"Daddy! Daddy! Are we there yet?" The twins cried from the back seat.

"Pipe down, you two, we just left the driveway five minutes ago."

"Where we goin'?" Nicholas wanted to know.

"Out, away from your poor mother for the day." The light turned red and he turned around to look at them strapped into their car seats. "You really drive her nuts."

"We know." They chimed.

"Not funny." Daniel admonished. Yes, they were so like he and David. Oh, how many times had they riled each other up just so they could get their mother's dander up? Daniel didn't think he could count that high. The two of them had been great at Tag Team. One of them would run into wherever their mother was with a problem, she'd get that taken care and the next one would run in. They'd keep that up for forty minutes or so before she started looking haggard and her voice was pitched. Eventually she'd catch on and tell them to find something more constructive to do with their time. "Where does mommy take you?" He asked when the light turned green. Three days a week she took them to a local community center for a scheduled play date with about twenty other three to five years-olds. Sometimes they went over to their friend Kenny’s house or Kenny came to their house. Other than that he really wasn’t sure what they did with their time when he was off-world.

"Park." Nicky said.

"Flowers." Coley piped in.

"Flowers?" Daniel asked. "Where?"

"No, Cole, dun wanna see stupid flowers." Nicky grumbled.

"Park." Coley said without a fuss. "Swings!" She cried as she thought about it.

The first hour of their day out was spent at the park where Daniel swung his children on the swings and caught them as they came down the slide. Busy little legs made their way through the obstacle course made of old tires and grimy little fingers gripped monkey bars as they went hand over hand. Each turn they competed for which one could swing higher, slide faster, or go across the monkey bars better.

The late autumn day was chilly and their cheeks were turning red with cold. "Come on, guys, we'll go get some hot chocolate and warm up." Daniel packed his kids back into the car. “It’s just about time to get some lunch anyway.”

"Dad?" Nicholas asked while the strap was placed around him.

"Yes." Daniel answered.

"You gonna be home for Hal'ween?"

His sons’ words echoed in his head for a few moments; was it really that late in the year already? Looking around at the turned and fallen leaves, he took in the sight of houses with ghosties and ghoulies hanging about in their front yards. "Yes." He said. Halloween was in a few days and SG-1 wasn't scheduled to go off-world for another week. Driving down the road toward the nearest restaurant, the conversation was filled with talk of costumes and candy.

Inside the coffee shop, over cups of chicken noodle soup, of hot chocolate and powdered donuts, Daniel gently reminded his children that they had to pick up after themselves and at the very least they were not leave anything on the stairs or in front of doors where people would trip and get hurt.

"It was awful." Coley muttered with wide eyes. "Mommy got hurt."

"You saw her fall?"

"Yep." Nicholas said, his nose tipped with whipped cream. "Boom, she went down."

"I was scared." The little girl admitted. "She wouldn't get up." Always the proper little lady, Colleen wiped her mouth with the napkin to remove the powdered sugar. Nicky nodded his head in agreement.

"Well, mommy's all right now. You think about that the next time you're going to leave something on the floor, even for a minute, ok?" Daniel warned and soothed her hair. It was clear the image of their mother falling down the stairs and then not getting up right away had left a mark on both of them; Daniel didn't see the point in going over it anymore. "Where should we go now?"

"Dunno," Nicky returned and popped the last of his donut into his mouth.

"Do you have any ideas?" Daniel asked his daughter and handed his son a napkin.

"Dun say it, Coley." Nicky warned as he wiped his mouth.

"Nicky doesn't like flowers." Coley told her father.

"Where are the flowers?" That was the second time this subject came up today and his curiosity was peaked. Nicky shot his sister a dirty look. "That's enough."

"Retum," Nicky groused with a grand flourishing eye-roll.

Now it was Coley’s turn to roll her eyes. “Ar-bor-eeee-tum,” she said to her brother. “He don’t talk right,” she complained to dad.

Colleen had a gift for stating the obvious. Her vocabulary skills were remarkable and her brother’s, while still impressive for a three year-old, were light years behind hers. The last few nights had been very cold and whatever flowers remained up at the old arboretum had surely gone by the by. “Maybe mommy will take you back there in the spring, the flowers are all.....”

“Dead!” Nicky interjected. “All dead!” He reached out and shoved his sister.

“I know,” Coley grumbled and pushed back. Nicky reached out and snatched the last half of the donut from her hand. “Giveitback!” She cried and stretched her hands out for the sweet treat. “Gimmie, Nicky!” Coley shouted. “Daddy!” Before Daniel could interject his opinion, Nicky squished the donut in his palm and then stuffed it into his mouth. He smiled at her with white powdered sugar all over his face. “Daddy!”

“Nicholas, stop it,” Daniel warned. “We’re in public, none of that. Apologize to your sister. I’ll get you another one on the way out, Coley.”

“Sorry.” Came Nicky’s feeble reply as he wiped his mouth and hands with the napkin his father gave him. Grudgingly, instead of shoving each other they settled for civilly shooting icicles from their eyes at one another.

“No wonder your mother is going insane.” He said in a slightly irritated voice.

“What?” Colleen replied worriedly.

“Just a bad dream.” Nicholas told his father.

“I’m kidding,” he soothed. Bad dream. Another subject which raised itself for a second time. Daniel dropped his voice so the others around couldn’t hear him. “What was it about?”

“Dunno.” He said shyly and finished the last of the cocoa in his cup.

“But you saw it?” Again Nicholas nodded. “What did you see?” Having had his own experiences with Callas’ dream, Daniel did not doubt his son. Sometimes when he slept next to his wife he could see what she was dreaming just as clearly as if it was in his own head. Many times Daniel woke up at night only to have the dream still playing in his mind while his open eyes searched in the dark.

Nicky sat back and thought about it for a few minutes. “Lady. A man.” Small shoulders shrugged up.

“What did they look like?” Daniel prodded.

Little lips pursed as he searched for the right words. “The lady,” he moved his hand around his own hair, “dark hair, dark eyes.” Looking around coyly for a second he leaned over the table, holding his hands cupped inward toward his chest, “big…” the hands and his eyes expanded for emphasis. “The man, tall, very tall.” He shook his head sternly. “His hair was funny.”

At first it was the description of the woman that caught his attention, immediately he told himself it was so vague it could be any woman. Now it was his son’s description of the man which caused him to speak. “What about his hair?” Daniel asked. “Did you see his skin? Was it dark?”

“Black,” Nicky agreed immediately. “Had girls’ hair, all braids and junk.”

“Did you see it too, Coley?”

“No, I only see mommy’s good dreams. The ones with you in them.” With concern she reached out for her brother’s hand as she took in the look on his face. “Nicky sees the bad ones.”

“Only the dreams with me in them, huh?“ Daniel asked absently and realized he might be having The Talk with his daughter a lot sooner than he anticipated. He had intimate knowledge of those dreams. Well, maybe not those dreams but that dream. It seemed to be only one which repeated itself on a regular basis. In it, she and Daniel were both naked and soaking wet, as though they’d just been swimming. Overhead the summer sun was bright and warm, a few clouds skipped by in the bright blue sky while he made love to her in a field of wild flowers. “What else did you see in mommy’s dream, Nicky?” Daniel also caught the expression on the boys face and reached out to tussle his hair. “You can tell me.”

“Can’t. I dunno,” he huffed but he was trying very hard to remember. “I got in bed with mommy, she woke up. She went to sleep, the dream didn’t come back. But she was scared, they scare her.”

Calla told him last night that Nicky had ‘interrupted’ her time ‘thinking about’ her husband. Nicky said she was asleep when he came into the room. “Ok, that’s enough, you don’t have to remember.” Daniel told the boy. “I see we’re all done here. Come on, pick up your stuff and throw it out.” Walking back to the Explorer the bright sunshine belied the chill of the day. He was thinking about taking them to the zoo for an hour or so but maybe they would go somewhere else. “Does mommy ever take you guys to the museum?”

“No,” Colleen told him. “She said you would.”

“She was right.”

About an hour into their visit to the museum, Daniel’s cell phone began ringing. Looking at the screen, he saw it was his wife. “Hello.”

“Hi,” she said on the other end. “Where are you?”

“We’re at the museum. Something wrong?” The tone of her voice was small to his ears.

“No, I was just wondering when you were coming home.”

She missed them. “In a while. What have you been doing?”

“I had a bath,” she said coyly, “I ran around the house.” Though she could not see it, on the other end of the phone line, Calla felt the smile on her husband’s face. “Now, I’m just waiting for you.”

“I’ll be home soon.” Daniel turned away from his children who were looking at the Aztec artifacts. “No ‘thinking about me’ until I get there.” Wishing they had more family so that there would be someone to leave the kids with overnight now and then, he said good-bye to her and hung up the phone. Thinking about it, Daniel realized that Calla had not had an entire day or night away from the kids since Christmas almost three years ago. He really should spend more time at home and less time wandering the Universe. Sam left for a motorcycle convention in Texas and would be gone the next week, Jack was away on military business at the Pentagon and Teal’c was off with Braytak organizing a new rebel colony.

However, there was still one person he could call upon. Daniel never tried this particular trick before and he felt a little like “Darren” from Bewitched as he walked around the corner, keeping one eye on the kids but hidden from view. “Ares?” He whispered. “Ares? Can you hear me?” Feeling ridiculous but willing to give it one more shot he called out for his father in-law again. “Ares?” This was stupid; of course Ares couldn’t hear him. Daniel walked out from his small hiding spot and stood next to his children who had wandered off to look at a suit of armor. Coming up from behind them he said “Do you like it? It’s Persian armor…..”

“Actually, it’s Mongolian.” A deep voice said from behind them.

“Umpa!” Nicky called out as his grandfather came into sight.

“Oh! Umpa!” Colleen cried excited and held her arms out to him.

Ares bent way down and swooped them up in his arms and gave each a kiss. “How are my darling grandchildren today?” He asked. “Have you missed me?”

“Yes!” They cried and wrapped their little arms around his thick neck.

“You called.” Ares said to Daniel.

Looking at him standing there in the museum with his grandchildren, Daniel was impressed. Not only had the God of War heard his call and come to him but he was not standing there in full battle regalia as he so often liked to do. Rather, Ares looked very, well, very normal—other than his extreme height and physique—standing there in faded blue jeans and a dark blue pullover, his long hair pulled back in a pony tail. “Yes,” Daniel said finally and then began to regret his earlier impulse.

“What do you want?” Ares asked with a smile. “Where’s my daughter?”

“She’s home, she needs a break from the kids.” Daniel raised a finger to his lips and then bit down on the lower one for a second. “How would you feel about taking them for the night?”

Ares’ onyx eyes grew wide with surprise. “Me? You are going to let me take my grandchildren for the night?” The surprise in his voice turned to suspicion. “What’s going on, Jackson?”

“Can we, Umpa?” Nicky said.

“Oh, please, Daddy!” Coley begged.

“I just want a night alone with my wife.” Daniel explained. “Surely you can understand that.”

“I can.” Ares agreed and settled the children back on the floor. He wouldn’t mind the same. “Look, over there.” He pointed across the room as he sank on his knees to their level. “There’s entire glass case of sharp things, go have a look. I want to talk to your father.” The twins ran off in the direction their grandfather suggested to look at the display of swords, daggers, knives, axes and halberds. “Have you discussed this with her? You know she doesn’t want them spending time on the island.” A fact that Ares detested: Why shouldn’t his grandchildren spend time on what was their ancestral home? Ares was shocked to find that Daniel felt the same way.

“You’re their grandfather, whether I like that or not it doesn’t matter.” He said in a low voice. “They should spend time with you, they should stay overnight with you. You’re the only grandparent they have.”

“And the island? Do you want them to see my cave?”

“Keep the harem away from them and they’ll be fine.” Daniel returned with a sly smile. “They won’t understand that and Calla will not want to explain it later.” Upon giving it a second thought, Daniel added; “And no, no, no…war stuff. No weapons, knives, hunting.”

“Agreed.” They’re children, Jackson; they’re not ready for such things.” Ares held out his large hand to his son in-law and they shook. “Come with me,” he said in a deep cheery voice while clasping his hands together, “my grandchildren, we’re going to Umpa’s house.” Clearly, Lord Ares God of War was just as delighted as his grandchildren in this moment.

“Can we see mommy first?” Coley asked.

“Yes, we will stop and see your mother before we go. Now, give your father a hug and a kiss, I will take you home to get your things.”

The children ran forward and wrapped their arms around their daddy. “Be good for Umpa, ok? No fighting.” Daniel kissed each one. “You’ll bring them back in the morning?”

“No, how about in the late afternoon? Unless you have better plans?” Ares asked.

A few more hours couldn’t hurt. Daniel nodded his agreement. “Tell mommy I’ll be home soon.”

Looking around and noting that the room was empty except for themselves, Ares gathered the children up in his arms. “Say bye-bye to daddy,” he said in a voice which was both light and full of under current. The children said ‘good-bye’ and disappeared with him.

Whether it was because this was the twins’ first overnight stay outside the house or something else, Daniel didn’t know, all he did know was he had a terrible sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Before he could get to the parking lot, his cell phone was ringing again.

“Did you really tell Father he could take the children?” Calla demanded to know before Daniel had the chance to say ‘hello’.

“Yes, now don’t be angry…..”

“I’m not, I’m amazed!” Calla returned. “I know you don’t trust him.”

“You do, don’t you?” Daniel climbed into the Explorer.

“Of course, he’s my Father.”

“And they seemed pretty happy to go with him.” He stuck the key in the ignition.

“They’re ecstatic!” Calla cried. “Even Father! Can’t you hear them?”

Indeed he could hear all of them in the background clamoring about going to Umpa’s house. That sinking feeling began to rise and turn into something more pleasurable than dread. “Now, about you being naked when I get there…………..” Daniel pulled out of the parking lot and headed home.

End of Chapter Three
Daughter of the Gods: Little Victories
Continue to
Chapter Four