Daddy's Little Girl -- SG-1 - Part the Six
Apr. 3rd, 2006 02:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
phantismaTitle: Daddy's Little Girl
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: General Team fic, and original characters
Disclaimer: Ain't mine, don't own um...just like playing with them...especially that Danny Boy...
Summary: DJ makes a discovery that unsettles her, and a relationship begins to develop when she shares her anxiety and grief with Teal'c.
Part the One, Part the Two, Part the Three,Part the Four, and Part the Five
“Daniel, come in.”
Daniel sifted through stacks of papers and books for the radio. “Go ahead, Sam.”
“You guys okay up there?”
“Yeah, you?”
“Its been two days, we were worried.”
“Has it?” Daniel took off his glasses and rubbed at his face. It certainly was shaggier than when he left the SGC. “Didn’t mean to worry you.”
“Are you making progress?”
“I think so. Actually, we may be at a point where we should come back to the village. Maybe a pair of fresh eyes will make more sense of all this.”
“We’re actually heading back there right now. Apparently there’s some ritual tomorrow we’ve been invited to.”
“We’ll see you in a few hours then.”
Daniel stretched and shuffled through his papers. Lists of possible gate addresses and drawings copied from the journals lay scattered around them and he set about trying to collect them together. “DJ?”
When there was no immediate response he stepped into the stairwell. “DJ?”
“Yeah, just a minute.” She poked her head out over the rail a few levels up. “What?”
“Have you finished with the camera?”
“Just about. One or two more.”
“Good. We’re heading back to the village.”
She nodded and disappeared again. Daniel stuffed his own journal and the assorted papers into his pack and started to pick up the books to replace. One of the grey clad servants appeared beside him and took over with a nod. Taking the hint, Daniel shouldered his pack and headed up the stairs.
He found Teal’c sitting on the floor near the fire, meditating. Daniel set the pack down and looked for Ashen, starting when he came in the front door. “Ah, there you are. We’re ready to head back.”
Ashen smiled. “So soon?”
“Yes, I think we’re about done here for now. We need to get back to our friends, and we’d like to explore the stone circle.”
Ashen inclined his head. “As you wish. I will get your boots and send for the horses.”
There was a muffled yell, followed by what sounded like cascading books and mild cussing. Teal’c was on his feet and through the door way before Daniel had completely turned around. He re-emerged a few minutes later with a limping and white-faced DJ.
“What happened?” Daniel asked. DJ shook her head and didn’t seem to want to answer, and Daniel looked at Teal’c.
“Dr. Moore was startled, and knocked over a stack of books.”
“I—twisted my ankle,” she added, but wouldn’t look at him.
“Let’s have a look at it.” Daniel gestured for her to sit, which she did gingerly, lifting her right leg to him as he knelt in front of her, pulling off her slipper and sock. “It’s swollen, but not bruised…yet.”
“I don’t tend to bruise. I’m sure it will be fine.”
“Well, you’re not going to get your boot over that now.” He rummaged in his pack for an ace bandage, something he had learned to carry with him over the years. “I’ll have Sam look at it when we get back.”
DJ nodded and withdrew into herself. It concerned him. There was something she wasn’t saying, and he wasn’t sure why. He wrapped the ankle and patted her knee. It was already late afternoon, if they didn’t leave soon, they wouldn’t make the village before dark.
Ashen returned with their boots, once again shiny and clean. Daniel handed DJ hers, then sat on the nearest chair to don his own. When he was done, he looked to Teal’c, trying to determine if the big Jaffa knew what had actually happened. Eventually he gave up and stood, shouldering his pack as Teal’c did his as well.
Teal’c handed Daniel DJ’s pack with a nod. “I will carry her to the horses.”
DJ stood with an indignant snort. “You don’t have to carry me. I’m fine.” She put the injured foot on the floor and winced, her face paling further. “Then again…”
She listed a little, and Teal’c’s strong hands caught her, scooping her up easily. “Do not worry, Dr. Moore, I’m sure you are quite fine…but I shall carry you anyway.”
“It’s about time.” Mitchell said as Daniel dropped his and DJ’s pack on the floor in the small room where he and Sam had been about to sit down to a private dinner. “What happened?”
Teal’c set DJ down on a chair, his hand lingering protectively on her shoulder. “A sprain, its nothing.” DJ answered distractedly. Daniel looked at her funny, then crossed the room to close the door.
He looked at Sam with an almost angry expression on his face. “Do we have any reason to believe we’re being watched or listened to?”
Sam shook her head. “No, their level of technology varies, it looks like incoming populations brought technology with them over the centuries, but I found nothing to indicate deception or malice.”
He nodded, then turned to DJ. “So, now tell us what really happened.”
She was white and her hands shook as she held one out to Daniel. “Bring me my pack. I’ll show you.” Daniel moved the pack over beside her and her hands opened the zipper, pulling out a small, leather-bound book.
“I was taking pictures of the book pages we needed, since we couldn’t just take all of their books. I’d finished with the journals, and I found a book in the pile that I hadn’t looked at before.” She held up the book. “I opened it, out of curiousity.”
“It’s a book of Origin.” Daniel said, moving a little closer.
DJ nodded. “It isn’t exactly like the one you have in your office back home,” she said, and flipped it open. “First of all, its written in Old English.” Held it up so they could see the first few pages. “Second, I don’t remember this being a part of the one you have.”
She opened it nearly to the back and handed it across to Daniel. “It’s a chapter I never saw in the book you showed me. It’s prophecy regarding the “Evil Doers” and the spread of Origin to all galaxies.”
“How does this lead to a sprained ankle?” Mitchell asked, crossing his arms impatiently.
“Turn the page.”
Daniel thumbed turned the page and nearly dropped the book. A sketch of his face stared back at him. The caption beneath it declared he would be the Witness to the Ori solution. “Next page.” DJ said again, and Daniel skipped reading the text to find another sketch.
This time it was DJs face. “Apparently, I am the Key to the Ori solution.” She was shaking again. “It fell open to that page, it startled me, I tripped over the chair and fell, knocking a bunch of books down. Thus, the ankle.”
Daniel turned one more page and found another sketch. “Arthur’s Mantle?”
She nodded. “You were right when you said that it could hold the answer. I’m just not sure what that answer is going to be.”
“This book has to be at least 200 years old.” Sam said. “How is this possible?”
Daniel shrugged, then straightened up. “Maybe it isn’t prophecy at all. Maybe…the book is an amended version, from a future that hasn’t happened yet.”
“Time travel?” DJ asked incredulously.
“It has happened before.” Sam agreed. “But why?”
“Maybe it’s a warning.” Daniel looked at her. “We know they were capable of it. Maybe the last Merlin wasn’t a descended Ancient. Maybe he came back in time.”
Sam shook her head. “Last Merlin?”
“Yeah…we’ve got a lot to explain.” Daniel said. “But first, you should take a look at DJ’s ankle. I want to look at this.”
Daniel and Mitchell waited outside the Chancellor’s office. Sam and Teal’c had taken DJ to bed after Sam had confirmed that the ankle was indeed sprained and offered DJ something for the pain.
The door opened and the Chancellor smiled at them. “Please, come.”
Daniel entered the room first, stepping onto the lush carpeting in the soft house slippers he’d been given. The pale stone of the walls was covered in rich tapestries depicting scenes from familiar Arthurian legends.
”How can I help you?” the Chancellor asked as Daniel and Mitchell took seats.
“First, we wanted to thank you for allowing us access to your library, it is truly remarkable.”
“Ashen tells me that you made great progress in your search.”
Daniel nodded. “We understand, from our research, that there have been influxes of people from other cultures, other planets, over the years.”
“Merlin brings with him those who can assist us, and him, when he comes.”
“Do you ever maintain a relationship with the worlds these people come from?” Daniel asked, easing his way to the question he really wanted to ask.
The Chancellor looked thoughtful. “In times past, when there was drought, we sought trade among the people of the ancestors, yes.”
“But not now?”
“Not in many generations, no.”
Daniel looked disappointed. “That’s too bad.” He thought for a moment, then brightened. “Do you have a record of the gate addresses, the home worlds these people came from?”
“Perhaps. Please, understand that this has taken place over thousands of years, and the people we descend from have not always been particularly caring of records.”
“We understand. We appreciate any help we can get.” Daniel stood, clearly done with the conversation and nodded at the Chancellor.
“May I ask why you wish this information?”
Daniel stopped half way to the door and looked back at him. “We have come to believe that what we are looking for isn’t here, but we think that Merlin was working with a group of others, hidden away on other planets like yours. If it isn’t here, it may be out there, on one of them.”
The Chancellor smiled and nodded. “Of course. Merlin is said to have spoken of the others frequently. I will have a historian look through what records we have.”
“Thank you.” Daniel lead Mitchell out of the room and waiting until the door closed. “He’ll see what he can find.”
“That guy doesn’t seem…right.”
Daniel lead him away from the office and in the direction that he hoped led to their rooms. “He’s…different. DJ thinks that he’s a Descended Ancient.”
“And she would know that because?”
Daniel stopped walking and looked at him. “Yeah, we didn’t get to that part did we?”
“What part?” Mitchell was clearly impatient.
Daniel’s hands starting motioning as they continued walking. “We had a little visitation while we were at the library.”
“What sort of visitation?”
“DJ’s mother.” Daniel turned them down a hallway. “She’s Ascended. Was Ascended, then descended. I met her after she’d had to let go of most of the memories. She was on Earth looking for Merlin.”
“What?” Mitchell stopped him, looking at him like he was crazy.
“Okay, from what we understand, Merlin and a series of others were working on ways to deal with the Ori. They were persecuted by the rest of the Ancients.”
“Because of the hands off thing?”
Daniel nodded. “Yes. So, they had to hide. For a while they all hid on Earth, but eventually that wasn’t good enough, so they all fled, taking humans with them…but, they had to vanish, even from those who supported what they were doing…Like Oma DeSalla, and, apparently, Colleen.”
“Who came to earth, descended as a human child, and set out on a life of archeology in a hope to find him?”
“And not get caught. Once she was human, she would fall under the same protections the rest of us do.”
“So, when I said that not everything in your life revolves around the Stargate and what you do? Apparently, I was wrong.”
“Pretty much.” Daniel agreed. Mitchell shook his head and opened the room to their suite. Soft snores indicated Teal’c was already asleep. Daniel was grateful to see a bed, his body protested the two nights he’d sort of slept in a chair in the library. “Night.”
DJ didn’t emerge from her bedroom until nearly noon the next day, and when she did, she wasn’t in the mood to see people. Her dreams had been disruptive and disturbing, and she wanted out of the house, away from the people that had populated her dreams.
It had been a long time since she had spent so much time in such close proximity to anyone, let alone this many anyones. She was feeling stifled by their presence, and if she was being honest, the revelations of the last few days were terrifying.
She managed to squeeze a boot on over her swollen ankle and let herself out of the house before anyone really saw her. She needed time to think. The words in that little book had shaken her, and she wasn’t ready to let anyone know how much. Of course, they might not have, if she hadn’t already been so rattled. The whole idea that the people that populated the myths she’d studied since childhood were real was less of a shock than finding that Daniel was real, and that he was a man she could see herself caring for.
All her life, her mother had been all that she needed, and once she’d been gone, DJ had needed no one. Sure, she had her grandmother, but she wasn’t blood, and they saw each other once a year, when DJ went home for the holidays. This was different…and the relationship she felt building between them was new and weird, and not at all what she’d been expecting.
Not that she knew what she might have expected. She’d never really expected to find him. He trusted her, which was something she sensed he didn’t do easily, and that frightened her. She had never been tested like this. School was easy. She never had to worry about disappointing anyone when it came to school. The way he looked at her though…like he was expecting her to be somebody…to do something incredible.
“Dr. Moore.”
She was limping through the streets of the village when she heard it, but she didn’t stop, just shook her head. “I’m not very good company right now, Teal’c.”
“I do not require you to be company, Dr. Moore.”
She did stop then and looked at him with exasperation on her face. “Do you always take everything so literally?”
Teal’c inclined his head. “I know no other way to take things.”
She sighed and resumed her limping pace into the marketplace. “May I assist you, Dr. Moore?”
“I’m a big girl, I think I can walk on my own, Teal’c.”
“Of that I have no doubt. I merely do not wish you to injure yourself further.”
Thunder rumbled overhead and DJ thought it a good time to take a break, get off the injured ankle that seemed to start throbbing as if in response to the suggestion in Teal’c’s words. She found the low stone wall circling a fountain and eased herself onto it. “I’m fine, Teal’c, thank you.”
He sat next to her and contemplated the ground for a moment. “Forgive me for saying so, but you do not seem fine, Dr. Moore.”
She grimaced, half from the pain radiating up from her ankle, half from the way he said her name. “Would you please call me DJ?”
Teal’c inclined his head, though she couldn’t be sure if it was in agreement, or if it was just Teal’c being Teal’c. “My ankle will be fine. That’s what I meant.”
“And the rest of you?”
She looked up at him, blinking back sudden tears. “That’s another matter,” she said softly. She swallowed and tried to will the ache away. How do you explain it all to someone who hasn’t experienced a tenth of her life? “Two weeks ago, I had it all figured out, you know? I was off to England to do what I’d been studying to do my whole life. I was nearly 20 with a PhD. I had the respect of my peers. I was alone, and comfortable.” She wiped at a tear that escaped. “Look at me now…I’m no where near England, I’m suddenly in a situation my peers would never believe…In the course of those two weeks I’ve found a father I didn’t know I had, discovered that the myths I study might be real, that there is life on other planets, saw my mother…and found out that she wasn’t exactly who I thought she was, read about myself and something I may or may not do in a book that is two hundred years old, but comes from the future…and now I’m sitting on a fountain in a quaint village on another planet, talking to someone I wouldn’t have believed existed two weeks ago.”
Teal’c raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. She attempted to smile, but couldn’t quite pull it off. “My entire world is upside down.”
They were quiet for a moment as the villagers moved around them on their daily business. “You are afraid that the words in the book of Origin are truth.” Teal’c said after the silence had grown long.
DJ closed her yes, tears spilling out of her. Yes, some part of her was terrified. She’d read the words, calling her the key that opened the door. How could she face that and not be afraid. “It said I would open the door for the Ori to take over not only our galaxy, but others as well.”
“Did it say how this would come to pass?”
“Not really.” She wiped the tears away and took a deep breath, conjuring up an image of the page in her mind. “It was really pretty cryptic. Something I do…or don’t do…” She looked up at him.
There was a ghost of a smile on his face. “It seems then that there is nothing to prevent what will come. If you allow your fear to govern you, you will undoubtedly be unable to keep this future from coming to pass.”
She blinked at him. “What are you saying?”
“Perhaps you should not put so much faith in a book known to contain lies, and instead, put your faith in something more substantial.” He touched her hand, then took it in his own. “My world was once turned upside down as yours has been. All that I thought I had believed came to be lies, and I was left with nothing. I put my faith then in the people of the Tauri, in Daniel Jackson and O’Neill and Colonel Carter. Eventually, they restored my faith in myself.”
He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it gently. “I was once their enemy, and yet they took me in and cared for me. You are the daughter of Daniel Jackson, and my friend. Perhaps you should put your faith in that.”
She sighed and leaned against him, looking at their joined hands on his knee. It felt safe, and for the moment she could let go of the dreams that had haunted her. With a deep breath she wiped the last of the tears away and just rested against the strength of the Jaffa beside her.
“DJ, Teal’c, there you are.” Daniel’s voice startled her and she stood abruptly, letting go of Teal’c’s hand. Daniel approached with Mitchell and Sam in tow, looking at DJ with concern in his eyes. “How’s the ankle?”
“Better, thanks. I…needed some air, and Teal’c…”
Teal’c stood and greeted Daniel. “I chose to accompany her, lest her injury become worse.”
“Yeah, where are you three off to?” DJ thought Daniel looked at her oddly, but she wanted to keep that private moment with Teal’c private.
“Actually, we have permission to photograph the stone circle, and the ritual they will be performing there tonight.” Daniel smiled as DJ’s face lit up. “Feel up to the walk?”
“For that? Oh yeah.”
“Just…don’t overdue it. We wouldn’t want to break you on your first mission.” Daniel said with a chuckle.
“I’ll be fine, and if it gets to be too much, Teal’c will help, won’t you?”
His smile was warm as he looked at her. “Indeed, DJ, I shall.”
Daniel could see her between her teeth as she smiled back.
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: General Team fic, and original characters
Disclaimer: Ain't mine, don't own um...just like playing with them...especially that Danny Boy...
Summary: DJ makes a discovery that unsettles her, and a relationship begins to develop when she shares her anxiety and grief with Teal'c.
Part the One, Part the Two, Part the Three,Part the Four, and Part the Five
“Daniel, come in.”
Daniel sifted through stacks of papers and books for the radio. “Go ahead, Sam.”
“You guys okay up there?”
“Yeah, you?”
“Its been two days, we were worried.”
“Has it?” Daniel took off his glasses and rubbed at his face. It certainly was shaggier than when he left the SGC. “Didn’t mean to worry you.”
“Are you making progress?”
“I think so. Actually, we may be at a point where we should come back to the village. Maybe a pair of fresh eyes will make more sense of all this.”
“We’re actually heading back there right now. Apparently there’s some ritual tomorrow we’ve been invited to.”
“We’ll see you in a few hours then.”
Daniel stretched and shuffled through his papers. Lists of possible gate addresses and drawings copied from the journals lay scattered around them and he set about trying to collect them together. “DJ?”
When there was no immediate response he stepped into the stairwell. “DJ?”
“Yeah, just a minute.” She poked her head out over the rail a few levels up. “What?”
“Have you finished with the camera?”
“Just about. One or two more.”
“Good. We’re heading back to the village.”
She nodded and disappeared again. Daniel stuffed his own journal and the assorted papers into his pack and started to pick up the books to replace. One of the grey clad servants appeared beside him and took over with a nod. Taking the hint, Daniel shouldered his pack and headed up the stairs.
He found Teal’c sitting on the floor near the fire, meditating. Daniel set the pack down and looked for Ashen, starting when he came in the front door. “Ah, there you are. We’re ready to head back.”
Ashen smiled. “So soon?”
“Yes, I think we’re about done here for now. We need to get back to our friends, and we’d like to explore the stone circle.”
Ashen inclined his head. “As you wish. I will get your boots and send for the horses.”
There was a muffled yell, followed by what sounded like cascading books and mild cussing. Teal’c was on his feet and through the door way before Daniel had completely turned around. He re-emerged a few minutes later with a limping and white-faced DJ.
“What happened?” Daniel asked. DJ shook her head and didn’t seem to want to answer, and Daniel looked at Teal’c.
“Dr. Moore was startled, and knocked over a stack of books.”
“I—twisted my ankle,” she added, but wouldn’t look at him.
“Let’s have a look at it.” Daniel gestured for her to sit, which she did gingerly, lifting her right leg to him as he knelt in front of her, pulling off her slipper and sock. “It’s swollen, but not bruised…yet.”
“I don’t tend to bruise. I’m sure it will be fine.”
“Well, you’re not going to get your boot over that now.” He rummaged in his pack for an ace bandage, something he had learned to carry with him over the years. “I’ll have Sam look at it when we get back.”
DJ nodded and withdrew into herself. It concerned him. There was something she wasn’t saying, and he wasn’t sure why. He wrapped the ankle and patted her knee. It was already late afternoon, if they didn’t leave soon, they wouldn’t make the village before dark.
Ashen returned with their boots, once again shiny and clean. Daniel handed DJ hers, then sat on the nearest chair to don his own. When he was done, he looked to Teal’c, trying to determine if the big Jaffa knew what had actually happened. Eventually he gave up and stood, shouldering his pack as Teal’c did his as well.
Teal’c handed Daniel DJ’s pack with a nod. “I will carry her to the horses.”
DJ stood with an indignant snort. “You don’t have to carry me. I’m fine.” She put the injured foot on the floor and winced, her face paling further. “Then again…”
She listed a little, and Teal’c’s strong hands caught her, scooping her up easily. “Do not worry, Dr. Moore, I’m sure you are quite fine…but I shall carry you anyway.”
“It’s about time.” Mitchell said as Daniel dropped his and DJ’s pack on the floor in the small room where he and Sam had been about to sit down to a private dinner. “What happened?”
Teal’c set DJ down on a chair, his hand lingering protectively on her shoulder. “A sprain, its nothing.” DJ answered distractedly. Daniel looked at her funny, then crossed the room to close the door.
He looked at Sam with an almost angry expression on his face. “Do we have any reason to believe we’re being watched or listened to?”
Sam shook her head. “No, their level of technology varies, it looks like incoming populations brought technology with them over the centuries, but I found nothing to indicate deception or malice.”
He nodded, then turned to DJ. “So, now tell us what really happened.”
She was white and her hands shook as she held one out to Daniel. “Bring me my pack. I’ll show you.” Daniel moved the pack over beside her and her hands opened the zipper, pulling out a small, leather-bound book.
“I was taking pictures of the book pages we needed, since we couldn’t just take all of their books. I’d finished with the journals, and I found a book in the pile that I hadn’t looked at before.” She held up the book. “I opened it, out of curiousity.”
“It’s a book of Origin.” Daniel said, moving a little closer.
DJ nodded. “It isn’t exactly like the one you have in your office back home,” she said, and flipped it open. “First of all, its written in Old English.” Held it up so they could see the first few pages. “Second, I don’t remember this being a part of the one you have.”
She opened it nearly to the back and handed it across to Daniel. “It’s a chapter I never saw in the book you showed me. It’s prophecy regarding the “Evil Doers” and the spread of Origin to all galaxies.”
“How does this lead to a sprained ankle?” Mitchell asked, crossing his arms impatiently.
“Turn the page.”
Daniel thumbed turned the page and nearly dropped the book. A sketch of his face stared back at him. The caption beneath it declared he would be the Witness to the Ori solution. “Next page.” DJ said again, and Daniel skipped reading the text to find another sketch.
This time it was DJs face. “Apparently, I am the Key to the Ori solution.” She was shaking again. “It fell open to that page, it startled me, I tripped over the chair and fell, knocking a bunch of books down. Thus, the ankle.”
Daniel turned one more page and found another sketch. “Arthur’s Mantle?”
She nodded. “You were right when you said that it could hold the answer. I’m just not sure what that answer is going to be.”
“This book has to be at least 200 years old.” Sam said. “How is this possible?”
Daniel shrugged, then straightened up. “Maybe it isn’t prophecy at all. Maybe…the book is an amended version, from a future that hasn’t happened yet.”
“Time travel?” DJ asked incredulously.
“It has happened before.” Sam agreed. “But why?”
“Maybe it’s a warning.” Daniel looked at her. “We know they were capable of it. Maybe the last Merlin wasn’t a descended Ancient. Maybe he came back in time.”
Sam shook her head. “Last Merlin?”
“Yeah…we’ve got a lot to explain.” Daniel said. “But first, you should take a look at DJ’s ankle. I want to look at this.”
Daniel and Mitchell waited outside the Chancellor’s office. Sam and Teal’c had taken DJ to bed after Sam had confirmed that the ankle was indeed sprained and offered DJ something for the pain.
The door opened and the Chancellor smiled at them. “Please, come.”
Daniel entered the room first, stepping onto the lush carpeting in the soft house slippers he’d been given. The pale stone of the walls was covered in rich tapestries depicting scenes from familiar Arthurian legends.
”How can I help you?” the Chancellor asked as Daniel and Mitchell took seats.
“First, we wanted to thank you for allowing us access to your library, it is truly remarkable.”
“Ashen tells me that you made great progress in your search.”
Daniel nodded. “We understand, from our research, that there have been influxes of people from other cultures, other planets, over the years.”
“Merlin brings with him those who can assist us, and him, when he comes.”
“Do you ever maintain a relationship with the worlds these people come from?” Daniel asked, easing his way to the question he really wanted to ask.
The Chancellor looked thoughtful. “In times past, when there was drought, we sought trade among the people of the ancestors, yes.”
“But not now?”
“Not in many generations, no.”
Daniel looked disappointed. “That’s too bad.” He thought for a moment, then brightened. “Do you have a record of the gate addresses, the home worlds these people came from?”
“Perhaps. Please, understand that this has taken place over thousands of years, and the people we descend from have not always been particularly caring of records.”
“We understand. We appreciate any help we can get.” Daniel stood, clearly done with the conversation and nodded at the Chancellor.
“May I ask why you wish this information?”
Daniel stopped half way to the door and looked back at him. “We have come to believe that what we are looking for isn’t here, but we think that Merlin was working with a group of others, hidden away on other planets like yours. If it isn’t here, it may be out there, on one of them.”
The Chancellor smiled and nodded. “Of course. Merlin is said to have spoken of the others frequently. I will have a historian look through what records we have.”
“Thank you.” Daniel lead Mitchell out of the room and waiting until the door closed. “He’ll see what he can find.”
“That guy doesn’t seem…right.”
Daniel lead him away from the office and in the direction that he hoped led to their rooms. “He’s…different. DJ thinks that he’s a Descended Ancient.”
“And she would know that because?”
Daniel stopped walking and looked at him. “Yeah, we didn’t get to that part did we?”
“What part?” Mitchell was clearly impatient.
Daniel’s hands starting motioning as they continued walking. “We had a little visitation while we were at the library.”
“What sort of visitation?”
“DJ’s mother.” Daniel turned them down a hallway. “She’s Ascended. Was Ascended, then descended. I met her after she’d had to let go of most of the memories. She was on Earth looking for Merlin.”
“What?” Mitchell stopped him, looking at him like he was crazy.
“Okay, from what we understand, Merlin and a series of others were working on ways to deal with the Ori. They were persecuted by the rest of the Ancients.”
“Because of the hands off thing?”
Daniel nodded. “Yes. So, they had to hide. For a while they all hid on Earth, but eventually that wasn’t good enough, so they all fled, taking humans with them…but, they had to vanish, even from those who supported what they were doing…Like Oma DeSalla, and, apparently, Colleen.”
“Who came to earth, descended as a human child, and set out on a life of archeology in a hope to find him?”
“And not get caught. Once she was human, she would fall under the same protections the rest of us do.”
“So, when I said that not everything in your life revolves around the Stargate and what you do? Apparently, I was wrong.”
“Pretty much.” Daniel agreed. Mitchell shook his head and opened the room to their suite. Soft snores indicated Teal’c was already asleep. Daniel was grateful to see a bed, his body protested the two nights he’d sort of slept in a chair in the library. “Night.”
DJ didn’t emerge from her bedroom until nearly noon the next day, and when she did, she wasn’t in the mood to see people. Her dreams had been disruptive and disturbing, and she wanted out of the house, away from the people that had populated her dreams.
It had been a long time since she had spent so much time in such close proximity to anyone, let alone this many anyones. She was feeling stifled by their presence, and if she was being honest, the revelations of the last few days were terrifying.
She managed to squeeze a boot on over her swollen ankle and let herself out of the house before anyone really saw her. She needed time to think. The words in that little book had shaken her, and she wasn’t ready to let anyone know how much. Of course, they might not have, if she hadn’t already been so rattled. The whole idea that the people that populated the myths she’d studied since childhood were real was less of a shock than finding that Daniel was real, and that he was a man she could see herself caring for.
All her life, her mother had been all that she needed, and once she’d been gone, DJ had needed no one. Sure, she had her grandmother, but she wasn’t blood, and they saw each other once a year, when DJ went home for the holidays. This was different…and the relationship she felt building between them was new and weird, and not at all what she’d been expecting.
Not that she knew what she might have expected. She’d never really expected to find him. He trusted her, which was something she sensed he didn’t do easily, and that frightened her. She had never been tested like this. School was easy. She never had to worry about disappointing anyone when it came to school. The way he looked at her though…like he was expecting her to be somebody…to do something incredible.
“Dr. Moore.”
She was limping through the streets of the village when she heard it, but she didn’t stop, just shook her head. “I’m not very good company right now, Teal’c.”
“I do not require you to be company, Dr. Moore.”
She did stop then and looked at him with exasperation on her face. “Do you always take everything so literally?”
Teal’c inclined his head. “I know no other way to take things.”
She sighed and resumed her limping pace into the marketplace. “May I assist you, Dr. Moore?”
“I’m a big girl, I think I can walk on my own, Teal’c.”
“Of that I have no doubt. I merely do not wish you to injure yourself further.”
Thunder rumbled overhead and DJ thought it a good time to take a break, get off the injured ankle that seemed to start throbbing as if in response to the suggestion in Teal’c’s words. She found the low stone wall circling a fountain and eased herself onto it. “I’m fine, Teal’c, thank you.”
He sat next to her and contemplated the ground for a moment. “Forgive me for saying so, but you do not seem fine, Dr. Moore.”
She grimaced, half from the pain radiating up from her ankle, half from the way he said her name. “Would you please call me DJ?”
Teal’c inclined his head, though she couldn’t be sure if it was in agreement, or if it was just Teal’c being Teal’c. “My ankle will be fine. That’s what I meant.”
“And the rest of you?”
She looked up at him, blinking back sudden tears. “That’s another matter,” she said softly. She swallowed and tried to will the ache away. How do you explain it all to someone who hasn’t experienced a tenth of her life? “Two weeks ago, I had it all figured out, you know? I was off to England to do what I’d been studying to do my whole life. I was nearly 20 with a PhD. I had the respect of my peers. I was alone, and comfortable.” She wiped at a tear that escaped. “Look at me now…I’m no where near England, I’m suddenly in a situation my peers would never believe…In the course of those two weeks I’ve found a father I didn’t know I had, discovered that the myths I study might be real, that there is life on other planets, saw my mother…and found out that she wasn’t exactly who I thought she was, read about myself and something I may or may not do in a book that is two hundred years old, but comes from the future…and now I’m sitting on a fountain in a quaint village on another planet, talking to someone I wouldn’t have believed existed two weeks ago.”
Teal’c raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. She attempted to smile, but couldn’t quite pull it off. “My entire world is upside down.”
They were quiet for a moment as the villagers moved around them on their daily business. “You are afraid that the words in the book of Origin are truth.” Teal’c said after the silence had grown long.
DJ closed her yes, tears spilling out of her. Yes, some part of her was terrified. She’d read the words, calling her the key that opened the door. How could she face that and not be afraid. “It said I would open the door for the Ori to take over not only our galaxy, but others as well.”
“Did it say how this would come to pass?”
“Not really.” She wiped the tears away and took a deep breath, conjuring up an image of the page in her mind. “It was really pretty cryptic. Something I do…or don’t do…” She looked up at him.
There was a ghost of a smile on his face. “It seems then that there is nothing to prevent what will come. If you allow your fear to govern you, you will undoubtedly be unable to keep this future from coming to pass.”
She blinked at him. “What are you saying?”
“Perhaps you should not put so much faith in a book known to contain lies, and instead, put your faith in something more substantial.” He touched her hand, then took it in his own. “My world was once turned upside down as yours has been. All that I thought I had believed came to be lies, and I was left with nothing. I put my faith then in the people of the Tauri, in Daniel Jackson and O’Neill and Colonel Carter. Eventually, they restored my faith in myself.”
He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it gently. “I was once their enemy, and yet they took me in and cared for me. You are the daughter of Daniel Jackson, and my friend. Perhaps you should put your faith in that.”
She sighed and leaned against him, looking at their joined hands on his knee. It felt safe, and for the moment she could let go of the dreams that had haunted her. With a deep breath she wiped the last of the tears away and just rested against the strength of the Jaffa beside her.
“DJ, Teal’c, there you are.” Daniel’s voice startled her and she stood abruptly, letting go of Teal’c’s hand. Daniel approached with Mitchell and Sam in tow, looking at DJ with concern in his eyes. “How’s the ankle?”
“Better, thanks. I…needed some air, and Teal’c…”
Teal’c stood and greeted Daniel. “I chose to accompany her, lest her injury become worse.”
“Yeah, where are you three off to?” DJ thought Daniel looked at her oddly, but she wanted to keep that private moment with Teal’c private.
“Actually, we have permission to photograph the stone circle, and the ritual they will be performing there tonight.” Daniel smiled as DJ’s face lit up. “Feel up to the walk?”
“For that? Oh yeah.”
“Just…don’t overdue it. We wouldn’t want to break you on your first mission.” Daniel said with a chuckle.
“I’ll be fine, and if it gets to be too much, Teal’c will help, won’t you?”
His smile was warm as he looked at her. “Indeed, DJ, I shall.”
Daniel could see her between her teeth as she smiled back.
