Tarnished Heroes
A Daniel Jackson
Stargate SG-1
Adult FanFiction Series
By
Moon Mistress
a/k/a Lisa Beth Darling

Chapter Ten

Reunited

Peaches & Herb

Full of anger and frustration Daniel Jackson stormed into the briefing room at the SGC. “You rang.” He said clearly through lips that didn’t move at all and plopped himself down in the chair. “I gotta say I really need to be somewhere else right now so this better be important.”

“Problems at home?” Jack asked. He had hoped for a better Welcome Home Reception from the good Doctor Jackson.

Daniel just let out a growl and folded his arms over his chest.

“Kids all right?” Jack prodded.

“They’re fine.”

Jack nodded, waited, and then pushed further. “And Calla?”

“After I finished wringing her neck, no, she’s not going to be so good.” He muttered harshly. “Can we get this over with?”

Jack cleared his throat loudly. “Yeah, well, sounds like a personal problem to me.” He cleared his throat again and passed out the folders in front of him to everyone at the table.

“Hi Daniel.” Sam said shyly.

“Hi Sam. Sorry about the walking hurricane.” He mumbled as he began to calm down and look at the paperwork in his hands. “You’re looking amazingly well.” Daniel commented, as he looked her from over the top of the folder.

“Gee, thanks.”

“You too.” Daniel said to Jack.

“Yep, fit as a fiddle.” He crooned.

It was too good to be true—or so Daniel thought for a moment—neither of them had aged a day since he’d last seen Sam which was years ago at Calla’s graduation. Jack he saw here and there but well until now, he never even thought about it. “What’s going on?”

“It seems like your wife is a very generous lady,” Jack began to explain. “Whatever it is she does for you she did it for us.” He spread his arms wide and then patted his firm stomach as if to say look at me.

“It’s really the only explanation anyone can come up with,” Sam chimed in. “I don’t think I’ve aged a since she….”

“Graduated.” Daniel finished the thought. “I don’t think so either.”

“Hell they did something called a cell analysis on me,” Jack said happily, “according to it I’m only 57.” He laughed. “I turned 65 two months ago. This is great. Hey, why don’t you take one of them tests and we’ll see how old your cells are.”

“Thirty-four.” Daniel said without looking up. “I don’t doubt that’s what the result would be. What about you big guy? How do you feel?” He asked Teal’c.

“I hadn’t thought about it,” Teal’c said, “but maybe I should take one of those tests as well.”

“Doesn’t hurt.” Jack said quickly. “And, ah, by the way, Daniel.”

“Yes.” Daniel raised his eyes to look at Jack.

“The boys would be very appreciative if you’d have her stop by the Lab sometime, maybe next week. You know, so they study this phenomenon.”

Yeah, right, like that was gonna happen. “Calla’s busy next week, we’re taking her honors class to New York City next weekend.” If she lives that long.

“Ewww,” Jack groaned.

“What?” Daniel asked quickly.

“You’re gonna have to scratch that, we’re gonna be off-world next week.” He motioned to those around the table. “All of us.”

“Look, Jack, I’m not an active member of SG-1 anymore, you can’t just waltz in here, take over the reigns and make me snap to attention.” Daniel tossed the folder on the table as the frustration he’d been feeling thought it found an outlet.

“Ya know, I knew you were gonna do this.” Jack said snidely and tossed another folder onto the table. “That’s your contract. Read the small print. I’ll give the short version. It says that the commander of the SGC, ah that’s me.” Jack pointed to himself. “Can recall you to active duty any time he sees fit.”

Daniel didn’t need new glasses he already knew that was in his contract. It was every contract he’d signed with the SGC since stepping down from SG-1. “What the hell is so damn important?”

“Glad you asked.” Jack said in a more jovial tone and leaned back in the chair. “How about finding where the Ancients went? That sound good to you?”

“Really?” Sam tittered. “You’ve found it?”

“Yes, you’ve found it, Jack?” Daniel asked.

“Hey, ya know, there’s not much to do when you’re retired.” Jack grumbled.

“So you worked on this?” Teal’c asked. “We thought you were fishing.”

“I was.” Jack agreed quickly. “Didn’t catch anything.”

“I see.” Daniel said and looked over at Jack. “So tell us about your great discovery. I imagine this is how you got your job back?”

“You bet it is.” The General grinned and began to lay out his plan. While sequestered away in the Land of Semi-Retirement Jack O’Neill found himself bored out of his mind. To relieve that boredom he’d fished, hiked, but mostly he gazed at the stars through the telescope on his roof at night. Up there on the roof, coffee in hand and eyepiece to the sky a thought hit him. What if they never found the home world of the Ancients because they were looking too far away? They all were going on the assumption that they had taken off for distant part unknown. But what if they stayed closer to home? It was then that Jack O’Neill realized that of all the galaxies they’d explored over the years those closest to them had largely gone unnoticed and uninterested in. Why? Just because they were close and with the Stargate easy to get to, that’s why. Near the Andromeda Nebula a mere 2.2 million lightyears away and much closer to home was a galaxy by the androgynous name of NGC 205. In galaxy NGC 205 were several unknown and uncharted planets that Jack O’Neill believed he’d found the Stargate addresses too and was certain that Nicholas Ballard’s notes indicated them to be where the Ancients had gone.

“My grandfather’s notes?” Daniel asked with a strange expression on his face.

“It’s in that manuscript Calla bought you.”

“You’ve got it?” Daniel shook his head, which was still reeling from all the day’s news and events. “I’ve been looking all over for that.”

“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to get it back to you.” Jack told him with a half smile and cleared his throat. “Anyway the MALP is all set to go and depending on what it brings back I thought we’d leave on Monday.”

“Gonna give me a whole day, huh? How generous of you.” Daniel grumbled. “How long are we going to be gone?”

“Dunno, depends on what we find but I’d figure on two weeks maybe more.” Jack grimaced, he didn’t like giving this news to Daniel and knew that Daniel didn’t like getting it but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. “I’m sure she’ll understand, you’ve been gone longer.”

Was there a worse time for him to leave for two weeks or more? Daniel didn’t think so. In less than two weeks, it was Senior Prom, a few days later the kids would turn eighteen. Three weeks after that it was their eighteenth wedding anniversary. Two days after that it was the kids’ high school graduation.

Let’s not forget that in between all of that there was the coming weekend and Callas’ trip to New York. Alone in a big city she could just be swept away especially if she started nippin’ and poppin’ while she was there. He couldn’t bring that subject up to her now because there just wasn’t enough time to get through it all before he left. Things like this went in stages with her. He’d bring it up, she’d get pissed off and then sulk off, she’d become apologetic, swear she’d never do it again and grovel at his feet. Then they could talk it over and discuss it rationally but that whole process usually took a few days if not weeks depending on the severity of the situation. If he brought it up now she’d just go into a tailspin until he got back. “Fax me whatever information you get from the MALP and get that manuscript back to me.” Daniel stood up. “I really gotta get home.”

“Daniel?” Jack said as he grabbed the younger man’s arm.

“There’s nothing you can do.” Daniel muttered. “Just family problems.”

“Not…ya know…those problems?” Jack asked with an uncomfortable toss of his head.

“N…No!” Daniel resented the implication that he was screwing around again. Maybe Jack thought she was. Calla would never do that. “Nothing like that. I gotta go.” He said again and walked out.

“Either of you two know what’s going on?” Jack asked those seated with him.

“No, sir.” Sam said. “I’ve e-mailed with Daniel and Calla a lot but I haven’t seen them in years. But nothing’s indicated any problems.”

“He hasn’t said anything to me either.” Teal’c offered. “This must be a new problem, he was not as anxious when I saw him last.”

“When was that?” Jack inquired.

“Thursday.”

“Anybody seen Ares lately?” Jack again but this time he asked the question without his head down so as not to look at anyone in particular.

“No.” The reply came in unison. Teal’c gave further explanation. “The last time Ares was about was almost a year ago, as far as I’m aware.”

Sam, however, didn’t offer any more information on the last time she’d been in the company of the God of War, which wasn’t all that long ago, less than a year, less than two months. There was no reason to share that. Her marriage ended years ago, it wasn’t because of Ares, her husband just turned out to be a jerk, and they parted ways. Ares left her life soon after Calla returned from Kanan and didn’t come back into it until after her divorce several years later. Sam couldn’t say his reappearance was not welcome by her. If nothing else, he did know how to get the job done.

End of Chapter Ten of
Tarnished Heroes
An Adult Stargate FanFiction Novel
By
Moon Mistress
Continue to
Chapter Eleven