alcohol in her cup. “Very difficult. With the girls I had time to plan, for myself I did not.”

Daniel found himself wondering just how she had obtained them and what the price had been. They had to have come from a woman, he doubted that Calla would dare enlist the assistance of a man in such a manner. What had her price been? Maybe she had been lucky and the old woman, Abel, had helped her. Daniel moved from his place on the sofa to sit behind her and filled the cup once more then placed the bottle by the hearth and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in close. To him it seemed that sometimes it was easier for her to talk to him if she did not have to look him in the eye, if she didn’t have to see disappointment or disapproval flash there. Daniel wanted to make this as painless as possible for her but he needed to know. The thought that she had left her children behind on Tiberia to come with him kept nagging at him, he wanted to put it to rest. “He killed them, didn’t he?” Daniel whispered as delicately as he could. “Your babies.”

Calla stiffened in his arms as she nodded her head. “I know what you are doing, Daniel.” Her voice was soft but shaky, “You are trying to ply me with mansis and white wine, huh? You think I will tell you everything that you want to know.“ She glanced over her shoulder at him, her eyes heavy with tears, “You forget, my Mother taught all men and women the art of seduction.”

“So, how am I doing? “ He asked lightly.

“Very well.“ Calla smiled a little as the tears grew heavier and then drank deeply from the glass as she turned away from him again. “He said they were all born dead,” her voice shook, “but I heard them cry. Liar. I heard them.” Calla raised a hand to her cheek and wiped away the tear that was falling there. “Will you do the same?”

Daniel rocked her back and forth in his strong arms and held her tight. “No.” He kissed the soft hair on the side of her head. Daniel wasn’t sure what he would do if she did get pregnant but he was certain that infanticide was not going to be the choice he made. As he held her close, he reminded himself she had bled last week and, for now, he was safe from having to deal with that. “I’m so sorry, Calla, for everything that he did to you. It makes me sick.” Daniel kissed her cheek. “I want to kill him. Slowly.” He confessed. “I will never do those things to you. No man will ever do those things to you again, not as long as you‘re with me, I swear.”

Calla turned around inside his hold and stared into his eyes. Yes, he spoke the truth, at least in this moment he spoke what his heart believed was the truth. His words were kind and well meant, but Calla did not allow herself to believe in nor take any comfort from them. She took the last bit of wine down her throat as she scried into the flames and absently held it out so that he could refill it. “Do you know what I did, Daniel?”

“No, what did you do?”

As her eyes held fast to the flames before her, she confessed to him that the reason Kanan had been injured was because she had weakened the force shield around Oz so that Daniel and his friends could come back to the safety it offered; back to her. What Calla did not admit to him was the fact that she had seen the Gesh'Tah who fired the laser rifle at her Master, had seen him before he fired and had chosen the moment he pulled the trigger to weaken the shield. It had happened, more or less, just as Jack had told him:

She had seen an opportunity and seized upon it with an iron fist. With Kanan fatally injured, he would have no choice but to let her go or die, Kanan would always chose his own life over anything any day of the week. More than that, Daniel had not had to challenge him for her, as Naganti Kanan wanted him to do. Daniel had not had to risk anything for her sake and if she could help it, he never would. While she would always hold him at arms length and never allow herself to love him, she would always do whatever she could to protect him from harm.

“Do you want to know about Ares now?” She asked in a detached voice. “You have been very patient, Daniel.” Calla leaned against the soft warmth of his chest with the cup in her hand and sighed.

Calla didn't have any problems keeping up with the conversation and there were days that he swore she read him like a cheap paperback novel, even when she wasn't poking around inside his head. “Who in your family was left here when you...went away?“ Daniel asked. Calla always referred to them that way, as her family.

“Eros still lived here, he’s my brother. “She explained as she took another drink. “He has the most beautiful bronze skin and blonde hair.“ Although he could not see her face, Daniel could feel her smile. “Hades was here, he’s my uncle, well he’s my Father’s uncle. Ares, you know, was still here and me.”

As he sat by the fire with her in his arms, Daniel listened intently while Calla related tales of her life on the islands with her mother, father, and beloved brother, Eros. Like her eyes, her voice lit up when she spoke of him, it was obvious that she missed him very much. Out of the entire Greek pantheon there had been three original Olympians left here on Earth when she was taken away. A few ideas began to form themselves in Daniel’s mind. Death. Love. And War. A brother, an uncle and her father. It probably should have been a happy family but, as she had said, they were a dying race and with Calla the only female left.....

“Where was Aphrodite? Calla, where is your mother?” Daniel readied himself for her to pull away from him but she did not. Instead, she turned around inside his hold and threw her arms around his neck.

“She’s gone, Master Daniel. Mother resides with Hades.” The tears were clear in her voice. “In the Elysian Fields.”

Daniel had suspected this but, as always, he wanted to be sure rather than going on assumption. He soothed her hair and held her a little closer. “It’s all right, don’t cry.” He told her as he kissed her forehead. Thoughts of his own parents went through his mind as he held her. “Just tell me one last thing, ok?” He did not wait for her to answer. “Why were you born in Scotland?”

“You ask questions that I have no answers for.” Calla stopped for a moment. “Talk, with you it’s always talk.“ Sometimes Master Daniel could be exasperating. Always did he ask questions and then follow those questions with more questions. Nothing ever seemed to satisfy his curiosity. “What more can I tell you about this?“ Calla took a drink of her wine. Still he waited for her to answer and so she obliged him. “I lived near Dunvegan until I was five, even though I was very small, I can tell you that I preferred the green hills of Scotland to the dry heat of the islands where I lived next.”

Daniel’s ears did not miss the thinly veiled anger in her voice. That was new. She was not ready to pitch a fit anytime soon but he was glad to see it just the same. At some point, they had crossed a line where she decided it was all right for her to express some amount of displeasure with him. At some point, she had decided she would trust him a little more than she had the day before. As he sat with her in his arms in the fire light, looking at her silhouette, he thought that Calla really did look more like a Faery or Elvin Princess than an Olympian. He could see her running through the green forests of Scotland, and skipping down the rolling hillsides there far easier than he could envision

her among the likes of Zeus, Hera and Ares.

“And then Mother came and took me away.”

“Mother came?” That was new information. “Where was she before?”

“In Greece with Father.” Calla’s tone was annoyed, why did always ask questions he knew the answer to? It was very tiring.

“Who took care of you, Calla?”

She smiled sweetly and shrugged her shoulders at him as if to say ‘I don’t know’. “The ones she left me with cared for me.”

Duh. It was Daniel’s turn to smile. In a weary voice, Calla continued her story. She had not even met Ares until Aphrodite brought her back to Greece, Daniel wondered if Ares had been aware of her existence up until that point. One day her Mother had just shown up on the Scottish shores, packed up her daughter and taken her to the secret islands on which Calla’s family resided. There were three of these islands, Calla explained, they lay just off the coast of Crete, and she assured him they would not appear on any map. In there stead would be nothing at all or the symbol for three very large and barren rocks. It was an Exclusive Club; No Mortals Allowed.

She also assured him, that when she brought him to the islands he would see them for what they truly were and not chunks of rock jutting from the sea floor. He would see them because not only would she open the doorway with her presence but also because he was now Sa’Tan and had his own bond with her family whether he liked it or not. Indeed, whether They liked him or not. The Good Dr. Jackson would see with his own two eyes, the magnificent gardens of Aphrodite’s temple, the highest towers of Eros’ castle, and the etchings upon the walls of Ares’ cave. If able to, she would even take him to the Great Council Chamber where he could sit in the very seat from where Zeus ruled. He would walk where the Gods walked and touch history.

Calla did not openly speak of her people in terms of being aliens or otherworldly, she always referred to them as her family. “Where did your family come from?” Daniel asked as she tossed her hair over her shoulder and then cuddled up against him.

When she spoke again Calla sounded tired, probably too tired for her own good or perhaps it was the wine he had plied her with or the prescription pills she had taken earlier, in any case the end result was the same. Calla dared to do something with Daniel that she never dared with Naganti Kanan, she did not stop to chose her words but spoke straight from her heart. “Come from? You talk as though my family is not of this world. As though we came from somewhere outside of this place, is that what you think?” Daniel pursed his lips and nodded his head. “Oh, Grandfather! When will they learn?” Calla turned her eyes back to Daniel and drew in a deep breath. “Do you know,” she began, “that the thing you call ‘Evolution’ sometimes takes a giant and sudden step backwards?” The question was rhetorical and she did not wait for him to reply. “And, sometimes, mind you, those who were here before that backward step get left in the fore. Because there are so few of them, they scatter and hide among themselves, afraid of the new ones who appear. Eventually, your kind came to call my kind Gods and most of us let you for one reason or another, maybe it was a want of power, greed, or control or as in Grandfather’s case, perhaps, it was a love of your kind which allowed that. Your world is so vast and ours is so small, yet you spend your time exploring the stars, trying to understand them and their worlds when you should concentrate your efforts on understanding your own.” She stopped and drew in a breath. “To answer you, Daniel, my Family and the other Families we are all dying. So many of my own family passed during my early years that there were very few of us left on the islands near Crete when I was taken away and I fear that there are none left. As for the others, I fear they may all be gone by now.” Calla turned her eyes away from him. “You ask who we are,” she turned to look at him again, “we are you. Just a little more advanced, that’s all.”

“The other families?” Daniel asked as he sat and pondered what she had told him.

“You asked me to take you to Greece, to your fabled Mount Olympus. I can take you to the Dark Kingdom, I still know the way.” In his eyes, she saw confusion. “Avalon?” She asked hoping he would recognize the name. “And the Faery Realm? Would you rather see them?” She prayed the answer to that question was ‘yes’.

Avalon and the Faery Realm, of course! Aphrodite had taken her daughter to one of the Other Families for safekeeping. She had left the infant Callestah with them and returned to Greece, to Ares, and it had been five long years before she told him that he had a daughter. “Maybe one day. You don’t want to go to Greece, do you, Calla?”

“If it is what you wish....”

“I know that part already. You, Calla.” Daniel turned her around to face him. “What do you want?”

“To please you.” With her head full of wine, her mouth tired and her throat dry from talking she rested her head against his shoulder. “Nin samje’sh agakiko.”

Daniel turned her around to face him. “I've heard that before, in a lot of languages. You’re right, I talk too much.” Daniel kissed her and laid her down by the fire. That night, as every night for the month previous, she offered up her wrists to him and he refused them yet again. Not her, however, no, Daniel never refused her.

End Chapter Eighteen
Daughter of the Gods: Every New Beginning
By Lisa Beth Darling
Continue to
Chapter Nineteen

This story and all stories in the Kingdom of the Gods & Daughter of the Gods series are copyrighted to Lisa Beth Darling these stories may not be transferred outside of this URL in any fashion.