Author's Note: For Disclaimer, see previous chapters.
Author's Note Part Two: Sorry for the … 3 month delay in chapterness. School kinda gets in the way…
Miss Me Yet?
Episode 21: Redecorating and Explanations Gone Awry
Two days after Russell Chapman's visit, Cally and Katie linked arms and with very wide grins, took their first steps out into the freedom that existed beyond the spotless walls of the hospital. Cally immediately grabbed Katie upon crossing that threshold and twirled her around, making Gwen laugh. Cally then repeated the process with Gwen. "We're freeeeeee!" Cally screamed when she let Gwen go, startling quite a few passersby.
Gwen laughed again. "I don't think that I've ever seen anyone that happy to leave a hospital!"
"I don't mind hospitals." Cally said with a smile. "I just hate staying in them."
"I never would have guessed." Katie returned dryly. "Where are we going?"
"To Cally's apartment." Gwen answered. "Everyone else is going to be there. Err, Cally. Myles told his wife what happened. She will be there as well."
Cally raised her eyebrows in surprise and then sighed. "She wanted to know what happened to Ian, I'm guessing."
Gwen nodded. "Everyone who has sign a non-disclosure form has already done so with the exception of Katie, so whenever you explain to us what was going on, we'll all be legally allowed to hear it."
Cally grinned. "Well, at least that's taken care of." Telling them about the Stargate would be interesting, to say the least.
After a few moments of peaceful silence, Ianto pulled up with a rental car; Jack had drawn the line in letting Cally in the company car. His reasons were simple- he suspected that she might be able to figure out what the various gadgets in the car did, and preferred that he not give Cally the opportunity to accidentally blow up the car.
Cally all but had her nose up against the backseat window of the car. It was so good to see London first hand again. The hospital window hadn't done the city justice. She'd been in London for a long time now, and while she still thought of Atlantis as home, London was quickly replacing Atlantis. Is it possible to have them both remain my home? She wondered briefly, then bit her lip. She just hoped that after her explanations, London would still be a place where she could find sanctuary from the hassle of life.
After a while, you got tired of moving.
Beside her, Katie's only thoughts were on the state of Cally's apartment. When Matthew had visited at one point, he'd mentioned in passing that they were redecorating Cally's apartment. She'd given them free license to do whatever they had to, so that they could get comfortable. Cally wouldn't know what hit her.
Victoria, Myles' wife, had apparently sobbed when she'd been told that Ian was dead. It was harder to explain to her what had happened at the Museum. After the haphazard explanation that had simply confused her further, they stopped, knowing that only Cally held all the pieces to the puzzle.
Do I really want to know everything, have all this explained, knowing I might not like the answer? Katie mused for a long moment. She turned to look at the back of Cally's head, studying her friend who had been through things Katie couldn't even imagine. Yeah…I guess I do want to know. Turning her face back to the window on her side of the car, Katie copied Cally, and watched the scenery go by.
Cally stood in front of her apartment door nervously, shifting her weight from foot to foot. She'd have to face facts in there, have to spill everything and trace back over every detail. Her sigh was heavy, and she reached into the pocket of her pants. There was a pause, and she began to frantically pat down her pockets. Feeling utterly foolish, she turned to those behind her and said in an embarrassed tone, "Ummmm….I don't have a key to my own apartment…"
Ianto bit back a laugh. "But there are people inside who can open the door." He pointed out.
Cally glared. "I knew that."
Katie and Gwen grinned behind her.
"If I wasn't so hopped up on meds," Cally muttered under her breath as she knocked on her own door. "I would have remembered that."
The door was instantly opened to reveal Jack's smiling face. "Sorry, no soliciting."
Cally raised an eyebrow. "I happen to be a very good sales woman. Are you interested in an apartment? You've apparently made yourself at home in it already."
"The owner said it was ok!" Jack mock pleaded.
Cally burst out laughing. "Are you going to let me into my own apartment or what?"
Jack whipped open the door wider, stood to one side and preformed a sweeping bow. "Welcome home my lady!"
Cally snorted and stepped through the threshold, heart hammering at an unreasonable rate. "Why thank you, kind sir!" Gwen and Ianto hid laughter behind their hands. Katie couldn't stop a few giggles as she walked in behind Cally.
Cally only made it to the living room before seeing that everyone was there, waiting for her. Before she could even say anything, Owen snagged her arm and demanded that he be allowed to examine her.
""Owen!" Cally protested. "I was just at the hospital. Where they treated my wounds? Under your supervision too! The doctors -"
"Can go stuff themselves." Owen said, touching her shoulder, "I was only supervising them the first time. I want to see what damage they caused the rest of the time."
Cally rolled her eyes, but submitted to the inevitable. However as they passed, Gwen could have sworn that Cally muttered, "Channeling Dr. Beckett, I swear!" before allowing Owen led her to her spare bedroom so he could examine her injuries.
Matthew tried to hide a smile when they came back after ten minutes. Cally quickly noted that he was looking better. The large bruise on his forehead was still a deep purple, but the swelling seemed to have gone down somewhat. His calm face frightened her a little. He, like the other interns, had been given some time to come to grips with what had happened – though they hadn't had any answers yet. Cally didn't know what they would do then.
Cally soon learned that the Torchwood team – whatever Torchwood was – had told the interns what had happened before their rescue. Part of Matthew couldn't believe it their words, not when Cally was standing there in front of him, looking hardly any different. The concept that he had the most trouble believing was that Cally had been fighting – that Cally had killed. It seemed just as surreal as seeing Dr. Treblo – whatever had been in Dr. Treblo – forcing them to kneel, and almost killing Katie. However he'd seen it all, and knew at this point that anything was possible.
Even if he sometimes found himself wishing that it really, really wasn't.
He'd known that Cally used to be in the Air Force, but this had to go beyond that. Mean guys with glowing eyes, those crazy weapons…everything was so confusing. He'd heard Cally had claimed that the box had been a bomb, and then that not only had it really had been one, but that she'd known how to stop that…thing. Whatever had been in Ian. To top it all off, she'd apparently had blown up some sort of ship over London. That part he could believe. The image of the explosion had been on the news, but they had called it a satellite crash.
Captain Harkness had told them, that Cally had said that they could do what they wanted to her apartment, to make themselves more comfortable. Owen agreed, to the idea, as if it was a sort of therapy.
The result – she could see as she walked with Owen – was certainly interesting.
One or two of the survivors from the Museum wouldn't meet her eyes, either from laughing or from fear that she'd yell at them.
Myles was the first one she'd raised an eyebrow at when she saw an Egyptian mosaic with the Eye of Ra in the middle, replacing the old tiles on her kitchen floor.
One of her living room walls was inexplicably apple green – her ceiling blue with painted clouds. Someone – she suspected the interns – had taken the information from Cally's 'battle' with Menthu and had depicted it tapestry- style down the walls of her hallway.
Tosh had apparently been deconstructing the Jaffa staff weapon, and Gwen helping Ianto reorganize the entire kitchen.
The Doctor had also apparently been having fun with her computer. From a quick glance Cally was definitely sure that it wasn't running Windows anymore – she'd never before seen the symbols that were gently drifting across the screen.
When Owen finally led her back into the people –filled area, Cally was standing by herself in the center of her kitchen, standing on the Eye of Ra, in the center of attention.
"Well, um. The decorations… I like them. They're very good and, um…interesting." She said nervously. "I don't think I'm quite as heroic as the nice fresco portrays me, though."
Matthew grinned. "We don't know that. We didn't see the battle."
Cally looked at her shoes. "It wasn't all that special. I've been in firefights before."
"With men with glowing eyes and their foot soldiers?" Tosh asked incredulously.
They all stared at her when Cally kept staring at her shoes. They were a green pair of the same shoes that the Doctor was wearing, and Cally pretended to be extremely interested in them. They weren't hers, and she wondered who had given them too her. The Doctor was a good bet.
"So…" Cally said, looking up, but looking at a spot at the wall past Ianto's right ear. She was too scared to look at their faces, and proceeded to twist her fingers together. "I owe an explanation, I think."
There was a moment's mute silence before Jack responded for them all. "Yeah…we think so to." He said quietly, with a bare touch of humor. The words drifted into the silent apartment and stuck their awkwardly, failing to give rise to a laugh.
Cally got up her courage and looked around at the faces of each person in the room. There was a mixture of curiosity, mistrust and deadpan blankness on their faces. There wasn't any animosity there, which relieved her, because it was what she had most feared that she would see.
"Where do you want to begin?" Gwen asked as if she was taking a police statement, face covered by a thin veneer that was probably the face she had showed to those involved in crimes.
Cally sighed, rubbing her bad arm. "I – well – I'm not exactly sure. There's so much to tell, if I forget something… It could get complicated."
"How complicated could it be?" Owen asked sarcastically, losing his patience and scowling darkly. They had waited a long time for an explanation.
Cally's eyes met his and ice crept into his bones, "I only met you a few days ago Owen, so forgive me if I don't know if this is what you're like all the time." The words dripped from her mouth like bitter poison. She wrapped her arms around herself, looking down, feeling guilty even as she said with absolute conviction, "But I am still a member of the United States Air Force, however remotely, and by telling you any of this, waivers or no wavers, I still feel like I'm committing treason." She paused for a moment, letting it sink in. "I don't exactly do that every day. Do you do it that often that it comes easy to you?"
Owen had gone pale with a hint of restrained fury hovering around his features, as did Tosh, Ianto, Gwen and Martha; they risked their lives every day for the sake of their country. Jack, on the other hand, had a look of cool calculation and a strange soft sympathy on his face, while the Doctor's face showed absolutely nothing. The interns were wide-eyed, the pupils of their eyes shrinking at the tone of Cally's voice. Even after the go-ahead from Chapman, Cally was still taking this hard. Most of the Stargate personnel never got permission to tell anybody what they did for a living. Saying what she had to was going to take a toll on her, and had been weighing heavy on Cally's mind.
Cally closed her eyes and shook her head, but the pain in her voice was evident. "Well, for starters, I was telling a half – truth when I said I was on suspended duty." She opened her eyes enough to see the accusation on Jack's face. "I'm not absent without leave, not exactly. Believe me, I'm not that stupid. But…" She struggled to find the right words, and looked so upset that the policewoman in Gwen wanted to make her sit down and breath until she could speak calmly, but Cally swore vehemently in what had to be at least three languages before Gwen could move before running a hand through her hair. "Dammit! That answer is complicated too!" She looked back up at them, an strangely ordinary mulishness about her face. "I suppose, there's no way around it. I have to tell you the whole friggin back story."
Her eyes caught Myles' concerned ones. "You – might not like to hear everything I have to say, but I figure, you've - been through enough…"
"Cally-" Myles took a hesitant breath, and then spoke. He was still shaken over Ian's death. "That thing – in Ian- what was it?"
Cally's breath caught and she let it out slowly. "Myles – you won't like the answer."
"I know." He said. "But I would like to know. It called itself after an ancient Egyptian god."
Cally sighed and ran a hand over her face. "That's because it was one." They all looked at her sharply in disbelief. "Rather, something styling itself as one." She looked back at them, regretting moving to London and getting into this mess. "They are called Goa'uld."
"You mentioned them at the Museum." Jack said. "I'm not sure what they are."
The Doctor nodded, though he remembered exactly what they were, lips thinning. He wasn't pleased.
Cally looked at Martha. "In my desk drawer, there is a large blue photo album, and a paper bag, would you mind getting them for me?"
Martha nodded and ventured into the other room, and came back moments later, handing the bag to Cally, but holding onto the album. It was far too large for Cally to hold onto comfortably.
Cally turned towards the apartment door. "Come on then."
"Where exactly are we going?" Jack asked.
"A pub where we can talk privately." Cally said, though she looked like she was about to fall flat on her feet. "Also because after I finish, I suspect we're all going to need one, if not more, very stiff drinks."
"You're on pain meds." Owen said in warning.
"Then I won't have anything stronger than orange juice." Cally snapped in irritation, her jaw setting as she clenched her teeth firmly. "Are we going or not?"
The only place Cally really knew to take them to was the pub where she sang. She was automatically given a back room, with a no entrance for people other than those with her, and a waitress. This was all good, because they'd be talking about something extremely classified. After they'd ordered, Martha placed the photo album in front of Cally's glass of orange juice. She would have let the waitress slip her something a little stronger, but pain medication and alcohol did not mix, and Owen was watching Cally intently.
Cally fingered a corner of the album. She tried to appear as if she didn't feel like the world was crashing down around her. She'd enjoyed the months where she'd been as carefree as a bird, walking around London, working those first few weeks at the Museum, where she could forget that she wasn't going through the Stargate every week and that the people she worked with, the people she trusted beyond anything, didn't know that she walked with them.
She'd seriously considered, while lying in her hospital bed, running from Torchwood when she'd gone to get snacks. Her promise had been the only thing holding her back, and the damage she'd inflicted on the staff. The weariness that had settled on her while she'd been running around trying to figure out how to stop Menthu, combined, the effects of the Ancient device and the stress Menthu had caused had begun to wear her down.
No matter what happened, Cally wasn't fully sure that she'd rejoin the Air Force, if and when the device's effects wore off. Atlantis wasn't fully her home anymore. The people here were just as much a family to her as SGA – 6 back on Atlantis. She could become a security consultant, plenty of ex-military people did that, but somehow Cally felt like the job wouldn't fit her.
Going back to Atlantis, in that hopeful someday where the device stopped working, still felt ideal but there was a new fear for her. The Wraith didn't scare her much, but the prospect of lab accidents was now downright terrifying; on Atlantis, where new, unknown technology was waiting around every corner, this wasn't exactly a fear that could be contained or limited. Even the idea of finding technology offworld had sent Cally into sweats in the middle of the night more than once.
Cally suddenly realized that she'd been quiet for some time and tried to remedy that. Not looking at the others at the table – she'd been seated at one of the ends of the booth she'd picked out, opposite the Doctor and next to Martha – Cally spoke. "I know this will be a very stupid question for some of you, but – how much exactly do you know about the ancient Egypt?"
Myles and the interns looked surprised. "We know quite a bit, but…" He looked at those who were not academics, and most shook their heads.
The Doctor merely gave a half smile. "I know perhaps the same amount as Myles." Perhaps a bit more, the Doctor rationalized, considering that he'd been to Ancient Egypt a few times, though never when the Goa'uld ruled. He'd disliked that part of Earth's history, and had never gone there by choice.
"Right." Cally said. "That will make it a little easier for those of you who don't know a ton about ancient Egypt." She breathed out heavily. "Though not much for those of you who do. We're probably going to get into a shouting match before this is over."
Looking down at her juice, Cally missed the looks of confusion everyone but the Doctor gave her.
After a sip of the orange juice, Cally continued. "Myles, everyone, I know that this will be a little hard for you, but I want you to take what you know about ancient Egypt and just…forget it. Don't think about it, pretend that you don't know anything, because when I start telling you the back story, like I said, you're going to either want to yell at me, argue with me, or laugh your head off and call for a padded truck."
Slowly, unsure what to expect, they all agreed.
Cally bit her lip. Part of her was screaming for her not to say anything, if only to keep her sanity. But people had gotten hurt, and she'd pointed weapons at civilians, people who had ended up saving her life. She owed them the explanation.
"Ok." Cally pushed her drink around the table. "Onward then." She looked out the window, at the stars peeking through the clouds. After a moment she began. "I guess I should begin by saying that we are not exactly alone in the universe."
The Doctor was completely serious in his responding exclamation. "Well, of course not! Where have you been?" Martha, trying to be as discrete as possible, started trying to kick him in the shins to shut him up.
Cally blinked, and then grinned, mistakenly believing that he was kidding. "Lost in the Pegasus galaxy."
Jack blinked. "What?" This, he had not expected. Even though Cally had mentioned the word Pegasus when she had been talking to Chapman, as if it was a location, not an astronomical term, it hadn't occurred to Jack to actually believe that it was. He, the Museum employees and his team stared while the Doctor kept talking. Martha was trying to shut him up by kicking him under the table. It wasn't working.
"Pegasus Galaxy...Pegasus Galaxy...no, I don't think I've been. What are the main life forms?" The Doctor asked, putting a hand under his chin and propping his arm up on the table, while looking pensive.
It was a valid, if surprising question. Cally wasn't sure if she should laugh or not, the feeling that he was kidding beginning to vanish, but she went with it and shrugged. "Space vampires." She said simply.
Martha stopped trying to kick the Doctor, and like everyone else, was staring at the two in disbelief.
"That's their species." Cally tried to clarify. "Just saying life forms is...vague. Well, vague and useful. Well, vague and useful but not altogether easy to answer." Cally finished. "There are a ton of life forms." She sounded a little like the Doctor with his circular logic.
The Doctor furrowed his brow at the answer, when another question popped into his head. "Now here's another question. I doubt they call themselves space vampires- what do they call themselves?. It might jog my memory. I can't remember hearing anything about space vampires, and there are plenty of species that could fit that description."
Cally was embarrassed, but a little intrigued in spite of herself. The Doctor sounded like he'd known other alien species. "Err, they call themselves the Wraith. We usually call them – well, ugly, life sucking bastards. Or Bob. Sometimes Steve."
The Doctor cocked his head to the side. "Wraith…wraith…Wait for it! Ringing some vague and very useful bells here." He paused and looked at her questioningly. "Steve?"
"I don't name the Wraith prisoners!" Cally responded, smiling slightly. "It's my commanding officer's fault, really. He names them…with surprising and startling regularity."
"Right then!" The Doctor looked relieved for some reason. Humans had odd notions. Cally seemed more sensible then most. "What do these Wraiths do?"
"For the most part, cull their human herds when they get hungry." Cally responded, not noticing that at her statement, everyone but the Doctor suddenly looked very, very disturbed. Her conversation with the Doctor was starting to feel a little surreal and unlikely. He was…acting if this was all normal. The rest of those involved were amazed that she was taking this as normal as well.
"Ah." The Doctor said, curiosity stated for a moment. "That's … self –explanatory."
Cally smiled thinly, bitterly. "Yeah, it kind of is."
"Err." Gwen interjected, voicing the thoughts of everyone present. "Not really. At least, not for us, the uninitiated."
Cally and the Doctor blinked at the others, as if just realizing that they were still there.
Cally looked a little ashamed. "Ah, I think we got off topic before we even really began…"
"Yeah." Said Katie. "So…aliens?"
Cally blinked. "Life outside Earth…yeah. Aliens."
"And the Pegasus Galaxy." Jack asked, voice indicating his surprise. "Where you've apparently been living?"
"Where have you been living there?" The Doctor asked. "The only place to live there away from the Wraith would be - Ah! Yes!" The Doctor interjected again."What year would it be in Atlantis now?" The Doctor then shook his head. "No, its better you don't answer."
Cally blinked, and then angrily snapped at him in shock. "How the hell do you know about Atlantis?" Something was very, very off here.
"Atlantis?" Jack asked, raising his eyebrows.
"I just want to know!" The Doctor glared at both of them for interrupting. "Spoilers, you see. When you've lived as long as I do, memories don't always stay within the same time line. But you linear humans...well, even details are sometimes enough to remember certain things." He turned back to Cally, who was glaring at him in suspicion. "Sorry, then. Pretend I never said anything. Wait..."The Doctor realized something at the end of his rambling. He turned to Martha, whose head was buried in her hands, looking as though she either wanted to beat him or laugh herself sick. "At the very beginning, when she said that there were other life forms, I was supposed to pretend I didn't know, right? And let things proceed at their own pace? Well, blew that one. Let's continue from where we left off shall we..."
Cally felt something shaking beside her and looked at Jack. He was trying, very unsuccessfully to hold in laughter at the Doctor's mistake. She wasn't sure if it was because of Jack's reaction or because of the Doctor's responses, but Cally was suddenly very, very angry. "You bastards! You're absolute bloody bastards, all of you!" She wrenched herself into a standing position, and was now yelling at the Doctor, Martha and Jack. She was yelling at everyone at the table, with the exception of the interns and Myles, who looked as confused as she did. Martha at least looked apologetic. "You're either humoring me, or you really know that-" The realization hit her like a literal ton of bricks.
Especially devastating was the part where the Doctor had said something like 'you humans'.
"Oh crap." She moaned, before dropping to the ground in a dead faint.
End Chapter 21
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