February 2005
Daniel
A month had passed, Jack was acting general of the SGC and although he was doing everything he could, we couldn't devote the time and resources to solely finding Eleanor. He had promised that we would get her back, that he would do everything in his power, but it wasn't enough. I stood now waiting for the gate to open from Kelowna. Jonas had no idea of what had transpired since his last visit, and the funds to keep monthly visits for the sake of diplomacy had finally kicked in. Teal'c, Sam and Mitchell were standing behind me, watching as the gate swirled open and my old friend walked out dressed in gray garbs from his homeland, a weekender bag in hand and a big cocky grin spread across his face.
"Hey dickheads, I'm back!" Jonas gloated as he stepped onto the grate.
"Hello Jonas," I mustered a semblance of a happy face for him and he gave me a look over. My hands shifted to my pockets and I reached around for the small brass compass, tracing over every groove and dent.
"If you wind up lost, you can find your way home to me." Her voice rang through my mind.
"Who died Daniel? Move out of the way, I need to see my favorite Jackson." He looked around his face starting to drop while I stood there, staring back at him unable to form the words. "Where is she?"
"Jesus, this guy can't read a room," Mitchell turned to Sam and they exchanged looks.
"Eleanor Jackson is missing." Teal'c came in with his normal bluntness, and though I'm sure it felt like a punch to Jonas' gut at the news it was oddly comforting that I didn't have to say it. "It is presumed she has been taken by Anubis." Jonas' eyes darkened, his mood instantly shifting. I knew in the six months they had gotten to know one another a friendship bloomed. Two humans that didn't truly fit in our world, but made it so much more beautiful because of them. This Jonas was someone I didn't recognize now. Even keeled, goofy Jonas was replaced by this rath filled entity and I needed our team.
"Suit up, we're going through the gate." Mitchell tossed a radio to him and Jonas caught it with a quick jog off to change, no questions asked. He fell right back into old habits of the SGC smoothly. The speakers crackled on and I looked up to see McKay, Bill Lee, Felger and Coombs standing around Walter up in the control room.
"Prometheus will meet you when you jump through, she's already suited up with the tech." McKay's voice rang out and Mitchell answered with a thumbs up. "Jackson, you have that amplifier I gave you?" I pat my shoulder pocket and nodded. "I'm going to need you to keep that on, at all times you understand me? All times." I gave a solitary nod back as my left thumb ran over the golden band on my finger.
"You okay Daniel?" I heard the real question behind Sam's query. She wanted to make sure my head was in the mission, one slip up and we would be done.
"Right as rain."
Jonas came back, stood next to me, and the gate churned. Walter shouted out each chevron locked, and the seventh symbol clanked into place as the flush of the wormhole kawooshed out.
"Alright boys, and Carter," Mitchell quickly corrected, "we have a few system lords to take down." One by one we crossed the gate. I looked up at Jack watching from his office above, my first real mission without him, knowing there would never be another with him by my side and he gave me a mock salute. I returned the gesture and walked through the event horizon.
March 2005
Eleanor
The leather sandals on my feet slapped against the pavement, the birds flew off the pale blue petaled trees with each running thud. I grabbed the door of the coffee shop before it closed and the small bell chimed as I held it open for the little elderly woman and her small grandchild casually walking out. The woman gave me a tender smile and she clutched onto the child's hands. Reflexively I placed my own hand on the small bump forming on my lower stomach. I tucked in after the woman made a space and waited to place my order.
The young barista behind the counter gave me a welcoming smile and asked, "the usual?"
"Yes please, decaf with one cream and two sugars." I paid the woman her credits and took the drink walking back out to enjoy the warm sun on my face. I took a sip feeling like it would be better with an additional two creams, but there was something internally nostalgic about the order and drank it regardless. I didn't have a lot of memories to pull from, when I woke up in a hospital bed in the town I had no knowledge of who I was, where I came from. I was found in the middle of a park, with the clothes on my back, a card clipped to my shirt with an identifier of some sort, a ring on my finger, and a babe in my womb. I had no knowledge of how or why, of where or when, but a local group of caretakers called the Valkyrie helped to find work for me and a place to reside.
The group of women cared over this planet, taking in refugees affected by a race of beings called the Goa'uld. I wasn't sure about their background, just that they would often target humans such as myself as hosts. The Asgard, a benevolent clan, would give these people who had been cured by the Goa'uld to the Valkyries for safe keeping here. When I arrived it had been the first drop off for over a hundred they stated. It had made news in the town, and I was treated as someone akin to them, they were comfortable and kind. A local baker took me in as an apprentice, and I seemed to have a knack for it. I had made daily habits, but mostly I kept to myself.
Today on my day off, I walked back to my modest one room flat. As part of an agreement with the Valkyries for finding a residence for me, I paid a tithe of 1/10th my salary into the community bank. It was customary for all to pay the tithe as all would benefit from it. They received healthcare, food basics, shelter and utilities among other essentials. If you wanted more luxuries such as seasonings or goods, my daily coffee even, you took on work and paid with that salary. I happily obliged in the tithe, without it I would not be here. I opened the pale yellow door of the residence and closed it behind me, walked into the kitchenette, placed the take out cup down on the counter and looked at the notepad and pen I had left out from the night before. There was a list of names scratched out one by one.
Denise
Ava
Nadia
Ilya
Elsie
Lydia
No. I scratched out the names again.
David
Arthur
Nicholas
Ivan
Edmond
Lance
No. Once more I made a list of names I had heard in passing today.
Dala
Astrid
Nadja
Ingred
Emma
Lilla
Dain
Anders
Nigel
Isaac
Erik
Loki
I didn't even know my own name let alone name my baby, a child I had no clue of until just a few weeks ago when I went back to the clinic for a routine check up. They went to see if my memory came back, if I was having any flashbacks, and I threw up in the wastebasket at the overwhelming emotions I was facing. After a very thorough examination I was declared pregnant and my heart broke. Not just for myself, but for the child who would have a mother that was already so lost.
My bed was calling for my afternoon nap and I pulled the cot down from the wall, laid the blanket I had just finished knitting down over it, and drew the curtains closed. Even in my bed my mind was lost in a sea of constant confusion. I had no concept of this child's father, of my past life, but when I was still lying there I felt him with me. When my eyes were closed I could feel his hands weaving their way through my hair, fingers twirling around each strand and tugging gently as his mouth was brought to mine. I could hear his breathing panting in my ear while our bodies formed so perfectly into one another. The subtle hitch of his breath rang through my ears, the scorching path of fire his fingers left when they trailed along my spine. He was an angel calling out to me in the darkness of my thoughts, beckoning for me, and a demon for the insatiable thoughts I had of him. When I laid in my bed alone, it was the taste of him that swirled around my tongue, the scent of parchment and bergamot that lingered on my skin. I could feel the heat of his mouth on parts of me that I was sure no one had touched, had feasted on the way that my body hungered for. His words of impassioned longing swirled around my head in a silken wrapped voice and squeezed around my heart. I knew of no man, but this one knew me so intimately I could imagine every gasp that broke from him. I caught myself dreaming of the ultimate luxury that was being beside him, lavishing in the comfort of his words and thoughts. He was a memory, a longing, a home. He was my home, but I couldn't put a name to him. I was sure I had conjured him up, this achingly devine man who I would eagerly sell my very soul for just to know his name. He was me, all of me, and I so longed to know if somewhere in the universe for him I was the same.
A knock came to the door and I groaned rolling out of the bed and shuffling to it. "Coming!" I shouted out thinking it would just be the vender coming by once more to deliver my food rations. I opened it and was halted in confusion by the woman in front of me wearing matching green pants and a shirt with a black heavy vest over it. She gave me a warm knowing smile and I once again blinked in confusion. Her blonde hair was close cropped and I looked over her shoulder at a collection of men on the sidewalk with a Valkyrie guard alongside them.
"Can I help you?" I asked nervously.
"Eleanor?" She asked gently in return.
"No," I blinked back at her in confusion. "I'm sorry, I don't know anyone by that name."