All these comings and goings
that cut like a knife
These small, simple pleasures
that make up a life
A man needs a home, and a child, and a wife
To always be there-always
Lilah
Don Henley

"Ready?" Jack asked as they stood in the Gate Room.

No, he wasn’t ready, what kind of stupid question was that? Daniel held his tongue and kept silent. Calla hadn't even spoken to him this morning, she had not walked him to the door not kissed him good-bye. Worst of all, he had let her. He had not wanted her touch this morning or her kiss and when he walked out of his front door earlier this day he had not looked back to see if she was standing in the window watching him go. The image of Calla with the dagger in her hand, the one that was jutting out of Aphrodite's heart, would not leave his mind. Even with his eyes open, he could see it as clearly, as if it were happening right now, right in front of him. How could she have hidden the fact that killed her Mother from him? With his mind on everything but the Nox, whatever their current problem was, Daniel agreed that he was ready to go through the wormhole.

Lya was waiting for them on the other side. "It is nice to see you again, Daniel Jackson." Lya said in a soft voice. "And all of you." She addressed the rest of SG1 in a rather absent manner as she rose to her tiptoes to gaze behind them with hopeful eyes until the Gate closed once more. "Where is Callestah?"

David didn’t waste any time putting his plan into action, he was already aware of his brother’s reluctance to take his new ‘wife’ to her homeland but David had no such reservations. It was the reason he was summoned here to Silver Springs and Danny to begin with. David would never forget the night that the tall man with the long wavy hair walked into the Crows Nest. It had been one of the best nights of his life. The finest part about it was that it was a complete surprise to him.

David had been knocking down a few JD and sodas and shooting pool when the guy walked in and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Greetings, David Jackson." He had said. David missed his shot and looked up at the man who had just caused him to lose ten bucks, he did not look familiar in the least. The dark man with the dark hair introduced himself as Ari and said he had a job for David, one that would not only pay handsomely in money and other rewards but would bring him a great deal of satisfaction as well.

Before the end of the night he had five thousand dollars in his pocket along with the current whereabouts of his long lost baby brother. Eh, so there was only seven minutes between them, so what? David never let Danny forget who was the ‘older brother‘. The strange thing was that up until that night David hadn’t thought about his sibling in more than a decade and didn’t give a damn about him either. David hadn’t tried to look up his brother after his stint in Irving MacAllister’s Home for Wayward Boys, which is a fancy term for Juvenile Hall. That had been his first stop along the Chain Gang. After having been so rudely exiled from the Cabral household, David went through a series of foster homes getting into drugs and crime along the way. He had spent eighteen months in MacAllister’s Hell Hole after he’d been caught vandalizing cars in a parking garage. No, Youthful Offender Get Out of Jail Free card on that, he’d used it up six months before when the cops caught him smoking a roach in a city park.

After his release from Juvey, David was just shy of his eighteenth birthday and rather than look up his dear brother, he had wandered around aimlessly from place to place and job to job. David been arrested so many times after that he’d lost count, but if pressed he would have to say that, all in all, he’d probably spent twelve or thirteen of his 35 years in one jail another. Whether it was a city jail on a charge of Drunk and Disorderly, a county lock up on charges of petty theft or the last stay which had been in good old John B. Connally Jr. Maximum Security lock down after being busted with four kilos of heroin. (That he had been a lot of fun! Five years in a Texas State Prison was enough to make a beast out of the docile of pussy cats.) One more charge on a Class A Felony and he was going away for life, there was no doubting that and David did his best not to think about it. And then there was that little matter of that outstanding warrant in Dallas (hey, how was he supposed to know the girl was only 15? She was drinking at the bar!) and the one El Paso (ok, so she was way over 15 and not as drunk as he had hoped). What else could he do? Change his life? Fat chance. The best he could at this point to stay out of prison was not be caught, that meant he had to be extra careful. No matter what Ari wanted or had promised him there was no way in hell that he was going to go back to life behind bars. David was a real "Look, ma, top of the world" kind of guy.

Besides, he was helping Ari get his daughter back and that was a noble cause wasn’t it? Sure it was. Why not?

David packed up his belonging at the Motel 6 and put them into the trunk of the Jetta, looking around and being careful that no one was watching he switched the plates from his old Duster to the shiny German car and put the rental plates on his old piece of shit. David drove the Duster to an abandoned hospital four miles away from the motel and set ablaze behind the building. Just in case, he told himself, no sense in taking any chances that the cops would get his fingerprints or the serial numbers off the car.

It was a cold day but the sun was bright, David ended up walking all the way back to the motel, arriving just before lunch. Perfect timing. He would show up at Danny’s house, tell Callie he was home early and that it was time for them to go and see her father. David toyed with the idea of spending the day with her in his brother’s house, taking her away tomorrow but did not want to risk the idea that Danny would come home early and spoil his plans. The faster he got her out of there the bigger lead he would have on them when Danny came home and found it void of his appealing new pump. David wanted to be long gone when that happened. Yes, as far away as humanly possible, after all Danny did work for the government and there was no telling how far that little shit had actually gotten in life. He could have some hefty help in tracking her down. Dealing with the likes of the USAF did not come high on David’s Top Ten List.

Opening the door to the motel room for the last time, David looked around with a practiced eye. For the most part the maid would take care of any finger prints he’d left behind but he’d help her out just a little bit anyway, you know, just in case. He wiped down the television, remote control, telephone, and faucet in the bathroom. He saved the inside and outside of the doorknob for when he exited.

Removing the bugs he planted in the house would not be so easy and he thought it possible he could get the ones he had put in the phone jacks but there would not be time to remove the web cams. Too bad. The upside to that was that they were hidden well and if he left them up and running then he would be able to capture for posterity the look on Danny’s face when he came home and realized everything he held dear was gone. Yes, that would be good. It would be a DVD that he would watch many times, along with the other DVDs he made. Of all of those, he supposed that he liked the tape of him and Calla the best, David had been unsure if his positioning would come out on the web cam but it had, in full living color. He had those tapes safely tucked away in his bag of goodies along with a pair of police issue cuffs, a length of rope, duct tape, knife, the .38 Special he kept around (you know, just in case), and a few assorted adult toys should the need for such things arise. Callie was a good girl, she would not give him any trouble so long as she thought he was Danny. Since he hadn’t heard Daniel mention any family to her, David was sure she was ignorant of the fact that he even had a brother, never mind a twin. No, Danny wanted to forget David just as much as David wanted to forget Danny. Nevertheless, just incase, he kept a bottle of valium in his breast pocket.

David put on his new eyeglasses, the ones he had picked up early this morning with the light gray tint to them. He checked himself in the mirror. There was something about the way she stared at him that he didn’t like, he thought that it was possible his eyes were giving him away to her. Later on, once he had her where he wanted her that would be just fine. Nevertheless, for now, she had to believe that he was his brother. The glasses did a nice job of shielding his eyes from her stare. Clearing his throat and taking one last look in the rearview mirror, David let himself out of the car parked in the driveway of 1313 Mockingbird Lane.

"How did you know?" Daniel was dumbfounded as he stood staring in Lya’s eyes.

Lya began to lead SG1 away from the Gate they had come through and down a woodland path. "You never stop asking questions, do you Daniel Jackson? Even when your heart is screaming all the answers at you, your mouth still continues to wonder." Lightly shaking her head, she smiled at him. "We know many things."

Daniel smiled in return, knowing that he should have guessed her response before he posed the question. The Nox had not called Stargate Command because they were having some difficulty or other but because Lya wanted to talk to him about Calla. The faint image of the Isle of Skye and the Castle Dunvegan lingered in his mind as he looked down at her "You didn’t say anything about Calla in your message, you just said you wanted us to come to you.“

“No,“ she smiled shyly, “we asked for you, Daniel Jackson.“ Lya looked around at the rest of the team, that shyness remained, “not all of you.“ She turned back to Daniel again. “Is she well? Why is she not with you?”

Daniel thought about it for a moment, "She’s doing better." That was the truth; at least it had been up until a few days ago. "She isn’t here because you didn’t ask me to bring her."

"Sa’Tai and Sa’Tan." Lya returned and waited for him to answer her but his eyes only stared at her with more questions. "You are bonded." She held her hands up and then laced her fingers together. "Like this, yes?" Daniel nodded. "We did not think to ask this, we thought she would be with you because that is where she belongs. Does she not want to see us?"

Well, he didn’t know if Callestah had wanted to see her old friends the Nox or not but he should have. "I didn’t tell her I was coming here." Daniel admitted. To this Lya gave a sad smile and crinkled her brow but she said nothing. “Lya, whatever it is you have to tell me, please, just....tell me." He was hungry for information and his voice made no attempt to hide that fact.

"It is not I who wishes to speak with you, Daniel Jackson." She led them off further into the wooded land. Walking carefully through a last thicket of trees they came to a tree which had a small doorway carved into its trunk. The tree itself was enormous, well over a hundred and fifty feet high, so wide that Daniel, Jack and Teal’c would be unable to make a ring around it. The leaves were unlike he’d ever seen, they glistened with what appeared to be frost in the heat of the day. "Here you may ask your questions and many will be asked of you."

"Who’s in there?" Colonel O’Neill asked.

"Maeve awaits him." Lya said with a worried look as she waved a slender hand toward the entrance. “Only you Daniel Jackson.” Daniel watched as the heavy wooded door swung open. "Good luck, you may need it." She smiled for him one last time and then left him to his audience with the Faery Queen. “None of you may enter but you may wait here if you like.” Lya informed the team as she passed by them. “I will return when they are done.”

“See ya then.” Jack told her. “OK, Daniel, what’s going on?” He asked when Lya was out of sight.

“I’m not exactly sure,“ confusion was clear in his voice but a slight ray of understanding was beginning to dawn in his eyes. Daniel did not walk directly through the open door but stood outside for a long while gathering not just his nerves but his precious knowledge. In Celtic mythology Maeve was a Faery Queen, a Ruler of the Underworld and the inspiration for Shakespeare's Queen Mab, he probably should have known that he would find such a creature living among the Nox.

“Goin’ in?” Major Carter asked as they stood before the open door.

“Do I have another option?”

“You do not.” Teal’c returned.

“Yeah.” Taking a deep breath, Dr. Jackson departed the company of his teammates and wandered through the open door of the Faery Realm. All before him was dark as the door behind him closed, when it had shut tight everything around him began to glow with a warm silvery light which seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time began to grow in slow steady increments. The sound of someone plucking away on a harp was the first thing which came to him; the second was the hardy scents of ale, fresh bread and roasted pig. The silvery light grew brighter still and Daniel could saw a fair haired girl sitting in the middle of a sunken circle, a gold harp between her legs, her slender fingers gently plucked at the harp strings. She did not look up or acknowledge him but continued to play her tune as Daniel walked by. The light around him grew to its peak and the darkness faded away to nothingness, the sights and sounds of the people who lived here greeted him. Diminutive people stood everywhere around him, some were drinking, some were eating, some were singing, others were engaged in conversation. All were happy and appeared to the gentlest creatures he had ever encountered. Their eyes all sparkled bright and their laughter resounded around him.

A hand fell upon his back and Daniel turned around and then looked down to see a man with enlarged blue eyes and yellow hair staring back at him. “You are Sa’Tan Daniel Jackson?”

“Yes.”

“This way.”

They walked past several tables where the Faery folk sat drinking and talking, some of them raised their eyes to look at him as he passed by and most took no notice of him at all. Together they passed through the main entry and down the corridor beyond. “It’s a long climb.” The Faery man informed him. “Are you ready?”

Daniel looked through the door which had opened and saw the staircase he was being asked to ascend. Around and around it coiled, spiraling ever upward to some place beyond the stars. Daniel held out his hand and motioned for the Faery man to lead the way. The climb seemed to go on for eternity and then some. Ever upward they climbed until Daniel’s legs felt like slightly melted rubber and he thought he would tumble the entire distance back to sod below them (well, it was down there somewhere! But he couldn’t see it anymore.). His guide was silent as they traveled, he spoke to Daniel only to ask if he required a break and a few moments to rest before climbing further. The Faery man was having no problem at all with the climb. He didn’t even break as much as one bead of sweat.

Daniel gazed at the wood which surrounded him as they climbed and felt it slip by under the grip of his palm he noticed that the staircase had been intricately carved of one solid piece of the tree. He could not see nor feel a seam anywhere. Elves, faeries, birds, butterflies, flowers, sun, stars and moons had been carved into the hand rail and depictions of ancient Celtic lore had been carved into the wall of the tree on the other side of the rail.

Finally the stairs stopped and a door which might have opened to a hobbits’ abode appeared in the finely carved wood of the tree. “In there?” Daniel asked and scratched his head. “I can’t fit through there.” To this the Faery man with the over sized eyes and long golden hair only motioned toward the door. Daniel walked forward and placed his hand on the knob which turned easily inside his palm. He bent at the knees as far as he could in anticipation of trying to fit through the door.

Dr. Jackson found himself in the middle of Maeve’s chambers. He hadn’t crossed through the door at all, just turning the knob had been enough to allow him entrance to her domain.

The circular room was brightly lit by the same silver light which appeared to come from somewhere deep inside the wood floor. The walls glistened with the same frosted glitter as the leaves outside. Off to his left stood a piece of onyx so large that Daniel wondered how anyone had gotten it up all of those stairs. It was at least as tall as he was, the front had been polished to a high black shine in which he could see his own reflection very clearly. Crisp water from an unknown source cascaded down the polished surface giving it a hypnotic effect.

Across from him sitting on a throne made of the clearest crystal, on the right arm of which a bird in flight had been carved and on the left a dagger, sat a woman who herself was no bigger than a hobbit. She had jet black hair and was wrapped in a dark purple cloak which glittered and glistened in the silver light. Although her skin was fair and smooth, age and wisdom shone in her eyes which were violet and oversized like those of her kin drinking and partying far below them. Those oversized eyes narrowed harshly upon him. “Where is Callestah?”

“Seems to be the question of the day.” Daniel replied. “She isn’t with me. I take it you're Maeve?”

“Insolence!" She cried. "This I can see!” The Faery Queen hissed at him. “It does not answer my question, Sa’Tan Daniel Jackson....where is Callestah!” Fire burned in her voice and in those aged violet eyes.

“Um, well,” Daniel’s heart began to pound in his chest and a light bead of sweat broke out on his upper lip, “she’s, she’s at home, my home," his fingers turned in toward his chest to point at himself, " she‘s safe....”

“On Earth?!”

“Um, yeah.”

“She can not be safe on Earth!” The irate Faery Queen rose from her crystal throne and began to cross the room to where Daniel was standing. Even though he out weighed her by a good hundred pounds and towered over her by more than a foot, Daniel found himself cringing away from her in fear. The anger rose in her voice but her tone fell to just above a whisper. “You have no idea who she is and what her significance is, do you?”

“If I say ‘no’ will you fill me in?” Daniel asked.

Maeve let out a laugh which was both delightful and dreadful. “She tells you nothing, she hides from you.” Maeve appeared to stop and think about what she should say but she already knew every word that she would utter during this private conversation and any pause was merely for dramatic effect or the benefit of allowing Daniel Jackson’s mind to catch up. “Do you know that Ares has one daughter?” Daniel nodded. “Do you know that, like the rest of those who remained on Earth, her kind is dying?” Again Daniel nodded. “There hadn’t been one of them born in over five hundred years, Daniel Jackson. Certainly wasn’t likely to be another, do you think? Has she told you of the ‘gifts’ she received from her family?”

Daniel thought about it for a moment, she had told him that Apollo had gifted his love of music to her and that Minerva and Demeter had also gifted her the former with the gifts of Home and Hearth and the latter with the gifts of the Fields. “Sort of.” Was his reply.

Maeve smiled a coy grin; she began to tale for the benefit of the man before her. “When Aphrodite returned for her daughter and took her away, those that still remained saw their last chance for Immortality and bestowed all of their gifts upon the child. Can you imagine it, Daniel, all the power and knowledge that they possessed given to just one?” Her voice turned sad. “It was too much for Calllestah. No one should have to carry that burden alone." Catching sight of the look in his eye she stopped for a moment to allow what she had told him to sink deeper into his brain. " I offer her sanctuary from all of that. You offer her nothing. Bring her to me.”

Could it be true? Was all the power and knowledge of the Olympa gifted to the tiny woman who was even now waiting at home for his return? Yes, that was a heavy burden for anyone to bear. "You took care of her, you raised her for those first five years. Why?" His words were slow as the thoughts formed in his mind. "Is that why you offer her this...this...sanctuary?"

"Yes, Aphrodite came to me when she was very full with child because she feared him and feared for the daughter she carried. To that end, Callestah was born in my realm where there is no death, sin or transgression. These things do not exist here in the Land of the Ever-Living. This is what I offer her. I can ease her burden, Sa’Tan Daniel Jackson if you bring her to me. Callestah will be safe here with us, far away from Earth, from you and from him. ”

Daniel ignored the last part of what Maeve had told him, he might come back to it later, but he wasn‘t going to let her dissuade him from what he wanted to know. “Who? Who is she being kept away from?"

Maeve stood and stared at him with those glowing violet eyes. "The one man she cannot fight against on her own."

"That doesn't answer me, Maeve." Daniel found his fear turning slowly into anger. He knew Calla hid things from him but this? The memory of the nightmare he'd shared with her last night came to him, by accident or with malice he didn't know, but she had killed her Mother and she had hidden that fact from him, hadn't she?

"Answer me, Daniel Jackson, who is the first love of all little girls?" Maeve stood silent with her hands clasped in front of her while her riddle rolled around in his head.

Daniel stood there with the question turning itself over in his mind, this was a subject he had become familiar with through the work he was currently doing toward his Masters in psychology. "Her father." Daniel replied.

"Aye," Maeve agreed. “Ares and his sons, he would have driven through hell and back for a daughter, Aphrodite knew this and tried to keep the child from him but she could not. In the end, her love for him was her undoing, Aphrodite could never deny Ares anything for long. And now, Ares knows where she is, he has been waiting for you to bring her to him. And you will, won't you, Sa'Tan Daniel Jackson?" Her voice was low and full of distrust. "Now you understand, now you will bring Callestah to me.”

“No, I won’t. I won't bring her to you and I won't bring her to Ares." That wasn't exactly true, he had been making plans for a trip to Greece in fact he had poked around online last night for places to take her when they were there. But he had been dragging his feet about it, hadn't he. "You tell me, why he wants her. Why would he take her to Kanan if he wanted her for himself?" Daniel asked as he stared into the violet eyes of the Faery Queen. The answers formed in his mind as he stared in her eyes. Calla's shaking voice echoed in the back of his ears I did....I did....I did...not...Master Daniel, I swear, I did not. "Because Eros and Hades would not let him have her and he did not want them to have her. So, Ares hid in her Kanan’s care.”

"Care?" Daniel spat. "Do you know what he did to her?"

"Aye," her voice was dark and full of hate, "does it ease your mind to know that he died badly for it?"

"Yes." Daniel replied without thinking. If what she said was true then Kanan was dead and he couldn't be happier about that fact. "Why him?"

Queen Maeve was already miles ahead of Dr. Jackson as she lead him down the path she wanted him to travel with her. "Kanan was the only one Ares could find who was strong enough to control her. His father agreed to give her the station of his son's Cha'Dech and to keep her in the Royal Court. This would allow her some degree of status, he promised that she would be treated as though she were his own daughter. I am told that for a time she was." Maeve stopped to allow him to catch up enough to ask the question she had lead him up to. "But time passed and Ares did not return, the bond Callestah had with Kanan began to crumble and she was trapped with him."

The puzzle pieces moved around on the imaginary board in his mind and began to make a recognizable picture. "Why didn‘t Ares go back for her?"

"This I don’t know, other than to say that someone stole his Stargate.“ She raged as her arms flew in his direction. “You did not go to her. No, you spent your time searching for something else, didn‘t you?" The Faery Queen turned her back on the Sa'Tan. "All those years she sat and waited for her Father to come, to take her home and to forgive her. So many wasted and lonely years.” Now she did turn to look up at him. “Still, after all that’s been done, Callestah would give up her life for this. Ares cannot have her. You were supposed to see to this. But you are weak, worst of all, you make her weak."

"I am not weak." He said through tight lips. Daniel was getting damn tired of people telling him that he was weak and now to have that expounded upon and turned around on Calla as though something he had done had caused her harm was too much. Daniel reached out and turned the petite woman around. "Why me?" He demanded to know as he stared into the Faery Queen's eyes. "If I'm so damn weak, why me?"

The Sa'Tan did ask good questions and he was sharp, Maeve gave him credit where it was due on those points. However, he was a bit slow on the uptake in certain areas. She thought it possible that Callestah was actually blocking the memory from him now. Maeve could feel the young Goddess all around the Sa'Tan and if she looked hard enough she felt sure that she could see Callestah's handy-work reflected in those blue eyes. "Do you know the one thing Aphrodite loved more than Ares?"

"Calla?"

"More the look she saw in her daughter's eye the first time she looked into your own."

"I don't understand," Daniel stammered as his eye caught the glistening chunk of onyx.

"My point exactly." Maeve hissed she was growing impatient with him. "Do you have the will to understand?"

He didn't know. "Yes."

"Will you gaze into the mirror?" Before he knew it, she had approached him and her small hands were turning him to toward the chunk of rock which was waiting for his gaze.

Daniel's head began to feel light and that bead of sweat on his lip subsided.

Had been on top of the hillside on Tiberia as he stared down at Oz through the binoculars...

...hadn't it?....

"I just sort...." his words were becoming heavier as his gaze was held by the black mirror, "ran...into....her." Daniel's hand flew to his forehead as his eyes shut tight. "Goddamn it! That hurts!" He bent over in pain and rubbed his forehead with his palm.

His adult voice turned into that of a much younger Danny Jackson. "Geez! Ow! Man!" Stars in his head, Danny opened his eyes to see the red haired girl sprawled on the floor of the mall, the bags she had been holding as she looked into the shop window were scattered across the promenade. She was lying very still; at first he thought he'd killed her with the unintended head butt. "Hey!" He called out as he shook her. "Hey! Wake up! Oh geez! C'mon, wake up." In Maeve's quarters the adult Daniel Jackson stood near the mirror, he was bent at the knees and holding out his hand to no one other than the girl in his mind as he spoke. The girls' eyes opened and Danny felt his heart skip a beat as she looked up at him, he thought it was relief at the time but it was something much more powerful than that which caused his heart to jump. "Hi, I'm Danny. You ok?" He slipped his young hand into hers and helped her to her feet. Those green eyes widened as she looked down to see her skin touching his own, Danny felt her give a little tug to move her hand away for some reason he tightened his grip on it and she didn't try to pull it away again.

Daniel's palm closed around thin air as he rose to his full height once more and helped the non-existent girl to her feet. "I'm sorry," his voice boyish as he made the motion of brushing dust from his pants and then gathering up bags which were scattered across the mall floor. He knew where he was, his family had gone to Greece two months before his parents death, the Archeologists Jackson had been invited to attend and give a lecture at seminar in a nearby University. On this day the four of them had been out enjoying the sights and had stopped in the mall because they were going to the beach and his mother wanted a new bathing suit.

Danny had gotten tired of waiting around for his mother and bugged and bugged his father until he was handed enough money to go down to the gyro stand and fill his stomach. That was where he was charging off to when he ran headlong into Callestah. She didn't say much to him as they stood there with the people hurrying past on their way to spend their money but her eyes seemed to stare through to his soul as she gazed up at him from where she stood. Gee, just twenty minutes ago he was still convinced that girls were the yuckiest creatures God ever put on Earth but not now. No, he didn't think that right now. The one with the red hair and expressive green eyes seemed all right to him. "You wanna get somethin' ta eat? I got money."

Overhead Van Morrison crooned through the speakers; "It's a marvelous night for a moon dance, with the stars up above in your eyes."

Off beyond her shoulder a dark shadow and heavy footfalls approached. Something on her neck, hidden beneath her hair, began to glow. She raised her free hand to cover it. Behind her the footfalls came closer and the dark shadow loomed overhead. There was fear in her eyes. She dropped her hand from his. Danny Jackson looked up to see an impossibly tall man standing behind the red haired girl. The impossibly tall man laid a heavy hand on her shoulder and those emerald eyes filled with moistness. Danny knew she did not want to go with him. Those eyes, something in those desperate eyes begged him for help even though they knew he was too young to give it.

"It's time to leave." The impossibly tall man intoned in a deep voice. "You've no need of these things." He ripped the packages from her hand, letting them fall back to the floor. Just before he turned her away from Danny, that something he saw dancing in those desperate green eyes leapt from her. Danny felt a sharp pain in his small chest which was followed by deep radiating warmth. Like sitting by a camp fire late into the night.

"Good-bye, Danny." She said in a said voice.

"Wait!" The adult Daniel Jackson cried in Danny's voice. "Wait!" Before he could grab the packages the dark man had disappeared into the crowd with the red haired girl.

Maeve was about to call off her spell when saw the image of Daniel Jackson's parents reflected in the blackness of the mirror. Knowing what happened to them not long after this incident, Maeve had often wondered who they had been and what had happened in the moments after Callestah's departure from him. In that interest she allowed the spell to linger a moment longer.

In the mirror a boy by the name of Danny Jackson held up the bags to his mother and told his father of the dark man who had come and taken the young girl away with him. Some one came into view, some one who should have been seen years before and had been kept hidden from all of them. But Ares knew him; he had the smell of Ares all over him. Even through the cold black rock Maeve could feel it radiating from him.

"Danny's got a girlfriend." The image in the mirror teased through the adult Daniel Jackson standing in Maeve's room. "Shut up, Davy." Danny returned and shoved his brother. "Danny's got a girlfriend." Davy chanted again and shoved Danny harder. Their father broke it up.

"Duplicity!" Maeve screamed. The images in the mirror and those in Daniel's head shattered and flew away. "No duplicity!" The room around him began to shake. The Faery Queen had summoned the Sa'Tan here to further his understanding of Callestah's situation, to recover the early memory of her from his mind. If she felt it wise, to tell him of the connection between Callestah and the death of his parents, this was completely unexpected and would not be tolerated in the least. It was bad enough he had been so foolish as to leave Earth without her, hiding his duplicity was nothing short of sedition as far as she was concerned. "You will bring her to me or I will go and retrieve her myself! She is not safe with you, she never was. You were supposed to be her greatest champion, but instead you are her greatest weakness.”

Daniel did not need to ask what she was talking about. No stranger to the subject, he knew that identical twins have identical DNA and as such one would not be selected to bond with someone like Calla. He would have been dismissed for the job out of hand; no twins need apply.

"You will bring her to me." Maeve demanded for the last time. Daniel found himself on the other side of her chamber door.

Daniel's head spun around like a disc being spun by a vicious DJ. David would be able to touch her and David would bring her to Ares on demand. The cigarette butts he'd found, the way she'd been treating him the last few days as though she didn't want him near her any longer. How long had David been hanging around? Daniel tried to stop the wild thoughts which followed that particularly nasty one and couldn't. Calla had a large bruise on her thigh that he'd noticed yesterday, when he asked how it happened she looked at him like he was insane and then told him she run into the corner of the dining room table. The percs she'd begun taking regularly even though they upset her stomach so much that two weeks ago she had tossed the bottle at him telling him she wasn't going to take them anymore!

Putting the palms of his hands on his knees and bending over, Daniel tried to catch his breath and stop his head from spinning. His rational mind told him that everything was all right. David wasn't around at all; it was all just a coincidence. He would go home in a little while and Calla would be sitting by the fire waiting for him. Everything would be just peachy.

That stabbing dagger in his gut said otherwise. He hadn't even kissed her good-bye this morning. Calla hadn't wanted him to. David was around, he had been fucking with Calla...

Daniel shook his head to clear the image which followed the thought....

Before he knew it he was tearing down the huge spiral stair case and past the golden haired girl who sat plucking on her harp and the faeries who danced and drank and laughed. His hand fell upon the knob to the main door and he was thrust out into the bright sunlight once again.

Jack, Sam and Teal'c turned from where they had been engaged in a heavy conversation concerning the Canuks chances for a season win to see Daniel running as though hell itself were hot on his heels. "What the hell?" Jack asked as he dropped the sunglasses from his eyes.

Daniel didn't stop, he just sprinted past them. "Come on!" He called as he ran. "We gotta go now! Someone open that fucking gate!"

End Chapter Twenty-Two
Daughter of the Gods: Every New Beginning
By Moon Mistress
Continue to
Chapter Twenty-Three

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.