The dust hung in the air, casting a dull red fog over everything. Sam's mouth was dry and coated with a slimy rough layer of the shattered dirt, her eyelashes also hanging heavily with the sediment.
"Colonel?" her voice croaked in her throat, a dry, hacking cough working its way through her body until she was once again roughly inhaling the thick air in a desperate attempt for oxygen. "Daniel?" Again, her voice rasped in her throat, her hands wiping desperately to try and clear the stinging sand out of her bloodshot red eyes.
And then she froze, crouched awkwardly against the large rock she had taken cover behind before the C4 had blown the surrounding rock face sky-high. The layer of dust on the ground was at least ten centimetres thick, the debris deceptively soft and powder like against her tattered fingertips. Her ears strained to hear through the fogged air, desperately trying to pick out another sound in the still air.
She heard it again; the distinctive clank of heavy metal plates knocking against each other.
Again.
And again.
The noise, albeit muffled, grated against her senses.
Where were the others?
Her eyes darted around in their sockets, peering desperately into the dull red brown veil covering the earth. Her scalp itched; she could feel the dirt clinging to every part of her body.
The clanking was louder; they were closer.
She shivered in fear, her strained fingers already tense against the trigger of the P-90 resting momentarily on her thighs.
Where were the others?
A metallic voice grated out an order, the clanking spread around the dusty world.
She squinted, focusing through the red particles. There, a shadow of some sort. The dust was clearing.
Tugging at the bandana she'd tied around her mouth and nose, Sam realised it was dry and clogged with dust. No wonder she wasn't getting any more air. She lowered it and was freshly assaulted with a lungful of the dust. She coughed violently, the spasm working so deep into her body that she retched up a dry, caked red substance that she knew with disgust was all the muck she'd swallowed through the bandana.
Where were the others?
There was silence again, and peering into the dust Sam realised her position was almost certainly given away. She cursed her need to breath and raised the P-90.
For a second the air hung silent, stretched until Sam thought she could physically reach out and separate the thick blankets of dust, so the tension had grown. Her stomach clenched and heaved again, but she didn't make a sound.
There was a yell.
She peered wildly into the dust clouds, ignoring the stinging in her eyes.
Clanking, movement, another yell, a staff weapon… Where were they and what the hell was happening?
"Get your hands off me!" A shockingly familiar voice broke the sudden silence, and Sam felt the life drain out of her.
O'Neill.
They had the Colonel.
Her insides clenched and her eyes widened, disbelief increasing her heart rate until she was sure they could hear the furious beating echoing within her chest.
"You will pay for your insolence, Tau'ri!"
"My insolence? My insolence? So what do you call attacking a harmless group of explorers for absolutely no reason?" O'Neill demanded, and Sam almost screech in frustration. No, this wasn't the Goa'uld to piss off. This one was in for the kill. She was mad, she wasn't a happy camper and that C4 sure as hell would have pissed her off.
Sam was right.
The redness was lit by a sudden glow, and a strangled gasp from O'Neill painted the entire picture. The hand device was being used, and Sam knew that O'Neill was a dead man.
Her radio crackled to life then, the static blurring the words so that all heard was the distorted echoes of Daniel's half formed words.
The Jaffa moved; she heard their armour.
She was going to be discovered any minute now. And O'Neill was going to be dead any minute now. Closing her eyes in a quick prayer, Sam burst up from behind her rock and aimed her P-90 in the direction of the forms standing in the swirling clouds of settling dust.
She opened fire, only avoiding the hunched form of O'Neil kneeling beneath the golden glow.
"Insolence!" The Goa'uld's voice scratched through the air.
Sam desperately hoped that Daniel and Teal'c were getting out of there while the attention was off them and on the other side of the rock fall.
By the time her clip ran out, there only a few forms left standing. From her right a flash split the air, and a split second later the blast slammed into her, winding her.
Fire leapt up her side, consuming her, numbing her… she became the pain.
She was as good as dead.
They knew it. She knew it.
Everything went silent, and she lowered her P-90, simply standing there in the dust.
A moan.
Everything focused on the limp form still lying at the bottom of the Goa'uld's feet.
O'Neill.
Slowly she staggered over to him, ignoring their audience.
"Sir," she whispered hoarsely, dropping heavily to her knees beside him and placing a clammy hand on his slack cheek. "Colonel? Jack!" She slapped at him, her own hand like jelly while she tried to bring him round.
Tears turned to mud on her cheeks, the red pasty droplets looking like blood as they fell through the thinning air and landed on his own dirt caked face.
"Don't you dare give up on me, Colonel!" she demanded hoarsely, the will to live and fight draining out of her as quickly as the blood ran down her side.
He mumbled, moving beneath the limp hand lying unmoving on his cheek.
"Carter?" his voice was just as cracked and tired as her own.
"It was an honour, Sir," she whispered, her tears mingling freely with the dirt on her face.
"Don't… give me… that… crap," he ordered, still not opening his eyes.
But it was the false bravado she had come to expect from him.
They had fought together.
They had been beaten together.
And now they were going to die together.
A sob tore through Sam, and she fell across his chest, her body finally losing the battle to stay upright.
"No… crying…" he wheezed, and through the rolling clouds of redness slowly turning to darkness, Sam felt his lips touch her neck in a brief, whisper of a caress as his hand rested on her back, holding her close to him.
"… love you…" she whispered, closing her eyes and her breath escaping between her lips in a light sigh.
His fingers tightened on her back momentarily.
He knew.
So did she.
They had always known.
They'd just never said it.
And now it was almost too late.
"Always," he agreed simply.
~o0o~
Her garments were chafing her delicate skin; the red dust had gotten in everywhere, and no one had escaped it. Nut spared a fleeting and unusual thought for her Jaffa; they would be uncomfortable in their armour.
She dismissed the thought: it was not her concern.
What was her concern, however, was becoming clean.
Nut hated dirt. Nut hated dust. More than anything she hated not being able to see the clearness of her host's skin, the wondrous colouring of the cascading curls and the delicateness of the network of spider like veins carrying the life-force beneath the pale skin.
She shuddered; distaste rippling through her as the dust-ridden garments swirled around her.
Without being summoned or ordered, Klerro had readied a bath for her and laid out fresh garments. Nut smiled in satisfaction.
The liquid was warm and silk like against her dry skin, the scented steam billows releasing her mind until she was floating on the clouds themselves, relaxing.
Unbidden, her mind turned to her prisoners.
She frowned; Nut had not wanted to think of them yet. But the thoughts persisted, and she sighed, admitting defeat to her own mind.
Her host was smug about the conceded inner-defeat, but Nut paid the woman no heed. After, Nut was the stronger, the more powerful and the one in control. The host knew nothing.
Letting her hand move idly through the warm liquid, Nut wondered at her unusual compassion. She was not given to compassion, none of her kind were, and yet… yet there was something in the Tau'ri that had affected her deeply.
Her host, proving most irksome, laughed silently from where she was trapped within the confines of her own mind.
Nut frowned, her delicate brow wrinkling.
Perhaps it was the loyalty and devotion.
Loyalty and devotion.
She should kill the Tau'ri scum. The had killed Ra. They had killed the only way of her ever locating Geb.
Yet, Ra had been the vile one, the one to take her brother and lover and lock him forever away, hidden from her and separate from her by the great expanse of sky.
Nut grew restless as her mind focused on her lost love.
Geb.
She would give anything to have Geb returned to her.
Including the lives and freedom of the Tau'ri scum.
Nut smiled in satisfaction, her restlessness stilling with ease.
They would find Geb.
They would find Geb and she would release them.
She had no use for the Tau'ri; she just wanted Geb.
And they would find Geb.
~o0o~
Chapter Two
"Where are you going?" Daniel demanded, stumbling along the gravel and feeling that cold fire shoot up his ankle again.
"Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter have been compromised," Teal'c stated with a calm assurance, only the tightness with which he was gripping the staff weapon betraying his closely guarded emotions.
With another shower of rocks and gravel, Daniel slithered and fell onto the path, sprawling onto the hard red rock. Teal'c stopped and helped him up, clasping the stained red arm to pull Daniel to his rather battered feet.
"You don't know that for certain," Daniel argued, limping hurried alongside Teal'c, his movements frantic and panicked.
"I do. Either they are dead or a prisoner of the Goa'uld."
Well.
That certainly took the wind out of Daniel's sails.
"How do you know that?"
Teal'c stopped and turned to face Daniel, shading his eyes against the glare of the sun on the arid landscape. "The Goa'uld left."
"That doesn't mean that Sam and Jack are with her or dead."
"Were they alive they would have tried to contact us, Daniel Jackson."
"But they could be buried under all that rock and rubble. You saw what the C4 did!"
Teal'c frowned, and Daniel waited impatiently for an answer.
"If they are buried beneath the rock then they would most likely be dead."
"Or just trapped. We should be digging them out!"
Teal'c sighed, resuming his course again. "We are two, Daniel Jackson. It would prove more beneficial to return to the SGC for help, would it not?"
"So we're coming back?"
"Indeed. O'Neill would be most disappointed if we left them behind," Teal'c stated, and Daniel saw a faint glimmer of worry in his masked brown eyes.
Daniel kept his mouth shut and continued walking with Teal'c.
They'd come back.
They'd get Sam and Jack.
They had to.
~o0o~
As ordered, her Jaffa had brought the Tau'ri to her, dragging them across the smooth floor and leaving crumpled before her throne.
Her lips twitched in a smile of pleasure.
The woman was dead, and had been so for a while.
The man… he was close to death. Very close to death.
She rose from her throne slowly, the soft folds of materiel swathing her tiny form whispering in the tense silence.
Her Jaffa were waiting, she could see the expectation peering through their copper coloured eyes and read it in the very way they were all standing, peering towards the broken Tau'ri before.
She needed on sarcophagus.
She was Nut.
She was a goddess.
She controlled life and death.
Nut smiled.
Grasping her slender hands together, she stood over the Tau'ri.
Yes. The man was weak. Too weak perhaps. And the woman had been dead for too long.
Perhaps.
It was slow at first, and her brow puckered with effort as she found the man's life force, growing dull and brittle. She rolled it gently, bathing it with warmth and light. Slowly, achingly it grew warm, humming in the air around him in the way of the life force.
He was not whole yet, not by far.
But Nut's strength was depleting. Quickly. It took much effort to heal and raise the dead by oneself.
Grasping a hold of the woman's crumbling force, already disintegrating into the air, nut carefully tied them together, and then slowly fed the woman the man's strength. They could share. They could have the one life force.
It would tighten her hold over them.
Should one die, the other would die.
Her lips curled in satisfaction, the sweat beading from the delicate skin above her lips and trickling to the ground. On her forehead pearls of moisture had gathered, tickling her temple as they worked down the soft planes of her face.
The woman's body jerked.
The dull life force writhed.
Nut smiled, specks of colour dancing before her vision.
Her host was scared, terrified.
The healing was dangerous.
The raising was even more so.
To attempt both…
Nut ignored the host; she could not do everything.
The hold on the life force was slipping. The woman wasn't healed yet. The man was barely alive.
With an anguished howl the life force flew from her grasp, and she shuddered to a heap.
With darkness crowding around her, Nut kept her eyes focused on the slumber Tau'ri.
They would live.
And then they would find Geb.
~o0o~
Chapter Three
Daniel wiped the grit from his eyes, staring down tiredly at the books in front of him.
"You should get some rest, Daniel." Janet's voice disturbed his scattered thoughts.
"Hm? Oh…"
"What are you doing?" She entered the room slowly, settling herself on the chair next to him and peering down at the scribbled writing on the pad.
"Trying to find Sam and Jack," Daniel stated mulishly.
Janet sighed, placing a tentative hand on his shoulder. "Daniel, the teams are busy looking under the rubble now. You know that."
"So? I don't think they're buried there. I think that Goa'uld has them."
Janet sighed. Daniel looked up at her, his eyes shadowed.
"You don't even know which Goa'uld it was."
"So? There has to be something here somewhere, something alluding to who she was."
"Why don't you ask the Tok'ra?"
"We've tried. They're not responding. Hammond and Teal'c both think they've had to jump base again, which means they'll contact us when they're ready," Daniel admitted, stifling a yawn.
Janet reached over firmly and closed his book with a snap. "Bed, Daniel. Now."
He gazed up at her, defiance shining bright in his eyes. "I can't, Janet. They could be going through torture right now, and I would be sleeping. How would you feel if that happened?"
A half smile touched Janet's lips. "Well, if you suffer from sleep deprivation it will only take longer for you to reach the solution. You of all people should know that."
Daniel sighed again, his shoulder sagging as he lowered his head to his desk.
"We were so stupid, Janet. We didn't even see her ship. Had absolutely no idea that they were there."
"So you were ambushed."
Daniel gave a short, sharp bark of laughter. "No. They were just as surprised as we were. They just outnumbered us, that's all. So we ran, like you run when there's a Goa'uld on your tail." Daniel broke off, frowning. He turned to Janet thoughtfully. "You know, it was almost as though they were looking for something."
"For what?"
"I don't know. Maybe it'll be an idea to go over the writings and discoveries we've made on that planet. It might help us find out who she is."
"You do that. Tomorrow."
Daniel yawned again, putting his book down reluctantly. "Okay. But you have to go home as well, Cassie will be worried about you."
Janet patted his shoulder once before standing up. "I'll see tomorrow, Daniel."
"Bye Janet."
The echo of her clicking heels slowly faded down the silent hallway, and Daniel stared down at the papers on the desk in front of him for a long, long time.
Eventually he stood up, flicked the light off and shuffled out of the room, running a careless hand through his messy hair.
~o0o~
Cal'ma bowed low before her goddess, her forehead reverently touching the smooth step before Nut's throne.
"The Tau'ri?" The voice of her goddess was smooth and childlike, the soft tones washing over the priestess.
"They are still sleeping, my Queen," Cal'ma whispered, remaining firmly in her prostrate position.
The Goa'uld was silent, but Cal'ma dared not look up for fear that she should displease the Queen.
Cal'ma believed herself fortunate to serve Nut. Where most gods were cruel and powerful, Nut cared nothing for power and revenge. Since Cal'ma had been in her service, indeed, since Cal'ma had been born, Nut had been searching for her mate.
Cal'ma loved her Queen fiercely, despite the Goa'uld's self serving nature. Nut, by comparison to most Goa'uld, was good. Her Jaffa and slaves were well cared for. She killed only to discipline those who deserved it. Often she healed their kind without placing them in the sarcophagus, which affected their minds.
Yes. Nut was a wonderful Queen to serve.
And Cal'ma served her Queen well.
"You have cleaned them?"
"Yes, my Queen."
"Attired them suitably for my presence?"
"Yes, my Queen."
"You serve me well, Cal'ma."
"It is my honour, my Queen."
She could feel the satisfaction and pleasure radiating from the Goa'uld.
"You may look upon me, Cal'ma."
Slowly Cal'ma straightened up, kneeling before her Queen with her eyes downcast.
"Yes, you do indeed serve me well. I will give the Tau'ri into your charge. Care for them, I want them whole."
Cal'ma's eyes flickered towards Nut. Care for the Tau'ri? But the Tau'ri were enemies of the Goa'uld.
Nut's eyes flashed, anger whip cutting like a whip through the air.
"You will do as I command. I am your goddess!"
"Yes, my Queen," Cal'ma whispered hastily, falling back down to her prostrate position.
"Good. When they are well you will present them too me."
"Yes, my Queen." Cal'ma's voice was shaking the same way her hands were shaking on the cold floor.
"You may go."
"Yes, my Queen."
Cal'ma rose hastily to her feet, her knees tearing painfully off the ground where they had stuck fast with sweat to the smooth surface. She said nothing, keeping her eyes lowered as she backed out of the room, continuously bowing.
The door hissed shut.
Cal'ma raised herself to her full height and stared at the door.
Care for the Tau'ri?
Her Queen had odd requests from time to time, but none as odd as this.
Care for the Tau'ri.
Heal the Tau'ri.
It was as good as trusting the Tau'ri.
~o0o~
The consciousness that washed over him brought a sharp pain with it, his head throbbing painfully even before he opened his eyes.
Light.
Pain.
He frowned, trying to remember.
Light.
Pain.
A scream.
He opened his eyes slowly. Waiting until the fuzziness cleared before he allowed himself to try and focus on his surroundings.
Gold. A golden roof with gaudy designs.
He groaned, not in pain but with disbelief.
Light.
Pain.
A scream.
A Goa'uld.
His eyes widened. A Goa'uld. A Goa'uld they had never seen before; Daniel hadn't even known who it was. Neither had Teal'c.
But it was a pretty important Goa'uld, judging by the amount of Jaffa that had been crawling around the place.
And the memory came out of nowhere. She'd died. In his arms. She'd whispered words to him and died while he held her, the sweetness of her breath drawing to a still against his dirty neck.
Carter was dead.
He didn't feel sorrow at the realisation.
He didn't feel anger.
He felt grief. Grief so intense that his breathing became jagged and everything around him faded to insignificance.
Carter was dead.
His eyes burnt just as hotly as his forehead, and he determinedly gazed up at the roof. He would not cry. He would not cry. He would not-
He felt the smooth warmth of a salty tear leak out of his eye and bleed down his cheek.
And what about Daniel and Teal'c? He could only hope they'd managed to escape, managed to avoid the rock fall that had unexpectedly cut of his and Carter's escape route.
Jack released a shuddering breath.
He couldn't just lie here. He couldn't just lie here and let his thoughts wander all over the Universe. He had to get out. He had to escape. He had to-
What was that?
His muscles were stiff and uncooperative, the pain reaching new heights as he forced his body to move, forced himself to roll over onto his side.
But the pain was worth it. His face broke into a broad, disbelieving smile. He stretched out a shaking hand and touched her arm quickly, pulling his limb back in relief. She was real. She was alive.
Carter moaned again in her sleep, her pale face strained and tense as she shifted.
He was getting tired again, the darkness crowding around his vision until small black spots danced across his eyes. But he watched her, feeling oddly relieved and comfortable as he slipped back into oblivion.
~o0o~
Chapter Four
It was dark and silent; he was cut off from the world.
His heart was heavy; he had failed. He deserved eternal imprisonment and isolation from all. He failed, and one did not fail his god.
A distant noise reached his ears.
They were coming.
They were coming for him.
He would be free!
And this time he would succeed. This time he would win his god's favour and regain his position.
His lips moved for the first time in hundreds of years, pulling into a pinched smile of satisfaction.
They were coming for him.
~o0o~
Teal'c watched Daniel Jackson out of the corner of his eyes. The archaeologist was far from well; Teal'c thought it unwise of General Hammond to allow him back to this planet.
But Daniel Jackson was stubborn.
O'Neill would say pig-headed, mulish and a host of other odd descriptions.
Teal'c thought Daniel Jackson was behaving like a Hirk'sha. Humour danced through his eyes, but it was quickly chased away as he berated himself.
O'Neill and Major Carter were still missing, no trace of them had yet been found.
Next to him Daniel Jackson stumbled and winced in pain. Teal'c stopped, knowing better than to offer help to the archaeologist. He watched silently as Daniel Jackson continued walking, limping heavily but refusing help.
"Hurry up, Teal'c. We're almost there."
Teal'c sighed to himself, but followed him nonetheless. Daniel Jackson was right: the sooner they got to the site the sooner they could participate in the search.
They broke out of the sparse forest and climbed the hill steadily, only pausing at the top to study the landscape ahead.
Teal'c could see the rock face ahead of them, and he let his eyes travel over the surrounding area, now stained red with dust from the rock fall.
Major Carter and O'Neill could be buried somewhere beneath all the rubble, and the sooner they joined the SG teams already digging, the sooner the missing members would be found.
Teal'c set forwards again, knowing Daniel Jackson would follow.
He would not allow himself to believe that the unknown Goa'uld had captured O'Neill and Major Carter.
~o0o~
The second time Jack gained consciousness he definitely wasn't hurting any less than the first time. His head still burnt from where the ribbon device had done its work, and every other part of his body seemed to ache accordingly.
He groaned, his limbs still feeling like jelly.
Carter was still lying where she'd been lying the first time he'd woken up, but she was flopped on her back now, her face still scrunched with pain.
He sat up slowly, casting a nervous glance around the room. This was very weird; there were no guards around. Unless of course they were already in a prison cell. A prison cell complete with a big `bed' of pillows they were lying on and décor was classed as weird in Jack's mind.
Carter mumbled in her sleep, flinching as her movements caused her fresh pain.
He pulled the smooth sheet covering her away gently, sucking in his breath when he saw the extent of her injury. The flesh was blackened and charred; dried blood and mud caked around it. Her BDU's were hard to touch, most likely because of more dried blood.
But she was still alive, and he marvelled at that.
He laid a hand on her forehead, feeling for her temperature. Cold. Ice cold, almost clammy to touch.
He frowned.
Her eyelids flickered, and he held his breath.
"Carter?" he didn't know why he was whispering.
She stirred again, moaning painfully.
"Carter. Sam… come on, wake up." He wished they had their packs. Maybe he could do something about the wound then.
"What… It hurts," her eyes were glazed with pain and disorientation when they flickered open.
"I know… just lie still, okay?"
"What happened?" she demanded, her eyes slipping closed.
"I'm not sure."
"I thought… I died, Colonel." Her eyes opened again, dull with pain and confusion.
He swallowed.
She had died. He'd been holding her.
But here she was, injured yet still breathing.
"Where are we?"
"I think we're on a Goa'uld ship," he admitted, touching her forehead again. "You're cold, Carter."
"Mmm." Her voice was nothing more than a whisper, a gentle hum that her felt more than heard.
"I need you to stay awake… come on, Carter."
"Tired… hurts…"
"I know. Please, Carter."
"Cold…"
Her breathing evened out as she fell asleep again, her head resting limply on the pillows.
Sighing, his brow creased with pain and concern, Jack turned and clambered off the pillows, his socked feet almost sliding on the polished floor. He headed over to what he assumed was the door, the only smooth expanse of grey metal breaking up the gold walls around him.
"Hey!" he yelled, banging his fists against smooth metal, feeling it quiver beneath his onslaught. "HEY!"
He stepped backwards as the door hissed open, dropping into a fighting stance despite the world spinning around him.
A slender Jaffa woman stepped through, accompanied by more Jaffa bearing staff weapons and armour.
Oh crap.
*
"Why do you make noise?" Cal'ma asked disdainfully, raising an eyebrow as the Tau'ri swayed on his feet before her.
"I… what the hell is going on?"
"You are prisoners of Nut."
"Nut?"
Cal'ma frowned at his tone, he sounded almost amused as though the name of her goddess humoured him.
"Yes, Nut. The goddess of the sky."
"Nut? What kind of a name's Nut?" he demanded as his dirty face paled alarmingly beneath the layers of dry dirt and grime.
"You are blaspheming!" Cal'ma hissed, her heart beating quickly within her breast. If Nut knew of his insolence… Cal'ma wished Nut would hear his insolence. Perhaps then she would realise the scum they were and would kill both Tau'ri.
"She's not a god," he said disdainfully. "Look… I'm gonna sit down for a while."
Cal'ma watched as he sank to the floor as though he was melting. "You will honour Nut, Tau'ri. She has saved the lives of you and your mate and most graciously spared you."
"To be what? Her prisoners?" The man laughed loudly for a second before groaning painfully and holding his head between his hands.
"It is an honour. You should be dead," Cal'ma said bluntly.
The Tau'ri shot a glance at her, his eyes calculating and thoughtful as he studied her. "So she's not going to kill us then?"
"She saved you and resurrected your mate. You owe her your lives and your honour."
A look of disgust crossed his features.
"You will repay your debt to her, Tau'ri."
Cal'ma was pleased to see worry and fear flicker across his face before a mocking look covered the emotions. "Sure, if you just let us go home I'll get my credit card and-"
"Enough," Cal'ma flicked a disdainful hand, growing confused with his prattle. "You will bathe and clean yourself; Nut is not tolerant of dirt," Cal'ma ordered.
"What about Carter?" he frowned, not looking particularly upset at the thought of being clean.
"Carter?"
"Her." He jerked his thumb back across to the woman still unconscious on the bed.
"Oh, your mate. She will be taken care of. Nut will heal her further once her strength has returned. You will bathe."
"Excuse me?"
"Which part did you not understand?"
"The bit about my mate."
Cal'ma frowned. The Tau'ri were indeed strange.
"She will be taken care of. Nut has given her protection to you, you are her prisoners."
The man snorted. "She's not my mate."
Cal'ma frowned again, confused. Then she shrugged. "She is now."
"She is?" The man was mocking her again, Cal'ma could feel it.
"Nut healed her through you, you are now bound together," Cal'ma said calmly.
He frowned, opening his mouth.
"Enough!" Cal'ma shook her head in frustration. She turned to the guards. "Take him to the baths, I have had enough of this fool."
They nodded their armoured heads, the red eyes glowing dully in the bright room.
"Hey? What did you say? What's happening?"
He put up a struggled as they raised him to his feet, almost dragging him out of the room. Cal'ma watched silently as they left, and then turned to look at the woman lying on the bed.
Beneath the red mud and the blood, Cal'ma could see her skin was as fair as that of Nut. Her hair was short and the colour of the sands on the planet Alkhar, the clear features pulled up in a grimace of pain.
Despite the Tau'ri's foolishness and ignorant manners, they were a very beautiful people.
~o0o~
He smiled to himself.
Closer. They were getting closer slowly. His time was filled with the sound of freedom approaching, the steady chipping echoing loudly through his inert body.
Soon. Soon he would be free.
He could sometimes catch a muffled murmur of a voice, the voice of those who would free him.
Perhaps he would spare them when he was free. Spare them for releasing him.
He flexed his fingers.
Then again, it had been so long since he had killed someone.
He smiled slowly.
Soon. Soon he would be free.
***
"Any sign yet?"
Daniel watched as Ferretti responded to Hammond's radio call. Two days Ferretti's team had been searching and digging on this god-forsaken planet. Two days of sifting through mud and red soil, hoping for a hint as to what had happened to Sam and Jack.
Daniel felt guilty, but he would rather hope they were dead than in the hands of the Goa'uld.
"They do not appear to be here, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c commented quietly, standing next to Daniel.
Daniel's eyes burnt and his vision blurred. "They have to be," he whispered desperately, his hands clenching into fists.
"Major, Sir!" A young soldier raced into the shelter that had been erected.
"What is it, Gibson?"
"We've found something that looks like an old building buried beneath the rubble on the south side, Sir."
Daniel pricked his ears.
"Any sign of Major Carter or Colonel O'Neill?"
"No, Sir. But if they managed to get to it before the rocks fell. there's a good chance that they could be in there, and alive, Sir!" Gibson remarked excitedly. "The others are busy removing the rocks now!"
Daniel stood up, turning to follow Teal'c out of the tent towards the area Gibson was talking about.
"Daniel, Teal'c!" Ferretti halted them, his face tired and concerned. "You've been digging all day, despite my orders. You will stay here and rest for now, understood? My men and I will get the temple open and then we'll come and get you."
"I can be of assistance, I have already completely my required Kel'no'reem," Teal'c raised an eyebrow.
"I am helping, Ferretti," Daniel stated calmly.
"I can't let you, Dr. Jackson. I've got orders from Dr. Fraiser, and if you won't obey them then I'll be forced to send you back to Earth."
Daniel froze, staring in disbelief at Ferretti. "But. This is Sam and Jack, we're talking about Ferretti!"
"I know. And if we're forced to look after you as well as them because you don't know when to stop it's just going to slow us down," Ferretti pointed out calmly.
"Perhaps it would be wise if you remain here, Daniel Jackson."
Daniel glared at Teal'c. "I don't."
"Dr. Jackson," Ferretti warned, his tone reminding Daniel painfully of Jack who used the same tone on a number of occasions. Ferretti must have learnt if from him.
He glared at the men in the tent once more before storming off to his and Teal'c's assigned tent, the effect somewhat ruined by his heavy limp.
~o0o~
She hurt.
A moan escaped from between her lips, the pain increasing as the air left her lungs and her abdomen moved.
She hurt.
Fire.
Her whole body was on fire. Every breath just added fresh air so that the fire burnt hotter and more painfully.
"Keep still."
Sam frowned. The voice was foreign and musical, the words strangely accented and rolling through the air like chocolate. It was a nice voice. Sam wanted whoever it was to talk again.
"You must keep still, Tau'ri."
Tau'ri.
Where was she?
"No." she whispered, opening her eyes and gazing around wildly.
The Colonel. She remembered waking up and seeing the Colonel. Where was he?
"Soon the pain will go, but you must lie still."
The hands that pushed down on her shoulders to keep her still weren't rough, but the firm movements lacked a gentleness and there was no care in the touch.
"The more you move the more it will hurt. Lie still," the woman instructed again, an edge of impatience creeping into her voice.
Sam looked up at the dark woman, her long ebony hair hanging over a scantily clad shoulder in an impressive braid. If this woman were blond she could have been Rapunzel.
Sam smiled insanely, and a look of concern crossed the dark features. "She is delirious," the woman stated, looking at someone behind Sam. Who was behind her? Sam struggled desperately, but the woman refused to let go of her shoulders.
The burning got worse.
It hurt.
A sob tore through Sam's throat, burning up the inside of her neck.
It hurt.
"Shhh." Smooth hands brushed her forehead. They were warm. She was so cold. The fire was so hot.
Colonel. Where was he?
*
Cal'ma stared down at the beautiful woman before her. The Tau'ri was growing weaker, a cold fever raging through her stricken body.
Cal'ma knew that if Nut did not heal her before long, the Tau'ri would die.
This Tau'ri woman - Carter - was a warrior; Cal'ma had seen it in her eyes. Eyes that were the colour of the blue jewels that Nut loved.
Touching her hand to Carter's forehead, Cal'ma pursed her lips. She was cold. Much too cold.
Cal'ma did not care if the woman died.
But Nut did. And if Cal'ma did not tell Nut that the woman was dying. Cal'ma herself would be dying before long.
Sighing, Cal'ma rose to her feet. To face Nut with news such as this. Cal'ma steadied herself. Nut would not punish her, would she? It was a risk, Cal'ma knew, presenting the Queen with news such as this, but not as much of a risk as simply not telling the goddess.
She would tell Nut, and Nut would heal Carter.
And then what?
Cal'ma scowled.
~o0o~
They were close now.
Closer than they had ever been.
He could feel the blood in his veins moving faster, his breath coming in excited little gasps at the prospect of being free.
Free.
Free to complete his mission.
Long since had the noise of rocks being pulled away ended. He knew the prison had been found, the sounds he heard were not as muffled or distance as they had been before.
They just had to find him now. They just had to release him from his imprisonment.
They were close now.
Beneath him he could feel the faintest tremours through the ground as they approached, their many feet whispering along the dusty stone floor. Soon. His fingers itched in anticipation, the palm of his hand imprinted with the pattern of the small device he was gripping so hard it was almost embedded into his hand.
Soon.
"I do not believe O'Neill or Major Carte are here, Major Ferretti," a smooth, baritone voice sounded just outside his prison.
His eyes widened; he recognised that form of speech. A Jaffa.
"No, this place is empty," another voice agreed. "Either they're still buried or the Goa'uld got them."
He sucked in his breath. These were not Goa'uld. What was a Jaffa doing, serving those not Goa'uld?
"There looks like there's something behind this wall!"
He forgot his concerns with the Jaffa as another human banged on the wall.
Close. So close.
His breath was coming in laboured gasps, anticipation settling over him like a cloud.
"Can you read what's on the wall?"
"No Sir, this is Dr. Jackson's specialty, not mine. Should I go get him?"
"No, don't wake him up. We can come back tomorrow, it's almost dark out anyway."
He hissed in frustration. No! So close. so close. and yet he was still imprisoned.
"Shouldn't we open it now, so that he can just come in first thing tomorrow without having to wait for us?"
Yes! Yes!
His lungs craved fresh air; his nose sick of smelling the same dusty air filtered down through long, narrow channels covered in slime and dirt.
"Alright. Teal'c, do you have any idea how to open this?"
"I do," the Jaffa - Teal'c - answered.
He frowned, his curiosity pricked by this odd alliance of human and Jaffa. Perhaps he would kill the Shol'va as punishment for betraying his god.
He smiled. Yes. That is what he would do.
"Well, then?"
He heard large hands smoothing over the wall, the soft sound of rough flesh whispering over stone.
He held his breath.
A click echoed in his mind; the door unlocked.
He crouched in the shadows, knowing his eyes would be hurt by the light and that his prey would have difficulty seeing the dark.
A crack of light sliced through the darkness, and he squinted towards it.
Freedom was so close. so close.
Stone grated over stone as the doorway was moved, his prison for so long thrown into light.
A gasp of surprise echoed through his cell.
"Sir! That looks like a sarcophagus!" a human exclaimed.
"Is there anyone in it, Sir?"
"How should I know?"
His eyes were getting used to the light, his pupils still aching it destroyed the sensitive pigments.
There was movement into his cell, and he saw their forms stepping into the room that had imprisoned him for so long, silhouetted against the light streaming in from the doorway in the distance.
He held his breath, his muscles tensed and ready for the kill.
"Teal'c, get your-"
The man never finished speaking, knocked to the ground by his momentum. He raised his hand, searching through the brightness to try and find the Jaffa, the Shol'va.
There!
His satisfaction evaporated; the Shol'va was armed.
He looked and jumped to the left, narrowly missing a bolt from the zat gun. "Insolence!" he screeched, his voice still as powerful and pure as it had always been. "You will pay for this insolence!"
Raising his hand he threw the Jaffa backwards carelessly; he could not afford the time to plan his movements for the kill.
With the doorway empty he made his escape, his pale legs carrying him jerkily up the stairs and towards the light. the bright light burning his eyes with an imprint of freedom.
It was sunset, he realised with delight as he broke through to the surface. Sunset. darkness was soon to follow. He would hide in the darkness. hide on this planet until they gave up the search for him.
Then he would serve his god. He would rectify his failure.
He would regain favour.
With a smile he disappeared over the small rise and headed towards the forest beyond the rocky red hills.
~o0o~
Nut was tired. She has used all her host's energy and her own, and now she craved nothing more than to be put to sleep in the sarcophagus.
She gazed down disdainfully at Cal'ma.
"Speak," she commanded, revelling in the sound of her voice despite the tiredness. Her voice was soft and brittle was the leaves on the trees, but commanded the power of the storm.
"The Tau'ri, my Queen," the Jaffa priestess stuttered. Nut could see her hands shaking where they rested tensely on the polished floors.
"What of them?"
"The male is awake and being bathed, ready to be presented to you-" Cal'ma cut off abruptly.
Nut waited, not bother to conceal her impatience.
"The woman… the woman is dying, my Queen."
Disappointment brushed its cold fingers against Nut's cheek, and she sighed in annoyance. "Bring her."
Cal'ma knelt close to the ground, honouring her Queen before crawling out of the room, still facing her respectfully.
Nut smiled in satisfaction. Cal'ma served her well. Very well. A most loyal Jaffa.
She could trust Cal'ma to care for and guard the Tau'ri until they were well enough to be of use to her.
Her musings and plans were cut short as Cal'ma returned, followed by two Jaffa carrying the unconscious Tau'ri woman.
Nut frowned; the life force that had been humming days ago with strength borrow from the male was dull again, the air barely moving as it swirled lethargically around the woman.
"Bring the male," Nut ordered. She knew that she would not be able to heal the woman on her own; she needed the male's strength.
Nut studied the woman while she waited for her command to be carried out. Short golden hair framed an expressive, clear face with delicate ears and a small nose. The body was hidden beneath the distasteful, heavy green garments, but the still hands were slender and well shaped.
Were it not for her current host's abilities, and the fact that Geb enjoyed the small fragility, Nut would not have thought twice about jumping hosts. The Tau'ri was very desirable.
Her lips curved in a smile of amusement. Perhaps she would keep the Tau'ri as a form of amusement… Such beauty would receive a special place of honour within her Court.
The Tau'ri male was also a strong specimen, she decided as he was marched into the room. He still showed effects from her wielding of the ribbon device, but there was a warrior's strength in his eyes.
He would make a wonderful Jaffa. And he would be loyal because of his tie to the Tau'ri woman.
Nut smiled softly.
"What the hell-"
The man's eyes widened as he viewed her for the first time, her form not hidden beneath billowing folds of fabric. His mouth opened and closed, his face stunned.
Nut was pleased.
He was showing reverence worthy of her.
He would make a wonderful Jaffa. When the time came.
"I…" His forehead creased in confusion, and his eyes flicked towards the bloodstained bundle lying at the base of her feet. "Carter! What have you done to her?" he demanded, jerking and catching the Jaffa off-guard. Yes, a wonderful Jaffa.
"I have done nothing," she waved her hand idly, indicating for the Jaffa to leave him. "I am willing to heal her."
He stopped, suspicion in his gaze.
Wise as well as strong. Perhaps First Prime?
"Why would you help her?"
Nut smiled; he would do.
"Because you would help me."
He raised an eyebrow, a mocking look settling over his face. "Oh, I would, would I?"
Nut smiled. Yes, when he realised what was on offer he would help. "Yes."
He smiled languidly, but the concerned flick towards the woman lying at her feet gave Nut confidence that she would get what she wanted from him, perhaps more if she were to use the woman as a bargaining tool.
"What do I have to do?"
"You will find Geb."
"I will find what?"
A flash of annoyance and irritation crossed her perfect features. "Geb," she repeated his name softly and reverently. "My love."
"I'm not your love, and I don't think I ever will be," the Tau'ri snorted.
Nut clenched her jaw. Wise, strong and annoying. Once he was her Jaffa she would teach him to speak with respect. Until then… until she had Geb…
"Geb is my beloved," she explained, exercising what little patience she had to its limit.
"Oh." Comprehension dawned on his features. He frowned again. "How am I supposed to find Geb when I'm a prisoner on your ship?"
She smiled in satisfaction. He was quick witted. Marvellous.
"I will release you."
He looked at her with a look that stated he clearly did not believe her.
She smiled in satisfaction. "I will release you because I will have your mate."
Again comprehension lit his beautiful brown eyes. "She's not my mate."
"She is now," Nut shrugged her shoulders delicately. "I had to bind her life force with yours to save her. If one of you dies, so does the other."
Nut glanced down at the woman whose life force was dulling at an alarming rate. "If I do not heal her soon, she will die. And then you will die because she has your life force."
He swallowed, fear in his eyes. Nut realised with surprise that it was fear for the woman, and not for himself. A truly loyal Jaffa. As Geb was truly loyal to her.
She had chosen well.
"Okay. Okay, I'll find Geb," he agreed readily.
"Hold her." It was easier to closer he was to her.
His hands were shaking his he gathered the woman into his arms gently, concern furrowing his brow while his graceful fingers felt the coolness of death on her forehead and the butterfly heartbeat in her neck.
She smiled in relief; it had been easier than she thought it would be.
She joined her hands together again, her mind tugging gently at his life force that glowed far stronger than it had previously. She fed it to the woman quickly, weaving the gaping wound shut with spider web precision and delicacy, leaving no scar.
The world started spinning.
With one last effort, Nut forced the life force into the woman's heart, her strength all used up. With a cry of defeat, she slipped to the floor, her alabaster brow pale and wet with effort.
~o0o~
"You're all done, Teal'c."
"Thank you, Dr. Fraiser."
Janet nodded her head in acknowledgement and watched silently as the tall Jaffa rose to his feet steadily; the only sign of his encounter with the stone wall was the large cut on the back of his head that Janet had promptly stitched up, despite the warrior's protests.
Teal'c lumbered out of the room quickly, leaving Janet alone with Daniel Jackson, who sat regarding her thoughtfully from one of the makeshift stone stools.
"They're going to give up looking, aren't they?" he asked quietly, his voice barely carrying above the sound of the rain lashing at the tent they were sitting in.
Janet nodded, unable to speak past the lump in her throat.
"So we're just going to pack up and leave."
Janet flinched at his sharp words, silently repacking her medical equipment into its bag. "There is a Goa'uld on the loose on this planet, Daniel. He almost killed Gibson, gave Teal'c a serious concussion that would have put any other man out of duty for at least two weeks, and gave Major Ferretti a fracture wrist at the same time. We're just lucky he didn't kill anyone!"
"And what about Sam and Jack? What if us giving up now kills them? We could find them tomorrow, or the day after-"
"Or not at all!"
"So? We're giving up, Janet!"
"What about the Goa'uld, Daniel?" Janet ran a weary hand through her hair. "Other than one dead Jaffa and a staff weapon, we can't find any trace of the Goa'uld that was here. You and Teal'c saw the ship leave. There's a strong possibility that Sam and the Colonel are on that ship!"
"And just as strong a possibility that they're buried under the rock slide."
"In which case they're more than likely dead," Janet whispered.
"If they're on the ship then they're also more than likely dead. Or worse."
Janet didn't say anything. There wasn't anything she could say.
She watched Daniel climb unsteadily to his feet, leaning heavily on a makeshift crutch. "You should let me look at your ankle."
"It's fine." His manner was sharp and defensive, his blue eyes glaring accusingly at her.
"It wasn't my decision, Daniel."
"But you agree with it. You agree that we should stop looking!" he turned on her, his voice bouncing off the tent walls.
"I know the odds, Daniel. Five days and we haven't found them yet. If they somehow managed to survive the rockslide they would be dead now because of dust inhalation, lack of water. Their injuries could even have killed them."
Daniel seethed, refusing to accept the decision.
"Besides, look at the weather. More rain has fallen today than I've ever seen fall at once. It's making the whole area unstable, there have been three mudslides already, and we can't afford to let anyone else get injured here. Especially not if there's a Goa'uld around."
He threw his crutch at the tent wall, watching emotionlessly as the stick cut bounced off the canvas and the tent shook. "If we leave here then we have no way of knowing if that Goa'uld has left or is still on the planet."
"It doesn't matter. That Goa'uld was trapped in that room, and both you and Mr. Teal'c say it's not the same Goa'uld that was here when… when-"
Daniel sighed in frustration, spun around on his good foot and stormed out of the tent, leaving Janet staring out to where his form had disappeared into the wall of rain.
~o0o~
She was warm when she started to regain consciousness.
Sam sighed in appreciation; it had been a long time since she felt warm. And it had been a long time since she had felt no pain. She still felt a bit of pain, but the ache and the complaining muscles were nothing compared to the fire that had raged throughout her body before.
She shifted slowly, her muscles contracting at the movement and cramping. She flinched, wincing at the pain.
"Don't move," someone whispered, and she frowned.
Her eyes blinked open slowly, the fuzzy world around her slowly swimming into awareness. Someone was holding her close, she could feel his heartbeat beneath her and feel his warmth through the soft cloth resting against her face.
"Colonel?"
"Yeah, it's me."
She sighed in relief, burrowing closer to his warmth and letting her eyes flutter shut again. She was so tired, so, so tired. And weak.
Sam frowned at the feeling of helplessness.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," she didn't move, enjoy the way his chest moved against her when he spoke. It sent shivers of comfort rushing over her. She felt completely comfortable and relaxed lying against him. She shouldn't, but she did. "What happened?"
She felt him hesitate, his whole body paused, and she waited until he snatched a breath before turning her head up to look at him. "Colonel?"
"I'm not exactly sure," he admitted eventually, resting a hand on her forehead. His hand was warm. She was warm.
Sighing, she snuggled closer.
"We're on a Goa'uld ship-" he started out.
She tensed. "We're what?"
"-but I don't think we're about to be killed or tortured."
Confused, she pulled away from him, sitting upright slowly and painfully before she opened her eyes and looked down at where he was lying. "Sir?"
He sighed, rolling onto his back and resting his head on his hands as he finally turned to look at her. "She wants us to find someone."
Waves of nausea suddenly rolled over Sam.
"Carter?" he frowned, his own face turning oddly pale.
"I'm gonna be sick," she whispered, trying to get off the bed and onto her feet.
"Easy!" he warned, helping her up as she swayed wildly around, her balance completely shot. He guided her to a small room set in the corner of the larger room, helping her balance while she retched into something vaguely resembling a toilet.
"Oh God," she whispered as her strength gave way and she sank to her knees.
"You got up too fast," he scolded gently, picking her up and carrying her back to the bed.
She didn't say anything as he laid her down and then wiped her face carefully with a small, cool cloth. "Sir…"
"Carter?"
"What happened?"
He pulled the cloth from her face and looked down at her hesitantly. She felt fear building in her stomach. She turned her eyes from his face and focused instead on his hands, watching as his fingers nervously twisted the damp materiel. "Sir?"
"You were dead, Carter." Despite the fact that she was very much alive and breathing, the words still sent a shudder of fear and horror raced along her back. "And I was pretty much dead too."
"So…"
"She healed us."
"Who did?"
"Nut."
She blinked. "Nut?"
"As in nutsy Nut, yeah I know."
She grinned in spite of herself. What kind of a name was Nut? "Who is Nut?"
"A Goa'uld."
"I don't understand, Sir."
"Now there's a first."
She glared at him, annoyed. "Sorry, Carter. She… healed me, for lack of a better term, and brought you back to life, according to one of the Jaffa."
"Then what?"
"You were dying. Again," he said simply, his eyes darting away from her and focusing on the back wall.
Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"So I struck a bargain with her."
"Colonel! You know you can't trust them!"
"I know that Carter! But it was either refuse and you die, or agree and you live, as simple as that!"
As simple as that. The words echoed in her mind, the pain in her head growing as the syllables bounced around. "What do you have to do?"
"I have to find Geb," he said softly.
"Geb?"
"It's complicated, Carter, and you need your rest. Get some sleep."
Sam tried to find the strength to argue with him, to force him to explain everything to her. But she was so tired and her head was so sore.
His hands brushed over her forehead again, smoothing back her hair. She sighed, relinquishing her consciousness to the determined tendrils of sleep.
~o0o~
The scent of hot wax was a familiar assault on his senses, the occasional drip as the scalding liquid splashed against the floor was a comforting sound.
He opened his eyes, Kel'no'reem complete, and sat for a minute on the soft mat. "Do you require my assistance, Daniel Jackson?" he asked softly, not turning to face the man he knew was seated somewhere behind him.
"No. Well… finish up first."
"I have completely Kel'no'reem."
There was a creak as Daniel Jackson rose to his feet, a resounding click as the bones and joints worked out their stiffness. Teal'c rose to his feet silently, and turned to face the archaeologist.
"The Tok'ra contacted us."
Teal'c remained silent, waiting for Daniel Jackson to continue.
"The High Council is sending Jacob and Selmac."
Teal'c nodded, watching as Daniel Jackson headed towards the door. "Do you believed they know which Goa'uld has captured O'Neill and Major Carter?"
Daniel Jackson hesitated, his hand grasping tightly at the doorhandle. "I don't know, Teal'c. But they've got spies in the ranks of every Goa'uld we've ever come across. Hopefully this won't be any different."
Teal'c nodded his head in agreement; the Tok'ra did indeed have infiltrators everywhere.
~o0o~
Jacob paused before he stepped through the Stargate, a niggling fear jostling the back of his mind.
//What are you afraid of, Jacob?//
Jacob sighed. What was he afraid of? Sam not being there when he stepped through the gate, something happening to Mark or his family…
//There has been nothing to indicate there is trouble,// Selmac pointed out gently. //Now, must I take us through or will you?//
Jacob rolled his eyes. Just his luck to be stuck with a demanding snake.
//A demanding snake with a great sense of humour.//
He grinned and stepped through the gate. Sam wasn't in the gate room.
//She could be on a mission, Jacob.//
"Jacob, good to see you," George appeared, his round face strained with concern.
Jacob looked around the gate room. No sign of Teal'c, Dr. Jackson or O'Neill either. Something inside him relaxed slightly.
"Good to see you too, George. Where's Sam?"
George stopped, and Jacob's insides clenched. Oh… He closed his eyes.
//Slow down, Jacob. You do not know for certain.//
"We have a problem, Jacob."
Jacob opened his eyes, the words `ya think' hovering on his lips. But he didn't vocalise them. He allowed himself and Selmac to be led to one of the briefing rooms, peering around for a glimpse of any SG- 1 members.
He found both Dr. Jackson and Teal'c in the briefing room.
"Jacob," Dr. Jackson greeted, but his face was pale as Jacob sat down on a seat next to him.
"What happened?" he demanded, cutting to the point.
"We think Sam and Jack have been captured by a Goa'uld."
Jacob frowned. "Impossible. We'd know about it."
"The only other possibility is that they're buried on another planet," George admitted reluctantly.
"Buried?" Jacob frowned. Either buried or captured?
"SG-1 was exploring P2Y 684 when they came across a Goa'uld and several Jaffa. Teal'c, perhaps you'd care to explain what happened?"
Teal'c nodded his head in agreement. "P2Y 684 is a planet comprising of sparse forests and red mud hills. During the course of the morning we had proceeded to the edge of the hills and were about to start exploring them. In the distance we could make out what appeared to be a ruined city, and O'Neill gave the order that we were to approach it cautiously.
We had gotten approximately halfway to the city, when we unexpectedly came upon the Goa'uld. The ship was a small craft, and the Jaffa were Horus Guard. Their party was taken by surprise, as were we, and O'Neill ordered a retreat. However, the unidentified Goa'uld ordered and attack, and they pursued us.
It was heading towards evening, and we knew it would not be long until it was dark, so O'Neill ordered us to set up an ambush. Major Carter and O'Neill hid amongst the rocks in an area of the trail, and Daniel Jackson and I were to proceed further along before setting off a decoy. The Jaffa would run past Major Carter and O'Neill, who could then attack them from behind while Daniel Jackson and myself attacked from the front."
Teal'c stopped then, glancing over at Daniel to see if the archaeologist agreed with him.
"Continue," George ordered.
Daniel continued. "It would have worked too, only there must have been a fault line where we put the C4, and instead of just a small rockslide the whole hill nearly collapsed. Neither Sam not Jack responded to radio contact, and there was no trace of the Jaffa either. We tried to make our way back to where we knew they were hiding, but we couldn't even get a few metres across the landslide because it was too unstable.
Eventually we decided to head back to the Stargate for help, and we were almost at the forest again when we saw the Goa'uld ship take off in the distance."
Daniel sighed, looking up at Jacob.
//What did the Goa'uld look like?// Selmac asked, frowning.
"I don't know, I only got a glimpse of the Goa'uld and it was completely covered with clothing," Daniel admitted.
"It has a very small host," Teal'c added.
"There is also something else, Jacob," George interrupted.
Jacob raised his eyebrows. More?
"We weren't sure if Sam or Colonel O'Neill were captured by the Goa'uld, so we sent a few SG teams to dig through the rubble."
"And?"
"We didn't find either of them, but Major Ferretti's team did uncover what looked like a buried tomb. They went in to explore, thinking that maybe Sam or the Colonel had found refuge from the landslide, but there was no trace of them."
Selmac's mind was working furiously, and Jacob felt his brow wrinkle in thought. "What did you find?"
"Another Goa'uld," Daniel said softly. "We don't know who this one is either, but it must have been trapped in there for a very long time."
"It almost killed several members of my teams," George added darkly.
"Where is it now?"
"We don't know," George shot him a glance. "The Goa'uld escaped just after they released it, and then the weather turned so nasty that it was a risk to my teams, keeping them there."
//May we see the Stargate symbols for the planet this occurred on?// Selmac asked carefully.
"We thought you might want to ask that," Daniel stated, pushing a piece of paper across the tables towards them.
Jacob felt his heart rate quicken. "Oh, this is bad. This is very bad."
~o0o~
The water pounded relentlessly into his back, stinging his tender flesh beneath his worn robes.
But he didn't move. He was free now, and the stinging fury of the heaven's beating drove the thought sharply into his mind.
Free.
The ground swirled around him in a muddle rivulet of red ooze.
It looked like blood.
The earthy smell washed over him, and he stared at the pooling mud on his hand.
Blood. It had been so long since he'd tasted blood. Since he'd seen blood.
Slowly he lifted his hand towards his mouth, remembering the sight of his long, pale fingers glistening thickly with the sticky sweetness of blood.
By the time he placed his fingers in his eager mouth, the rain had washed them clean.
He felt a momentary pang of disappointment, but it was soon quelled as he remembered that the mud wasn't blood.
Soon he would taste blood.
He would watch the flowing currents ebb out of the hapless bodies that would fall victim to him.
He would gain his god's favour.
He would become powerful.
He smiled and let his fingers run through the thick mud, marvelling at its rough consistency and vibrant colour. Around him the water still fell from the sky, soaking his pale flesh until it was soft and wrinkled.
He was free.
~o0o~
They were sleeping when Cal'ma entered the room, the man's arms holding the woman gently while she shuddered in her sleep.
"You must wake," she stated loudly, marching towards the bed. The Jaffa accompanying her waited silently by the door, ready to protect her.
The Tau'ri male stirred on the bed, his fingers tightening around the woman. Carter.
"Wake!" she ordered, stopping at the base of the luxurious bed. Jealousy warred within Cal'ma: these Tau'ri, these prisoners had been given better accommodations than she had, and Cal'ma had served Nut loyally for her entire life!
She watched silently as his eyes opened and he pressed an unsteady hand to his forehead before grunting and turning to look at Cal'ma.
"You must bathe," she stated.
He raised his eyebrow again, a gesture she was learning to dislike intensely, along with the expression on his features. "And Carter?"
"I will take care of her," her voice sounded hostile and reluctant, just as her mind was hostile and reluctant.
"I don't trust you."
"You would rather do it yourself?" Cal'ma questioned, suddenly hopeful that she could worm her way out of the chore and please the Tau'ri, thus pleasing her goddess.
"Ye- uh…"
She watched as the man looked down at the woman sleeping next to him, his face turning a red hue before he glanced back up at Cal'ma.
"There are private chambers," Cal'ma offered, realising that perhaps the Tau'ri required more privacy than Jaffa.
"I…"
"Escort them to the bathing chambers and have Le'lak take them suitable clothing."
Without looking back, Cal'ma strode out of the room feeling strangely pleased with herself.
*
Jack's gaze followed the retreating Jaffa priestess, his mouth hanging open slackly with surprise and bewilderment. Bathe Carter?
He snorted.
"Kree!"
His gaze flicked back to the Jaffa standing impatiently in the doorway.
"Kree all you want, Carter is still sleeping."
"Kree tal'ma shi kra mel."
"Ye-ah," Jack nodded his head slowly. "Just give me a minute, okay?" He turned to Carter who was shifting painfully in her sleep. "Hey, Carter… Carter, wakey wakey. Come on Carter…"
She moaned softly, and opened her eyes.
"Good girl. Feel like taking a walk?" he asked hopefully.
She blinked, her eyes still fuzzy and confused as she gazed up at him.
"Fine, I'll carry you. But you can bath yourself."
By the time he had her in his arms and was half stumbling to the door, she seemed to be more focused. "Sir?"
"I'll explain when we get there."
She nodded, leaning back into his hold and closing her eyes. Why was she still so weak? She could barely stay awake for more than a few minutes at a time.
Come to think of it, Jack didn't feel to crash hot either.
They finally reached the `bathing chamber', and not a minute too soon. Jack's arms were nearly falling off. Motioning them inside, the guards stationed themselves at the doorway, watching as Jack carried Sam awkwardly into the room.
"Carter, open your eyes again," he ordered, trying to sit her up on a bench. Maybe he should have let Cal'ma do this…
"Sir?"
"Uh… You've got to have a bath," Jack stated, looking down at her. Yes, a bath would be wonderful. She was still wearing those BDU's, and the smell… well… bad just wasn't adequate.
"Don't want too," she whispered in protest, her head leaning tiredly against the wall.
"Well I'm not bathing you!" he exclaimed indignantly.
"I'm tired, Sir." Oh he hated it when she was so weak and he forced her to do things.
"You will take a bath, Major, and that is an order!"
He knew that it was only due to her training that her back straightened and her eyes flicked open, studying him blandly. "Yes, Sir."
"Good."
He stepped away, looking around. A female Jaffa entered the chamber, and placed down a bundle of cloth before looking curiously at the two humans and exiting silently.
Hoping Carter would be able to stay upright, Jack scooted across to where the bundle was lying and plucked something resembling a towel from the pile. He looked at Carter: her head was resting against the wall again and her eyes were closed. She obviously wasn't going to be able to take a bath by herself. Damn.
Jack's fingers were trembling slightly as he fumbled with the buttons on her BDU's.
"What are you doing?" she whispered, trying to bat his hand away.
"You have to bath, Carter."
"Why?"
"You stink."
She tried to glare at him, he could tell, but her face collapsed in a mask of exhaustion. "I don't want you to…." she trailed off, forcing her eyes open and gazing at him with embarrassed eyes.
He swallowed. "I'm sorry, Carter. It was either me or the Jaffa."
She closed her eyes, letting her head fall forwards to rest against his chest.
"I… I won't look and I won't take your underwear off, okay? I'll turn my back."
He felt her giggle weakly against him, a half-hearted attempt that warmed his heart. This was still Carter. This was still his dependable second who would face any difficult situation head on, and sometimes giggle about it. He hugged her quickly and carefully, mindful of her body that was still recovering from its ordeal.
She continued to lean against him as he pulled off her jacket, black shirt and the small tank top she wore underneath, lifting her arms as much as possible to assist him.
She undid her trousers by herself, leaning against the wall for support while he pulled off her boots and socks. He pulled her carefully to her feet, helping her balance while she awkwardly kicked her trousers off, and then he carried her to the warm pool in the centre of the room.
~o0o~
Daniel stared hard at Jacob, willing the Tok'ra to explain why that particular planet was bad.
"Have you heard of Anhur?" Jacob asked eventually, looking specifically at Daniel.
Daniel frowned… Anhur… Anhur… "The Hunter?"
"Yes."
Teal'c's face showed a momentary glimpse of realisation.
"Dr. Jackson?" Hammond enquired.
"An Egyptian god, Sir. Known as the Hunter or Huntsman…" Daniel frowned. "I don't understand what's so bad about that, other than the usual Goa'uld pretending to be a god thing."
"Anhur wasn't just the god of the Hunters, he was a Hunter," Jacob said slowly. "An Ashrack."
Daniel's mouth dropped open. "So…what was an Ashrack doing on P2Y 684?"
"It's probably not written down in Earth mythology because it didn't happen all that long ago by Goa'uld standard, but Anhur was imprisoned by Ra for failing to kill a Goa'uld. Do you know the story, Teal'c?"
"It is spoken of among Jaffa," Teal'c nodded his head.
"Okay, the way it goes is that Ra and Tefenet had two children, Nut and Geb. Nut and Geb were very much in love, even in the womb which translates to a Goa'uld thing completely different… anyway, Ra didn't like the fact that these two Goa'uld were more loyal to one another than to him, so he separated them."
"I know about this!" Daniel exclaimed.
"No, you just know the Ancient Egyptian version. Nut and Geb were not happy about being split up, so they set their forces onto the ones of Ra guarding them and managed to escape to get together.
Ra was incredibly annoyed about this and took over both Nut and Geb's worlds which he had given to them at the start when they first began the whole impersonation of the gods. Obviously, Geb wasn't too happy about that so he took his and Nut's combined forces and launched an assault on Ra, which failed miserably. Ra captured Geb and imprisoned him somewhere-"
"So the Goa'uld we released was Geb?" Daniel interrupted.
"No. The Goa'uld you released was Anhur. After Ra imprisoned Geb he turned his attention to Nut. But Nut was one Goa'uld in one mother ship with barely any Jaffa to protect her, and he couldn't find her. So he ordered Anhur to locate her, and Anhur failed so Ra punished him by imprisoning him as well."
"So where is Nut now?" General Hammond frowned.
"I don't know."
"You don't know? You don't have a spy in her ranks?" Daniel asked incredulously.
Jacob sighed, allowing Selmac to take over. //Nut's forces are so small she knows them all personally I would wager. Added to that, she would know if someone is a spy.//
"How?" Daniel asked curiously.
//The host Nut possess is a Nox.//
~o0o~
Sam stretched languidly as she woke up, enjoying the way her muscles twinged slightly but relaxed as she slowly worked the kinks out of them.
"Feel better?" a voice next to her ear asked humorously.
"Colonel!" she greeted, her cheeks flaming slightly as she realised who it was lying next to her.
"Morning Carter."
She grinned again and wriggled away from him, feeling altogether too uncomfortable lying that close to him. As she slid across the bed, Sam realised something was strange. A quick glance down at herself confirmed it.
"Carter?"
"My clothes, Sir," she started out, her eyes widening as she suddenly fully realised what she was wearing.
"Your BDU's have had it."
"Sir?"
"A great big gaping hole right in the front. Pretty much like the one you've got now, only it wasn't trimmed nicely with gold," he smirked.
Her face flamed. So he'd seen what she was wearing then.
His face grew serious suddenly, his eyes studying her intently. "Are you okay, Carter?"
"Sir?"
"Yesterday… the bath…"
The bath. Oh! If her cheeks had been red before they weren't a patch on the colour staining her entire body now. How embarrassing, having him *undress* and-
Sam frowned. "I… don't really remember much other than getting into the water," she admitted reluctantly.
He grinned again. "That's because you fell asleep."
"Oh." She shot him a careful look from beneath her lashes. "So how did I…"
"Get dressed?"
She nodded mutely, the colour nowhere near fading in her cheeks.
"I didn't look. Promise," he swore seriously, studying her. "You fell asleep so I washed you and grabbed a towel and rolled you in it and…"
She raised her eyebrows, curious.
He grinned somewhat embarrassedly. "I used to have to dress Charlie at the beach sometimes, and he was always shy," he explained hesitantly. "So I used the beach technique on you. With the help of a Jaffa priestess. No one saw anything, I swear!" he reiterated.
Feeling somewhat reassured, Sam sat up and looked around, careful to keep the sheets pulled up around herself. "So… how long have I been out?"
"I'm not sure. Since I've been aware of things it'd be about three or four days."
She nodded absently, looking around. "It's funny, you know, but I felt worse yesterday than I've ever felt in my life, and now I feel fine."
He grunted in response, getting out of the bed and wandering across to the doorway, his gown trailing along the floor behind him.
"Sir, what's going on?"
O'Neill turned to face her slowly, she could see confusion in his eyes.
"Everything is fuzzy, Sir. I can't make sense of anything at the moment."
A brief grin fluttered across his face at the confession. Sighing, the laughter fell from his face and he grew serious again. "I'm not sure, Carter. All I know is that this Goa'uld wants us to find another Goa'uld for her, and then she'll apparently let us go."
"She will?"
He snorted with ill-concealed bitterness. "Supposedly."
"How are we supposed to find this Goa'uld when we're on board a ship?"
He flinched. He literally flinched. She watched silently as he rubbed anxiously at his hair before walking back to the bed and sitting down next to her legs. "It's complicated, Sam."
Sam? "So you said, Sir."
"This… Did I mention that this particular Goa'uld is a Nox?"
"A Nox?" Sam repeated slowly.
"Yeah. A Nox. Short, white skin, weird hair… A Nox."
She was silent as she watched him.
"Remember when they healed Nefrayu?" he questioned, his eyes searching her face. "Remember how they lifted their hands up and he became alive again?"
She nodded, realization dawning over her. "She did that to me."
"To us," he agreed simply. "She healed me first, and then she used my `life force' or something and healed you."
Sam narrowed her eyes. "What's that got to do with us finding the other Goa'uld?"
O'Neill sighed. "She'll let one of us off the ship while she holds the other hostage," he started out, "and because of this healing she did, the two of us share the same life force now. That's how the Jaffa explained it to me anyway."
She looked at him sceptically. "So you're saying…?"
"Apparently if I die, then you die. Or if you die then I die. And the further apart we get for longer periods in time the sicker we'll get until we eventually die."
"And you believe that?" Sam questioned disbelievingly.
He hesitated. "Yes."
"Why?"
"I was awake the second time, Carter. She did something… I felt it. And my chest hurt where you were injured. And I felt sick when you were sick. It all adds up."
"No it doesn't. Why didn't that happen to us when the Nox did it to us years ago?"
"Because she did it deliberately, Carter! She needs us to find Geb, and this is the perfect way to have a hold over us."
"Why? Why us? Why not two other people?"
"I don't know. Luck I guess."
"Luck?"
He stood up abruptly. "Look, all I know is that we have to find this Geb person. And until we do that she won't kill us."
"Why does she think we can find Geb?"
He smiled tightly. "She knows we killed Ra. And she knows who we are. She's not stupid, Carter. Far from it."
Sam sighed, running her hands through her hair. "So now what?"
"We're at the beck and call of a Goa'uld."
~o0o~
He was tired. So tired.
Yawning, Daniel pushed his chair away from the desk and leant back into it, stretching tiredly.
"It's late," a quiet voice commented from the doorway.
"Janet?" he questioned, turning to see the brunette leaning against the doorframe.
"I've told you a million times to get some rest, and you still ignore me," she chided gently.
He sighed, sitting upright and studying her for a second.
"You okay?" she asked carefully.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Are we okay?"
She looked surprised for a minute, before an intrigued smile crossed her lips. "Why wouldn't we be?"
"Because of what I said on the planet. I accused you of giving up, and I had no right to."
Janet placed her hands in her pockets and watched him. "No, you didn't have a right to do that, but it's okay," she said softly.
"It's not okay!" Daniel snapped, getting up and storming to he far side of the lab, frowning heavily.
"Daniel! You were tired - you still are I might add - injured and worried about the two of them. Of course you had a right!" Janet exclaimed.
Daniel sighed as he leant against the wall. "Did General Hammond tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"About the Goa'uld who we think has them."
Janet shook her head slightly.
"Her name is Nut, and she's a Nox."
A Nox. The word brought to mind a faded memory of a short woman activating a Stargate with a mere wave of her hand. "One of those telepathic…"
Daniel nodded absently. "Not really telepathic, we don't think, but close. They definitely have some ability in that area."
Janet rubbed at her hair. "That's bad, isn't it?"
Daniel stood up straight. "Yes, it is. It means that if the powers that be decided Sam and Jack were worth attempting a rescue for - assuming they still are alive, we'd have to use brute force and a surprise attack. And that would only happen after we'd found her. Janet, an Ashrak couldn't find this Goa'uld."
"You're giving up now," Janet accused gently, her dark eyes pinning him to the wall.
"Everyone else has?"
"I haven't," Janet said heatedly.
"Janet, even Hammond won't authorise a rescue. The Tok'ra wouldn't because Sam and Jack aren't their people."
"What about General Carter?"
"He can't, he's a Tok'ra. Selmac wouldn't let him."
Janet straightened her back and stared at him. "I'm disappointed in you, Daniel. It's only been a week. There have been much longer time frames where you or other members of SG-1 have been missing, and you've always come back."
Daniel sighed heavily. "A Goa'uld might have them, Janet. There is a greater change that they're dead than anything else."
"So you're just giving up on them?"
"No, I'm not. I just don't see how we can get them back."
"I've got news for you Daniel, that's called giving up."
~o0o~
Anhur stared up at the clear heavens, watching as the stars shone down.
Somewhere in those dark spaces was his key to success.
Somewhere there was Nut.
He frowned. He had scoured the galaxy looking for her small ship, searching for her Jaffa. He'd travelled from world to world, always one or two steps behind the magical goddess, and he'd never caught her. Never even caught sight of her.
Perhaps the way to search for Nut was to let her search for him.
Anhur's eyes glowed.
Let Nut find him. Let Nut come to Anhur, and then Anhur would have his revenge. He would have his revenge before presenting her to his god.
The stars shone down coldly, the silver light pricking into his cold skin. Somewhere there was Nut, and she would buy his return to power.
~o0o~
The bed was hard and uncomfortable beneath Jacob, his mind unwilling to relent to the beckoning call of sleep.
//Nut remains hidden, Jacob. None know of her whereabouts.//
He turned angrily, trying to blot out Selmac's soothing voice. What would Selmac know anyway? She didn't have any kids.
//I do have a child, Jacob. I have Samantha, through you. I care for her just as you do, you know this.//
Yes, Jacob did know that. He just wasn't in the mood right now to be reminded of that, because right now the Tok'ra were preventing him from finding his daughter.
//The High Council is not preventing you from finding Samantha, Jacob. They are preventing you from committing suicide. Nut capabilities ruin any chance of using deception as a means of defeat.//
Jacob knew that already. Hadn't that been what the High Council had been ramming through his skull for the last twelve hours? Right now, he just didn't care.
//I will help you, Jacob, when the time comes. But the time is not now, because we do not know where Nut is.//
Jacob sat upright, annoyed with Selmac.
//Do not be angered, my friend, I speak only the truth.//
Jacob knew that. That's what made him so mad. "There have to be places where Nut goes regularly?" he spoke out loud, angrily.
In his mind he felt Selmac sigh, but it was a sigh of defeat. Both host and symbiote would not rest until Samantha was found, but both knew also that there was nothing either one could do until more information was brought forth.
With sorrowful hearts they climbed back into bed and let the oblivion of sleep ease their troubles for a short while.
~o0o~
She was bored. Not just slightly bored, not even a lot bored. She was `Jack O'Neill Bored'. The kind of boredom where flicking the strap of her watch would amuse her for hours. If she still had her watch.
She sighed, flopping over on the bed and gazing up at the ceiling.
"Bored, Carter?"
"Oh, you have no idea, Sir," she sighed, not moving from where she was sprawled.
"Do you think Nut has a pack of cards somewhere?"
"If she did they definitely wouldn't have any of those pictures you like looking at," she replied good-naturedly.
He sighed, not even bothering to respond to her pointed comment.
"When do you think they'll feed us again?"
"Breakfast wasn't even an hour ago, Sir," she sighed again, turning onto her side to study him as he sat against the wall trying to tie his silk sash into knots. At least he had a sash to play with. If she played with any piece of her clothing then a part of her might just get uncovered. Remembering her revealing clothing, she immediately lay back on her stomach.
"So? At least when we eat we're not bored. I'd give anything for a fishing rod."
She raised an eyebrow. "Hate to break it to you sir, but where would you fish?"
He lifted his head to look at her, annoyed. "Just because-"
The door hissed open and Cal'ma stepped through, her dark face showing its usual picture of concentrated blankness.
"Morning Cal'ma," the Colonel scrambled to his feet, almost tripping as his foot stepped on the silk of his robe.
"It is not morning," Cal'ma replied stiffly, her eyes flitting over the two of them.
"Oh. Well, we just got up a while ago," he offered, approaching her steadily.
The Jaffa priestess moved uneasily, stepping back to be closer to the protection of her Jaffa escort. "Nut requires for you to have an audience with her."
"Oh, she does, does she?" O'Neill commented flippantly. "Gee, Carter, looks like we get something exciting after all."
Sam rolled her eyes and scrambled off the bed, walking over to the Colonel and the priestess. "Why does she want to see us?"
"It is time to repay her for her kindness," Cal'ma answered simply. "Come."
~o0o~
His fingers trailed slowly over the stone, marvelling at its roughness. In the dark his eyes could not make out the figures and details carved into the hardness, but when daylight came he would see them.
And then he would know where to find Nut.
Nut. The cursed one. The one who caused his imprisonment.
Anhur's lips curled in disgust.
Perhaps he would not present her alive to Ra. Just her body, drained and emptied of its precious life force. Yes. He had been denied the pleasure of a hunt and the ecstasy of a kill for so long. Ra would understand. Ra would agree to his payment.
Warm saliva gathered in Anhur's dry mouth. Soon. The taste of blood would be on his lips soon.
He would find Nut. And he would destroy Nut.
He would destroy everything Nut held dear, everything Nut cherished. Every Nut possessed or wanted Anhur would destroy.
The hunter would win the hunt.
~o0o~
Teal'c waited as Daniel Jackson adjusted the heavy pack on his back. "I'm ready, Teal'c." The words were muffled as the archaeologist turned to dig in his pocket for a handkerchief. "Come on."
Teal'c looked up towards General Hammond who was studying them with a strange expression upon his features.
"We are ready to depart, General Hammond," he announced.
"Very well. Engage the wormhole, Sergeant."
The silence in the gate room was broken by the grating sound of the `gate spinning and the whoosh as the wormhole locked into place.
"Good luck people. Bring them home."
Teal'c nodded his head in acknowledgement.
"We've got to find them first," Daniel Jackson muttered before walking roughly to the wormhole and stepping through.
The planet they stepped onto was dry and sandy, the hot wind blowing the arid heat over their bodies. Daniel Jackson sighed again and tied his bandana to his forehead. "You coming, Teal'c?"
With a short nod, Teal'c followed behind Daniel Jackson, his eyes ever watchful as they walked across the seemingly deserted planet. He knew better; there was life hidden among the sands.
Seconds later the sands moved and several roughly clad men rose up, sand pouring from their tunics.
"Who passes?"
"It is I, Teal'c, and Daniel Jackson from Earth."
The staff weapons trained on them lowered to the ground.
"What business do you have with the Tok'ra?"
"We seek Jacob Carter, host to Selmak."
"Come, he is here."
Silently the duo fell into step beside the Tok'ra, only stopping to let the flash of the transport rings whisk them into the coolness of the Tok'ra tunnels.
~o0o~
Nut's fingers stroked the smooth jewelled armrest of her golden throne. Impatience was growing within her, giving way to anger as she waited for Cal'ma and the Tau'ri to return.
The idle fingers of her right hand wriggled slowly within the confines of the hand device, the smooth metal warm and soft as she stretched the delicate limbs within its confines.
Nut lifted the decorated hand to her face, studying the way the delicate veins ran intricately beneath the surface of the pale skin. Beautiful and delicate, such a frail life form. Nut gave strength to the weakness, lending a solidness to the host that would not have been there before.
Nut smiled in satisfaction. Did not all her servants agree that Nut was goodness? That where Nut went, order and growth flourished? Growth and order were good, Nut mused silently as she lowered her hand. They meant more produce, more possessions and more worshippers.
One could never have enough worshippers.
The chamber doors slid open slowly, and Cal'ma stepped through the entranceway, her dark head bent low so that Nut could see the intricate beadwork woven into the crown of her head. A beautiful work that Nut had been most pleased with.
"The Tau'ri, my Queen," the priestess murmured.
Nut watched them curiously as they approached; she had not seen them since healing them, and even then she had been far to weak to really study them.
They did not show proper respect, she realised with annoyance. Their eyes were large and defiant, gazing up at her with dislike and even disgust. That angered Nut, and she expressed her anger through her eyes, watching to see if they flinched at her display of power. Many believed in her when they saw the golden eyes of their goddess.
These remained unflinching.
"What do you want?" the male demanded.
Yes, she remembered this. She remembered his insolence. At her nod, the Jaffa behind him struck him firmly with a staff weapon. The Tau'ri groaned as he sank to the floor, his eyes screwed shut with pain. The female turned to him, concern shining clearly on her face.
A smile touched Nut's lips. She had chosen them wisely; they would not disappoint.
"You have been well cared for," Nut told them, her voice blank and emotionless, "and now you will serve me."
"The day I serve a Goa'uld is the day hell freezes over," the male remarked loudly. Nut watched with interest as the female tried to silence him, but the Jaffa struck him again with the staff weapon.
"You will show respect when address your goddess," the Jaffa said roughly.
Nut smiled as she watched her Jaffa. He was loyal, as were all her servants. Yes, growth and order served her well. Her methods were far more successful than those of Ra had been, or even those of Sokar and Cronos. Her Jaffa would never rebel.
"You agreed to find Geb, should I heal the female," Nut commented idly as she watched the Tau'ri turn towards her. "You are both well, so now you will find Geb." Her heart rate quickened as the words passed over her lips. Geb. Soon, beloved, soon he would be with her again.
"How are we supposed to find a Goa'uld that we've never heard of before?"
Nut's temper flared quickly, and she rose in her seat. But anger and punishment would not convince them; they were different to Jaffa. She smiled tightly. "You will find him, or you will die."
Neither showed reaction at the words, but Nut was not disappointed. The male had been made aware of these rules in the very beginning, and he had accepted them. If they agreed without argument or reluctance, then Nut would have been disappointed.
"So how are we supposed to find him?" the male demanded.
Nut shrugged; that did not concern her. What concerned Nut was that they would find Geb. And then she would gain a new Jaffa and a beautiful addition to her court who would always be bound to her through one another. It was ironic, Nut thought to herself, that what they wanted to save most was what bound them to her. And Nut enjoyed the irony.
"We will release you on the planet of your choice, and we will wait there. Should you betray us and bring enemies to war, we will kill your beloved and destroy your armies, for none can deceive Nut."
Their eyes were concerned and hesitant at her words, but they knew she spoke the truth. Her host could feel their thoughts and their emotions, and they knew it.
"Where do you wish to be released?"
The Tau'ri turned to one another, their eyes talking while their mouths were silent. Eventually the male turned back to her. "Could you give us a few minutes to think about it?"
Nut shrugged a delicate hand; to grant them a leniency would not challenge her hold over them. "Escort them to their chambers. When they have reached a decision, return them to me."
She sank down onto her throne slowly, enjoying the feel of the silken material of her gown as it brushed along her soft skin. It would not take long before they would decide, and Nut had all the time she desired.
Smiling, she ran her fingers over the polished stones of her jewelled armrest.
~o0o~
//The Tau'ri Daniel Jackson and the Jaffa Teal'c are here to see you,// Aldwyn's symbiote informed them.
//Where are they?// Selmak asked as Jacob rose to his feet.
//In the council rooms. They appear troubled.//
A smile tugged at Jacob's lips, but it was bitter and tired. He followed the other Tok'ra silently, listening as Selmak tried to soothe him. //Perhaps they have news, Jacob.//
//It would be bad, Selmak. You heard Aldwyn, they're not happy.//
//But news is news, Jacob, and news might help us to locate them.//
//What if it's too late?//
//Then we would still know, my friend.//
//You are too damn optimistic, Selmak.//
//That is why you need me. You are too pessimistic.//
"Jacob Carter," Teal'c's form appeared in their vision.
Jacob nodded his head. "Don't forget Selmak."
"I have not."
There was silence as Aldwyn left the room.
"Why are you here?" Jacob asked eventually, studying the two men in front of him.
"We wish to locate Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill," Teal'c explained, studying the Tok'ra carefully.
Jacob sighed. "We don't even know who has them, Teal'c."
"You believe it is Nut."
"We may be wrong. And even if we were right, we have to find her first."
"Uh… excuse me," Daniel interrupted.
"Yes?"
"What do we know about Nut?"
"She's looking for Geb, she hates Ra and Anhur is probably hunting for her."
Daniel blinked. "So. We find Geb. It's simple."
Jacob snorted. "Simple? Yeah, right. Look, if Nut hasn't been able to find Geb in the last couple of thousand years, then why should we be able to find Geb?"
"Maybe we know something she doesn't. She's been hiding for how long. If you think about your legends and the stories you've heard, and we scour the planets we know Ra controlled then we should be able to fine some clue as to where Geb is."
Jacob nodded slowly. "So what, we find Geb and offer to trade him for Sam and Jack?"
Daniel nodded his head firmly. "You with us?"
Jacob grinned. "You bet. I'm owed some leave anyway, and Selmak has been dying to show me the finer parts of the universe."
~o0o~
Jack frowned as he went over the options again in his mind. "I don't like it."
"Neither do I, but it's our only choice, Sir."
He blew out angrily, running a rough hand through his hair. "At least we can contact Hammond somehow and let them know we're still alive. That way maybe they won't give up on us entirely."
"Do you think they would have?" Carter asked hesitantly.
He pursed his lips. "Maybe. Hammond would have had to call the search off now. Daniel and Teal'c might still be persistent… but it's been about two weeks. Almost the longest we've been MIA, and they'd have no idea about who has us and whether we're still alive. It's a big universe, Carter."
"So we basically have no choice but to trust this Goa'uld," Carter said, frustration edging her voice.
"Which planet should we get dropped off on?"
He studied his second as she frowned in thought, mentally going over the list of known gate addresses stored in her brilliant mind. "Abydos."
"Abydos?" he tried it out. "Why there?"
"Kasuf has a GDO, doesn't he? There's also the fact that Daniel makes sure we keep contact with them because of Sha're's child."
"And it wouldn't give anything away to Nut about where our planet is and who we're allied with. Other than the Abydonians."
"Is it wise, exposing them to Nut?"
"She's got to have some ties with Ra, Sir. She has Horus Guard, not Serpent. That means she's Ra's family, so she'd know about Abydos anyway."
Jack nodded his head slowly; it made sense.
"So we pitch it to the snake and see what she thinks?"
"Yes. Sir?"
"Carter?"
"Just remember her host is a Nox. If she can use the Nox's healing capabilities, I'm pretty sure she could use it's other capabilities too."
"You mean mind reading?"
Carter nodded her head wearily, closing her eyes briefly before pulling herself to her feet.
"I want you to go planet side," Jack instructed as they walked towards the door together.
She glanced at him, curiousity in her eyes.
"You'd be more help to Daniel and the others while they try to solve this, and there's less risk of… of…" he floundered, not wanting to embarrass her or imply that she couldn't take care of herself.
To his amazement, a gentle smile crossed her lips. "Thank you Sir, but I don't think you need to worry about it. She won't do anything to us until she has Geb."
"It's when she has Geb that I'm worried about," he returned with feeling in his voice.
The smile fell from her face and she looked towards the door, her cheeks pale and strained. "She won't keep her deal, will she?"
"I doubt it. That's why we've got to tell Hammond as much as possible about her and where we are and how much power she has."
Carter nodded her head and walked ahead of him to the door. He remained silent as she raised her fist and banged on the door, yelling for the Jaffa. Seconds later the door swung back and she stepped through. Taking a deep breath, Jack followed her reluctantly.
This was bad. This was very bad. Doing a deal with a Goa'uld who'd just as soon kill him as use him for a host…
Bad. Very bad.
~o0o~
Cal'ma watched silently as the Tau'ri entered the throne room, their eyes gazing defiantly up at Nut. She shivered; she would never show such disrespect. Never.
"You have decided." The statement was not a question, and Cal'ma knew that Nut was correct. Nut was always correct. Nut was a goddess; she knew everything.
"Yeah. Heard of a place called Abydos?" the male asked casually.
Nut's eyes flared golden as she stared down at the Tau'ri. Cal'ma shook with fear; Nut was angered.
"You wish to go to a place of Ra?"
"Not Ra's," the male countered calmly, but Cal'ma could see tenseness in his body.
"Betray me, Tau'ri, and you and your mate will surely die."
The Tau'ri looked at one another, their eyes communicating silently. "You said you'd release us on any planet. We choose Abydos."
"The people are a primitive people, Tau'ri," Nut argued. "They would not help you locate Geb."
The Tau'ri hesitated. "That's because we need to find someone who will help us find Geb. See, we don't even know who Geb is."
They were the wrong words to state, Cal'ma knew with certainty as anger flared again in Nut's golden eyes.
"Geb is our beloved!" the Queen hissed, rising to her feet and heading steadily towards the Tau'ri. "Imprisoned because of jealousness and fear. Ra was a coward!"
"Yeah, we know that," the Tau'ri agreed. "But we want to get off on Abydos."
A smile touched the corner's of Nut's lips. "You do not wish for me to accompany you to your home planet," she smiled victoriously. "Very well. Remember, Tau'ri, that if you betray me I will kill not only you and your mate, but I will destroy your world."
Her eyes flashing again, Nut returned to her throne. "Cal'ma, return the Tau'ri to their chambers. We will travel towards Abydos now."
~o0o~
"Where do you suggest we start?" General Carter asked, studying the sheets of paper in his hands.
"Doesn't Selmak recognise any of these planets as being owned by Ra?"
//There are many here. To search them all for a sign would take many years,// Selmak explained gently.
"Which ones did Ra have a lot to do with?"
//Abydos. Yomia. Cal'eka. Sho'pa'ma-//
"Okay!" Daniel frowned. "Maybe we should go to Abydos. There was a cartouche there where we found all our Stargate addresses, and I know that lots of the walls there have stories about Ra and the other Goa'uld. There might be something there."
Jacob and Teal'c nodded in agreement.
"So Abydos it is," Jacob agreed, standing up. "I'll go tell the High Council while you get your gear. We leave in ten minutes."
~o0o~
They were silent in their room as the ship sped towards Abydos.
"Are you sure we're doing the right thing?" Sam asked eventually, her eyes focused on the far wall.
"No. But I can't think of anything better to do."
Sam sighed again, her chest heaving as she drew in a deep breath and released it. "I don't want to leave you, Sir," she whispered at least, resting her chin on her knees and staring down at her bare feet.
She felt the bed move as he sat down next to her, but he didn't touch her. And she found herself wishing her would, so that she would have an excuse to burst into tears and hold onto him.
But she couldn't do that, because she was Major Carter, and Major Carter was a strong, independent woman who never let anything faze or beat her. She jutted her jaw out stubbornly.
"I guess that's my cue to say something make you feel better, huh?"
A smile tugged at her lips.
"This shouldn't have happened, Carter. They should never have caught us."
She sighed and looked up again, leaning back against the pillows. "If only the C4 hadn't caused a rockslide."
"If only there weren't Goa'uld," he sighed pessimistically.
"But there are," she agreed softly. "Sir, do you ever feel like it's too much?"
"What, saving the world?" he glanced at her, and she nodded her head quickly. "Sure it gets old saving it every weekend, but if we don't do it, who will?"
She nodded in agreement, a dry smile pulling at her lips. "Bet you never thought you'd be saving the planet on a regular basis when you were kid," she grinned.
"I always knew I hated snakes though," he returned dryly.
"What are you going to do when we get back home?" Sam asked after the silence grew too thick.
"Have a beer and put on some real clothes," he answered promptly. "You?"
"Go for a run. Then I'll have a beer."
"What about real clothes, or do you like what you're wearing now?" he grinned at her.
Sam blushed as she wriggled uncomfortably on the bed. "I'm putting them on before I leave the base," she stated pointedly.
He grinned again, lying down next to her. "Better not let Dad catch you running around like that."
She rolled her eyes, unable to keep the grin from her face. "I'd rather face the Goa'uld anytime," she agreed jokingly.
"Looks like you've got your wish," the Colonel said softly as the chamber door slid open again, revealing Cal'ma and her usual escort.
"Come," the Jaffa ordered.
"Now why did I know you were going to say that?" O'Neill rolled his eyes before grabbing Sam's hand and helping her off the bed. He didn't let go as they briskly followed the Jaffa down the now familiar path to the throne room.
~o0o~
The light crept over the hills slowly.
Anhur did not stir, deciding instead to preserve as much of his warmth as possible until the sun was warm enough to remove the chill from his aching bones.
Anhur was cold and tired. He had not eaten for a long time, and without the sarcophagus he was growing weaker and thinner, the flesh seeming to disappear from his bones.
He would need nourishment. Soon.
But first he would find Geb.
Warmth spread through him as thoughts about his approaching victory grew closer. First he would find Geb, succeeding where Nut had failed. Geb knew things Nut did not know. And what Geb did not know, he knew where to find.
A smile twisted his lips into a contorted grimace as he huddled in his tattered cloak. The wondrous cloak Ra had awarded him as champion was torn and jagged, long rips rent into it after decades of searching for Nut, followed by centuries of imprisonment.
Once Anhur had Geb, he would lure Nut.
Then he would find Ra, and reclaim his position as Champion.
The air grew warmer and gentle wisps of steam rose from the cold, damp earth. Anhur shivered. Soon, soon he would rise and read the symbols on the rock.
Then he would find Geb.
~o0o~
The sun burning down on them was hot and dry. Daniel looked across at Teal'c and Jacob enviously; both seemed comfortable in the arid conditions.
"Are we going to see Kasuf?" Daniel asked, breathing heavily as he unfastened his canteen.
"How far away from the village is the cartouche?"
"Not far."
"I don't see any reason why not," Jacob shrugged. "Would they know anything about the cartouche at all?"
"No. Most of them can't read anyway. Ra outlawed reading after the rebellion on Earth, but a few still passed the knowledge down."
They stopped on a sand dune and gazed down at the village spread out before them. Something hurt and twisted inside Daniel as he gazed down on what had been his home. One day, when he found Sha're again and got the snake out of her, then he'd come home again. Then he would be able to stand on these dunes and gaze down at the people he loved, and call them his own.
Until then… Until then he had to fight. And to do that he needed Sam and Jack back.
Shouldering his pack, he forged the way down the dune. Jacob and Teal'c let him lead. They both recognised that this was his home, and his territory.
"They've seen us," Daniel grunted as the sand gave way beneath his feet and fought for his balance as they travelled down towards the high walls.
They continued down as a line of Abydonians poured from the gates and started up the hill. They were still too far for Daniel to clearly make out, but his heart rate increased in anticipation and his steps became quicker.
"Dan'yel! Dan'yel!" the voices floated over the sand towards him, and a grin broke out onto his features as familiar faces became more defined.
"Shel'ne!" he cried the greeting out excitedly, trying to run through the sand. He had a brief glimpse of a smile on Jacob Carter's face as he turned to check that his companions were following, but a second later he was enveloped in a sea of warm bodies all hugging and trying to get close to him.
"Dan'yel." The one voice stood out calmly from the crowd, and almost instantly the Abydonians seemed to fall back, leaving room for Kasuf. "You have returned."
"Yes, Good Father. I have brought friends, and we seed your assistance."
Kasuf's face turned to Teal'c before nodding welcome. His eyes stayed focused on Jacob Carter. "Who is this?"
"This is Jacob Carter, Good Father. Major Carter's father."
"Where is Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill?" Kasuf questioned curiously.
"That is why we need your help, Good Father. A Goa'uld – a demon – has captured them, and we need to see the wall of writing to find them."
Kasuf eyed them steadily, his eyes travelling over their clothes. "You have not found Sha're."
"I need them to help me find Sha're," Daniel explained, swallowing roughly. It would do no good to cry, but being here with Sha're's family and on their homeworld… His memories of her were so strong suddenly.
"Come, we will go with you."
Grinning widely at Jacob and Teal'c, Daniel fell into step next to Kasuf.
*
Kasuf and his people were silent, watching Dan'yel and his friends as they scoured the walls for something. He watched with fascination as their fingers and eyes slid over to old writings, lips moving silently as they spoke to themselves the words that had been written for centuries.
"Found something!" Dan'yel announced, his eyes bright with hope.
Kasuf watched as the old man – Carter's father – immediately turned to Dan'yel. Dan'yel treated this man with respect and affection even, a familiarity born of friendship. But Kasuf felt ill at ease with the stranger. There was something different about the man, as though he knew things…
"Shu," the old man frowned. "The god of air that separated Nut and Geb."
"So Ra himself didn't separate them?"
"No, Shu separated them on Ra's orders. It was Shu's forces the first time that defeated them."
"Where is Shu now?"
"Around somewhere. He fell out of sight around the same time you and Jack destroyed Ra."
"Well, this is to do with Shu separating them."
"On Ra's world Sho'pa'ma Shu was granted status as a ruler."
"Sho'pa'ma?"
"It's deserted now, as far as I can tell. When Geb attacked Ra just before he was captured, he wiped out Shu's domain as an act of revenge."
"Would there be something there?" Dan'yel frowned.
"I don't know," Carter's father admitted, his eyes skimming the text.
"Among Jaffa it is legend that Sho'pa'ma was the place of a great battle between Shu and Geb. Both gods fought hard, but in the Geb vanquished Shu and destroyed his world. Ra was greatly angered by the display of disrespect and rebellion shown by Geb, and so imprisoned Geb within Shu's Might."
"Within Shu's Might?" Dan'yel frowned, glancing at Teal'c. "Why didn't you say something earlier, Teal'c?"
"It is a legend, Daniel Jackson. Shu was defeated, what might did he have left?"
"Couldn't this be something like Thor's Hall of Might?" Dan'yel asked thoughtfully.
"You mean like a temple or a place where Shu had a lot of power?" the old man asked slowly.
Dan'yel sighed. "The cartouche hasn't helped, has it?"
"Maybe we should search for a mention of Shu's Might," Teal'c suggested calmly.
"Okay, let's look for that then," Dan'yel agreed.
Kasuf remained silent, watching as the three travellers once again turned to the wall.
"Cal'lela! Kasuf, Ma'an la sah ka'mah!"
Dan'yel turned sharply to face the boy who had come running in. "Who is it?"
The boy shrugged, and Kasuf felt fear traverse through him. Another unknown god to was bearing down upon them.
"We must leave, Dan'yel," Kasuf warned, turning to follow the boy out of the room. Dan'yel and his friends had been warned. Whether they heeded the warning and followed was up to them, Kasuf could not care for them as well as his people.
"Let's go," Dan'yel agreed, turning to the others. "Maybe we can do something to help."
Emerging into the bright sunlight, Kasuf shaded his eyes and looked into the distance. The pyramid was hidden from view this far away, but Kasuf knew that the ship would be perched over it like a hungry locust that plagued the fields.
"To the village," he ordered, running along with the people who had accompanied him and Dan'yel.
The village was full of panic, people running around, gathering their belongings. Many times before the gods had come, and with them they always brought death and destruction. Kasuf hated the gods; they were arrogant and thought of none but themselves. Whether his people died or lived, they did not care.
The boy, Sha're's child that was not Dan'yel's child was his main concern. Leaving the other villagers he ran towards Amika's abode, ready to take her to safety along with his grandson.
"Good Father!" Dan'yel grabbed hold of his sleeve.
Kasuf did not stop running, but he slowed and looked at Dan'yel. There was fear in Dan'yel's eyes, but hope also. Kasuf did not understand Dan'yel.
"Where are you going?" Dan'yel demanded.
"To my grandson," Kasuf answered.
"You can't let the Goa'uld find him, Good Father."
"I know this!" Kasuf was not stupid. Never would he let the demons take his grandson.
"If you go to him and they look for you, they'll find him!" Dan'yel gasped.
Kasuf stopped, realising the truth of his son-in-law's words.
"What do I do then?"
"Send one of the boys to the woman looking after him. Tell them to hide in the caves where we hid from Ra."
Kasuf nodded, barking out an order before spinning and heading towards the defence towers. "Come," he called to Dan'yel and his friends. They could help defend the village if need be, but hopefully the demon would leave without attacking.
~o0o~
The robes he was wearing were hot. No, actually, hot just didn't cover it. He was sweltering, and the material was sticking to him in the worst possible places imaginable.
Jack grunted in annoyance as the sand chafed at his sweaty toes through the leather sandals and the sun beat down on his head. What he wouldn't give right now for his boots and cap…
He glanced backwards once; the ominous ship was still perched on the pyramid where it had been perched since dropping him off. He sincerely hoped that Nut wouldn't stay there, that she'd go off on a little side trip and come pick him up in a few days when he had completed his business. Business that included getting both him and Carter some real clothes and shoes.
By the time he crested the hill that allowed him a glimpse of the village ahead, the sweat had collected on his face in sticky pearls and was dripping into his eyes and down his chin. Relief washed over him as he started the downhill trek to the gates, and he allowed himself to close his eyes as he walked; it wasn't like there was going to be anything in front of him anyway for him to walk into.
Trudging on with his eyes firmly closed against the glare of the sun, Jack's thoughts centred on Carter.
Carter, who he'd just left on board the ship because Nut had insisted that it was him who would find Geb.
Carter, who'd almost died and was now alive and connected to him in one weird, completely unnatural way which he didn't even want to think about.
Carter, who was wearing that really sexy gown with a hole in the middle that just-
He stopped and his eyes flicked open.
"Oh crap!" he stepped backwards without thinking, holding his hands up in the universal `I come in peace' sign, gazing warily at the arrows and spears pointed towards him with deadly accuracy.
"Jack?" An eerily familiar voice broke the silence that fell.
"Daniel?"
"Is that you?"
"Unless you're talking to someone else…"
"Where's Sam?" Okay, now that voice he recognised.
"Dad?"
"Where's Sam, Jack, and what the hell are you wearing?"
He allowed his eyes to rest on their faces for long seconds, before breaking into a grin of relief. Suddenly he found himself enveloped in Daniel's arms.
"We thought we'd never see you again!" Daniel let him go quickly, stepping back with a slightly stunned look plastered across his pale face.
"You're not that lucky," Jack cracked wearily, tiredness seeping through his bones.
"Where is Sam, Jack?"
"Still on board."
"On board what?"
"Nut's ship."
"It was Nut!" Daniel announced with satisfaction.
"Uh… yeah."
"So?" Jacob waited impatiently.
"So what?" Jack frowned, trying to ignore the little coloured spots swimming across his vision. Why did he feel so damn tired?
"What happened?"
"She caught us."
"We know that already!" Daniel exclaimed impatiently.
"She's still got Carter," Jack added tiredly.
"Jack, are you okay?" Daniel's voice sounded strange.
He looked over at the sea of swimming faces before him, watching as they all blurred together oddly. "Actually I'm not okay."
The sand was hard as he fell against it, but everything turned to darkness and he felt nothing.
~o0o~
Cal'ma entered the room silently, and her eyes fell upon the Tau'ri woman.
"What do you want?" the woman muttered, not turning to face Cal'ma.
Cal'ma remained silent, studying the woman who was curled up on the bed, cradling her knees against her chest. The woman was afraid, and that gave Cal'ma the courage to allow her curiosity to grow.
"My Queen does not wish for you to remain alone," Cal'ma admitted, somewhat confused by Nut's strange ideas.
The woman raised clear blue eyes towards Cal'ma, and Cal'ma was surprised to see the paleness of the woman's face.
"Are you not well?" she questioned hesitantly.
The woman frowned, the pale skin scrunched up delicately on her forehead as she contemplated the question. "I'm fine," she replied eventually. But Cal'ma knew the woman was lying. Whether it was pride or fear that caused the woman to lie, Cal'ma did not know and she did not ask.
The silence between them was thick and awkward. They were two strangers, enemies perhaps, forced together by the one thing that made them different: their loyalties. Cal'ma shifted her weight awkwardly, feeling uneasy as she stood observing the Tau'ri who was silent and distant from her.
"Where do you come from?" Cal'ma asked eventually, the silence slowly strangling her.
The woman's eyes snapped towards her, narrowed with suspicion. "Why?" she demanded, letting her eyes rest momentarily on the Jaffa that escorted Cal'ma around the Tau'ri.
Cal'ma hesitated, torn between fear and curiosity. She wanted to know more about this strange woman with the pale skin, golden hair and strange manners of a warrior, yet she felt fear at being alone with the woman and talking to her, learning about her. But Cal'ma was not one who could not decide; such a nature would never have allowed her rise to First Priestess of Nut. Turning towards the Jaffa, she barked a sharp command. Hel'ta looked at her strangely, but she stared at him firmly. Nodding his head, he relented and the small troupe of Jaffa left the room.
The woman was still studying her, her blue eyes thoughtful and oddly accepting as she stared at Cal'ma. "Why did you do that?"
Cal'ma hesitated. Why? Why had she just ordered her defence to leave her alone with her enemy?
"Tell me about your world," Cal'ma ordered instead, the curiousity like a fire inside her that demanded fuel.
"Why do you want to know?" the woman demanded suspiciously, her eyes untrusting and mocking as she gazed defiantly up at Cal'ma.
Cal'ma frowned. Why? Why did she want to know about the Tau'ri?
"How do you live without serving the gods?" Cal'ma did not know whether the questions surprised her or the Tau'ri more.
"Well… we do have a God," the woman admitted, her voice reluctant at best. "But it's not the same. He doesn't kill us when He's annoyed, and He definitely doesn't enslave people."
Cal'ma stared at the Tau'ri, amusement on her features. "You say you do not serve a God, and yet you admit you do."
The Tau'ri woman fell silent, once again resting her head on her knees.
"You have not told me anything yet," Cal'ma reminded her, feeling much like a small child in the presence of a wondrous storyteller.
The Tau'ri did not look up at her. "Does Nut know everything?" she questioned hesitantly.
Cal'ma nearly smiled in surprise. "Concerning her people? Yes."
A sigh was her only response.
"Why will you not tell me?" Cal'ma demanded, feeling angry suddenly with the woman who questioned her and yet did nothing to answer Cal'ma's questions.
"I don't trust you."
Cal'ma's mouth opened slightly. The Tau'ri did not trust her? She narrowed her eyes as she looked at the woman. "I don't trust you either," she admitted.
The blue eyes were laughing as they turned to her again. "But you sent your guards out."
Cal'ma blinked, and then shrugged. "They would not be interested, and you are only one woman who is-"
The words had barely passed over her lips before the warrior woman had her lying on her back, a pale, slender hand pressed tightly against the dark ebony skin of her throat.
"Do you trust me now?" the woman hissed, gazing down at her with anger in her eyes. "You have the nerve to... Why are you here?"
Cal'ma swallowed awkwardly, trying hard to get breath into her deprived lungs. "Nut commanded it!" she managed, marks of blackness swimming over her vision.
The hand around her throat relaxed, and Cal'ma pulled herself upright, gazing at the Tau'ri with distrust in her eyes.
"You could have killed me," she whispered, rubbing at her throat.
The woman said nothing, merely sat on the bed again with her back towards Cal'ma.
"Nut does not want you alone. She fears you may become ill."
"Why would I get sick?" the woman demanded, turning to face Cal'ma with concern on her features.
"Your mate has gone," Cal'ma explained, her neck aching. She knew that rich bruises would be forming beneath her dark skin, and that they would be tender for days. The woman could have killed Cal'ma, and yet she had not. Cal'ma gazed at the woman with new respect and a strange sense of trust.
"He'll be back," the woman stated confidently.
Cal'ma watched her carefully. She was so certain that he would come back, that he would not betray her. What gave her that confidence? Had it been Cal'ma in the Tau'ri's position, she would have left as soon as her feet touched the hot sands of Abydos. She would have travelled by gate to another planet.
"You will get ill if you are separated for too long," Cal'ma cautioned, timidly seating herself down on the bed beside the woman.
The woman gazed at her. "What's your name?"
Cal'ma stared at her, surprised by the question. "Cal'ma."
The woman nodded. "Sam."
"Sam?"
"Yeah, that's my name. Sam."
"I thought it was Carter," Cal'ma admitted.
A sorrowful smile touched the pink lips. "It is."
Cal'ma frowned in confusion. "How can they both be your name?"
The blue eyes smiled at her. "My full name is Samantha Carter, and my title is Major or Doctor, depending. So people either call me Sam for short, or if they're military, like the Colonel, they call me Carter or Major."
The words made no sense to Cal'ma, and she stared blankly at Sam Carter. "You have many names where you come from."
The woman laughed, and the sound bounced loudly off the walls. "That's what Teal'c said."
Teal'c. The Shol'va. Cal'ma gazed at the woman coldly; this woman was the enemy, someone out to destroy her goddess.
"What?" The woman frowned, confused.
Cal'ma shook her head, a strained smile contorting her lips. "Do you require nourishment?"
The woman hesitated.
"I will bring you some. And some for myself," Cal'ma decided. This woman, this Tau'ri, was strange and dangerous. But Nut had told Cal'ma to watch her at all times, and Cal'ma would do so.
~o0o~
Reverently his fingers played along the aged stone, tracing patterns that his eyes could now make out in the bright sunlight. Anhur let his eyes travel over the faded lettering, and his heart soared.
He would find Geb.
With a last, thankful brush of his fingers against the cold stone, he stepped away from the tablet and left the broken temple.
Shu's Might.
Anhur appreciated the ingenuity of the prison placement. Shu's Might. To imprison Geb within Shu's Might, the very Might he had sought to destroy… Anhur chuckled with amusement.
Nut would never think to look in Shu's Might. Never.
Shu's Might had been destroyed. Abandoned. Defeated.
No one would go there.
No one would find Geb hidden on a deserted planet that he conquered not long before his downfall.
And when Anhur found Geb, he would send for Nut.
And then he would capture Nut.
Anhur's fingers tingled with anticipation. He remembered the smoothness, the softness of Nut's host. The delicate network of veins running beneath porcelain skin. The large eyes set in an exquisite face.
Eyes that would be wide with pain and fear.
Fear of Anhur.
Fear of Ra.
Mostly, fear of Anhur.
Anhur laughed as his hands caressed the symbols that made the Chappa'ai spin and open the doorway to Shu's Might.
Without a backward glance he stepped through the ring.
Eyes that would be wide with fear dancing across his vision.
He smiled.
~o0o~
Daniel watched as Jack opened his eyes slowly and moved awkwardly as he lay on the cloth pallet.
"Carter?" he whispered, confused.
"She's not here, Jack," Daniel reminded the man, his eyes thoughtful as he looked down at his friend.
Jack blinked hard and sat up slowly, groaning at the movement.
"Are you okay, Jack?"
"Yeah, fine. I think the heat got to me," the Colonel admitted.
Daniel nodded his head sceptically and sat back on his haunches, surveying Jack.
"Have you heard of Geb, Daniel?"
Daniel nodded his head. "Nut's mate, imprisoned by Ra for mutiny and rebellion. Imprisoned in Shu's Might."
Jack frowned. "Shu's Might? What the hell is that?"
"I don't know," Daniel admitted, standing up and offering Jack a hand to pull him to his feet. "Are you sure you're okay?"
Jack glanced at Daniel. "Daniel, did you know that Nut's a host?"
Again, Daniel nodded his head.
"Is there anything you don't know?" Jack demanded, a half smile pulling at his lips.
"Where Geb is and why the hell you left Sam behind," Jacob's voice answered before Daniel had a chance to answer.
"It's complicated, Sir," Jack rubbed at his temple.
"Try me," Jacob's voice held ice, and Daniel flinched at the expression on the Tok'ra's face.
"She died," Jack started out.
Shock and grief flared within Daniel.
"She what?" Jacob gaped, his face drained of colour.
"But Nut healed her," Jack continued hastily, his glance apologetic for giving them a shock.
"With a sarcophagus," Daniel nodded his head, accepting the possibility.
"No," Jack shook his head. "She did the Nox thing and healed Carter herself."
Daniel frowned. "I thought they needed more than one person to do that?" he questioned hesitantly.
"They do."
"So how did she…?"
"I helped. Sort of," Jack fidgeted awkwardly with the impractical robes that were coated with a film of dry sand.
"How?" Jacob asked slowly.
"I don't know. She used my… my `life force'," Jack's face pulled oddly as the worse crossed over his lips. "I don't know what she did, but…"
"But what?" Daniel questioned, concerned about the hesitant, even fearful look on the Colonel's face.
"Would you believe me if I said Carter and I were linked?"
"Linked?" Jacob echoed, sounding as confused as Daniel felt.
"Yeah. Like… Like she was still hurt badly, and I could feel her hurt. I also felt sick when she was sick, but that usually happens when I see someone being sick so I don't know if it counts."
Daniel gazed at Jack doubtfully.
"Linked?"
Jack sighed, rubbing at his hair in frustration. "I knew Carter should have been the one to come!" he exclaimed.
"So why are you here?" Jacob demanded.
"Nut ordered it. She'd let one of us go while she held the other hostage. And we have to help her find Geb and then she'll apparently let us both go, but I doubt that."
"So why are you looking for Geb?"
"I'm not. Not really anyway. I was going to get Kasuf to send his GDO through the gate and then I was going to head back to the SGC, but obviously you guys are here now," Jack pointed out.
Daniel ran a hand through his hair.
"Isn't there maybe some way you could escape?"
"She's a Nox, Daniel, she can read our minds. Sort of."
Jacob nodded in agreement. "The only way to get them is either by using brute force, or Nut releasing them freely."
"Like that's gonna happen. And I'd like to see you take on a Goa'uld mothership with a Nox that can read minds," Jack replied pessimistically. "She told me straight out that any attempts to enlist you guys for help on rescuing us would be found out, so don't even think about it."
"Did she give you anything to go on?"
Jack shook his head in frustration. "No. Nothing. Just that Ra imprisoned Geb."
"What about Anhur?" Jacob questioned suddenly.
"An-who?"
"Anhur. Another Goa'uld," Daniel explained.
"Don't we already have our hands full with Nut and Geb?"
Daniel rolled his eyes. "This is an Ashrak, Jack. He's after Nut."
Jack's mouth formed a perfect `o' symbol.
"If we could find Anhur then he should be able to lead us to Geb. Either that or we find another Goa'uld that knows where Geb is hidden," Jacob suggested, his eyes brightening with him.
Daniel nodded his head in agreement. "And then when we have Geb we can barter for Sam and Jack."
"Excuse me," Jack waved his hands in frustration, "you want to ask a Goa'uld for help?"
Daniel's smile fell from his face.
"Jacob, what's Shu's Might?" Jack asked, his face creased in thought.
"We don't know," Daniel answered for Jacob. "We think it might be something like Thor's Hall of Might, but we have no idea which planet it would be on."
"Wouldn't it be on Shu's planet?" Jack asked logically.
Daniel stared at Jack blankly. Shu's planet. Of course.
Jack smirked smugly, gazing at Jacob who looked equally stunned.
"So now what?"
"I don't know-" Jack frowned as something against his chest vibrated. "Hang on."
Daniel watched as Jack pulled a small round ball from his pocket.
"Hide!" Jacob hissed, throwing himself onto the ground.
Daniel followed suit, watching as Jack stared into the ball with concentration.
"Hey Nut," he greeted cheerfully, but Daniel could see dislike and rebellion clearly within Jack's brown eyes.
"You must return, Tau'ri," Nut ordered.
"Not yet, I haven't found anything," Jack protested.
"You have until the sun sets," Nut agreed, and the ball died abruptly within Jack's grasp.
Jack looked down at them. "How long do I have?"
"A while still. It's only late morning. A few more hours."
"Enough time to nip to the SGC and pick up some real clothes, food and a pack of cards?" Jack asked hopefully.
Daniel grinned. "Shouldn't be a problem."
~o0o~
Nut gazed stonily at the walls of her throne room.
He was taking too long. Much too long.
Her brow furrowed in concern. Should he venture to another planet there was a strong possibility that both he and the woman would die before the day was over. Nut sighed angrily, rising to her feet in agitation. He would leave the planet. He would return to his home planet, she had felt his anticipation at the return home.
Sunset. It was near sunset now, and still he had not returned. That was too long. He had to return before then. If he did not then her plans would go to waste. The life force would be stretched between the distance for too long, and they would both die.
"Cal'ma!" Nut barked, spinning on her heel and marching out of her throne room. The guards dipped their heads respectfully at her approach. "Fetch me Cal'ma!" Nut ordered, sweeping back into the throne room without a backward glance.
They had to watch the woman carefully. They had to be prepared to use the sarcophagus.
Not that it would be necessary, but it never hurt to be prepared.
Nut hoped Cal'ma was watching the woman carefully; otherwise her plans would be worthless.
Nut felt uncertain with her plan for the first time. Everything was at risk because of the Tau'ri's foolish desires. And he was not aware of it.
Sighing, Nut threw herself down onto her throne, her spine aching in protest at her harsh movements.
Patience.
Patience and perseverance.
Nut would save them both. And they would have to repay her for that also.
A smile touched her lips.
Patience.
And a sarcophagus.
~o0o~
Sam fell back onto the bed with relief as Cal'ma left the room to answer Nut's summons.
She felt like shit, to be honest. Her skin was cold and clammy, but she felt strangely warm. And delirious. Maybe she was coming down with a fever.
She felt stretched, as though something was taking hold of her and pulling her taut.
A frown creased her forehead. Could Nut possibly have been telling the truth when she told them that they shared the same life force? Was there any truth in her claims that they would die if they were separated over too great a distance for too long a period in time?
She hoped not. She couldn't possibly spend every waking second of the rest of her life in the Colonel's company. Not that she wouldn't mind, but he did tend to be a bit… much. She needed personal space, and to live with him-
Live with him? Oh yeah, she was definitely delirious.
Her eyes closed as she lay back on the bed, feeling oddly light headed.
Actually, living with the Colonel probably wouldn't be that bad. He was funny, and meticulously neat, and he liked steak which suited her just fine…
Sam gasped as her head exploded in pain and a blurred image of Janet's concerned face swam into view.
"Janet?" she whispered, trying not to throw up as Janet's face rolled over the bucking walls around her.
"Colonel? Are you okay? Sir?" the words were distant and whispered, Janet's voice like the hint of birdsong on a gentle breeze.
"Janet?" Sam called again, lurching to her feet and staggering forwards, her head drumming in her hands. "Janet? Colonel?"
"Are you okay?" the words mocked her. "Are you okay?"
"Colonel!" she cried out desperately, falling against the wall and sliding to the ground as she cradled her head. It hurt. Damn but it hurt.
And her breathing… it felt like her chest was being torn apart.
Hands. There were hands touching her face, rolling her over onto her back. Sam batted at them lethargically. No, it hurt on her back. Where was the Colonel? And Janet?
Someone said something, but the words were blurred and fuzzy, her eyes feeling like cotton wool was being scraped along them and her stomach feeling as though she was on a wild ride…
It hurt.
It hurt so bad.
~o0o~
"Colonel? Are you okay? Sir?" Janet held his cold face firmly between her hands. His eyes were rolling, and he moaned as she moved his face.
"Carter," he whispered, clumsy hands reaching up to grasp at his head. "Hurts… It's tearing!" he gasped, jerking away from her and curling up on the floor.
"Are you okay?"
O'Neill was moaning on the floor, his breathing laboured and harsh.
"What's going on?" Daniel demanded as he was pushed out the way.
"I don't know. His blood pressure is dropping and his pulse is through the roof…"
"He's got to go back!" Daniel yelled suddenly, grabbing hold of Janet.
"He can't, he'll die! I need to get him on-"
"You don't understand, Janet!" Daniel interrupted her, his eyes wide with determination. "On Abydos he said something about him and Sam being linked, something to do with a healing process the Goa'uld used on him. If they're separated-"
Janet hesitated, her hands resting on O'Neill's erratic pulse.
"Okay, load him up on a gurney. Tell the General to get Abydos dialled up Stat!" she ordered.
Daniel helped tug Jack onto a stretcher, fear racing through his blood as his hands brushed over Jack's ice-cold hand.
"He's gone into cardiac arrest!" a nurse yelled.
Daniel jumped back hurried, numb with fear.
"Charge it at 200!" Janet yelled, snipping quickly down the front of his black shirt.
The defibrillator whined as it charged up, and Daniel flinched as Janet raised the paddles.
"Wait!"
Janet glanced sharply at the nurse at Jack's head.
"He's breathing again."
"Let's go people!" Janet ordered, not moving from her position on Jack's legs. Daniel hadn't even noticed her get up on the gurney.
Seconds later they entered the gate room in time to see the gate lock and open.
"Dr. Fraiser?" Hammond questioned.
"He's got to go, Sir!" Janet yelled, scrambling off the gurney as they pushed it up the ramp. "I'll be back soon, Sir!"
The gate swallowed them easily.
"There! Put him there!" Daniel pointed to where the transport rings worked. The medics worked quickly and efficiently, placing Jack carefully on the floor where he indicated. Daniel suddenly realised he was still holding the small bag Jack had packed not that long ago to take back with him. Thrusting it on Jack's chest, Daniel jumped back in time as the rings descended and Jack disappeared in the flash of gold.
They stood around the empty room, gazing at the spot where Jack had lain.
"Now what?" Janet asked softly.
"We find Shu's planet before Nut does," Daniel stated. "Jacob's already gone to the Tok'ra council to ask them what they know. He should let us know any time soon."
Janet nodded, her eyes fixed on the empty floor.
The building started to rumbled, indicating the ship taking off. "I guess we'd better go tell Hammond what happened," she said softly.
Silently Daniel dialled Earth, and the medics stepped through the gate wordlessly.
~o0o~
There was concern in her chest, bubbling briskly like water poured from a bottle. She tried to step on it, to quell the strange unease in her breast. But still it remained, niggling and moving around constantly within her, reminding her of its presence.
Cal'ma sighed in irritation, a frown marring her usually smooth brow.
Why? Why was she feeling concern for the two Tau'ri? They were her enemy, and one was not supposed to feel concern for an enemy.
Perhaps the unease was there simply because she feared what would happen to her if the Tau'ri died. If the sarcophagus could not save them.
Nut would not be pleased.
Nut would kill Cal'ma for failure.
Cal'ma sighed, her back stiff and aching from her constant vigil over the decorated golden bed of the gods. Her eyes were thick and dry; her body longed for Kel'no'reem.
Perhaps it was the lack of Kel'no'reem that was playing with her mind, playing with her emotions, making it seem as though she felt concern for the Tau'ri.
She sighed in annoyance. She was lying to herself. She did feel concern. And, unwanted and reluctant as it may be, the concern was growing within her by the minute.
They should have awakened by now. The sarcophagus should have opened by now, spilling the golden light from its bowels into the dim room and releasing its two prisoners.
At her feet lay the bag the Tau'ri had returned with. Cal'ma stared at it suspiciously, her eye studying the now familiar black canvas with the stitching so small it was almost hidden from view.
She longed to pick it up and examine it, to see what strange objects he had returned with. She wondered why Nut had not payed interest to it.
With another glance towards the sarcophagus, Cal'ma reached down at gingerly lifted the bag to her lap. It was light and the was material rough against her fingers. Quickly she undid the ties, pulling the strange metal tab that made an odd noise when it opened the bag. She studied the strange row of metallic teeth, wondering at what made them bite together to hold the bag closed.
Inside, however, were the real curiosities.
A small blue object made of a foreign material with short bristles on one end and a long, smooth handle caught her attention. She frowned as she studied it, wondering at its purpose.
Shrugging, she put it aside only to pull out another one similar, this one red in colour with a slightly longer handle.
A soft tube followed, and when she removed the small covering an odd smelling white paste squeezed onto her finger. Cal'ma sniffed at it, wondering what the strange lettering and pictures on the sides meant.
A noise caught her attention, and she quickly placed the objects back into the bag, standing up to study the sarcophagus.
Slowly the sides parted and the soft glow spilled into the room, lighting the dim corner Cal'ma had been seated in. Her heart rate quickened; were they alive or not?
Movement.
A smile broke onto Cal'ma's features, but she remembered in time that they were her enemy. She frowned. Why did she experience such emotions for these people when she had only communicated with them briefly, and they were the enemy of her people?
"I… what?"
"Colonel?"
"Carter?"
"Uh.. Sir… your hand…"
"Oh… yeah…"
She watched silently as they sat up awkwardly, trying to untangle their limbs from one another. It had been hard getting the male into the sarcophagus as well as the female, but they had managed it.
"Cal'ma?" the woman frowned, her confused gaze resting on Cal'ma.
"You are alive," Cal'ma observed.
"Very astute," the male replied sarcastically.
"What happened?" Carter asked as she climbed stiffly out of the sarcophagus, stretching her back while she waited for the male to climb out as well.
"You went too far," Cal'ma said softly, her eyes resting on O'Neill. "Nut warned you that you could not be far away for long periods of time."
A look of unease rested on their features, and they gazed at one another hesitantly.
"I see you had time to get changed," Carter eventually broke the silence.
"Uh… yeah. There's some stuff in the bag for you."
"What bag?" Carter frowned curiously.
"This one?" Cal'ma reached for the black canvas and lifted it up.
"That's it," the man agreed, reaching for it.
Cal'ma handed it over reluctantly, wishing she could ask what the strange, small objects with white bristles did. They could not be for one's hair, they were much too small.
"Did you find Geb?" Carter asked suddenly, her blue eyes focused steadily on the man's eyes.
The man shook his head negatively. "No. Daniel and your Dad-"
"Dad?" Carter looked surprised.
"Yeah. I met them on Abydos. The two of them-" He stopped suddenly, his gaze turning toward Cal'ma. "The two of them said `hi'."
Cal'ma knew that they wished to talk privately, without her company. She narrowed her eyes, watching them. What could they want to talk about that she must not hear? "Come," she ordered, sweeping out.
Sometime, over the course of her time with Carter, Cal'ma learnt that the Tau'ri woman was honest in her motives. Cal'ma need not fear them, and need not order an escort. They would follow her.
~o0o~
The pen was tapping persistently on the desk. Teal'c remained silent, his eyes following the erratic movements of the smooth object.
"Do you think he's okay?" Daniel Jackson asked softly, not turning his head to face Teal'c.
Teal'c considered the question. O'Neill was strong and there was a stubbornness within the man's mind. But to have his heart stop because of separation from Major Carter… Teal'c had never seen that happen before, nor heard of it either.
"O'Neill will not let himself die at the hands of a Goa'uld," Teal'c said carefully. "And I do not believe that Nut will let him die unless she has discovered the whereabouts of Geb."
The pen ceased tapping. "What then?"
What then? Teal'c sighed, wishing he could lie to Daniel Jackson. "I do not know."
"How do you think Jacob's going with Shu's Might?" The pen resumed its slow tapping.
"We shall found out soon, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c closed his eyes, blotting out the annoyance of Daniel Jackson's anxiety and released himself into the state of Kel'no'reem.
*
Daniel sighed, letting the pen quiet on the tabletop before he turned to face Teal'c. The Jaffa was sitting silently on the mat, his eyes closed in meditation. Daniel felt a momentary pang of guilt for annoying Teal'c and keeping him from a much needed Kel'no'reem, but he needed someone to talk to. Someone steady who would understand his confusion and pain. Someone who would encourage his burning hatred for the Goa'uld.
Janet didn't understand that. She was wonderful to talk to, a great friend, but the Goa'uld didn't affect her much more than injuring her people, and she could often patch them up.
No, that was a lie. The Goa'uld were just as much at war with her as the rest of them. The only difference was that Janet didn't hate. She was a doctor, and if a Goa'uld needed medical attention, she would give it to the Goa'uld. She'd proven that with Apophis already.
Running a tired hand through his dishevelled hair, Daniel stumbled to his quarters. Maybe he'd missed something in his books… maybe there was something somewhere that he hadn't noticed…
With an audible groan he collapsed onto his bed, rubbing at his eyes. He looked up and studied his reflection in the mirror on the opposite wall: bleary eyed and a bit more than 5 o'clock shadow, his BDU's still sand covered and creased… He blinked, swallowing dry spit through his cardboard rough mouth.
They had been close. That close to getting them back. He'd seen Jack, touched the man with his own fingers. The robes Jack had been wearing were probably still lying in a heap on the floor of his quarters where he'd dumped them.
But Jack had slipped away from them, the same way water ran through Daniel's fingers, pulling Sam and all Daniel's hope away out of reach and back into the Goa'uld's grasp.
~o0o~
The tension was unbearable; even Selmac was tense.
Jacob fidgeted as he sat at the crystal table top, trying to keep still so as not to distract Anise.
//I think I may have found it!// Anise looked up, success shining bright in her blue eyes.
"And?"
//Shu was much loved by Ra for following his orders and worshipping him, so he presented Shu with his position as God of the Sky. Along with the title, Ra gave Shu an entire system to rule. Shu revelled in his powers, and there were many tales of his greatness.//
Jacob raised an eyebrow. "How is that supposed to help us find Geb?"
//Shu's empire was powerful. Almost powerful enough to rival that of Ra.//
Jacob frowned, waiting to see where it was going.
//It was known as the Might of Shu, or Shu's Might.//
A grin split Jacob's face wide as the news rolled over him. "Where is it?"
//The old Erballian system.//
"That's been deserted for centuries," Jacob nodded his head thoughtfully.
//Ever since Geb and his forces defeated Shu.//
Jacob mulled over the information.
//Why did Geb attack Shu, and not Ra?// Selmac questioned slowly.
Anise's eyes lit up. //My theory is that Ra was becoming wary of both Shu and Geb's forces. What better way than to eliminate both threats by getting them to attack one another? That way, Ra's forces would suffer little loss when he captured Geb's forces, which would have been greatly weakened by the battle with Shu.//
Jacob nodded, standing up abruptly. "Do we have an address for the planet?"
Anise shook her head negatively. //I do not believe so. There is a Stargate, but it was a Goa'uld homeworld and the address would not be known. The quickest and easiest method of travelling there would be by teltac.//
Jacob nodded, taking the information into advice. "Thanks Anise. I owe you one."
Anise smiled in acknowledgement. //It was an honour, Jacob.//
With a quick nod of his head, Jacob headed towards the Council Rooms. The hard part was over: Geb had been found. Now all he needed was to get a teltac. Easy.
~o0o~
The air was musty and stale, clouds of dust shining dimly as light from a distant sun struck the tiny particles where it crept in through cracks.
Anhur choked on the dust clouds, his eyes stinging and his vision blurred as they obstructed his eyes. Coughing as the billows swept up by his tattered robes swirled around the room, he moved through the old air towards the back of the fallen temple.
Once the walls had glistened magnificently in the light of day, but now a dampness that spoke of age and neglect permeated the golden brilliance and turned it into a tarnished mess of algae streaked metal.
Anhur's lips curled at the stench, the layers of dust bathing his exposed feet in a thin film.
Through the darkness he could see collapsed walls and disintegrated stone. Nowhere could he see a sign of Geb.
Frustration washed over him, and he struck irritably at a loose rock balanced on a broken pillar. The rock clattered to the ground, shattered into clouds of dust and shrapnel that stung his feet.
He gazed down at the ruin rock blandly. An empty smile reached his eyes.
Geb would shatter. Like the rock. Anhur would slowly fragment him, savouring all the time it took before Nut arrived.
Nut would arrive.
He would make sure of it.
In the distance, dim light reflected dully off silver.
Anhur peered into the darkness.
Perhaps… perhaps…
Deliberately he stepped on the shattered remains.
Geb would shatter.
And Nut would arrive.
~o0o~
"Want to see what Santa brought?" O'Neill asked as they walked back into the chamber that was now `theirs'.
"Santa?" Sam raised an eyebrow, trying to hide her smile.
O'Neill grinned and threw the small bag at her, falling back onto the bed.
Clutching the roughened material, tears stung at Sam's eyes. Home. He'd been home… She wanted to go home. She wanted to see her Dad, and Cassie, and wear something decent and not live in constant fear of being killed or turned into a Goa'uld.
"Hey, you okay?" he asked gently, frowning in concern.
"Fine," she lied, forcing a tight smile onto her features. She couldn't break. Not now. Not when they needed to stay strong to escape. When they got away, then she could break down and have a good vent in the privacy of her own home.
She could feel his eyes on her, but she ignored him determinedly. Sympathy and comfort now would break her, and she couldn't break now. Not yet.
Her fingers fumbled with the zip, her vision blurred with the unshed tears.
She would not break.
The first thing she laid eyes on was a toothbrush. A red toothbrush followed by a blue toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste.
Her eyes stung again, and she swallowed roughly.
She reached in again and pulled out a small plastic carry bag.
"That's your stuff. Doc Fraiser packed it for you," he said, reaching for the black bag and pulling out the second carry bag before handing it back to her.
Putting the plastic bag aside, Sam delved into the black bag once again. "Chocolate?" she questioned, trying not to laugh.
"Hey, we need some decent food!" he defended himself, also smiling. "There is also a pack of cards, a walkman courtesy of Cassie with spare batteries and some other mechanical bits and pieces."
Sam frowned. "Why?"
The Colonel grinned, rolling across the bed and sitting next to her. "You're the scientist, Carter. You could build something like a GDO if need be, right?"
Realisation dawned on Sam's features. "If I have the right-"
"Siler took care of it."
Relief and joy rushed through her veins and a laugh bubbled to the surface. All was not lost; they could escape and get home! Sam dropped the bag on the bed and flung her arms around his shoulders, almost crying in relief.
He chuckled against her, his arms curling around her and holding her in place against him.
Her breath caught in her throat as the familiar scent of his aftershave jerked her back to reality. What was she doing? This was her CO, and she had-
Oh. Ooooh…
She twisted her head as his lips brushed against her neck, a fleeting caress that ignited something inside her. Something she hadn't felt for a long, long time.
A feather light touch assaulted her senses, and she sighed as she leaned in against him, his chest hard and warm beneath her cheek.
She shivered as his breath whispered across her skin and the soft pressure of his lips rested against the corner of her mouth. "Carter…" His breath was warm and minty, and she moaned slightly as his hand rose higher and threaded itself into her hair.
His nose bumped against hers, and then their lips were tasting and teasing, a headlong rush of feelings sending Sam spinning as his fingers slipped beneath the satin folds of her gown and flitted over her heated skin, sparking moans and whispers while her fingers played their own game along his arms and the back of his neck.
The bed was soft behind her back, and the intense pleasure rippled between them as his weight descended over her. Never had she felt anything this exquisite, this pure… she could feel what he was feeling, and the emotions cascaded over them.
His mouth broke from hers and planted an unsteady trail of kisses down her neck. She moaned, grasping at his short hair, her body trembling as he- Oh…
She sighed, pulling his head up back to hers-
"Come."
The voice was hard and jarring, jerking her from the heated cacoon of emotions building around them and depositing her in reality with a hard slap across the face.
Sam stared up at O'Neill, her lips tingling and her body still thrumming with emotion. He was staring down at her, the emotion in his masked eyes unreadable.
What had she been thinking? He was her CO! Obviously she hadn't been thinking!
He muttered something, and she could see and feel his embarrassment.
Her cheeks were flaming as she struggled to right her revealing garments, trying very hard not to keep staring at him.
Cal'ma was waiting impatiently, her eyes empty as she gazed at them.
Sam frowned as she watched the Jaffa priestess. Cal'ma knew something that they didn't know, and it wasn't good news by the looks of it.
Concern spiked through Sam's heart, and her gaze flitted involuntarily to O'Neill.
What had she been thinking? Hugging him, kissing him…
She shook her head, and stepped silently out of the room behind Cal'ma, determinedly locking her eyes on the ebony back leading the now familiar way to Nut's chambers. Next to her, the Colonel said nothing, and she knew without looking that his eyes were also firmly focused ahead.
What had she been thinking?
~o0o~
She was not patient by nature, and what little patience Nut had was worn thin. Her fragile nails scratched slowly along the burnished gold armrests, skirting around the edges of the jewels as the noise curled deliciously in the pit of her host's stomach.
The familiar prickling within her mind told her they approached.
Good.
The movement of her nail on the metal ceased, and she waited silently for Cal'ma to arrive with the Tau'ri.
They would tell her where Geb was, or they would die.
Regret brushed against Nut's golden eyes briefly; the male would have made an excellent Jaffa. Still, the pleasure Nut would draw from them for failing her would be great. Anticipation sparkled within her mind.
Slowly. She would kill them slowly for failing her.
The doors swung open, but did not raise her eyes to observe them enter.
The Tau'ri were agitated, their life force singing with energy that rippled around the room like a strong breeze. Nut frowned in absent thought; what had caused this awkwardness within them?
Perhaps they knew of their impeding death.
No, they were not fearful… just… the emotion eluded her, and Nut sighed in annoyance.
"Where is Geb?" she demanded, breaking the crystal silence as her nails resumed their earlier movements across the metal. She felt their discomfort at the noise, and inwardly her anticipation grew.
The male shrugged; she felt his life force quiver with wariness. He was strong and wise, this Tau'ri, and again she felt reluctant to kill him for failing.
Perhaps she would only torture the female and not kill them… that way they would both feel the pain, and he would never betray her…
"You have failed me," she told him calmly, raising her eyes to meet those of the defiant Tau'ri.
"You didn't exactly give me a lot of time," he complained.
Nut felt satisfaction within her; both were beginning to know fear, yet neither showed it. They would be a wonderful challenge to break.
A thought floated into Nut's consciousness: perhaps there was something else neither one of them was showing. Deception, perhaps?
She studied the male carefully, searching within his life force for deception. He was deceiving… yet he was not lying about Geb.
They were planning to escape.
Nut's eyes flared in anger, and for a second she had the delight of witnessing raw fear in his eyes. He knew she knew.
"Wait!" the woman yelled desperately as Nut languidly raised her hand towards them.
Nut smiled; she had not believed she would have the pleasure of hearing them beg. They were weaker than she had thought, and the realisation was mildly disappointing. Still…
The familiar strength of the ribbon device strummed through her veins. They were terrified now, fear spurting from them as hysterically as blood from a severed artery. Pleasure filled her as the male grunted in pain beneath her onslaught, while in the distance she could hear the woman yelling desperately.
His thoughts were tumbling around wildly, his control shattered by her power.
Her host struggled abruptly, and the sudden distraction caused a ripple of weakness within the golden power.
"Might!" the Tau'ri grunted, jerking away. "He's… Shu…"
Nut held her hand steady, dropping the flow of energy to a mere trickle.
Shu?
Hatred rose within her, sharper than ever.
"Geb... he's… Shu's Might…"
The room seemed dim as she halted the power. Shu's Might? No! It couldn't be!
To insult Geb by imprisoning him on a world he had conquered… it was unheard of! It was unacceptable.
It was something Ra would do.
Nut stared down at the Tau'ri, both clutching one another and gasping with pain, relief mingled with fear rolling from them.
They had served her after all.
She would let them live.
For now.
~o0o~
//We understand your concern, Jacob, however-//
"No, you see, if you did understand my concern then you wouldn't think twice about letting me take a teltac and go!"
//Jacob!// Per'sus' voice held a sharp edge, and Jacob swallowed roughly as he tried to keep his control.
"This is my daughter we're talking about! If the Tau'ri find out that we know where Geb is and don't tell them then we're risking the alliance as well!"
//They do not need to know we know.//
Jacob knew the Tok'ra were cold and callous because of their single- minded determination to succeed… but this… this was unacceptable.
"Selmak and I have been working our asses - ass - off for the last months. We've done everything short of take down the Goa'uld single handed. All we're asking is that you lend us a teltac for one day. That's all."
There was silence in the chamber. //Jacob, the Goa'uld are getting stronger than ever, and you are asking that we give you one of the limited teltacs we have for a personal mission?//
//Perhaps it would be wise,// Anise's voice floated around the room. //Should Nut locate Geb and release him then we will have yet another Goa'uld against us.//
Jacob shot a grateful look towards the blond Tok'ra.
The silence was broken as the Council murmured among themselves, and Jacob found himself clutching at the end of Tok'ra meeting desk with stiff fingers.
//Very well. Jacob, you may use a teltac. You must ensure that Geb does not return to power.//
Jacob nodded his head, adrenalin rushing through his veins.
Sam. He was going to save Sam!
//We will send a message to the Tau'ri immediately and request the assistance of Dr. Jackson and Teal'c,// Per'sus continued. //You are to leave as soon as they arrive.//
~o0o~
Every time he moved, it felt like his head was going to explode. The slightest noise or whispering of air over the raw wound hurt more than he would have thought possible.
"Sir?" Carter whispered, and he opened his eyes to stare up into her pale face.
He tried to respond, but his voice wouldn't obey his command.
"That was close, Sir," she continued before reaching down with a damp cloth to brush something from his cheek and nose.
Blood. Dried blood that had caked on there.
It had been close. Much too close.
He squinted up at her, wishing that the lights would stop blurring together. Her forehead looked red and blistered as well. He could feel the tremor in her hands as she wiped at his face.
It had been close for her too.
"Why did she stop?" Carter's words were cautious and confused.
Jack closed his eyes, sighing.
She'd stopped because Jack had told her where Geb was. Someone, Shu's Might meant something to the snakehead and had pissed her off to no end.
"Geb," he muttered hoarsely, his voice scratching on her throat.
"Did you find him?" Carter frowned, her hand absently toying with his jacket.
Head hurt. Tired…
"Sort…of."
"Sort of?"
He sighed. All he wanted to do was sleep, why was she asking so many questions?
"Colonel?"
"Shu's Might," he whispered, his voice working slightly better.
His head hurt. He was so tired.
"What's-"
Her words were cut to a rude halt as they were both thrown from the bed by the harsh jolt of the ship launching into hyperspace.
"Found out…." He managed before his eyes slipped shut and his world was plunged into oblivion again.
~o0o~
Anhur walked silently in the dark room. No sunlight reached this far into the bowels of the temple. His feet often cracked into hard rocks and debris, his head knocking harshly against uneven roofing and his whole body smashing roughly against protruding walls and turns.
He did not stop.
He could feel Geb ahead. He could feel the singing in his blood, the lust for a victory taking over his mind.
He did not stop.
Sticky blood trickled down his face like molasses, drizzling into his eyes. But he did not wipe it away because that would take time and it was not obstructing his vision in this darkness.
He did not stop.
On he forged, past images and memories guiding him towards the chamber where Geb would be imprisoned.
The throne room. Ra would imprison Geb in the very centre of Shu's Might, an apt form of revenge.
Anhur's chuckle bounced oddly and emptily through the darkness, the echoes colliding violently against one another.
He did not stop.
Ahead, Anhur knew, were the great doors embossed with fine goldwork and millions of jewels, all cut by the hands of slaves. None other had such finery as Shu had possessed, not even Ra.
Guilt prickled at Anhur for such traitorous thoughts, but Anhur knew it to be true. Ra had never paid as much attention to jewels as Shu had, preferring instead gold and young boys.
Anhur grinned, the warm blood seeping over his cracked lips and onto his tongue. He had preferred Ra's tastes, and was often rewarded with young Jaffa for his pleasure. Perhaps he would be given a planet for this success… this capture of Nut.
The blood warmed his mouth, and a deliciously heady feeling swept over Anhur. So strong was the temptation to give into the feelings evoked by his own life liquid, that he was tempted to stop and taste more. But he controlled himself.
Geb was close.
Revenge and victory were even sweeter than the taste of blood.
Patience.
Anhur kept walking. Walking towards his victory.
~o0o~
Daniel grunted in his sleep, shifting awkwardly on his pillow.
He was going to have to get a new pillow; this one was so lumpy it clicked when moved.
Daniel frowned.
Clicked when he moved?
Slowly he opened his eyes and came face to face with the `F' key on his keyboard.
"Have a good sleep?" Janet's voice was tired, but the note of underlying amusement couldn't be missed.
"Hmm?" Daniel blinked, pushing himself upright. Oh, jeez, that hurt. Ow!
"Back okay?"
"It'll be fine, just needs to move a bit," he yawned, stretching and rubbing at his eyes.
He heard her walking towards him, her heels clipping briskly on the concrete floor. "Here."
Daniel accepted the glasses she'd picked up from the desk and slipped them on, yawning again as he looked around.
"I told you to get a good night's sleep, Daniel," she sighed in reproached, placing a cup of coffee next to him. "You're in terrible condition, and I've half a mind not to let you go."
"Go where?" he mumbled as he carefully drank the hot beverage.
"To get Sam and Jack."
He coughed into his drink, spraying his paperwork with dark droplets. "What?"
"The Tok'ra sent a message about an hour ago, and then General Carter came through to talk to General Hammond. They know where Shu's Might is and they have a teltac to get you there."
Daniel blinked.
"When do we leave?"
"As soon as you're ready."
Daniel was up and out of his chair before she'd finished talking.
"Daniel!"
"Janet?" He turned around in the doorway, clearly anxious to get going.
"Coffee." She held up his unfinished drink.
He raced back to her, grabbed the mug and downed the bitter liquid in one mouthful.
"Thanks Jan, you're the best," he grinned, pecking her on the cheek before running out of the room again.
Janet smiled in amusement, picked up his mug and followed him down the hallway at a more sedate pace.
*
Hammond sat silently, waiting for Teal'c and Daniel to arrive. He watched Jacob fiddle with a pen, a haunted desperation shadowing his friend's eyes.
"You'll get them, Jake."
Jacob smiled half-heartedly. "Don't get your hopes up, George. Jack was under the impression that we don't know where Shu's Might is, and he certainly didn't know. Nut might have killed them already and this would all be pointless."
Hammond sighed, accepting the Tok'ra's answer. After all, if anyone should understand the way the mind of a Goa'uld worked it would be a Tok'ra.
"Maybe Nut knows where Shu's Might is."
"That's assuming Jack told her that much. You know him, George. He plays his cards close to his chest."
Hammond frowned. "I was under the impression that she could read minds."
"It's difficult… but it might be a possibility. If Jack was thinking about Shu's Might and not other stuff, then yeah. Otherwise…"
Hammond nodded in resignation as the door opened to admit Teal'c, Daniel and Dr. Fraiser.
"When do we leave?" Daniel demanded, not even sitting down.
Hammond smiled inwardly at his enthusiasm, but he indicated a chair. "Not quite yet, Dr. Jackson."
He sighed heavily, dropping into a chair before studying Jacob intently. "How did you find out about Shu's Might?"
"One of the Tok'ra has a role similar to an archaeologist, Daniel. Anise went through her notes and our history and we worked out that Shu's Might was his planet. At least, that's what we think."
"So why aren't we going?" Daniel demanded.
"We've got a teltac from the Tok'ra High Council on the condition that we make sure both Nut and Geb are our of the picture for good."
"And?"
"Even if we get to Shu's homeworld before Nut does we would still have to find Geb on it and set up a trap for Nut that she won't be able to smell out a hundred miles away."
"Oh," Daniel blinked.
"How do we intend to do this, General Carter?"
"If we get Geb first we can barter with Nut for him, but chances are that she'd destroy us or betray us."
"No surprise there," Daniel muttered. Hammond smiled; the archaeologist had been hanging around Jack O'Neill for a while now.
"So what is our plan?" Teal'c asked again, frowning as he weighed the situation in his mind.
"We go in with our ship cloaked. If we get there before Nut then we leave it cloaked. She'll either leave the ship herself with an escort, or stay on the ship and send guards down to get Geb."
Hammond nodded, listening carefully.
"If she leaves the ship we wait for her to get out of sight and then we attack her ship. They won't be expecting an attack and we should be able to take it over pretty easily, depending on her forces. She's also likely to leave Sam and Jack on board, so we could rescue them at the same time. Then all we do is blow her to pieces from space."
Hammond frowned. "What if she doesn't leave her ship?"
Jacob sighed. "We really better be hoping that she does leave it. Otherwise we go with the orginal plan and get to Geb first."
"So it's basically a race to see who gets there first?" Daniel asked slowly.
"Yes," Jacob nodded.
"Then shouldn't we get going?"
~o0o~
Sam stretched on the bed, careful not to bump into the Colonel in case she accidentally woke him up.
Casting a quick glance in his direction, she satisfied herself that he was doing okay. She was worried about him; Nut had gone too far with the ribbon device.
When the two of them had been dragged back to their room, he'd had a thin trickle of red blood running from his nose. She sincerely hoped there was no serious brain damage, but she was doubtful.
Since their inquisition a few hours ago, he'd barely uttered more than a few hoarse replied, and then falling into a deep sleep.
She hoped it wasn't a coma.
Sam frowned, a thought presenting itself to her. He couldn't be to badly injured because she was okay. Relatively anyway.
Raising a tentative hand to her blistered forehead, Sam felt the evidence of their link, and it terrified her. To have her life at risk because of him, and to put his life at risk because of her… It was a terrible responsibility for both of them.
It was also a blessing, of sorts. She had the comfort of knowing he was okay at least, and being able to `share' her health with him meant that he'd get better a lot quicker than normal. Her injury and remarkable recovery had proven that weeks ago.
Weeks ago.
Was really almost over a month that they'd been missing?
She sighed, sitting up and cradling her knees again. It felt like longer. Much longer. Each day was the same in these confines, and while she enjoyed the Colonel's company, having only his company for 24/7 was a bit much. Even for her.
Casting another glance at him, she decided he wouldn't mind if she helped herself to a candy bar.
She looked around for the black bag.
It was gone.
Sam's eyes opened wide with realisation. Nut had known. She'd known they would escape.
Of course, she was a Nox, it made sense.
"Damn!" she snapped, hot anger rushing over her. "Damn!"
"Carter?"
"Colonel?" She was back at his side quicker than she would have thought possible, laying gentle fingers across his forehead where it wasn't burnt and blistered.
"Whas…. wrong?" he murmured, closing his eyes and wincing in pain at her ministrations.
"Nothing. You should keep still, Sir, and get some rest."
"Thirsty…"
"Hang on," she whispered, running across to their pitcher of water and cups. "Here, Sir."
He only drank a little before his head flopped back onto the pillows, but his eyes opened and he looked up at her, his gaze surprisingly lucid.
"Carter?"
"Sir?"
"About… about…"
"Yeah." She knew exactly what he was talking about. Their gross breach of protocol wasn't something that had just slipped her mind.
Actually, it was a very big part of her thoughts at the moment.
"Sorry…"
She smiled tentatively. "It's okay, Sir. It was my fault just as much as yours." She placed the damp cloth on his burnt forehead again, and he sighed in relief.
"Are we… okay?" He swallowed, and she could tell he was fighting to keep his eyes open.
Were they?
She smiled. "Yes Sir, we're fine."
"Good. You're a good… friend…. Carter," he whispered as his eyes closed.
Sam felt tears stinging her eyes, and she pressed a chaste kiss to the side of his temple. "You too, Sir, you too."
~o0o~
The metal of the sarcophagus was smooth and cold beneath his fingers, the layers of dust peeling away and swirling through the air so that Anhur could feel their dancing on his skin.
His fingers traced the old symbols, the words flowing around him and bringing to view his Master's sense of revenge.
The Might of Shu… Shu's Might…
Anhur let his hands slide further along the smooth metal, walking down beside the elegant length until the tips of his fingers brushed the release glyph.
He smiled, savouring the moment.
His hand flitted between his robes, feeling for the warm steel of the hunting knife tucked within the silken folds. His finger stung as the tempered steel drew blood, and his eyes glowed in satisfaction. The blade was ready to hiss through the air and taste the feel of flesh upon it once more.
Anhur removed it slowly and reverently, wishing he could see his reflection upon the bright metal, which normally gleamed silver in the light. This knife, the only remaining symbolism of his position alongside Ra. This knife, the object by which to remember that he had failed and lost everything.
This knife, all that was left with him inside his prison.
Anger stirred in Anhur's breast.
Geb would pay.
Geb would pay with his life. His life would be taken by the blade Anhur had spent an eternity sharpening.
Satisfaction rippled over Anhur again. Yes, it was fitting. It all worked together. He had been fated by Geb and Nut to spend an eternity imprisoned, and in deciding his destiny they had decided their own fate: to die by his blade.
The glyph turned smoothly on the sarcophagus, and Anhur felt the warmth of his saliva gathering in his dust caked mouth. Soon, soon the dust would be washed away with the blood.
The golden light penetrated the darkness, a vision that sent Anhur's heart racing. Soon… soon.
With a final grate, the sarcophagus swung open.
Anhur was there instantly, watching as Geb opened his eyes. Anhur watched Geb as he raised the knife, the silver now glowing gold in the rich light.
Horror and confusion flashed across Geb's face, terror twisting the rich mouth into a pout of hysteria.
"NO!" the Goa'uld screamed, convulsing as the blade slid into his chest smoothly, grating slicing through flesh and bone equally and piercing the heart.
The body twitched as Anhur pulled the knife out smoothly and, like a true huntsman, cut a deep slash across the throat to bleed the pray. One could not leave one's prey full of blood.
Anhur's revenge was warm and sweet, the coppery after tang sending shivers of delight through his body.
Finally.
He had been waiting for this day for so long.
Anhur raised his head slowly, his eyes glistening in delight as he looked upon Geb's limp, blood soaked body.
He was tempted to close the sarcophagus, to bring Geb to life again, fresh for another kill… But that was cheating. A huntsman hunted for the kill, and once the prey had been killed the pleasure was over.
Strengthened by Geb's blood, Anhur lifted the limp body over his shoulders and turned to leave.
Geb's blood was still flowing lightly, a thick treacly river spilling down across Anhur's shoulder and mingling with his own blood.
Soon. Soon his revenge would be complete.
~o0o~
Nut shivered in the warmth of her chambers, a shadow of coldness steeling over her.
Frowning, Nut banished the feeling. She was so close to having Geb returned to her, so close to the start of their reign…
Geb would be angry, Nut mused silently. He would be angered with her for not rescuing him sooner, and she needed something to appease his anger.
A gift, perhaps?
Perhaps a young Jaffa with whom Geb could have his first pleasures and do with what he wanted?
Yes, that would please Geb greatly.
Cal'ma?
Nut sighed in reluctance; Cal'ma was useful. Cal'ma was loyal and served with a most complete devotion. No, Cal'ma was far too valuable.
Nut smiled.
The Tau'ri. What would please Geb more than to have the Tau'ri?
But… Nut still wished for the male to be a Jaffa, and to give the female to Geb would mean certain death for both of them.
She sighed in annoyance.
Her eye caught the small black bag she had bid Cal'ma to remove from the Tau'ri. Carefully she picked it up, fiddling until her fingers found the release and the primitive catch slid open. She gazed down at the strange objects within.
How could they have wanted to escape with these harmless objects? These objects were all so fragile a simple pressure would render them useless.
Casting aside the vile clothing, Nut dug deeper within the small bag.
Metal.
Ahhh… Perhaps the woman was intending on creating something with all these pieces. Yes, the woman was very intelligent - for a primitive species. Creating something from nothing was something she was well capable of.
Nut smiled, carefully placing the bag upon her bed.
She had a gift for Geb, and the Tau'ri would provide it
~o0o~
"So… what exactly is Shu's Might?" Daniel Jackson questioned as he stared through the windows into the colours of hyperspace.
"A planet in the old Erballian system," General Carter replied somewhat tiredly.
"Where's that?"
"A long way away."
Daniel Jackson sighed, turning to face General Carter. "So, how long before we get there?"
General Carter sighed a long suffering sigh. "Daniel, it's a long way away. At least twenty hours."
"Twenty hours?"
"Which is less time than it should take Nut if she started out at Abydos," General Carter answered gently.
"What if she had a head start?"
"Then it could be close."
They dropped into silence, and Teal'c took the time to allow his thoughts freedom.
Should they arrive before Nut, which Teal'c doubted would occur, then their plans rested on the hope that Nut would leave the ship with an escort. That would give them chance to rescue both O'Neill and Major Carter before attacking Nut.
Teal'c was not satisfied with the plan. There were too many probabilities that their plan simply ignored. What if Nut did not leave the ship? What if Nut should reach the planet before them?
What if Major Carter and O'Neill were already dead?
Teal'c frowned; that was not a pleasing possibility at all. Teal'c sincerely hoped that Major Carter and O'Neill were both well as he had come to care for them both significantly.
"What are you thinking, Teal'c?" Daniel Jackson rudely interrupted his thoughts.
Teal'c sighed inwardly, and found himself wishing that Daniel Jackson had been given the time to pack sufficiently before they left. That way he would at least be occupied now, reading some text, leaving both Teal'c and General Carter in peace.
"I am concerned for O'Neill and Major Carter," he replied honestly, opening his eyes as he realised Daniel Jackson was not intending on leaving him any time soon.
"And?" General Carter turned to face Teal'c also.
"I do not believe our plan will succeed."
"Have you got a better one?" General Cater demanded defensively.
"I do not."
"I have to agree with Teal'c, sir. There are so many things that could go wrong with this-"
"And we'll deal with those things as they happen. Right now, we only know that we have to get there before Nut, and get Sam and Jack away from her before she kills them. That good enough for you?"
Daniel Jackson nodded mutely.
"Teal'c?"
"I am concerned, General Carter. How are we to deceive Nut?"
General Carter sighed. "With luck, Teal'c."
~o0o~
Cal'ma was anxious.
Something within her was squirming with fear, and the feeling did not bode well.
Nut was behaving strangely. More strangely than she had ever behaved, even for a goddess. And she had been behaving strangely ever since the Tau'ri arrived.
Cal'ma felt her apprehension increase.
Why would Nut cease punishing the Tau'ri and let them live? And where was Nut going now?
The questions tumbled around her mind, distracting Cal'ma from her task. If Cal'ma could not complete her practice then she would be unfit to perform for Nut, and Nut loved Cal'ma's skill with the Hal'mika. Cal'ma's fingers were nimble and light across the strings, her voice blended with the haunting notes to perfection.
And Nut enjoyed the perfection; it was Cal'ma's greatest asset.
Cal'ma sighed, carefully placing the Hal'mika in its stand before standing and moving out of her quarters.
She would talk to the Tau'ri. She would talk to Carter; O'Neill was mocking and sarcastic, he thought Cal'ma stupid.
Cal'ma was not stupid. Were she stupid she would never have made first priestess.
With trepidation, Cal'ma found herself standing in front of the door to the Tau'ri chambers. Nut had not ordered her to watch them, or even talk to them. Cal'ma swallowed nervously; she was disobeying Nut.
Still… Her unrest would not quiet until she had spoken to the Tau'ri.
Carter was tending to O'Neill, her face taut with pain and concern.
"Carter?" Cal'ma whispered, her voice barely carrying across the room.
Carter looked up, a smile of recognition touching her lips before she turned back to O'Neill.
"What have you done?" Cal'ma whispered, stepping closer.
Carter looked up, confused. "Pardon?"
"What purpose have you for coming here?" Cal'ma repeated.
Carter almost laughed in astonishment. "We didn't want to come here. Nut captured us, if you remember correctly."
Yes, that was true, they were Nut's prisoners.
"What's wrong?" Carter asked, concern lacing her voice.
Suddenly Cal'ma knew this was wrong, knew that she should never have come to talk to Carter.
"Nothing," Cal'ma turned to leave.
"Cal'ma, wait!" Carter called.
Cal'ma hesitated, turning to face the woman. "Yes?"
"You have to help us," Carter begged.
Cal'ma shook her head, stepping backwards. No, no, she couldn't betray Nut. Never.
"Please, Cal'ma. She'll kill us if we stay."
Yes, that was true. Nut would kill them. The thought saddened Cal'ma's heart, but it was the way things were.
"I cannot help you," Cal'ma admitted, though something in her ached to help the Tau'ri.
"Cal'ma, she's not a god. She's just as mortal as you or me. She could die just as easily!"
Cal'ma smiled gently. "You are wrong, Carter. Nut has been alive for longer than any Jaffa or Tau'ri. She can heal the wounded and raise the dead. She is a goddess," Cal'ma stated. And as she stated the words, her conviction and belief returned.
It was true, Cal'ma was a goddess, and a goddess could do anything.
"What about Geb? She didn't know where Geb was. We had to find that out for her!"
Cal'ma frowned. Yes, that was true. But…
"I cannot help you, Carter."
Carter sighed, her shoulders slumping again so that she appeared shorter than her lithe frame was. "No, I don't suppose you can."
Cal'ma nodded her head in acknowledgement, and turned to leave.
"Cal'ma?"
"Yes?"
"Where are we going?"
Cal'ma smiled hesitantly. "To release Geb."
And as Cal'ma uttered the words, her anxiety and fear increased tenfold, so that when she left the Tau'ri her unease made her muscles quiver.
~o0o~
Nut remained silent, watching as Cal'ma retreated down the corridor.
Nut had been concerned about Cal'ma. Concerned that her Jaffa was swaying to the beliefs of the Tau'ri.
Nut need not have been concerned; her Jaffa were all loyal and devout in their faith.
The Tau'ri, however… They would poison the minds of her people any way they could. Nut could not allow that.
Silently she stepped into the chamber, watching as the female sat down next to the male and placed a damp cloth upon his blistered brow.
Nut should have killed them.
The woman looked up, unease on her face. "Who's there?"
Nut started, stepping backwards in surprise. She was not visible, and yet the woman had sensed her…
The woman had been a host, Nut remembered, and she could sense the naquadah within Nut.
Silently, Nut made herself visible.
The woman gasped, standing up and stepping back in surprise. Nut smiled; to see fear upon a victim's face.
"You try to poison the minds of my followers with your lies," Nut spoke calmly, pacing slowly towards the woman.
"They're not lies. You're the one lying, Nut."
Nut smiled disdainfully. Were this woman not capable of giving Nut what she wanted, Nut would have killed her then.
"You cannot stay among us," Nut continued, ignoring the outburst.
"So what, you're going to kill us?"
Nut smiled again, but shook her head. "No. I will spare you."
The woman raised a wary eyebrow, stepping back towards the male and resting a protective hand on his shoulder. They were close, these Tau'ri, almost as close as Nut had been to Geb.
But they were fools.
"You wish to escape from me, do you not?" Nut purred. Behind her, Nut heard the familiar sounds of the Jaffa who escorted her approaching.
The woman swallowed but did not answer.
"However, I have taken what you need so it would be impossible for you to escape."
Anger glinted within the remarkable blue eyes, and again Nut felt the odd longing to inhabit the woman, to have her as a host.
"We don't need chocolate to escape."
Chocolate? Nut shrugged the term off; it was not relevant.
"I will let you go," Nut started, tracing a slender finger along the woman's jawbone, "if you build me the device you need to escape."
The woman laughed, a short bark of sound that exploded loudly in Nut's ears. "Yeah, right."
Nut's mouth tightened in anger. If the woman would not help, then she would die. By Geb's hand.
"If you do not build this device, then you and your mate will both die."
The woman raised her chin defiantly, staring coldly down at Nut through ice blue eyes. "You won't get the device either way."
Anger spurted through Nut, and she raised her hand against the woman's cheek, knocking her to her feet. "Insolence! I will see to it that Geb punishes you greatly before killing you."
Fear flickered in the defiant eyes, but the woman remained silent, only moving to wipe the blood trickling from her lip.
Nut glared down at the woman silently before spinning around and stalking out of the room, her robes billowing behind her.
~o0o~
Anhur grunted as he stumbled over a stone, dropping the dead Goa'uld as he fell to the ground.
His strength was almost gone, the limbs of his host painfully thin and wasted. The darkness was cold and the dust sticking to his blood soaked skin.
Soon.
Soon he would be there.
Grunting again, he hoisted Geb's body onto his back and continued his journey towards the surface.
Anticipation spurred him on, and his steps became lighter as he walked up the narrow passage.
The stench of old blood surrounded him; his clothes caked and hard as he moved.
But Anhur paid it no heed; blood was a smell as familiar to a hunter as the taste of fish was to a fisherman.
The light was blinding as it sparkled around him on the dust clouds. Anhur dropped Geb's corpse to the ground and staggered across to an opening where he filled his lungs with fresh, pure air.
He gazed out onto the devastated landscape for a while, letting his eyes rest on the crumbled ruins of Shu's Might. Everywhere his eyes rested broken spires of twisted metal clawed desperately up into the gray sky, stones and decayed wood littering what had once been roads all filled with the power of Shu.
Anhur turned and looked down at the limp form of Geb, taking in the empty eyes and the blood matted blond hair.
Anhur smiled; revenge had been sweet.
But it was not over yet.
Reluctantly, he pulled Geb onto his shoulders again and staggered towards the centre of the room.
Geb pooled on the dirty floor like a withered plant, his limbs seeming boneless as he twisted to stillness.
Anhur stared down at Geb.
Anhur was weak.
Anhur was hungry.
Anhur needed nourishment.
The blade of the hunting knife glinted silver in the dusty air, it's shine blocked out by the small tendrils of flesh and smeared blood when it resurfaced.
Anhur wiped his knife clean carefully, and raised the severed limb to his mouth.
Revenge was sweet, and Anhur grunted in appreciation as he felt the hollowness of his stomach disappear.
~o0o~
Jack opened his eyes slowly, the movement of his eyelids sending little ripples of fire to his brain.
Fire.
Burning.
He groaned, rolling over onto his side. It felt like there was cottonwool stuffed into his mouth, ears and eyes.
The room was dim, strangely silent. What had woken him?
"Sir?" Carter's voice was thick with sleep. She sounded confused.
He looked at her; she was yawning and rubbing sleep from her eyes.
"Morning Carter," he greeted.
Her head snapped in his direction, her eyes studying his face intently.
"What?"
"Are you feeling okay, Colonel?"
"Apart from a headache, fine. Why?"
She scrutinised him for a few more minutes before breaking into a broad smile.
"Are you sure you're feeling okay, Carter?"
She laughed and sat up, running a hang through her messy hair. "I wish had I had my brush," she sighed.
He watched her curiously. "What's going on?"
"What do you mean, Sir?"
"What's going on?"
"You mean with Nut?" Carter asked hesitantly.
"Yes."
"Oh. We're on our way to fine Geb," she admitted.
Jack raised his eyebrows. "What aren't you telling me?"
She hesitated.
"Carter." Just because his head hurt didn't mean he couldn't put a warning note into his voice.
"Nut wanted me to make her a GDO, Sir."
"And?"
"I refused, Sir."
"Darn right you did. So, why am I still feeling like there's something you're not telling me?"
"She's going to give us to Geb, Sir. To be killed."
Well. That figured. Do one Goa'uld a good turn and they pass you right on to the next one…
"How long before we find Geb?" Jack asked, trying to think past the pain.
"I don't-"
They both turned to face the escort of Jaffa suddenly standing with Cal'ma in the doorway.
"Come," she stated, "we must leave."
"Must leave to go where?"
Cal'ma hesitated, and Jack didn't like the look on her face. "To meet Geb. Come."
"I don't think so," Jack argued, not making a move to stand up. Carter followed his lead.
"You must come."
"Sir, there's not really anything we can do."
Jack sighed; she was right. They either fought now and got themselves killed on a ship with no chance of escape, or they waited and fought later when chances were a bit better.
He rose to his feet silently, glaring at Cal'ma.
Carter stood up as well, coming to stand next to him.
It seemed perfectly natural to take hold of her hand and walk with her out of the room.
*
Cal'ma walked behind the Tau'ri, her eyes resting on their stiff backs as they marched along the corridor to certain death.
They were brave. Cal'ma did not think she would be as dignified or calm should it be her marching to her death.
They stood silently and proudly as the transport rings glowed around them, their postures never once crumbling to reveal fear.
Cal'ma glanced at Nut who was waiting for them.
"See the Might of Shu that Geb crushed so easily," Nut bragged.
Cal'ma let her eyes wander over the desolate grey landscape. The few trees and plants she could see were stunted and twisted in their growth, the leaves dry and wrinkled and the bark old and gnarled.
It was a dying planet on its last breath.
"If Geb won, why is he imprisoned?" the male taunted cruelly.
Cal'ma flinched as anger crossed Nut's face. Nut did not display her anger often, she was far too controlled. But when her anger was unleashed…
Cal'ma shivered, shrinking back.
"Soon you will feel the power of Geb, and then it will be you who is mocked," Nut hissed.
Cal'ma could see longing in Nut's eyes: longing for Geb, and longing to kill the Tau'ri.
The guards jabbed the Tau'ri roughly in their backs, causing them to stumble and stagger forward over the rocky ground. Cal'ma follow behind, her gowns trailing in the dirt as she carefully tried to pick her way across the rubble.
A broken temple clutched at the grey sky ahead of them, the shattered pillars sticking jaggedly into the sky while collapsed walls and rooves cowered in their shadows.
This was a place full of evil and despair.
Cal'ma shivered again, her flesh prickling as the dying breeze whispered against her skin.
The steps were large, the cracked stone beneath her feet would have once glistened strongly and beautifully in the sunlight while greenery boarded the winding paths. It would have been beautiful, but now…
Destruction.
Cal'ma did not want to enter the dark depths of the temple before them. She did not wish to be swallowed by the cold blackness that would stick to her dark skin and hide her as though she had never existed.
Cal'ma did not like the darkness.
"Behold, the power of Shu is broken," Nut declared, her eyes flashing in triumph.
Stones brushed against stones and grating filled the air as their feet knocked against the rubble.
This was place was evil, not good could happen here.
Silently, Cal'ma swallowed her fears and allowed the darkness to swallow her as she followed Nut into the temple.
~o0o~
"We're almost there," Jacob's voice startled Daniel, and the archaeologist scrambled to stand behind him.
"It looks very grey," Daniel remarked, watching as the planet grew larger and larger before them.
"It has been destroyed," Teal'c said softly, his brown eyes also focused on the approaching world.
"How do you know where to land?" Daniel asked curiously.
Jacob smiled. "There are navigating systems on board, Daniel. And the ships are also programmed to locate Stargates and transport rings."
They fell into silence as the world below them slowly became more detailed. Yellow-grey clouds obscured their view at times, drifting over blurred plains of grey and skeletal remains of cities.
"It's like a graveyard," Daniel breathed as they flew lower and lower.
"It is a graveyard. The graveyard of an entire planet," Jacob agreed softly. "We're approaching… Crap."
"What?" Daniel frowned, concern marring his features.
"They beat us. Nut is already here."
Daniel swallowed. Damn.
"We better hope that she's left the ship and Sam and Jack are on board," Jacob muttered. "Hold on… just let me…"
"What is he doing?"
"Searching for life forms on the planet surface." Teal'c's eyes followed Jacob's fingers as they flew over the console.
"Jacob?"
"There are about twelve… thirteen of them on the planet," Jacob admitted, looking up at Daniel and Teal'c. "I can't tell whether Nut is with them."
"So what do we do?" Daniel asked.
Jacob sighed. "We go planet side and find out who is here. Then we'll work out what we do."
Daniel nodded reluctantly, casting a glance at Teal'c. They weren't happy with the plan, but it was the best they had.
~o0o~
Apprehension was buzzing so loudly in Sam's mind that she was sure everyone around her could hear it.
The temple was dark and dim, dust clouds swirling around them in a whirlwind ballet. She coughed loudly as the particles invaded her airway, cutting off her air supply.
"You okay?" the Colonel's voice rasped in his throat and she could hear his difficulty to breathe.
"Silence!" a Jaffa snapped, and she felt the stab of a staff weapon in the small of her back. She stumbled forwards, her toes stubbing painfully against rocks and debris littering the ground beneath her sandal clad feet.
The party continued forward through the dimness, and once Sam's eyes started adjusting to the darkness she could make out forms of fallen greatness around her. A shiver rippled down her back and she stepped closer to the Colonel, letting her eyes rest on the dim pools of light where the watery sun shone through the cracks.
It was eerie; the place stank of death and destruction.
Something was lying on the floor ahead of them, something different to the surroundings.
Sam frowned, trying to make her eyes pick out the lines of the form lying in a pool of light. It didn't move, a limp bundle in the darkness. Her eyes widened as her mouth opened soundlessly, allowing a million more particles of dust to engulf her lungs.
Next to her the Colonel hissed in shock, his whole body jerking backwards.
Nut screamed; her voice cut through the air with a wail that sent fear shooting into Sam's heart.
"Geb!" the Goa'uld cried, pushing forwards past the Jaffa and collapsing onto her knees next to the figure of Geb.
Sam watched silently, her throat raw.
A Goa'uld, showing grief.
A Goa'uld that had loved.
She found the thought impossible to comprehend, so she just stared.
"Carter," O'Neill whispered in her ear, urgency on his voice.
"Sir?" She turned her face towards his, letting his breath wash over her cheek so that the guards couldn't hear.
"Something had to have done… that," he stumbled on the final word, and Sam shuddered in agreement.
A Goa'uld didn't just appear lying on the ground with its neck slit for no reason.
"What do you think-"
Something whistled through the air and the guard to their right dropped soundlessly.
"A rescue?" she asked hesitantly, not sure.
"Not one of our people. They'd never do…"
Yes, she agreed with him. None of their people would stab a Goa'uld and then slit its neck even though it was dead.
"Who then?"
He shrugged, pulling her down to crouch on the ground.
None of the Jaffa had noticed their fallen comrade yet, their eyes still resting on their Queen who was overcome with grief.
Sam reached a hand out in the darkness, her fingers encountering the warm stickiness of fresh blood seeping from the Jaffa's chest. He grunted beneath her hand, and Sam steeled herself as she carefully grabbed the silver wrought hilt of the knife protruding from his chest.
The knife slipped out cleanly, the blood on the silver blade black and glistening in the darkness.
She shuddered in revulsion and quickly passed the knife over to the Colonel after wiping it clean on the Jaffa's cloak.
Someone was moving around them in the darkness, she could feel the air movements of his form as it brushed passed them.
She stiffened.
"Sir," her voice cracked awkwardly as she whispered, "it's a Goa'uld, Sir."
She felt O'Neill's hand tighten around her own as he pulled her gently backwards. Silently they crawled along the ground until they were sitting behind a fallen pillar, squashed tight against one another and barely breathing.
"What now?" she asked, not daring to move.
"We find the Stargate," he said firmly, putting an arm around her shoulders and giving her a quick hug.
As her head pressed against his chest she felt the furious beat of his heart, and knew that her own echoed its frantic pace.
This was it. It was now or never.
~o0o~
Teal'c paused on the steps of the temple, his eyes straining into the darkness.
"Can you see anything?" Daniel Jackson whispered next to him.
"I can not," he shook his head. "We must enter."
Daniel Jackson sighed, reluctance etched upon his features, but he did not argue. Silently the three made their way into the blackness.
Teal'c flicked on a small torch, letting the frail beam play carefully over the ground before them for a few seconds before turning it off.
"They have passed this way," he told them.
"Nut?"
"I do believe so," Teal'c nodded in the darkness, knowing that his head movements would not be seen. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness slightly before continuing. "And I believe O'Neill and Major Carter as well."
He felt General Carter rest a hand on his shoulder.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. The prints in the dust are not just of Jaffa. One set is Nut's and there are three others."
"Three?"
This puzzled Teal'c greatly, but he was certain that one of the sets belonged to Colonel O'Neill. Not many Jaffa wore military issue boots.
"Perhaps one is a priestess in attendance to Nut," Teal'c said thoughtfully as the small cracks of light played around his dulled vision.
"Let's go then," General Carter suggested, his voice low and soft.
Again, Teal'c nodded and stepped forwards slowly. The ground underfoot was rocky and uneven, splintered rocks littering the ground and abandoned objects scattered throughout the way. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Teal'c looked around carefully, alert for any signs of movement.
"I see something," General Carter whispered, his voice so soft Teal'c barely heard it in the thick, dusty air.
Peering into the direction that the Tok'ra's pale limb pointed, Teal'c could make out several forms huddled in the lighter part of the temple.
"I don't see Sam and Jack," Daniel Jackson whispered.
Teal'c frowned. "There are not enough people."
"There's one of the ground… it's Nut!" General Carter hissed excitedly.
"No," Teal'c cautioned as the Tok'ra raised his weapon. "Until we know of Major Carter and O'Neill's whereabouts it would be unwise to attack."
The Tok'ra grunted in agreement, and they crept closer.
"Did you see that?" Daniel Jackson hissed.
"What?" General Carter asked with a hint of annoyance on his voice.
"One of the Jaffa just killed another one."
"What?" the Tok'ra questioned in disbelief.
Teal'c remained silent, watching as a dark form moved steadily towards a lone Jaffa. Seconds later the Jaffa tumbled to the ground silently, and the form moved on to the next Jaffa.
"Jack?" General Carter asked softly.
No, the form was too lithe and too small to be O'Neill.
"How many Jaffa are left?" Daniel Jackson questioned.
Teal'c strained his eyes, his chin scraping roughly on the rock as leant forwards, trying to get closer.
"Perhaps 4 or 5."
"That leaves Nut, our mystery assailant and the possible priestess," General Carter counted off. "Can we take them out?"
"Until we know the whereabouts of O'Neill and Major Carter…" Teal'c started out, falling silent as yet another Jaffa fell to the silent adversary.
The remaining Jaffa were murmuring now, he could see their agitated movements. Teal'c felt disgust that Jaffa could be so unaware and not realise that their comrades were being picked off silently, one by one.
"Show yourself!" A rasping voice commanded.
Teal'c watched as Nut stood to her full height in the dim pool of light, her tiny frame seeming to glow as the sparkling dust flew around her.
Another Jaffa dropped, and the remaining Jaffa shuffled towards Nut, their staff weapons raise and ready.
"I command you, Anhur!"
Teal'c's eyes widened in recognition. Anhur. The Hunter.
"You command me nothing, Nut." The voice was mocking, echoing in the darkness.
Anger flashed on Nut's face.
"You are a coward, Anhur. You hide in the darkness. Where is your honour?"
Anhur was a hunter, and a hunter never revealed himself to the prey until the hunt was over.
The Hunter laughed again, and Teal'c watched the form flit through the dark.
"You will be my prize, Nut. The prize to regain what I lost because of Geb."
Nut laughed boldly, the laugh light and tinkling.
"Ra is dead, Anhur. Killed by the ones I hold prisoner no less."
Anhur had been imprisoned. He would not have known Ra was destroyed.
"You lie!" Anhur screamed.
"I do not. The Tau'ri will prove it. Cal'ma!" The order was sharp and frantic, Nut looking around worriedly in the dark. From her position in the light she could not see Anhur's dark form gliding along the darkness.
Teal'c's hand gripped his staff weapon tightly. Soon… soon they would see O'Neill and Major Carter… and then they would attack. O'Neill and Major Carter could arm themselves with the fallen Jaffa's weapons. There were only three Jaffa remaining, and badly trained Jaffa at that.
A murmur of fear rippled through Nut's small escort.
A tall Jaffa priestess stepped up towards Nut.
Nut's face contorted in anger. The priestess was taller and bigger than the Goa'uld, but the Goa'uld slapped the dark cheek with such forcefulness that the Jaffa rolled across the room in the darkness, her body thudding dully as she bumped against the debris.
Teal'c frowned.
Where were O'Neill and Major Carter?
~o0o~
Anhur watched with dry amusement as Nut's forces fell to pieces around her.
The Goa'uld knew she was trapped and at his mercy.
Satisfaction and pride filled Anhur. His hunt had been successful. It was almost over now. One last, final kill to make before the victory was complete.
But he would not throw his kill away.
No. He would employ his full skill and cunning to trap the prey.
It was all the more challenging when the victim knew the hunt was on.
Anhur moved the darkness like a shadow; unnoticed and unheard. A ghost employed by Ra to wreak revenge on those who betrayed him.
Ra's Champion.
Anhur the Hunter.
First he would find his knife. A kill of this importance and magnificence should only be fulfilled with the right objects, and the ceremonial knife would be needed.
Silently Anhur turned to search for his knife, confident in the approaching victory.
The prey was frightened and trapped.
A certain victory.
~o0o~
Jack let go of Carter slowly, easing away from her tense form until he could peer carefully around the base of the refuge.
All he could see were forms of Jaffa huddling around Nut, their shadowed faces tight with concern as the light played on their features.
"Anhur?"
A strange stab of satisfaction rippled through him. The Goa'uld was afraid. And it felt damn good to hear the snake sound scared, almost begging for mercy. Reminded him that their war was worth it, that the Goa'uld were beatable.
Jack froze as someone brushed right past their rock, the silent form barely creating a noise as it moved across the ground.
He turned to Sam, his heart rate increasing another notch or two. "Carter," he hissed into her air, barely audible. "That Goa'uld is back."
He felt her nod her head against where his hand was pressed against her neck. She understood. They had to get weapons now and pick the Jaffa off while they still had the element of surprise.
"Go," she whispered.
He hesitated, touched her cheek in acknowledgement and slowly raise himself to his feet, hunched over low.
Beneath his feet the rocks clattered and crunched loudly, sounding like gunshots in the tense air.
The form ahead of him dropped slowly to the ground, and Jack readied himself for an attack.
The Goa'uld stayed low, moving oddly across the ground.
What was he doing?
The knife. The Goa'uld was looking for the knife clutched tightly within Jack's own hand. Hope flooded through Jack. If he could reach the Goa'uld before-
"Kree!"
Crap.
He froze, dropping as low as possible behind another boulder and peered in direction of the voice.
Carter. They had Carter!
Ahead of him the form stirred, a frustrated groan of rage rumbling softly from it. It knew someone had taken the knife, and it wasn't happy about it.
"Where is your mate, Tau'ri?" Nut demanded, still shielded behind her remaining Jaffa.
Carter kept quiet; Jack could see the stiffness of defiance in her stance, and he felt pride at her actions. She'd never let him down. Never.
"I will kill you. You hear, Tau'ri? I will kill your mate if you do not reveal yourself."
Jack swallowed, moving the knife from one hand to another to wipe his sweaty, dusty palms on his trousers.
A staff weapon charged, he watched the glow of energy as it played it.
"I give you one last chance, Tau'ri."
He had two choices, Jack realised, either give himself up - which just didn't work for him at all, or attack.
One shot at this. One only.
He gripped the knife handle carefully, deliberately turning his view away from Carter still standing with a staff weapon pointing at her in the darkness, and closed his eyes briefly before opening them again.
Slight movement ahead.
The knife was perfectly balanced. It cut cleanly through the air.
There was a soft thud and a groan, a brief flash of silver and then nothing.
Throwing caution to the wind Jack flew across to the fallen Goa'uld and pushed him aside, ignoring the half gasping sounds as the form died and scratched around the dead Jaffa.
Triumph as his fingers closed over a staff weapon.
He grabbed it and jumped up, ready to fire at the Goa'uld still standing in the light.
"Jack, wait!"
Daniel? What was Daniel doing here?
~o0o~
"Jack, wait! If you shoot her now then they'll kill Sam!" Daniel yelled.
Next to him Jacob Carter groaned in disgust and Teal'c immediately pulled him to the ground.
Daniel winced as his soft flesh was ground into the dirt, the rocks scraping against his cheek.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Jacob hissed. "Anhur is still out there!"
"Show yourselves or the woman dies!" Nut ordered.
"There are four of us, Teal'c, and only four Jaffa. If we take the one that's got Sam out first she'll grab his weapon," Jacob spoke urgently, his eyes flitting back to where Sam was standing in a small pool of light.
"Okay. Let's do it," Daniel agreed.
"Teal'c, you take care of the Jaffa holding Sam. Daniel, you take the close guard, and I'll take the far one and Jack will more than likely take care of the Jaffa closest to him."
"Very well."
"Okay, NOW!"
The M-16 was alive in Daniel's arms, spitting its vicious bullets directly onto the metal chest plate of his assigned Jaffa. The Jaffa didn't stand a chance beneath the onslaught and staggered backwards against the force until one round finally made it through and struck his fragile body.
Around Daniel staff weapons were still firing, lighting up the darkness with brief spurts of light.
Noise bounced around walls like the showers of rock and dirt knocked out by stray bullets.
And then silence.
Dust stung in Daniel's eyes and dust clogged his throat. What happened? What was happening? Was everyone okay?
Next to him Daniel heard Jacob draw in a strangled breath of shock, and Daniel peered into the dusty air.
He swallowed. Oh shit, oh shit oh shit… no!
"Carter!" Jack's scream tore through the air. Daniel watched as he ran across the floor, stumbling over fallen Jaffa and rubble, his face strangely terrified where the light bounced across his features. "Carter! No!"
Daniel started to run, but Teal'c stopped, him, grabbing hold of his arm and pulling him low.
"Silence!"
Daniel almost laughed hysterically. Even now the Goa'uld were still busy ordering people around.
"Teal'c, you go around her back. Daniel and I will be the decoy. It's only Nut, one Jaffa and Anhur as far as I can tell," Jacob ordered.
Daniel nodded slowly, lead tightening in his stomach.
Sam.
They'd lost Sam.
Teal'c left silently, Daniel didn't even realise he'd gone until Jacob gently tugged on Daniel's sleeve to lead him toward a new shelter.
Jacob.
How did Jacob feel knowing his daughter was dead?
"Reveal yourselves and I will spare you," Nut's voice ran throughout the darkness.
"Daniel, she knows there's more than one of us. She doesn't know how many though. We'll give Teal'c another two minutes to get into position and then we'll show ourselves. The minute Teal'c attacks get back down and do what's necessary."
"What about Jack?" Daniel demanded, glancing over at the Jaffa pointing a staff weapon at Jack who was now sitting by Sam's… Sam's body.
"I'll take care of him," Jacob said grimly.
Daniel nodded.
Two minutes stretched for an eternity.
"I will kill the Tau'ri," Nut threatened.
"How do I know you won't kill us?" Jacob yelled out loudly, his voice muffled with dust.
"You have my word."
Daniel almost laughed out loud.
"Get ready," Jacob whispered. "Here we go."
They stood up slowly, clutching their staff weapons down alongside their bodies in order to buy a few precious seconds when the time came.
"Is that all of you?" Nut demanded incredulously. "Two Tau'ri?"
Neither of them answered as they slowly picked their way across the rubble towards Nut.
From the darkness the sound of a staff weapon broke the silence.
Nut staggered as she was hit, shock clearly depicted on her delicate features.
"Again!" Jacob screamed, raising his own weapon and shooting the remaining Jaffa before Daniel even had time to think.
"No!" A strange voice cut through the darkness. Daniel watched as a Jaffa Priestess stepped up next to Jack, a knife glinting silver in the pale light as she held it against his throat.
"I will kill the Tau'ri if you harm Nut again."
~o0o~
Cal'ma's hands were shaking as she held the blade steady against the Tau'ri's throat.
He swallowed roughly, betrayal and disappointment shining in his eyes.
She was not betraying him. She had never been on his side.
She was on Nut's side.
Nut was her Queen.
Nut was her life.
"Cal'ma," he whispered desperately, fear in his eyes. "You don't have to do this-"
She pressed the knife tightly against him, the keen blade drawing a thing, barely visible line of blood against his dusty skin. She watched as the blood welled long the cut, blooming into a red necklace until it beaded slowly on his dust-covered neck.
"Cal'ma, you are a most loyal subject," Nut purred.
Cal'ma smiled in enjoyment. Nut was happy with her. Nut was most pleased with Cal'ma. Relief ran through Cal'ma's veins.
Together, Cal'ma and Nut had defeated the Tau'ri, and-
The Tau'ri moved like lightening, his limbs behaving like a wild cat as he jerked away from her and sprang upwards, grabbing hold of her hands covering the hilt and driving the pointed blade deep within her breast.
Cal'ma gasped in shock, her eyes wide and her voice soundless as she gazed up at him, stunned.
"You…" her voice would not work, no sound came from her throat.
Her eyes fluttered shut and her body felt cold.
Nut. She had served Nut well. She… had… honoured…
~o0o~
He lowered the staff weapon slowly, his eyes watching as Nut's eyes glowed one final time before they dulled and the frail body collapsed soundlessly.
He swallowed, before finally turning to face the picture that he hadn't wanted to see.
Sam lying dead in Jack's arms.
"We should leave this place," Teal'c's voice intruded rudely on the silence. "Nut's ship is still present along with all her Jaffa. Should they all be as loyal as the Priestess…"
Jacob nodded, his eyes burning.
"We should go, Jack," he said softly.
Jack grunted, getting awkwardly to his feet. "How do we leave?"
"We came in a ship."
"She won't make it back. I'll take her back through the Stargate."
She won't…
Jacob rushed to the ground next to his daughter.
Her chest was rising and falling slowly, the air barely passing over her lips. But she alive. He touched her cheek gently, letting his fingers trail down her throat to rest on the pulse fluttering weakly in her chest.
"Jack, are you okay?" Daniel's voice was concerned, and Jacob turned to cast half a glance on Jack.
Jack swayed.
"Uh…"
Jack collapsed.
"Teal'c, you take Jack and I'll take Sam." The orders were barked out with military precision as Jacob picked Sam up quickly and carefully, eyeing the blood soaked binding Jack must have put around her waist.
The trip to the Stargate had never taken longer and Sam had never felt heavier. With each step she jolted in his arms and he watched as her blood continued to seep steadily from the bandage. Jack was right; she'd never last the journey home in the ship.
The Stargate was their only hope.
Daniel was already at the DHD, his form small and blurred in the distance.
//She will be fine, Jacob. She is strong.//
He grunted, stumbling over a loose rock.
//Not if I drop her she won't,// he retorted sharply, his eyes focused on the ring growing ever closer.
The wormhole established, the unstable vortex shooting out with its usual display of brilliance. For a second it lit the surrounding grey world up, casting and eerie blue glow over the greyness.
Jacob shivered; he'd be happy when they left this place.
"Daniel, you'll have to take her through," Jacob wheezed, stumbling to halt. "Can you carry her?"
Daniel nodded silently and accepted Sam's frail form into his hold.
"Be careful with her," Jacob begged, tears stinging in his eyes.
Daniel nodded again, and Jacob pressed a quick kiss to his daughter's forehead.
She was going to be okay.
She had to be okay.
Sam was too stubborn to die now.
"I will send O'Neill through after you, Daniel Jackson."
Jacob turned to Teal'c, confused.
"I will accompany you on your return, General Carter."
Jacob nodded in agreement; it would be nice to have Teal'c on the trip home. The Jaffa was wonderful for talking and reasoning with. And he'd provide a third party in a debate against Selmak.
Selmak groaned in annoyance.
Jacob smiled tightly.
"I'll tell Janet," Daniel promised. "Be careful."
He stepped through the gate. They waited a few minutes and then Teal'c carefully fed Jack through the gate.
The wormhole disengaged and they were left standing alone in the greyness.
~o0o~
Hammond sat silently, watching as Dr. Fraiser quietly entered the room with a wearied expression on her features.
Dr. Jackson was also exhausted, Hammond noted, there was a greyness in his skin that spoke of sleepless nights and guilt.
"How are they doing, Doctor?" Hammond asked, breaking the brittle silence.
Dr. Fraiser sighed, her brown eyes confused and worried. "I've stabilised them both, General, and they should pull through."
"But?" Hammond probed gently.
She sighed again, placing the folder onto the desk and looking up. "I'm not sure I fully understand what exactly is wrong with the Colonel. Major Carter's wound is a straightforward gunshot wound. The entry wasn't clean, and I had to fish out the bullet clean it up, but she should be fine. The Colonel, on the other hand, is displaying exactly the same symptoms as Major Carter, just not nearly as severe. His blood pressure is a bit low and his body is full of endorphins."
Dr. Jackson cleared his throat hesitantly. "Uh… Maybe this has to do with what Jack was saying the last time he was here."
Both Hammond and Dr. Fraiser looked at him expectantly.
"He said he was `linked' to Sam somehow, remember? He just collapsed for no reason. Now he is – well, was anyway – fine. Isn't this maybe the same thing?"
Hammond frowned.
"So you're saying that because of this link with Major Carter, Colonel O'Neill is experiencing her injury and pain to a certain degree?"
Dr. Jackson nodded. "It is possible. A Nox – for all intents and purposes – healed the two of them. We know the Nox are capable of telepathy to a degree, so why shouldn't their healing methods have something do with it as well?"
Hammond thought about it, nodding his head slowly.
"Is there anyway for us to get in touch with the Nox?" Dr. Fraiser asked slowly.
"No, they buried their Stargate remember? And the Tollan took their technology with them. We don't even know where the Tollan are."
Hammond sighed, pushing his pen in front of him on the desk. "So all we can do now is wait," he said quietly, letting his eyes rest on Dr. Jackson.
Both Dr. Jackson and Dr. Fraiser nodded silently.
"I'd better head back to the infirmary, Sir," Dr. Fraiser said after a stretch of tired silence.
Hammond nodded absently. "Dismissed."
They left the room together, leaving Hammond sitting silently at the desk and staring at his unmoving pen.
~o0o~
The craft was silent and still.
Teal'c did not mind silence; it was of second nature to him. Very rarely did he engage in conversation that had no purpose – it was a waste of energy and made one anxious to converse at all times, including during battle.
He studied General Carter's profile, taking in the slight movements of muscles as he communicated with his symbiote. General Carter glanced across at him quickly, smiling apologetically.
"Sorry Teal'c, we're being rude."
"You are not," Teal'c shook his head and allowed a small smile to touch his lips. He held much respect for General Carter – both as a warrior and as a friend.
"We were just talking about Sam," General Carter continued. Teal'c watched as a small muscle tightened involuntarily above his eyes.
"Major Carter will recover."
General Carter glanced at him, doubt shining clearly in his brown eyes.
"I believe Dr. Fraiser will be able to heal her, along with O'Neill's assistance."
"But a staff blast Teal'c, causes massive internal damage."
"It was an injury caused by a staff weapon, General Carter."
"It wasn't?"
"No."
"Oh." General Carter frowned and glanced at Teal'c again, obviously confused. At times like these Teal'c thought that General Carter seemed a lot like O'Neill.
"It was a bullet wound from Daniel Jackon's weapon." General Carter's mouth opened slightly and his eyebrows rose significantly on his bare forehead. "How do you know?"
"It is not possible for it to be anything else. Were it a staff weapon injury, O'Neill would not have been able to cover it as he did for the wound would have been much larger. I believe that a bullet struck a rock and relaunched, accidentally striking Major Carter."
"A stray bullet from Daniel?" General Carter echoed softly, his eyes focused on the colours of hyperspace around them.
Teal'c merely nodded.
Daniel Jackson would be going through a period of guilt at this time, Teal'c knew, and until Major Carter awoke and assured him that he was not to blame, Daniel Jackson would carry the burden of guilt alone by choice.
"What about this business with Sam and Jack having a `link' or something?" General Carter asked eventually.
"I believe O'Neill was telling the truth, General Carter. It would explain why he too collapsed after Major Carter, though he suffered from no significant injuries."
Once again General Carter nodded his head slowly in agreement, concern furrowing his brow. "What about when they wake up, Teal'c? Will they still be joined?"
Teal'c sighed. "I do not know." "No, I don't suppose you would."
~o0o~
Daniel stared down at his empty desk, letting his eyes aimlessly trace the fine grain of the wood that had been polished until it shone. Absently he fingered a coffee ring left by careless placement of his favourite mug.
He'd shot Sam.
In the dim lamplight small bits of dust danced around, reminding him of Shu's Might.
He'd shot Sam.
He'd never liked violence, never liked the idea of carrying a gun and much less enjoyed using them. But over the last two years he'd become adept at handling the cold-hearted machines, his aim improving until he could match many of the men on the base.
He'd shot Sam.
Still, his aim was obviously off. How else would you explain shooting one of your best friends? Shooting the woman he was closest to, other than his wife.
Shooting Sam.
His eyes burnt hotly, and the scalding heat of a tear split over a dry, raw eyelid. He was going to cry. Again.
Sniffing angrily, he pushed away from the desk, letting his chair roll into a pool of darkness. The room was silent other than his breathing, insulated from the sounds of the base so that he might work undisturbed.
Undisturbed.
Yeah right, with memories of Sam bleeding and dying because of a stray bullet that he'd shot…
How was he supposed to work?
How was he supposed to live with the knowledge that he'd shot someone he cared about?
This must be what Jack felt like. This must be the kind of guilt Jack carried with him, day in and day out. Only Jack's would be worse because Charlie had died. Sam wasn't dead.
Not yet.
But there was no guarantee. There was no guarantee that she'd wake up, grin at him and share a coffee and a cookie with him even though she hated cookies.
And if Sam died, so did Jack.
So Daniel had effectively hurt two of his best friends, and might even be responsible for their deaths it they died.
His breathing was deep and shuddering, his muscles quivering and trembling with unvoiced emotion.
He felt like shit.
He felt worse than shit.
For the first time in his life, Daniel could fully understand Jack's one time desire to kill himself.
~o0o~
It hurt.
Everything hurt and his head was fuzzy.
He frowned, trying not to yawn because he knew from experience that the movement of his jaw would send his head exploding into a colourful blossom of pain.
Instead, he groaned.
He groaned loudly and deliberately.
"Colonel?"
Now that was a voice he recognised. A voice he recognised and didn't necessarily feel a shudder of fear creeping down his back at the same time. Unless of course she was wielding one of those big, honking, blood sucking bits of metal tubing that she wanted to stick into him.
Fortunately, he knew from experience that when one awoke in the infirmary after a bout of unconsciousness, Dr. Janet Fraiser did not tend to harass you with a sharp needle.
He groaned again, forcing one eye to open.
"Welcome to the land of the living," she greeted him, smiling down gently.
Living? This was living? This hurting, aching, painful-
Jack frowned.
Hurting? Why was he hurting? He hadn't even been injured – well, as far as he could remember anyway.
"Doc," he croaked out, groaning again just for the dramatic effect.
"How are you feeling, Colonel?"
Did she really want the answer to that question?
"What happened?" he asked instead, opening his other eye and gazing up at her fuzzy silhouette.
"I don't know, Sir. Why don't you tell me?" Man he hated those questions that all doctors learnt in medical school.
"We were in the temple, and Daniel was there…" Jack's heart skipped a beat. "Carter-"
"She's stabilised, Sir, and on the way to recovery by the looks of it."
Jack relaxed. Fraiser had a point: he wouldn't be awake if Carter was gonna die.
Carter dying.
He shivered, goosebumps prickling over his skin.
Carter dying was something he didn't want to think about or go through again. It had been bad enough the first time round.
"What about me?"
She chuckled, resting a cool palm on his warm forehead.
"There's nothing wrong with you, Sir?"
He blinked. "There's not?"
"No."
"Then why-" he stopped. "Oh, that."
"If by `oh that' you mean the apparent link that yourself and Major Carter have, then I'd guess that yes, that is why you're lying in the infirmary bed."
He nodded his head, closing his eyes again. He felt weak. Really weak.
"I'm tired," he whispered.
"Get some sleep, Sir," she said softly.
He relaxed on the bed, content between the warmth and safety of familiar white sheets. He faintly heard Dr. Fraiser ordering someone to get Daniel, but he was too tired to bother staying away.
Daniel would understand, sleep was a good thing.
~o0o~
Marking off the final readings on the chart, Janet allowed herself to stand for a minute longer and observe the Colonel while he was sleeping.
A gentle smiled touched her lips as she thought about his dramatic waking routine, his way of announcing that he was awake and well on the way to recovery.
They'd both be fine. She smiled again, slipping his clipboard back onto the holder at the foot of his bead. He wouldn't be showing signs of improving and getting back to normal if Sam wasn't getting better either.
Glancing across at the next bed where Sam was lying, a touch of concern shadowed Janet's eyes.
Sam would get better, her condition had stabilised over night – remarkably quickly – and her vitals were much stronger now.
The question that concern Janet the most – other than getting to the bottom of this `link' between Sam and the Colonel – was whether Sam would heal completely. A bullet wound was one thing. A bullet wound in the abdomen was serious.
But a bullet that nicked the spine… that was a bad thing.
Janet swallowed determinedly, forcing the burning sensation in her eyes to disappear. Sam wasn't beaten yet, her recovery was remarkably good up to date, and if it continued like that Janet didn't see any reason for her not to recover completely.
With a quick glanced at her silver wristwatch, Janet scrubbed a hand through her short locks of hair and left the infirmary silently, making her way briskly up the corridor towards the sleeping quarters.
One last tour of duty before she called it a night - or a morning, depending on which way you looked at it – and went home for some sleep.
Daniel didn't respond to her knocking on the door, and after hesitating for a minute, Janet carefully pushed the door open and peered inside.
He wasn't there. The bed hadn't even been slept in.
She frowned. Had he gone home? She sincerely doubted that; no members of a team went off-base while a team mate was in the infirmary.
His lab, that was the only explanation.
Either that or the commissary where she was certain she'd find him sitting at a table gazing vacantly into space while clutching an ice cold half drunk cup of a coffee. Smiling reprovingly at his predictable behaviour, Janet turned and headed for the commissary first.
She could always grab the two of them a coffee if he wasn't there.
The commissary was empty, the only signs of life was one of the serving girls stacking a selection of cereal boxes on the shelf. With a smile, Janet noted the return of a box of Fruit Loops.
Helping herself to the strong brew from the self-serve counter, Janet made her way up to Daniel's lab.
The lab was dark and quiet, a small pool of orange light casting warm shadows over his cluttered desk.
"Daniel?"
Silence greeted her.
"Daniel?"
Walking carefully over to the desk, she placed the cups onto the familiar coffee rings present on his desk and turned the overhead light on, flooding the room with light.
"Go away," Daniel muttered from his corner, watching her moodily from a chair.
"I bring you coffee, and you want to send me away?" Janet asked jokingly, sympathy lending her words a softness.
"I don't feel like company right now, Janet."
"I know, so I'm not going to stay because I would like to get some sleep. I think you should get some sleep as well."
A bitter laugh issued from the darkness, and the guilt in his eyes scared Janet.
"They'll be fine, Daniel. The Colonel woke up about fifteen minutes ago, full of wise cracks and drama as usual."
Daniel sat upright in his chair, his eyes suddenly focused intensely on her. Janet shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, grabbing a mug of coffee and sipping it carefully. "Want some?"
Ignoring her offer, Daniel continued to gaze at her. "So he's okay?"
"He's asleep now, still tired and weak, but he should be fine."
"So Sam will be okay?"
Janet hesitated. She hadn't told Daniel about the bullet touching the spinal cord; only General Hammond had been privy to that information. Doctor-patient confidentiality. And the fact that if she'd told Daniel that there was chance Sam might be paralysed…
"She should be fine, Daniel."
Thank goodness for military training. Being able to lie through your teeth… A skill she was quite happy to have learnt.
Daniel issued a quiet sigh of relief, sinking back into his chair with a giddy smile on his face.
"I was so scared," he confided, closing his eyes. She watched as the tension almost flowed from his body.
"We all were," Janet agreed. "You going to drink your coffee before it gets cold or not?"
Daniel smiled again, a small chuckle sounding throughout him.
"Yeah."
"And then you're going straight to bed. I'll get General Hammond to post an SF outside your door if I have to," Janet threatened good- naturedly, carrying a cup over to him.
"Yes Mother." Daniel accepted the mug and drank thirstily. "Tell Cassie I said hi."
Janet smiled again and left Daniel drinking his coffee in peace.
~o0o~
Jack was bored.
He sighed, staring up at the roof of the infirmary.
Why on earth did Carter have to go and get herself shot? Why on earth did the two of them have to be linked? Why did this link between them make him feel dizzy and sick every time he got up out of the infirmary bed to take a walk around?
And why hadn't Carter woken up yet?
A week had almost gone by since their wonderful rescue from Shu's Might, and Carter still hadn't had the decency to open her eyes and say `I'm fine, Sir, stop worrying' and then go back to sleep.
No, the selfish woman just had to sleep the whole time, didn't she?
Shifting on his bed so that his eyes could rest on Carter's still form, Jack sighed again.
Truth was, he was worried about her.
Doc Fraiser thought she would have woken up by now.
Dad had even tried the healing device on her, but it hadn't done anything.
"Morning Colonel," Fraiser greeted him, her heels clicking on the smooth floor.
"Morning," he returned half-heartedly, glancing at her quickly before letting his eyes rest on Carter again.
"How do you feel this morning, Sir?"
"The same as I've been feeling for the last three mornings," he sighed.
Fraiser frowned in concern, picking up Carter's clipboard to study the results. Silence settled between them, only broken by the steady bleeping of the machinery around them.
"She any better?" Jack asked hopefully, already knowing the answer.
Fraiser shook her head. "She's still the same, Colonel."
He sighed, flopping over onto his back again and staring up at the familiar patterns on the infirmary roof.
"Doc?"
"Yes Colonel?" Her answer was polite, but he could tell she'd picked up on the hesitancy on his voice.
"She is going to wake up, right?"
She sighed, and he heard the gentle click as she place clipboard back into its holder.
"Sir, I really don't know. When the two of you kept improving I thought it would be highly likely. Her improvement has been almost triple the rate I would have originally expected, but she seems to have stalled."
Her words confirmed everything Jack suspected. For the first couple of days he'd felt better and better every day, gaining his strength and appetite slowly.
And then improvement had come crashing to a halt.
He didn't say anything to Fraiser's answer – there wasn't really anything for him to say anyway.
"Her injuries were very severe, Colonel," Fraiser continued eventually, her voice soft.
Jack glanced across at her curiously.
"When I first saw her after you two arrived, I honestly doubted that she would survive. The amount of blood she'd lost… how the bullet had entered and what had entered with it… the internal damage… I was amazed she was still alive. Sir, I don't know how she's made it this far along and managed to recover so quickly, but I'm sure it has something to do with the tie between the two of you."
Jack shifted uneasily on his bed. While neither of them had discussed the link between himself and Carter other than on the first day when he'd woken up, they'd both known it was there. Fraiser always checking how he was improving and comparing it to Carter's improvement showed him that she seemed to grasp the odd link between the two of them, but they'd never spoken about it.
"What did the Goa'uld do, exactly?"
Jack sighed, closing his eyes. "I don't know. She… she said she made it so that we shared the same life force or something, but I have no idea what it means."
Dr. Fraiser sighed and nodded, a tired smile gracing her lips for a second. "Maybe we should concentrate on getting you better and hopefully that will push Sam into recovering again."
Jack nodded dutifully, but he doubted it would be that easy. He wasn't going to get any better until Carter got better, but he knew better than to try and dissuade Dr. Fraiser on a mission.
"I'll let you have some breakfast now, and I'll come back in a while to check on you two, okay?"
Again, Jack nodded his head dutifully, feeling like a little boy who was at home sick for the day.
Another brief smile and she clip-clopped silently out of the infirmary.
Jack glanced across at Carter again. She was still the same, her pale face calm and expressionless, her blue eyes hidden from the world behind her eyelids.
Glancing around guiltily, Jack sat up slowly in bed.
He missed Carter, he realised suddenly. He missed having her laughing and smiling at his jokes, teasing him hesitantly with her own sense of humour and clever comments.
The floor was cold and hard beneath his warm feet, soft from a week of bed rest.
Carter didn't stir as his fingers fluttered over her forehead, tracing the soft skin over her cheekbones and the stubborn line of her jaw.
"C'mon, Carter, you're too stubborn to give up now," he pleaded softly, taking her limp hand between his own.
His head was starting to pound and the room started tilting at crazy angles. He was going to fall over, Jack realised absently, squeezing her hand gently before letting go. And if he didn't get back to his own bed soon, Fraiser would have his ass kicked for getting up out of bed.
Jack was honestly going to get back into his own bed. His body had even started turning away from Carter and towards the warm bed he'd so stupidly vacated.
But the distance across the floor was so long and so cold, and Jack was tired, his head pounding a rhythm any decent drummer would be proud of.
He dropped into the chair next to Carter's bed unceremoniously, his fingers still resting over her hand.
Looks like Dad would have to find a new chair, Jack thought to himself before closing his eyes and resting his thrumming head on the crisp white sheets next to Carter's legs.
~o0o~
"Colonel O'Neill should be awake. He normally is this time of-"
Jacob raised an eyebrow, letting his tired gaze rest on the sight before them. "Obviously felt like a change in routine, hey Janet?" he smiled tiredly, but his lips twitched in concern and a tiny niggle anxiety bloomed in his stomach.
Janet Fraiser sighed, her heels clicking quickly over the floor to where the Colonel lay sleeping, half across his unconscious daughter.
"Colonel?" she asked quietly, touching his shoulder. The man didn't stir, his body inert beneath her gentle hands. "I'm going to have to move him, I don't think it's too good for Sam to have pressure on her abdomen at the moment." The words were light, but Jacob could hear the concern in her voice.
"I'll help," Jacob offered, and grasped Jack O'Neill's arm.
Between the two of them they managed to drag the limp man back to his bed and awkwardly roll him onto it, Janet puffing slightly with exertion.
"He's heavy," Jacob remarked ruefully, letting gazing down at the tension lines on Jack's face.
Janet nodded silently, turning her attention back to Sam.
With a final glance at Jack, Jacob also turned to Sam, his eyes stinging again with tears that threatened to spill over his lids as he gazed down at her still form.
"Any change?" he asked softly, lowering himself into the chair they'd just removed Jack out of. The plastic was hard and warm beneath him, refusing to allow him a comfortable seat.
Janet shook her head silently. "I'll be next door if you need anything." Her voice was all but a whisper, and Jacob glimpsed tears also swimming in her dark eyes that were ringed with exhaustion.
"You should get some rest, Janet," he said softly, smiling tiredly at her.
A brief smile touched her lips and she nodded curtly. "I will. You sit with Sam."
As the sound of her departure faded into distance, Jacob let his eyes rest on Sam's features again.
He was losing her, he acknowledged dully. Every day that she lay here, with her eyes closed and her breathing so light and regular she was slipping further and further away. The stillness of her hands as they rested gracefully on the white sheets was testimony to that. She had never been a fiddler, never given to fidgeting, but she'd always been busy. Always had her hands full of something: a pen, reading, working on the computer, examining… Even as a child she was always exploring, always observing.
And now she was lying here, so still and silent. So waxen.
He was losing her.
He sighed, letting his older, rough fingers brush gently over her small hands.
He was tired of this.
//What does not make sense is O'Neill,// Selmak's voice was soft and far away.
//What do you mean?// Jacob asked absently, his eyes tracing the bone structure so similar to his wife's.
//There is most certainly a link between the Colonel and Samantha, we both agree on that. So why is Jack well and not getting sick? If Samantha was getting worse, he should also be deteriorating.//
Jacob sighed, squeezing Sam's hand.
//He's not getting any better either, Selmak.//
//While Jack is still alive, Jacob, so is Samantha.//
//And if Sam dies then we lose a good man.//
~o0o~
Teal'c remained silent, observing as Daniel Jackson sat staring blankly at the paper before him on the desk. For the last hour, Daniel Jackson had been studying the same page without once moving his eyes. Teal'c deduced that Daniel Jackson was not concentrating.
"Do you require refreshment, Daniel Jackson?"
Daniel Jackson grunted, blinking in surprise as he turned startled blue eyes to Teal'c. "Wha…?"
"Coffee?" Teal'c asked again, observing the pallor of his friend's cheeks.
"Oh, no thanks, I'm fine."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow, watching Daniel Jackson carefully. "By starving yourself you will not reduce the guilt."
Daniel Jackson's gaze returned to Teal'c's with alarming alacrity.
"General Carter, Dr. Fraiser and myself have told you many times that you are not to blame for Major Carter's condition, Daniel Jackson. To shoulder the guilt for an accident is a sure way down the paths of sorrow."
Daniel Jackson sighed, a bitter smile tugging at his lips. "You sound like Confucius."
"I have not met this Confucius."
A tired chuckle sounded from Daniel Jackson, and he pulled back from his desk, stretching long arms languidly as he rose to his feet. "He died a long time ago, but he's still very well known. I can lend you some books if you like."
Teal'c nodded his head in acceptance; stories and legends of Earth's history made for interesting reading and then further debate with Daniel Jackson.
"How's Jack?" Daniel Jackson enquired carefully, not moving from where he now stood.
"He is well," Teal'c answered, studying Daniel Jackson. "You have not been to see him, Daniel Jackson."
It wasn't an accusation or a question, and they both knew it. But Daniel Jackson felt guilt.
"I haven't had time, I've been busy."
"You have not been busy. You have been here observing the same page for an hour."
Daniel Jackson flushed awkwardly, his eyes flitting around the room guiltily.
Teal'c felt grave concern within him. The road Daniel Jackson was now treading was dangerous, fraught with peril and risk, and with guilt as his burden… Daniel Jackson was sure to lose his footing.
"Perhaps we should go talk to O'Neill."
Daniel Jackson coughed, shifting nervously. He did not want to see O'Neill, because to see O'Neill would mean seeing Major Carter, and Daniel Jackson was not yet ready to face her inert form.
"Tomorrow, Teal'c. I'll go tomorrow when he's awake. It's late now and I don't want to keep him from his rest."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow. Daniel Jackson had never before been concerned about the time; when he had something of importance to do, it was done. Now… the guilt was changing him.
"I will accompany you tomorrow morning, before O'Neill eats."
Daniel Jackson opened his mouth to protest, Teal'c could see the fear in his eyes. But if Daniel Jackson did not accept what had happened as an accident, and if he did not accept what had occurred, then there was nothing Teal'c could to do help him.
All Teal'c could do was lend him the support of a brother, and Teal'c would do that no matter what.
~o0o~
"You're up early," Janet commented, stealing a glance at Daniel as she balanced a tray on one hand and carried a clipboard in the other.
"We have come to see O'Neill," Teal'c explained, opening the infirmary door for her.
"Good. You can make sure he eats everything then and doesn't just give it to a nurse when I'm not looking."
Daniel didn't reply, his face pale and white and his fingers clenched nervously into fists. Janet hadn't seen Daniel at the infirmary since after the Colonel had woken up.
And the Colonel wasn't stupid, he knew why Daniel hadn't come, and he hadn't blamed it on Daniel either.
"He's probably awake already, usually is," she continued, leading the way to the Colonel's bed.
She was wrong though, Colonel O'Neill was still asleep, his face strangely pale.
"O'Neill is still sleeping," Teal'c stated, and Janet could hear the concern in his voice. The way the Colonel was lying, the paleness of his face and the strange stillness of his limbs…
"Hold this." The tray was thrust roughly at Daniel and she almost ran to the colonel's side.
"Janet?" Daniel's voice was strained and panicked.
"I need heart monitor here!" Janet yelled, listening frantically to the unsteady beat of O'Neill's heart. "His BP's dropping and he's not responding!"
"Dr. Jackson, if you'd like to move out here."
"What are his vitals?"
"He's too cold, we need to get him warmed up."
"His breathing's irregular."
"Someone check Major Carter!"
Janet pumped frantically at the Colonel's heart. "Come on, Colonel. Not now, not yet. Come on, dammit!"
"We're losing them both!"
"Shut up and pump!" Janet ordered, the bed jerking with her forceful compressions.
"I've got a heart beat and he's breathing!"
"He's stabilised."
Janet sat back, panting, a cold sweat sticking loose tendrils of hair to her damp forehead.
"I want them both under constant supervision. The slightest change…." Janet warned, climbing down warily from the bed.
The room seemed strangely silent and slow, as though time was distorted and everything was moving in slow motion.
"Dr. Fraiser?"
She blinked.
"Are you feeling okay, Ma'am?"
A weak smile, tired eyes barely crinkling at the corners. "Yeah, I was just worried."
She watched silently as the orderly left. She was almost alone, save for her ordered supervising nurses, and she stood at the foot of Sam's bed, gazing at the pale skin of her silent friend.
"Come on, Sam, you've got to pull through this."
The room was silent other than the constant, mechanical beeps echoing around the white walls.
~o0o~
Hey Jack."
Jack opened his eyes slowly, yawning as he took in Daniel's messy appearance at the foot of his bed.
"Long time no see," he quipped, but his eyes were understanding as they gazed at Daniel.
"You had us worried for a while, Colonel," Dr. Fraiser's voice smiled next to him, and he flicked his eyes to gaze at her.
"I did?"
"Yeah, we almost lost you. Twice."
Oh. Well that was news.
"What about Carter?"
Daniel's face pulled into a tight grimace, but Jack could see the guilt clearly in his eyes. "She's still…"
"Oh."
"How do you feel?" Fraiser questioned him curiously.
Jack sighed. Not another round of `how-do-you-feel-compared-to-
He frowned. "Actually, I feel better."
"You do?" The hope on Fraiser's voice was unmistakable.
"I'm tired, but I feel… I feel like I can get up and walk without needing to sit down."
Daniel's face broke into a broad smile. "So Sam's going to get better?"
Jack shrugged. He felt better, how would he know how Carter felt? He wasn't psychic.
"I think we should let the Colonel get some rest." Fraiser's tone brooked no arguing with.
Daniel agreed reluctantly, and Jack watched as he walked out of the infirmary, followed by Teal'c who dipped his head approvingly and almost smiled at Jack.
"Doc?"
"Yes Colonel?"
"How's Carter really doing?"
He heard her sighing next to him, the hesitant silence speaking volumes. "I'm worried about her, Sir. She hasn't shown any signs of responsiveness, and I'm worried about what damage the bullet did to her spine."
"Do you think she'll walk again?" Jack asked softly.
Again, Fraiser hesitated. "I don't think so, no."
~o0o~
"General Hammond, Sir!"
Hammond looked up in annoyance, a frown creasing his forehead as he gazed at the rudeness of the Airman. "What is it?"
"SG-8 just got back from Abydos, Sir."
Hammond raised an eyebrow. Of course SG-8 was going to get back from Abydos now, it was right on schedule. "Hold on a minute, Son." He motioned the Airman to sit, but the man was too tightly wound up, jiggling from one foot to another. Shaking his head wearily, Hammond turned back to the phone. "Yes, Senator, I'm sorry Sir… No, I'll have to call you again Bob, something's come up."
He put the phone down silently, turning his full attention to the Airman. "Well?"
"I think you'd better come and see, Sir."
Pushing his chair back from his desk, Hammond followed the man out of his office and down the familiar route to the gate room.
"Well-" The sentence died on his lips as he stopped mid-stride.
"We lost Captain Jenkins, Sir." Major Elliot ran a dirty, gloved hand through his sandy brown hair.
Hammond nodded, his eyes trained on the bloodied body of a woman lying next to the still form of Captain Jenkins.
"Who's this?"
"Amonet, General. Apophis' wife."
~o0o~
"You look thoughtful, Teal'c," Daniel commented lightly as he drank his coffee slowly.
Teal'c raised his dark eyes to meet Daniel's light ones, and frowned in thought. "I am growing restless, Daniel Jackson. Since Major Carter and O'Neill were captured I have done very little."
"I wouldn't say that, Teal'c. We found Sam and Jack…" Daniel swallowed, shoving his guilt down into the darker corner of his mind before continuing. "We got rid of two more Goa'uld as well as being indirectly responsible for the demise of a third. I don't think you've done `very little'."
Teal'c studied Daniel intently. "I have pledged my allegiance to the Tau'ri, Daniel Jackson, so that we may defeat the Goa'uld and bring freedom to my people. Is your goal not to free your wife?"
Daniel drew his breath in sharply, staring down at the dark liquid in his cup. "We will do those things, Teal'c. They just take time."
"Each day that we do not fight is another day for the Goa'uld to grow stronger."
Daniel sighed. "I'm going to find Sha're, Teal'c. And we'll set your people free, but we can't do those things by ourselves. We need Jack and Sam as well, and as soon as they're better we'll continue."
Teal'c dipped his head in acknowledgement.
"But," Daniel continued, "I'm sure that General Hammond would assign you to another team temporarily if you really want."
"DR. JACKSON TO GENERAL HAMMOND'S OFFICE."
Daniel sighed, throwing back the last mouthful of his now lukewarm drink before rising to his feet. "You coming?"
"I was not called for."
Nevertheless, the Jaffa also rose to his feet and briskly followed Daniel to the office.
"You wanted to see me, General?" Daniel asked, standing in the doorway.
The General looked up, his face strained with concern. "Daniel…"
Daniel? General Hammond was calling him Daniel?
"General Sir?"
The General sighed. "Take a seat please."
Daniel did as he was asked silently, shooting a confused look at Teal'c who merely raised an eyebrow.
"Daniel, this is hard."
Daniel swallowed, staring at Hammond intently. "What happened? Are Sam and Jack-"
"This isn't about them, Dr. Jackson," General Hammond sighed again, his eyes full of sympathy as he gazed at Daniel. "Daniel, SG-8 just returned from Abydos."
"Is Kasuf-"
"He's fine. There was a Goa'uld there again, Dr. Jackson, and several Jaffa. The Abydonians had been imprisoned, and SG-8 attempted to free them. They were successful, but during the fire fight we lost Captain Jenkins and all the Jaffa as well as the Goa'uld were killed."
Daniel frowned. "I'm not sure I understand what's wrong. The Abydonians are okay and the Goa'uld is dead."
"It was Amonet. The Goa'uld who was killed was Amonet."
~o0o~
Jacob sighed, leaning back in his chair and stretching.
"When do you go back to Tok'ra Town?" Jack asked from his bed.
Jacob turned to face the greying man lying with a bored expression on his features. "Today. Tok'ra High Council have a mission for me and Selmak that we should have started a week ago already."
Jack was silent, so Jacob turned his attention back to Sam who was still unmoving on the bed.
"You never know how much they mean to you until you could lose them," Jacob said softly, reaching his hand out to touch Sam's. "I get worried sometimes that she won't be at the `gate to meet me the next time I pop in for a visit."
He turned back to Jack. "Jack? You okay?"
"Yeah. Fine."
Jacob frowned, taking in his pale face and the guardedness of his eyes. "I'm not implying that you won't look after her on a mission," he pointed out.
"I know that."
"You'll take care of her, won't you?" Jacob demanded suddenly, his eyes boring into Jack's intently. O'Neill better look after his little girl or- "What aren't you telling me, Jack?"
"It's not my business, Jacob."
Jacob raised an eyebrow. "I thought you called me `Dad'."
"Sorry. Dad."
"What isn't your business?"
Jack shifted awkwardly on the bed, and Jacob could see the reluctance in his eyes. "Have you spoken to Doc Fraiser?"
"Not really, no. I haven't had much time."
Jack closed his eyes, leaning back on his pillows with a pained look stretching across his face. "You'd probably go and talk to her because-"
"Sam?!"
Had he imagined the pressure on his hands? Had he imagined feeling her fingertips move gently beneath his own.
"What's happening?" Jack demanded.
"I think she's waking up!"
There was a muffled thump behind him, and Jacob didn't have to have eyes at the back of his head to realise that Jack O'Neill was no longer in bed. Janet was going to have a fit.
"Carter?"
"Come on Sam, open your eyes."
The lashes fluttered briefly against her pale skin, and again the slightest movement beneath Jacob's hand brought a broad smile to his face.
"What's happening?" A familiar voice cut through the infirmary.
"Sam's waking up!" Jacob announced excitedly as Janet came and stood next to them.
A smile broke onto the doctor's face. Quickly and confidently she picked up Sam's free hand and patted it lightly. "Sam? Come on Sam, wake up."
The eyelids lifted slowly, and Jacob felt tears pricking burning against his eyes as Sam's blue ones stared sleepily into his own.
"Morning Princess."
~o0o~
Morning Princess? Dad?
"Dad?" Her voice scratched in her throat, sounding husky and far away.
"Hey Sam, welcome back."
Janet?
"That was some nap, Carter."
That was definitely the Colonel.
"Wha…"
"Shh, don't try to speak," Janet admonished.
Sam gazed up wearily.
Tired.
She was so tired.
And her stomach hurt.
What happened?
Nut…
The Colonel…
The shadowed forms standing over her bed blurred into a hazy whiteness and she closed her eyes again, slipping back to sleep.
~o0o~
"Janet? A word?"
Janet hesitated, turning slowly to face General Carter. "Yes, Sir?"
"Jack said I needed to talk to you."
Oh, he did, did he? Janet sighed, letting the arm holding her clipboard slowly drop until it rested awkwardly at her side. No, she didn't want to talk to Jacob Carter now. She didn't want to admit to him right now that it looked as though Sam would never walk again.
She didn't want to think about that now. All she wanted to think about was the fact that Sam woke up.
"About what?"
"I don't know. He wouldn't say anything. Said it was none of his business." General Carter narrowed his eyes, studying her. "But you already know what you have to talk to me about, don't you?"
Janet sighed. Damn, the man was just as sharp as his daughter. She licked her lips. How to start? How to tell someone what she had to tell Jacob Carter?
"It's about Sam, isn't it?"
She nodded mutely. "We should probably talk about this in my office."
He followed her silently, until she was sitting behind her desk with her fingers neatly laced together in front of her.
"Sam's injuries were… They were bad. Frankly, I'm amazed that she survived. I'm sure that if it hadn't been for this link between Colonel O'Neill and Sam then she probably wouldn't be alive right now."
She watched him absorb the news; but he'd already had an idea of that anyway.
"Cut to the chase, Janet."
"The bullet touched her spine, General. I don't she'll walk again."
There. It was out. In the open. Floating around in the air between them, pummelling both of their hearts until Janet thought she would start crying. Again.
"But you don't know for certain, right?"
What was it with men and denial? It was almost as though they thought they could simply change the inevitable by completely denying it, by never allowing it to take root in their reality.
"No, I don't. But she hasn't shown any signs of responding at all in her legs."
Jacob Carter drew in a breath, and then dipped his head. She waited for Selmak to appear.
//Perhaps the Tok'ra could do something.//
"A healing device?" Janet was doubtful. The damage was old and set by now.
//No, it would be too late. Perhaps if Samantha became a Tok'ra…//
Janet hesitated. "That's not my choice to make, but knowing how Sam feels about it… I don't think that's an option."
//You also believe she would rather remain an invalid than become a host?//
Janet nodded silently, forcing her tears to stay away.
//So does Jacob. The Tau'ri have strange ideals, Dr. Fraiser.//
Janet smiled shakily, sniffing and wiping discreetly at her tears. "Yeah, I guess we do."
~o0o~
"How are you feeling, Colonel?" Hammond asked as O'Neill dropped into a chair around the briefing table.
"Fine, Sir."
Hammond didn't think he looked fine, but he let it pass.
"Who are we waiting for, General?"
"No one, son."
Hammond didn't look particularly happy, Jack realised with a start. There was a tension in his eyes…
"Have you spoken to either Dr. Jackson or Teal'c today?"
"No, I haven't seen them. Daniel was supposed to come for a chess game last night but he never pitched."
Hammond scrubbed a hand over his face, sitting back in his chair. "Jack, Sha're died."
"Excuse me?"
"Yesterday. On Abydos. SG-8 went through for the usual meeting to find that she'd taken the Abydonian's captive. They put up a fight, released the Abydonians and killed her in the process."
"They killed her?" Jack exploded, slapping his hands onto the table.
"Defence, Jack. She had already killed Jenkins and was about to do the same to Technical Sergeant Martin."
"Couldn't they just have winged her or something?" Jack asked softly, closing his eyes.
Hammond remained silent.
"Does Daniel know?"
Hammond nodded.
"How is he?"
"I don't know. When I told him he left without saying a word. Dr. Fraiser says he went to… to look at her, but after that I don't know."
"And you let him leave?"
"Teal'c is with him."
Jack felt better immediately, sighing as he gazed down at the tabletop. "Sir, I'd like to go and find him-"
"Negative."
"General?"
"Jack, you've only been up since this morning. Three days ago we thought you wouldn't make it. Major Carter still isn't out of the woods. I can't risk letting you get too far away from her in case it has a bad effect on the two of you."
Jack sighed, resting his head on his hands.
"I just thought you should know, Jack."
Jack grunted. Yes, he wanted to know that his best friend's wife was dead.
"I'll let you know when he arrives."
"Thanks."
Jack stood silently, feeling old and tired as he left the briefing room slowly.
Sha're was dead.
Sha're was dead.
How did Daniel feel? What was he going through?
Jack hesitated. Jack knew what Daniel was going through. He'd lost Charlie, hadn't he? And then he'd nearly lost Carter.
Losing Carter. Why did the idea of losing Carter terrify him so much? The same way the idea of losing either Daniel or Teal'c drove a stake of fear so deep into his heart that he doubted he'd ever be able to remove it.
The world around him lurched angrily, fuzzy streaks of colour blurring dazedly.
"Colonel?"
He frowned, glancing at Fraiser with confused eyes. "Doc?"
"You feeling okay, Sir?"
"Tired," he whispered, his eyes starting to flutter closed.
"I knew you shouldn't have gotten up yet," she scolded gently, her arms strong and firm around him, keeping him steady as she guided him towards his bed.
"Carter?"
"She's fine. Still asleep, but she's doing just fine. Get some rest, Sir."
The sheets were cold and crisp, freshly changed obviously.
Jack closed his eyes and let the darkness claim him.
~o0o~
"Go away."
"I will not go away."
"I want to be alone, damn you!"
"I believe that would be most unwise, Daniel Jackson."
"Wise? What you would know about wise, Teal'c?" Daniel Jackson face was pulled into a grimace, his unsteady blue eyes staring wildly at Teal'c. "It's all your fault anyway! You're the one who chose her!"
Teal'c remained silent, acknowledging the truth that stung like acid on his mind. Yes, it had been his decision to offer Sha're as a host. It had been him that had chosen her from the many Abydonians.
It was his fault.
"I am ashamed of that, Daniel Jackson."
The archaeologist fell silent, his nervous fingers fiddling with the bottle held unsteadily between them. Daniel Jackson was intoxicated, and very much so. Teal'c was surprised by the amount of alcohol he had consumed, and was still drinking strongly.
"Perhaps it would be wise if you retired-"
"Why? So that I don't get anyone else killed or hurt?" The words were spat with fury.
Teal'c frowned, confused.
"Let's face facts Teal'c, everyone I care about dies or gets hurt. First my parents, then Sha're and Skaara, and now Sam. Goodness knows how many times Jack's been injured and hurt trying to protect me."
"I was referring to your bed, Daniel Jackson."
"Oh. Yes of course you were." A high pitched giggle escaped from his mouth and fell miserably flat in the silent room.
"Major Carter will recover, Daniel Jackson. It was not you that caused her injury, it was an accident."
Teal'c watched as Daniel Jackson clumsily raised a sleeved arm to his face and rubbed at his red and swollen eyes.
"It was my bullet, Teal'c. I shot the bullet that hurt Sam."
"If you had shot Major Carter directly, she would not be alive. The bullet rebounded off a rock and that is what struck Major Carter." Teal'c was growing tired with repeating the same reasoning at Daniel Jackson.
"And it was my fooling around with the gate and trying to explore that got Sha're captured," he continued, ignoring Teal'c. "And it was my begging Jack that convinced him to allow Harlan to make copies of us. Another reality of the SGC sacrificed themselves for me-"
"You were willing to sacrifice yourself also, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c's voice was sharp.
Fat tears slowly dripped out the side of Daniel Jackson's eyes and crept slowly down his cheeks. He made no attempt to wipe them away.
"She's gone, Teal'c," he whispered.
Teal'c swallowed roughly and stood up, placing a strong hand on Daniel Jackson's shoulder.
"She is. But the war is not over yet, and you are still needed."
"But Sha're…"
Teal'c stood awkwardly, watching as Daniel Jackson dissolved before him, sobs shaking his worn and tired body. As the storm raged in his friend, Teal'c waited, eventually picking up the archaeologist and carrying him carefully to his bed.
He stood for a moment, his eyes resting on Daniel Jackson's sleeping frame before flicking off the light.
Yes, Sha're was dead, and Teal'c would live with the guilt of her death on his shoulders for the rest of his life, just as he carried the guilt of thousands of other deaths.
The Goa'uld had to be stopped.
~o0o~
"How are you feeling, Sam?"
"Tired," Sam smiled sleepily, stifling a yawn.
"You've certainly been sleeping enough!" Janet teased gently. "Open." Sam obediently opened her mouth, letting her eyes flutter closed as Janet continued to examine her.
"S'good to be back," she whispered, content to let Janet do what Janet had to do.
"It's also very good having you back," Janet agreed promptly.
"Where's the Colonel?"
"Honestly Sam, you've only been awake for a few minutes and already you're busy worrying about nothing."
Sam flushed slightly, opening her eyes to grin sheepishly at Janet. The smile died though as she took in Janet's face. "What?"
"Sam… I want you to close your eyes and tell me if you feel anything, okay?"
"Janet?" Sam demanded, staring intently at Janet despite the fingers of sleep clutching at her again.
"Please, Sam."
"What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure yet. Just… just do it, okay?"
Sam hesitated before closing her eyes.
"Feel that?"
"Feel what?" Sam asked, worry tinging her voice.
"Good."
"Good?"
"I just wanted to check you weren't making anything up."
Sam frowned. What was Janet doing?
There was a nudge on her stomach. "OW! Janet!"
"Sorry! How about this?"
Fear turned the roof her mouth dry. "Should I be feeling something?"
There was silence.
"Janet?" She clutched out desperately, her eyes flying open as she tried to sit upright on the bed.
"Easy Sam, careful."
"What's wrong?"
"Shhh…" Janet stroked the hair back off her forehead gently. "Lie down, Sam. That's it…"
"Janet, what's going on?" Sam demanded.
"You're going to have to tell her, Doc." The Colonel's voice was strangely emotionless, and Sam strained her head to try and catch sight of him, ignoring the pain her abdomen and the way the world started to spin.
"Colonel?"
"I'm here, Carter."
"Get some rest, Sam, we'll talk when you wake up again."
"No…" Sam protested, but she knew it was pointless because the darkness was crowding in on her vision again and her head thumped an aching staccato that throbbed in time with the burning in her stomach.
~o0o~
Janet bit her lip, keeping her back to the Colonel as she continued to stare down at Sam.
"It doesn't take a medical genius to realise that was bad," the Colonel commented.
Janet's eyes stung. "I know."
"She'll have nightmares now and keep me awake the whole night," he continued to complain good-naturedly.
"I'll give you something then," Janet snapped, flicking the clipboard shut and hanging it roughly at the foot of Sam's bed.
"It's bad, isn't it?" he asked eventually.
She didn't want to turn to him. She didn't want to have him see the grief and the sorrow in her eyes, or the tears running unchecked down her cheeks.
"Yes," sniff, "it is."
Sniff.
"Are you crying?"
No. Of course she wasn't crying.
"Doc?"
"She can't feel a thing on her legs. Even her thighs…"
There was silence, and she turned to face him eventually. He said nothing about the mascara lines down her cheeks.
"I don't think Sam will ever walk again." The words cut at her, taunting her. Sam, not walking. She couldn't picture Sam in a wheelchair, she couldn't imagine Sam not in the military.
"It's not like she could have stayed in the military anyway."
Janet frowned, finally wiping at her tears. "What do you mean?"
"This link thing between us. It's a liability, a weakness. Imagine if one of us got caught off-world, then the other one would have to stay behind. Or if one of us died the other one would drop dead immediately."
Janet nodded roughly, understanding the logic.
"You know what really sucks?" he continued.
She shook her head mutely.
"I can't even go up to my cabin alone now."
She grinned. "You could always take Sam with you," she suggested, a glint in her eyes despite the sadness in her heart.
"Carter? Nah, she'd hate it. Fishing and quiet. No technology, no phones… no hot water."
Janet broke into a broad grin. "It's about time that she learns to relax."
O'Neill eyed her warily. "Are you playing matchmaker now, Doc?"
"Well, it's not like regulations will be a problem anymore."
To her surprise, the Colonel started chuckling.
"What?"
"We're friends, Doc. That's all, friends."
Janet smiled. "So?"
And to her satisfaction, the smile on O'Neill's face turned a little hesitant.
"Colonel, she's going to need someone to help her."
"And so you're volunteering me because of this link thing?" he asked suspiciously.
"And the fact that you're friends." Janet grinned, wiping at her eyes again. "Friends help each other."
He looked at her solemnly. "I would have done it anyway."
Janet already knew that.
~o0o~
Hammond sat at the foot of the bed silently, watching as she slept.
"Sir?" O'Neill broke the silence.
"Yes Jack?"
"How will she see Dad?"
Hammond sighed. That was an easier question than Hammond had expected. "She knows about the Stargate already, Jack, and she knows about Selmak. When Jacob is on-world then he can leave the base and go visit her."
O'Neill fell silent, and Hammond knew his gaze was also resting on Sam. "It's not really fair, is it?" he asked eventually, but Hammond knew it was rhetorical. "It's not fair on Daniel, especially not now, and it's not fair on Carter either."
Hammond nodded in agreement. No, it wasn't fair. Life was never fair.
"At least she's alive, Jack."
Silence.
"It's not fair to you either."
"No, it's not, but it's worse for her."
"Why?"
O'Neill smiled. "She's gonna be stuck with me in close proximity for the rest of her life."
Hammond chuckled. Yes, Carter was going to be in for a tough time, but somehow Hammond didn't think that being stuck with O'Neill would be the biggest of her concerns.
~o0o~
She was too thin, Jack decided, watching as she stubbornly wheeled herself along the corridors.
"You should eat more, Carter."
She shot him a look, a cross between annoyance and exasperation before she turned back to her task.
It was hard work, wheeling herself around in a wheel chair, but Jack knew that despite the sheen of sweat on her forehead, the laboured sound of her breathing and the way the muscles tightened painfully in her arms that she would hate him if he offered her a hand. Sam Carter was strong, much too strong to allow being a quadriplegic stand in her way.
"Can I borrow your chair sometime?" he asked hopefully.
She glanced at him again, but didn't waste her energy or concentration on replying.
"I played wheelchair basketball once and I was wondering-"
"Why did you play that?" she asked curiously, her eyes focused firmly on their goal: the elevator.
"One of my team landed himself in a chair. The whole team used to go play with him on weekends."
"Oh."
They dropped into silence again as she strained to keep the chair moving.
"Carter…"
"Sir?"
"I've been talking to Janet, and-"
She sighed angrily, pushing the chair forwards with a burst of annoyance.
"Just listen for a minute, Carter!" he pleaded.
She glared at him, refusing to stop.
"You can't go back to your place. Not in a wheelchair."
"Why not?" she demanded stubbornly, a bitter smile of satisfaction on her face as she reached the elevators. Determinedly she stabbed the `down' arrow.
"Where are you going?"
"The labs," she stated, daring him to argue.
"Carter-"
He tried to argue, but she glared at him and spun the chair expertly.
She was good at getting people to shut up and agree with her when the chair was brought into the conversation.
The elevator pinged. The door slipped open.
The Airmen stopped talking and watched her uncomfortably.
Carter's face flushed and her jaw tightened stubbornly. Inwardly, Jack flinched. This was not good, this was really not good.
"The labs," she muttered, not even trying to reach up and push the button that Jack knew would be out of her reach.
Silently, he pushed it for her.
The elevator went down. It pinged. They got out.
"Carter, you are never going to fit that chair in between all the stuff in the labs," he tried again, half jogging to keep up with her firm forward motion.
Her silence effectively ended the conversation.
He was worried about Carter. Heck, they were all worried about Carter.
But she refused to acknowledge that something was wrong. That she had to adjust. That she couldn't do everything she used to be able to do.
That she was no longer on SG-1 – the same as Jack – and that soon they would both be `honourably discharged'.
He snorted at the thought. Honourably discharged. There was nothing honourable about being discharged. Not ever.
The sides of the chair caught on one of the narrow doorframes and her whole body jerked out of the chair. She hadn't done up her straps. Again.
Her jaw was clenched tightly and her face flushed an angry red as she pulled herself roughly into the chair, her useless legs flopping about as she tried to rearrange herself into the chair. But the chair wasn't listening, and the more she kept trying to get into it, the more the chair rolled backwards.
Silently he put his feet behind the wheels, and she pulled herself in stiffly.
Her eyes were hard as she spun around and began the return journey towards the elevator.
She'd never forgive him for helping her. Never.
~o0o~
"Are you sure you're doing the right thing, Daniel?"
Daniel didn't look up. "Of course I am."
"Just because the Colonel and Major-"
"Janet, this isn't about them. This is about me. I joined the program simply to get Sha're back. She's dead. I have no reason to stay here now." Daniel knew his words were harsh, but they were true.
What was also true was the fact that the entire SGC reminded him ofSG-1 before… before he shot Sam.
Before she was forced into a wheelchair.
Before he ruined both Sam and Jack's careers.
"They would have had to resign anyway, Daniel. They can't stay in the military given their current link."
He swallowed, carefully placing a small statue into a cardboard box. "So there's even less reason for me to stay."
"What about Teal'c?" Janet prodded, and he heard her walking closer to him.
"If Jack isn't coming back you know Teal'c won't stay. He believes in Jack, and he only believes in Earth because Jack is here. There's no reason for me to stay, Janet."
"What about the other planets? The knowledge you can get about our history from them-"
Daniel cut her off with a shake of his head. "I could never publish any of my findings, Janet. I might as well go back to Egypt and start digging around for clues that I know are there, that I know exist and use them to back up my theory."
Janet shifted uncomfortably and he looked at her. "What?"
"You can't," she said softly, picking up a small stone tablet and running her fingers over its dusty surface. "You can't do anything that might indicate the existence of the Stargate. You know that. What if you suddenly proved that the Goa'uld did cause the cross- pollinisation. Then what? The whole of Earth is thrown into chaos and panic because aliens DO exist and they're not just the results of someone having a bit too much to drink."
She was right, he realised ruefully, taking the tablet out of her hands and placing it carefully in the box before covering it with newspaper.
"Do you think it's right, not telling anyone?"
"Have you ever watched Men In Black?" Janet countered lightly.
He glanced at her, confused by the question but nodding his head anyway. He'd watched it one downtime with SG-1, introducing Teal'c to the way the Tau'ri viewed aliens.
He'd thought it was funny.
"You know that bit where Will Smith says everyone should know about the aliens?"
Daniel nodded.
"Tommy Lee Jones has a point when he says that everyone is better off not knowing they exist. Not knowing how many times Earth has come close to being wiped out."
The lab fell silent, and Daniel mutely packed another artefact into his box before closing the lid and taping it shut.
"What's your point, Janet?"
She sighed. "You're making the wrong decision, Daniel. We need you here at the SGC and-"
"The SGC needed Sam more."
"And Sam can still work at the SGC in the same capacity as you. There is no reason why not, other than the fact that her wheelchair can't fit into the labs."
"She won't come back, you know."
Janet was silent.
"And Jack has nothing now…"
"Daniel, resigning because of some self righteous martyring idea you've gotten into your head-"
"I've told you Janet, I'm going. You are not going to change my mind and that's it. I've already given my resignation to General Hammond. My office is basically empty. Why won't you accept that I'm leaving?"
He glanced at her, and there were tears of frustration in her eyes.
"Damn you, Daniel. Don't you understand? You and SG-1 were… ARE the legends of this place. SG-1…. You're just throwing it away."
"I'm not. It's gone."
"Daniel, you and Sam made this place work. The Colonel kept this place alive. And Teal'c is proof that everyone can be united, that everyone can get together and work towards a common goal. You can't just leave that."
"I can and I will." He swallowed, lifting the box up and placing it on a loading trolley. "I'm sorry, Janet, but SG-1 is over. Next week you'll get your new officers, a new team will be formed and everyone will move on as though we were never here. Life goes on, so live with it."
His words were harsh and bitter, the cynicism knifing him to the core. But he resolutely grabbed the handles and slowly pushed the loaded trolley past Janet, out the door and up the corridor.
His time here was over.
Live with it.
~o0o~
Sprawled on a blanket on the grass and staring up into the blue sky with the snow white clouds, Sam could almost delude herself into thinking it was all okay.
Almost.
"Need anything, Carter?"
"No, Sir."
Almost.
She missed being alone. She missed her house. She missed being able to do things without needing help.
She missed her legs.
The Colonel's face appeared in her vision, casting a shadow over her and blotting out her view of the sky.
"With respect, Sir, move."
He obliged, dropping down onto the grass next to her and holding a beer in front of her face.
"I thought Janet said no beer," she said idly, taking the beverage from him and pulling herself upright.
He grinned at her. "Janet's not here, is she?"
"On the contrary, Colonel, Janet is right behind you."
Sam's face fell.
Great. Another visit from `The Mother Hen From Hell.'
"Hi Janet," she commented, deliberately drinking a deep mouthful and glaring at the doctor to gauge her reaction.
Janet sighed. "I'm not going to yell at you Sam, it's your choice."
Sam smiled. Good.
"Daniel's resigned."
For a moment Sam felt a pang of disappointment and indignation. Daniel couldn't resign. What was he thinking?
And then she remembered that she and Daniel weren't exactly friends anymore. It wasn't her fault; she had nothing against Daniel. It was an accident, a shitty accident be that as it may, but an accident.
But Daniel was the one who couldn't and wouldn't deal with it.
Daniel was the one who had never came and visited her while she was flat on her back for three weeks.
Daniel was the one who had skulked about the base when she'd finally gotten a wheelchair, hiding from her.
Daniel was the one who had avoided her.
And that hurt. It hurt Sam that he didn't think they're friendship was strong enough to move on with things like that. So it was up to Daniel to come and talk to her. Until he was ready to get over it and accept the fact that she didn't blame him, Sam figured there was no point in trying to talk to him.
She realised, almost ironically, that she was doing the same as Daniel to an extent. She was refusing to move on, refusing to accept that she would never walk again.
Never walk again.
The words stung and a deep anger burnt inside her.
It wasn't fair.
"Carter?" The Colonel was looking at her, waiting for an answer.
"Sorry, Sir. I guess I was thinking."
"Now there's something unusual," he grinned at her and she rolled her eyes. Would he never get over that?
"I've got you booked in to a specialist on Wednesday, Sam, Dr. Portes. I've sent over your X-rays, and he wants to have a talk to you."
"Can he help?" The words were out before she could stop them, hope igniting into a fireball as she stared intently at Janet.
Janet shook her head. "No, Sam. He's worried about the bullet moving. If it moved too much and damaged more of your spine there is a chance you could lose more than just the use of your legs."
The world went silent around her and she stared dumbly at Janet.
Lose more than just her legs?
"Carter?" The Colonel's face swam into view, his brown eyes concerned.
She hated him sometimes. Hated the way he always had a smart remark for everything, the way he could always make her laugh. The way he was always concerned about her.
She didn't need his concern.
She didn't need his care.
She didn't need his pity.
She was crying again, her fingers digging into his back as he held her while she sobbed.
"It's okay, Carter. It's okay."
"It's not okay, Sir," she cried, her whole body shaking and straining against the sobs. "What am I going to do now?"
He was silent, but Sam understood his silence.
He couldn't answer her question for her because he didn't know. No one knew.
She shuddered again, the storm over, but content to let him hold her and stroke her hair.
"Janet?"
"She left," he whispered, not moving.
What was going to happen to them? Were they going to be stuck with one another for the rest of their lives?
Sam swallowed.
Stuck with Colonel O'Neill. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but… but what about a family? Marriage? They were all things she'd wanted eventually…
She wouldn't get them anyway.
Not now.
Not when she was a cripple.
She sighed, relaxing against him.
He was all she had now, and she was pretty sure that she was all he had.
~o0o~
Silently Hammond signed the last form.
He sat back in his chair, his eyes resting on the four separate sheets of papers. One resignation, two honourable discharges and one authorising an off-world activation for personal reasons.
This was it. It was all over.
SG-1.
It was wrong, Hammond decided, carefully slipping the resignation into its appropriate folder, that it should come to this. That four people so close, a team so tight-knit should be disbanded because of a single accident of fate.
And that it happened to Sam Carter of all people…
He carefully wrote out an address on a crisp white envelope.
Over. It was all over now. He was sending them their final, formal letters of gratitudes, platitudes and dismissal. Two brilliant careers, two brilliant soldiers.
Over.
The Stargate was fickle, Hammond mused, glancing out of his window towards where the object of his thoughts stood, proud and unforgiving.
It could bring victory and power, friendships, partnerships, healing even.
And it also brought destruction, changing it's personality as easily and quickly as the weather.
Teal'c had already left, the solemn ceremony much the same as the first time he retired when SG-1 was presumed dead.
This time there were no doubts.
SG-1 as they had known it was over.
Dr. Jackson had already left. From what Hammond had heard he'd made his way straight to Egypt where he fell in with an old friend's dig. Only three weeks ago he'd left.
And the two military – retired – members were living together now.
A flicker of unease crossed Hammond's thoughts. He was worried about them. Worried that NID or some organization might get a whiff of the real reason behind O'Neill's retirement/discharge. That they might find out about the apparent link between Carter and O'Neill, tying them together so that their futures were now inextricably intertwined.
Hammond sighed, carefully placing the postage stamp in the right hand corner.
They'd have to be careful.
Both of them.
Silently he gathered the two stamped and addressed envelopes and put them with the `to post' bundle neatly on the corner of his desk. His aide would be in soon, and then those letters would finally make official what had been looming for several weeks now.
He was losing a damn fine team.
The only thing good about it was that he hadn't lost them to death.
~o0o~
"All units are Earth side, General. There's no incoming signal either, General."
Hammond frowned, glancing down at the flashing computer screen before turning his gaze back to the iris. Thankfully they had the iris. Hammond shuddered to think what would have happened by now if that solid layer of metal wasn't present protecting them 24/7.
Solid?
He blinked, squinting at the iris. "Sergeant…"
"The iris is losing integrity, Sir. I'm trying to-"
The iris wobbled, the metal seeming to move like a mirage in the desert heat.
"What the?" Hammond gazed down at the small orange creature daintily picking its way down the ramp, completely oblivious of the firearms carefully trained on it.
"It's a cat, Sir," Lieutenant Simmons announced.
"I can see that, Lieutenant!" Hammond barked. "How did a cat get through the iris?"
"It looks like Major Carter's cat," Simmons added. "A few years ago. She gave him to the Tollan Narim."
The Tollan. They had possessed the technology with which to travel through solid walls and the like. The first feelings of relief brushed at Hammond, but he wouldn't relax until he saw a friendly face step through onto the ramp.
With a final flicker, the iris expelled the tall figure that Hammond recognised as Narim.
"General Hammond, I am unfamiliar with Earth protocol in these matters. I sent Schrodinger so you would know a friend was coming," the Tollan explained, walking down the ramp and leaning over to quickly pick up the ginger cat.
"It's alright, Narim, the Tollan are welcome here. Units, stand down," Hammond ordered. "Just a minute son, I'll be right there."
Hammond entered the gateroom shortly after, taking in the slightly questioning look on the Tollan's face. "Is everything okay, Narim?"
The man blushed slightly. "I was wondering where Major Carter is. Is she currently off-world?"
"Uh…no, Narim, she's not. She's unavailable at the moment. Would you care to come this way please?"
"Yes, certainly. I was, however, hoping to speak with Colonel O'Neill. I have a message for him from our highest governing body."
"You do? Colonel O'Neill?"
"Yes. The Tollan Curia requests the presence of Colonel O'Neill and his team for Triad."
~o0o~
"Breakfast is ready!" Jack yelled up the stairs. "You ready?"
"Nearly."
Rolling his eyes, Jack placed the last waffle on the stack before heading towards the stairs.
"Colonel?"
"I'm coming, Carter. You know, I'm really looking forward to the day when we move into that new place with the ramps," he groused, thunking up the stairs towards her room.
"You're not the only one, Sir," she retorted as he entered her room and grinned `hi'.
"Ready for your ride?"
She grinned, nodding, and he picked her up in a practised swoop before turning around and heading back downstairs, depositing her gently at the breakfast table.
"What are you doing today?" she asked, grabbing a waffle and dousing it in syrup.
He glanced at her surreptitiously. "Actually, I was thinking of going away for a few days."
She glanced up instantly, her pancakes forgotten. "Sir?"
"I haven't been near my cabin in almost a year, Carter, and I was thinking it's about time I went up there again."
"Oh," she turned back to her waffled, her face carefully guarded. "Have you phoned Susan?"
"Why would I phone her?" he asked, taking the syrup from her and attacking his own waffles with it.
"It's not like I can look after myself anymore, Sir," she reminded him pointedly, "and I'm not letting that other nurse near me."
"You mean Lauren?"
"Yes." Her eyes spat cold fury at him.
"You don't want to come with me then?"
"Of course I don't want her to look after me! The last time- Colonel?"
He grinned at her, almost laughing openly.
"Are you sure?"
"About what?"
"Wanting me to go up with you?"
"Course I am," he nodded. And he was. Carter was his life now. His best friend, his constant companion. Hell, he didn't even want to get a dog anymore, and that was a real compliment to her!
"What about the chair, Sir?" she asked softly, concern in her eyes.
He shrugged. "What about the chair?"
"I…"
"The cabin is flat, Carter. No stairs, just flat. And the jetty is sturdy. There's a nice flat piece of land between the jetty and the cabin."
She nodded hesitantly.
"So you'll come?"
"Sure."
He grinned happily and continued to eat his waffles. "You're going to love the fishing."
~o0o~
"What exactly is a Triad, Narim?" General Hammond asked, glancing across at Janet.
"It is an ancient ceremony of justice. Quite honorable."
"Justice?" Janet questioned, studying the Tollan. "You mean it's like a trial?"
"I am not familiar with trial, Dr. Fraiser."
Janet frowned. "Uh… matters of law are decided there. Justice is delivered, sentencing takes place. There's a defence and a persecutor…"
"Yes, it is similar."
"So why do you want SG-1 then?" General Hammond asked curiously, and Janet had to admit that she also felt curious about it.
Narim hesitated, reluctant to speak to them. "My message really is for Colonel O'Neill and his team, General Hammond."
"I understand that, Narim, but they're not here at the moment."
Again the Tollan hesitated, but then he nodded and spoke. "Some days ago there was a conflict with a Goa'uld mothership in Tollana's orbit. A death glider managed to survive the ion canon blast and crash-landed on Tollana, where the survivor was found and taken care of. The survivor is an Abydonian, by the name of Skaara. He has requested the presence of both Colonel O'Neill and Dr. Jackson to help him at the Triad."
"Skaara?" General Hammond clarified.
"Yes."
"Uh, excuse me," Janet interrupted. "I was under the impression that the Nox took you to their planet and that there was no Stargate on Tollana."
"That is correct. We have, however, corrected that. General Hammond, I must see Colonel O'Neill."
Janet winced, knowing that the news wasn't going to come easy to the Tollan.
"Narim…"
"Are they still alive?"
The Tollan was perceptive; Janet gave him that much.
"Yes, they are alive. However, none of them are with the SGC any longer."
Narim's face fell. "But the Triad…"
"I'm sorry, Narim. We could send another team through…"
"No, that will not do. Skaara has requested the counsel of Dr. Jackson and Colonel O'Neill."
"Dr. Jackson no longer works for the SGC, Narim, but I believe he might return if we explain the circumstances," the General suggested thoughtfully.
"Colonel O'Neill?"
Hammond hesitated. "I'm afraid we can't allow him off-world, Narim."
"Why?"
"It's complicated, Narim. A medical condition."
Narim shrugged. "The Tollan could help. As a service to him for being of assistance."
Janet looked at Hammond. The Tollan could help.
"Narim… are you capable of dealing with spinal injuries?" Janet asked slowly, her mouth dry with anticipation.
"Perhaps. It depends on the severity."
"What if the spine wasn't broken, just the nerve damaged."
"Is movements of the arms inhibited?"
"No, just the legs. There's no feeling in them either."
Narim hesitated. "Perhaps. When there is no feeling it is not always possible to heal."
"Dr. Fraiser?" General Hammond asked curiously, and she could see the hope in his eyes as well.
"Even if they did heal her, General, she still couldn't come back to the SGC for the same reason the Colonel can't," she cautioned.
"At least shed have the use of her legs back," he countered.
"Could we do it?"
"Narim, how safe is Tollana?"
Narim grinned. "Far safer than Earth."
Hammond smiled, sitting back in his chair in satisfaction. "I can't guaruntee Dr. Jackson's presence, or Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill, but I can try."
"That is all I ask," Narim nodded his head. "What of Teal'c?"
"He is on Chulak."
"Then I will go to Chulak and talk with him. I will return in two days time, General Hammond."
Hammond nodded, and Janet stood as he rose to his feet. "We'll see you then Narim. And thank you."
"Thank you, General Hammond."
~o0o~
"It's been three months, Daniel," Sarah said gently.
"I know, Sarah."
"Why can't you talk to me? Tell me what happened?"
Daniel sighed, rolling away from her and staring up at the ceiling. "I was married, Sarah."
She was silent on her side of the bed, and Daniel knew that he'd hurt her. Again.
"You still love her." It wasn't a question.
"I always will."
He felt the bed moved as she got out, but he didn't look at her. He couldn't, not yet.
"Are you still going back to Cairo with me next week?" Sarah asked eventually, and he could hear her getting dressed.
He was silent.
"If you're not going I'm going to have to find a replacement."
"You mean you're going to ask Stephen before someone else grabs him," his words were cold and stinging, but she didn't deserve them. She hadn't done anything wrong.
"I don't even know why I tried," she snapped, marching over to him and glaring at him from the foot of the bed. He still loved the way her eyes flashed and her hair swirled when she was angry. "No, you know what? I do know, Daniel. I love you, and I don't expect you to love me but I expect you to have the decency to be honest with me."
He still didn't answer, just stared at her while she waited for an answer.
"What happened to you, Daniel? You're not the same-"
"No, I'm not. I've changed."
She snorted, turning to slip her jacket on over her slim shoulders. "Don't I know it. You never used to be so cynical. You never used to be so horrible!"
He flinched.
Yes, he was horrible.
Horrible, stupid, nasty, guilty.
"You better phone Stephen." His voice was dull.
She whipped around to face him, resignation on her features. "You know, I don't think-"
The shrill tones of his cell phone cut her off, and he reached over to answer it without a further glance.
[Dr. Jackson?]
"General Hammond?" he questioned disbelievingly.
[I heard you were back in America. Obviously the rumours were true.]
"Uh.. yes, Sir."
[Daniel, we need you at the SGC.]
He almost laughed. "That's what you said over three months ago, and Earth is still fine."
[Are you alone?]
"No, I'm not."
[We had a visit from the Tollan. They've got Skaara and they want you to act as a lawyer.]
Skaara. "Skaara?" he whispered hoarsely, his eyes stinging.
[Yes. Dr. Jackson?]
"I'll be there as soon as I can get a flight."
[There's a flight waiting for you already. Dr. Jackson-]
"I'm on my way, Sir."
[We'll see you soon then, Dr. Jackson.]
"Daniel?" Sarah asked, confusion clearly written on her features.
"I've got to go, Sarah."
"To where?"
"That doesn't matter. I've got to go."
"Daniel, you're scaring me."
"And I'm sorry about that, but I have to go fix what I screwed up a long time ago."
She frowned, all her anger and annoyance seemingly forgotten as she stood staring at him. She was so beautiful, and her eyes were deep…
"I'm sorry, Sarah."
She closed her eyes, and a tear dropped from the corner. "I'm losing you again, aren't I?"
No, she wasn't losing him again. He'd never been hers in the first place.
~o0o~
"We should have come up here ages ago," Sam sighed, falling back into the deckchair with a soft smile on her face.
The Colonel grinned at her, jerking his rod slightly and rocking his deckchair. "Told you the fishing was great."
She grinned. They had yet to catch anything, but it was perfect. The weather was behaving, the waters were still… everything was perfect. Even her chair rolled smoothly over the glass and into his cabin without complaint-
"Carter?"
"Sir?" She didn't open her eyes.
"There's a wasp on your cheek," he said softly.
She swallowed, keeping her eyes closed. "There is?"
"Uh huh. A big one."
"Sir, with respect, get it off!" she hissed.
Something brushed against her cheek, she heard a slight buzz and then it was quiet again.
"Is it gone?" she whispered. Why was she whispering?
"Yeah," his voice was low and rumbling, she could almost feel it. His fingers moved down along her cheek, brushing across her jawbone and trailing down her neck.
She drew in a sharp breath. "Colonel-"
"Shhh…" he whispered, his breath washing over her cheek.
His lips touched hers and Sam forgot everything except the feel of his mouth against hers and the way his fingers were combing gently through her hair, pulling her against him while her hands reached up to touch his face, holding it carefully in her hands as they explored one another and-
"No!" she pulled away, opening her eyes and blinking quickly. "No."
"Carter?" He didn't let go, his hands still holding her head and his face still dangerously close to hers.
"No," she repeated, not making any move to let go of him herself. "We can't."
"Why not?" he demanded.
Why not? A million reasons flew through her head.
This was wrong.
They were friends.
He used to be her CO.
She was paralysed.
What if five years down the track he woke up one morning and decided that he didn't want someone who was only half good? Hell, she probably wouldn't even be able to… to… Her cheeks turned red and she jerked away from him, trying to calm her heartbeat.
"We can go slow if you want-"
"No."
"Carter?"
"We can't, Sir."
"So you've said," he smiled, but there was confusion in his eyes.
"I can't Sir. I can't…"
"You can't what?"
She hesitated.
"I care about you, Carter."
"I know."
"And I'm pretty sure you care about me?"
She licked her lips. Cared about him? Of course she did. She'd been living with him for over three months, had him taking care of her for almost every single minute of that. Of course she cared about him.
"Carter?"
"I do."
"Then I don't see why we can't."
She narrowed her eyes. "What do you want, Sir?"
"I want you," he admitted, gazing at her. "Not just physically but…"
Something akin to panic grappled for her heart. "No!"
He reached for her again, holding her hand and gently curling his fingers around hers. "Carter… Sam…"
"Don't, Sir!" she begged.
"I'm not going to leave you. Not now, not ever."
"Things are fine they way they are!" she ignored him, trying to pull her hand away from his.
"We're together whether we like it or not, Carter. You know that as well as I do."
He had a point, she conceded. "Sir, I'm an invalid. I can't even do the dishes."
"The new house has a dishwasher," he pointed out blithely. "And it has ramps instead of stairs, and it has wide doorways."
She hesitated.
"Just give us a chance, Carter?" he begged, touching her cheek. She leaned into his caress without thinking, letting his fingers splay out against her skin and play with her hair. "Sam?"
"Okay," she whispered, closing her eyes again and letting his hand hold her. "Okay."
Her eyes flew open as he hauled her out of her chair and onto his lap, and she screamed as her momentum kept them going straight over the edge of his jetty and straight into the lake.
She couldn't swim, her legs were useless and flailing arms only succeeded in churning up the water. She panicked, trying to lift herself, trying to force herself upwards and towards air so the water in her lungs could be coughed up and replaced with oxygen.
A hand grabbed hold of her T Shirt and hauled her to the surface.
He was laughing.
The bastard was laughing as he held her, reeds stuck to his face and his clothes.
And then he was kissing her, her body crushed tight against his while his hands moved over her body and she moaned at the assault.
She gasped for breath as the broke apart, panting as she clutched at him, shivering with cold and excitement as he ran a hand up her back and just held her, savouring the feel of him in her arms.
Tenderly she kissed his neck, wrapping her arms around him and allowing him to carry her out of the lake and back up to the cabin.
~o0o~
The SGC had not changed. Then again, he had not been gone long enough for any significant changes to be made.
The biggest change, however, was the absence of SG-1 in the gate room to greet him upon his return.
"Welcome back, Teal'c."
He nodded his head, a glint of affection in his eye as he gazed up at where General Hammond had welcomed him from.
"Thank you, General Hammond."
"Dr. Jackson is on his way here as well," General Hammond continued, and Teal'c allowed a tiny smile of pleasure to touch his lips. He had missed Daniel Jackson, O'Neill and Major Carter. He had wondered frequently how they were faring, whether the situation was more pleasant than how it had been when they had parted last.
"Narim said he would be back tomorrow," General Hammond spoke as they walked to the briefing room together. "Until then you are most welcome on the base, but if you want to go topside you'll need an escort."
Teal'c had no need or desire to go `topside'. The SGC was the place he remembered most fondly of Earth, and would always recall as his `home'.
"I have news of the Goa'uld, General Hammond."
Hammond stopped, staring at him. Teal'c felt satisfied; he was still able to be of use to the Tau'ri even though he was no longer directly allied to them.
"Heru'ur and Anubis have both been informed of the Harcesis, and they are searching for the child.
Hammond nodded, aware of this already.
"I assisted Jacob Carter on an undercover mission for the Tok'ra several weeks ago. We infiltrated Sokar's numbers and were able to discover the time and strategies he was intending to employ against Heru'ur and the other system lords. We were able to defeat him, and destroy a significant number of his forces. However, Apophis-"
"Apophis?"
"He was prisoner on Netu, a prison world created by Sokar. When the Tok'ra attacked and defeated Sokar, Apophis escaped the prison and took Sokar's forces for his own. He now commands a small but fierce army that continues to grow."
They settled themselves at the briefing room table, and Teal'c felt the tug of sentimentality as he observed the familiar markings on the polished wood.
"How is your family?"
Teal'c smiled. "They are doing well. Rya'c is undergoing training with Master Bra'tac as we speak. He will become a great warrior one day."
Hammond smiled with paternal affection and nodded his agreement.
"What of O'Neill and Major Carter?"
The General sighed, a grimace of disappointment on his features. "We can't get hold of them. One of Jack's neighbours says that the two of them have gone up to his cabin."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow. O'Neill took Major Carter fishing?
"How is Major Carter?"
Hammond shrugged. "I'm not sure. They don't really see any of us all that often. They keep to themselves."
That was unusual, Teal'c thought, that both Major Carter and O'Neill would lose contact with all others except for one another.
"Her injury?"
"Still the same," Hammond hesitated.
"General Hammond?"
"There is a small chance that the Tollan can help us."
"They can heal Major Carter? Allow her to walk once again?"
"We don't know for certain, and we're not going to get her hopes up. But yes, Narim thinks there is a strong possibility of her being healed."
Teal'c nodded in satisfaction. That was good. Major Carter was not one who would be happy without being able to move.
"Are they not to attend the Triad as well?" he frowned, concerned.
"Yes, but we have to get hold of them. We're going to send a dispatch crew to go and get them asap. As soon as we find where Colonel O'Neill's cabin is actually situated. Apparently it's private listing."
Teal'c nodded, well aware of the pains O'Neill had taken to ensure his privacy at the cabin. It was his `escape from all the crap' as he had told Teal'c once before leaving.
"I will go and greet Dr. Fraiser," Teal'c decided, rising to his feet.
"You do that. I know Major Ferretti and some of his crowd are working out in the gym if you feel like having a few bouts with them." There was a teasing glint in Hammond's eye, and Teal'c acknowledged it with one of his own. "I'll talk to you again later, Teal'c."
~o0o~
She was still asleep, her hair brushing softly against his cheek.
This was what life was about. Living was only good when there was a purpose. And Sam Carter was his purpose in life.
A grin spread his lips apart as he looked at her, lying so still in the crook of his arm, and worm pyjamas lending a softness and vulnerability to her face that he'd never seen before.
A noise disturbed him, and he frowned, confused.
Again, the firm and persistent rattle of someone knocking on his door. Their door.
Carefully he eased himself up from the bed, dropping a chaste kiss on her forehead before slipping out of the room and padded quietly down the hallway.
"Simmons!" Jack greeted, surprised at the sight of the man on his doorstep.
"Good morning, Sir."
"Lose the Sir, Graham. I'm retired."
"That's why I'm here…" he shifted awkwardly. "Is Major Carter here?"
"Course." Jack stepped back, jerking his head to let the man enter. "You want to un-retire us again?" he asked somewhat scornfully before leading the way into the kitchen and lighting the gas stove, his feet cold on the wooden floor.
"Uh, not exactly, Sir."
"Not exactly?" he echoed, pulling three mugs out of the cupboard and tipping in large spoons of coffee. "Coffee?"
"No thanks, Sir."
"Darn, I've already put it in the mug," Jack shrugged carelessly, placing a pot of water on the flickering gas flames. "Do you like milk in yours?"
"Uh… yes."
"I'm afraid it'll have to be black, we're all out of milk."
"Oh. Okay," Simmons stuttered as Jack dumped the sugar into the mugs.
"No. You wanted to see me?"
"And Major Carter," Simmons added, nodding eagerly.
Jack's eyes narrowed. Was this guy still interested in Carter? "She's sleeping."
"It's about the SGC, Sir."
"When isn't it? Wait, don't tell me, you guys stuff up and you need me and Carter to fix it?"
"Not exactly, no Sir."
"Not exactly?" Jack repeated again.
"The Tollan contacted us."
Jack paused, surprised. "The Tollan? As in the vastly superior bunch of aliens dressed in silver body suits with vastly superior technology which they wouldn't share with us primitives?"
Simmons shifted awkwardly, gripping his hat tightly with his fingers. "That would be them, Sir."
"Oh." Jack dipped a finger in the water, checking its heat. "How're they doing?"
"Uh… not bad, Sir."
"That's good. Wouldn't want some vastly superior aliens needing our help, would we?"
He heard Simmons take a deep breath. "Actually, Sir, they do sort of need our help."
"They do?"
"Yes."
Jack sighed, raising an eyebrow. "Well, isn't that nice. They need our help."
"It's about an Abydonian, Sir. His name is Skaara."
Jack stopped joking. "Skaara?"
"Yes, Sir. Somehow he ended up on Tollana and he's asked for you and Dr. Jackson to attend as his lawyers."
"Lawyer?" Jack snorted, still gazing at Simmons in surprise.
"Yes. There's going to be a trial and you need to be there."
"What's the trial about?" Jack demanded, forgetting about the coffee. Skaara, on trial?
"To see who gets to keep the use of his body."
Oh.
"Shouldn't the owner get the use?" Jack asked slowly.
Simmons shrugged. "I don't know. My orders are to ask you to return and help Skaara, Sir."
Jack frowned, absently spinning the teaspoon in his fingers. "They do realise I can't go off-world, right? I mean, I can't leave Carter again, not after what happened last time we were on different planets."
Simmons shifted awkwardly, obviously uncomfortable with the idea of Jack and Carter being `linked'. The poor guy probably wished it was him linked with Carter.
"I think she's going as well, Sir."
Jack's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Carter? Going with?"
"Going with where?" Carter's voice intruded rudely on their conversation, and the whispering of her wheels as they glided smoothly over the floor seemed to sentence both Simmons and himself to silence. "Sir?"
"To Tollana, Major," Simmons managed, his voice strangely strangled.
Jack couldn't blame the guy; it wasn't everyday you saw Major Carter rolling around in her pyjama's. Well, he did see it everyday, but that wasn't the point.
"How is that possible?" she demanded, focusing on Simmons, "they don't have a Stargate."
"They do now, apparently," Simmons admitted. "Narim arrive on base two days ago. We've been trying to track the two of you down ever since then."
"And it took you this long?" Jack asked incredulously.
"We had to find the place as well, Sir. It's very well hidden."
Jack grinned proudly. Yes, it was well hidden, and he'd hoped to keep it that way.
"Why?" Carter asked curiously.
"Apparently they want my soliciting technique," Jack commented dryly, turning to find the water boiling on the stove. "Coffee, Carter?"
"Sure," she accepted the offer absently. "Soliciting?"
"Dr. Jackson and Colonel O'Neill have been asked to act as lawyers for Skaara," Simmons explained, obviously getting impatient.
"But he can't leave Earth," Carter argued, worry clearly evident on her face as she turned to him.
"You're going with, Major."
Her eyes widened, and Jack flinched as he saw the stubborn light settle in her blue eyes. "I'm not going back there, and that's final."
~o0o~
The silence was frosty in the car, and Sam knew it was her fault.
But she didn't want to go back there. She didn't want to have everyone staring at her again.
Squaring her jaw, she deliberately glanced over at him, staring coolly at his masked gaze deliberately focused out of the window. He was made at her. She didn't blame him, she was angry at herself.
The least she could do was allow him to go and help Skaara.
But that meant going there again. Going through the gate again. It meant remembering what she'd lost, what she'd been trying so hard these last few months to forget.
And she knew it was true of him too, that he'd also lost the SGC, his life and his career.
"I'm sorry," she whispered eventually, letting her gaze rest on Simmons who was deftly changing gears as they cruised towards the SGC.
He didn't acknowledge her words, but she saw the faint movement of his mouth and the way his eyes grew more relaxed.
She sighed, sitting back in her seat and letting her gaze rest on the familiar landscape.
"Will you be okay?" he asked eventually, glancing over at her.
"I don't really have a choice, do I?" she smiled tiredly, looking across at him again.
"Carter?"
"I'll be fine, Sir."
He nodded his head understandingly, and nothing more was said.
And she was grateful. Grateful that he hadn't offered her anymore comfort, that he hadn't attempted to treat her gently as though she was cased in cottonwool. He was treating her as though she was still his second, as though she was still Major Carter and not just some cripple in a wheelchair being forced into her past.
She studied him surreptitiously.
If she was in the military, then she doubted they'd be as good friends as they are now. She wasn't ready to consider them more than friends yet, despite their singular kiss in the lake a few days ago and despite his obvious assumption that they were more than friends.
She wasn't ready for more than friends.
She loved him, of that she had no doubt, but that was all.
If she was honest with herself, which was a rare thing, she would much rather go back to their working relationship where she wasn't allowed to love him. Where they were just friends. Where the possibility of something more was in the future.
She wasn't ready for this, not yet.
And certainly not now that she had to rediscover who she was from the beginning.
The car pulled up to the gates, stopping as Simmons identified them and cleared them. Maybe this was the right thing to do. Maybe coming back here and facing who she used to be, who she could no longer be, was the right thing to do.
She stiffened her resolve.
Sam Carter was stronger than a broken spine.
Sam Carter was stronger than a metal chair.
Sam Carter was stronger than the whispers and the stares.
She was a Carter, and a Carter could do anything.
Anything.
~o0o~
"You're all clear to go," Janet announced, smiling slightly as she stepped back from Sam.
"I could have told you that," the Colonel mumbled from where he'd been slouching on his chair.
"Are you going to see General Hammond now?" Janet asked hopefully. The currently-reinstated-for-one-mission-colonel nodded and rose smoothly to his feet. "Would you please take these up to him?" Janet held out the manila folders and he took them silently, only smiling reassuringly at Sam before disappearing out of the infirmary.
There was silence, and Janet took the opportunity to study Sam. To really study her, not just examine her.
"What?" the blond demanded, her eyes defiant as she gazed up at Janet. Sam never used to gaze up at Janet, she used to gaze down.
Janet grinned. "I'm taller than you now."
Sam scowled darkly, and Janet suddenly realised that Sam wasn't adjusted yet, despite her and the Colonel's assurances. Not adjusted by a long shot.
And her remark might have been a little more than insensitive.
"How are you doing?" she asked gently, sitting down on the chair opposite.
"Fine."
Okay. So this wasn't going to be easy.
"What are you going to do now?" Janet tried again.
Sam sighed, her eyes flitting around the room before resting uneasily on Janet.
"Sam?"
"I don't know, Janet. I just… I don't know."
Janet licked her lips tentatively. "Sam…you do know that you can come back under the civilian contract."
Sam's jaw tightened. "I'm not coming back as a civilian, Janet. I'm not going to come back here and watch other teams run through the gate on their legs, knowing that I used to be able to do that."
"So what, you're just going to spend the rest of your life sulking in a wheelchair because you can't walk?" Janet snapped.
"No."
"So what are you going to do then?"
"I'm going to walk. I'm going to come back. I'm going to go through that Stargate again on real missions, not just missions because the Colonel is needed off-world and we can't be separated."
Janet sighed, a sorrowed smile touching her lips. How? Even if Sam did manage to get the use of her legs back – which might be a possibility thanks to the Tollan – there was no way that either she or the Colonel would be let off-world on military missions again. Not until they were unjoined, and that was proving to be a problem.
"You don't believe me," Sam stated softly, staring at Janet.
"No matter how much you put your mind to it, Sam, some things just can't be done."
"I will walk again Janet, I will."
~o0o~
Daniel fidgeted with his vest, unaccustomed to the heavy weight and rough chafing it was putting him through again. You'd think he'd still be used to it, you'd think he'd still be comfortable lugging around a tonne of equipment he wasn't too great at handling.
Obviously he'd gotten soft in the three months he'd been gone.
He glanced surreptitiously at Jack who was silently changing into his gear.
A distant look was in the brown eyes, an almost sentimental smile touching the usually hard face. Jack missed his work. His work had been his life, and now he had nothing.
"You're very quiet, Daniel."
Daniel shrugged. "Not much to say."
Jack raised a cynical eyebrow that Daniel was well remembered by Daniel. "Really?"
Daniel tightened the straps and stood, ready to leave the change room.
"Been busy?" Jack asked, tightening up his bootlaces before setting his foot on the ground.
"Fairly."
It wasn't that Daniel didn't want to talk to Jack; he just didn't know how to anymore.
"Oh. Me too."
Time to make an effort, Daniel. "Fishing?"
A grin touched Jack's lips, but it was gone before Daniel could be sure. "Oh yeah. Carter too."
Carter.
Sam.
Daniels fingers clutched at his vest involuntarily, and glanced quickly to see if Jack had noticed the small action of discomfort. Jack had noticed it. There wasn't really much that Jack didn't notice. About anything.
"She doesn't hate you, Daniel."
"How would you know?" Daniel shot back, glaring at the older man before stomping up the hallway.
"Because I actually talk to her. Just because her legs are screwed doesn't mean her brains are."
Daniel gazed blithely up at Jack. "You mean you actually realised she had brains? You mean you realised she was more than just a soldier who followed your order?"
Jack coloured slightly, and Daniel knew he'd hit a nerve. "I'm a male, Daniel, and I appreciate her looks, just like every other male she's ever come into contact with." Suddenly Jack scowled. "At least I didn't just dump her when something bad happened to her."
"You think that's what I did?" Daniel demanded, stopping in front of Jack and glaring at him.
"Well, didn't you?"
"No!"
"Well it sure looks like it, from where we're standing."
Daniel narrowed his eyes. We? "You're wrong, Jack. That's the last reason why I-" He swallowed, cutting off his words.
"Why you what?" Jack demanded. "Why you ran like a dog with its tail between its legs? Why you won't even look her in the eye if you see her? Why you completely cut us off?" Jack demanded. "You know, Daniel, I was under the impression that we were friends. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe we weren't friends, because you could never allow yourself to stoop low enough to a military mind. To someone who will kill if it's the right thing to do."
Friends.
They had been friends.
"Killing is never the right thing to do!" he exploded. "This is why you are such an ass hole, Jack. You think you're always right, and that the rest of us just aren't good enough."
"Bullshit!"
"Jack? Dr. Jackson?"
Daniel spun around, his chest heaving as he came face to face with General Hammond. "General. Sir."
"Is there a problem?" the Texan asked carefully, studying them.
Daniel felt mortification at his behaviour; how could he just stand and have an argument with Jack in the middle of the SGC?
"No, Sir, there's not. Dr. Jackson and I were just having a personal discussion."
Hammond raised a disbelieving eyebrow but let it pass. "Major… I mean, Dr. Carter and Teal'c are both waiting in the gateroom already."
Daniel nodded meekly, running while he still had the chance.
Why wouldn't Jack understand? Why wouldn't he understand that Daniel didn't have the right to talk to Sam anymore? That Daniel was the reason Sam couldn't walk and be the soldier she used to be.
Every time Daniel had glimpsed Sam before they'd both left the SGC three months ago, he'd been reminded painfully of what he'd done. Every time he saw her in a wheelchair, her normally strong and capable body looking so frail and vulnerable in a wheelchair?
He'd taken Sam's independence from her, and that was something that he could never forgive himself for.
~o0o~
Adjusting the cap on his head, Jack strode purposefully into the gateroom. A bitter twist of remembrance rushed over him as he glimpsed his team in the gateroom.
His team. They weren't his team anymore.
Carter and Daniel weren't standing at the base of the ramp involved in some serious techno babble. Hell, they weren't even looking at each other. Carter was one side, engaged half-heartedly in some conversation with Teal'c, and Daniel was standing awkwardly on the other side of the room, his mouth still tight and drawn from his argument with Jack a few minutes earlier.
"Chevron one engaged."
The wheel started to spin, and Jack watched as the second chevron and then the third locked into place.
He missed this place, his work and his role here. He missed stepping through the gate.
But that part of his life was over, and there was nothing he could do about it. Nothing that could change what had happened to him and Carter.
He shot a quick glance at Carter; her face was masked and closed. But he knew her well enough to know she was screaming blue murder on the inside.
That was one thing he'd learnt about Sam Carter during the last four months: she had a temper. One huge, honking temper that had very rarely shown itself to him while they'd been working together. Her military control was too perfect to allow her to yell at her CO, but once that barrier had been removed… A wry grin twisted his mouth.
"Chevron seven… locked."
With it's usual display of galactic greatness, the wormhole sprang open and the familiar watery depths stared out at him.
"You have a go."
Silently he turned and acknowledged Hammond, before ordering his team through the gate. Daniel and Teal'c walked up the ramp silently, both faces impassive.
Carter started forwards, but her chair wouldn't go over the lip of the ramp. Even in the blue glow her face flamed red with anger and embarrassment. Quietly he gave her chair a lift and a push, allowing her to wheel herself the rest of the way up the ramp.
Tollana was clean, new and grey.
Jack hated grey worlds.
"Welcome to Tollana," Narim greeted them, his eyes only resting on Carter briefly before they settled uneasily back on Jack.
Jack felt anger at Narim; the guy had made out with Carter and now because she was in a chair he couldn't even look at her!
"Your Stargate….?" Daniel frowned, and Jack also turned to study the object in question. It was small, silver and new.
"You built your own Stargate?" Carter gaped, her eyebrows hiking a few feet closer to her hairline.
"Yes."
Jack shifted on his wait. Well, this silence was uncomfortable. "Ours is bigger," he said eventually, turning around to survey the grey city. "Where's Skaara?"
"He is this way."
There were stairs that led towards the buildings. Lots of little stairs that Carter just couldn't handle on her own in that chair. Silently he swung his weapon out of the way and grasped the handles.
"Sir…" she argued softly, and he could see the tenseness of her muscles.
"Don't make a fuss, Major," he said softly, touching her shoulder briefly.
"I'm not a Major."
She was silent as Jack started negotiating the stairs, carefully lowering the chair down one step at a time.
Four steps down Teal'c appeared and swiftly picked Carter up into his arms. She clung to him silently, her eyes closed in some emotion he couldn't describe.
She looked close to tears, and Jack swallowed roughly as he picked the chair up and followed the rest of their party down the stairs.
Inside the buildings was… grey.
A light flashed.
"What the hell was that?" Jack demanded, grabbing at his weapon and spinning around.
"Your weapons have been disable," Narim answered shortly, still sneaking hesitant peeks at Carter. "You may still continue to carry them if you wish, however they will be of no use to you."
Jack fingered his gun carefully.
"You don't think mentioning the fact that we're not allowed to have weapons before we came would have been important?" he asked scathingly.
"I didn't find it relevant."
"We don't go to other planets without weapons with which to defend ourselves," Jack snapped in annoyance.
"May I ask what you intend to defend yourselves against? The Tollan have never threatened you. In any way." He hated that innocent, honest face that just sought to make things as comfortable as possible to the primitive Tau'ri.
"He is correct, O'Neill. I do not feel the need to carry a weapon in this place."
Jack looked at Teal'c questioningly, but remained silent.
"Our weapons would be much of a match against theirs anyway, Sir," Carter pointed out quietly, her voice oddly unenthusiastic.
He was worried about her now; Carter was always enthusiastic about technology. Even in a wheelchair.
"I assure you, Colonel, no harm will come to your team. The Tollan guarantee it."
"Is that a money-back-if-you're-not-completely-alive guarantee?"
Carter almost grinned, he saw it.
"This was, please. High Chancellor Travell will explain the Triad to you."
Travell was a woman. An old woman dressed in grey with grey hair. What was it with the Tollan and the colour grey?
"High Chancellor Travell, this is Colonel Jack O'Neill from earth."
"Hi." He felt obligated to greet the tiny woman.
"And this is Dr. Daniel Jackson, Dr. Samantha Carter and Teal'c."
A tiny, regal smile graced Travell's lips. "We are honoured that you have agreed to participate in Triad. Your Seeker will decide which one of you will be Archon."
Jack blinked. "Seeker? Archon?"
"With respect, High Chancellor, Narim hasn't really explain anything about Triad to us, could you please define those terms for us?"
"In Triad there are two arguing parties called Seekers. Triadic law requires that there be one archon who is sympathetic for each cause, and one neutral archon. The archons argue the dispute until a decision is reached."
Oh. And that just made so much more sense.
"Daniel?"
"The seeker is the defendant and the archon the attorney."
"Oh. I got it. Skaara is our…"
"Seeker," Daniel supplied quietly.
"Seeker. Right."
"Narim will take you to him now," Travell nodded, "and he will take Dr. Carter to the medical facility."
Medical facility?
She turned to him, wariness on her face.
"Do you not wish to be healed?" Travell asked curiously, noticing the interplay between them.
"I do, but… You can do that?" Carter demanded.
Jack had never seen that much hope or emotion on her face. Give Carter back her legs. Give Carter back a chance at her life.
Maybe these guys could even separate the link so that Carter could go back to the SGC… why did that thought fill him with so much sadness? Why didn't he like the idea of not being joined to Carter anymore?
"Perhaps. Our physicians must examine you first, and determine the extent of your injury, but I am confident we can be of service to you."
She grinned at him, her eyes lighting up. "I'm going to walk, Sir!" she breathed.
He touched her cheek gently, enjoying the softness of her skin beneath his rough fingers. A soft smile touched his eyes and he dropped a kiss to her forehead. "So you are."
Maybe.
But he didn't say the word out loud. He couldn't and wouldn't be the one to keep brining up the negative. Not for her.
"This way."
Again, Narim led them along corridors of grey and grey, their walk silent and awkward with one another. Both Daniel and Teal'c kept looking at him, and he could see the questions in their eyes.
Sam and Jack?
He grinned. Sam and Jack. He liked the sound of that.
His mouth was stretched in a broad smile and he picked up the pace so that he was walking next to Carter. Silently he rested a hand on her shoulder, letting his fingers play with her hair as she walked. She glanced at him uncertainly, but kept quiet, focusing her attention on pushing her chair. She was tiring out, he could see it, but he knew she'd refuse his offer for help so he didn't make it.
"Here."
The rooms they had entered were large and white, a few grey clad Tollan mingling around various benches and beds.
"Narim?" An old man approached them, his face curious.
"These are the Tau'ri, Colban, from earth."
"I see. You are the one unable to walk?" The blunt question was directed at Carter.
She nodded firmly. "Yes."
"Come. We will see if we can help."
Narim bowed his head and stepped backwards. "We will return later. Dr. Carter will be well cared for."
Dr. Carter? Didn't Narim used to call her `Samantha?'
It hurt Carter that Narim wasn't talking to her specifically, like he used to.
But Jack was fine by it, because it meant that the Tollan was over Carter. Carter was his, and the Tollan would have to be satisfied with that."
~o0o~
"How long have you been unable to feel your legs?" Colban asked as he helped Sam onto a bed and got her lie down on her back.
"About four months, I think."
Colban nodded holding a small grey device over her and frowning in concentration.
"You were struck by a projectile weapon?" he clarified.
"Yes. The bullet rebounded off a rock and hit me."
"Most unfortunate," Colban murmured absently.
Most unfortunate? Not the words Sam would have used, but close enough.
"Can you help?" she asked quietly, suddenly fearful again.
Colban smiled reassuringly. "I am positive, though it will not be an instantaneous recovery. It may not even be a full recovery," he warned softly.
"Just as long as I can feel my legs and walk," Sam said softly, licking her lips. "I don't need to be able to run or dance."
"Your nerves have been damaged by the projectile," Colban explained. "See, here," he showed her the small device, "this is where the projectile is lodged. I would have to remove it from you because it will continue to move and damage your spine."
"You can do that?" Sam gaped again.
"Yes. The complications are in the damaged nerves contained within the spine. See here… this nerve is almost completely severed, which is why you retain no use in your legs. The bone here, and here have been moved. They, fortunately, have caused the projectile to remain stationary, but they will over course of time do more damage than good."
"So what are you going to do?" Sam asked hesitantly.
"We must remove the projectile, repair the nerve and realign the bones."
"And that will work?" Sam asked doubtfully.
Colban hesitated. "I will not lie to you, Samantha, your nerve is severely damaged and the presence of the projectile has damaged it more as you have moved during the course of the last few months. We do have technology to repair the nerve, but your damage is old and your body is starting compensate for it by no longer making use of the nerve. When we do repair the nerve, you will find it hard to control your leg movements, your muscles will ache, there will be cramping and spasms. It may even be too late for the repair to be successful, but I doubt that."
"So what are you saying?" Sam demanded.
"Your recovery will be long," Colban said gently. "Once we have completed the procedure you must remain on your back and as still as possible for a long period in time to allow your nerves to heal. You must recover slowly, otherwise the procedure will not work."
She hesitated. "Will I have to stay on Tollana?"
Colban nodded. "It would be unwise to move you until the healing has started."
"How long will that take?"
"The healing will start after a few days, but two or three weeks of no movement is the safest course."
Sam was silent.
"What if it goes wrong?"
"Then you still will not have the use of your legs, but the projectile should be removed."
"What about my arms?"
"What about them?"
"Can't I lose their movement?"
"It is a small possibility, but highly unlikely. We have used this procedure many times, Samantha, and the success rates are almost 100% when injuries are treated immediately."
"What about when they're not?"
Colban frowned. "Very rarely do we not treat someone immediately. When the procedure was first discovered and used on individuals who had been incapacitated for far longer than you, it was found to work well. Not many made a full recovery, but all regained the feeling and limited movements of their limbs."
"That's better than nothing."
"It is," Colban smiled. "You do not have to decide straight away."
Sam nodded. "I'd like to talk to the Colonel first."
Colban nodded. "I will send for him as soon as is possible."
"Thank you."
~o0o~
Tollana was most… tedious, Teal'c decided, gazing at a carving placed unobtrusively on a ledge.
"You may enter," Colban smiled graciously, and Teal'c dipped his head. The Tollan doctor seemed a warm, caring personality. Teal'c felt confident that he would assist Dr. Carter.
"Teal'c," Dr. Carter greeted him, a tired smile touching her lips.
"O'Neill has ordered that I report our progress."
"Thanks, Teal'c," she nodded, letting her eyes close as she lay on the bed.
She was tired, Teal'c could see by the complete limpness in her upper body that she had no strength left.
"There are Goa'uld on Tollana," he stated simply.
"What?" her eyes flew open and she gazed at him in shock.
"They are here to defend Klorel. An under-lord of Apophis himself is in attendance."
"And the Tollan people just let them on their planet?" Dr. Carter demanded angrily.
"Yes. They believe the Goa'uld can not harm them. O'Neill believes they are too confident."
She nodded her head in agreement.
"I have been ordered to follow the Jaffa," he continued.
"So why are you here?" she smiled gently, assuring him that her words were not harsh.
"Are you comfortable?"
She studied him, confused. "As I'll ever be."
"Can the Tollan be of assistance?"
"Maybe. I'm going to have to talk to Colonel O'Neill when he gets a chance."
Teal'c nodded, already aware of it. The relationship between Dr. Carter and O'Neill had changed; he was aware of it. He was also aware that Dr. Carter was somewhat uncomfortable with it, though O'Neill seemed satisfied and pleased with it.
She sighed, closing her eyes again. "Thank you, Teal'c."
"You are most welcome, Dr. Carter."
A slight smile touched her lips again. "You'd better go watch the Goa'uld, Teal'c."
He nodded.
"Teal'c," she called as he stood up.
"Yes?"
"Don't trust them. Don't let them out of your sight."
Teal'c nodded again. He would never have trusted them. He would observe their activities until the Goa'uld left and Teal'c felt it safe again.
"You require rest, Dr. Carter. Sleep."
"I will, Teal'c. And thank you."
Her eyes were closed so she did not see his final nod, but he was satisfied with her. He knew Dr. Fraiser and General Hammond were concerned about her, but Teal'c was not.
She would be fine, he could see it in her eyes.
And she had O'Neill caring for her.
A smile touched Teal'c's lips. O'Neill would die for Carter, a fact that was well known by all of SG-1.
~o0o~
"Well, that went great," Jack muttered as they exited the room.
"Maybe if you stopped-"
"Daniel, I don't need you to argue with me right now, okay?" Jack snapped impatiently, and Daniel cringed at his tone.
But Daniel was pissing Jack off, and until the archaeologist got his head out of his ass and realised what his refusal to talk to Carter was doing, Jack wasn't going to put up any pretences with the man.
"Where are you going now, Jack?"
"I'm going to Carter."
"Jack?"
Jack looked at Daniel curiously. What did that half apologetic, hopefully curious tone mean? Did Daniel want to talk to Carter?
"Yeah?"
"What's up with you and Sam?"
Oh. Gossip. He just wanted gossip. "If you talked to us you might know about it."
"What's `it'?" Daniel pressed.
"It it."
Daniel raised an accusing eyebrow. "You're sleeping with her?"
"No!" Jack denied. "Okay, once. But we only slept," he defended.
Yes, they had just slept, and Jack had never enjoyed just sleeping that much. She'd let him hold her all night, just lying there, soft and warm against him, her scent filling his senses full of-
"Jack?"
"Yes Daniel?" Now he was getting impatient.
"I… Do you think the Tollan can help her?"
Jack paused. Did he? "They have canons to blow up a mothership with," Jack said noncommittally.
"That doesn't mean anything, Jack."
"I don't know, Daniel. That's why I'm going to see her now."
"Oh. Okay. I'm going to go and talk to Narim."
Two of a kind. Both men not able to talk to Carter because she was in a wheelchair. Shaking his head with disappointment, Jack started up towards the medical rooms where he knew Carter would be.
She was sleeping, he realised with surprise. Her eyes were closed and her lips were slightly parted.
Gently he kissed her, watching as her eyes opened in surprise as she realised who it was. Sighing she closed her eyes again, letting him kiss her while a hand rested tenderly on her cheek.
"Colonel," she whispered as his lips brushed her neck.
"Mmm?"
"We have to talk," she pushed him away, licking her lips as she gazed up at him.
Silently he pulled her upright and sat behind her, letting her lean back in his arms. She didn't argue with him, but he tell she wasn't happy or comfortable with the situation.
He was filled with a niggling doubt.
"Carter?"
"Colban thinks they can help me, Sir."
"So why aren't you busy being helped?"
"Because if they do help me I'll have to stay on Tollana for at least two weeks."
Oh.
"So I'll have to stay as well."
"Yes, Sir," she agreed softly.
Gently he kissed her neck again, holing her close. "It doesn't matter, Carter. I'll stay here for three months if I have to."
"You would?" she asked doubtfully.
"Yes."
Silently she relaxed into his hold again, letting her head lie against his shoulder. "Why?"
"Why?" he repeated, confused.
"Why would you stay?"
He tightened his hold on her. "I thought that was obvious, Carter. It's not exactly like I can go home if you stay."
"Why would you want to stay?"
"I care about you, Sam. I thought we'd established that already."
She shrugged.
"Are you okay?" he asked her carefully.
"I'm… I'm just tired, Sir."
"Jack," he leant against the wall, pulling her back with him.
"Jack?"
"Yes. I think you can call me Jack if I can call you Sam."
He felt her grin beneath his lips as he kissed her again. "You can't help calling me Carter."
"Can too."
"Can't," she stated firmly before twisting so that she was curled up against him. "I know you, Sir."
He sighed. She was probably right. "You don't mind, do you?"
"Not if you don't."
"Good."
~o0o~
He felt like a pervert or a spy as he stood, hiding around the corner and watching them.
It was so… strange, watching them behave like this. Watching Jack hold Sam, and watching Sam letting him comfort her.
"Carter?"
"Yes?"
"You remember the Nox?"
"Which one?" Sam's voice was uncertain, but there was humour in her tone.
"The good ones. Lya."
"Of course I do."
"She's here."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Lya. She's here."
Daniel's eyes widened. Lya could maybe undo the joining thing that Nut had done!
"And?" Sam asked cautiously.
"We could… if you wanted… ask her to undo this… this joining thing."
He could see the hesitation and uncertainty on Sam's face. "What do you mean if I wanted to? Don't you want to?"
Jack's mouth opened soundlessly. "Well…"
"I'll understand, Sir. I mean, I know it's tough having to spend all your time with someone who can't even wash the dishes and-"
"Carter."
"- I know that if you weren't joined to me you could still be in the SGC and I know how much you loved-"
Jack kissed Sam. Really kissed her.
Daniel's eyes widened as he watched.
He loved her. Her really loved Sam. Jack would be quite willing to give up the SGC for Sam, wheelchair and all.
"I'd only do the unjoining if you wanted to, Carter. Never because I got sick of you."
Daniel could count the amount of times he'd seen Sam cry on one hand. He'd never seen her cry in front of Jack.
Now she was crying, clutching as Jack with white fingers that must have been digging painfully into Jack's arms.
"Carter?"
"I'm… Shit…Sir…"
"Carter?"
Daniel felt his own eyes sting. He didn't blame Sam for crying; if someone had just admitted that they wouldn't mind being joined to him for the rest of his life even though he was paralysed he'd pretty much be crying as well.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
Jack grinned, kissing Sam again.
He really liked kissing her, and Sam didn't seem to mind.
"It's okay. You're tired. I've got to go soon, back to the Triad, but I want you to get better, Sam. I want you to be happy, okay?"
"Okay."
Daniel stepped away from the door.
Sam wasn't happy, Daniel could see that. She was unsure of herself, more unsure than Daniel had ever seen her before.
Why couldn't Jack see that?
Thrusting his hands into his pockets, Daniel turned and walked slowly down the hallway.
He still cared about Sam, despite Jack's arguments and his comments about what Sam though, and he wanted her better. He also wanted her happy.
But something about the scene with Jack…
He sighed. Maybe he was just reading too much into things. Maybe he was mistaking her anxiety about the possibility of walking again and having to go through a procedure for something else.
But he knew Sam, and he knew that she'd do her best to make people happy.
Daniel sighed. He just hoped she wasn't going along with Jack to make him happy. He really hoped that he made her happy as well.
"Daniel?" Narim's voice broke into his thoughts.
"Narim."
"It is almost time to return to Triad."
"Narim, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c jogged up to them, his dark eyes worried.
"What's wrong?"
"I believe the Goa'uld are tampering with the Tollan weapons. The Jaffa have located at least six of the weapon sites and left."
"You have been following the Goa'uld?" Narim demanded angrily.
"A Goa'uld cannot be trusted, Narim."
"You are on Tollana, Teal'c, you have no right to follow the Jaffa."
"What's going on, Campers?"
"Jack, Teal'c thinks that the Goa'uld are tampering with the Tollan weapons," Daniel explained.
"I knew they were up to no good," Jack nodded agreeably.
"You were aware of Teal'c's spying?" Narim demanded.
"I ordered him to do it. Hey, someone's got to look out for your arrogant asses."
~o0o~
"We asked Lord Zipacna about your accusations," High Chancellor Travell stated, "he denied it."
Tea'lc raised an eyebrow.
"What, they just expected him to admit to it?" O'Neill demanded. Teal'c agreed with him.
"He was most offended," High Chancellor Travell continued.
"I hope you didn't take his word for it," O'Neill said eventually, watching as a Tollan examining a canon shook his head and turned back to completing his work.
"Our experts have been unable to find tampering of any form on the canons."
O'Neill frowned, turning to Teal'c. "Teal'c?"
"I observed them, O'Neill. They were clearly tampering with the canons."
"What if they weren't tampering?" Daniel Jackson questioned slowly.
O'Neill sighed in annoyance. "Then what were they doing, Daniel?"
"I don't know. Maybe they were examining them, trying to work out how they operated."
"Painting," O'Neill exclaimed.
High Chancellor Travell glanced over at the weapons. "I see no evidence of painting, Colonel."
Teal'c nodded in agreement.
"It's a military term. Marking them as targets."
"Nor do I see any such markings."
O'Neill ground his teeth in annoyance, his lips tightening in anger. "There are methods to target out things without physically drawing on them."
"If one of these ion canons was attacked, Colonel, the rest would all immediately locate its attacker and destroy it."
"Not if they were all taken out simultaneously," O'Neill retorted.
High Chancellor Travell shook her head, arrogant amusement shining in her eyes. "If that were so, why did Heru'ur not destroy them while pursuing Klorel?"
"Maybe they didn't know where the canons were then," Daniel Jackson suggested quietly.
High Chancellor Travell was fast losing patience. "He didn't do it because it is impossible. It would take but on of these devices to protect this planet from a Goa'uld mother ship and we have many more then that. Our technology is much superior in every way to theirs, and to yours."
Teal'c was afraid her impatience and her arrogance in the Tollan technology could lead to their destruction.
"My, aren't we cocky," O'Neill muttered.
"Colonel, if this is an attempt to influence the outcome of Triad, it is a feeble attempt indeed."
Teal'c and O'Neill exchanged a long suffering glance as Daniel Jackson immediately started defending their actions.
"Understand that if you continue to pursue this matter in any way, I will disqualify you from Triad and replace you. Skaara will be represented by someone else. Is that understood?"
O'Neill sighed. "With protest."
"Now, these allegations have been a waste of time. Triad will resume in the morning. No further mention of this matter will be tolerated."
Teal'c watched as O'Neill reluctantly nodded his head in agreement.
"Come, we will go eat."
Silently they followed her back towards the Triad building.
"I understand Dr. Carter has agreed to undergo the procedure," High Chancellor Travell commented as they approached the grey doors.
"Yes," O'Neill nodded hesitantly. "I'm going to excuse myself and go wish her good luck."
"You are too late, Colonel."
"I beg your pardon?" O'Neill demanded, surprised.
"They have begun the procedure already. They should have it completed by nightfall. Then you may go and see her."
O'Neill's lips tightened with worry and he gazed fearfully at Teal'c, who understood the implications. Once the procedure was complete, Dr. Carter would be unable to move or be moved for several weeks afterwards. If the Goa'uld were planning an assault then it would be likely for them to strike immediately after Triad was completed.
The Goa'uld had to be stopped, for the sake of Major Carter, Colonel O'Neill and the Tollan population.
~o0o~
Wiping delicately at her mouth, Lya rose slowly to her feet and stepped away from the holding the dishes of food and gazed at the dark Jaffa standing before her.
"Teal'c, this is highly inappropriate for you to come to me during Triad."
The Jaffa nodded his head in agreement, his eyes serious as he gazed at her. "I assure you I would never attempt to influence your decision in anyway. I wish to speak to you concerning another matter."
Lya eyed him warily. His thoughts were guarded, his mind well train in discipline. "You must not mention Skaara or Klorel. If you do, I will be forced to report the matter to the Tollan."
"Understood."
"What is it then?" Lya asked curiously, watching as he nodded in agreement.
"As you are aware, I was formerly in the service of the Goa'uld-"
Was he trying to bias her? "If this is designed to bias me against the Goa'uld-"
"I would never do such a thing, nor do I feel the need," he stated dryly, and Lya smiled slightly. No, Teal'c would never do such a thing. "I am here, in fact in direct violation of an order given by Colonel O'Neill."
"Go on."
Teal'c studied her carefully; his eyes honest and open as he gazed at her. "I have become convinced that the Goa'uld are planning to destroy the Tollan weapon installations simultaneously and thereby preventing them from ever returning fire. The Goa'uld will then attack this world, which will be defenceless."
Lya gazed calmly at him. "Why do you tell me this?"
Teal'c smiled for the first time. "I believe that you and I are the only ones capable of preventing this tragedy from occurring."
"You and I, Teal'c? You are a strong warrior, Teal'c, but I am of the Nox. If you have learned anything of us you will have learned that we defend ourselves through illusion and mastery of the mind."
"Precisely."
Lya swallowed, concern growing in her stomach. "What would you have me do, Teal'c?"
"Hide a weapon."
Lya shook her head. "I cannot. I cannot assist in warfare."
"You would not be assisting. You would merely be concealing a weapon from being destroyed."
Lya hesitated. She liked SG-1 and their strange manners. Their hearts were filled with good; they just required the teaching to achieve goodness through goodness instead of violence.
"If you do not, and the Goa'uld attack, you would be assisting them in the destruction of this planet."
Lya was torn. To hide the canon would prove the Tollan with a means of destroying the Goa'uld, but to refrain from hiding the canon would leave the Tollan open for destruction.
"The Tollan have no wish to harm any living creature, Lya. Triad proves this. Surely if the Goa'uld attack they have brought it upon themselves. You can not stop one from running into fire even though they know the fire will kill them."
Lya nodded. "Very well. Come, Teal'c."
~o0o~
"How's she doing, Jack?" Daniel asked softly, standing in the doorway.
"She's asleep."
Nodding, Daniel shifted his weight awkwardly.
"You coming in?"
He nodded, stepping into the cool room and sitting down on a stool on the opposite side of the bed to Jack.
"How long have you two been… you know."
"Not even a week," Jack admitted.
Daniel raised his eyebrows. "It took you that long?"
Jack scowled at Daniel. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," Daniel lied.
Jack sighed, and Daniel watched as he ran his fingers over Sam's forehead. "She's having a hard time, Daniel."
"I know."
Jack glared at him again. "No, you don't know. You ran away, remember?"
"Do you know what it's like, Jack?" Daniel demanded bitterly. "Do you know what it's like seeing her in a wheelchair, knowing full well who and what she was before, and knowing it's your fault she's sitting in a wheelchair? Knowing it's your fault her whole career is ruined."
"Her career was finished anyway, Daniel. Her career finished the moment Nut raised her from the dead and joined the two of us together. My career finished on that day too, remember?"
They were silent again, Daniel's eyes resting on the far wall behind Jack's head.
"You know, I miss her," he said softly.
"You could have visited."
Daniel shook her head. "No. I didn't want her to visit. I didn't want her to see me and to think it was my fault. I didn't want to have to see the blame in her eyes."
"She doesn't blame you, Daniel. Carter couldn't blame anyone if she tried."
A bitter laugh escaped from Daniel. "I know. That doesn't mean I don't blame myself every time I look at her."
"At least you can still see her."
"Is she happy, Jack?"
Jack sighed. "I don't know, Daniel. I honestly don't know."
Reluctantly Daniel stood up, running a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry, Jack."
"For what?"
"Everything."
Jack grinned sadly. "So am I."
"We should probably head back to Triad now, we'll be late otherwise."
Jack rose to his feet slowly, hesitation in his eyes. "Daniel?"
"Jack?"
"When… when she wakes up…"
"Yes?"
Jack sighed again, rubbing at his face. "She's got this idea in her head that people don't want anything to do with her because she's in a wheelchair. Because she's not the same as what she used to be."
"That's stupid."
"It is. But when people like you and Narim don't have anything to do with her suddenly… it kind of supports that theory."
"What are you saying, Jack?"
"I'm saying… I'm saying that when she wakes up and she can use her legs again, it won't look great if you suddenly want to be her best friend again."
He wanted to be angry with Jack, he really did. But Jack was right, and that's why Daniel couldn't be angry with him.
Daniel nodded, glancing over one final time at Sam. "You're right. Jack, tell her what I told you, okay? Tell her that it's not because of her. It's me."
"Okay."
~o0o~
"After careful consideration, I believe that both Klorel and Skarra have the right to live. But, living as a host with no right of ones own, is not life. Therefore, only one can remain in the body. To that end, I award priority to the original owner of the body. Skarra."
Jack grinned openly, suddenly relieved. "Yes, now get that mother ship outta here!" he ordered Zippy.
"We will summon the Tok'ra to come to Tollana to assist in the removal of the Goa'uld Klorel. He will be removed from that host and if he survives, will be sent to a Goa'uld world of his choice," Travell nodded, turning to her computer screen where the Goa'uld still showed up clearly on the observatorial screen. "I have locked the detachment device. Skarra, you have priority control until the Goa'uld is removed. Prepare yourself. The Tok'ra will arrive as soon as possible. And congratulations."
"Thank you," Skaara grinned, glancing over at Jack.
"Lord Zipacna, you are dismissed."
Jack started walking over the Skaara, grinning broadly. Success. Now all that they needed was for Carter to wake up and then-
"Ritak. Reenok ha'tak-"
Teal'c flew across the room, knocking Zippy across to his feet and sending a small, silver communications device bouncing across the room. Instantly changing course, Jack let his fist bunch and sent it ramming into the Goa'uld, satisfaction rippling over him as Teal'c grabbed the winded body and put it into a sleeper hold.
"Nice. Come on, let's go!" Jack ordered, sprinting out of the room without waiting to see who was following.
Carter. He had to get to Carter. He had to make sure that-
"Skaara, stay here!" He heard Daniel yelling before he burst into the sunlight. He stopped running, simply standing there as the Goa'uld mothership lowered into view. This was bad. This was very bad.
"How's that superior technology looking now? Security system serving you pretty good is it?" he demanded sarcastically as Narim jogged to a halt beside him and the ship locked onto the canons.
"The ion canons!" Daniel yelled, realising what was happening.
"Got a dead lock on all of them," Jack nodded as Daniel skidded to a halt next to them, also gazing up at the ship. He turned tiredly towards Narim. "You know, I hate when people waste my time like this."
"Where's Teal'c?" Daniel demanded.
Jack looked around. "Teal'c?" Maybe he'd gone to get Carter… But Carter wasn't awake yet. She shouldn't be walking yet…
With a blast of smoke the ion canons exploded into balls of fire, the heat searing Jack's face. This was just great…
"JACK!" Daniel yelled, pointing at the sky. "Incoming!"
Things were getting even better. "COVER!" Jack yelled, grabbing Narim's arm and dragging him backwards. Catching sight of Teal'c, Jack propelled Narim to where the Jaffa and the Nox were hiding.
"I must inform Travell!" Narim shouted, pulling away and taking off into a building.
"Well that's the least of our prob… Where have you been?" he demanded, glaring at Teal'c.
Teal'c looked almost smug. "I must inform you O'Neill that I have disregarded your orders concerning the Goa'uld."
Jack blinked. "Please explain?"
Teal'c glanced across at Lya, who started waving her arm.
Jack felt funny, he felt almost as if-
Lya fell to the ground, her eyes wide and startled, the scent of burnt flesh and clothing suddenly filling the air. "Teal'c…" she whispered, grasping at her stomach and writing on the ground. "You must…"
"Shit!" Jack dropped to his knees, attempting to turn her over to examine the staff blast.
"No!" the Nox whispered, a trickle of blood running from her mouth. "No. The canon… Teal'c…"
"What the hell is going on?" Jack demanded.
"We must move, O'Neill. Lya hid an ion canon from the Goa'uld."
"Then how the hell are we supposed to find it?" Jack demanded, rising to his feet after gently closing the still Nox's eyelids.
"I know where it is. We must hurry."
"Daniel, get Carter and get her home. Now!"
Arguing with Teal'c was pointless; a fact well known to Jack. Silently he started running after Teal'c, blotting his ears out to the weapon fire and screams around him, and refusing to let his thoughts dwell on Carter.
"There!" Teal'c yelled triumphantly.
They were so close. Just a few more feet… so close…
The distinctive whine of the glider was all the warning they had.
"TEAL'C!" Jack screamed, realising.
The Jaffa ignored him.
The ion canon exploded in a magnificent bloom of heat and colour, throwing Jack backwards until his crashed into a tree, his vision sparkling with stars and black splotches. "Teal'c!" he cried hoarsely, staggering to his feet and ignoring the pain in his back. "TEAL'C!"
Jack pushed past the burning debris, the smoke and soot stinging his eyes until tears started rolling down his blackened cheeks. "TEAL'C!"
There was nothing left of him. He was gone.
Rubbing drunkenly at his face, Jack turned and staggered towards the gate.
Damn the Tollan. Damn their technology.
Damn their arrogance.
They were running, screaming, people on fire, bleeding, terror in their eyes, panicked sobs torn from their chests as they tried to outrun the brutal firestorm.
They couldn't escape.
In the distance he watched as the wormhole connected, strangely pure and ethereal through the smoke filled air.
He saw Narim, illuminated for a brief second, his hair glinting in the firelight as he stepped through the Stargate. Where was Carter?
Almost there. So close.
So close…
The stairs. Hundreds of them.
Screaming.
People jumping through the gate.
Explosions.
Heat.
Stairs.
And then there was the familiar gut wrenching ride and his whole body felt as though is was on fire as he connected with the solid ramp on the other side.
Teal'c…
~o0o~
There was something achingly familiar about the situation, Janet decided, her jaw clenched in a stubborn determination.
She would not cry.
She wouldn't.
"I am very sorry," Narim said softly, his eyes hanging onto the tabletop.
Sorry? Sorry just didn't cover it.
General Hammond sighed, and Janet could see the weariness in his eyes.
"SG-1 did try to convince Chancellor Travell, but-"
"The Tollan are arrogant bastards!" Janet snapped, glaring at him.
"Dr. Fraiser!" General Hammond yelled, slamming his fist down on the table.
"I'm sorry, Sir, but this has gone on enough. They believed themselves superior and untouchable, you said so yourself. This is their fault; they underestimated the Goa'uld because they thought too much of themselves and now Sam, the Colonel, Daniel and Teal'c are all probably dead!"
Narim coughed awkwardly, but he didn't answer to her accusations. They were true, and everyone knew it.
"The Tollan arrogance is being dearly paid for," a quiet voice agreed from the doorway.
Janet felt compassion suddenly as she turned to face Chancellor Travell shuffling into the room, the burns along the side of her arms and body carefully covered with bandages. Her whole world had just been wiped out, bar a handful of survivors. "Are you staying here?" Janet asked hesitantly.
"We have no choice. None of the other worlds you are acquainted with are suitable, and we have no means with which to contact the Nox."
"Will you be sharing anything with us?" General Hammond asked almost bitterly.
Travell hesitated, glancing at Hammond. "I do not know. Sometimes, to share is the best thing, yet at other times it is not."
There was a heavy silence that settled over the briefing room table, and Janet blew her breath out softly.
"I think we should all get some rest," General Hammond said eventually, sitting back in his chair. "Narim, High Chancellor Travell, if you'd let the Airmen escort you…"
Both Tollan knew it was an order thinly disguised as an offer. Silently they rose to their feet, dipping their heads with politeness before following the SF's out of the briefing room.
"That was highly insubordinate, Dr. Fraiser," General Hammond said eventually, his eyes resting understandingly on hers.
"I know, Sir. And I'm sorry for embarrassing you."
"Not sorry for saying it though, are you?" he almost chuckled, placing his pen onto the unused paper in front of him. "What do you think?"
She sighed. What did she think?
"I think that if they wanted to, they could share an awful lot with us."
"But you don't think they want to."
Janet shook her head. No. Why would they share? "No. I think they're too self righteous to ever go against their own laws, even if their world has been destroyed."
Hammond nodded silently; he knew that too.
"Are they going to be allowed to stay?"
He sighed. "The minute NID gets wind of their presence here on Earth again…"
"They won't be safe here, will they?"
Hammond shook his head. "No. And even if their arrogance did lead to their demise, I still wouldn't wish that on them."
Janet agreed; they hadn't meant for anything to happen to SG-1. The old SG-1 at any rate.
"So what now?"
"We carry on as usual, Dr. Fraiser."
"What about Sam?" Janet asked hesitantly.
"Is there anything you can do for her?" General Hammond asked gently.
No. There wasn't anything she could do for Sam, not according to what the Tollan doctor had told her.
"What about Colonel O'Neill?" Hammond continued gently.
"He's still unconscious, but that's probably mainly due to the sedatives we've given him. He should be asleep for a few more hours at least."
"Will he recover?"
Physically, she wasn't sure. The burns to his back and legs… the explosion he'd been exposed to must have been horrendous. He was lucky to have made it through the gate just after the others pushed Sam through. And emotionally… That was something she didn't want to think about.
"He'll walk again, but…" she let the sentence die on her lips, the same way O'Neill and Sam's careers were extinguished: without fuss and ceremony.
Hammond sighed, rubbing at his face. "I'm going to have to let Teal'c's family know what happened. When will he be able to tell me?"
Janet shrugged. "I don't know. Sir, aren't you being a bit hasty in your decision to declare Teal'c KIA?"
"You saw the pictures, Janet. You saw what the Goa'uld did to that planet."
Yes. Janet had seen the MALP images. And they were pictures she never wanted to see again, not as long as she lived.
A wry smile touched General Hammond's mouth, and she gazed at him questioningly. "It just goes to show, the technology doesn't necessarily guarantee who'll be the winners."
And suddenly Janet felt better. Yes, they didn't have the technology the Tollans had, yes they didn't have the knowledge the Tollans had. But they were still alive and beating the Goa'uld, whereas the Tollans were wiped out.
~o0o~
Colban gazed down silently at the woman lying on the bed, and guilt filled his heart.
He'd all but promised her a successful recovery. He'd all but guaranteed she would regain at least some use in her legs, and regain the feeling in them.
He should have listened to their warnings about the Goa'uld. He should never have been so confident and arrogant in the Tok'ra capabilities. He should have heeded their warnings.
It was too late now.
He'd made a promise to Samantha he could not keep, and now her fragile strength would be broken down further.
"Isn't there anything you can do for her?" a strangled whisper begged from the doorway.
He shook his head slowly. They did not possess the right technology, the necessary knowledge… and even if they did, he was doubtful that he would be able to assist her now. "I am afraid not."
The man let a shuddering sigh escape from his weary body before he pushed a hand through his unruly hair. "Will she wake up?"
"When the sedatives wear off."
"How long will that take?"
Colban smiled sadly. "I do not know. The medication is designed to respond to the body's recovery. Until Samantha's body repairs itself to a certain extent, she will not wake up."
"And how is she supposed to recover when you've said it yourself that she won't get any better?" the man demanded angrily, his eyes raw with fury as he gazed at Colban.
Colban felt the heaviness in his heart again.
"I apologise, Dr. Jackson, but there it is not possible for me to help her recover. I made it abundantly clear that should she be moved so soon after the process, her chances of recovery would be very small indeed."
Dr. Jackson sat down limply on a chair next to Samantha's bed.
"You are close to her," Colban observed as he watched him take hold of one small, pale limb.
"No. I used to be, but then I… it changed."
"It must be difficult," Colban acknowledged softly, "to watch your friends together and know that you have somehow missed out on something very unique."
Dr. Jackson glanced at him sharply. "What do you know?" he demanded brusquely, his fingers tightening over Samantha's unmoving digits.
"She spoke to me about what occurred," Colban admitted, a sad smile touching his face. "She was hurt by your actions, Dr. Jackson, but she doesn't condemn you for them."
Dr. Jackson turned back to Samantha.
"Sam couldn't hate anyone if she tried."
"On the contrary, Samantha is quite capable of hate," Colban disagreed.
Dr. Jackson eyed him narrowly. "How do you know so much about her?"
Colban smiled. "I am old, Dr. Jackson, and I was married once to a woman very much like Samantha. The same fire is in her that was in Klera."
Dr. Jackson sighed and rose to his feet slowly, his body moving like that of an old man's. "You know, Colban, it's too late now. Even if I wanted to ask for her forgiveness, I wouldn't get it. If she does recover, it's going to look like I want to be around her again because she can walk, and if she doesn't recover… then…"
"Then what?"
"It's still my fault that she can't walk, and I don't see how can I forgive myself and face her knowing that."
~o0o~
Hammond watched as O'Neill slowly regained consciousness.
With his eyes opening slowly, his mouth pulled tightly in a grimace of pain and he groaned, trying to shift on the bed to get more comfortable.
"Easy, Colonel," Dr. Fraiser cautioned, placing a calming hand on the Colonel's heavily bandaged shoulder and holding him gently down to the bed. "I need you to lie still for me, Colonel."
"Carter?" O'Neill murmured, his head twisting on the pillow as he gazed around blurrily. "General?"
"How are you feeling Jack?"
O'Neill blinked slowly, and Hammond could see him contemplating the answer.
"Like a steak," he said eventually.
Hammond smiled benignly and waited until O'Neill opened his eyes again.
"What happened, Colonel?" Hammond asked gently.
O'Neill frowned, flinching as his movements sent more spasms of pain rocking over his body. Hammond could see the tension in his muscles as he fought the waves of pain.
"The Goa'uld…"
"We know, son."
"Skaara…" O'Neill breathed, his eyes widening with desperation. "We were close, Sir… so close…"
Hammond blinked desperately. Another son. O'Neill had lost another son.
"We just had to get him to the Tok'ra…" O'Neill breathed, closing his eyes again and clenching his jaw. "Crap… hurts…"
"I know. You were badly burnt in an explosion, Colonel."
"Explosion?" O'Neill murmured, and Hammond knew that he'd drop back to sleep soon. "The ion cannon," O'Neill whispered. "They shot it… Teal'c… Teal'c didn't make it, Sir."
"I know, Jack."
"What about Carter?"
"She's here, Jack, she's lying across from you."
"I want… to… see her…"
"You can't yet, Colonel," Dr. Fraiser interrupted.
"Walk…?"
Hammond closed his eyes. No. She couldn't walk. And she probably wouldn't walk again.
"Gen…" O'Neill's eyes fluttered closed and he sank back into oblivion on the bed in front of Hammond.
"He's not doing too well, General," Dr. Fraiser said hesitantly, her eyes anxious as she looked up at him.
Hammond swallowed. No, O'Neill wasn't doing well.
"What do you recommend?"
Janet hesitated. "His burns are too bad, General. I don't think… with Sam using his strength as well… they…"
Hammond straightened his back and gazed down at his one time 2IC.
"We should alert their families then," Hammond said softly. "I'll get in contact with Jacob and-"
"Sir!" Dr. Fraiser looked up excitedly. "Sir, if they could use the healing device on them…!"
"Do you think it will work?" Hammond asked hesitantly, knowing that the results hadn't been satisfactory before.
"On the Colonel they should, yes, and it's possible that it could work on Sam's back as well."
"Why not before?" Hammond demanded.
"This is a `fresh' injury that hasn't healed yet, General. The Healing device heals injuries. By the time we tried the Hand Device on Sam the time lapse had been too long. It's not even 24 hours yet, we still stand a chance! I could check with Colban but I'm sure-"
"I'll contact the Tok'ra straight away."
Without even dismissing the doctor, Hammond turned and headed straight to the control room.
It had been a while since he'd seen Jacob. About time the old guy came down for a visit again…
~o0o~
Daniel felt old.
Really old.
He ran a hand over his face and winced at the sharp rasping noise that grated through the air at the contact of skin on stubble. A shave. He needed a shave. He also needed a shower, a hair cut, some new clothes and a life.
A new life.
Far away from all this agony.
He sank down onto his chair again and sat silently as the infirmary buzzed around him. He didn't noticed the nurses going backwards and forwards, he didn't see or hear Janet entering the infirmary and barking out orders.
He just saw Sam, lying on the ground in Shu's temple with her blood spilling out of her. Saw her, lying limply in his arms, her life slowly leaking out of her.
Sam, in a wheelchair. Because of him.
He was oblivious to the sudden commotion in the infirmary, unable to comprehend the noise and the sudden air of excitement as a new group of people entered the quiet room, their steps light and full of hope.
And after he'd shot her, he'd deserted her.
He hadn't even said `I'm sorry' to her face.
He'd argued with her, yelled at her, and then left her.
Left them both.
So they just had each other, and they'd found comfort in each other's arms.
He shifted awkwardly on his chair. He'd always known Sam and Jack had a bond that they didn't share with him and Teal'c… but this bond Nut had given them had added something to that. They were more than just friends now, and Daniel wasn't sure how he felt about that.
They were Sam and Jack. Two of his best friends – or used to be anyway.
But a couple? The two of them? Raising kids together? Growing old together?
Daniel frowned.
Actually, he could see it. Jack would probably run around in a apron and cook them all steaks every night while Sam would tuck the kids in and put them to sleep reciting the periodic table.
The thought brought a smile to his face.
"Dr. Jackson?"
He blinked, gazing up at Janet looking faintly bemused.
"Yeah?" he grunted.
"Are you okay, Daniel?"
No. No I'm not okay.
He just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry until everything was better.
"I'm fine, Janet. Thanks. What's happening?"
"General Carter is here. They're going to try the healing device on Sam and the Colonel."
Silently Daniel rose to his feet, and positioned himself to watch. The people around the bed fell silent, and Jacob Carter slowly positioned the healing device over his daughter's body. No one spoke as the light glowed warmly over her limp figure, a pale sheen of sweat appearing on the old man's face as he frowned and grimaced in concentration.
The light faded and the room was left feeling strangely dark and quiet.
"Did it work?" Janet asked eventually, breaking the silence.
Jacob looked down at his hand. "I don't know. It did something."
//You must realise, Dr. Fraiser, the Hand Device has never been used or been attempted on this type of injury. We do not know what the results will be like.//
"Of course, Selmak. We're grateful for any help you can give us," General Hammond nodded understandingly.
//We will heal Colonel O'Neill now,// Selmak stated, and the crowd around Sam's bed parted to let the Tok'ra through to where Jack was lying.
Daniel watched with interest as once again the device glowed and Jack's body was illuminated. Again, the light faded and the room was left silent.
Jack drew in a sharp breath, groaning as he let it out.
//Colonel O'Neill should recover,// Selmak stated, carefully removing the hand device from her hand.
"Thank you, Selmak, Jacob," General Hammond thanked them while Janet checked Jack's vitals.
Slowly Daniel stepped backwards, away from the scene in front of him.
He didn't belong here anymore. He wasn't part of their family anymore, and he didn't have the right to stay here.
Silently he turned and slipped away from the room, his lips tight with grief as he left the comfort of what had been his home.
~o0o~
He was there when she woke up, her eyes confused and blurred with pain as she returned to the world of the living.
He held her hand and smiled at her, and she slipped back to sleep silently, like a ghost moving unnoticed through the world of man.
And he was there each time she woke up, holding her hand and smiling at her, whispering words of comfort. He was there, brushing the hair back from her forehead and wiping the sweat from her brow as her legs cramp and spasmed, the once inert muscles painfully returning to existence of feeling, moving and hurting.
He would always be there for her, and she knew it. They both knew it.
Jack smiled as he pushed her in her wheelchair. Before, she would never have let him help her. Ever. Now he was allowed to push her.
She was going to walk again. Maybe not perfectly, maybe not without a limp, and maybe not tomorrow, but she would walk again.
They both knew it.
"Ready to go home, Carter?" he asked conversationally, pushing her chair into the elevator.
"Yes, Sir," she smiled at him and sat back in her chair.
Maybe tomorrow she'd ask him about Teal'c. And Daniel. And then he'd have to tell her that Teal'c had died and Daniel had left her.
They only had each other, but Jack knew it would be enough.
~o0o~
"Easy, Sam, easy," Janet cautioned, an anxious hand fluttering to rest on Sam's sweaty skin.
"I'm… fine…" Sam grunted, gritting her teeth and taking a shuddering breath.
"You're almost there," Janet coaxed.
"Damnit, Janet… I know… that!" Sam muttered, hoisting herself forwards again, her jaw clenched with effort.
"Two more steps, that's all…" Janet continued, ignoring Sam's comment.
"Janet!" Sam snapped, her legs cramping beneath her weight. "Shut up!"
Biting her tongue, Janet forced herself to let go of Sam and to let her take the last few steps on her own.
A triumphant grin broke onto Sam's face as she placed one unsteady foot across the blue line. Her arms buckled and she slumped to the ground, breathing heavily.
"I did it!" she whispered, closing her eyes as a few stray tears squeezed between her eyelids. "I did it Janet, I walked!"
"I know," Janet grinned, dropping to her knees and gathering Sam in a hug. "I know. Soon you'll be walking everywhere again."
"Will it hurt like it does now?" Sam asked hesitantly, wriggling out of Janet's grasp and snagging her drink bottle with an outstretched finger.
Janet hesitated. Hurt. It still hurt. "Sam…"
"It'll always hurt, won't it?" Sam closed her eyes, fighting disappointment.
"I don't know, Sam. You're recovering wonderfully. It normally takes months for people to be able to do what you've done in a few weeks. There's still time. Your muscles still have to adjust and the neural pathways are still recovering. Just remember that, Sam."
The door opened behind them and the Colonel stuck his head in around the corner.
"How's it going?" he asked conversationally.
"She's doing great, Sir. A few more weeks and I'd be willing to bet she's walking around with you again," Janet grinned at him, standing up and motioning for him to bring the wheelchair and to help lift Sam into it.
"Great," the Colonel grinned, effortlessly hoisting Sam back into her chair.
Janet narrowed her eyes, taking in her friend's thin, pale limbs. "Are you eating right?" Janet demanded.
Sam chuckled slightly. "You think the Colonel wouldn't tell you if I didn't eat all my dinner?" she pointed out.
True. Still, Sam was looking a bit…
"You worry too much, Janet," Sam chided, resting back in her chair. "I'm fine. It's all the exercise I'm doing that's shedding the pounds."
"All the exercise?" Janet raised an eyebrow. "What exactly do you two get up to in that house of yours?" she questioned dryly.
"I help Carter with her exercises, like you showed me!" O'Neill defended adamantly.
Janet grinned. "Sure, like that's all you get up to."
To her surprise, Sam blushed a fiery red and the Colonel almost choked on his laughter.
"You think me and Carter…?" He let the sentence trail off, amusement clearly present on his face. But there was something in his eyes, something sad and regretful…
Janet regretted her innuendo. She'd assumed, like everyone else, that they were more than friends. Obviously she was wrong.
"Sorry," she apologised awkwardly. "Ah… look, I've got to get going, I promised Cassie I'd be home to help her do her health project tonight and…"
"Go, Janet, I'll be fine," Sam waved her off. "I have taken a shower before you know."
Janet hesitated.
"I do it all the time at home, Janet. It's not like the Colonel has to-" Sam stopped and snapped her mouth shut, once again blushing deeply.
"Oh, okay. I'll…I'll see you on Tuesday then."
"What about Saturday?" O'Neill frowned in confusion.
"Saturday?"
"The thing in the park. Remember?"
"What thing in what park?" Sam demanded curiously.
Oh yes. That thing. How could she have forgotten that? "Of course. Sorry, Sir, it just slipped my mind."
"That's cool," O'Neill grinned at her. "You go home now while I get Carter sorted out."
"Excuse me!" Sam interrupted.
"It's a surprise," the Colonel said patronisingly.
"Colonel!" Sam rolled her eyes. "You'd think I was his daughter the way he carries on," she muttered.
O'Neill grinned widely. "I'm old enough to be your Dad," he pointed out.
Surprisingly, a shadow crossed over Sam's face.
"Technically, Sir, only just biologically," Janet pointed out blithely as she gathered up her bags. "Realistically, no. You're not that much older than her."
They were both silent as she turned to face them again.
She smiled brightly and waved. "Bye."
"Bye," they both chorused.
Really, Janet mused as she jogged down the stairs of the USAF Academy Hospital and made her way to the parking lot, those two really should get their act together and get married.
~o0o~
Another quiet evening in the Carter and O'Neill household, Jack mused silently as he shifted on the couch. He shot a surreptitious glance at Carter; she was still reading the same page she'd been reading for the last twenty minutes. He wasn't stupid, he knew she could read quicker than that.
She looked up and caught his gaze on her, blushing slightly before turning back to her page.
It was weird tonight, Jack thought as he sighed and closed his eyes. Usually the TV was on, or the radio, or they sat and talked. Tonight there was a strained silence between them, hardly disguised by the poor guise of reading. She hadn't turned the page for almost 25 minutes now, and he hadn't even bothered to open his magazine.
There was a quiet rustle as she eventually turned the page, but he knew she was watching him. She always watched him when his eyes were closed, the same way she watched him when his eyes were closed.
"What's happening?" she asked eventually, her voice barely more than a reading.
He swallowed, and kept his eyes closed. "What do you mean?" He knew what she meant, but he'd damned if he acknowledged it.
"With… with us."
"Us?" he almost opened his eyes, but remembered at the last minute that he was going to keep them closed. That way, he wouldn't have to see the regret in her eyes again when she turned him down, or agreed again.
He heard her breath catch in her throat and he frowned. "Yes, Sir. Us."
Okay, so this was new. Now there was an `us' again?
"I was never aware that there was an us," he drew out slowly.
"So…the cabin… you didn't mean any of that stuff?"
He opened his eyes, and then cursed himself inwardly. "So what if I did or didn't? It's over. A lot's happened since then, Carter, and what we both said up there never got taken further than the cabin. It just got left there, the way we left the fishing gear and the deck chairs up there."
The words hurt her, he realised suddenly, their bitterness slicing at her until he could see a tear shimmering in one eye.
He was bitter. He had a right to be bitter.
"I… do you still feel it?" she whispered.
"What does it matter if I do?" he demanded harshly. "Obviously there isn't going to be the type of `us' we want. If there is, it would have happened a long time ago."
Why was he doing this? Why was he shooting her down, when she was clearly offering up an olive branch?
Because he was scared of her.
Scared of how much she hurt him the last time when she pushed him away. Scared of how much she meant to him. Scared of how much he cared about her.
Scared of getting hurt again. He'd been hurt too much already.
"What happened on Tollana?" she asked, breaking the deafening silence.
He sighed. She was going to ask him one day; he was just hoping it would have been later. Much later.
"Carter-"
"No, Sir. I want to know. I need to know."
"The Goa'uld attacked, and Teal'c died."
"That's not all that happened, and you know it," she shot back.
He sighed. No, there was more to it than that. "They wouldn't listen, Carter. We told them not to trust the Goa'uld, we told them that the ion cannons were targets. But they wouldn't believe us; they believe in themselves." Jack drew in a breath.
She'd been unconscious the whole time. She had no idea what slaughter the Tollans had gone through. She hadn't seen the merciless blasts raining down on the town while people ran screaming, their defences shattered.
"Teal'c and Lya tried to save an ion cannon, but… it was too late. There were gliders in the air already, and they took it out before Teal'c even got close to it."
"How did…"
"He die?" Jack sighed. "When they blew the ion cannon the explosion was… he didn't stand a chance."
"He wasn't happy with us. With all of us," Carter said eventually. He looked over at her, and was horrified to see tears on her cheeks. Her eyes were closed, and she made no move to wipe the salty liquid from her skin. "He was disappointed with Daniel-"
"We were all disappointed by Daniel."
"-and with me."
Disappointed with Carter? That was news. "Why?"
"He thought our friendship was too important to let it just drift away like that. He said that… that… that it wasn't often you found family who weren't related by blood. It was a rare thing, and he was… upset…"
She was crying openly now, curling up on the couch, her slowly recovering legs pulled up against her chest as she clutched at them and sobbed.
"We couldn't reason with him, Carter."
"I know. But… us too. He knew, Jack. He knew."
Jack. She called him Jack. She never called him Jack.
"What did he know?"
"He knew that I loved you, and he knew I was scared. He said I should take the risk…but… I couldn't, Jack. Not then, not while I wasn't whole."
He was over, sitting on the couch next to her before her sentence was finished, holding her tightly in his arms while she cried. She was grieving, Jack realised dumbly, grieving for a best friend who'd died six months earlier, for a lost friend, and for what they'd been through.
"Carter?"
She sniffed against him, her fingers digging into his skin as she held onto him.
"What I said, up at the cabin?"
Her whole body tensed up as she waited.
He brushed her cheek with his lips, letting the singular scent of her skin cloud his senses. His breath whispered across her ear. "I still mean it."
Her lips were soft and warm as they met his, the salty tang of her tears bitter against his lips while his hands slid over her hot, damp cheeks and brushed the tears from her face. She moaned against his lips, her hands crawling up his back and her fingers combing through his hair while he parted his lips.
She was soft and warm in his hold as he lowered her carefully onto the couch, kissing away the last salty tracks of her tears and stroking the soft skin of her cheek tenderly with his fingers.
Her eyes opened at last, and she looked up at him, her expression unreadable.
"Carter?" he whispered, drawing in a breath as she traced a gentle finger along his eyebrow, moving her legs against his. "Sam," she whispered as her eyes fluttered closed and she searched his lips out for another kiss. "My name is Sam, Jack."
He pulled away again and smiled down, cradling her face between his hands, revelling in the feel of her body pressed against his. "I know, Carter."
She grinned and he kissed her again.
~o0o~
They were staring.
No just looking, not just sneaking peeks. Openly staring.
At them. At her and him: them.
Sam smiled smugly and snuggled back against his chest, resting her head on his shoulder and pressed against his neck.
"You're looking very pleased with yourself," he commented, bringing a hand up to rest on her throat.
She sighed in satisfaction and closed her eyes, pressing a quick, chaste kiss against his neck. "I know. I have a reason to be."
She could feel him smirking in her hair. "So you were impressed then?" he asked cheekily.
She sighed; if she let him get a big head now, she'd never hear the end of it. "Actually, Sir, it was a bit quick for me."
He snorted. "Quick? Carter, all night does not qualify as-" he swallowed roughly, his whole body stiffening behind her.
Lazily she opened her eyes, and then sat bolt upright, banging her head painfully on his jaw. "Dad!"
Her Dad was standing in front of them, staring down darkly at the Colonel.
"O'Neill, what the hell are you doing to my daughter?"
Guiltily the Colonel's hand dropped from her arms as though she was red hot to touch. Her Dad raised an eyebrow.
"Surprise," the Colonel said weakly, his breath brushing against her ear before he pulled away.
"Dad, what are you doing here?" she demanded, picking nervously at the grass.
"Surprise," her Dad repeated grimly. "George organised a visit for us. That was the surprise."
Oh.
Damn.
"Uh…how are you?"
"I'm fine. I heard you're doing better."
"Uh… yeah. Watch!" Proudly, anxiously and darn determined to get his attention away from this new and interesting situation with the Colonel, she carefully straightened her legs out on the grass in front of her, and wiggled her toes. Her muscles still ached and complained bitterly, cramping regularly, but she could move her lets, and she could feel. She could feel the cold leathery blades of grass scratching the back of her calves, feel the ant wandering across her foot, and she could move her legs.
He grinned at her proudly, crouching down to give her a hug.
Which brought him to eye-level with the Colonel again.
Uh oh.
He cleared his throat, and she recognised the look in his eye. She had to resist all temptations to yell for the Colonel to run as fast as he could. If her Dad had a shot gun handy she knew he wouldn't have hesitated to use it.
"Jack, what the hell are you doing with my daughter?" he asked again, his voice deceptively neutral.
"Ah…."
"Dad?" she interrupted again.
"Stay out of this Sam. If Jack has something to tell me, he doesn't need you putting ten syllable long words in his mouth."
Wow, that was harsh!
"Uh… General Carter…"
"Didn't you used to call me Dad? Or Jacob even?"
She could feel the Colonel's unease and awkwardness from where he was sitting behind her, and she closed her eyes in sympathy.
"Okay then, *Dad*, Carter and I are… well… we're… We're getting married."
Sam blinked. They were?
"Since when?" Her voice chorused perfectly in tune and time with her father's.
"Uh… you will, won't you Carter?"
She grinned at him. "If you're still alive by the time my Dad's through with you, sure."
He glared at her before turning back to her Dad. Behind her Dad she could see both General Hammond and Janet grinning broadly at her, evidently having over heard the conversation.
"General Carter, Sir…"
To her surprise, her Dad chuckled.
"Sir?"
"Dad?"
"I'm not stupid, Sam." He smiled then. "Selmak has been predicting it since we met you, and when the two of you were linked… well. It was inevitable."
Inevitable.
She liked the sound of that.
Grinning, she leant back against the Colonel's chest, sighing in satisfaction. "So, how long are you in town for?"
Her Dad dropped down onto the grass in front of them easily. "A few days."
"Great! That means you can see our house!" Sam enthused.
"You have a house already?" Jacob looked surprised.
"Yeah, we bought it a while ago, before the Tollana mission. We needed a place with ramps so Carter could use her chair."
"You've been living together?"
Sam hesitated. "I stayed with the Colonel because I needed someone to look after me, and we couldn't really be separated for long periods of time."
"Even on Earth?"
Sam blushed, and she knew that the Colonel was also turning slightly red. "No, not really. It doesn't really matter on earth, the distances are too small to really be significant."
Jacob grinned. "So I can still steal you away for a father-daughter break every now and then?"
She nodded. "Of course, Dad."
To her surprise, his eyes glistened. "Good."
"And I'll look after the kids while you're away," the Colonel promised.
"The kids?" Again, they had a father-daughter choir going.
"Sure. We're gonna have lots of kids. Of course, they'll all have your looks and brains, and my charm and personality."
~o0o~
Sighing, he adjusted the sunglasses perched on his nose and leant back on the bench.
He watched as they all laughed together, sprawled on the grass in the sunshine and enjoying one another's company.
His family.
He missed them, he really did.
Maybe one day he'd go back. Maybe one day he'd be welcomed into their lives again. Maybe one day he could forgive himself for what he'd done to her.
He watched as she stood up slowly, her face drawn tight in concentration and her fingers clutching tightly at the man's arms for support and balance.
She took a step, and beamed proudly as she sat back down.
She stared at him. She looked straight at him, her eyes wide and innocent. Her eyebrows furrowed in recognition and her lips parted, almost as though she was going to call out to him.
He stood up roughly and jammed his hands into his pockets before striding off down the path.
"Daniel!"
He ignored her call, increasing his pace.
"Daniel!"
Her call was fainter.
Not yet. Not yet, Sam, it was too soon to have her forgiveness.
A hand grabbed his arm and he turned to face the person it belonged to. Jacob Carter. Her father.
"What the hell are you doing Daniel?" he asked quietly, his eyes almost bemused as he gazed at him.
"Leaving. Or am I not allowed to do that?"
"She doesn't blame you, Daniel."
Daniel closed his eyes. "I know that, Jacob, I do. But right now… right now…"
Footsteps.
And she was behind him, her eyes begging him to wait as she held tightly onto Jack's neck, his arms curled protectively around as he carried her towards him.
"Daniel, please!" she called.
He stood then, and waited as they approached.
Awkwardly they stood, the four of them uncomfortable in the silence.
"Where have you been?" she asked eventually.
He shrugged. Here and there, floating from one place to another, lost and agitated, reluctant to do anything.
"Why don't you come home?" she whispered, her voice strangled.
Home. Yes, it would be nice to go home.
But not yet. Not now, he wasn't ready.
"Maybe some day, Sam."
She looked like she was going to argue, and so did Jack. But she closed her mouth and placed a hand over Jack's, stopping him from arguing.
And he thanked her for it.
"Come and visit sometime, okay?" she said gently.
He nodded, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
"We're getting married," Jack added.
He smiled broadly at them, truly happy for them. "That's great. When's the big day?"
"Soon," Jack replied, shrugging. "You going to be my best man?"
Daniel hesitated. "I…"
"For crying out loud, Daniel, just say yes!"
"I can't Jack. Not yet."
Jack didn't understand, and he made not pretence at understanding. Daniel understood that. Sam didn't understand either, but she was willing to let him go and wait for him.
Shrugging, Daniel turned to go.
"Daniel?" Sam called.
He turned to her, waiting for her to continue.
"I miss you."
He smiled and nodded, before turning and continuing down the path.
Yeah, he missed them too. But he couldn't go back yet. Not just yet. Maybe one day he'd go back and see them with their kids, watch them laugh and flirt with one another like they'd always done, be welcomed back into the family.
But right now he needed to go. He needed to go find his own family.
~o0o~
Story Notes: AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'm working on like four fics at once. Sigh. This is the first time I'm posting a WIP (that also hasn't been beta'd *cringes* but I don't have time to keep going over the same thing) and I'm posting it WIP so that I am *forced* to finish it, as opposed to letting it join the ranks of unfinished fic on my computer!
As always, to my buds: Suds – mooooooooo, Kitty - *raises a Teal'cish eyebrow*, Jo – Almost a year hon!!, Iona - ~wicked grin~ Laughing comes naturally when one chats to you!!!, Hoodat – for being there to cover for one very slack list mod!! And Sandy – Dunno what to say, but you still rock! Oh, and Uly – My german is *slowly* improving! J
And to the Kiddies at VS6 ~ you inspire insanity J
As always, to my buds: Suds – mooooooooo, Kitty - *raises a Teal'cish eyebrow*, Jo – Almost a year hon!!, Iona - ~wicked grin~ Laughing comes naturally when one chats to you!!!, Hoodat – for being there to cover for one very slack list mod!! And Sandy – Dunno what to say, but you still rock! Oh, and Uly – My german is *slowly* improving! J
And to the Kiddies at VS6 ~ you inspire insanity J
End Notes: There ya are. Corny, I know, clichéd, I know, fluffy, I know. But so what. Thanks for reading it all and I'm glad you've enjoyed it.
sharim
sharim
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]