(Special thanks to Major Gee for her beautiful artwork for this story)
Disclaimer: STARGATE is a registered trademark of MGM/UA and SHOWTIME-Online. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement to those rights and is written solely for entertainment. No copyright infringement intended. I'm only borrowing the characters and will give them back when I'm done writing. I derive no profit from this story other than the satisfaction of letting my imagination roam around in someone else's universe. So, on to the story…
Daniel woke, disoriented. What the hell had happened?
He and the rest of SG-1 had been on a mission to BJC3P445 - he remembered that much. The Gatte had opened in the embarkation room in the SGC on Earth as normal, and they had stepped through the event horizon for the usual wild ride through the wormhole to their destination.
The planet looked pretty much as the M.A.L.P. video had shown - the Gate stood in a plain of lush green grass and wildflowers in colours unlike any they had seen on Earth. And there had been no pollen, Daniel remembered that much. He had almost been holding his breath as they stepped through - afraid of an overload of pollen and the inevitable sneezing fit.
Actually it wasn't the sneezing he was afraid of - he was used to sneezing - but the wisecracks he was sure Jack would make. But there had been no pollen, only the sweet fragrant air. And the warm sun, and the vista of the plains before them.
He had checked the DHD, and made sure he could dial them home quickly in an emergency. And then they had stepped down into the field to go exploring.
A pleasant walk took them a mile or so from the Stargate, and they saw nothing to indicate the planet was inhabited, or indeed, had ever been inhabited. Even he was not about to argue that there may be something further afield that they hadn't seen yet. This place was a wilderness - just a very pretty one. And yet, he didn't want to leave. It was so peaceful, so clean and fresh. He was perfectly happy to walk through the endless fields of wildflowers, with his face turned up to the sun on this peaceful world, and just . . . be.
And then he had woken up here. "Here" was a large chamber, lit with a myriad of candles. The french windows at the foot of the bed were open to the night air, and gossamer drapes billowed with the gentle breeze.
He looked around. The bed he lay on was huge - a four poster swathed with the same gossamer fabric as that which graced the windows. The coverlet was heavy satin and thickly quilted, and there were dozens of soft pillows at his head. Feather pillows, soft and fluffy, embracing him as he lay back against them.
There was a fire crackling in a fireplace on one wall - more for the mood than for any real neeed, he thought. The night was pleasantly cool, rather than chilly. And there was a soft, almost indefinable scent in the air - lavender and roses, and something else, sandalwood perhaps.
So, where was this? And how had he gotten here? He could not remember being separated from the rest of SG-1, and yet he had been - they were nowhere in sight. And it was now night - the inky blackness beyond the french windows suggested it was near midnight. So where had the last 12 hours gone?
Curiously, he was not afraid. He was concerned - about the rest of SG-1, and where they were - but he felt sure they were alright. There was something so unthreatening about this whole place. He lay back on the bed and waited for . . . whatever would come.
He was lost in contemplation of the fire and the movement of the drapes at the window when he heard movement.
"Hello Daniel."
The voice was soft, almost purring. Seductive.
"Hello," he replied.
"Are you comfortable, Daniel?" the voice asked.
"How do you know my name?"
"I know a great many things about you, Daniel."
"Such as?"
"You were very afraid of sneezing when you came here, Daniel - afraid that Jack would tease you about it. So I made sure you would not sneeze."
"You made sure I would not sneeze? And how did you manage that?" Daniel could not believe what he was hearing. How had this person known what he had been thinking, and why he had been thinking it?
"I asked the flowers not to spread their pollen, of course. How else would I do it? Do you like the room, Daniel?"
He looked around, as if seeing it for the first time. He did like this room. At some deep level, this room was perfect. "Yes," he whispered.
"I knew you would. I knew you would like everything about this place. I knew it from the moment you came through my Stargate."
Daniel leapt off the bed - 'her' Stargate? Who was this mysterious woman?
"Where are you? WHO are you?"
"I am all that was, all that is and all that will be. I am your soul's longing given life. I am . . . yours."
Daniel's mind reeled. What on earth . . . had they gone back to that insane world, were they again at the mercy of the Keeper?
"No Daniel, be calm. You are safe. I would not hurt you for all the worlds. I would not hurt you as he did," the unseen woman assured him.
"You said "my Stargate" - who are you? Are you . . . a Goa'uld?" Daniel asked, beginning to feel the first stirrings of real fear in this wonderful place.
"A Goa'uld? No of course not. I defeated the Goa'uld when they used the Stargate to come here. They do not come here anymore - I think they are afraid of me!"
Daniel's scientific curiousity was beginning to get the better of him. "You defeated the Goa'uld when they came here? How?"
And there was nothing but silence. His mysterious companion had gone, it seemed. And he felt a curious loss at her absence. After a time, he returned to the big bed, and stretched out on it. It was very comfortable here, he thought. It was his last conscious thought as sleep overtook him.
She watched him sleep. He lay on his back, one arm under his head and the other flung out across the bed. He breathed deeply, his chest rising and falling slowly. His face was so beautiful, she thought, in sweet repose. His eyelids fluttered gently - ah, he is dreaming! And she closed her eyes to seek out his dreams, to share in them.
He woke a short time later, from a dream he couldn't quite remember. The drapes of the bed had been lowered, he saw, and the scent in the room was more pronounced. Lavender, rose, sandalwood, ylang ylang - it was an intoxicating blend, and he breathed it in deeply. There was a woman standing just beyond the gauzy drapes of the bed - he could see her silhouette in the candlelight. She was back! His heart was gladdened by the thought.
"Hello Daniel," the voice, soft, low.
"Hello again. What is your name?" he asked.
"I am Gaia."
"Hello Gaia," he spoke softly - he didn't want her to leave again. He didn't want that at all. "Gaia, please let me see you."
The figure's arm moved to the drapes by the bed. Daniel's heart began to beat faster - he wanted so much to see this woman, whose voice was like honey. And then she stopped.
"Gaia, please, I must see you!" he begged.
"Why must you see me, Daniel?"
And that question stopped him cold - why did he want so much to see her? Why was his heart pounding in his chest, why was he breathing heavily? Why was he so aroused? He was confused, uncertain. "I don't know Gaia - I just know I have to see you, to touch you."
"To touch me, Daniel? Why?"
"Because I don't think I can live without you," the words burst forth without hesitation. "You are my life, my hope."
"No Daniel, it is Sha're of whom you speak. I am not Sha're," and she was gone again.
Daniel collapsed back on the bed, aching with longing. What the hell was going on here?
Some time later, he heard movement beyond the drapes, and opened his eyes. Gaia stood at the side of the bed.
"Do you know the answer to the question now, Daniel?" she asked gently.
"The question?" he was puzzled.
"Why you need to see me, to touch me," she reminded him gently.
And his desire, which had been smouldering, burst back to life again. And this time he knew why. And he answered unhesitatingly, "I want to see you and to touch you simply because I desire you, Gaia - because you are desirable to me."
"How do you know this, Daniel? You cannot see me," she responded.
"But I have seen you!" he protested, and was then silent. How could that be true? He hadn't seen her yet.
"Think, Daniel," she prompted, and then it was clear to him. The dream - he had dreamed earlier, and there had been a woman . . .
"That was you, in my dream!"
"Yes," she said simply.
"But how? How can that be?"
"If I can stop the flowers from spreading their pollen, do you not think I can enter your dreams, Daniel my love?"
"You are my soul's longing given life . . . that's what you said."
"Yes Daniel, my best beloved, I am."
"But what of Sha're?" he thought of his wife, his beloved wife. Thoughts of Sha're battled with memories of what had occurred in his dream with Gaia, what he wanted to happen now with Gaia.
"Do you not know the answer to that, Daniel?"
He considered the issue, and then spoke with assurance. "Sha're is my soul's love, my heart. And you, Gaia, are my soul's desire."
"Indeed I am, Daniel."
"I have very great desire for you Gaia," he spoke in a low, husky voice, unconsciously echoing Teal'C's Jaffar phrasing.
"I know you do, my best beloved. I can tell even from here," she laughed. The laughter was even better than her speaking voice - a low, throaty laugh, full of erotic promise.
"Show yourself to me, my Gaia - my soul's own desire," he commanded.
"As my love wishes," she purred, pushing aside the drape.
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