Chapter Two

Calla helped Daniel pack his bags for his trip much against his wishes. He kept telling her to sit down and stop fussing.

“I’m not helpless,” Calla protested. “I can still fold socks.”  She dropped the socks she was rolling into a ball and turned her lined face to look at him. “I’m going to miss you.”

Daniel’s irritability faded away as he moved in close and kissed her cheek. “I’ll miss you too. I’ll try not to be gone too long and if I have to stay I’ll come back and visit for a day or so, ok?”

“Ok.” She nuzzled her silver head to his chin for a moment before picking up the socks once more and packing them in a neater manner.  “You’ll get to see Nicholas.” She said sadly. “I see so little of him lately.  He’s off saving the world just like you used to do.”

“You still hate that idea, don’t you?” Daniel asked as he folded a t-shirt and packed into the bag.

“Yes, but I understand it better now then when I first came home.”  She looked up at him again. “I’m proud of him and you, you know that don’t you?  You’ve both done so much good in so many places. It’s selfish of me to want him to stay home just as it was selfish when I wanted you to do the same. I can’t help it, I always want you with me never far away.”

Maybe it was a little bit and all the gods knew it had gotten on Daniel’s nerves more than once over the years.  She never actually came out and said ‘don’t go’ or ‘stay home’ or ‘if you do this one more time I’m leaving you’. That wasn’t her style.  Yet, that didn’t mean she couldn’t blatantly let you know that she was unhappy with your decision. It was in her eyes, her voice and her very stance.  In the end, Calla just wanted those she loved to be safe and to her their being safe meant them being close by where she could keep an eye on them.  She couldn’t do that if they were busy among the stars.

“Do you think they’ll find our offer acceptable?” Calla asked as she balled up the last pair of socks.

“I hope so.” Daniel said honestly.  He hadn’t met the Sengali yet but Nick had told him all about them.  Daniel didn’t see why they couldn’t come to an amicable agreement in a rather swift fashion.  If he couldn’t bring her back a way that would help save her life then he wanted nothing more than to make her fondest wish come true and that she would live to see the day that New Life arrived in Altair Ain. “Are you sure you want to go with me to the SGC? You could just stay here. It’s cold out there today. I’ll tuck you in by the fire.” Daniel invited.

The offer sounded heavenly Call refused. “Stop fussing over me.” She said lightly. “I want to see you off.”

Though he really wanted to leave her here tucked in warm by the fire so he could hold that image of her in his head instead of seeing her sad and trying to be brave at the foot of the Stargate while he negotiated with the Sengali, Daniel capitulated not wanting to spend his last few moments with her getting into an argument over something so small.  Daniel locked up the bag and put it over his shoulder, Calla held on to his arm as they made their way down the stairs and to his office where he locked the ring and her necklace in the safe just as he always did right before he left the planet. 

Hand in hand they walked down to the door of a familiar house and knocked upon it.  “Ready Father?” Calla asked softly as Ares opened the door. Calla’s magick was withered at best on most days and it was advisable not to let her travel the astral alone.  So Ares would be bringing her home today after Daniel departed through the Stargate.

“Just waiting for you.  How are you today my dear?” He asked as he took her in and let himself out of the house which he had built for himself. Ares had done it the old fashioned way; one nail at a time.  Calla offered him Bacchus’ residence as it was one of the largest homes in the kingdom and she thought it suited him but Ares didn’t want to share a home with Bacchus’ followers and he had no desire to start learning the art of wine making. Instead he accepted a plot of land near the main house and built a home of great height with two levels, each tall enough to accommodate him so that he didn’t have to stoop has it roamed around.  It had two bedrooms, a dining room, kitchen and living room every inch of it created, designed and built by the God of War and it showed. His home was adorned with several weapons from halberds to lances and spears along with several suits of armor it was a veritable history of war in and of itself. Ares was quite proud of it.

“I’m fine, Father.”

Ares reached out and cupped her cheek gently. “Of course you are.” He agreed with a half-hearted smile.  The three of them disappeared and then reappeared in the Gate Room of the SGC.  Samantha was waiting for them, she had news she wanted to share with Calla. She thought she’d made a break through in their research and believed it was possible to isolate the enzymes in Calla’s Ichor.  They were far from putting everything into practical working theory but they were much closer than ever before to realizing their goal.  The news made Calla very happy but she wasn’t ready to go dancing a jig over it.

Behind them the doors to the Gate Room slid open and Nick sauntered inside. “Ready to go, Dad?” He asked before he looked up and saw his Mother standing there. Nick shook his head as his mouth fell open. “Mom?”  It had been some months since he’d seen her and now she looked so old and frail.  Nick stopped in mid-stride to the ramp, dropped the pack from his shoulder and stood there frozen.

“Nicholas,” Calla said happily and held her arms out to him. “It’s been so long.”  He didn’t move, didn’t come to hug or greet his Mother.  Calla realized he hadn’t meant to see her.  Who knew how long he’d been back on the planet; a minute or an hour it didn’t matter.  It was clear he hadn’t meant to contact her while he was here and she lowered her arms feeling unwanted. Calla was aware that once in a while Nicholas returned home only to spend a night or a day with Annie and the kids he did not come to visit with her.  Although that hurt, Calla dismissed that as him only having enough time to reconnect with his own family before having to depart for parts unknown once more.  He was being a good husband and a good father, those thoughts contented her. The thought that he honestly didn’t want to see her never settled in her mind until this moment. “It’s good to see you, Nicholas.” She said in a cooler voice as she held on to Daniel’s hand and slipped her other arm around Ares’ waist wondering what she’d done to make her Son stay away from her so long.

“Hi, Mom.” He muttered wishing that he was not seeing what he was seeing as he shuffled his feet while making his way over to her. “Been a while.”  He wanted to hug her but he didn’t want to break her.  Nicholas never thought he’d see her look so old. “Ready Dad?”

Daniel cleared his throat and stepped away from Calla to lean in toward Nicholas’ ear. “That all you got for her?”

“I got us this far,” Nick returned in a low whisper. “What’d you do?”  If Calla knew just how he had gotten them this far with the Sengali then both of his parents might be a bit upset with him but Nick considered a few vials of jackoff juice and Ichor to be small prices to pay to set up this meeting.  The Sengali did have their own fertility problem, they had no trouble making very good looking women but the male population as they had suspected on their previous visit was falling off.  They suggested an infusion of new, high quality, DNA might solve their problem.  It seemed they considered Nicholas to be a perfect specimen.  He wouldn’t screw their women but he satisfied their scientists with the deposits he left in their lab three days ago.  What they did with it was up to them.

“You sure you wanna do this?” Daniel asked still staying close to his Son.

Nick looked past him to his Mother standing there looking dejected and fragile with her arms around her Father.  He wasn’t angry with her or his father or anyone else but seeing her had been such a shock.  Letting the anger in him ride off on a Wild White Horse he exhaled and took the last few steps to where she was standing. “Hi, Mom.” He said in a warmed tone and took her hand to brush his lips over it. “I’ve missed you.”  Now he very gently and slowly put his arms around her to give her the hug she’d been looking for earlier.  “We’re gonna make you better.” He whispered in her ear. “You’ll see in just a few days this will all be over.”

Calla hugged him back knowing there was little chance that the words he spoke were true but not wanting to dash his hopes she refrained from disagreeing with him. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Mom.”  Nick stepped away and gave her a smile.

Daniel came forward to hug her and kiss her good-bye. “I’ll see you soon.”

“I know.” Calla agreed in a shaky voice. “Very soon.”  She hugged him again. “I love you.”

“Forever?”

“And beyond.” She kissed his cheek.

“I love you too, Calla.”  Daniel didn’t want to let her go and so he held on a little longer and a little tighter.

“You’ll be back for the show?” Calla asked hopefully. It was still three weeks away but she wanted to be sure he would be with her. Daniel seemed to take a great amount of joy in her Halloween shows as not only was her artwork on display but of course so was everything in the museum and he spent much time discussing the artifacts and ancient works of art with those in his field and hers.

“I wouldn’t miss it for anything. It’s gonna be ok, I promise I won’t be gone that long.”  Behind him the Stargate began to dial. “I want you to go watch from the Control Room, ok?”  He said taking a step back and kissing her forehead.  The Stargate gave off a low dose of radiation when it opened which was basically harmless but with her in her weakened elderly condition he didn’t want to take any chances.  “You can wave to me from up there.”  She nodded and returned her arm to Ares’ waist.

Ares stuck out his arm and Daniel took it. “Good journey, Jackson.”

“Thanks,” Daniel returned as they shook in the old Greek manner by grasping each other’s forearms.  “Take care of her.”

“Always.”  Ares agreed and let go of Daniel’s arm before he turned his attention to Nicholas. “Good journey.”  Nicholas hesitated a moment before taking the extended arm and saying good-bye to his Grandfather before Ares took her out of the Gate Room and up to the Control Room where Calla stood with her hand on the glass watching them depart.

End of Chapter Two of
Golden Years
by Moon Mistress
a/k/a Lisa Beth Darling
Go to
Chapter Three