|
Letters Jack picked up another empty box and tossed it outside Daniel's apartment. "Okay, what do we have left?" Daniel looked up from where he was placing books back on his shelves. "Jack, you didn't have to do this." Ever since he'd been found alive on Oannes, the team was on his heels every second, almost as if they didn't believe he'd really returned. Jack waved a hand at him dismissively. "I heard there was free beer and pizza in it." And it's a hell of a lot easier unpacking them than it was packing them, kid. He pushed the last few days out of his mind. What was important was that Daniel was alive, and here. Daniel smiled, and went back to his work. Jack opened up the next box and dipped his hand in, pulling out a bundle of letters. "Where do you want these, Daniel?" He handed the fragile-looking packet over to him. "I'll take them," Daniel's face became suddenly serious and he held out a hand for them. "Old love letters?" Jack joked as he handed them to the younger man. Then he stopped when he read the address on the top letter. Melburn and Claire Jackson. "No," Daniel said as he took them. "Ancient history. Mine." April 12, 1964 Claire, It's been days since I've seen you - when are you going to come back down to the university and see me? "Security" is much lighter down here than at Santa Clara. And I'm dying to see you. I can't forget the weekend we spent "visiting your parents" in San Francisco..... Claire looked up from the letter and sighed. When could she get away? Her studies were supposed to be her top priority and all she could think about was Mel Jackson, not ancient Egypt. "Daydreaming?" Professor Maddox came around the edge of the porch and looked her favorite student. "About a certain archaeology student at UCLA?" "Professor, you don't miss anything, do you?" she sighed, getting up and sticking the letter in her pocket. "I should be helping you." "You're boarding here, Claire - you don't have to do the gardening too," she wiped her hand across her brow. "You know us archaeologists - we love digging in the dirt," she said, throwing her arm around the older woman as they walked back toward the garden. October 11, 1964 Sorry for the short letter, Claire - it's been a crazy week, with mid-terms, papers due - but I'm really looking forward to seeing you this weekend. I'll be at the bus station at 4:30 on Friday - and keep your fingers crossed that I'll have some good news for you. Love you, Mel "Claire!" Mel swung her around and gave her a kiss. "Oh, I've missed you!" "I've missed you too," she said, holding him so tightly his ribs almost cracked. "How come it took you so long to get down here? You were supposed to be here two hours ago!" "You'll have to sit down for this," he steered her over to a bench near the bus station and clasped her hands. "Do you remember Dr. Lewis, the one I had last year for ancient languages? He's going to Egypt - and he wants me to go too - as his assistant. Twelve months in Egypt. All that we've been studying and reading about, and now - I'll be there. I'll be there," he said, shaking his head in wonder. He never even noticed Claire's lost look as he continued. "Letters from your parents?" Jack sat down as Daniel looked over the package of letters, gently flipping through them. "Yeah - all I ever knew about them I got from these letters." He held up a postcard from Egypt. "My father's first dig in Egypt, when he was a student at UCLA." "I recognize that guy - PX3-987, right?" Jack said, taking the postcard with its fuzzy picture of the Sphinx from Daniel. "Was this before he met your mom?" Jack asked. Daniel laughed a little. "No - no, it wasn't." February 1, 1965 Claire - here's a cheesy postcard of the Sphinx, just to prove I'm in Egypt. It's incredible - I wish you were here. Someday, you will be here, with me. All my love, Mel Claire sat on the porch steps and hung her head, crying. The postcard dangled loosely in her hand. I wish I were there with you, too, she thought. God, what I have to tell you I can't put on a postcard. "Claire?" Professor Maddox stepped out on the porch, and quickly went to her side. "What's wrong, honey?" She looked at the postcard in her hand. "Missing him?" "I do - but that's not what's wrong." She flung her arms around her teacher and sobbed. "We are the closest thing Claire has to guardians, now." Both Professor Maddoxes, husband and wife, sat before a grim-looking social worker. Claire sat in between them, obviously and uncomfortably...pregnant. "Parents?" "Her mother is deceased. Her father is..." Professor Maddox stopped, looking at Claire. "Let's just say he's out of the picture," Claire replied. "What about the baby's father? Didn't he care about his child?" Claire looked at her feet. She hadn't had the heart to tell Mel Jackson about this - he'd have come home immediately, to marry her, to give up his dream of ever being an archaeologist. "He's not even in the country," she said, truthfully. The social worker gave her a sour look. "College student, promising future - and now this. So you want to arrange for an adoption?" Claire's head shot up. "Adoption?" "It may be for the best, dear," Professor Maddox told her gently. "Isn't there any other way?" she asked desperately. The two professors looked at one another briefly. "Could we keep the child in foster care for her, after it's born? She's living with us, and my husband and I will be responsible for its care. And she wouldn't be separated from her child." The social worker looked down her nose, tapping a pencil against the desk. Daniel looked over the papers, lost in thought. Jack, bored with unpacking boxes on his own, glanced over as Daniel unfolded a piece of paper. "My birth certificate," he explained, spreading it out on the table. "Aww - and there's a picture, too," Jack said, fingering the yellowed certificate with its creased picture. "Daniel Maddox - Maddox?" "Maddox," Daniel winced. "Ballard...." Jack finished, and gave him a quizzical look. "Your parents...." "That's right," Daniel sighed. "Dad was still in Egypt. He didn't even know I was born. Mom continued to correspond with him, but he was following Professor Lewis all over the middle east, from one dig to another. Hell, it was the sixties, Jack." "I know - I remember the sixties," Jack said, hurt. "My mom lived with two of her professors, who served as my foster parents, since she was unmarried. When she finally got her courage up to tell Dad, they kept me while she went to Egypt, searching for him." He opened another letter. "They wrote Mom every day while she was gone, telling her what I was doing. Listen to this...." he read from one of the letters: May 10, 1967 Claire - How is the search going? I hope you find him soon, but I know that there has to be some pleasure for you in finally being in Egypt - a dream you've had for so long. I hope it's everything you've imagined. Don't worry about Daniel. He's doing fine although he seems to have a tendency to wander off on his own since he started to walk - we have to keep an eye on him every second. "Even then?" Jack said, as Daniel continued. Henry made him some blocks with hieroglyphs on them. He loves them - he plays with them all the time. We're trying to teach him to build a pyramid with them, but he just wants to line them up in rows. "I wish I still had those blocks", Daniel said, his eyes far away. "So what ever happened - you know, with your parents?" "Oh - Mom found Dad, and after a few days she was brave enough to tell him the whole story about me - and he was so dazed he fell off the edge of a wall at the dig they were on - I think he was laid up for days. But then he took Mom to the nearest city with a Judeo-Christian church and married her. Better late than never." "Then they came back and got you?" Jack asked. "Yes, eventually. Took me right back on the road with them, going around to every dig they could find." "Spending all that time in the desert - how'd you get so many allergies?" Jack asked. "That's just it - there weren't any pollens or wildflowers - and what does that have to do with anything?" Daniel asked, putting the letters back in a pile. "Nothing - since you were telling me your life story, I just thought I'd ask," Jack said, emptying another box. "I wish I could remember more about them," Daniel said. "I just have faint memories now." It was silent a moment, until Jack couldn't stand it any longer. "Okay, I'll ask - so what happened to them?" "How do you know something happened to them?" Daniel asked, all of a sudden interested in unpacking boxes again. "Because, Daniel - if they were still around when your parents died, they would have taken you - raised you instead of you having to be bounced from one foster home to another all your life. Am I right?" You don't know how many times I've thought just the same thing, Jack. "They died while my parents and I were in Israel. A car accident." He paused. "I really would have liked to have known them." He picked up the letters again, and rewrapped the ribbon around them, putting them in a safe place inside his desk. Jack watched him quietly, knowing Daniel had probably carried that packet of letters with him all over the world. His only ties to his past. "There seems to be a pattern here," Daniel said, almost to himself. "I keep losing all the people that take care of me. My parents. The Maddoxes. Sha'uri." "Guess we have to take over now," Jack said. "Until we track Sha'uri down again, of course. Man, is she going to owe us - big time." "Yeah - you can tell her that," Daniel said, "when we find her." He tried to say that confidently, but Daniel wasn't very good at hiding his feelings. Jack could see the pain in his eyes. Even if we don't find her, Daniel, Jack thought to himself, we'll take care of you. And you'll take care of us, too. He watched the younger man for a moment as he sat lost in thought. As much as it's in my power, Daniel, I promise you that. Feedback? Please email me! Back to completed stories on Kelsie's Stargate Page |