<< Previous | Story Intro | Return to Stories | Next >>

Wade sat in the cargo bay. He spent most of his time here, hoping that she would come back. He only wanted to talk to her. He rolled his eyes. No, that’s not all he wanted. He wanted to make love to her…not…service her…make love to her. Slow, gentle, passionate, mind-altering love. He shook his head, dropped his chin onto his chest. That, my friend, he told himself, is never going to happen. He had seen the look of love in her eyes for her husband. Knew how much she loved the man who could be his twin. His fist flew backward against the wall. He welcomed the pain in his hand. It distracted him from the pain in his heart.

She stopped short when she saw him sitting against the wall. She hesitated, began to back toward the door.

"You don’t have to leave," he said softly.

She nodded slowly, but remained beside the door.

He watched her. Her arms wrapped around her slender waist, as if she were trying to protect herself. "I won’t hurt you," he said, his voice still low.

Casey smiled. "I never thought that you would," she replied.

His heart jumped in his chest. "I…I like talking to you."

She pulled her lower lip between her teeth. She nodded again, her mind shrinking from the realization that she enjoyed talking to him as well. His voice was similar to Daniel’s…but different. The accent, probably, she thought.

"So…what is this ship? It is Goa’uld, is it not?" He would talk to her about anything, just to hear her soft voice. Just so she would stay for a little bit. He could smell her, sweet and intoxicating and arousing.

She smiled. "Yes, it is. It was captured a couple of years ago. We call it the Phoenix now."

"Phoenix…this word has special meaning?"

She put her back to the wall and slid down, pulled her legs up against her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

He was disappointed. While she was standing, he had a clear view of those perfect breasts under the thin material of her shirt, could see the nipples standing out, making his mouth water, his brain taunting him with the memory of their sweet taste.

"Yes, it does," she replied.  "The Phoenix was a mythical bird. It had a life span of about a thousand years. When it was ready to die, it built a funeral pyre of aromatic wood, then lit the wood, and sat down amid the flames. A new Phoenix would rise from the ashes. The myth goes that the new bird would take all that was left of the pyre, put it in an egg, and put the egg on the altar of the Sun God. Basically it means something born from death. This al'kesh brought death to many. Now it's a symbol of freedom and hope."

He had closed his eyes, let her soft voice flow over him like the warm water of the shower. "So you are a warrior?"

"Yes."

"Your husband also?" He opened his eyes to look at her.

"Among other things. Daniel is a brilliant man. An archaeologist. Linguist. Anthropologist. Warrior. Diplomat. Husband. Father."

He felt a stabbing pain in his heart when she said ‘father’. He didn’t recognize many of the other words, but he understood, somehow, that they meant this man was highly educated…an Elder. "He has children?"

She smiled that beautiful smile. "We have children. Emily Rose is two and a half years old, Daniel Nicholas is almost four months old."

He tried not to react physically to her reply. A daughter and a son. A son named after the father. "He must be very pleased."

Casey giggled. "Daniel adores his children. His daughter has him wrapped around her little finger. Practically from birth. He was absolutely thrilled when Nicholas was born. He wanted a son."

Wade couldn’t help but smile at the pride in her voice. He loved the sound of her enticing, lilting laugh. "You love him very much," he said.

Her eyes began to glow with happiness. "He is my Beloved, I am his," she replied.

That simple answer ripped his heart to shreds. The light in her eyes only added to the pain. Suddenly he needed to get away from her. "I will leave you now. I have enjoyed our… talk," he said, rising to his feet. He didn’t miss the fact that she pulled as far away from the door as possible without actually running into the room when he walked by. He strode towards the quarters that he and his men shared. It was actually a converted cargo bay, but it was warm and clean and free from slavery. And she wasn’t there to torment him.

She watched him leave. ‘Daniel?’

‘Right here, babe.’

‘Are…are you busy?’

He could sense in her voice that something was wrong. ‘Where are you, Angel? I’m on my way.’

‘Cargo bay three. I…I…we…need to talk.’

When Daniel walked into the bay not more than three minutes later, she was sitting on the floor, her chin resting on her knees. He sat down beside her, his shoulder bumping hers. "What’s wrong, Case?"

"I…Wade was here…we…talked."

He fought back a smile. It pleased him that she wanted to make sure he was aware of every encounter she had with the former slave. "I see. Nice conversation?"

She looked over at him. "Yes, actually. He asked about the Phoenix. About you. I told him about Emmie and Nicholas. Then he left."

Daniel carefully examined his hands. "It’s okay, Angel. Do you want to tell me about it, or just confess that it happened?"

"I wasn’t confessing!"

Now he did smile. "Okay, babe. You weren’t confessing. But I appreciate the fact that you let me know about it."

She nodded, leaned her head against his shoulder. "It wasn’t a long conversation. I explained what Phoenix meant, he asked if I was a warrior, if you were," she paused and looked up at him, her eyes full of love. "I listed all of your talents for him," she smiled.

He grinned and kissed the tip of her nose.

"He asked about your children, I told him that they were ours, told him how Emmie has you wrapped around her little finger-"

"She does not!" Daniel objected.

Casey giggled. "Oh yes, she does!"

He grinned again. "Okay, maybe a little bit."

"Maybe a lot!"

"Then what?" he asked, steering the conversation back to Wade.

"He left."

Daniel leaned his head back against the wall. If he were in love with a woman, hearing about her children, and her husband, would be the last thing he would want to talk about. For a moment he could almost feel sorry for the man.

"So you’re okay with this?"

"Babe, you talked to the man. Being on the Phoenix, you’re not exactly going to be able to avoid him," Daniel replied.

"I can try."

He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "No need, My Star. I know how you feel." He grinned yet again as a wash of love flooded through his mind. He returned the love, felt her body shiver.

"Good."

"Gonna work out?"

"Yep. Want to join me?"

"I don’t know the routines."

"I can teach you."

He looked at her. "I’d like that, Angel."

Two hours later he was lying on the bed, totally exhausted. She had taken the first hour just to show him the various moves. The second hour she had blasted the stereo and dared him to keep up with her. When she stretched out on the floor and began to twist and pull her body into positions that had him thinking about things other than exercise, he had begged mercy.

They had showered, and here he lay, almost too tired to move. Now he understood why the SG teams moaned and complained about the routines. Why they had names like ‘the man-crusher’ and the ‘body-breaker’ and ‘screaming-agony’.

Casey dropped down onto the bed beside him. "And you thought aerobics were easy to do," she teased.

"Yeah, well now I know how you stay in such incredible shape," he replied.

"Incredible, huh?"

"Yep. Shape. Incredible. Great curves. Perfect boobs. Terrific hips. Amazing ass. Out of this world legs."

She blushed slightly. "I’m glad I please you."

He reached up and wrapped his fist in her hair. "I adore you, Angel." He tugged and brought her close enough to kiss.

The sudden wailing of klaxons had them both off of the bed and racing for the bridge.

"What’s up?" Daniel asked as he slid to a stop at the navigation console. He smiled at the young lieutenant who had been there.

"Seems like we actually found Ba’al again," Jack replied. He watched the Jacksons, looking for any telltale sign of trouble. Teal'c had told him of Casey’s tearful, middle-of-the-night visit.

He relaxed when he saw Daniel wink at her, and the wink in return. Whatever had been wrong, it was fixed now. Teal'c had suggested getting the slaves off of the Phoenix as soon as possible. He remembered the man who looked like Daniel, and what he had done. He counted his lucky stars that Sam didn’t even remember what the man she had…been with…looked like. Evidently the man didn’t remember her either. He shook himself mentally and forced his mind back on the task at hand…getting rid of that damned Goa’uld.

The Phoenix moved up from beneath the al'kesh.

"Open com channels," Jack ordered.

"Jack?" Daniel said.

"Immortal Council wants him alive, if possible," Jack said. It was plain that he was going to see to it that it wasn’t possible.

"Open, sir," Sam said

"Case, get weapons locked and ready," he said quietly.

"Weapons locked and ready, aye-aye, sir," Casey replied. She and Sam both slipped easily into the military mind-set, using the jargon with ease.

Ba’al appeared on the communication screen. "You have come to deliver the whore to me in exchange for your miserable lives?"

Jack snorted. "You wish. We’re here to blow your ass out of the sky. Just wanted you to see it coming."

Ba’al glared and quickly cut communications between the ships. The Phoenix rocked around them.

"Shields down to ninety-one percent," Teal'c reported.

"One at a time, Case," Jack said calmly.

She flipped up the plastic cover, toggled three switches. "Nukes armed, sir," she said quietly.

"I suggest we move quickly away from the blast," Teal'c said. "Our shields are damaged, the resulting explosion could damage them more.

Jack nodded. "On my mark, get us the hell out of here," he said to Daniel.

The young man nodded. "On your mark," he said.

"Okay, Case…Fire!"

Casey’s fingers touched the controls, a missile made it’s way toward the al'kesh. A single blast destroyed it. "Now that just pisses me off!" she hissed.

"Fire at will, Casey," Jack said with a grin.

She fired off four more missiles, then began to fire the Phoenix’s guns at the Goa’uld’s ship. "Come on, come on, come on," she muttered, watching the tracking monitor.

Jack was also watching the monitors. "On my mark…now!"

The Phoenix pulled to port, moving as fast as Daniel could push the engines. Casey was still watching the monitors. One missile made a direct hit.

"Yes!" she said, both fists in the air. "And the Great General known as Jack said unto SG-1: Ba’al shall be destroyed, and lo, SG-1 went forth and kicked his snake ass!" She did a little happy dance beside the weapons console. The crew around her laughed.

No one had noticed that Wade had slipped into the room, stood hidden in the shadows of a corner by the door. He didn’t understand what she had said, but he did detect the humor in the tone of her voice. Watching her wiggle her body like that made his own body hard.

"Apparently Ba’al isn’t reading the same gospel," Daniel said. "Al'kesh moving to intercept."

"Tell me we did some damage," Jack groused

"Looks like we took out at least part of his shields. Some of his weaponry seems to be down as well," Sam reported.

"All right, Case, tell me you have something left," Jack said.

"Yep, a couple of nukes left." Before he could give the order to fire, the al'kesh had moved over them, and was firing all guns at them. Several Gliders had been launched as well.

"Get rid of those things!" Jack ordered.

Casey concentrated. She needed more hands! Suddenly two hands appeared on the console beside her. She looked up into deep blue eyes.

"Which guns do you wish me to fire?" he asked softly.

Daniel gave a hard look at the man now standing beside his wife.

She pointed to the controls, Wade nodded and began to fire. She concentrated on firing the forward guns. Smiled grimly when two Gliders lit up the blackness of space.

"Shields now down to seventy-one percent," Teal'c reported.

The Phoenix shivered and shook around them with each hit, wires and tubes breaking free, releasing sparks and steam into the air around them.

"Shields at fifty-three percent."

Casey watched in horror as the last of the nukes were easily destroyed by Ba’al’s weapons. It seemed that surprise was the needed element for using the missiles. "No nukes left, Jack, and he’s taken out all but one."

"Shit!" Jack swore. "Okay, let’s get the hell out of here," he said reluctantly. "Go to hyperspace, make sure to jam all signals," he ordered.

Casey slumped against the console. Wade’s arm went automatically around her slender waist to keep her from falling completely to the floor.

"Case?" Jack asked, a frown on his face.

"Trouble, big trouble," she said softly.

"Naturally. Is there ever any other kind?" Jack asked irritably.

She cocked her head to the side. "Jack, we can save those people, if we’re fast enough."

"Where?"

She closed her eyes. Tried in vain to understand what she was seeing. Shook her head in frustration.

"Show me, babe," Daniel said softly, ignoring the fact that Wade’s arm was still around his Wife.

She felt Daniel approach her, gently, softly. She opened her mind, guided him to the information she had, but did not understand.

"Got it," he said. That it was Ancient knowledge gained while Ascended that helped him was not noticed. He entered the coordinates into the navigational computer. When he was finished, he walked to where Wade stood beside Casey, his arm still around her narrow waist. "Get your hands off my Wife," he said. His voice was soft, but threatening.

"I did not want her to fall," the man replied simply, dropping his arm casually.

Daniel looked at Casey, noted that she wouldn’t meet his eyes. He sighed inwardly. She would grab onto this and twist it around to make it her fault as well. "If anyone needs to keep my Beloved from falling, it will be me." There was a warning tone in his voice.

Wade held the cold stare. I would be fighting just as hard, if she were mine, he thought glumly. He finally dropped his eyes and nodded.

He reached out and took her chin in his hand. ‘Love you, Angel.’

‘Love you, too, Daniel.’ She still refused to meet his eyes.

‘Look at me, babe.’

She finally raised her eyes. Saw the warmth, the love.

‘No guilt. Don’t you dare try to make this your fault.’

She smiled. ‘It won’t be easy.’

‘Then I’ll help you.’

She nodded. ‘Better get back to the helm. This isn’t over yet.’

He planted a kiss on her forehead, then returned to stand by the large Jaffa.

Wade had watched, fascinated. He somehow knew that they were…talking…to one another. He could see it in their eyes. He had cringed at the look of guilt that had filled her green eyes. He was the cause of that. He swore to never put her in that situation again.

<< Previous | Story Intro | Return to Stories | Next >>