Growing Pains - A Stargate Story

Chapter 6 - Part Four

Location: Ba'al's Stronghold

Weeks turned to months, one after the other, until nearly a half year had passed. Rina's servants had happily returned to their duties, leaving Rina wondering how she ever could've thought of trying to manage without them. Her weak grasp of Ba'al's language—the Goa'uld language—had turned to mastery. She'd even begun teaching him some Earth phrases and mannerisms in return. And all the while, her concerns faded into the background till they felt like nothing but a vaguely troubling apparition. She became fully accustomed to the lavish lifestyle.

The only thing she remained unaccustomed to—even as she felt increasingly at ease in his presence—was Ba'al's lingering looks and touches, how they so often left her wanting to curl in on herself out of discomfort yet at the same time left her wanting more.

She reminded herself that under Apophis' control, the concept of neutral—let alone comforting human contact—had been utterly denied her, so it was natural for her to desire it now, even if it came from someone she wasn't perhaps entirely comfortable with.

But the way he would sometimes look at her...with thinly veiled desire or with a gaze that somehow pierced right through her...it made her cheeks warm and her stomach swoop as though she'd just dipped down the side of a steep hill.

And the thoughts that sometimes accompanied those feelings...well, it was confusing, to say the least. And as much as Rina tried to convince herself that there was nothing behind it, she couldn't deny the growing curiosity inside her.

Some things should be left alone, she thought.

Then again, she could very well be a doomed woman on borrowed time. Why not indulge?

Rina pushed the thought away, lifting her gaze from her meal to the figure sitting across the laden table from her.

Dining with Ba'al had become a regular occasion only shortly after his initial invitation, though given his tendency to seemingly see right through her, there'd been many times—such as now—that she was glad the table was lengthy enough to disguise the unspoken thoughts that sometimes showed in her face.

Searching for something to distract herself, Rina latched onto the first thing that came to mind.

"I haven't seen Shayla in a while," she remarked.

"I had some matters of importance that needed tending to. I sent her in my stead." Ba'al took a brief pause as Rina nodded and returned her focus to her meal. "Though I suspect I may have to join her soon."

Marina's focus snapped back toward Ba'al, her face plainly displaying her mingled surprise and disappointment.

"You're leaving again?"

"For a few days."

Rina practically deflated in her seat.

"It'll be boring without you..."

As always.

Ba'al gave a self-satisfied smile.

"Then you'll have something to look forward to upon my return."

"Well, can't I come with you? You'll remember I was rather rudely made aware of entire systems of inhabited worlds beyond my own, so I'd at least like to see, well, more of them."

"I cannot guarantee your safety," Ba'al reminded her, "If I bring you with me and the other system lords learn of your existence because of it, it may invite their combined might against me. I would not be able to protect you."

"Right..." Rina gave in, her disappointment compounding.

She could already feel that familiar sense of emptiness that Ba'al's absence always created starting to creep in. She forced herself to take a deep breath just as Ba'al rose from his chair and crossed to her side. A split second urge to reach out for him flickered through the nerves in her arms. Rina blinked in surprise but remained unmoving, only lifting her head to meet Ba'al's steady gaze.