Chapter Fifteen

SGC

Annie and Nick hardly spoke to each other and the uneasy silence between encased the group like a shroud. To Calla it seemed there was tension between Nicholas and Ares as well. She thought that Nick must know their little secret. Daniel had been on the top of the mountain when Ares took the women offered him; surely he was far enough away not to be affected. Nicholas wasn’t so lucky. She hoped to talk to her Son about that before he spoke to his Father. As to the subject of Nicholas and Annie’s marriage, Calla intended to stay out of it unless one or both of them came to her.

“I want to get to work on this right away,” Annie said in a hurried voice as she held tightly to the silver tablet in her hands.

“I don’t expect it to work,” Calla admitted sadly.  “If it does I think there are bound to be problems with it if not immediately then somewhere down the road.”  At that point down the road she might not be around any longer and therefore would be unable to help them.  What if the Sengul solution produced an entire generation of soulless magical beings?  Calla just couldn’t leave that as her legacy.  “Thank you for all of you’ve done for us.”

Annie looked down at her Mother in-law while still excitedly clutching the tablet in her hands. It was the best thing to come out of this disastrous trip as far as she was concerned.  “You look tired, you want to come back with me and I’ll check you out?”

Calla’s day had been long, boring and downright tediously frustrating once she left the palace.  All day she rode around in the open carriage taking in the sights; the libraries, the museums, the kiva and other places of historical or diplomatic importance.  It was all so long and boring it just ran together in one big hazy blur. Daniel should be the one on the damn trip through Sengul History instead of hanging off the side of a mountain nearly frightening her into a heart attack as he dangled from the damn rope!

“Hey, you know, I’ve got some things I’d like to look at,” Daniel started as he put his hands gently on Calla’s upper arms. “I really could use some time with the main frame here. So why don’t you go with Annie and I’ll go down to my office then after that we’ll go home?”

The last thing she wanted was to leave Nick alone with Daniel. “What will you two do?” She asked of her Son and her Father.

Ares’ mind reading abilities were minimal to none but it was all her eyes and her voice. “We’ll wait here while Daniel goes to his office and you go with Annie.”  She’d like him to say they would return to Altair Ain but Ares wanted to hang out here and wait for her to make sure she was all right. She did look terribly tired.  “Isn’t that right, Nicholas?”

All Nick wanted to do was bend the crap out of his Father’s ear!  “Sure.” He mumbled knowing his Mother wanted to talk to him first and his Grandfather was going to see to it that she got that opportunity.

Daniel thought the air felt rather thick but couldn’t get a good grasp on the glances being sent back and forth between the three of them.  “I’ll walk you down.”

Calla slipped an arm around his waist. “All right.”

Samantha was in the lab when Annie, Calla and Daniel walked in. “Did you get it? Please tell me you got it…I’ve got everything set here and ready to go.”

The last time Calla saw Samantha so excited and nervous was at her daughter Amanda’s wedding nearly seven years ago.  “We got it, Sam.”

“Great!” Sam held out her hands. “Let me see!”

Annie wanted the first good look at the material but Samantha had the experience and training not to mention all the time she’d spent on the project. With a bit of regret she handed over the tablet. “Let me know what you find. I’m going to take Mom into one of the exam rooms.”

Calla looked up and kissed Daniel lightly. “See you soon.”

“What’s wrong, Kitty?”  Daniel asked as he looked into her eyes. She wasn’t the least bit excited about the possibility of ending their fertility problem or even of the fact that they’d just brought the technology for a nearly endless supply of clean-burning nearly free energy to the planet.

Calla had the worst headache she could remember but more than that, “I don’t want to get out and back into this damn dress again,” she confessed weakly and heard Daniel snicker. “You try it if you think it’s so funny.”  Therein might lie a way for her to make sure Nick didn’t bother Daniel while he was busy working.  “I think I’ll have Nicholas go home and bring me some blue jeans.”

“Good idea.” Daniel agreed and kissed her once more before wandering off down the hall which would eventually take him to his office.  He wanted to get to his computer where he had copies of the footage and still shots he’d taken on his last trip to the planet.  Too bad he didn’t get to do the same this time but they hadn’t been expecting to leave Earth when they arrived in the SGC for the treaty signing yesterday.  He would like very much to have images of Adoy and to know more about him and why the little creature lived so high on the mountain and away from the other inhabitants.

Before sitting down at his desk he locked the door and turned on the lights.  Fishing the necklace out of the breast pocket of the wrinkled Armani suit he booted up the computer and took his notes from the top drawer.  Immediately he began scribbling new notes onto the yellow legal pad.

Father, Brother, Husband, Lover

Daniel looked at those four words in that exact order for what had to be the millionth time.  For the first time he drew lines between them and made columns.

Find the four men who have been all things to her and help her you may.

He sat back and looked at that.  No, that didn’t look quite right.  Eros was dead not only that he was banished to Oblivion and would not be returning to Earth at any time in the future. If he was part of the equation then they were doomed before they could start solving the puzzle.  Daniel scratched off Eros’ name.  “Who else?” He asked himself and began to chew on the eraser.  “All four things.” He shook his head. That wasn’t very possible was it?  The necklace caught his eye as the blue Windows screen came up and he typed in his password.  Daniel started again with the pad while the computer finished booting up.

Harley…a name that made his stomach turn and one that was quickly scratched out. He was dead and banished too, so was Kanan.  Maybe he should start simpler. Daniel made a list of all the men in Calla’s life that he considered her to be close to.

Daniel
David
Ares
Nicholas
Duncan
Poseidon
Morpheus
Aiden

Paddy? What about Paddy?  No. Calla liked him but she didn’t confide in him.  Hades?  Hadn’t been around since Calla healed him, he was afraid to show his face in the kingdom.  Besides….he could scratch the Olympians off the list, except for Ares anyway. All of them were around long before Callestah Bryn was born.  The name brought a spark to his mind as he looked down at the necklace once more. 

All that dies one day is reborn.

It was a crazy idea but, well sometimes they worked out. What was the harm in playing along for a few moments?

Daniel made another table on a clean sheet of paper

Who was Guinevere’s father and did she have a brother?  He would have to ask Morgan who was back in Altair Ain waiting on word regarding her future trip to Sengul. Did Calla have a living Brother somewhere?  Daniel wouldn’t put it past Ares to still be out there sowing his wild oats and making babies—if he still had the tool for such things that was. But, who knew?  The Old Wolf could have several children out there.

Just following along with the path of his wandering thoughts Daniel started to write again;

3 necklaces
1 ring

Was that right? Kanan had given her a necklace with the same stones. Should he go back to Tiberia and look for it?  Daniel picked up the necklace Guinevere was said to have worn, he recognized the style. It was a wedding necklace in the ancient Greek tradition. Calla had worn one very similar to it after Eros took her as his Wife.  He tried to remember now what the stones had been but at the time it just didn’t seem very important. Should he go to the islands? To Eros’ Tower and look around to see if he could find that necklace?  If he found all the necklaces what the hell was he supposed to do with them?

Daniel pitched the pencil onto the desk. “What the fuck?” He mumbled. “I don’t even know if this really has anything to do with this.”  There wasn’t time left to waste. If he was going to go away again it wasn’t going to be on some wild goose chase.  Who knew what he’d find on Tiberia now?  The last time they went, after Calla was taken, the place was deserted.  Finding the necklace would be like looking for a needle in a haystack if Kanan hadn’t put it away in his chamber and he’d be lucky if that was still standing.

On the desk the phone began to ring.

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