Again: thank you to every one for your interest in this little venture. I think (hope) every one will enjoy more people jumping in. Folly is fairly short and I'm clunking out a sequel but Please weigh in: what do you like about this so far? What could there be more of? I promise - not so much establishment, everyone one is up and running from get-go and I've got a fairly lucid plan from start to end, but I'll value any feed back. In the mean time: a tiny teaser for Folly: 2 is at the end.
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6.
"You can't say where this was found?" Giles looked up, papers of rubbings from PX3-031 spread around him. PX3-031 had been an abandoned Gate, a metropolis of mammoth architecture in gleaming rose-quartz and white marble were he'd convinced Jack that they needed to spend four days before a second team was sent to more fully document the planet.
Giles had already given Daniel the keys he'd needed on a text that had been frustrating him for a year, and Daniel had been flying thru the rubbings, finally able to translate them sensibly. Now, Daniel looked across the table, looked at the papers Giles had his hands on.
Daniel shook his head, offering up a slight smile. Giles just shook his head, making a grumpy sound, "I could help you much better with more to go on…"
Daniel's smile widened, "You get as much background as I do when it come to figuring this stuff out."
Giles glared at Daniel, clearly not believing Daniel, and Daniel could only think of how many worlds they'd happened onto where civilizations had risen and fallen and all that remained of the people was their shifting of the earth, the language they'd pounded into stone, what they'd drawn out of the ground to change for their use and the land had yet to reclaim -
"This is clearly a derivative of Latin, but none I've ever encountered before. It isn't archaic Latin, but from how the context lands it is clearly an outgrowth from very early in the period of the language-"
There was a knock at the door.
Giles was not Sam, but that did not mean he did not know when there was significant obfuscation occurring. Daniel had never withheld anything from the man before. Daniel decided, here and now, being on the wrong side of Giles may be as dangerous as being on the wrong side of Carter.
Both Giles and Daniel looked at the door, Giles flashing a look at Daniel that he wasn't forgetting his line of inquiry, and Giles stood, his fingers leaving off his places in the text, rose and answered the door.
Daniel breathed more easily at the reprieve, and turned back into his translating with appreciation for Giles' skill; another paragraph was falling into coherency and Daniel was sure he was translating a public announcement; at the door "Rupert… " a woman's voice spoke...
Daniel kept his head down; "Jenny. Please, come in" Giles entreated.
Daniel glanced up and saw a lovely woman, dark hair, dark eyes, self possessed standing in the doorway, a woman who only had eyes for Giles. He dove his head forward, focusing on his work in an effort to extend them privacy.
He heard her enter a step, but not the door close, and then Jenny spoke up, "I - you have company. I should have called first…"
"No, Jenny. He's an old friend, from London" Giles explained.
Now Daniel did look up, giving a slight wave and benign smile, "Hi. Daniel" he announced helpfully.
Jenny looked back to Giles, and Daniel saw her hesitancy build. Maybe he shouldn't have said anything-
"Jenny -" Giles shot a look over his shoulder, glancing over the table full of texts, and then placing a firm hand on the door, stepping out, Jenny moving back a step with him, and he closing the door to their conversation.
Daniel gave up translating for the moment, relaxing his twisted stance to slouch and stare at the wall. Daniel had not asked, last night over dinner, what caused Jenny to seek her distance from Giles - what in Giles' past had reemerged to upset her, and apparently his students…
Daniel couldn't imagine what might be in the past of the former curator of the British Museum to create such upheaval; certainly to hold such a position one must have many accolades and accreditations - and Daniel realized how little he knew the history of his friend beyond bending his ear while in London as he drove to prove pyramids were space ships. Daniel shifted, glancing at the phone, wondering if a quick call to Sam could be forgiven.
He decided not to any how. He threw a quick wonder at how Jack and Teal'c were progressing on their vacation. That Sam had on hand three different books: Boundary Waters, Lake Superior, and fresh water sport fishing - when he dropped by her office Daniel didn't question. He'd interrupted her, she'd nodded at the small stack just inside the door with a glint in her eye and the corner of her mouth dimpling in a withheld smile, he'd picked them up and added them to the small pack he was sending out with Teal'c, and whistled, yes, whistled, as he'd made his way to Teal'c quarters.
Daniel had found the Jaffa regarding his mostly packed suite case with a critical eye, turning to greet Daniel, and then take the books and maroon and gold sweater from Daniel with a look of appreciation. Daniel wished he'd had more time to order a hat with gopher ears attached to send Teal'c to Minnesota in, but the appreciative interest Teal'c had taken in the books Daniel decided was repayment enough for Jack.
The phone ringing startled Daniel from his musing, and he lifted it to his ear before he'd realized he'd gone and answered his friend's phone. A look to the front door showed both Giles and Jenny still outside, and, an inch from his ear, a voice was already talking rapidly thru the phone at him:
"Giles, it's Willow, I know I don't usually ever call you unless something is wrong with Buffy and she asks me to, but nothing is wrong with Buffy, so that's not why I'm calling- Buffy's fine. At least I hope she's fine. She was though, when she left for patrol, and she did all of her French before she left, but after she left I was working on some extra credit for Miss Calendar and I sorta, well, I found something…"
Daniel listened, overwhelmed into silence, staring straight ahead as his brain tried to follow along with even a quarter of what had just spilled out into his ear.
"Giles?" Willow asked.
"Giles Residence" Daniel finally answered her, "I'm Daniel, though."
A beat of silence met him across the wire, then Willow spoke up, "Giles' friend? From England?" she asked carefully.
"I'm American, but we met when I was living in London..." Daniel filled in.
There was another beat of silence over the line, and Daniel felt like the girl was deciding something before she spoke again, "Can you put Giles on. Its kind of urgent."
Daniel looked at the closed door, loath to interrupt his friend if he were mending things with Jenny, "Can he call back? He's busy at the moment."
"What's he doing?" Willow asked bluntly.
Daniel wondered what to tell the girl, what Giles might want him to tell a student, and came up blank, "How about he calls you back? You said your name is Willow? Does he have your number?"
"He does" the teen said in a rush, hanging up on Daniel.
Daniel replaced the phone, bemused, and glanced again at the close front door. He wondered if the girl had a crush on her librarian, she'd ended the call so abruptly at the end. He shook his head, standing to stretch his legs, walking to refill his glass with water, and resettling to dive back into the text.
Giles really, truly, had a genius for languages, Daniel thought, the rest of the article he had been working on falling into coherency remarkably quickly…
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[promised teaser for Folly: 2. This may or may not appear in a sequel. But it probably will - 'cuz it makes me laugh]
"So, how's adult play time going?" Buffy asked loud enough for the room to hear, innocently crunching on a chip.
Giles rolled his eyes, Daniel speaking up hesitantly, giving a small waive, "Hi Buffy, it's nice to see you again."
"Dr. Jack" Buffy greeted sunnily, between crunches.
Jack swallowed a cough as Daniel glanced to Rupert, then back to the blond, "Dr. Jackson" he corrected, feeling his cheeks flushing with embarrassment. Daniel didn't dare look at his team. He had a feeling Dr. Jack had just replaced Space Monkey for the next few weeks.