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She opened one eye. Oh, god, what a headache! She tried to sit up. Not the best idea she'd ever had. Her stomach protested, her brain was twirling and the world outside of that one eye began spinning. She laid back down. Let the Quickening deal with it. She waited a few minutes, then sat up. She kept her eyes closed, not wanting to see things moving around her again. Coffee! She smelled coffee! Right under her nose! She smiled and lifted her hands. Yep. Coffee mug. She sipped the strong, rich liquid, slowly opened her eyes. Where in the hell…?

Daniel was sitting beside her. "Hey, Angel. Feeling better?"

"Better than I was a few minutes ago. Not as good as I'll be when I finish this. Where in the hell are we?" she replied.

He grinned. "You don't remember last night?"

She frowned. "Um…well…most of it, I guess. I remember dancing…then we were talking about what we-" she broke off, blushing brightly. "I don't remember much after that."

"Good."

"Did something happen?"

He looked around. "You decided you wanted to come here," he said. It wasn't a lie. Somewhere along the line she had made that decision.

"And I wanted to come here because…?" she asked.

He frowned. He looked down, poked at the fire he had built.

The look on his face brought what had happened rushing back. It was a bit hazy…but she remembered the look on that Marine's face, the look on Daniel's face…the absolute horror of remembering…"I'm a slut," she whispered. She nearly dropped the mug. She closed her eyes again.

Daniel's head flew up. "You most certainly are not! Casey, I was there the entire time! We all were! Not once did you do anything that would make you…that! Babe, there were women on that dance floor who were doing a hell of a lot more; far more…suggestive things…than you were! You were having fun, and it showed, that's all!"

She put the mug on the ground beside her, pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them. "I am what I am, Daniel. Time to face facts here. If I wasn't, people wouldn't say it!"

"Casey Renee Jackson! You are not a slut!" Daniel said, nearly shouting. He reached out to her, his mind slowly approaching hers, gently caressed her. He didn't want her pulling away, or blocking him. By god he was going to take care of this once and for all! "Let me see, Angel," he said softly.

She stared at him, felt the tender caress, returned it hesitantly, shyly, as if she didn't have the right to do so. She could feel him…searching…looking. Memories began to flood her mind, memories of Helen screaming at her, telling her what a bad, dirty little girl she was; telling her what a slut she was. Memories that had been buried so deep she wasn't aware they existed. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she listened to the hateful, hurtful words. She closed her eyes.

"I am not a slut!"

She opened her eyes. Daniel was kneeling in front of her, his hand holding her chin firmly.

"Not a slut, Angel. Never were, never will be," he said softly. He lowered his head and captured her lips in a kiss.

She wrapped her arms around his neck. Oh, how she loved him! He fought her demons, again and again…protected her…and thank all the gods in the heavens, he loved her! She kissed him back, pouring her love, her thanks, her passion into the action. She took control, stroking his tongue with her own, tasting him, feeling him. Sighed when he thrust his tongue back into her mouth, touching her, tasting her, comforting her.

He smiled inwardly as she kissed him, felt the love that accompanied the physical contact. Knew that she didn't realize that she had reached for him like that. He reached back, his mind caressing hers as his mouth moved over hers. He pulled away, slowly, both physically and mentally. "Feel better?"

She nodded. "So, now what?"

"Now we go home and take a shower. Then we make love," he smiled.

"After that?"

"We'll make love again."

She giggled. "Don't suppose you'd be interested in food anytime soon."

He laughed. "I think I could be convinced to stop for something to eat."

"Thank you."

"Any time, Angel."

She pulled her lip between her teeth.

"What is it?"

"How many times can you do this for me before you're just too tired of doing it?" she asked.

"That will never happen, Casey. You're my Destiny. My Chosen. I'll fight for you, protect you as often as I have to. No matter how many times that might be," he replied softly. "Come on, let's go home. Then I'll show you how much I love you."

A  A  A  A  A  A

While Daniel had been with Casey on PX3-695, everyone had gathered at their house, waiting word on Casey's condition. Kelley had told them of the rages she had witnessed, and how Casey had never defended herself, instead stood silently and endured the abuse. How, even though she had been a virgin at the time, deep inside believed that Helen was right about her.

Duncan muttered dark Scottish curses under his breath.  The downturn of Teal'c's mouth was extreme, and no one believed the string of Goa'uld he was mumbling beneath his breath was complimentary toward the woman who had raised Casey.

Sam and Jack both were convinced that Ba'al was to blame for the return of her insecurities - that he had somehow unleashed memories that remained. Daniel confirmed their theory upon returning home. When everyone had left, knowing that she was all right, Daniel showed her how much he loved her…twice.

The entire 'family' had gathered at Curly's for dinner on Kelley and Gretchen's last night on Gamma. Kelley was sitting next to Casey, and took her hand. "I'm so glad that I got to see you. I’m glad that you have Daniel. He loves you, girl."

"I'm glad I got to see you, too, Kells. Daniel has been my lifeline. Without him…without Daniel I wouldn't even be here. I would have been dead long ago," she replied quietly.

Gretchen, who was sitting on the other side of Kelley, reached over and patted Casey's hand. "What she said, Case." The platinum blonde stood up, and tapped her spoon against her wineglass to get the attention of the gathered group. "Okay, since we're leaving bright and early in the morning, and won't get a chance to say this again, Kelley and I want to thank Casey for letting us come visit. It was an honor and a pleasure to meet all of you. You can bet I'll be doing a lot of bragging when I get back to work!" she winked.

Everyone laughed easily.

Kelley stood up, and the two women went to stand behind Daniel. "Okay, Stud Muffin, on your feet."

Daniel's cheeks flushed faintly, but he obeyed.

Gretchen turned him so that he was facing the table, and she and Kelley stood on either side of him. "It has been decided by two thirds of Three Sisters at Heart, since one third is too partial for this vote, that Doctor Daniel M. Jackson has been tried in a court of love, and found guilty of love in the first degree."

Casey moaned. "I always loved that song!"

Kelley giggled. "Hush, we're about to hand down our verdict!"

The others around the table laughed again.

"Doctor Daniel M. Jackson, it is the decision of this court that you shall be forthwith…" Gretchen giggled. "Isn't that the greatest lawyer type word?" More laughter. "You shall be forthwith remanded to the custody of Casey Jackson for the remainder of your natural life. Since you're Immortal, Hunkmiester, that's a long, long, long time!"

Kelley was giggling. "The voting parties of Three Sisters at Heart have come to this decision because we've seen how much you love our Casey, and how much she loves you. No appeals, Stud Muffin, this verdict stands!"

Daniel was laughing. "I think I can live with that verdict."

Gretchen pulled Casey to her feet. "Okay, he is officially remanded to your custody by the authority of Three Sisters at Heart. You can't appeal either. He's yours forever, Case." She hugged the young Immortal. "You did good, girlfriend," she whispered.

Kelley hugged Casey as well. "I'm so happy for you, Case."

"Thanks, Kells," she whispered. She gave Daniel a quick kiss before they sat back down.

The women turned to Erin and Aaron. "The Three Sisters have one more item of business to attend to." Kelley held out her hands to Casey's parents.

The two Ancients stood, looks of amusement on their faces. Liam and Amanda Seeney, who had joined the group for dinner, were watching with great interest. They were finding their lives on this plane of existence wonderfully entertaining. Especially with the high-spirited group of friends their son had.

"The court of the Three Sisters at Heart has been made aware that Casey hasn't been as forthcoming with all the facts about her life as she should be, especially with her parents. So, we've put together a little something for you," Gretchen said, grabbing a large scrapbook from beneath her chair. She looked at Casey. "You forgot all about those old photo albums, didn't you?"

Casey rolled her eyes and groaned. "Mom, Dad, don't believe a thing they're telling you! Whatever is in there…I can explain!"

Kelley handed the beautifully decorated scrapbook to Erin. "Case doesn't have any baby pictures of herself, so we did a little computer work, and came up with a few. She looks just like Emily's baby pictures, doesn’t she?"

"We've also pulled together everything we could find from her childhood right up to the time she was kid…uh…started on this adventure," Gretchen said.

Erin eagerly opened the book, began to look at the photos and read the carefully written notes. "It's wonderful! Thank you so much!" She hugged each of the young women.

Aaron laughed as he read out loud. "It says here, 'in the third grade, Casey decided she wanted to become an artist. She created five murals before the janitor caught up with her, and was able to clean the paint off of the walls.'" Everyone around the table howled with laughter.

"Oh, my god! I had completely forgotten about that!" Casey exclaimed.

Tessa wiped tears of laughter from her eyes. "What were you painting, Casey?"

"I wanted to paint horses, but I could only get hold of green and purple paint, so I was painting grapes everywhere," Casey replied, giggling. "Huge big circles of purple!"

Aaron found another page, raised his eyebrow at his daughter. "Here it says that 'in seventh grade science class, Casey was too busy trying to impress her lab partner, a cute guy by the name of Ty Banks, to listen to the instructions given by the teacher, and nearly set fire to the entire lab.'" The entire group was in hysterics.

"I did not nearly set fire to the entire lab! I just turned one little Bunsen burner on too high and caught his notebook on fire!" Casey retorted. "And we do not have to go through that whole thing here!"

"Yes, we do," Duncan laughed.

"Do not!"

"Do so!"

"Oaf!"

"Imp!"

She stuck her tongue out at him.

Aaron laughed out loud. "Casey Renee!"

"Oh, lord," she moaned loudly. More laughter.

"'In the fall of her sophomore year, having just been granted a learning permit, one Casey Renee Webster took the school driver's education car, with a group of students, to the local A&W drive-in restaurant, and did donuts in the parking lot until the police arrived.'"

"It wasn't me!" Casey objected. "It was Sally Donovan! I was in the passenger seat!"

Kelley laughed. "That's not what you told me! You said that you were behind the wheel for the donuts!"

Casey lowered her head onto her arms. "Only because Sally didn't know what she was doing," she mumbled.

"Say what, Case?" Daniel asked, laughing so hard his sides hurt.

"I said Sally didn't know what she was doing!"

"So what happened?" Sam asked.

Casey rolled her eyes. "The cop called just happened to be a friend of…Frank's. He called our driver's instructor, Mr. Helm. They were both really cool about the whole thing. We all had to take driver's ed over, but that was it, none of us had a juvy record, and my…they never found out about it."

Erin had the book now. "Oh, Casey! You never mentioned that you won an award in a poetry contest!"

Now Casey blushed. "No big deal."

"What was the poem?" Tessa asked.

Erin looked at Casey, smiled, and then began to read. "Silence, by Casey Webster. 'I walked through the forest, and listened to the silence around me. The trees and the wind and the sky spoke their own language, but I could not understand, I heard only the silence. The sun tried to tell me its story, but I did not hear. I heard only the silence. Then the trees and the wind and the sun were gone, and only the silence remained. Only then did I understand what they tried to tell me. Only then did I hear. But now, I hear only the silence.' My darling daughter, that is lovely!"

"Casey, that is indeed lovely," Tessa said softly.

She shrugged. "It was no big deal," she murmured again.

Daniel rubbed his hand over the back of her shoulders. "Not everybody can use words to paint a picture like you can, Angel," he said quietly.

Casey looked at him and smiled. "You're just a tad bit prejudiced in my favor."

He leaned over and kissed her. "Think so, huh?"

"Know so," she replied.

Now Erin was giggling. "She was in a play! She played one of the Seven Dwarf's in the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarf's."

"Which one, 'Annoying'?" Duncan teased.

Kelley burst into laughter. "She played Sneezey!"

"I had all of two lines!"

"Can you remember them?" Jack asked.

"Um…'Oh, she's beautiful!' and…let's see…"Don't open the door…Achoo!'" She looked around the table as everyone laughed. "You all are enjoying this way too much!" she complained good-naturedly.

Carly smiled. "You speak so seldom of your past, Casey. Certainly you don't tell us of your accomplishments. It is a pleasure to learn more about you…how you became the woman that you are."

Erin closed the book and hugged Kelley and Gretchen again. "I can't put into words what this means to me. And to Aaron. Thank you both, very much."

"Thank god," Casey sighed.

"I can open this back up, Daughter," Aaron teased.

"Go for it, Dad. See how long it takes before I'm over there closing it back up," she teased back.

Everyone laughed. It was getting late, so reluctantly the group began to break up, going their separate ways, hugging Casey tightly before leaving, saying good-bye to the two friends who had given them a deeper glimpse of the woman they called friend, family.

Daniel hugged her tightly before he let her get into the jeep. "Love you, Angel."

"Love you, too, Sweetheart." She put her hand against his cheek. "I'm glad you've been remanded to my custody for the rest of your life."

He chuckled, then turned his head to kiss her palm. "Me, too, Angel."

The next morning, Casey bid a tearful farewell to her friends, then hurried to Daniel's office. They had a mission to plan.

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