A/N: this is based on Stargate SG-1. I don't own the show, or any of the characters, except Matt, who does belong to me. Contains a gay relationship - don't like, don't read and don't send me crap about it.

Part one – Hiding.

"Okay," Jack drawled, leaning back in his chair. "You think you've found this… amulet. But what does it actually do?"

Daniel sighed. "Supposedly, it can be used as a weapon against the Jaffa armies. Not as in a conventional weapon – it's meant to be able to 'open the mind to the light of reason' and 'bring down the false gods', so I'm guessing it uses some form of telepathic control or ability."

"And you want to go looking for it on your own?" Sam looked dubious. "If it's that powerful, couldn't it be used on you?"

"Better to lose one of us than all of us," the archaeologist replied. "Besides, I'll have a communicator and I'll be checking in regularly. If I miss the check-in, then you guys come looking. Simple. And," he added pointedly, "I know what I'm looking for. And I won't complain about being bored."

"See, that's what I don't like," the colonel commented. "Whenever you say it's 'simple', I start to get worried. And I do not complain."

"I believe Daniel Jackson is right," Teal'c said. "We will be in regular contact, and he may be better able to locate the device alone."

"And you do complain, sir," Sam said dryly. "With all due respect."

"All right, fine," Jack muttered resignedly, as Hammond agreed to the mission. "Looks like you're going solo, Daniel."

Stepping through the Stargate, Daniel looked around at the new world and smiled. The landscape around him was grassy and cool; gradual slopes, woodland, the city on the hill in the distance. He tugged the pack a little higher on his back and started walking.

By the time he'd reached the city, it was early evening, but still light. The people were more advanced than he'd thought: there were gas lights beginning to glow in the streets and music playing somewhere distant. It was then that he noticed the young man, dressed in black, walking hurriedly down an alley. He didn't really pay much attention until he heard the cry of pain from somewhere up ahead, in the darkness of the unlit street. Ignoring the voice of Jack O'Neill in his head – the one that said, quite clearly, 'Daniel, do you have any self-preservation instincts at all?' – he ducked into the alley to see him on the floor, getting the daylights beaten out of him by three other men.

"Leave him alone!"

The yell surprised even Daniel as he ran towards them, the sound echoing off the walls. It was only as he walked out into the brightly-lit street a few minutes later, supporting the limping young man, that he realised why the three attackers had run. He'd blocked most of the light from the street, and the echo had made it sound as if there were four or five people headed towards them instead of one. In the dark, they'd been surprised and scared, and legged it. Not that it was really important – Matt was grateful regardless. In the time it took to get back to his apartment, Daniel had learned that Matt lived alone, was a social misfit, and had reached the point where he believed that it was somehow his fault. He was also quite possibly one of the toughest people Daniel had ever met.

"You could stay here if you want," he offered as he unlocked the apartment and stumbled to the tiny kitchen. "I mean, I'm guessing you need somewhere for the night. It's not much, but it's home. You can have my bed, I'll sleep on the sofa."

As Daniel began to protest, Matt replied, "You're taller than me, and I only just fit. Trust me, if you try to sleep on there tonight, you won't be able to move tomorrow."

Later, as they ate, Daniel asked if Matt knew anything useful about Merlin's amulet.

"I probably can't tell you much you don't already know," Matt shrugged. "But I know it's meant to open people's minds to 'truth', presumably whether they like it or not. Maybe that means it's a store of knowledge – what's real, what's false, what might have been true once and got twisted along the way. I don't know." He smiled slightly, and added, "I can also tell you it wasn't actually Merlin's – it's just blamed on him. The myth goes that he borrowed it and gave it to someone on this world as a gift to a king who worshipped false gods. Needless to say, it didn't go well."

"What happened?" Daniel asked.

"The king died in despair, knowing that he'd wasted his life in service to a non-existent deity. The subjects still believed in this deity, held Merlin and the amulet-bearer responsible for the death of their king, and forced them to flee. They left the amulet behind so that anyone who wanted to understand the truth could do so."

"Does anyone actually know where it is?"

"If they do, then they're not telling," Matt laughed. "Can't say I blame them. If anyone found out, then this city would lose about half its income, and the Go'auld would probably come after them too. They don't overtly control us, but they use us for resources instead."

Daniel nodded thoughtfully, and the conversation shifted to other things. But in the back of his mind, he was aware that Matt was hiding something from him.

"Got any family in the city?" he asked.

Matt shook his head. "My parents died when I was ten. I got put with various host families that didn't really want me. I lived with a guy a couple of years older than me called Rath for two, maybe three years, but he disappeared a few months ago." He smiled sadly. "Sorry you asked?"

"Sorry you had to remember," Daniel said quietly. "I know, believe me."

Matt shrugged. "It's kind of nice to meet somebody who understands, even if it does mean someone else had to go through what I did. But I'm okay." He stood carefully, testing his weight on the injured leg, and winced. Daniel stood up to help him, but Matt shook his head. "It's alright. I can't rely on you forever, anyway. Might as well get used to it. Oh – a word of warning," he added as an afterthought. "I have regular nightmares, so I apologise in advance if I wake you up in the night."

Sure enough, a few hours later, Daniel woke suddenly to hear muffled sobs through the wall. He found Matt on the sofa, tangled in the blanket, crying in his sleep and mumbling incoherently. It sounded like he was begging someone – Rath? – not to go.

Without thinking, Daniel gently wrapped an arm around Matt and just held him, saying that it was okay, that things would be fine, trying to calm him down. It seemed to work: the younger man's breathing slowed and deepened, and the tears stopped. He woke a few minutes later, looked up at Daniel and quickly looked away, embarrassed. "Thanks."

It was at that point that he noticed the tattoo on Matt's back: black, feathered wings, reaching from his shoulders down to his hips. When he asked, Matt said quietly that Rath had always called him 'Angel' and it had seemed a fitting memorial to a lost friend.

That seemed to settle things between them, and over the next few days they fell into a routine: Matt would get up early in the morning and go to the restaurant where he worked; Daniel would go to the library and look for anything that might help; in the evenings, when Matt came back, they would just talk, and at night they shared the main bed in an effort to stop Matt's nightmares. It mostly worked, in that Matt was actually sleeping properly and seemed happier. However, Daniel barely dared close his eyes, afraid of what he might say, or do, unconsciously.

After ten days with no real signs of progress, Stargate Command was becoming impatient, and Daniel was given a deadline: either you find the amulet, or some clue to its whereabouts, in the next two days, or you're coming home. But by this point, Daniel was certain that Matt knew more than he was saying. The day after that short conversation with the SGC, he stayed in the apartment, faking illness. After Matt had left, he started looking – for books, information, anything. Time seemed to disappear as he worked. Then the book was knocked from his hands and Matt was standing in front of him, clearly furious.

"What are you doing? These are my belongings. What gives you the right to go through them without asking me?"

The fight that followed was short and vicious. By the time Daniel had pinned Matt to the floor, surrounded by scattered books and papers, both were bruised and bleeding.

"I wish it wasn't like this," Daniel muttered to himself. As he saw the look in Matt's eyes, he realised he'd spoken out loud and hastily stood up, heading for the door, mumbling apologies. "I'm sorry – I shouldn't have said that – shouldn't have gone through your things – I'll just go–"

"Wait!" Matt grabbed his arm, turning Daniel to face him. "Daniel – don't go." He carefully took Daniel's hand, lacing their fingers together. "Please."

He never worked out who initiated the kiss. But it didn't matter – Matt was kissing him – and he was kissing back – and it just felt right. He shivered slightly as the younger man tangled one hand through his hair, deepening the kiss, tongues moving over each other. He ran his fingers down to Matt's hips, moving under the shirt, skin on skin.

"Matt," Daniel murmured as they broke apart to breathe, "I think I'm falling in love with you."

"Oh, you think?" Matt smiled.

"No, I know," Daniel admitted, kissing him again.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" Matt asked quietly that evening. They were lying on the sofa, talking, having done little else for the last hour.

Daniel nodded. "Yeah. My friends need me back, and I can't find what I was looking for, so…"

Matt stood up carefully and went back to his room, returning a few minutes later with a pale yellow stone, set in silver, on a thin silver chain.

He held it out to Daniel and simply asked, "Does that help?"

"Is that what I think it is?" Daniel was torn between amazement and wanting to laugh. "This is Merlin's amulet, isn't it?"

Matt smiled sheepishly. "Yeah. It is. Passed down, parent to child, all these years. We don't actually wear it, we just look after it until someone 'pure of heart and swift of mind' turns up."

"You knew, didn't you?" Daniel laughed. "You knew from the start."

"It wasn't that difficult to guess," Matt pointed out. "Going by your clothes, you were an off-worlder. But you weren't carrying much with you, and you didn't have a ship nearby, so probably not a trader. No weapons, so not a hunter. That makes you an explorer. Why do explorers come here? The legend of the amulet. I saw you when you came in."

"You even set up the way we met, didn't you?"

"Kind of. I wanted to see what you were like as a person – that's the 'pure of heart' bit. If you'd ignored me, I wouldn't have helped you at all. If you'd tried to do something after they'd gone, I probably would have pointed you at the library and left you to it. But you stopped them. So I feel safe in giving it to you. But I want you to help me in return."

"What?" Daniel asked, although part of him had already guessed what Matt wanted.

"Take me with you," the younger man responded. "Get me away from here."

Daniel stood up and faced him. "Are you sure? You'd be leaving behind everything you know."

"Trust me," Matt said. "There is nothing here for me any more. And I'd be with you."

Daniel smiled. "Like I'd be able to just leave you behind." He kissed Matt again, slow and lingering. "We'll go in the morning."

Daniel woke early to find Matt still curled around him, asleep. For once, the younger man looked peaceful, smiling slightly.

He genuinely trusts me, Daniel thought, stroking his hair. I must be the first person he's let in since Rath.

Matt mumbled something and shifted closer, nuzzling Daniel's neck. He forced himself to think about reports, and regulations, and forms, because if he didn't… things would just be awkward. He felt Matt's fingertips trail down his side, resting on his hip, holding him gently.

"You're awake, aren't you?" he muttered.

Matt laughed, breath tickling Daniel's neck. "Yep. You got me. Problem?" He looked up, meeting Daniel's eyes, all innocence. (Actually, that wasn't the right way to describe it, as it implies Matt knew exactly what he was doing to Daniel and wanted to continue. He did know, but didn't want to keep going, and it wasn't intentional. He just wanted to be close.)

"That's one word for it." Daniel swung out of the bed and grabbed his clothes off the floor. "I'm going to go and get washed. You packed?"

"More or less. There's not much I want to take anyway…"

They stepped out of the apartment half an hour later, shouldering packs.

"Can't say I'm going to miss this," Matt commented, smiling. "Let's get out of here."

"Onwards and upwards," Daniel replied as they walked away. As they moved through the city, Matt was quiet, anxious to be gone. When they reached the woodland, though, he paused and looked up at the trees, squinting a little in the sun.

"I used to come here with Rath," he said quietly. "I think I'll miss this." He glanced briefly at Daniel, then went on: "We used to stay out here, some nights, in the summer. It was our secret, I guess – no-one else ever came out here, they couldn't see the point. It was just nice to get away from everyone else sometimes and be somewhere… safe."

"Who was Rath to you?" Daniel asked, as they walked down the hill.

Matt shrugged. "First real friend. First person to care about me since my parents. First person I fell in love with who didn't call me a sick freak. First person to try and understand."

Daniel said nothing. But his imagination was working overtime, drawing a picture of violence and fear in Matt's past. He pushed the thoughts away and kept walking.

"You came here through that?" Matt asked as the Stargate came into view. "I always thought it was… dead. I could see how it might have worked, but I've never seen it used. At school, they just said it was an ancient monument from an old religion." He laughed. "One more mistake to cross off the list. No wonder you didn't have a ship. How does it work?"

"It generates a wormhole between this Stargate and another one on the other side of the galaxy," Daniel explained as he dialled home and sent the code to open the iris. "So travel's pretty much instant – we miss out most of the actual distance."

"Did you actually understand that?"

"Nope, not really," Daniel admitted. "You?"

"Me neither. I guess you don't have to understand it completely in order to make it take us where we want to go, right?" Matt asked, walking up the steps to the gate. "Where's all the energy coming from?"

"Ask Sam when we get there," Daniel replied, standing beside him and linking their fingers. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Matt smiled. He took one last look at the landscape and stepped through.

On the other side, the soldiers on duty leapt into action, taking up defensive positions as Matt remolecularised and yelling for him to stand still.

"Don't shoot!" Daniel snapped, stepping in front of a fairly confused Matt. "Don't shoot, he's not armed and he's only here to help us."

Hammond's voice came over the speakers. "Jackson? Care to explain?"

Daniel sighed. "It's a long story."