Disclaimer: I don't own the characters you recognize, the Stargate, or Cheyenne Mountain…actually, the only thing I do own is Kieal. I'm not making any money off of this (if I was, I wouldn't be on fanfic), so you can all enjoy with a clear conscious.

A sharp knock on his apartment door caused Daniel to jump, nearly spilling coffee over the papers spread on his table. He glanced at the clock curiously. Eleven-fifteen. When had it gotten so late? And who would come to his apartment at this hour without calling first?

The knock sounded again.

Sighing and placing his coffee carefully away from the symbol covered papers, he ran a hand through his hair as he rose. Reaching the door, he flipped on the overhead lights, figuring that a guest might be a bit uncomfortable with only the desk lamp he used to help him concentrate. A tad annoyed at the interruption, he pulled the door open, half expecting to find Jack waving a fishing pole threateningly under his nose.

Instead, a girl of about seventeen stood in the hall, a duffel thrown over her shoulder and a small suitcase resting at her feet. She looked up at him, reproach shining in her eyes. Strange eyes, colored silver with flecks and swirls of blue and copper.

"Studying?" she asked.

"Kieal?" blurted Daniel in surprise. What on Earth - or any other planet, he added self-consciously - was she doing here?

"Hi Danny," she said lightly, glancing over his shoulder to the slightly cluttered apartment. "Can I…?"

"Oh - yeah, sure…" he stepped aside to let the girl and her bags in, glancing up and down the hall behind her before closing the door. Turning, he found that she had already dropped her bags on the couch and was studying the papers he'd left out. Before he could collect his shocked mind enough to say anything, though, she sighed and looked up.

"I guess I have to explain why I'm here?"

"That would help, yes," he said cautiously. His experience with teenage girls was limited, and he wasn't exactly sure what was expected when one showed up on your doorstep near midnight.

She sat down suddenly, landing heavily on the couch. "I've got some news for you, Danny…it's…not so great," her voice had a high, falsetto ring now.

"What? Is something wrong?" he asked, nervous. "Is everyone all right?"

She buried her face in her hands for a moment and, when she looked back up, there were tear smudges on her face. "They're dead, Daniel."

"What…who?" he asked, a growing dread turning his stomach to lead.

"Who do you think?" she snapped. "My parents. They died…were killed, last Tuesday."

Closing his eyes in horror, Daniel groped his way to a chair and collapsed. Linus and Cindy…

Daniel had never truly felt as if he had a real family after his parents death, but the last foster home he had lived in had made a golden effort at incorporating him into their clan. Linus had been his foster father's brother. He and his wife had adopted Kieal when Daniel was nineteen, making them cousins of a strange sort. He had always liked the girl, kept in touch when he went away to school, and even afterwards. But…Linus and Cindy…

"God," he said hoarsely.

Linus had been a professor of linguistics at the community college. After his parents' deaths, Daniel had avoided the field of ancients studies for several years, but Linus had pushed him - forcefully enough at times - back onto the right track and reminded him how much he loved ancient languages. And Cindy - well, if nothing else, she had always had cookies out when he stopped by to visit.

"How?" he asked finally, raising his eyes back to the miserable girl on the couch.

"I…" she started, then shuddered. "Could we maybe do this in the morning?"

"Yeah…of course. Let me get some blankets, you can sleep on the couch…" He scrambled around, gathering the things he thought she might need, his mind still trying to comprehend what she had told him.

It wasn't as if he had spoken with them in years - he felt a guilty twinge - but they had always been there. A sort of last stronghold of familiarity should he ever need it. He paused for a moment, realizing just how long it had been since he had thought of them. Years…he'd never even mentioned them to Jack or Sam. And poor Kieal…

He dumped the armful of blankets, sheets, and pillows on the couch. Kieal looked at him oddly.

"Danny…"

"Hm?" he said, distractedly clearing the coffee table of papers and scraps.

"It's June." He frowned. Why was she discussing chronology? "It's really not that cold…" she tried again. Still confused, he glanced up at her, then to the mess he had dropped on the couch. Three or four heavy winter blankets were tangled in the mass, along with two pairs of fitted sheets and no less than six pillows. Oh.

"I…" he started gathering up the extras, careful to leave what she actually might need. "If you need anything, let me know…" he looked up at her. "And we'll talk in the morning, all right?"

She nodded, mutely, before looking around the space as if searching for something. "Where's the bathroom?" she asked finally.

"Oh…of course. It's right through there," he pointed her in the right direction before fleeing to the safety of his room.

For a moment he just lay on his back, staring at the ceiling, questions and regrets racing through his mind.

Why hadn't he called them recently? Even thought of them? What was his seventeen year old cousin doing at his house? What had they thought happened to him? Why…

With a sigh, he rolled to a sitting position and reached for the phone, glancing at the clock again. It was almost one. Well, he obviously wasn't going into work tomorrow, and he should probably tell someone. Besides, he needed to hear a friendly voice.

His hand paused just before dialing the last digit of Jack's phone number. Was this suicide? Calling a probably sleeping Colonel Jack O'Neill at one in the morning. Probably. Sighing, Daniel hit the last number.

Four…five…six…

If he hit thirteen rings with no answer he'd hang up, he promised himself, knowing that Jack's answering machine picked up after ten.

"Hello?" Jack's voice was sleep-filled and irritated.

"Jack?" Daniel asked tentatively.

"Daniel?" He sounded awake now. "Something had better be about ready to fry the planet or you are a dead man, Doctor Jackson."

"No…I just wanted to tell you that I won't be into work tomorrow," he said slowly, tensing for the reaction.

"What the…It's one in the morning!"

"I know." With a sigh, Daniel launched into the rather short and, he realized as he drew near the end, incomplete tale of his cousin's arrival. "She said she'd tell me what happened in the morning," he finished.

There was a pause. "I didn't think you had any family," Jack said at last and then, when Daniel's pained silence penetrated his sleep deprived brain, "Oh, I didn't mean…" He sighed. "Right, I'll tell them you won't be in."

"Thanks, Jack." There was a grunt and a click as Jack hung up his receiver.

Daniel lay back again, realizing belatedly that he should probably go switch the lights off.

Staring blankly at the switch on the other side of the room, he decided it wasn't really worth it. He wasn't going to sleep much tonight, anyhow.

~

NB: The next chapter gets more interesting, I promise. If anyone wants me to post it, just tell me…