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“Looks like it’s just going to be us. Paul is staying at the school until the worst blows over.”
Daniel looks over his shoulder from his place at the window to see Sally walk back into the living room. She sets down her cell phone and a book on the coffee table, before plopping herself down on the couch, Estelle resting in her lap.
“Alright.”
Daniel looks back out of the window. The sky is completely dark. Gray clouds hang like an ominous blanket over the city of New York and the howling wind sings an accompanying haunting lullaby. The rain is also beginning to pick up and there’s definitely flashes of lightning in the distance.
For a moment, Daniel just observes it.
There’s something so nostalgic about being back in New York and waiting out a thunderstorm with family.
A memory pushes itself to the front of his mind.
Pictures — of his parents, of blankets and hot beverages, of mythical stories being told while looking out at a raging storm — flash before his eyes in a reprise of life, leaving only the faint phantom echoes of his father’s voice and mother’s laughter to linger in his mind.
A small smile tugs at his lips.
It’s funny. He hasn’t thought about those memories in a long time.
Not even in his time on Abydos, where he waited out countless sandstorms and thunderstorms with Sha’re and Skaara, did the memories of his parents resurface.
Daniel figures it might be the location. After all, New York City and what is essentially an Egyptian desert are two very different places.
It makes him wonder though.
What would Sha’re make of Earth — of New York City and his family here? And in turn, what would they make of her and Abydos?
It’s wishful thinking, he knows. For one, Sha’re is out of his reach, he doesn’t know when or if he’ll see her again and even if he does, introducing her to his other family probably wouldn’t be possible. The SGC, the government, wouldn’t allow it.
A familiar feeling of frustration and sadness returns, but it feels even worse than usual.
This is the first time he’s ever considered the now two sides of his family. What he would do if both were to be present in his life at the same time.
Why? Why does it always-
*BONK*
Daniel blinks, his mind scrambling to return to the present.
“What-”
He blinks his eyes again. Yellow ones stare back.
“-the hell?!”
Daniel flinches back in surprise and for a moment fear blossoms in his chest.
Surely, that can’t be-
*BONK*
Any further fear or panic is halted by the sound of something hitting the window again.
For a brief moment, his mind doesn’t comprehend and all he feels is confusion, but then his eyes catch up to his brain and it all makes sense.
Yellow eyes, yes, but not glowing. A yellow beak and legs as well. White head. Dark brown feathered body. Big dark brown wings. And black shining talons.
Bald Eagle.
That’s an eagle on the other side of the window.
Relief floods through him, the fear dissipating in favor of bafflement.
“Daniel, are you okay?”
Sally’s voice sounds from behind him and he turns around to find her now standing, Estelle clutched protectively to her chest.
“Yeah, yeah I’m okay…but ahh-”
He throws a look over his shoulder. The eagle is still sitting on the windowsill.
“-an eagle is tapping on your window.”
He watches confusion overtake Sally’s face, but it fades surprisingly quickly and gives way to concern.
“An eag…—oh! Let him in.”
Daniel's mind screeches to a halt.
What…
First of all, him? Does she know the bird?
And second, let him in? She wants a giant soaking wet raptor in her apartment, while she has her baby with her?
Daniel has to question it.
“Are you sure….?”
Sally’s gaze shifts, clearly landing on the bird of prey blocking the view of the window. Daniel doesn’t understand what she’s looking for, but apparently, she finds it, as not a minute later she looks back at him with a calm and reassuring smile.
“Yes. That’s Frank — he’s a friend.”
Friends with Frank the bald eagle. Why not?
Daniel decides to just roll with it. He’s seen weirder.
Turning around, he reaches for the window handle, but something occurs to him, as his hand lands on it.
“Wait. Do I just open the window…..?”
The sound of fabric being thrown over a chair sounds behind him.
“Yes. Frank knows it opens outwards, so just turn the handle and he’ll steer clear of the window by himself.”
No reason to wait then. Daniel turns the handle and sure enough Frank jumps back to hover in the air, while he pushes the window open.
As he takes a step back, Frank once again comes to sit on the sill and Daniel has to admit it’s quite unsettling coming face to face with such a large predator without any kind of barrier between them.
Despite that apprehension though, he also can’t help but be fascinated, as the large bird jumps through the window, before carefully unfurling his wings again — managing to not hit Daniel, who’s still standing beside the window waiting to close it — and carefully flying onto the towel covered armchair, where Sally is standing with Estelle.
It’s impressive. Both as a demonstration of physical abilities, but also as a show of intelligence.
Before Daniel can wonder any further though, Sally’s voice reaches his ears, as he closes the window.
“Thank you, for going along with all of this.”
There’s a clear note of gratitude and relief in her voice. Daniel imagines it’s not many people who’d be willing to follow along with such a strange request, but luckily he’s used to strange and stranger still.
He turns around to once again face her.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m happy to—”
*DING*
The ring of the doorbell interrupts Daniel and he watches as Sally goes to put down Estelle in her crib. Before heading for the front door she also throws him another reassuring smile.
Daniel smiles back, but his eyes never leave the giant bird currently perched on the back of a towel-covered chair.
He trusts Sally’s judgment — really, he does — but he can’t deny his uneasiness at the prospect of having an eagle in such close proximity to a baby.
Furthermore, there’s just something…off about Frank.
Daniel is no ornithologist, but he’s almost certain there’s something unnatural about the bird’s behavior. At least for an eagle.
It’s hard to pinpoint when he doesn’t know what he is or isn’t looking for, but Daniel thinks it has something to do with the raptor’s gaze.
It’s calm and vigilant, if not a bit intimidating, but doesn’t feel aggressive. It almost feels too calculated, too intelligent.
That conclusion might just be because Daniel’s judgment and observation skills are currently probably a little impaired as a result of apprehension. Still, he’d like to think that if he’s level headed enough to figure things out while in active danger, then he’s level headed enough while being stared down by an eagle, to assess said eagle’s stare.
Another thing that throws Daniel off is that in no way does Frank actually give off any indication that he’s hostile, despite his intimidating aura.
In fact, he looks to be relaxing very comfortably on his perch, even while he’s soaked to the bone. His eyes are still very much locked on Daniel, though.
“ah…b….d…eh”
Daniel’s head snaps around.
Ah, right.
Estelle is sitting up in her crib, apparently finding the ongoing staring contest between bird and archeologist more interesting than the ceiling.
Daniel takes a moment to consider the situation.
Estelle seems very interested in the large bird currently inhabiting her home, green eyes glued to Frank like she’s never seen anything more interesting.
She probably hasn’t — a voice that sounds suspiciously like Jack chimes in from the back of Daniel’s mind.
The bird in question, surprisingly, doesn’t pay much attention to Estelle at all. As Daniel looks back at him, Frank doesn’t seem to have moved an inch — not even at Estelle’s interruption.
That makes Daniel’s decision easier, though he still takes a moment to just observe before doing anything.
He hears Sally talking. It sounds like she’s inviting the person, who rang the doorbell, inside and the sound of the front door shutting and footsteps soon follow. They don’t come into the living room though. No, by the sound of it, they instead seem to veer off into another room.
Daniel makes his decision.
With calm and measured steps he makes his way over to the couch and sits down besides Estelle’s crib. Frank’s gaze follows, just as expected, but it doesn’t even as much as flicker to Estelle, instead staying on Daniel.
It’s weird. The longer that stare is directed at him, the more Daniel gets the feeling that it's familiar.
It’s sharp and clearly attentive in a way that reminds him of Sam — Captain Carter, not Doctor — General Hammond, Teal’c and even Jack, though he mostly tries to play it off.
But it’s not just them, no. It’s a whole lot of the people Daniel sees on a daily basis, that he’s reminded of.
Airmen, marines. Sergeants, captains, majors, colonels.
Military.
Huh, that’s definitely interesting.
“Ga….b…eh.”
Daniel is dragged out of his thoughts. Right, right — Estelle.
He takes a moment to think. How to entertain both her and himself, while they wait for Sally and her guest to return…..?
He looks back and forth between Estelle and Frank, an idea forming in his mind.
“Hmmm…Estelle?”
It takes a moment, but surprisingly he gets a babble in response, so he continues.
“You know, the eagle is a very interesting animal culturally speaking. For thousands of years across different civilizations, they’ve been regarded as the king of the birds and a status symbol or been closely tied to the divine. For example in Ancient Greece, the eagle was a symbol of Zeus, king of the gods and lord of the sky. Specifically the eagle Αετός — literally meaning eagle — was a prominent figure in a lot of myths. For one he was the eagle sent by Zeus to everyday at dawn claw out and eat Prometheus’ liver. Meanwhile in Roman culture while the eagle was still viewed as a symbol of Jupiter, it was also very prominent as…..”
“…..and in Yggdrasil’s crown was said to sit an eagle with a hawk between its eyes. What the symbolism of….”
Daniel trails off, movement in his peripheral vision catching his attention. Turning his head slightly, his eyes land on a teenager in the doorway.
She’s quite short with a dark complexion, frizzy brown hair which he suspects would've been curly if not for being wet and……
…..golden……
….eyes…..
Daniel feels like the universe is intentionally mocking him at this point.
He resists the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose and instead redirects his focus to the fact that the girl is wearing one of Sally’s sweaters. That coupled with the wet hair, her knocking on Sally’s door and her comfortably walking around the apartment alone, leads Daniel to believe that she’s probably one of Percy’s friends, who found herself caught in the storm outside.
“...Hi.”
Daniel tries to sound welcoming, despite his own surprise.
It’s not that the girl seems particularly scared or nervous, but she’s definitely surprised too — if her slightly wide-eyed stare is anything to go by.
Daniel can’t help but get a feeling of déjà vu. There’s something about those eyes, that stare, which sends a foreboding coldness through his body. An uneasiness making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
Finally, after what feels like an eternity of being stared down, golden eyes blink and curiosity takes the place of surprise.
“Ah, hi…Sorry, that was rude of me. I’m Hazel — a friend of Percy’s. Nice to meet you.”
Like he thought.
Daniel relaxes. When she isn’t staring him down, she seems like a sweet kid. He returns her introduction in kind.
“I’m Daniel — Sally’s cousin. Nice to meet you too.”
Hazel smiles and steps fully into the living room. Surprisingly, she heads straight towards Frank.
Daniel hadn’t noticed it before, having been too focused on Hazel, but now he realizes the eagle has actually moved. No longer is he staring Daniel down, instead having turned around on his perch to face the newly arrived girl.
It’s interesting — observing all of this from an outside perspective.
Daniel can clearly tell that they know each other from the way Hazel sits down in the armchair, with Frank still perched on top, completely unperturbed. For his part, Frank just relaxes — actually resting his head in Hazel’s frizzy curls, eyes closing in apparent comfort.
An odd sight to be sure, but Daniel is honestly just happy and relieved that no panic has been involved and that no one, human or animal, is staring at him anymore. Despite — or perhaps because of — that relief, his burning curiosity is what’s really occupying his mind at the moment.
With nothing better to do, he starts a conversation.
“So, Hazel. How do you know Frank?”
And the staring is back. Yellow and gold eyes simultaneously pinning him with a look of surprise and….nervousness…?
If Daniel thought Frank seemed too aware and intelligent before, it’s nothing compared to now.
The eagle literally opened his eyes, lifted his head and then stared at him with clear readable emotions — all in response to a question about him, but directed at someone else.
It’s genuinely eerie.
“Ah……We actually came here to New York together. We’ve been visiting some friends for the last couple of days and decided to look around the city today, but well….”
Hazel shrugs, as she trails off.
“You didn’t count on the weather being this bad?”
“Definitely not. I’m just glad we haven’t gotten struck down by lightning……”
She doesn’t say it, but by the tone of her voice, Daniel can infer the missing yet at the end of Hazel’s sentence. It’s curious, especially because Frank reacts to her answer.
It’s subtle, but with how closely Daniel is watching him, it’s impossible to miss the raptor’s gaze quickly looking back and forth between Hazel and the window at the word lightning. Almost like he’s expecting a bolt of electricity to come shooting through the window just for mentioning it in passing.
That’s another thing. While being scared of getting struck by lightning during a thunderstorm is an understandable concern, it’s also one with very low chances of actually happening. The odds are what — one in a million? Daniel is pretty sure most people know that, so why both girl and eagle seem so absolutely nervous about even mentioning the phenomenon happening is quite the mystery. Particularly because they aren’t outside anymore, so the likelihood has decreased even further.
It’s puzzling, though maybe they’ve had bad experiences before. He could ask, but their nervousness seems very real and genuine, so he decides not to. This isn’t an interrogation and he remembers Sally’s words; “They all know this is a safe place they can visit at any time.”
Besides, no matter how intrigued he is, questioning a teenager he doesn’t know on a point she seems nervous about during their first conversation does not feel like a great way to build rapport or make her feel welcome.
Before he can think of something to say that would do that, Hazel beats him to it.
“You know, I’m curious. What were you doing when I first walked in here?”
Right. He had essentially just been talking to thin air, when she arrived.
“Estelle seemed pretty enraptured by Frank’s presence, so to pass the time until Sally returned I began talking about eagles and their cultural significance through the ages.”
Hazel nods in understanding before craning her neck to look up at Frank. Daniel isn’t sure he follows, but he’d say the girl looks amused. In contrast, the giant eagle seems almost embarrassed — at least if judged like a human — one wing spread out to cover a lowered head.
The scene of the two of them clearly comfortable and familiar with each other sparks a question in Daniel’s mind.
“Hazel, can I ask you something about Frank?”
She looks back at him with a questioning look.
“Of course.”
“Why did you arrive separately? I mean, you two are clearly well acquainted and you said you came to New York together...Actually, are there any regulations for having an eagle? Is it even legal? Is he allowed to just fly around or do you have to keep him close? What about traveling? Does he have to go with you or can he just transport himself?”
Hazel blinks. Confusion and…panic?….clear on her face. Frank hides himself further behind his wing.
Daniel is quick to backtrack.
“Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to interrogate you. I was just curious why Frank knocked on the window and you rang the doorbell. Just ignore everything else I asked.”
“It’s okay—” A tentative smile makes it back to Hazel's face, though it quickly morphs into a frown, as she continues. “—but..uhh…I don’t own Frank. Nobody does.”
Something about that statement strikes Daniel as odd. Maybe it’s the way that Hazel doesn’t just seem uncomfortable by the prospect, but downright appalled by it. She sounds so scandalized, that Daniel feels the need to apologize further.
“Ah, I’m so sorry for implying that.”
Hazel nods her acceptance, once again giving a friendly smile, though Daniel can still see some of the uneasiness in her eyes.
“Really, it’s okay. Anyway, to answer your question. The…..aaah…local animals..don’t really like Frank that much. We got chased by some dogs and pigeons and got seperated. Then the storm hit.”
Daniel almost raises his eyebrows in surprise.
Chased by dogs and pigeons?
That seems…odd to say the least. He tries imagining it; a 5 '2 teenager running with dogs on her heels and a giant bald eagle fleeing from a flock of pigeons.
Yes. Definitely weird.
Hazel seems way too relaxed and confident for it to be a lie though, unless of course she is just that good of a liar. But Daniel doesn’t get that impression, so how that situation ever happened is quite the question. One he decides to push aside for later.
“Hmm…So Frank just knows to go here, if something like a thunderstorm happens? That’s incredible.”
“Yes. Both him and Hazel have been here a couple of times. Paul got quite the scare the first he saw an eagle flying towards our window.”
Sally chimes in and Daniel turns to see her walk back into the living room carrying four mugs. The first she gives to him — warm and giving off the smell of coffee. He smiles and moves a bit on the couch to make room for her to sit closer to Estelle.
“Thanks.”
The second mug she hands to Hazel.
“Thank you.”
The third she places on the table behind Frank and Hazel with an almost apologetic smile to the eagle.
And the fourth she takes with her as she finally sits down between Daniel and Estelle’s crib.
For a moment, everything is quiet, only the occasional sipping of liquid piercing the otherwise silence.
And then Sally sets down her mug, her eyes looking back and forth between them all, before finally settling on Hazel.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I called Nico to let him know you would be a bit delayed.”
Hazel smiles.
“Of course not. Thank you.”
Nico…..
Isn’t that……?
Apparently Sally picks up on his confusion, as she sends a questioning look to Hazel. The teenager shrugs with an expression Daniel interprets as ‘I don’t mind — go ahead’ and so Sally does.
“Yes, Nico is the boy you met last time. He’s also Hazel’s brother.”
Something in Daniel’s mind clicks into place.
Siblings.
He ignores the growing repository of words and names connected to his newfound family and their friends;
Nico, Frank, Hazel, Italian, Latin, eagle, military, lightning, friendly, intimidating, foreboding, mysterious……
He hasn’t even met Percy yet.