Chains of Gold
Chapter Two
Martouf followed Daniel out the door of
the building and stepped up between Colonel O’Neill and Major Carter, watching
as the villagers approached the group.
Once again, something about them seemed familiar to Martouf, but the
memory teased the edge of his consciousness, and Lantash was once again
asleep. It was a more true sleep this
time, though, much to Martouf’s relief.
He glimpsed a face in the group of people
that he recognized, and then he swung his gaze to the man who was obviously the
leader. It all immediately clicked into
place. He smiled at the man, as he
stepped forward, greeting him by name, in their native language, and explaining
who they were, and why they were there.
The man smiled and chattered in return, at some length.
Finally, Martouf turned to O’Neill,
saying, “These are a people that we, that is the
Tok’Ra, are well known to, Colonel. One
of their people joined the Tok’Ra. I
remember now why this world is familiar to me.
I have only been here one time many years ago, though. It is called Quilleron, but these people are
the Berinnese, named from their pervious world.”
“There are many towns on this world,
Jore’s is simply the closest to the Chaappa’ai, and therefore, it is his
responsibility to investigate any and all gate activity. His soldiers are, in fact, surrounding us as
we speak. As long as our interest
appeared to be in the
“We relocated them here, after their
own world was almost completely destroyed by the Goa’uld. I do not know if you have met Catira, but she is from here. Her cousin, Toastek
is waiting to be called as a host, and when he saw me, he hoped I had come for
him. If I remember correctly, I believe
that his time for orientation is not far in the future. He will be glad to hear it, for he has wanted
to come to us to fight for a long time.”
“I have explained who we are, why we
are here, and that we would only be here for approximately three more
days. I also explained why I am not with
the Tok’Ra, at the moment, so they know that we are solid allies. They have invited us to share a meal with
them, but I told them that as the leader of our group, you would have to decide
that.”
“Their village is not to far from here,
and they will eat shortly before sunset, but the day is long here, and that is
a very long time from now. Their noon
meal will not be a gathering, but the evening one will, if they have
guests. We will also be given lodging,
if you wish to accept it.
They are a friendly people,
Colonel. We did spend several nights on
their previous world in their lodgings.
We suffered in no way, and of course, as we relocated them some spent a
few nights here as well, although I was not one of them.”
“Anyone have any comments? Reasons to, or not to?”
“I have no problem with it, Jack. I’d kind of like to talk to them and explore
their culture a little. I think their
language is a combination of…”
“Carter, you have any problems with
it?”
“Fine with me, sir.”
“Teal’c how about you? Feel any tingly things telling you to run
away?”
“I, too, do not mind staying with these
people. I do not have any uneasy feelings
whatsoever.”
“Then I will tell them that we welcome
their generous offer of meals and lodging, and that we are honored to be
requested to stay with them. I will also
explain about Teal’c because they are curious as to why we have a
“Indeed, Martouf. We often must explain my presence.”
“You will also claim Samantha,
Martouf, unless you want every stray male from twelve to ninety hanging around
her and doing everything, but stripping naked in front of her, for the next
three days.” Lantash rebuked him mildly, for not
thinking of this, before now.
“I had forgotten. It is too late to warn the others in time for
one of them to do it quickly enough.” Martouf replied quickly.
“Which is exactly why I
pointed the need to do so out to you as soon as I awoke and realized what you
had just accomplished.”
Following Lantash’s instructions, as
soon as Martouf told them that they would stay, he put his arm around Major
Carter’s shoulders and squeezed slightly.
She stood beside him and watched in curiosity as women in the group sorted
out who would escort which of the men.
No one approached Martouf. And the men looked at her, and the arm around
her and bowed to them. The leader looked
at them and said something to Martouf, which he answered solemnly. The leader looked at her and smiled. She smiled back not knowing what else to
do. She was more surprised, when he
pulled a beautiful gold, and what looked like blue topaz, choker from his neck
and attached it to hers. Martouf
released her and smiled slightly.
He, Sam thought, had some explaining to
do, but for now she needed to know what to do with this heavy and, on Earth
anyway, expensive choker. “What do I do
and say, Martouf?” She asked, as she
continued to smile at the leader.
“Tell him, Merlok
ashic ter’ici.
“Merlok ashic ter’ici.”
“And add, mi elk shi ash’tec rae’vik, Martouf, ler Lantash.”
“I am claimed and will
join with Martouf and Lantash?
“You said to claim her.”
“As our betrothed? Our
soon-mate?”
“I didn’t know what else
to call her.”
“Promised woman, might
have been sufficient. I do not recall
their mating rituals exactly. You are
probably correct to err on the side of too much, rather than too little, and it
is too late to change it now. At least
this way, there will be no mistake that she is claimed.”
Sam looked at him suspiciously, but did
as he told her, “mi elk shi ash’tec rae’vik, Martouf, ler
Lantash.” And then she smiled at
him.
The leader leaned over, kissed her on
both cheeks and clapped his hands. He
was happy about whatever she had said, anyway.
So that made one of them.
Martouf looked a lot like a very
satisfied cat. Sam frowned.
“His name is Jore. His mate is Marta. He is a good man, and he has now protected
you from the single males in his town. Women are highly esteemed in their
society and hold places of honor and power in many ways. There mates consider keeping them happy of
paramount importance, in fact it is the first importance in their lives and the
first law. In their society, a woman of your age that is not wearing a collar
of joining, or intent, is considered, how would you say it? Not “open for business” that does not sound
correct.”
Martouf was frowning as he looked for
the right idiom. “I think the words you
are searching for are “fair game”.”
“That could be them. The English language has many different
meanings for the same word. It is
difficult to know when the use is slang and when it is its original purpose.”
“Yes, sometimes we don’t understand it
ourselves, and it’s our language.”
“The men would not harm you in any way,
Samantha, but neither would they leave you alone. And each one that was interested in you would
insist that you see all of his accomplishments.
Since you are not of his people, it would be a matter of him going
through all of his abilities from wrestling, to dancing, to something as simple
as sweeping a floor. The women here do
not have to be exposed to this because they see them as they grow up
together. If you think you would enjoy
it, I will tell Jore that we have decided we will not suit, and that you wish
to give the collar back.”
“That’s okay. I think I’ll just keep it until we leave, if
you don’t mind. While I’d love a guy
trained to sweep the floor, I really don’t need a demonstration of it. Verbal announcement of the accomplishment
would be sufficient.” Her head snapped
back up, from where she had been watching the ground, and came back
around. “Wait a minute; you said that we
will not suit. What is that all about?”
“I will answer the first part of your
statement first. I know how to sweep a
floor quite well,” he stated solemnly, and then grinned as he watched the pink
rise in her cheeks, before he ended their gaze.
He then continued, stating, “About the
suiting remark that, as you guessed, is my fault. Lantash reminded me, or I would not have
remembered it at all. By the time he
woke up, and realized who we were talking to and what I had just agreed to do,
he only had time to instruct me to claim you.
As soon as he said it, I remembered the customs we were dealing with,
but it was too late to alert any of the others to claim you as theirs. So, I stepped back and did so. Of course, it also saved me from the parade
of young women wanting to impress me.
But, my main thought, at the time, was to keep you from being inundated
by the young men and boys. The other
benefit did not occur to me until later.”
Changing the subject, he said, “We are
almost in the town, Samantha, look.”
Sam looked up and gasped. The entire town was built into the tress, so
as to blend into it. If you did not know
it was there you wouldn’t see it.
Everything was off the ground.
But then the trees were gigantic.
Much larger than the sequoia on Earth.
It was a lovely enchanting place.
Jore came back, and placed a matching collar
around Martouf’s neck, jabbing him in the ribs and chuckling. Martouf turned a lovely shade of pink, though
he tried valiantly to control his response to the suggestive comments that had
been made to him. Lantash did nothing to
control it, feeling it was Martouf’s own fault.
Jore laughed at him and waved them
forward. A woman came out of a large
home in one of the trees and ran down to greet them. She chattered on, even though there were no
answers forth-coming. She didn’t seem to
expect any, and Sam saw the amusement in Martouf’s eyes. Soon, she was hustling them up the steps of
the tree and into a small cottage like building, as she continued
chattering. She was followed by several
women and men, who took over, measured, pinned, snipped, and left. Then she bowed, smiled, waved, and shut the
door quite firmly. Sam blinked.
Turning to Martouf, she asked, “What
just happened to us? Who was she? Who
were those people? Where are we? Why are we in here together? Although, I think I can answer that one
myself.”
Martouf collapsed on a low divan and
waved her over as he continued to laugh.
“That was Jore’s mate, Marta. She
is a veritable bundle of energy. We have
been brought up on all the gossip, been told all about everyone’s business, you
have been looked over and approved for Lantash and I, and, in fact, you are so
well received that she is having joining robes made for us to wear, while we
are here.”
“Joining robes? Martouf, I don’t know about this, we’re only
friends, you know.”
“How long has Samantha
believed we only wished to be friends, Martouf?”
“She believes that it may
be all we want to be. We are just
beginning to explore other possibilities.”
“The kiss we shared with
her was not a possibility. It was a
definite yes, and had you not continued to scream in my head we would have
brought her to climax to prove it.”
“You can remember that
when you can’t remember anything else past the briefing?”
“Do you really believe
that anything would make me forget kissing Samantha?”
“Put like that? No.
Now I must calm Samantha, do be quiet for a little while.”
“You have become too
independent in my absence, Martouf.”
“Stop complaining,
Lantash, you are just feeling cranky, as you do whenever anything upsets your
system. There may be only a very few
things that do so, but when they affect you, the effects are always the
same. Your recovery is always full of
periods of both crankiness and lethargy.
Now, go take another nap, and you will feel better when you awaken again. I promise you.”
“Perhaps I will simply
never reawaken, and then you will no longer have your annoying, troublesome,
complaining, worthless, symbiote to deal with.
Goodbye.”
“Lantash, Lantash! Hardheaded, childish, of all the ridiculous…Fine,
go pout. I will manage without
you.”
“Samantha, do not become
disturbed. They are simply matching
garments that mark us out as two that are together, and therefore unavailable,
much as the collars do, that is all. It
is not part of a ceremony, or anything like that. Please, do not get upset. If you do not wish to wear them, we do not
have to. They may have noticed that we
were all dressed alike and give all of us robes for that matter. It would not surprise me, since we are all dressed the same. The Tok’Ra all dressed the same as well, and
they understood that we were all one family. They may very well assume that as
we are all dressed alike that we are also all one family.”
Sam breathed easier. Her pulse had sped up at the thought of being
paired intimately with Martouf, and that wasn’t supposed to happen. Not quite yet, anyway. Although, she was pretty sure it was going to
happen sooner or later. It was just fear
that they would get put in an uncomfortable situation, that’s all. She smiled at him, “No, that’s okay. She was pretty funny, wasn’t she? She reminded me of a little brown sparrow. It’s a little bird we have on earth. I’ll show you one sometime.”
A sudden knocking on the door and a
loud whisper caught their attention.
“Sam? Sam, are you in there? If you are, you better let me in, and you
better hurry. Saaam!” Only Daniel could scream in a whisper.
Sam sprang at the door and jerked it
open, only to have Daniel fall in the door, whirl, slam it shut, and grab the
first thing he could find, which was Sam, and shove her against it, keeping her
pinned there with his own body, while his gaze looked frantically around the
room for something of more substance to push against her. Spotting what looked like a chair, he grabbed
it, and shoved it against her, instead of his body.
Panting, he stood with his hands on the
chair arms looking into her eyes, almost ferociously, “Do not, under any
circumstance, open that door to a woman of any age, or size. I don’t care if she’s ninety or five. Just keep them away from me.” Daniel straightened and backed up toward the
far wall. Then spying Martouf, he lunged
at him. “You—you did this. You—you will fix it. I don’t care how, but you will get them away
from me.” Sam pushed the chair aside and
slowly slid down the wall, as her giggles overcame her.
Daniel was wild-eyed and unkempt. His usual somewhat untidy appearance was
gone, to be replaced with a shirt that was half out and hair that was any which
way on his head. Half of his buttons
were undone and his eyes were wide. The
grip he had on Martouf was white knuckled.
Sam realized that he was serious.
“Daniel, what happened to you?”
“Yes, Daniel, what did happen? I have never known these people to be
anything but courteous. Even if they are
courting, they are always formal about it.
What did happen?”
“I don’t know what happened. The women that took me to my room were very
nice. We tried to talk a little, and I’m
getting some of the language down, but not enough quite yet.” He shook his head, “Anyway, they aren’t
important because they were polite and left after a few minutes. Then the door opened and these younger girls
came in. They didn’t knock, or anything,
they just walked in.”
“There were five of them. I only have a
basic grasp of the language. They
appeared to be very young, much too young to be chasing after men my age. I couldn’t quite tell their ages, not for
sure, at any rate, but Sam they had to be very young teen-aged girls. They started talking to me, and I tried to
talk back to them, but they talked pretty fast, and I think that some of their
questions were about things that girls their age shouldn’t ask anyway. I was trying to kind of walk them toward the
door, and somehow, they started fighting among themselves.
“The next thing I knew, I was in the
middle of a tug-of-war, and evidently, I was the rope. One would pull one way, and another would
pull another way. I couldn’t just, you
know, hit them, or anything, so I tried to talk to them. Well, I touched one of them, and evidently,
that was the wrong thing to do, because she took that as an invitation for more
intimate things.”
“Then the next thing I knew, the other
three got into it, and it became a free-for-all. When they all started with each other and
were, preoccupied, I snuck out the back door.
I saw you come in here earlier, so I headed over this way, hoping you
were still here. I wasn’t sure what to
do, Sam. Even if I was looking for a
date, or some female companionship, I wouldn’t look there; these girls were way
too young. It was bad enough when the
older ones were there earlier. They were
at least polite, and they didn’t grab any body parts or—or squeeze me.”
“They—they sq-squeezed you,
Daniel? Sam tried valiantly not to laugh,
but something about it was hitting her as really funny. Maybe all the times she’d been pinched or
squeezed. Paybacks were hell. Or maybe it
was the way he said “body parts”. She bit her lip so hard it was almost
bleeding because she was trying hard to keep her face straight and swallow the giggles
wanting out. One broke through, and she giggled. Both men looked at her in surprise, not
comprehending what was funny about being squeezed.
Daniel looked like an affronted little
boy, when he said, quietly, “Sam, I don’t see how you can think this is
funny. There isn’t anything funny at all
about having someone squeeze your butt.”
Sam had managed to get herself under
control, until he said this so solemnly.
It struck her even funnier with the delivery of the line, and she couldn’t
help it. She fell over on the floor
laughing. Finally forcing herself to
stop, she dried her eyes and looked at the two men who were looking at her with
such shocked, uncomprehending, eyes. She
shook her head. “I guess you can’t see
the humor in it, unless you’ve worn the shoes and been down that road numerous
times before yourself.”
Daniel’s eyes widened. The flush that rose in his face spoke to the
truth; at least once in his life, he’d been guilty of “grabbing a
handful.” Martouf still looked confused,
but he understood that Daniel had been put firmly in his place and was feeling
ashamed of something.
“I guess it’s a case of what goes
around comes around, Sam. But, that
doesn’t mean I can’t try to avoid having it happen again. It doesn’t mean that the next time I see a
jerk squeeze a woman’s butt that I have to stand there and let it happen
either. Not ever again, I promise. Okay?”
Sam smiled at him, no longer
laughing. “No, Daniel, it doesn’t mean
that at all. Yes, on the promise, and
I’ll even help you lay the guy out. For
now, Martouf and I will protect you.”
Daniel grinned at her, as he started to
tuck his shirt in, finally calm enough to see the amusing side of the event,
and allow Sam to move away from the door, realizing that no one was chasing
him. Sam stood up and pushed the chair
back where it belonged. As Daniel was
standing trying to tame his hair, she walked nonchalantly over to him, and
said, “I have to admit though; I can see why they’d want to grab a handful. It is a nice set of buns, Daniel,” right
before she reached down and grabbed his butt cheek and gave it a nice firm
squeeze.
Then she ran behind Martouf, laughing,
as Daniel yelled, “Sa-am!” Then, he was
chasing her around Martouf and over furniture and back around Martouf, before
tackling her, taking her to the floor where they wrestled like a couple of
puppies. Martouf watched them
wide-eyed. What were they doing?
“Lantash, should I be
going to Samantha’s rescue?
Lantash?” Searching carefully he realized that
Lantash had put himself into a rather deep healing sleep. Martouf could awaken him in an emergency, but
it would not be easy. He shrugged his
shoulders. Samantha seemed to be in no
danger and was still laughing, as was Daniel. He would simply watch for now.
He could hear Samantha shrieking and
laughing and then Daniel’s deeper tones would echo through the room. After an especially loud series of giggles
from both of them, they broke apart and lie gasping for breath. Sam looked up into the questioning eyes of
Martouf. She looked at Daniel and
unobtrusively signaled toward Martouf.
He nodded and got to his feet.
Sam remained lying on the floor as if too tired to move, her breath
coming in gasps.
Daniel stood for a moment, bent over,
hands on his knees, gasping for breath before straightening and walking toward
the low divan as if he was going to sit, but instead he caught Martouf off
guard and took him down. Sam was on him
in a heartbeat, and he was fighting both of them, throwing first one, and then
the other, off him, at first wondering why they had attacked him, and then
realizing that they were allowing him to throw them off him. This was some sort of Tau’ri ritual. It had to be.
Well, he had come to learn about the
Tau’ri, as well as to help them, so he would take part. Suddenly, he felt Samantha’s hands under his
shirt, on his ribs, and she was touching him in an unusual manner. He found it very odd, and he tried to move
away from the sensation it caused, but her other hand came to his other side
and began the same odd movements.
Suddenly, he was under them both, their hands appeared to be everywhere,
they had him down, and he found himself laughing. The next thing he knew, they had his shirt
off.
He learned fast, very fast. Soon he worked on Daniel’s shirt and after
figuring out the exact moves, he began to return the odd finger movements to
both Daniel and Samantha. Then, he realized
that they were working together against him.
This would take some maneuvering, some baiting, some work, and timing,
and he was almost laughing to hard to think.
Not quite though. He just wanted
them to believe that to be true. He
worked until he appeared to be almost ready to surrender, but when he finally
had them where he wanted them, with Daniel on the bottom, he trapped Samantha
between them on her back, and he lay on the top, pinning them to the floor. He
looked down into Daniel’s face and grinned at him. They were all gasping for breath. Sam was managing to complain about being
squashed and something about belt buckles, between breaths.
“What—is this—Tau’—ri –ritual called?”
He finally found the breath to ask.
“And did--I pass--whatever--test I was--supposed to--pass?”
Sam looked into his eyes and realized
that he really did not know what they had been doing. Slowing her breathing slightly, as she began
to get her breath back, she asked quietly, “Did you enjoy it, Martouf?”
His breathing calmed as well, he looked
back at her for moment, thinking about what had just taken place, “Yes, I
believe I did. It was an enjoyable
exercise.”
She nodded. “That’s all it was. We were playing. Just having fun because we wanted to have
fun. The Tau’ri consider play an important
part of their lives. So, if you enjoyed
it, then you passed the ritual.” Then
she leaned up and her lips clung to his, as Daniel’s arms came around her in a
hug, supporting her answer, understanding what she was trying to tell
Martouf. The door opened and Jore,
Colonel O’Neill, and Teal’c walked in.
Sam looked up at them, then at the
bare-chested Martouf on top of her, while she felt the bare-chested Daniel
under her, and she closed her eyes. How
did she get in these messes?
“Ah, Carter, do you think you can
explain this?”
“I do not think she needs to explain
this to you, Colonel, since she is my mate,” Martouf said, putting emphasis on
the word mate and touching the collar around his neck and looking at the one on
Sam.
He saw Teal’c’s immediate understanding
as he answered swiftly, before O’Neill could, “No, of course, that is not what
he was asking. He wanted to know what
happened earlier to Daniel Jackson? It
seems his room has been, ah, ransacked.”
Jore might not understand the words that were spoken, but he would
understand the tone of voice that was used.
O’Neill would have to be careful, if they were to protect Major Carter
from unwanted advances. Teal’c would
explain it to him later. Having seen
these types of things before, what he had guessed at the
Martouf got to his feet, helped both
Sam and Daniel to theirs, and casually picked up his shirt and gave Daniel’s
his. Jore left swiftly and returned,
giving Martouf a look of admonishment, before clasping the matching collar onto
Daniel, and allowing the dressers in to measure, pin, snip, and leave, as
Daniel stood quietly allowing them access to whatever they needed.
Lantash had awoken during the wrestling
on the floor, at first alarmed, and then calmed, when he heard Martouf
laughing. Watching, listening, and
feeling, he had considered unobtrusively increasing Martouf’s sensitivity to
the touches he was receiving, but he had soon realized that he needed no increase. He was almost laughing too hard to respond,
as it was. Still Lantash did not go to
his aid. He was not sure what this was
about, but it had been so many years since his Martouf had laughed like this,
that he could not recall when the last time had been. A very, very long time ago, it would
seem.
As the ritual, as Martouf appeared to
be calling it to himself, came to an end with Martouf pinning the two tired and
gasping Tau’ri to the floor, more or less, he listened as Martouf asked about
it. He had watched the odd surprised,
and then compassionate, look come into Samantha’s eyes, and he was as surprised
as his host to hear what it had been about.
They were playing. Having fun and
enjoying themselves. That was all,
nothing more and nothing less. Then she
had kissed them sweetly.
Lantash smiled. Yes, indeed the Tau’ri were going to teach
the Tok’Ra a good many things that they had either forgotten over the last two
thousand years, or had never known at all.
Hearing Martouf laugh like that was certainly worth a great deal of aggravation. He supposed that he could even manage to
ignore O’Neill, to hear laughter like that from his soul’s mate.
Martouf was doing quite well without
him, it seemed. How odd that after a
hundred years or so, one forgot that the human one was blended with was a
capable person before you blended with them and would no doubt be so again, if
you were gone. In one way, it was a good
feeling, to know that Martouf would survive quite well without him. In another just the thought of him being
alone and without him was a deep and burning ache. But, right now, he needed to see how he
handled this rather touchy situation, and be ready to step in, if he did need
him to. Not, he was ready now to admit,
that he believed he would.
After Martouf slipped his arms in his
shirt, he turned and nodded to the man standing next to him, “Daniel, you need
to tell the Colonel what happened, and I will translate for Jore. Please tell it from the time we left the
gate. I will take the blame for not
thinking to make it clear that we were all considered one family. Even though Samantha is my mate, she is also
friends to all, and we all protect her.
She belongs to all of us in that way.
Are the women bothering you Colonel, or you Teal’c?”
“I can tell them that you have wives at
home, and it will stop at once. I did
not think to do that. I should have
asked you, but at the time, I was thinking that Samantha was the one that would
have the most trouble, if she was not claimed.
I did not consider that any of us would have a problem.”
“The women I’ve had around me were very
polite. I’ve had no problem.”
“Indeed, mine were quite courteous, as
well.”
“So, it is only Daniel that is having
the problem. Samantha and I will claim
him as part of our household. That will solve
the problem, but he still needs to tell Jore about the girls, for they will not
allow that type of behavior to continue.
The women are highly esteemed in this culture, and they are also
expected to behave in a proper manner.
This behavior will be unacceptable to the other women. For one thing, Daniel is a guest, and to so
upset a guest that he must flee his room is very, well, it just is not done,
and the family considers it a dishonor upon them. I am unsure of the outcome. But do not be surprised to receive some
gifts. If you do not wish this to happen
you will need to stop it now, if we even can.”
Daniel nodded, “I’ve been in similar
cultures. All we can do is try.”
“Go ahead, Daniel.” So Daniel told Colonel O’Neill and Teal’c a
short version about the girls, then he told them about coming in here, and how
Sam had made fun of him, for being upset over having his butt squeezed. And then, how they had released the tension
of the incident, by getting into a wrestling-tickling match. When they stopped, they’d realized that
Martouf had no idea what they were doing, so they ganged up on him. Only he got the best of them, and that was
what they walked in on. He and Sam were
giving in. That was all.” Needless to say, Martouf did not translate
that quite like that. By the time he was
finished, Jore was convinced that the three of them were very happy
together. It had been obvious when they
had walked in, of course, but it was still nice to hear it from Martouf.
Daniel nodded to Martouf, and they
began the long story about the girls.
Daniel assured Jore that he was not upset, or angry. He realized they were very young. Too young, he said, to know what they had
been inviting. He wanted nothing from
the parents; there was no need because there had been no harm done. He was hale, hearty and whole. He was more concerned about the girls, and
how much danger they could be in if they tried it with a man that would take
advantage of their age and curiosity. It
might be better to answer their curiosity than to allow them to make a mistake
again.
Jore loved Daniel by the time they were
finished. He wished Daniel had taken a
liking to one of their women. He hadn’t,
and he was already a soon-mate to the pretty Samantha and Martouf. So be it, but it was such a waste, such a
waste.
The conversation passed into the more
commonplace and Daniel continued to pick more of it up as they went along. Not fluent yet, but not completely in the
dark.
Their robes would be ready soon. The morning baths were ready. Their bathing escorts would come for them
shortly. Smiling widely, he left to take
care of the young girls, who should not even have been out of the learning
areas, let alone in a stranger’s rooms.
There would be harsh words in some homes this night, regardless how
kindly Daniel had spoken of them. They
were lucky the young man had not only been taken, being a mate of Martouf of
the Tok’Ra, but was also a man of honor.
It was still a waste that he had not found one of the older women to his
liking.
Martouf, Daniel, and Sam looked at each
other after Jore left, and they could not contain their smiles. He had looked so censurably at Martouf, as he
brought the collar for Daniel, proclaiming him mated to Samantha and
Martouf. The three fell onto the divan,
and Daniel rested his forehead in his palms.
“Martouf, what exactly does this, this
“collar”, mean? I assume it means I
am somehow affiliated with you and Sam?
What, I’m your brother, or something, now?”
Martouf blushed and cleared his throat,
“Not exactly, Daniel. It, ah, simply
means that you are part of our family unit.”
“Shut up, Lantash, when
you laugh that hard you give me a headache.”
“I want to see you get
out of this one, Martouf. Daniel is
extremely bright. It will take him no
more than a millisecond to understand what you have proclaimed him to be.”
“What was I supposed to
do? Something had to be done. What if those girls had some story and were
going to blame Daniel, what then?”
Lantash sobered. “You have a valid point. That could not have been allowed to
happen. They would not have hurt him,
but we would have had to leave immediately, and our honor as well as that of the
Tau’ri would very possibly have been irretrievably tarnished.”
“Yes, and I did not want
to take a chance on that happening. If
they did do something like that, it would be their word against Daniel’s, since
he was the only one there, and he admitted to touching one of them with his hand.”
“All right, let us see
how this goes then.”
“Thank you, I will.”
Something about the tone of Martouf’s
voice must have alerted Daniel, though not the others, because only he jerked
his head up to look at him with narrowed eyes.
“And just “how” am I a part of your “family unit”, Martouf?” When there was no immediate answer, he closed
his eyes, and muttered softly, “Oh, I am so-oh, not going to like this am I,
Martouf? Please, tell me you didn’t tell
him that. Please.”
“Not in so many words, Daniel, no. I, err, allowed him to draw his own
conclusions, and did not disabuse him of any erroneous assumptions.” Martouf said, almost hopefully. “Sometimes, it is better to say less, and
allow the other person to draw conclusions, which you neither confirm nor deny,
than it is to make a firm statement. So
far, the only thing I have claimed with any firmness is that Samantha is
taken. That was a must, unless we wanted
every young man over twelve showing her every asset he had.”
Daniel groaned. Jack stared, and Teal’c’s lips twitched, but
were firmly suppressed. Sam looked
confused, but suspicious. As if afraid
to, she asked anyway, “I think you are going to have to clarify, Martouf.”
“That’s not necessary, Sam. I know exactly what my position in our “household” is.”
“Good for you, Daniel, because I
don’t. I don’t even know what my
position is.” Sam snapped back.
Daniel frowned. “You’re the Lady of the Manor, he’s the Lord
and I’m your lover…and his!” Daniel hissed, before flopping backwards onto the
divan, closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I’d rather have my butt squeezed.”
Sam blinked at him and then turned to
Martouf who shrugged and looked remarkably innocent. Then she looked at Jack and Teal’c who both
seemed to find spots on the wall to be of extreme interest. “Then who are they,” she asked pointing to
Teal’c and Jack, “the Court Jesters?
Come on, Daniel, you’re acting as if it’s the end of the world.”
Daniel lowered his hand and stared at
her. His mouth dropped open. “Sam, didn’t you hear me? They think he’s my lover!”
“So?
They think Martouf’s your lover too, and you don’t see him having a
better fit of hysterics than a Victorian heroine, do you? Get a grip, Daniel. It’s not like “you” have to sleep with him.
I think I do. If I’m not throwing
a fit, what do you have to throw a tantrum about? You’re always the one saying, “we have to do as the natives do, Sam. Wear the weird blue outfit, get kidnapped,
sold into slavery, and fight a warlord, Sam, for the sake of fitting in with
the natives. So, they think you and
Martouf are Bi? What’s the big
deal? It’s just “fitting in with the natives,” Daniel.” Sam smirked, as she said the last.
Daniel looked at Sam for a very long
time, sighed deeply, and said in a stony, cold voice, “I hate you when you
spout my own words at me and are right.
I will possibly forgive you for being right tomorrow. I will never forgive him for pretending that
I am his lover. Or that he is mine.”
“Well, he also pretended that I am your
lover, too. At least I think he
did.” Sam smiled.
Daniel paused for a minute. “There is that. Maybe I’ll forgive him in the very distant
future. Do I get to sleep with you,
too?” That, he thought, would make up
for every evil everyone has done to me in my entire life. Well, she likes my ass, that’s good to
know. And I know what Martouf and I just
saw in her eyes a little bit ago, and it was a hell of a long way from
friendship. What she was feeling, for
the two of us, could have started a fire using wet logs, no kindling. Damn, just the thought of the three of us in
that bed, naked, together, is enough to ensure that I don’t stand up in the
foreseeable future. I wonder if Martouf
is having the same problem? Yup, sure
looks like it from this angle. That means
he saw that look, too. Lantash must have
gone back to sleep. At least I’m not in
purgatory alone.
“Sure.
Or better yet, since you and Martouf are lovers, you can sleep together,
and I’ll take the couch. However, since
that is a very long way off on this planet, I see no need to worry about it
now.” As they gaped at her, unable to
retaliate, Sam stood and waved the dressers, with their joining robes in hand,
into the room. The bath attendants with
their bathing robes were close behind.
Onward to the next entertainment.
She sent them a gotcha smile.
It could only, Daniel thought bitterly,
get better. Now he had to try to take a
bath with a flagpole in his shorts. He
snorted to himself. From the look on
Martouf’s face, they were thinking the exact same thing, about the exact same
problem. Maybe they had more in common
than they knew.
TBC
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