I think about you all the time
But I don't need the same
It's lonely where you are
Come back down
I won't tell 'em
your name
No, I won't tell 'em
your name
Name
Goo Goo Dolls

Thirty-six hours had passed and Calla had yet to open her eyes, although he was terrified of just who she would see sitting by her bed when she did wake, Daniel had yet to move from her side. Now here he was with her back under Cheyenne Mountain in the infirmary where she lay pale and lifeless on the metal framed hospital bed, not unlike those he had seen a day and half before in Connecticut.

Last night, Jack had kept insisting that they take her to the naval hospital but Daniel refused, he knew they could nothing for her and there was no sense in exposing her to all the people (men) on the base. Daniel’s reasoning was that if he could just get her some place safe and warm she wouldn’t need the doctors at all, he would heal her. To that end and luckily for them, General Hammond had a friend, an Admiral, in the United States Navy who owned a cabin not far from the old Norwich State Hospital. Daniel and the rest of SG-1 had spent the night holed up in the cabin which was warm and homey. If she'd been awake, Daniel was sure that Calla would have loved the place with its hard wood floors and rolled log walls and large hearth in the bedroom where she had slept last night. Instead of having trained doctors and nurses at her side, Calla had Daniel, Jack, Sam and Teal’c to help her.

After getting her inside the cabin and to the upstairs bedroom, Daniel rubbed his hands together, said a slight prayer and then tried to raise the blue energy which would mend her wounds. It did not come to him, no matter what he tried he could not raise it. Finally the decision was made that they would take care of Calla in the old fashioned way. Together with his friends, they had cleaned and covered her wounds with fresh bandages and anti-biotic ointment. Daniel held onto her hand while Jack laid the weight of her limp body against his chest and popped her shoulder back into place with a might crunching sound. After they used a makeshift sling which they had cut from a bed sheet to support her arm and hold it place while she slept. The four of them had spent close to half an hour gingerly picking shards of glass in all shapes and sizes from her cold flesh. Shards of glass were embedded in her scalp, hair, neck and back, most of the wounds were small and superficial but some required stitching. At some point during her horrible course of events, David had laid her against a hefty shard of glass which had sliced deeply into her flank. Samantha sewed the wound in Calla’s side, it took 28 stitches to close the wound properly. Calla also received several more stitches throughout her body. The back of her head took 17 stitches and forced the cutting of a 4 inch swatch of hair from her head for which Samantha kept profusely apologizing for having to cut and promised that it would grow back. From the top of her head to the mount of her milky white buttocks, Calla required stitching; Sam stopped counting stitches at 72. During the entire time she carefully sewed Calla's skin closed with 3-0 silk from the med-kit, the unconscious woman showed no sign that she felt the pain of the needle entering and exiting her wounded flesh.

After close to an hour Calla was finally stitched and cleaned. Daniel and Jack pushed the heavy wood bed closer to the open stone hearth. Although they all tried valiantly to do everything they could for her, all their efforts seemed inept at best and pathetic at worst.

When they had done all that they could for her and still she showed no signs of waking, Jack, Sam and Teal’c made their way to the first floor of the cabin, leaving Daniel alone with her in the bedroom. For the remainder of the night Daniel laid awake with Calla in his arms, unable to find what would appear to be a comfortable position for her to sleep in, Daniel held her the same way he saw Jack do it just an hour or so before. He laid Calla against his body with her back to his chest and her head again his heart. With his eyes open in the dark he stroked her hair while listening to the harsh sound of her off-pattern breathing and the tiny cries she let out indiscriminately as she slept. As her breathing rasped in her chest Calla involuntarily coughed and a fine mist of blood fell sprayed onto the white sheet.

During the night Daniel made several attempts at healing her broken body, he touched her, rubbed her, talked to her, prayed to whatever God was listening and began his bargaining with the same but it was all to no avail. Maybe Naganti Kanan had never healed the wounds he laid on her not because he didn’t want to but because he couldn’t. Was there some magick which prevented this, Daniel wondered in the dark. It was true that Daniel himself had not laid these marks but David had and they were genetically identical, maybe that was fooling whatever magick ruled her into thinking that Master Daniel had done this to her.

“You know,” he said to the darkness as he held onto her slender fingertips, “we’re close to New York and if you wake up, I’ll take you to see the Statue of Liberty.” She had mentioned going to see the Lady Liberty several times to him, he didn’t know why she wanted it but it seemed important enough to her. Daniel smiled to himself at the thought, it was ridiculous to think that such an offer would bring her back to him, but then again that magick kiss always seemed to work in fairy tales. However, it did not work this time.

It wasn’t until morning that the ugly bruise between her breasts met Daniel’s eyes. David had not been kind about his nasty deed, the purple-to- almost-black spot between her breasts was wider than a silver dollar and Daniel could clearly see the mark the needle had made when David plunged it into her. This was why she did not heal for him, David had absconded with that ability. When they got back to Colorado, Daniel hoped that Janet would be able to correct that for both of them.

There was a light knock on the door. “Come in.” Daniel called to it and watched as the door opened and Samantha stepped inside.

“She still hasn’t woken?”

“Nope.” The dismay was clear in his voice.

“Jack and Teal'c went back to the casino to see if they can get into David's room. They figure maybe he left something behind, you know?”

“They should have told me." Daniel grumbled and tried to let go of his anger, if not for himself then for the woman lying in his arms. "I am the one with the identification that says 'Daniel Jackson' on it, I could get into that room."

“They didn't want to bother you or her." Sam nodded her head at Calla. "You want me to sit with her for a while?"

"No, I got her." Daniel said quietly as his eyes gazed out of the window and to the freshly fallen New England snow. “It’s almost Christmas, you know.” He glanced over at Sam, “I bought her a guitar, it’s back at the house.” Sad laughter escaped him. “I was hoping to talk her into putting up a tree and maybe having all of you over for dinner. We really enjoyed having Thanksgiving at your house.”

“I liked having all of you.” She didn’t want to give him false hope but would not let the opportunity pass her by. “You’ll get to give her that guitar and decorate that tree, Daniel. You’ll see.” Sam closed the door.

Colonel O'Neill was successful in obtaining entry to the room Calla had rented at the casino (a $20.00 tip to the maid almost always did the trick) and luck was with them when they did, it seemed David had not returned to his room after Daniel shot him last night. Jack and Teal'c left with Calla's belongings and David's duffle bag, they hoped they would find something useful but it all seemed to be nothing more than a bunch of clothes and fake id's along with some assorted items that had been taken from Daniel's house. Among those items was the staff Daniel had used during Bonding Ritual and some of the artifacts he had kept from several digs on Earth. Neither of them was sure what to make of those other than to say that it was possible Calla had brought them with her because she was pretty sure that once Ares got within arms reach of her she wasn't coming back. Like the tapestry and the rag doll, maybe she had wanted something tangible to remind her of happier times in her life.

After taking everything out of the room the two of them drove across the Thames River and back to the building at the Norwich State Hospital where they looked around for anything David might have dropped. All they found was David's coat and the reason he had no returned to the hotel room; the key was in the pocket and so was his car keys. Jack looked out of the window to see the rented Suburban still sitting where it had been the night before, in it they found David's laptop and several home-burned DVDs. Jack was pretty sure of what was on those.

General Hammond had called during the night to give Jack the low-down on David Jackson and his wrap sheet. David certainly didn't sound anything like Daniel from the report he got. Jack thought of checking the local hospitals to see if they had treated any gun shot patients the night before but figured it was useless. If David had sought medical attention for a gun shot wound the police would have to be notified and his fake id was not to be seen. It was possible the cops might come back with those outstanding warrants (two of which were for sexual assault in the state of Texas) David had and arrest him before he could leave the emergency room on his own. Wherever David had gone it was some place less than reputable. And he had have gone somewhere to seek help, David had left a clear trail of blood which lead from the small bathroom he had hid in, through the adjoining door, out into the corridor, down the stairs. They followed the crimson trail through the white snow where it stopped on the side of Route 2A. David had hitched a ride from someone, poor bastard, Jack wondered if that someone was still alive tot ell of the hitchhiker they had picked up the night before. Feeling as though they had not accomplished much of anything the two of them made their way back to the cabin where Jack was given the unenviable task of filling Daniel in on the doings of his brother over the last twenty years.

Two hours later a Navy ambulance pulled up to the front door of the log cabin and Calla was loaded into the back for the trip to the Army National Guard airport which was adjacent to the Groton-New London airport where Calla and David had landed the night before. The flight from Connecticut to Colorado was smooth, Daniel sat next to her holding on to her slender fingers for the entire trip.

That had been just under twenty two hours ago, still there was no sign of her coming back to consciousness. With every hour that passed by Calla's vital signs dropped lower and lower, even though her body raged with infection, her internal temperature (which they had finally managed to bring up last night to the point where she could be considered anything close to 'warm to the touch') was dropping. At present she was at 96.5 degrees Fahrenheit, if it dropped much lower hypothermia would begin to set in. And even though she wasn’t anywhere near snow; the possibility that her circulation would drop so low and that she would begin to suffer from frost bite was very real.

Janet had confirmed what Daniel feared, David had taken the fluid which Daniel had injected into her during the ritual on Tiberia, hadn't just taken it, he'd emptied it out completely. Daniel begged and pleaded with her to just repeat the procedure! Just stick the needle in the back of his neck, draw it out of him and give back what she needed to live, then she would awaken and his ability to heal her would return to him, Daniel was sure of it but Janet wouldn't comply.

"It's too dangerous, Daniel, I just can't risk it." Janet told him. "You don't have enough left to give her. You'll be putting your own health in jeopardy."

"You don't understand!" Daniel screamed at her and balled his fists in anger.

"She said no." Jack chimed in as he entered Janet's office. "Besides, Calla wouldn't want you to do that if it was going to harm you. We'll have to find another way."

"There isn't another way, God, don't you get that!" Daniel cried in exasperation as he tossed his hands in the air. "No other way. I have to do this."

"No." Jack and Janet said in unison and then gave each other an odd glance.

"What about David? Any news on him?" Daniel asked through clenched teeth and watched as Jack just shook his head. "That's great. Just fucking great." He stormed out of the office and back to Calla's side. If he could get his hands on his brother, first he'd kill him, jut skin him alive nice and slow and then he'd use his bodily fluids to inject into Calla (without telling her of course), surely her body wouldn't notice the difference, it hadn't noticed the difference in David's touch after all. Daniel took a seat on the bed next to her and brushed the hair away from her face as he leaned in close. "Calla, Hades said you can hear me and I'm really counting on that right now." He whispered against her cheek. "I am so sorry. This is all my fault." His warm lips brushed lightly against her motionless lips. Sorry. God, it seemed like such an inadequate thing to say to her but it was all he had other than, "I love you, please come back to me. Don't leave me, please, stay with me."

Colonel O'Neill stood in the doorway watching the scene play itself out. He couldn't believe that after all Daniel and Calla had gone through the possibility that she was going to die was hanging heavily in the air around them. Every few hours last night, he stopped outside the door where Daniel was holding vigil over her, he had wanted to knock, to go in and offer whatever comfort he could but Jack had refrained from doing so. Instead he listened at the door and waited and hoped and prayed that he would hear Daniel's voice through the door and Calla's in return. That did not happen and with every hour that passed the likelihood that it would became more and more diminished. "They're going to find him, Daniel, he's not going to get away with this." Jack said as he laid a hand on Daniel's shoulder.

"Sure he is." Daniel returned and looked up at Jack with sad swollen eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Jack sat himself in the chair next to her bed.

"He's never going to be arrested for this, he's never going to be tried or convicted in any court." Daniel had been turning this over in his mind through the night. "None of that is ever going to happen."

"Oh? Why not?" Jack asked easily as he tried to keep his voice light.

Daniel took off his glasses, squinted and pinched the bridge of his nose before putting them on again. "Because you can't do any of those things without opening up Calla's past, who she is, how she got here. You can't do that without exposing the Stargate program." Daniel grumbled and glanced away from his commanding officer and friend and then back up again. "We both know that's never going to happen. David will never pay for what he's done to her. There won’t be any justice for her."

As much as Jack hated to admit it there was more than just a morsel of truth in what Daniel had said but there was more than one way to skin a cat. Looking down at the small woman lying helpless on the gurney and into Daniel's eyes, Jack just couldn't see how any God or Supreme Being would allow such a thing. " That ain't gonna happen, Daniel." Jack said in a tight tone as gazed down at Calla once again and thought of how Daniel had told him that he was jealous Calla had chosen him over Jack and how Jack had tossed off that notion. But, well, maybe he was just a little jealous of the way Calla looked at Daniel and how her hand curled around his, even now when she was caught in the gloom of unconsciousness and she didn't really know he was there. Maybe Jack did wish he had someone like that in his life but that didn't mean he was going to stand by and let this go down. "David's gonna pay." Jack rose from his seat. "Big time." He walked out of the infirmary.

Not long after Jack exited, General Hammond entered with Dr. Fraser and Daniel was ordered to go home and get some rest. Daniel protested greatly but Janet insisted that there was very little chance that Calla was going to awaken at any time within the next eight hours or so and if she did wake, Janet would be sure and call him right away. "I don't want to leave her, don't you get that? Look what happened the last time I left her alone." Daniel looked up to see Sam and Teal'c walking through the door.

"She won't be alone." Sam said from the door. "I've got nothing to do tonight, Daniel, I'll stay with her."

"I live here." Teal'c said solemnly.

"And you need a ride," Jack chimed in from behind them, "so get in the car and let's go. You're not doing her any good like this."

At first Daniel didn't know if he should be angry with his teammates for treating him like a child or not and then realized they were just concerned about him and Calla. He was a damn lucky man to have such good friends at his side just when he needed them the most. "Yeah, ok." Even though home was the last place he wanted to go right now he agreed. Daniel promised to take her there, take her home, and now he was going to return without her, it would be quiet and lonely in the house.

"Ya know I don’t have anything to do either.” Jack said easily as Daniel began to walk toward him. "Maybe we can, I dunno, rent a movie or something."

As Daniel glanced back over his shoulder to take one last look at Calla for the night, he saw Sam sit on the bed next to her and gently take her hand while Teal'c stood at a guards stance behind her head almost as though he were watching over a Goa‘uld Queen. Yes, despite everything, Daniel could still consider himself a very lucky man.

“Well, how is she doctor?” General Hammond asked once Daniel had rounded the corner.

Janet didn’t answer right away; she wanted to be sure that Daniel was out of earshot. “There’s nothing I can do for her. I keep pumping her full of antibiotics and her wounds, especially the one in her side, is just oozing.” She stood on her tip toes and looked over Hammond’s shoulder as if expecting to see Daniel standing there listening. Janet had yet to tell him that she was sure Calla was dying.

“Can’t you give her more?”

“If I give her anymore it’ll start dripping out of her pores for crimney sake.” Janet tapped her foot hard against the floor in frustration. “She’s lost a lot of blood. I really don’t think she’s going to make it through tomorrow, General.”

“Janet?” Sam asked in a quiet voice as she left Calla’s side upon hearing the conversation. “Her infection, is that my doing? I am the one who sewed her up last night. I tried to make sure....."

"No, it's nothing you did, I'm sure of it." Janet reassured her.

"Daniel will never forgive himself if she dies.” Sam looked at her and General Hammond with questioning sapphire eyes. "You know that, right?"

“I know, Sam, I know.” Janet looked down at her feet and repeated the phrase she hated most in life; "There's nothing I can do for her."

********

Just as he feared, the house was quiet, cold and empty. The silence was just as deafening now as it had been two days ago when he first walked in and discovered her gone. The message light was blinking, Daniel walked past it without hitting the button to find out who had called after Calla. The hearth was empty for the first time since he'd bought the house and he felt a sense of loss as he passed it on his way to the kitchen. "You want something to eat?" He asked Jack while opening the refrigerator and perused its contents. Yep, Calla was a great house-mom all right, the place was stocked with everything you could ever want to eat and as always, she had done it online. One of the local grocery stores specialized in online orders which were delivered right to your door and since she never left the house without him it was the perfect solution. Daniel grabbed two Molson's from the fridge and returned to the living room where Jack was sitting, and wondered if there wasn't a local liquor store that also took online orders; she had to get the alcohol from somewhere. Maybe later he’d go poking around through the cookies left on her computer. Well, first he’d had to bring the monitor down from upstairs, since her computer’s CRT was no longer useful. It had been a while since he had checked up on her online activities, maybe it was high time that he did just that. It would probably be a good idea to check the house for more empty bottles as well. Daniel handed over the beer. “He’ll come back, you know that don’t you?”

"You're kidding, right?" Jack asked as he took a long swallow of the golden liquid.

"Come on, Jack, you read his wrap sheet, you know what kind of....man...he is. He'll be back for her." Daniel took his own swallow and then shook his head. "She can't stay here." He admitted in a low voice. "If she makes it through this, I have to take her to Maeve."

"Let's not go doing anything rash, shall we? Not just yet anyway." Jack said and patted Daniel's shoulder. "If he's coming back then maybe we should have some type of code or something, you know, so we know it's you and not him."

There was a bonzer idea! If he'd had something like that with Calla she wouldn't be laying near death now. “Yeah, how about, oh, I dunno, who cares? Abydos.

How’s that?”

“Abydos, huh? Good enough.” Jack agreed. “Oh and by the way, not to get too personal or anything but, ah, you could really use a shower.” He waved his hand in front of his nose as though the odor of last week’s trash had suddenly come to him.

That was Jack, always good for pointing out the practical side of things. “I probably could.” Daniel agreed and rose leaving the Molson on the coffee table. “I’ll be down in a minute or two.”

“Take your time.” Jack said in an easy voice as he picked up the remote control and put his feet up on the table. “I’m just gonna check up on the hockey scores.”

The stairs seemed daunting as Daniel looked up at them from the first floor. In the back of his mind the image of Calla tumbling down the cement steps played itself over and over again. He didn’t want to go up those stairs because if he did that meant he would have to walk into his bedroom and see her empty side of the closet. Daniel would have to come face to face with her absence. “You’re being stupid.” Daniel muttered to himself and ascended the steps to his bedroom. It was just as he thought it would be when he walked through the door, he was hit with an overwhelming sense of loss and emptiness. Her side of the closet was empty, her drawers had been pulled out and emptied as well, David certainly never intended for her to return here. It was the sight of the messed up bed which hit him hardest. Calla was a stickler for a neat house, she made the bed every morning and every night before he pulled the sheets back and got into it he could have bounced a quarter from it. David had stopped for a romp in his bed before taking her to the airport. Well, first thing tomorrow morning the entire thing, mattress, frame, head board and all was going out on the curb where he was seriously considering burning it.

Daniel caught sigh of the broken glass on his side of the bed and saw that at some point during the day (he didn’t have to guess when) the photograph of Sha’re had fallen on to the hard wood floor where the glass had shattered. Not knowing why he was doing it, it seemed so damn unimportant at the moment; Daniel crossed the room to his own side of the bed and began to pick up the shards of glass. He stood the photograph, broken frame and all, up on the night stand.

Something’s missing. A voice rose inside his head.

Well, duh, all of her stuff is missing! He answered it in a huffy tone.

Something’s missing. The voice insisted in a quiet whisper. Something important.

Looking around the room carefully he took in everything that was left and tried to remember what wasn’t. His eye kept coming back to the photograph and the....

“Jack?!” Daniel called out in a loud voice.

“Yeah, Daniel.” Jack returned from the bottom of the stairs and then began to climb up to where his friend was. “What’s up?”

“You didn’t happen to find the staff in with David’s stuff, did you?”

“Yeah, that some clothes, some of your nick-nack stuff.”

“What nick-nack stuff?” He hated it when Jack belittled his artifacts but wasn’t about to argue the point at the moment.

“What do I know?” Jack pointed at himself and smiled a little. “Just stuff. Little statue things and, I dunno, stuff. It‘s all back at the base, in your office.” He watched the look on Daniel’s face, how his eyes widened and his jaw looked as though it might actually reach the floor. “What?”

Daniel didn’t stop to answer him as he sprinted out of the bedroom and back down to the living room. The shelf where she had displayed most of his artifacts was missing some very key items. Along with the statues of Aphrodite and Ares, an incense burner and ceramic cup that he had dug up several years back on the same dig were gone.

“Daniel!”

“C’mon!” Daniel grabbed a small wood box from the shelf and his jacket as he headed toward the door. “S’go!”

“Go? Go where? Daniel!” Jack hurried out the door after him. “What about the hockey? Geez, Daniel, it’s always run run with you.”

“Me?” Daniel laughed as he tossed open the car door. “As I seem to recall, you’re the reason we end up running most of the time, usually from gun fire or some alien race you’ve pissed off.”

“Ok, fine,” he huffed as he jammed the key into the ignition. “But you talk too much. Let me guess. Back to the base?”

“Yeah and punch it Chewy.”

*****

Daniel stormed into the infirmary with Jack hot his heels. "Back already?" Sam asked as she looked up from Calla's bed side.

"What's wrong with Dr. Jackson?" Teal'c asked as he came forward to greet the two men.

"Don't look at me." Jack said in return. "I never know what's going on."

"Just, ah, give me a few moments here and hopefully everyone will see what's going on." Daniel used the rollaway tray by the bed as a makeshift altar, onto which he laid the staff, statues of Ares and Aphrodite, cup and incense burner. "I need--umm--I need--ah," Daniel looked around as he searched his mind for what he was looking for, his eyes pleading for help from those around him. "I don't suppose there's any wine or..."

"I will return." Teal'c said to Daniel's request and hurried out of the infirmary.

Daniel nodded "And salt, I need salt."

"Got it," Sam said and just as quickly as Teal'c exited the infirmary to quickly make her way down to the commissary.

"This is going to work," Daniel whispered as he caressed Calla's head, "I know it is. Just hang on a little longer."

Teal'c dashed back into the room with a dark brown bottle in his hand. "I believe this will suit your purposes, Dr. Jackson." He handed it over to Daniel.

"What is it?" Daniel asked as he uncorked it and was met with the stinging scent of hard alcohol.

"It is a special blend, greatly coveted on Chulak, it is called Vintayana."

"Coveted for what?" Daniel picked up the cup and poured the liquid into it.

"Medicinal and other values."

"Daniel, here." Sam rushed in with a large box of Morton salt that she had wrangled from the cook.

Dr. Daniel Jackson had spent many hours poring over the words in the small book that he kept hidden in the desk in his office. Calla couldn't drink from the cup on Tiberia again, that much was true because that cup had once belonged to Ares but the cup he had dug up so many years ago and which had sat around collecting dust for as many years, belonged to Aphrodite. It was not the contents of the cup that the Bonding Ritual had depending on as much as whose cup it had been. "All right, here we go." Daniel said more to himself than anyone else and then began to pour the salt onto the floor first making the five pointed star and then closing it in a half circle. "Slide her over here; come in where it's open." He instructed. "Bring the tray."

"Daniel, I don't think..." Janet began to protest and then dropped it when she looked into Daniel's eyes. "Let me unhook her from the monitors first."

Teal'c and Jack slid the gurney where Daniel had directed while Sam brought in the roll away tray. Daniel waited for them to exit the way they came in before he finished closing the circle that he and Calla were now inside of with the salt. Daniel opened the wood box he had brought with him and from it produced a round bit of charcoal which he lit and placed into the ceramic censer which he had dug up on the same dig and which clearly bore the marks of Zeus upon it. Onto flickering burning coal Daniel placed a chunk of blood red resin known as Dragon's Blood, when it began to melt and the smoke it created was thick and dark, he placed several leaves of dried white sage and sprigs of dried rosemary on the top. The sweet aroma which had mingled with his being since he had first dreamed of Aphrodite greeted everyone in the room.

"What is he doing?" General Hammond asked in a low voice as he entered the room with Dr. Fraser. Jack just shook his head and the rest of them remained silent. "What is that smell?"

"Just let him do his thing I guess, General." Jack said in a hushed voice and stopped Janet from moving any further towards them.

Daniel wafted the heavily scented smoke from the tip of her toes to the top of her auburn head and down again. Placing the censer back upon the tray he began to chant over her. “Eh-Ei-He. Agla.” Over and over until his tone reached a fevered pitch and the marks of the Gods on her skin began to glow. Still keeping his chant, Daniel raised her head from the pillow and spilled the Vintayana down her throat with a gentle hand and laid her down once more. “Eh-Ei-He. Agla.” When the marks grew as brightly as he dared them to Daniel stopped abruptly and took tight hold of the staff with both hands as he raised it above his head and began to speak to the Gods that he had called forth. “I am Daniel. I am Lord. I am Master. I am Sovereign.” His voice grew stronger with each word that he spoke. “I am Daniel, I am Sa’Tan. The Lady Wakes Only Unto Me. “He touched the mark of Zeus with the tip of the staff. “I give you all that you need, all that was stolen from you. Mine is the only hand. Mine is the only voice. I will defend you with my life. I am Daniel, I am Sa’Tan.” The lights all over the base flickered, dimmed and then went out. The emergency back-up lights cast a dim shadow over the man standing with the staff in his hand. The wood began to glow a bright orange at the point where his hand held it, the energy grew hot and bright as it swiftly coursed toward the tip of the staff where it met the mark of Zeus and entered her body. “The Lady Wakes Only Unto Me.”

As her true soul was returned to her, Calla’s lifeless body began to stiffen and jerk on the gurney. The staff in Daniel’s hands grew hotter until its ancient wood showed signs of charring as though the wood were burning from the inside out and began to smoke. The light, the energy--the power--that had been stolen from her so many years ago seemed to be endless, boundless, Daniel thought the searing heat would either make him drop it or it would simply burst into flames before it could finish its work. Suddenly she drew in a harsh rasping breath and her emerald eyes flew open, Calla’s left hand, the one which was still good for something, grasped onto the tip of the staff and pushed it closer to her skin. The orange light grew bright enough to ignite the entire infirmary with its ethereal glow, Jack and the rest raised their hands to their faces and turned their eyes away from the bright glare. They heard her draw in another harsh breath; Daniel grunted in pain but held onto the burning staff, the lenses of his glasses fogged over from the heat.

With a loud whooshing sound the last of the energy sprinted towards its goal and settled into Calla just before the staff turned to nothing more than ashes in Daniel’s hands. They scattered to the floor around her bed. The lights overhead flickered and returned to their full intensity, everything around them seemed to be normal once more. Caution in his step, Daniel moved closer to where she laid looking up with wide blank eyes. “Hi,” he said in a quiet voice and watched as her eyes turned in his direction. “Do you know who I am?”

It seemed to take forever until her eyes focused upon the voice she heard speaking to her, seemed so very hard just to move her eyeballs and make the attempt to focus. Her throat was so dry and parched that she was unsure words would come to her, the air in her lungs seemed stagnant and cold. Blue that was all she really saw at first, something, no two things, blue and bright and shining at her. Calla closed her eyes and opened them again as she felt something warm slip over her hand. “Daniel.” She uttered as she demanded her throat work for her.

“Yeah, it’s me, Calla. It’s Daniel. Welcome back.” Feeling as though he’d just dodged the biggest bullet ever to come at him, Daniel leaned forward and kissed the top of her head. “I thought I lost you.”

“I’ll be damned, he did it!” Jack said happily and without thinking at all reached out and grabbed Sam. He hugged her tight, just to share the joy he was feeling. Sam returned the embrace but only for a moment before she broke away from him.

“Yes, sir, looks like he did.” She agreed. “Maybe we should give them some space, hungry?”

“Jell-o?”

“What else?” Sam asked and tugged on Teal’c’s arm as they walked out of the infirmary. General Hammond followed the three but Dr. Fraser did not.

“I’ll give you a few minutes but then I want to examine her, got that?” She asked Daniel.

“Yeah, sure.” He agreed without looking at her. Seemed he just couldn’t take his eyes off of Calla right now, she was the only thing he could or even wanted to see. Her throat was working hard but no sound was coming and he watched while she licked her dry lips with an even drier tongue. “Thirsty?” Calla placed her good hand over her throat and nodded, Daniel poured her a cup of cold water and helped her sit up so that she could drink it. Greedily she slurped from the cup he offered. “Slow down,” Daniel tilted it away from her for a moment, “you’ll get sick.” He raised it once more so that she could have another drink. “Better?” Calla nodded and he gave her another drink before putting the cup back on the hastily made altar.

“Thy brother,” she began in a rasping voice, “Master David..."

“Was never your Master,” Daniel corrected firmly as he leaned in close to her. “We can talk about all of it later, it doesn’t matter right now, Calla. Just rest.”

“He said you were dead.“

“I’m not.“

“Maeve?”

Well, David hadn’t wasted any time using his inside information had he? “I saw her.” With great effort she turned her head away from him. “I remember you.” Daniel whispered. “I remember everything now.” He took gentle hold of her chin and turned her head back to face him. “I’m not angry with you.”

“You should be.” Calla confessed as she lay on the gurney and began to notice that the world had finally fallen silent. The only voice ringing inside of her head was her own. “Mother....” Calla coughed as her dry throat rebelled against speaking any further. She felt the warmth of his skin as Daniel put his hand under her the back of her head and helped her to take another drink of water. He waited for her speak again. “Mother came?”

“Yes,” he agreed softly. “Hades too.”

“They took....” she turned her eyes away from him again.

“Yes. The little girl and all of your children went with her, they’re safe, and someplace no one can touch them. You don’t have to protect them any more. Rest now, Calla. Please, just rest. It’s over.”

“Why didn’t you take her?”

“Sha’re?” Daniel asked but didn’t wait for her to answer. “She is not my wife anymore.” Daniel soothed her creased brow with his hand while he brushed the hair away from her face. “You are.” He covered her mouth with his fingers when she began to protest his claim. “I should have told you the first time I saw you by Kanan‘s side or when you came to me in my dream, I love you Calla.” Daniel brushed his lips over hers and moved his thumb against the softness of her hand and looked down at it, the gold band met his eye. Yes, he should have been the one to place the ring on her finger and not in the way David had done it. “In every way that can possibly matter, you are my wife. I am your husband. We’re going to get through this together. Right now, you sleep, I’ll stay right here. I promise not to leave you alone again.”

“You can’t love me.”

“Why not?”

“I killed Love. There is none for me.”

“No, you didn’t. Ares did.”

“No, I did it.” She insisted. It was all so long ago and so much had passed between then and now that it was all garbled in her own mind, she lay there looking up at him trying to find the words for a proper confession. “You saw my dream?” Daniel silently nodded. “Father was so angry, he was enraged.” She whispered. “I stole the blade from his belt, I wanted to stop him from hitting her anymore, from doing what he had done to me, I didn’t want him to ever do that again.” Tears began to fall from her eyes and she gasped for breath.

“Shh, we don’t have to talk about this now.”

“I meant to stab him with it,” she continued, “to stop him. Mother, Mother,” her voice trailed off and she left it for Daniel to help her finish.

“Aphrodite jumped in the way to stop you from stabbing your Father.”

“And I killed her.” Calla let out a pitiful wail as she forced her body off the gurney and reached for Daniel who swept his arms around her and brought her close to himself. “Oh, Gods, Daniel, I killed her.”

“You didn’t mean it,” Daniel tried to reassure her as he stroked her hair and kissed the side wet cheek. "It was an accident."

“Everything is my fault,” she admitted in a hushed whisper, “everything that has happened to you and Master David. Your parents, your lives, everything would have been so different for you and him if....” she trailed off again. “You can’t love me.” Calla pulled away from him and laid down on the hospital bed once more, she turned her whole body away from Daniel. “I am a horrible person. I have killed my Mother, your parents, tricked you into taking me away from Kanan, lain with your brother. No, you can‘t love me.” She whispered one last time.

“Calla, look at me.” She did not turn towards him so Daniel rose from the bed and crossed to the other side so she could see him. “If I had....” he stopped to rephrase his question, “If you had known about David, would you have said something when I started acting strangely?”

“Yes,” she whispered without looking at him.

“Then the fact that he fooled you into sleeping with him is my fault and so is everything else.” Daniel reached out with gentle but firm hands as she tried to turn away again. “As for my parents and David, well, Ares killed them. And David would have been nothing but trouble no matter what. Even if our parents were still alive, David would still be who and what he is, you never have any control over that. As far as Kanan goes, I wanted to take you away from him, I wanted you with me and I still do.” Now her eyes did turn to look up him. “I was supposed to fight him for you, wasn’t I? But you fixed it so that he had no choice but to give you to me.” Silently she nodded her head in response. “You were more concerned for my life then your own and you still are, aren’t you?” Again she nodded. “Why?”

“I love you.” Calla whispered in a guilty admission. “Always.”

Daniel took her hand and put it over his heart so that she could feel its steady rhythm, he placed his own over hers. “Do you feel that?” Her eyes welled with tears once more as she gazed up at him. “Do you want it?” Again she nodded but this time when she did, she gave out a small sigh. “It’s yours, Calla. I love you, so please, just let me love you. Don’t turn away from this. Stay with me.” Now it was his pale blue eyes which were filled with wetness and it spilled down his rough unshaven cheeks. “Please?”

“Daniel?”

“What?”

“Will you take me home soon?”

Daniel could not hold back the wide smile that came to his face and lit up his swollen tired eyes. “Oh, yeah, I’ll take you home with me.”

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

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.