The Tolgarth Series
By Arrietty - arrietty39@hotmail.com 

                         *******************

Includes: The Tolgarth Series
          Tolgarth's Revenge

                         *******************


The Tolgarth Series
By Arrietty - arrietty39@hotmail.com


RATING: R (for violence)

WARNINGS: Character death

CATEGORY: Action Adventure, SJ, Angst, Hurt/Comfort

SPOILERS: "Proving Ground," "Meridian"

TIME FRAME: Takes place after "Meridian."

SUMMARY: 

Part One: The Beginning - SG-1 attempts to rescue some Tok'ra at the 
request of Jacob, but it doesn't go to plan.

Part Two: Despair - Jack and Sam are captured and tortured by Tolgarth.

Part Three: Hope - There is always hope, even after death.

Part Four: Blue Light - Sam and Jack are home safe, but are they?

Part Five: Mystery - Teal'c wonders what is happening between O'Neill and 
Major Carter.

Part Six: Loss - Sam is dealt a terrible blow.

Part Seven: Moving On - Sam and SG-1 try to get over their loss.

Part Eight: Trapped - SG-1 meet up with Tolgarth again.

Part Nine: The Inner Battle - Jack has a mission to complete.

DISCLAIMER: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of 
Showtime/Viacom. MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions and Gekko Productions. 
This story has been written for entertainment purposes only and no money 
whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. 
The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the 
author.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is a nine-part story. To really enjoy this you have 
to have an understanding of the characters from the TV programme Stargate 
SG-1. It is set during season six, but after 'Descent' and before 
'Frozen'.  Please note that this was written before I saw any of season 
six, so the character of Jonas is not developed enough through ignorance 
of his character. Consider this a story as an alternate ending. <> either 
end of passages and italics means the character is thinking.  Dreams are 
shown by italics and by the symbols ~

A very big thank you to DJ, for all you're hard work Beta reading this 
for me. I'd like to thank DJ, for beta reading this. Vicky/Starry Eyed 
Surprise, for all your input, who questioned and prodded me into making 
this part better.  Tricia Byrne, for that extra help and encouragement. 
All write their own excellent fics. Thank you Mel, for the research. And 
for the patiently waiting Arnise.  Any mistakes that are found, blame me. 
J

FEEDBACK: Absolutely, feedback seems to turn the cogs in my brain. Apart 
from the fact I thrive on feedback.


                         *******************

Part One - The Beginning

Prologue

The light flickered up the walls from the naked flame of the torches set 
deep in their sconces. Though there were many torches, there weren't 
enough of them to illuminate the high vaulted ceiling clearly. The steady 
tramp of the booted feet echoed through the different corridors that led 
off from the main hall.  Eight Jaffa strode purposely up the centre 
towards the dais set high up the many wide steps at one end of the hall.  
On the dais was a large ornate silver throne. Three black and grey velvet 
cushions had been haphazardly tossed onto the empty seat, the high, 
curved back preventing them from spilling to the floor. The approaching 
Jaffa climbed the wide steps of the dais, taking their assigned positions 
around the throne, one either side, two behind, and one at each corner. A 
loud stamp of many feet reverberated through the great hall, as more 
Jaffa came to attention. They had arrived silently through the numerous 
corridors leading into the main hall. They now stood, like statues, in 
long lines, against the walls. 

"Jaffa! Kree!" Announced one of the guards.

Just then a man sailed into the chamber, he was tall, over six feet, 
dressed in a large black cloak, with a fitted hood that concealed his 
hair. Underneath the cloak, he wore dark grey trousers, black boots and a 
grey shirt, over the shirt was a black leather jerkin. Silver was inlaid 
in an intricate design throughout the jerkin. His face was hidden behind 
a black mask with silver inlay, the design giving the wearer, an evil 
malevolence. He strode haughtily up the stairs onto the dais swirling his 
cloak around as he sat down. As he looked intently out over the hall, a 
yellow glow shining from his eyes was evident to all who had the courage 
to meet his gaze.

                         *******************

Part One

"Chevron 7 encoded and locked." Announced the technician as the wormhole 
burst into life.

"We are getting a signal from the Tok'ra. Sir."

"Open the iris sergeant." Barked the General. 

A solitary man walked smoothly down the gate ramp. 

General Hammond quickly moved downstairs to the Gate room. Joining 
Hammond in the gate room were the members of SG-1, Colonel Jack O'Neill, 
Major Samantha Carter, Teal'c and Jonas Quinn.

"Hello George." The man said. 

The General answered. "What's happening Jacob?"

"Hi Dad." Sam Carter said with a smile as she moved forward to give her 
Father a big hug.

"Hello Sam." He smiled softly at his daughter, and then turned to General 
Hammond with a more serious look. "We need your help."

All were seated around the briefing room table as Selmac, Jacob Carter's 
symbiote, explained why their help was needed.

"Four days ago, we found a new outpost for the Tok'ra. Eighteen Tok'ra 
were sent ahead to get the tunnels ready for the rest of our cell to 
arrive. When we arrived two days ago, the tunnels were completed, but 
there were no signs of seventeen of the Tok'ra. We found one, Renod, you 
know him by his Host's name Heath. I'm sorry, he lived only long enough 
to tell us that a Goa'uld, Tolgarth, had taken the missing Tok'ra as 
prisoners." 

There was an audible gasp in the room, everyone turned around and looked 
with surprise at the source, it had come from Teal'c. Teal'c, who very 
rarely showed any sign of emotion, looked shocked. 

"I see you have heard of Tolgarth, Teal'c."  Said Selmac.

Teal'c silently bowed his head once at Selmac. The others in the room 
gave him some puzzled looks before turning back to Selmac/Jacob for an 
explanation. Jacob took over from Selmac and continued.

"Tolgarth is a minor weak Goa'uld, he is not yet one of the System Lords, 
but very evil. People do not survive his capture; he uses torture just 
for the fun of it. He always wears a mask, because he treats his host's 
so abominably. After about six months they go stark raving mad, then they 
are no use to him."

"Couldn't he just take over the mad host and then have the body without 
any resistance?" Jonas asked.

"No." Replied Jacob. "He likes to torture his host, once the host is 
insane, he wants new material."

"What do you want us for?" O'Neill asked in a suspicious tone. By now he 
was beginning to see where this was going, and he didn't like it one bit.

"Soon after we arrived at our new outpost, we were raided. Though we 
managed to escape, many of the Tok'ra were injured. We only have two 
other operatives who are available at the moment; the others are on 
important undercover missions. We are hesitant to bring them back. We 
need a search and rescue team, we were hoping that you could help us out 
with extra people. The Tok'ra that have been captured have visited the 
SGC, so this threat from Tolgarth will affect you as well."

General Hammond pondered this for a while and then looked at O'Neill, who 
had been very busy studying the table top while resting his head on his 
hands. General Hammond returned his attention to Jacob. 

"I can't order any of my people to go, but I will take volunteers." 

He then looked at O'Neill again. In fact everyone in the room looked at 
O'Neill.  He raised his head, then slowly looked around at his team, and 
gave a similar speech as his CO. 

"Hey look, I can't order any of my team to go, but I'll be in Jacob."

Looking at the rest of his team, they each turned to O'Neill and nodded 
in agreement. 

General Hammond looked pleased as he said. "Well it looks like you have a 
go, Colonel." Turning to Jacob, Hammond asked. "Jacob can you give us any 
more information on Tolgarth?" 

"No we cannot, but we do have a Tok'ra operative within Tolgarth's Jaffa 
ranks, he has been there three weeks. But unfortunately we haven't heard 
from him in the last two weeks." Jacob informed them.

O'Neill quickly commentated. "It sounds like he may have been 
compromised, it most probably was him who gave away the plans for the new 
Tok'ra outpost."

Selmac, Jacob's symbiote quickly took over, he had taken umbrage at 
O'Neill's suggestion that a Tok'ra would betray his people.  Selmac stood 
up and brought his hands down on the table with a loud slap. Making 
everyone in the briefing room jump physically with surprise. Fortunately 
Jacob was able to calm him down before he said anything that would cause 
discord. Jacob thought to himself that it was very unusual for him to be 
calming down Selmac and not the other way around. Jacob very quietly sat 
down, looked pointedly at O'Neill and very carefully gave a small shake 
of his head at O'Neill's questioning gaze.

Jacob then very carefully continued speaking. "In four hours it will be 
dead of night on Tolgarth's planet, here are the co-ordinates." He 
carefully handed over a small piece of folded paper to Sam. "The plan is 
to under the cover of darkness, go in and blow up the outlying buildings. 
Hopefully the diversion will enable us to rescue the imprisoned Tok'ra 
and escape."

                         *******************
 
After gating to Tolgarth's planet, now designated PX 157. SG-1, Jacob and 
two Tok'ra, Telan and Kenar quickly scanned the surrounding foliage just 
in case any Jaffa were guarding the Stargate. They were surprised at the 
absence of any guards near the gate.  The rescue team quickly established 
a rendezvous point, and then moved silently through the forest towards 
Tolgarth's fortress. It took at least two hours before they reached the 
outlying buildings. They set a number of charges throughout them, timed 
to detonate simultaneously.

Placing a further charge against a wooden door set into the fortress' 
solid stonewall. They hung back and took shelter, waiting for O'Neill to 
detonate the explosives.

The sound of the different explosions, echoed around the hills that 
surrounded the fortress. Moving quickly they crept through the smoking 
ruined door into Tolgarth's domain.

O'Neill lead the way through the dark tunnels, it was like a warren 
inside the walls of the fortress. Following the sound of the Jaffa 
calling out to one another they silently moved through the corridors. 
Soon they came to a stairwell.

"Telan is this the way to the dungeons? O'Neill asked.

"Yes I believe so."

"Right, you take point."  O'Neill motioned Carter to follow. 

Without realising it, Telan set off a trip wire with his boot. Klaxons 
reverberated around the building. A cry was taken up from the Jaffa, as 
they pounded their way down the halls towards SG-1 and the Tok'ra. 

Carter quickly flattened herself against the wall and pushed Telan up 
above her on the stairs.

"Quick get back into the tunnels, we can defend better from there." 
O'Neill told the Tok'ra.

The leading Jaffa was at the foot of the stairs, saw the movement of 
Kenar and fired his Staff weapon at him. After being hit in the knee, 
Kenar fell back against Telan. They both lost their balance and started 
to tumble down the staircase.

"CARTER.  WATCH OUT!" Yelled O'Neill.

But it was too late, as they knocked into Carter, they took her with them 
to the bottom of the long spiral staircase. 

After repelling the Jaffa guards with weapon fire, they started down the 
dimly lit staircase after their fallen comrades, but about half way down 
they heard some voices coming from a locked room to their right. Stopping 
their descent, Teal'c and Jonas managed to open the dungeon door; inside 
they found the missing Tok'ra. Five were dead including the undercover 
operative, and four were badly injured, but the remaining Tok'ra seemed 
unharmed. Meanwhile, O'Neill and Jacob went on down to the bottom of the 
staircase to retrieve Carter, Telan and Kenar, but when they got there, 
there were no sign of them.

"Jacob where could they have gone?" O'Neill asked while peering down one 
of the two passages leading off from where they were.

"I really don't know Jack, we should split up, because they could have 
gone down either one of these passages."

"OK Jacob, I'll take the left and you take the right one, if you don't 
find them, make your way to the rendezvous point and wait there for the 
rest of the team."

Nodding once in agreement to O'Neill, Jacob moved off down the right hand 
passageway. He carefully crept along the wall, the torches sputtered as 
they burnt. He still couldn't understand how with all of this technology, 
the Goa'uld always seemed to insist on still using things from the dark 
ages. The ground was dry, and seemed to be made of hard packed soil, so 
his shoes made no sound as he stealthily moved along. He began to move 
faster, as the passageway started an incline. Jacob had been walking 
along these passageways for a long time; it was well after daybreak.  As 
he turned a corner he could see a faint light, he wondered if it was a 
way out. Starting to slow down again he cautiously moved towards the 
opening.

                         *******************

Jack O'Neill was beginning to doubt the wisdom of separating with Jacob, 
they couldn't use radios down in the passageways, not only because of the 
noise, but because there was something in the soil that prevented them 
from working. He clutched his P90 firmly and moved quickly trying to keep 
to the shadows. After a while, he came across an empty unguarded room. 
There were no windows inside the room, but there were some old dirty 
blankets, and a couple of buckets, it smelt awful. From experience he 
could see from the sparse objects and familiar smell, that this was a 
holding cell for some unfortunate prisoner.  Holding his hand over his 
mouth and nose "Phew, I'm outta here." He muttered under his breath.

More wary now he continued on down the passageway. The torches were 
becoming more frequent now, and he could see more clearly. The floor 
instead of being hard packed earth was now metal flooring, painted a grey 
colour. He noticed that the walls were black with intricate silver inlaid 
patterns, which shone eerily in the torchlight. O'Neill peered closely at 
the wall just under one of the torches, the pattern looked suspiciously 
like writing.

"Where are you Daniel when I need you?" O'Neill whispered quietly under 
his breath, but the writing didn't look Goa'uld, in fact it could just be 
décor for all he knew. While he moved away from the wall, he heard the 
click and whine of a Zatnik'atel. With his P90 drawn ready, he spun 
around to face his attacker, but his body was enveloped in streaks of 
bright blue light before he had a chance to fire. O'Neill collapsed with 
a groan and shuddered into unconsciousness. 

                         *******************
 
"Colonel!"

"Ow! Stop it." Someone was slapping him on his face. Maybe if he opened 
his eyes it would stop. 

"Ah, Carter!" <There, see it stopped. >

"What on earth are you doing Carter?"

Carter frowned at her CO, sat back on her heels and said. "Nice to see 
you too Sir! Look we have to get out of here now, before they come back. 
No time to explain, but I think I've found a way to get out of here."

"Hey, great, where are Telan and Kenar?"

Carter looked down at the ground, then up at O'Neill. "They didn't make 
it."

Colonel O'Neill quickly put up his hand to quieten Carter; he could hear 
booted feet coming down towards their cell.

The door to their cell opened, a Jaffa stood in the doorway and glowered 
at them. Neither O'Neill nor Carter was sure if he was first prime or 
not. He had the mark of a first prime, but instead of being gold, it was 
silver.

The Jaffa spoke in Goa'uld to them, indicating with his hand that they 
come with him.

O'Neill carefully stood up, his head was hurting, he noticed that Carter 
grimaced as she stood and she also was taking small breaths, her arms 
were clutched around her rib cage. <'Oh that's all we need.' > He groaned 
to himself, <'Carter with busted ribs.'> He tried to get close to Carter, 
but they were placed under armed guard and marched along the passage, 
there were three Jaffa in between Carter and himself.

O'Neill tried to keep track of where they were going, but the twists and 
turns of the passages were complicated. His head still hurt and his 
vision was blurred, so he just had to hope that Carter had managed to 
remember where they had gone. Soon they came to a large hall. The hall 
was huge; the walls were very high, made out of grey stone, blackened 
over time by the smoke from the torches. Over each doorway an arch sat 
out proud against the wall, each one rose high up to the ceiling curving 
towards the middle into a point. Even though the Goa'uld had used 
antiquated lighting, the hall was warm, there was a faint breeze coming 
from somewhere, O'Neill wondered if maybe there was under floor heating, 
or even air conditioning.  Unbeknownst to him, his thoughts were running 
along the same lines as Jacob, at the incongruity of the Goa'uld's choice 
of mixing technology with the more simple way of life. While all of this 
was whizzing through O'Neill's very sore head, they were marched up to 
the end of the hall. They were made to stand before the Goa'uld Tolgarth.

The purpose of the design of the mask was to be as intimidating as 
possible, and from the point of view of both O'Neill and Carter it 
worked. Tolgarth stood up from his throne and stalked down the steps 
towards O'Neill and Carter. He stood on the bottom steps.

"Kneel before your god!" Tolgarth's double voice boomed out.

Carter immediately braced herself and waited for her CO's sarcastic reply 
and then the blow. Tolgarth's eyes glowed; he stepped forward closer to 
them and stared at Carter intensely.

"You, you have had a symbiote in you, why are you still alive?" As Carter 
was wondering how on earth Tolgarth knew that, he slowly reached out his 
hand with a hand device on it and blasted her halfway down the large 
hall. After Sam slid to a stop, she lay silent not moving.

Through all of this O'Neill had not understood much, as Tolgarth was 
speaking in Goa'uld. He did understand the 'kneel before your god' bit, 
but not what had been said to Carter. 

When Tolgarth had blasted Carter with the hand device, O'Neill quickly 
moved towards where she had fallen, he had only taken a few steps before 
he was knocked to the ground unconscious, with a staff weapon. 

                         *******************

Part Two - Despair

As O'Neill became conscious, he noticed a familiar smell, he wasn't sure 
where he had smelt it before, but it wasn't very pleasant. He groggily 
opened his eyes; the room was dimly lit by one sputtering torch, fixed to 
the side of a wall by a bracket. O'Neill quickly scanned the small room, 
he recognized it immediately, it was the cell he had come across earlier. 
He realised that he now had become that very 'unfortunate person'. There 
was no sign of Carter, he wasn't sure if that was good news or not, she 
had been given a big hit from the hand-device, and he was pretty sure 
that she was severely injured if not worse. O'Neill quickly dismissed 
that thought from his head. He knew if he was going to get out of here 
alive and also rescue Carter, he had to keep his emotions in check and 
keep a clear head. He carefully stood up and feeling dizzy, staggered to 
the door of the cell. Unsuccessfully he tried the handle. "Well you never 
know," he muttered to himself. O'Neill carefully turned around and leant 
his back against the door and then slowly slid down onto the floor, as 
everything went black once more.

                         *******************

Carter felt a tremendous amount of pain, as the force of the hand device 
slammed into her body. She lay on the floor stunned, not able to move and 
was winded. Slowly her breathing became easier, but her body hurt, if her 
ribs weren't broken before they were now, plus some. Every time she drew 
a breath in or out, sharp pains wracked her chest and back. More pain 
shot through her body as two Jaffa came forward and roughly pulled her up 
by her arms and shoulders. They dragged her through the long passageways 
into a dark room. They then put shackles on her wrists and tied her by a 
chain with her arms pulled up above her head, to a large ring set into 
the low ceiling. Carter found it hard to stand as her toes only just 
reached the floor, but as soon as she rested her weight onto her wrists, 
pain shot through her body from the strain. She also found that she was 
extremely thirsty and desperately wanted a drink of water. Carter didn't 
have any idea where Colonel O'Neill was, she remembered hearing the 
sickening thud of the shaft of a staff weapon hitting flesh, but didn't 
know how badly he was hurt. Major Carter waited in the dark, wondering if 
she was going to lose consciousness, she knew that if that happened she 
could die, as the pressure on her broken ribs would maybe puncture her 
lungs. Sam began to wonder what was going to happen to her next, she 
found she didn't have long to wait. Two Jaffa came in carrying torches 
and placed them into brackets set into the walls. There were now four 
torches, two set up either side of her, as far as she could see, there 
wasn't anything else in the room except a large machine, cylindrical in 
shape, set in front of her. It looked like an old fashioned cannon, but 
instead of black, the surface colour had a blue silvery sheen to it. 

"Jaffa, Kree." Was announced from outside the room, the door was opened 
and in stalked Tolgarth. He walked menacingly up to Major Carter and 
demanded.

"Why are you still alive? What Goa'uld was in you?"

Carter stared straight at him and looked into his eyes, just before they 
glowed she noticed that they were hazel in colour, she wondered briefly 
about the poor man/host that was suffering under Tolgarth and how long he 
had been a prisoner of this Goa'uld.

"I ask again, what Goa'uld was in you?" Tolgarth reached up his hand and 
grabbed her jaw in a painful grip. 

Again Carter just ignored him, trying not cry out with the pain. She had 
realised that Tolgarth did not know who she was and she did not want him 
to know. There was a large price on her head, so hopefully if she kept 
quiet and didn't speak, he wouldn't recognise that she was from Earth. 

Tolgarth snorted, then said. "You will regret not answering me Tau'ri." 
But it was too late, he already knew.

He turned and spoke to his Jaffa, Carter had known enough of Goa'uld to 
understand most of what Tolgarth had been saying, and unfortunately she 
knew enough Goa'uld to understand what he was ordering his Jaffa to do to 
her.

                         *******************
 
Colonel O'Neill was jolted awake by a muted scream coming from another 
part of Tolgarth's castle. He stood up, and immediately regretted the 
movement, as the dizziness seemed to be still there, but fortunately not 
as bad as before. Then he heard it again, a scream, it was louder this 
time, or maybe it seemed louder as now he was awake, the next time he 
heard the scream he knew whom it was coming from. Major Carter. He wasn't 
sure if it was his imagination or not, but each time he heard her cry 
out, the scream seemed more anguished and desperate. In spite of all of 
his training and self will, O'Neill found himself beginning to shake, his 
heart began to pound and his palms were sweating, and once again he had 
to sit down. He felt helpless; he had no idea what they were doing to 
her. The only consolation he had, was that maybe the others would hear 
her and get her out of there. 

After a while it suddenly went quiet. O'Neill immediately stood up; the 
dizziness seemed to have gone. Adrenalin began to pump through his 
system, as he heard the distinctive tramp of booted feet on the hard 
packed dirt corridor. They were coming for him, maybe he would see Carter 
now, part of him wanted to see her, but another part didn't want to know.

The door to his cell clanked open. O'Neill had been waiting for them, 
using one of the metal buckets; he brought it down hard on the startled 
unprotected head of the leading Jaffa. With a groan the Jaffa collapsed 
onto the ground, before the other Jaffa had a chance to react, O'Neill 
had decked him with a right hook from his fist. Instantly O'Neill grabbed 
one of the fallen staff weapons and raced down the corridor towards where 
he had heard Carter.  Uncharacteristically blinded by the fear of what 
may have happened to her, he ran right smack into six Jaffa, after racing 
around a corner. O'Neill managed to knock down two Jaffa, before he was 
again knocked unconscious.

                         *******************

Jacob started to run on up the slope towards the light, he could hear 
Jaffa guards shouting behind him, there were so many corridors in this 
building it was hard to work out where the sounds were coming from. As he 
reached the outside he knew that Sam hadn't come this way, there weren't 
any footprints on the dust on the ground outside the entrance of the 
tunnel. Both he and Selmac weren't sure what to do, should they go back 
into the maze, or carry on to the rendezvous point. They decided to carry 
on to the rendezvous point; it took them only two hours before they 
reached the place where they had agreed to meet, if separated. As they 
arrived they could hear voices, so they cautiously crept up to where they 
could hear the voices coming from. Jacob/Selmac were very relieved to see 
that the voices belonged to Teal'c, Jonas and some of the missing Tok'ra.

"Hello! It's only me. Where are the others?" Jacob asked as he stepped 
into the clearing.

Jonas turned around to face Jacob. "We thought they were with you, 
where's Colonel O'Neill, Sam and the other Tok'ra?"

"I do not know Jonas, when Jack and I got down to the bottom of the 
staircase Telan, Kenar and Sam weren't there. We split up to see if we 
could find them, I'm afraid that Tolgarth may have captured them."

One of the Tok'ra stepped forward to Jacob/Selmac; he had been tending 
four of the Tok'ra who lay injured on the ground. "Selmac, we must get 
these men back home, or they will die, they need medical attention, their 
injuries are too severe for their symbiote's to heal them."

Reluctantly Jacob nodded, he agreed they had to be taken back, and he 
turned to Teal'c and Jonas. "Will you help us carry them back? We will 
come back for the others."

Teal'c and Jonas looked at each other; they didn't want to leave half 
their team behind, recalling what O'Neill had always said. <'We don't 
leave anyone behind.'> But common sense took over and they decided that 
the best thing to do was to go back and get reinforcements, as the two of 
them alone would not be able to overpower Tolgarth's large army.

As they collected their gear, they wondered if they were making the 
correct decision. If they had known what was happening to Sam at that 
moment they would never have left.

                         *******************

O'Neill felt decidedly groggy, he found he was having difficulty in 
breathing, something was fastened across his mouth, and his nose was 
partially blocked from a blood nose. He could also feel blood dripping 
down his face from his forehead. As he opened his eyes he took in his 
surroundings, everything looked fuzzy, he was propped up between two 
Jaffa, and his hands were manacled together in front of him. Standing 
outside a door, he could hear a muffled voice coming from within the 
room. Suddenly the door burst open and a very angry Tolgarth stormed out 
of the room. He slammed the door behind him and stared at O'Neill. He 
spoke to one of the Jaffa, who then reached across and tore off the gag 
that covered O'Neill's mouth. Tolgarth leant forward and spoke very 
quietly to Jack O'Neill in Goa'uld.  Jack's response was laced with 
sarcasm.

"Hey, how do you shave in the morning with that on?" 

Tolgarth laughed. "Maybe you would like to find out Tau'ri." He gloated 
speaking English.

"You, Tau'ri will give me the coordinates to your gate and the way in 
through your defences. Where are the others, the ones that were with you; 
the Tok'ra? You will give me their location."

"I don't think so buddy." Came the caustic reply. 

Tolgarth backhanded O'Neill across the face. "Insolence will *not* get 
you anywhere Tau'ri."

Tolgarth gave an order to his Jaffa; the gag was fixed back onto 
O'Neill's now bruised and bloodied mouth.

The door to the room was opened, and the Jaffa dragged a resisting 
Colonel into the room, it was dark there were only a few torches on the 
walls. Before he had a chance to have a good look around, they roughly 
grabbed hold of his wrists and pulled his arms up towards the ceiling. 
The Jaffa then fastened O'Neill's manacles to one of the many large metal 
rings set into the ceiling of the cell. O'Neill noticed that he could 
stand with his feet flat on the floor.

Tolgarth stood in the room and laughed. "You will tell me Tau'ri, I will 
be back, and then you will tell me everything." With that he laughed 
again and walked out of the room, the Jaffa going with him.

By now the fuzziness of O'Neill's eyesight had begun to clear. He looked 
directly ahead of him, there was a large silver cylindrical object 
sitting on the floor, it looked a bit like a cannon. O'Neill thought of 
Carter, she would know what it was surely. He twisted himself around and 
looked over to his left, someone was hanging beside him...it was Carter. 
She was obviously unconscious as her head hung down over her chest, her 
breathing sounded wet and laboured. But at least she was breathing; as 
his eyes began to adjust to the light he noticed the blood that covered 
her uniform. O'Neill tried to get Carter's attention, but he couldn't 
make any sound, the gag that covered his mouth, seemed to soak up any 
noise that he would be able to make. He then tried to swing his body over 
to her, maybe touch Carter with his feet, but she was placed too far away 
to reach her.

O'Neill wasn't certain how long it was before Carter began to stir, but 
he was sure it was nearly an hour since he had been left in the room. 
During that time he had been trying to ascertain what injuries Carter 
had. But it was very hard to see in the dim light, he thought that one of 
her lungs had been punctured, and also it looked like she had been 
whipped. Carter was wearing a black T-shirt; their jackets had been 
removed along with any weapons. The T-shirt looked like there were cuts 
along her stomach and when he twisted around and pulled back, he could 
see a lot more blood and cuts across her back. They must have hurt her 
bad. Anger was building up in O'Neill, he desperately wanted to help 
Carter and get her out of here. He also would like to get hold of 
Tolgarth and physically show him what he thought of him, preferably with 
a powerful weapon, but his bare hands would suffice. 

Carter moaned and slowly raised her head. Shakily she pulled her feet up 
under her and stood up as straight as she could. Her hands and arms were 
now numb, unfortunately the rest of her wasn't, the pain washed over her 
in waves. Carter let out another moan and opened her eyes; she looked 
directly up at Colonel O'Neill. She quickly scanned the room for anyone 
else and then spoke to O'Neill.

"Sir?" Her voice sounded raspy, from lack of water and the screaming. 
"Colonel, are you all right?" Her vision was still a little unclear, and 
her head ached. O'Neill furiously nodded his head, once again unable to 
make any sound.

As Carter's vision cleared she spoke urgently to her Commanding Officer. 

"He wants to know how to get through the iris." 

The door opened with a clank and then a bang, four Jaffa marched in with 
Tolgarth behind them. Tolgarth walked up to O'Neill and painfully ripped 
the gag from his mouth. "I see you have reacquainted yourselves. You will 
now tell me what I want to know, or you too will suffer the same as your 
friend here." O'Neill kept quiet, his eyes slid across to Carter, she 
looked terrified. <'What did they do to her?'> He thought. 

It didn't take long for him to find out.

It is as he thought, they used a whip, the pain was a searing burning 
pain, across his back and front. Every so often, both Carter and himself 
were asked how to get past Earth's defences and the whereabouts of the 
Tok'ra. When neither of them answered, the Jaffa continued the torture. 
Soon O'Neill's vision was turning red, blackening around the edges. He 
knew that he would soon lose consciousness, but he knew he could not let 
that happen, as they may then start back on Carter. He was certain that 
she would not live through anymore of this. Just before he passed out 
they stopped. No more questions. No more beating. O'Neill slowly raised 
his head and looked directly at Tolgarth. O'Neill was angry, angry that 
someone could have done anything remotely like this to him and especially 
to Carter. With defiance he spoke to Tolgarth.

"You are wasting your time."

Tolgarth just laughed. "I haven't finished yet Tau'ri, this is nothing, 
just a few scratches." 

O'Neill looked over at Carter, she had tears in her eyes, this shocked 
him as he hadn't seen weakness like this in Carter before. He began to 
wonder what was in store for him; he knew it had to be something 
terrible, because of Carter's reaction.

One of the Jaffa moved over to the gun shaped machine in the middle of 
the room, and flipped a switch, the machine started to hum as it warmed 
up. O'Neill noticed that it was pointing at Carter, the Jaffa then 
slowly, as it seemed to be heavy, moved it around, so it was pointing at 
O'Neill. 

Tolgarth laughed. "Set it on the middle setting." 

Jack watched as the Jaffa moved a dial round, obviously they were 
starting him a lot higher than what they had used on Sam. Tolgarth 
laughed again. Then a force hit him, the pain was unbearable and he had 
never felt anything like it before, all the wounds from before screamed 
with increased pain. At first O'Neill had screwed up his eyes with the 
pain, but slowly he opened them. Through the pain he saw a blue light, 
fire out of the gun and wash over him just like a Zatnik'atel, his body 
jerked with the excruciating pain. Unlike the Zatnik'atel he didn't lose 
consciousness, he would have liked to have though and then maybe the pain 
would stop. Tolgarth reached forwards to the machine and slowly turned 
the dial around. He was increasing the level of power. O'Neill could hear 
someone screaming he couldn't work out who that was, at first he thought 
it was Carter, then he realised that it was himself. 

The torture went on for quite a while. When it stopped, O'Neill hung by 
his wrists from the ceiling, with his head fallen forward onto his chest. 
Blood from his previous wounds was running down his back and soaking into 
his trousers. He was still conscious, but his breathing was laboured. 

Tolgarth walked up to O'Neill and grabbed a fistful of his hair. As he 
yanked back his head, he stared straight into his face and demanded. 
"Tell me what I want to know, or one of you will die. As you now know I 
have the means to make death a very painful one and it *will* be slow." 
Tolgarth released O'Neill's head and moved over to Carter. Major Carter 
was only just able to stand, with the loss of blood and the reduced 
amount of oxygen; she was getting weaker every moment. Tolgarth just 
stood there looking at Carter. He abruptly turned away from her and 
started to walk out of the room, as he got to the door, he turned back to 
look at them and said. "You have until I return to decide who will die, 
and who will live." The door slammed behind him after he exited the room.

"Hey,...... Carter......... I think heh...... is slightly annoyed." 
Gasped out O'Neill.

"Sir,... are you all right?"

"Could be better Carter,... what about you,...... did they... use that... 
thing on you?"

"Yes. ...... Sir, we...... have to come to a decision,... it has to be 
me. I'm dying anyway,...... I ...have internal injuries,... that I don't 
think even Janet... could fix."

"No, Carter that will not happen, you heard him,... it is a very painful 
way to die. I will not let that happen to you."

"With respect... Sir,... I ...disagree,... in my current condition... I 
couldn't fight my way out of a paper bag,... let alone... escape... and 
get away,... you can,... and... at... least... one... of... us... 
will......... live."

Through this entire last sentence Carter was having more difficulty 
breathing, and her words were interspersed with her choking on her blood 
that was blocking her lungs. O'Neill knew that Carter was making sense, 
but he couldn't let her suffer from that machine again. He also didn't 
believe a word of what Tolgarth said and he was sure that the best thing 
for them would be that they were both dead. As Carter said she was dying 
anyway, though a horrible way to die, not as bad as what the machine 
could do. 

O'Neill pulled rank on Carter. "You have no choice in this matter Major."

"Hah! Time is up Tau'ri, so who is it going to be?" Tolgarth demanded 
from the opened doorway.

O'Neill turned his head away from Carter and looked directly at Tolgarth. 
"Me."

"Ah good Tau'ri, that is good, you will last longer, my fun would be over 
too quickly with her."

Tolgarth turned to his Jaffa and gave them an order; by this time Carter 
seemed to have lost consciousness, as she sagged in her restraints. The 
Jaffa moved over and unlocked her cuffs and dropped her down onto the 
ground. No sound came from her, except for the thud as her body hit the 
floor of the cell.  Jack was relieved that she was not aware of what was 
happening. He stood firm and steady waiting for the machine to fire into 
him. Tolgarth moved over to the machine.

"One last time Tau'ri, and you will live, where are the Tok'ra and tell 
me the defences of your planet?"

Jack defiantly stared back at Tolgarth, not speaking a word. A Jaffa 
moved forward and unlocked Jack's handcuffs.  He nearly fell over as his 
arms collapsed down to his sides, but one of the guards grabbed hold of 
him. The blood started rushing into his arms and hands, the pain was bad, 
but he knew it wasn't as bad as it was going to get. With regret he 
looked over at the crumpled form of Sam, he hadn't even had a chance to 
say goodbye. Then as he heard the Goa'uld Tolgarth laugh (he was getting 
really sick of that laugh) he looked up at Tolgarth and with defiance 
took up his stance waiting to die. 

Carter was feeling numb; the pain seemed to have gone away, as she lay on 
the ground she seemed to not be able to move. She knew what was going to 
happen to the Colonel and she had to stop it. Carter slowly dragged 
herself up onto her hands and knees; no one was watching her while she 
did this, as all eyes were on O'Neill.  Carter wasn't sure how she 
managed it, but she was standing, she staggered over to face Tolgarth and 
stood in between the gun and O'Neill.

"NO!" She shouted. "You will kill me instead."

"Sam, no." Came a quiet but firm voice from behind her, she carefully 
turned around and faced Colonel O'Neill.

"Sir, I can't let you die." By now tears were beginning to roll down her 
face.

"As you can't seem to decide, you both shall die." A triumphant voice 
boomed from behind the gun.

Tolgarth pressed down on the lever and blue light shot out of the gun, it 
hit into Carter's back, slamming her into O'Neill. Both of them hit the 
far wall with a resounding smack. As the blue lightening washed over 
them, they were pinned together by the powerful force against the wall. 
Over the crackling electricity, you could barely hear their cries as they 
slowly sank down the wall to the ground. The Goa'uld was all but hopping 
up and down with glee; he hadn't enjoyed himself so much for a very long 
time. When he was sure that they were both dead, he switched off the 
machine. He walked over to the bodies. The blue light was still running 
up and down the bodies, their arms were clasped around each other. Their 
faces showed the pain that they had endured as they had died. Tolgarth 
snorted and turned around with a flourish, and strutted out of the room, 
leaving the Jaffa to clear away the bodies.

                         *******************

Part Three - Hope
 
After Jacob, the Tok'ra and the rest of SG-1 had made it back to the SGC, 
it hadn't taken Dr. Fraiser long to sort out the wounded. All four Tok'ra 
were now in a stable condition receiving treatment for their injuries.

In the briefing room, General Hammond was patiently listening to the 
remainder of SG-1 and Jacob as they explained the circumstances of losing 
Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, Telan and Kenar and also of their joint 
decision of leaving them behind.

General Hammond didn't take long to decide to mount a rescue mission for 
Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter and the remaining two Tok'ra. 

"SG-9 will go. Major McDonald will lead this mission. Is that understood 
SG-1?" He looked pointedly at Teal'c and Jonas. He didn't want them going 
off on a tangent. "You have a go. Be ready in one hour. Dismissed."

As Jonas and Teal'c left the room, General Hammond slowly got up to 
leave, but Jacob called him back. 

"George, I don't hold much hope for them. The surviving Tok'ra that we 
rescued said that Tolgarth is ruthless. I think you should change all the 
codes. I need to send word to our Tok'ra base to move. Apparently 
Tolgarth has a new torture device that supersedes anything that the 
Goa'uld have used before."

General Hammond turned a grim face towards Jacob. "Don't you think I 
should be sending more of my people to get them out?"

"I'm not sure George, but I just thought you should know that maybe we 
will be too late."

"Jacob, this is your daughter we are talking about. Don't you hold any 
hope at all?"

Jacob sat there, looked down at the table and sighed. "I have a little. I 
always have hope, but from what my fellow Tok'ra have told me," he looked 
up at Hammond, "I just don't know anymore."

General Hammond nodded to Jacob, got up from the table and quickly walked 
out of the room. 

As General Hammond sat down at the desk in his office, he knew that he 
had to make a tough decision. He sat there for a while just staring into 
space, thinking. Fifty minutes later he had come to a decision. He 
quickly walked through to the gate room. When he arrived there, SG-9, 
Teal'c, Jonas and Jacob were standing ready to go. The seventh chevron 
had just locked on the Stargate and they were waiting for General Hammond 
to give the order to go ahead. Hammond stopped at the door, took a deep 
breath and then walked into the gate room. 

"Stand down SG-9, SG-1, the mission is aborted." He announced.

Jacob froze. He wasn't surprised at the General's decision. To a certain 
degree he agreed with the decision, however much it hurt him to know that 
he wouldn't have the help to get Sam out of there. Both Teal'c and Jonas 
started to protest, but stopped in mid-sentence as General Hammond held 
up his hand to silence them. "Until we have further Intel, this mission 
is not to proceed. Teal'c, Jonas, it's not likely that we can risk 
further lives in retrieving them. From what I have heard the three of you 
will not be able to rescue them in time. In fact it most probably is too 
late already.

Then Jacob announced that he would go alone. 

"I am still going George. Even if it is just to find out what has 
happened to them." 

Jacob quickly turned away from the others and walked up to the Stargate. 
Just as he stepped through the event horizon, he heard the heavy clump of 
booted feet running up behind him. Both Teal'c and Jonas wasted no time 
in coming to a joint decision. They had only come back to Earth, because 
they thought they would return to Tolgarth's planet. As far as they were 
concerned they had no choice. They would not leave Jack and Sam behind.

                         *******************

~The sky was clear blue. There was a slight warm breeze that made the 
skirt of her pale blue dress billow out and swirl around her legs. Sam 
wasn't sure where she was, but she was climbing up a small rocky pathway. 
Her brown open sandals were making slight footprints in the dry dusty 
ground. At one place she had to reach out with her hands so she could 
keep her balance. Sam had never felt so good. She was warm. The sun felt 
good on her skin and the breeze was blowing through her hair. Even though 
she was walking uphill she hadn't even broken out in a sweat. As she 
reached the top of the rise in front of her, she looked down onto a 
meadow. It was beautiful, as far as she could see there were flowers of 
all colours, which were swaying in the breeze.  Sam quickly began to 
climb down to the meadow. She couldn't wait to walk in amongst the 
flowers, to breathe in the fragrance that had tantalised her as it had 
wafted up to her on the brow of the hill. As Sam walked through the 
flowers, she bent down to drink in the fragrance. Very carefully she 
began to pick some of the flowers. Soon her arms were full of long, full-
headed blooms. She was so engrossed in what she was doing at first that 
she didn't see the figure in the distance walking purposefully towards 
her. When she did notice, a feeling of hope washed through her and she 
felt no fear. She stood still, as this blue clad figure came closer to 
where she waited . ~

                         *******************

Sam felt stiff and sore. 'Where is that noise coming from?' There was a 
rumble and a crackling sound. She wasn't sure whether she should open her 
eyes. She was lying face down on something warm, it felt like a body and 
much to her relief she could hear a heartbeat.  Sam wriggled around a bit 
and opened her eyes, it was dark and as she started to get up, she banged 
her head on something above her. It felt like she and this other person 
were in a long box. There wasn't much room to move at all. Then the 
rumbling sound came again and blue light crackled around them. She 
quickly looked down to see who was in there with her. Though she wasn't 
surprised, she was still relieved to see it was Colonel O'Neill.

"Colonel. Colonel. Wake up." Sam started tapping him on the side of the 
face. She didn't like what was going on inside the box they were in, as 
the blue light was growing in its intensity and the rumbling noise was 
increasing. She wasn't sure, but she thought they were inside a 
sarcophagus.  "Please Sir. You've got to wake up, come on."  By now she 
had started to slap him harder. O'Neill woke up with a start, tried to 
sit up and slammed Carter into the top of the sarcophagus. All round it 
was a very painful awakening. 

"Ouch!... Quick, we've got to get out of here. I don't think it is safe."

O'Neill stared at Carter in the eerily blue light. "You're alive, I 
thought you were dead, in fact, I thought we were both dead."

"With respect Sir. If we don't get out of here soon, I think we will be 
again."

O'Neill wasted no time. He reached up past Carter and grabbed hold of the 
edges of the opening of the sarcophagus. With his fingers he started to 
slide the doors apart. By this time the sarcophagus had started to shake 
and was making noises that they had never heard come from a sarcophagus 
before.  The doors made a grinding noise as O'Neill pried them apart. 
Soon he had made a big enough opening for them to climb out. O'Neill 
quickly crouched at one end of the sarcophagus and gave Carter his hand 
to lean on as she climbed out. After climbing down, Carter leant on the 
side of the sarcophagus, as she was still feeling weak, while O'Neill 
quickly jumped down beside her. As they both left the side of the 
sarcophagus, blue light shot out from it and flowed down over both of 
them and they collapsed onto the ground.

They didn't lose consciousness and O'Neill quickly grabbed hold of 
Carter's hand and hauled her to her feet. The rumbling noise was 
increasing as they fled from the room. Just as they turned the corner a 
large explosion blew out the room they had just left. The wall 
surrounding them in the tunnel started to collapse. Not sure where to go, 
O'Neill still holding Carter's hand, raced down the tunnel, looking for 
an exit. 

They noticed they were running on hard packed earth and began to hope 
that maybe they would be able to escape. O'Neill didn't want to make the 
same mistake again and run into a group of Jaffa. They slowed their pace 
to a fast walk. Slowly the ground began to rise and Carter and O'Neill 
could see a faint light at the end of the tunnel. They were unaware that 
they were following the same path that Jacob had taken only a few days 
before. As soon as they were outside, they moved into the trees to find 
shelter and to work out what had been happening. O'Neill quickly looked 
at Carter, taking in the blood on her T-shirt and her white tired face. 
The bruises had gone from her face and her eye wasn't swollen closed 
anymore from the beating she had received. Carter was watching him, doing 
the same thing as he was, checking that he was OK. She tentively reached 
forward with both her hands and lifted his T-shirt away from his stomach. 
It was clear, no marks and cuts.

"Oh, the good ol' sarcophagus," O'Neill said with a small grin, "are you 
all right Sam?"

Sam nodded. "I'm still a bit sore, but I'm alive." She reached up and 
touched his face gently and with a minute smile said. "Are you all right, 
Sir?"

He grinned back at her and nodded. "Hey, what do you reckon? Do you think 
we have annoyed old snakehead? We blew up his sarcophagus!"

Carter was still smiling at O'Neill, but when he said that, she laughed. 
O'Neill still had a burning anger inside him, but he was pleased to hear 
Carter laughing again. He had thought he'd never hear that laugh again. 
The last sound he had heard from her was screaming, as they died in each 
other arms. Shaking his head as though to dispel those images from his 
mind, he stood up.

"Come on Carter. We need to get to the rendezvous point."

Walking side by side, they walked quickly and warily towards the 
specified place. They were on the lookout for any Jaffa that may be 
lurking in amongst the trees. It took them nearly two hours to reach 
their destination. They couldn't believe their eyes when they got there. 
Seated on the ground were Jacob and Jonas, they were discussing plans on 
how to enter the Castle. Teal'c stood on the other side of them looking 
into the forest for any enemies.

"Watcha doing?" O'Neill announced as they stepped into the small 
clearing.

Immediately, Jacob and Jonas leapt to their feet and rushed over to 
O'Neill and Carter.

"Sam, are you all right?" Asked a very worried father. 

"Yes, I'm fine Dad." Sam reached up and wrapped her arms around her 
father and squeezed tight. After all that she had gone through, part of 
her wanted to cry. She felt safe as her Dad held her in his firm grasp. 
O'Neill hovered nearby. <'Jack looks a wreck,'> thought Jacob.

"Hey, Jacob, Teal'c." Nodding to Jonas. "Jonas. We need to get out of 
here. We aren't Tolgarth's favourite people at the moment. We blew up his 
sarcophagus." With this final comment, a smug look crossed over O'Neill's 
face.

"Where are Telan and Kenar?"

O'Neill slowly shook his head at Jacob. Jacob acknowledged him with a 
nod.

"Actually," said Jacob, "we are in a bit of trouble. General Hammond has 
locked out all of our codes. We will have to go somewhere else first."

O'Neill nodded in approval at this. As it turned out, they needn't have 
worried, as both Carter and O'Neill had not revealed anything to 
Tolgarth. Jacob plus SG-1 moved quickly and silently through the forest, 
making good time. Jonas couldn't get over the fact that though Jack and 
Sam's clothes were saturated in dried blood, they seemed to be all right. 
He wondered what they had gone through. From what he had heard from the 
injured Tok'ra, Jack and Sam would have suffered terribly.

Without warning, they were surprised by an attack. Jacob was hit in the 
arm by a staff weapon blast, knocking him to the ground. Sam quickly bent 
down and helped her father up. With Teal'c, Jonas and O'Neill covering 
them with weapon fire, they quickly raced into the covering of the trees. 
Soon after, the others followed them. They had seemed to manage to lose 
the pursuing Jaffa. It wasn't long before they arrived at the Stargate. 
O'Neill was very suspicious that the Stargate was not guarded, but they 
managed to dial out to a safe planet unmolested. They safely moved 
through the Stargate to the other side.

Carter immediately dialled up Earth's address, waited until the seventh 
chevron locked, then sent through their code. After this they sat down 
and waited. It wasn't long before the gate started up again and the 
whoosh of the Stargate settled into the event horizon. A MALP trundled 
through the gate. Jonas walked up to it and waved into the camera. 

By this time, O'Neill had become very quiet. He was sitting by himself 
brooding. It was the only word that came to her mind as Sam watched him. 
She knew what he had gone through, what *they* had gone through and she 
could see that he was beginning to stew about it. She had been waiting 
for him to bawl her out for disobeying orders, but this new O'Neill, the 
silent quiet one, was beginning to worry her. She had to admit that she 
was feeling weird too. She hadn't even given herself time to come to 
terms with the torture and death she had received at the hands of 
Tolgarth. So she put her worry to the back of her mind and stood up to 
dial Earth's address, so they could go home.

 
                         *******************

Part Four - Blue Light

The sound of the klaxons reverberated around the base. 

"Incoming wormhole, Sir." Announced Sgt. Davis to General Hammond.

"Is it SG-1?"

"Yes Sir. It is SG-1."

General Hammond let out a small sigh of relief. He really had wondered 
this time if he had lost SG-1 for good. It was so good to see them on the 
screen, after they had sent the MALP through.

"Open the iris."

"Yes Sir."

As the iris ground open, everyone found themselves holding their breath. 
A medical team had already been called to the gate room. SG-1 had been 
gone far too long for anyone not to be hurt.

But amazingly all of SG-1 plus Jacob came through the Stargate still 
walking. Jacob was obviously hurt as he was clutching his arm. But what 
seemed to confuse the medical staff the most, was that both Colonel 
O'Neill's and Major Carter's clothes were covered in blood, but they 
seemed to be OK. In fact, Colonel O'Neill kept silently batting away the 
hands of Dr. Fraiser as she was making a preliminary examination.

"Good to have you home SG-1 and Jacob good to see you too." Said General 
Hammond. "Please, off to the infirmary. By the looks of you, de-briefing 
will have to be in 3 hours." 

Carter stepped forward and stood in front of the General. "Actually Sir. 
It isn't as bad as it looks. Dad is the only one who is hurt and Selmac 
has everything under control."

"Whose blood is this then?" Hammond waved his hand generally in between 
O'Neill and Carter.

O'Neill gave a grimace. "It's ours Sir, but you know, Goold's 
(pronouncing the name incorrectly) have these Sarcophagi things, that 
sort of take care of fatal injuries."

"Still, go and get checked out Colonel."

"Yes Sir." 

General Hammond couldn't quite decide whether he wanted to know or not 
what had happened to his team. Pushing it to the back of his mind, he 
walked off towards his office.  He would just have to wait and see.  

Infirmary

"Look Janet, I'm OK. I just want a shower and get out of these clothes."

"Sam, I know you say you are all right, but there is a lot of blood on 
here and you don't hear Colonel O'Neill complaining, do you?"

Just as Janet finished speaking, there was a raised voice coming from one 
of the nurses. "Colonel, I have to check your injuries."

"*But I haven't got any injuries!*" Shouted back the Colonel.

Immediately, Janet stormed off through the curtain surrounding Sam's bed. 
Sam decided that she wanted to see this. Janet was not happy and watching 
Janet at work trying to subdue a miscreant patient was always 
entertaining.  Especially when it was the Colonel.

The scene that awaited Sam was Colonel O'Neill standing by an examination 
table. He still had his black T-shirt on and Sam could see healthy skin 
showing through the blood soaked slits in his T-shirt. At this stage, 
Janet was getting pretty mad with him and Sam could see that Colonel 
O'Neill was just about at the end of his tether.

"LOOK!" Colonel O'Neill shouted. He grabbed the bottom of his T-shirt and 
pulled it up to show them his stomach. "*See. No blood. No cuts. No 
holes. I'm fine – I want a shower.*" With that he stormed off towards the 
door pushing past Janet on his way. As O'Neill stalked past Sam, she held 
her hand out to stop him. She knew he was being unreasonable, but she 
understood what he was going through and she wanted him to know that. As 
her hand came in contact with his arm, the whole room went black. This 
overwhelming feeling of anger and exasperation washed over her. Very 
quickly the blackness faded and she could see the room again. Sam looked 
down at her hand on the Colonel's arm. Blue light, just like the 
Zatnik'atel was running up and down both of their arms. It was the same 
blue light that had flowed over them in the Sarcophagus. A tingling 
sensation was running all through her body. Once again, emotions washed 
over her that weren't her own. Sam quickly looked up at Colonel O'Neill. 
The expression on his face was full of shock, which was mirrored by hers. 
Sam could see into his mind. Both the Colonel and the Major quickly 
pulled their arms away from each other, but just as they did, a blue fire 
bolt shot out from them and struck a piece of machinery setting it 
alight. There was a fizzing sound. Then a large bang and the piece of 
hospital equipment exploded, showering patients and staff with bits of 
debris.

Klaxons started off in the building, followed by a fire alarm. Apart from 
these noises no one said a word. Everyone was shocked into silence. SF's 
stormed into the infirmary with their rifles ready to repel any attacking 
force.

Sam looked nervously at Jack. He was still looking at her with a shocked 
expression on his face. He then quickly looked away and his face was 
closed of all expression. Any fires that had sprung up were quickly put 
out. No one seemed to be hurt.

"Colonel! What is going on here?" General Hammond had walked into the 
room to see what was happening.

"I'm not sure Sir." He answered.

Dr. Fraiser came up to Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter and said. "You 
two, back to your cubicles and keep away from each other. You are a bit 
expensive to have around here."

Neither Jack nor Sam said a word as they moved quickly back to their 
cubicles and waited for their examination.

                         *******************

Two and a half hours later in the de-briefing room, all of SG-1 were 
sitting around the table waiting for General Hammond. Colonel O'Neill and 
Major Carter were conspicuously sitting as far away from each other as 
possible. 

"Well people." Announced General Hammond as he came into the briefing 
room and sat down at the head of the table. "Do we have any explanations 
of what happened in the infirmary?" He frowned, looked up at the other 
end of the table and demanded. "Colonel O'Neill what are you doing down 
there? Get up here in your usual seat please." 

O'Neill raised his eyebrows in surprise and then grimaced at the others 
and muttered under his breath. "Well you can't blame me, you heard him." 
He sat down beside Major Carter in his usual seat. He was very careful to 
not get too close to Major Carter in the process.

Irritated by the Colonel's obvious bad behaviour, the General asked 
again. "Well, what happened?" He looked pointedly at Colonel O'Neill.

Just as O'Neill opened his mouth to say he didn't know, Dr. Fraiser 
walked into the briefing room holding two large folders, one a lot 
thicker than the other.

"I think I can help with this a little, General Hammond." Answered Dr. 
Fraiser.

Dr. Fraiser then proceeded to give her medical report.

"Jacob has gone back with the Tok'ra, his arm has healed now. Both Teal'c 
and Jonas have a few minor cuts and bruises. Now Colonel O'Neill and 
Major Carter are fine. There is nothing wrong with them. Well visible 
anyway."

"What do you mean by visible?" Carter asked.

Dr. Fraiser moved over to a backlit screen, which had been moved into the 
briefing room earlier. She placed two medical scans onto the screen. She 
switched on the light to the screen.

"These are scans of Colonel O'Neill's and Major Carter's brain. The one 
on the left is the Colonel's. Both of these were taken at the last full 
medical two months ago. You can see on both of these scans this black 
mass...here." Pointing with her finger at the screen. "This is the part 
of the brain that humans do not use. No one is sure why that is, though 
there are theories that we won't go into now."  Dr. Fraiser took down 
Major Carter's scan and then put another up in its place. "Now this is a 
scan that I took one hour ago of Colonel O'Neill's brain, do you see 
here?" Dr. Fraiser pointed to a white uneven shape in the middle of the 
black mass. The white shape was quite large as it was a quarter of an 
inch in diameter. By now all of SG-1 and General Hammond had risen out of 
their seats and had moved towards the screen to take a closer look. Dr. 
Fraiser then took out another transparency and removed the two-month-old 
scan and placed another up. "This is the scan I took today of Major 
Carter's brain. See you have the same white shape as Colonel O'Neill and 
in the same place as his." 

"Hey, it's happening again," yelled Jonas.

Dr. Fraiser immediately switched off the screen and moved back away from 
it.

Inadvertently while looking at the screen, Colonel O'Neill's hand had 
brushed against Major Carter's hand, setting off the blue light, but this 
time there was a sound of crackling. Everyone else had jumped back away 
from them, as blue streaks of light were running up and down all over the 
Colonel and the Major. Immediately they both pulled away from each other 
with the same shocked looks on their faces.

Dr. Fraiser quickly started asking questions. "Does it hurt? What does it 
feel like? What has caused this?"

Carter looked across at Colonel O'Neill and hesitated. She then started 
to answer the questions the best she could. By the look on Colonel 
O'Neill's face, she knew she wasn't going to get any help from that 
quarter.

"No, it doesn't hurt. I get a tingling sensation all through me and to 
what caused this I'm not sure. The weapon that was used to kill us fired 
a blue light, maybe it is the residue from that."

"Now that *did* hurt." Put in Colonel O'Neill. "Can we go now? I'd like 
to get some sleep."  

General Hammond had noticed that Colonel O'Neill was behaving a little 
strangely, uncooperative and surly. The uncooperative bit he was used to, 
but the surliness had him puzzled. He had to put it down to obviously the 
fact that he would be suffering from the effects of being tortured and 
killed. "No. Colonel, I still need to hear your reports." Hammond replied 
firmly, but kindly.

Colonel O'Neill sat back down in his seat with a sigh, put his elbows on 
the table and put his head in his hands. He mumbled from this position. 
"Carter you can start."

An hour later, as they were moving through the door to go their separate 
ways, Dr. Fraiser cornered both Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill. "Now, 
as General Hammond said you can't leave the base, I'd like to see you 
both first thing tomorrow morning. But please, keep away from my 
equipment."

Sam looked questionly at Jack. He totally ignored her and walked off 
towards the sleeping quarters. With everything they had gone through, she 
couldn't understand his behaviour at all. He was ignoring her. Sam slowly 
followed behind O'Neill, until she came to her quarters. She was very 
tired and was having trouble in keeping her eyes open. At first, after 
she had lain down, she thought she would have trouble sleeping, because 
of what had happened to her was still rushing through her mind. Soon her 
thoughts turned to Colonel O'Neill. Neither of them had mentioned what 
had happened to them when they had touched and the blue light had 
travelled through them. Sam wondered if O'Neill could sense what she was 
feeling, like she could sense what he was feeling at the time. With those 
thoughts spinning around in her head, she fell into a deep troubled 
sleep.

                         *******************

~The sky was clear blue. There was a slight warm breeze that made the 
skirt of her pale blue dress billow out and swirl around her bare legs. 
Sam wasn't sure where she was, but it seemed so familiar. She was 
climbing up a small rocky pathway. Her brown open sandals were making 
slight footprints in the dry dusty ground. At one place she had to reach 
out with her hands because she knew that if she didn't, she could lose 
her balance. Sam felt good. She was warm and the sun felt good on her 
skin. She soon reached the top of the small hill. Over the rise she saw a 
meadow full of flowers, all the colours of the rainbow. Once again she 
felt as though this was all familiar. Had she been here before? She 
wasn't sure. The flowers were swaying in the breeze and the fragrance 
wafted up to where she was standing. Sam started to climb down amongst 
the flowers. They were beautiful and the fragrance grew stronger as she 
disturbed the stems while she walked through them. There were so many, 
she wasn't sure where to look first. Sam wasn't sure why she looked up, 
but when she did a feeling of hope and security flowed through her. 
Approaching her from a distance was a man. He was wearing faded blue 
jeans and a pale blue denim shirt, but he was too far away for her to see 
his face. He was purposefully striding through the flowers towards her. 
Sam began to have a feeling of anticipation soon this man would reach 
her. She had no idea who he was, though something about him looked 
familiar.~

                         *******************

There was a loud thudding noise on her door. It sounded like someone was 
kicking it. Sam woke up with a start, immediately forgetting her dream. 
She groggily climbed out of bed and opened her door. Standing there with 
a big grin on his face was Jonas. He had a tray in his hands and on it 
was breakfast.

"Good morning Sam! Thought you would like breakfast in bed this morning 
or should I say afternoon? You've slept 20 hours straight. Janet would 
like to see you in the infirmary as soon as possible. Teal'c has gone to 
get The Colonel. He's braver than me." With that last comment, Jonas put 
down Sam's breakfast tray with a smirk. 

"See you later, Sam." Jonas said with a smile as he turned around and 
left her room. 

Through all of this one sided conversation, Sam was still trying to come 
to grips with the fact that she had slept for so long and also that she 
was trying hard to wake up. What had happened to her the previous few 
days washed over her. She began to feel dizzy and weak. Soon she realised 
it most probably wasn't just the fact of the memories, but that she was 
very hungry and thirsty. Sitting carefully on the edge of the bed, Sam 
pulled the tray closer and began to eat. On the tray was a flower in a 
vase. She was thinking that was very thoughtful and kind of Jonas, but 
something bugged her about the flower though. Then she remembered her 
dream, not all of it, just all the flowers in the meadow. She could 
vividly remember the fragrance of the flowers as she had bent down to 
pick them. She could also remember that something was going to happen, 
she didn't know what, but something good. Slowly the dream began to elude 
her. She shook her head to clear it and carried on eating her breakfast, 
dream forgotten.

Jack had been startled awake by Teal'c, as he bent over him shaking him 
by the shoulder. 

"O'Neill, you need to awaken and take sustenance. Dr. Fraiser wishes to 
see you in the infirmary soon." 

O'Neill sat up quickly and promptly regretted it. He was still a bit 
fuzzy in the head and the room was spinning a bit. Soon the room seemed 
to settle down and Teal'c passed a tray to O'Neill. "Here, you need to 
eat O'Neill." On the tray was a cooked breakfast plus toast, coffee and 
fruit juice. 

"Hey, no flower in a vase, Teal'c?" O'Neill joked, wondering to himself. 
<'Why on earth did I ask that?'>

Teal'c, relieved by O'Neill's obvious good humour, replied. "Jonas 
prepared these trays. I will ask him when I see him why there was no 
flower." 

O'Neill started to reply to Teal'c, but stopped when he realised that 
Teal'c had misunderstood him on purpose. So he just gave Teal'c a 
lopsided grin and started to tuck into his meal. It had been a long time 
since he had eaten. The previous day he had been too tired to even think 
about eating anything.

An hour later, Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill were being checked over 
by Dr. Fraiser. She had already given both of them brain scans to see if 
there were any changes and as far as she could see there had been no 
change since yesterday.

"Well, you both seem well. A bit dehydrated and you need feeding up, but 
apart from that you seem fine. I would like you both to come into this 
room to see if the blue light has worn off or not. We have cleared the 
room of equipment."

Both Carter and O'Neill began to feel very uncomfortable. Sam began to 
feel an uncontrollable fear take her over. She wasn't sure where it had 
come from or why it was there. She tried to convince herself that it was 
only Colonel O'Neill, they were friends and she could cope with this.  
She nervously took a quick look at O'Neill, his face had closed off and 
she could see he wasn't going to cooperate with Janet at all over this. 
Sam turned to her CO and spoke very quietly to him.

"Sir, the effects may have worn off. We will never know unless we try 
this and we can't go home or off world until this is sorted." She 
reasoned.

O'Neill turned to her. His eyes had lost the soft brown colour as they 
had turned dark brown to an almost black colour. Sam took an involuntary 
step back. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to know what was going on 
in his mind at the moment.

"Colonel O'Neill?" Questioned Dr. Fraiser. "Can you please come this 
way?"

Without saying a word, O'Neill strode into the room, with Sam following 
behind. General Hammond had arrived. Dr. Fraiser had requested that he 
was present during this experiment, just in case anything went wrong. 
Everyone else had left the infirmary. General Hammond and Dr. Fraiser 
stood at the observation window and waited.

Colonel O'Neill stopped in the centre of the room and then spun around to 
face Major Carter. He held out his right hand towards her, the steely 
look was still in his eyes. With a growing fear and trepidation Carter 
stretched out her left hand. As their hands touched the feeling of anger 
and despair washed over her again. She could barely cope with the 
emotions. She was frightened. All the memories of what she had gone 
through travelled through her body. With a cry, she broke off the contact 
with O'Neill and backed away from him in fear. 

Since Teal'c had woken him up this morning, Colonel O'Neill had been 
trying to control his anger. He couldn't rid himself of the pain and 
memories of the torture he and Sam had received. Every time he closed his 
eyes, he could see Sam's broken body hanging from the ceiling and he 
couldn't stop the memory of her screams as she died.  Part of him blamed 
Sam for this, if she had done as she was told, she wouldn't have suffered 
so. So not knowing where or whom to direct his anger, sadly he directed 
it at the one person he shouldn't have, Sam. And now she knew.  The look 
of pure terror on her face as she looked at him, while she was backing 
away, gave him a shock. Jack knew he had to do something or he would 
never be able to repair the damage that he had done. Without a thought to 
their audience, he reached across and grabbed Sam around the shoulders 
and pulled her close. He could feel her fear turn into confusion, as he 
tried his hardest to ask her for her forgiveness through his thoughts. He 
felt her relax, as she reached around him and hugged him tight. A feeling 
of security washed over him and something else that disturbed him a 
little. They both became aware of the tingling sensation flowing through 
them and the blue light that flowed around them. Slowly the blue light 
began to dissipate as they began to calm down.  The severe crackling that 
had been evident before had stopped. It appeared the more anger and fear 
that they felt, the worse the visual effect manifested itself. Slowly 
O'Neill moved back away from Carter. By now there were only a few quiet 
blue flickering lines moving up and down them. They let go of each 
other's hands. Suddenly they both remembered that they had an audience. 
Sam quickly scrubbed the tears from her face, before she turned around to 
face Dr. Fraiser and General Hammond.

General Hammond looked straight at Colonel O'Neill, gave him a quiet nod 
and left the infirmary. Sam came out of the room first and waited for 
Janet to speak.

"Well it looks like it is still there, but with not such devastating 
effects. I still want you two to keep away from my medical equipment 
though." Dr. Fraiser turned away too and walked into her office to write 
up her findings.

O'Neill wryly thought about the comment of Dr. Fraiser's, <'not having 
such devastating effect',> little did she know just how close he had come 
to doing irreparable harm to his friendship with Sam.

"Come on Carter, let's go and get some lunch.  I'm starving and you must 
be hungry too."

                         *******************

Several days later, SG-1 were in the commissary eating a meal together. 
Fortunately there hadn't been any instances of exploding machinery or 
blue light flying around the SGC. Both O'Neill and Carter had been very 
careful to keep away from each other. They were sitting at opposite 
corners of the small dining table. They couldn't get any further away 
from each other, unless they sat at separate tables. All it needed was an 
accidental brush of hands or arms and a firework show would start. After 
what had happened with the medical equipment, they weren't sure whether 
other people were going to be safe around them. Dr. Fraiser was no closer 
in finding a cure for them. There had been no change according to their 
brain scans. O'Neill was beginning to get fidgety as he wanted to get on 
with his job. Both Carter and O'Neill were restricted to base and even 
Carter was loath to go anywhere near her lab, just in case. What if she 
started flashing blue light all over the place on her own? Not that it 
had happened yet.  She just had to be extra careful. Though she was 
beginning to think that maybe she would be OK, as long as Colonel O'Neill 
kept away from her lab. Leaning forward towards O'Neill, she quietly 
informed him of her decision.

"Sir. After lunch I'll be going to my lab."

"So."

"Well Sir, you won't go anywhere near there will you? I mean there is a 
lot of expensive equipment and experiments in there, things I've been 
working on for months."

O'Neill gave her one of his crooked grins, raised an eyebrow and said. 
"At least you've got something to keep you busy...and you know what I do 
when I get bored."

"No Sir. You are not coming anywhere near my lab while I'm there. We 
can't risk it."

O'Neill leaned back on his chair balancing it on two legs, smirked at 
Teal'c and then grinned back at Carter.

Major Carter stood up with a resigned look on her face. He had been 
winding her up and it had worked. Annoyed, she started to walk around the 
table to put her plate and tray back up onto the counter. As she passed 
O'Neill, his chair had gone back too far and he started to fall back onto 
the floor. Without thinking Carter grabbed O'Neill on his shoulder with 
one hand, while precariously balancing her tray with the other. Carter 
was annoyed with O'Neill and his silly antics. She was tempted to just 
let him drop onto the ground. She heard the crackling before she even saw 
the blue light. The annoyance she felt inside seemed to grow with the 
blue light. Without warning a blue fire bolt shot out from them both and 
struck an unsuspecting airman as he wandered into the commissary. O'Neill 
crashed to the ground as Carter let go of him along with her tray. As Sam 
let him fall, she rushed over to the airman, ordering a nearby Lieutenant 
to call a medic. As she reached the airman, two SF's drew their weapons 
and aimed them at her, ordering her to stop. Realising that they meant 
what they said, she stopped in mid stride and stood quietly and watched 
as medics reached the fallen airman. One of the SF's shifted position and 
aimed his weapon to Carter's right.

"Whoa! I'm not going anywhere." Said Colonel O'Neill not far behind 
Carter.

Janet rushed into the commissary, took in the scene before her and worked 
out immediately what had happened. She turned to the SF's and said. "You 
can stand down. They are all right."

Reluctantly the SF's lowered their weapons, as Janet tended to the downed 
airman, who by this time was groggily sitting up. 

"Wow." He said. "That is one mighty Zat gun. Haven't had a hit that 
powerful before."

Dr. Fraiser started to ask him questions. "What did it feel like? Are you 
in any pain? Where does it hurt?"

The airman peeled off his answers in quick succession. "Like a souped up 
Zat. Yes and all over."

"You'll do, but I want you to report to the infirmary to check you out, 
just to make sure." Helping him up, she led him out of the commissary. 
She turned to Carter and O'Neill before she went through the doorway. 
"And I want you two there as well...STAT. Though preferably...one at a 
time."

Carter turned to O'Neill. "I think you should go first, Sir.  You look 
like you've banged the back of your head."

"Ya think!" Gingerly touching the back of his head with his fingers, 
O'Neill walked off behind Dr. Fraiser and the poor airman.

Carter with an audible sigh followed slowly after him. Once out in the 
corridor, she turned in the opposite direction of the infirmary towards 
her lab. She was getting really tired of this and worried too because 
someone had now been hurt. She realised that the fact that she was 
annoyed with O'Neill had sparked the fire bolt to leap from them. If they 
stayed calm and didn't get worked up about anything everything seemed to 
be OK.

When Carter arrived at her lab, Siler was rummaging through her notes on 
her desk. "What are you looking for Siler?"

"Oh Major, are you well enough to help?" Carter nodded quickly. "Well the 
Stargate's iris has jammed open. We can't get it shut."

Immediately, Carter started running off to the gate room. Siler wasn't 
far behind. It didn't take Carter long to work out the problem. 
Fortunately it was fixable. Unfortunately it would take several hours in 
the gate room to fix the problem. Carter had informed General Hammond of 
the situation and several SF's were on permanent guard in the gate room, 
as Carter and her team furiously worked on the iris. 

Four hours later, Carter was just finishing off adjusting the last few 
electronic components. She was tired and she still hadn't caught up with 
sleep and rest from when she was a prisoner of Tolgarth. General Hammond 
and Colonel O'Neill were watching from the observation booth. 

"Not long now, Sirs." Carter called out to Hammond and O'Neill.

Just as she finished speaking the Stargate started to rotate. 
"Unauthorised incoming wormhole, Sir." Announced the Sergeant at his 
desk.

O'Neill immediately leant forward into the microphone and spoke to 
Carter. "Carter get out of there now."

"I'm nearly done. I can get the iris closed."

As the Stargate had finished it's dialling sequence, several Jaffa burst 
through the event horizon, blasting at everyone in their path. Unnoticed 
Carter started to activate the iris manually. She was successful. The 
comforting grinding sound of the iris closed behind one of the Jaffa 
coming through. He spun around to hear the sickening thud of matter 
splattering up against the iris. The Jaffa realised that this was now a 
suicide mission and there would be no going back. All of his fellow 
warriors were lying dead on the ramp leading up to the Stargate. He 
turned back towards the Tau'ri warriors. He noticed the blond woman at 
the bottom of the ramp with some machinery. Realising correctly that it 
was she who had brought his downfall, he aimed his staff weapon at her 
and fired. The blast hit her square on her back between her shoulder 
blades. With a cry she crumpled to the ground.  That was the last sight 
he saw, as several bullets hit his body as all the SF's fired at him just 
a few seconds too late.

As soon as the Stargate had started to rotate, O'Neill knew that Carter 
would be in danger. He tried to get her out of there, but she insisted on 
staying. When the Jaffa shot at Carter, with a cry of "Sam" he raced down 
into the gate room. His heart was pounding when he reached Carter. He 
checked her wound and then turned her over. She was still breathing, but 
only in small gasps. Her eyes were glazed over, he wasn't even sure if 
she knew he was there. O'Neill could hear the crackling sound and he 
could see the blue light running up and down Carter and himself. He cried 
out in anguish as he felt her life essence slipping away. Then everything 
went black as he sank down beside her into unconsciousness at the bottom 
of the ramp.

General Hammond was watching from up in the observation booth. Blue fire 
bolts had started to erupt from Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter striking 
one of the SF's. General Hammond ordered all personnel out of the gate 
room. By this time Colonel O'Neill had collapsed beside Major Carter. 
General Hammond could barely see them for the bright blue light that 
spread out from their bodies. He was not sure what was going to happen 
next, but he wasn't going to take any chances. He ordered the blast doors 
closed to the gate room. Dr. Fraiser had come up into the observation 
room and was closely watching the monitors. Slowly each monitor went dead 
as the cameras in the gate room were extinguished. All they could do was 
listen to the sound of the rumbling and charge of electricity that was 
being released in the gate room. The noise was deafening. Both Hammond 
and Fraiser held barely any hope for Colonel O'Neill. Dr. Fraiser had 
already ascertained that Major Carter was dead. There was no way she 
could have survived that blast from the staff weapon.

Suddenly it went quiet. General Hammond ordered the blast doors open and 
Dr. Fraiser and her team raced down to the gate room. The gate room 
looked untouched. There weren't any scorch marks, except from the staff 
weapon blasts released by the attacking Jaffa. Colonel O'Neill and Major 
Carter lay beside each other at the base of the ramp, not moving. It took 
a few seconds for General Hammond to realise that there was no sign of 
the dead Jaffa. <'Where have they gone?' > He wondered.

Dr. Fraiser reached down to feel Colonel O'Neill's pulse. With relief she 
felt a good, strong, steady beat. Sadly she turned to Sam, her friend. 
She felt for her pulse too and much to her surprise she could feel a 
strong, steady pulse. She quickly turned Sam over to check her wound. 
Apart from a great gaping hole in her uniform, her skin was unmarked and 
there was no sign of a wound. Dr. Fraiser also noticed that Colonel 
O'Neill was still gripping Sam's arm, but there was no evidence of the 
blue light or residue of it. Quickly ordering these two to be taken to 
the infirmary, she announced to General Hammond.

"They are both alive, unconscious, but alive." It was a puzzle that she 
was going to have to work out.

                         *******************

~The sky was clear blue. There was a slight warm breeze that made the 
skirt of her pale blue dress billow out and swirl around her legs. Sam 
wasn't sure where she was, but she was climbing up a small rocky pathway. 
Her brown open sandals were making slight footprints in the dry dusty 
ground. She stopped to get her breath. She was sure she had been here 
before, but she couldn't quite remember when. She bent down with her 
hands on the ground, as she didn't want to lose her balance. Sam felt 
good. She was warm and the sun felt good on her skin. The gentle breeze 
was blowing through her short hair. She began to hurry, because she knew 
just beyond the small rise was something special.  As she reached the top 
of the rise she looked down to a meadow. It was full of swaying flowers 
of all colours and with a spring in her step she ran down to the meadow, 
laughing all the way. The fragrance of the flowers was intoxicating. She 
knelt down and buried her face into the flowers and breathed their scent 
in. From where she was kneeling she looked up. Coming towards her was a 
man.  He was wearing faded dark blue jeans and a denim shirt and he 
walked straight and tall. As he walked purposefully towards her, she 
could see his hair was silver grey. She couldn't quite see his face 
though. So she stood up and started to walk slowly towards him. The way 
he walked made him look familiar, but she couldn't quite place him. Then 
she saw his eyes, soft, kind, brown eyes. She knew who this was. He was 
her soul mate. As they drew closer together, she reached out her hand to 
his. As her hand slid into the dry warm palm of his, she knew now whom 
she had been waiting for.~


                         *******************

Part Five – Mystery

Sam couldn't believe it. Someone was sticking something sharp into the 
back of her hand and had woken her up. She was beginning to get fed up 
with this. The last time she had had this dream she had been rudely woken 
up. Suddenly with realisation she sat up. She remembered the Jaffa and 
being shot. She also remembered Colonel O'Neill coming into the gate room 
and lifting her up off the floor. Totally ignoring the nurse who had been 
trying to install a drip into her hand, Sam quickly scanned the 
infirmary. Just over on her right Colonel O'Neill was tossing from side 
to side on the hospital bed. He too shot up quickly into a sitting 
position, calling out Sam's name. Sam climbed off the bed and padded 
across to O'Neill. She grabbed hold of his shoulders and thus totally 
ignored Janet's orders of not getting anywhere near O'Neill while in the 
infirmary. 

"Jack, I'm here."

He quickly opened his eyes, reached up and caught hold of her and pulled 
her into a quick hug. As he released her, they noticed that there wasn't 
any sign of blue light or crackling. Finally it was over and they were 
back to normal. By now Janet had seen them together, so she rushed over 
to make sure all of the machinery was switched off. But when she got 
there, she too realised that there was no danger to her equipment.

"Looks like you've got it out of your system." Janet sighed with relief 
as she ushered Sam back to her bed.

                         *******************

Teal'c was sitting in the middle of the floor of his room and had just 
finished Kel'no'reem. He decided now would be a very good time to get 
something to eat.  Maybe afterwards he would go down to the gym and work 
out, as he was finding the inactivity very boring. Teal'c was glad that 
O'Neill and Major Carter were back to normal.  Maybe now they would be 
able to go off world soon.

Teal'c carefully extinguished the candles in the room. While he was doing 
this he went over the conversation they had had in the briefing room 
yesterday. General Hammond, Dr. Fraiser and SG-1 were discussing the 
situation that had occurred in the Gate room.

<O'Neill was sitting silently doodling on a pad of paper. Major Carter 
was sitting beside him and she seemed very tense while she was warily 
listening to Dr. Fraiser as she was talking.

Dr. Fraiser had more brain scans up on the screen. There were two and 
they were of O'Neill and Major Carter.

"As you can see, the small white mass in this part of the brain has 
increased in size, it is now one inch in diameter. As before, they are 
identical to each other in size."

At this Major Carter let out a small giggle and looked at O'Neill. 
O'Neill completely ignored her and just carried on doodling on his 
notepad. Major Carter frowned and then looked around at Jonas to see if 
he had noticed, but he was still looking at Dr. Fraiser.

Dr. Fraiser continued speaking. "Major Carter and I have come up with a 
theory.  With the combination of the 'death gun' and sarcophagus, we 
think the healing properties of the sarcophagus were installed into both 
the Colonel and Major Carter. When Major Carter was injured by the staff 
weapon, the residual power from the sarcophagus healed her."

O'Neill stopped doodling and looked up and Dr. Fraiser. "This healing 
power thing, do we still have it or have we used it up?"

"We don't really know Colonel. I wouldn't like to put it to the test, but 
we are relatively certain that it has gone. The only sign that there was 
anything, are on these scans. All other visual signs have gone. There is 
no longer any evidence of the blue light that we had observed before.">

Teal'c let out a small sigh. He wasn't fully satisfied with the findings 
and it was frustrating. Without the death gun to study, they were unable 
to really work out what had happened. He just had to accept that and be 
pleased that O'Neill and Major Carter were all right. Maybe in the future 
they would come up with some answers. Until then he decided he was going 
to keep a very close eye on O'Neill and Major Carter. Because through all 
of this they had been acting rather strangely and there had been some 
unexplained occurrences.

                         *******************

Two days later, SG-1 were suited up and waiting in the gate room to go 
off world. This was their first mission since Tolgarth had taken Colonel 
O'Neill and Major Carter prisoners. The MALP had been sent through and as 
far as they could tell this was an uninhabited planet with the 
possibility of Naquada deposits. There had been no sign of people or of 
dwellings. 

General Hammond wished SG-1 good luck. As they started up the ramp 
towards the gate, for a second, Teal'c thought he saw both O'Neill and 
Major Carter at exactly the same time hesitate half way up. It was so 
slight, he wondered if he had just imagined it. 

Soon they were stepping through to the other side.  The planet was warm, 
dry and very dusty and there weren't many trees. O'Neill signalled Teal'c 
to go point, leading them towards some large rocks in the distance. 
Teal'c immediately complied. Jonas followed and then Carter and O'Neill 
took up the rear position. Every so often Teal'c turned and observed 
O'Neill and Major Carter.  After a while he noticed that they were 
walking beside each other. Both were keeping a watchful eye out for any 
hostiles.

When they arrived at the large rock formations, O'Neill ordered them to 
stop. O'Neill stood silently for a while and looked at the rock 
formations. Just as he turned around, Carter spoke to O'Neill.

"Yes Sir, I'll get onto it right away."

Teal'c was surprised. Because instead of starting to unpack their 
supplies, she bent down lifted up her pack with all the technical 
equipment. Then she started to walk towards the rock formations and 
disappeared around behind one of them.

O'Neill turned to Jonas. "Come on, Jonas. The sooner we start, the sooner 
we'll finish." And then proceeded to unload the gear.

Teal'c moved over towards where Major Carter had gone and climbed up the 
side of one of the smaller rocks. Standing up he raised his hand and 
shielded his eyes from the sun.  He gazed out towards an outcrop of 
trees, which were in the distance. Every so often he looked down to where 
Major Carter was taking readings and collecting samples to take back to 
analyse. 

Before they had left the base, they had made the decision to stay on the 
planet for 24 hours before returning to the SGC. They wanted to make the 
most of this visit. 

The following day they had broken camp and had started back towards the 
Stargate. Thankfully there had been no untoward instances. Though Teal'c 
was still pondering on what had happened the night before. Soon after he 
had woken Sam up for her watch, O'Neill had woken up, obviously from a 
nightmare; he had called out Sam's name in distress. Major Carter had 
immediately gone over to him and touched him on the shoulder. She had 
told him that it was all right and then he had gone straight back to 
sleep without saying a word.

                         *******************
 
Major Carter was walking down the corridor in the SGC. Her mind was 
working over the latest findings regarding the Naquada deposits they had 
collected on their last mission. She was tired and her head hurt. She 
also had found that she had been having trouble sleeping. Often her 
dreams were filled with Tolgarth and what had happened to them both while 
on Tolgarth's planet. It was beginning to get to her. She had tried to 
talk to Janet about it, but all Janet wanted to do was run more tests and 
Sam was getting tired of those too. Without thinking Sam had started to 
walk towards where Daniel's office was. It wasn't until she got there, 
that she realised what she was doing. She knew then that was whom she 
wanted to talk too. She always could talk things over with Daniel. She 
missed him, now more than ever. Naquada deposits forgotten, Sam walked 
off towards the elevator and got in. When the elevator had stopped, she 
opened the door and cautiously looked out. She didn't want anyone to see 
where she was going. Sam carefully walked along the corridor until she 
came to a door. The words Storeroom 16 were painted on the door. 
Carefully she opened the door and slipped in through the opening. Closing 
the door behind her, she felt for the light switches and switched one of 
them on. The storeroom wasn't very large, but large enough.  When Daniel 
Jackson had died/ascended, they weren't quite sure what to do with his 
things. So Colonel O'Neill had convinced General Hammond that they would 
store all of his things on the base. That way there wasn't any chance of 
NID or burglars getting hold of anything. Of course Jonas had most of 
Daniel's research materials and some of his journals, but his more 
personal items were in this room. Sam was pleased to be alone. She 
started walking carefully through the boxes. She bent down to one of them 
and opened it, as she looked at the contents she remembered helping 
Teal'c pack this one. All of a sudden an overwhelming feeling of loss 
washed over her and she sat down on the floor and leant against the box. 
Tears began to flow down her face as she laid her head onto her knees and 
let her emotions take control.

                         *******************

Teal'c couldn't find Major Carter. He had tried her lab, the infirmary 
and the commissary, but she was nowhere to be found.  Major Carter had 
lent him a book and there were parts of the book he didn't understand and 
he wanted to ask her what they meant. He spotted O'Neill dressed in 
civilian clothes waiting by the elevator.

"O'Neill, are you going home?"

"Yes, Teal'c. General Hammond has given us some down time. I haven't been 
home for a couple of weeks. I've got three days, so I thought I would do 
some fishing." A look of alarm flitted across Teal'c's face. "Hey, don't 
worry big guy. I need to go alone. I'm not going to ask you to come."

With relief, Teal'c asked. "Do you know where Major Carter is, O'Neill?"

"No, sorry. I haven't seen her since breakfast. Oh, if you see her, can 
you tell her that General Hammond wants a word with her?" Just then the 
doors to the elevator opened. As O'Neill stepped through the doorway, he 
turned to Teal'c. "If you are looking for Carter, try the storage area." 
With that comment the doors closed and Teal'c was left standing in the 
corridor alone.

Teal'c was walking along the corridor outside the storage area. All the 
doors were closed and there was no sign of Major Carter. Behind him he 
heard the squeak of a door opening. He turned around and saw Major Carter 
stepping out of the storage room that housed all of Daniel Jackson's 
possessions.

"Major Carter, good, I've found you." Startled Carter looked up at 
Teal'c.

"How did you find me?"

Thinking of O'Neill, he remembered the message. "I was asked to tell you 
that General Hammond wants to see you."

"Yes, I know. Thank you, Teal'c." Sam frowned then shook her head 
dispelling the thought, before continuing to speak.  "What did you want 
to see me about, Teal'c?"

Teal'c thought she sounded tired and he felt he knew her well enough to 
see that she had been crying. Not wishing to pry he answered her 
question. "This book Major Carter, I do not understand this page." 
Opening the book to the page that had raised his curiosity, he then 
handed it to her to read.

She laughed and with a smile explained what cotton candy was. "When 
things have calmed down a bit Teal'c, I'll take you to a fair and you can 
taste it for yourself."

                         *******************

~Sam was standing at the top of the rise. The sky was clear blue and the 
sun warmed her skin. She knew where she was. She was looking down onto a 
meadow. It was filled with flowers all different colours and the blooms 
were swaying in the breeze. Sam had been here before and this was her 
safe place. She quickly descended down to the meadow. The fragrance of 
the flowers filled her senses. She felt so free.  The stems of the 
flowers touched her bare legs and made a swishing noise as the skirt of 
her summer dress brushed against the flower heads. She bent down and 
started to pick the flowers. Soon her arms were full of blooms. Sam 
buried her face into the flowers and drank in the fragrance. She looked 
up and there he was. She knew who he was. He was Jack and he was coming 
towards her. Flowers momentarily forgotten, she started walking towards 
him.~

                         *******************

The shrill sound of the telephone rang in her ear. With a groan Sam 
rolled over and reached for the phone.  As Sam slammed down the phone, 
she swore. It was a wrong number. The last few weeks she had still been 
having nightmares and this was the first time that she had gone all night 
without one. It was strange, as the good dream always seemed to end at 
the same point. When she had talked about the nightmares to Janet, she 
hadn't mentioned this dream to her, because it was too private. 

With a sigh, she climbed out of bed and started to get ready for work. 
They were to get ready for another mission. They were hoping to go to a 
new planet tomorrow and hopefully they would get to see some action. She 
had noticed that recently Colonel O'Neill was getting fidgety and even 
Teal'c looked a little bored.

                         *******************

"Unauthorised Incoming Wormhole." The technician announced over the sound 
system.

General Hammond hurried into the observation room. "Is there a code, 
Sergeant?"

"Yes, Sir. It is SG-1."

"Open the iris."

"Yes, Sir."

The iris slid open revealing the blue surface of the event horizon. Three 
people staggered through. Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter were 
supporting Jonas Quinn, as he was obviously hurt. Behind them Teal'c was 
backing through the Stargate watching for anyone following them through.

As soon as Teal'c had reached the ramp he shouted. "Close the iris!"

As the iris slid closed, they could hear the splat of the energy 
signature as it hit the iris, just before the Stargate shut down.

"Medic to the gate room." General Hammond was walking into the gate room. 
"Welcome back people. What happened?"

O'Neill and Major Carter had set Jonas down on the ground, while Dr. 
Fraiser was checking over his injuries.

O'Neill stood up and replied to General Hammond. "We stumbled across some 
Jaffa and they recognised us. I don't think they like us very much."

"From which Goa'uld were the Jaffa?"

Both O'Neill and Carter looked decidedly uncomfortable with the question. 
O'Neill took in a deep breath before he started to answer, but before he 
had a chance to reply, Teal'c spoke.

"They were Jaffa in the service of Tolgarth."

General Hammond looked grim. <'Of all the people to skirmish with, 
Tolgarth was not what he wanted any of his teams to mess with. Especially 
SG-1'>.  "I wonder what he is doing off his planet? It is a bit far away 
from his home."

"This is what I thought too, General Hammond."

"All right, Teal'c. Thank you. All of you report to the infirmary and 
I'll see you in two hours for debriefing."

Dr. Fraiser had taken Jonas to the infirmary. She didn't seem unduly 
worried and it looked like Jonas had only received a light wound. Not bad 
enough to put him in danger, but enough to incapacitate SG-1 once again.

It was several days later. Dr. Fraiser had just released Jonas from the 
infirmary and now she was talking to Sam. Sam was still having trouble 
sleeping. Her nightmares had increased, especially after the run in with 
Tolgarth. Sam still hadn't told Janet about her good dream. Anyway that 
didn't happen very often, she could almost count how many of those she 
had had on one hand. But she was talking about the nightmares.

"Janet, they always seem to include Colonel O'Neill. He's either being 
tortured or dying and sometimes it is me that is being hurt. There is one 
nightmare, where Colonel O'Neill isn't in. I am in combat.  There are 
soldiers all around me and they are dying. I am injured and I can't get 
to them to save them." Sam sat there thoughtful for a while and then 
looked up at Janet. "Oh, I've remembered more." She hesitated for a 
moment before continuing. "I really don't want to talk about it." With 
that Sam stood up and started to leave Janet's office. As she got to the 
doorway, Sam let out a cry and clutched her hand. Janet jumped up off her 
chair and quickly took hold of Sam's arm and led her over to the light. 
She quickly studied Sam's hand.

"What's wrong? Where does it hurt?"

"Janet, it's OK now. It felt like someone had run a knife across the back 
of my hand. It doesn't hurt at all, see?" Sam held up her hand and 
waggled her fingers and she gave Janet a reassuring smile. "Hey, you are 
going to be too late to take Cassie to her concert if you don't leave 
now."

"Oh yes, thank you, Sam.  Are you sure you are all right?"

"Yes truly, I'm fine. Must have just been a twinge."

Janet removed her white coat and left for the lockers to change into her 
civilian clothes. Sam followed Janet out and wandered off towards her 
lab, as she had a little more work to do before she went home.

                         *******************

The following day, Teal'c and Jonas were just finishing off some 
translating work. It had taken them a long time. Though Jonas was good, 
he still lacked some of Daniel Jackson's expertise. Even though Teal'c 
enjoyed Jonas' company, he still missed Daniel Jackson a great deal.

"Hey, you two." O'Neill was standing at the doorway with a big grin on 
his face. "Guess what, they have apple pie in the commissary."

Both Teal'c and Jonas quickly got up from their seats. O'Neill had 
introduced Teal'c to apple pie soon after he had joined the Tau'ri. This 
was one earth custom that he really enjoyed. It didn't happen very often 
and for some reason there was never enough to go around everyone at the 
SGC. In turn Teal'c had introduced the dessert to Jonas and he was just 
as interested as Teal'c. So with great anticipation they hurried off to 
the commissary.

As they walked in through the door of the commissary, Teal'c and Jonas 
let out audible groans as it looked like SG-3, SG-6 and SG-9 had beaten 
them to it. They were quite sure that there wouldn't be any desert left 
for them. Teal'c could see Major Carter sitting at a table over the far 
end of the room. She was facing away from them and she was sitting alone. 
O'Neill didn't seem too bothered with what had happened; he just shrugged 
his shoulders and started to get his dinner. It was as they thought, all 
the apple pie had gone. O'Neill didn't even ask the server if there was 
any more, he just walked over to the desert table and helped himself to a 
glass of bright blue Jell-O. He spied Carter sitting over the far end of 
the room and started making his way towards her. Teal'c and Jonas were 
annoyed, as they had repeatedly asked the server about the apple pie 
without any positive results. Eventually they gave up. Both deciding that 
they didn't really want any desert, they made their way over to where 
O'Neill and Carter were sitting.

Teal'c and Jonas sat down beside each other opposite Carter and O'Neill. 
As they put down their plates, they noticed a large desert bowl sitting 
in front of Carter. In it was a large helping of apple pie and they could 
see the icing sugar sprinkled over the top. Sitting on top of this slice 
of heaven, was a double helping of whipped cream. <'When has Major Carter 
ever indulged in high calorie foods before...ahh yes...Tok'ra armbands.'> 
 Teal'c questioned and answered himself in one thought.

Major Carter had just finished her dinner when they sat down. She had 
moved her plate to the side and was perusing some notes. She looked up at 
Jonas and Teal'c, smiled, then nodded at them and carried on with her 
papers. Teal'c and Jonas started eating their dinners. Every so often 
they glanced over at Major Carter, hoping she would take pity on one of 
them and offer her pie to them. Through all of this, Colonel O'Neill was 
quietly eating his dinner with a small smile on his face. Major Carter 
let out a sigh, put her papers down and looked up at Jonas and Teal'c. 
They had stopped eating and they were looking at her with hopeful gazes. 
Carter looked down at her space on the table and noticed that there 
wasn't much room. She reached forward lifted up her bowl of apple pie 
with one hand and with the other reached across the table, took hold of 
O'Neill's Jell-O and promptly swapped them over. O'Neill looked up at 
Carter, gave her a smile, turned and looked at Teal'c and Jonas and with 
a smug expression carried on eating his dinner.

"Oh sorry Carter." O'Neill reached across to the Jell-O, removed the fork 
out of the glass and replaced it with a spoon. Teal'c and Jonas by this 
time were sitting with surprised looks on their faces. They then both 
slumped their shoulders down in surrender and proceeded to finish their 
dinners.

Half an hour later, Jonas and Carter had left the table and Teal'c was 
sitting watching O'Neill polish off the last of his apple pie. Teal'c had 
stayed half hoping that O'Neill might just share his desert with him. He 
watched as the last spoonful disappeared. O'Neill sat back with a self-
satisfied expression on his face and looked back at Teal'c. "All's fair 
in love and war, Teal'c." O'Neill then started to get up from the table. 
He stacked his plates and then picked them up with one hand. It was then 
that Teal'c noticed that O'Neill's other hand was bandaged.

"What did you do to your hand, O'Neill?"

"Sliced it open on the edge of some ducting. I was helping Siler move 
some things. Dr. Warner said not to worry, just a few stitches. It should 
be OK by the time we go on our next mission."

O'Neill moved away from the table and took his dirty dishes up to the 
servery and left the commissary. Teal'c sat at the table for a long time, 
thinking. After a while he got up from the table. He thought it was about 
time he had a chat with Dr. Fraiser. The coincidences were getting too 
frequent to be mere coincidence.

                         *******************

Teal'c and Dr. Fraiser had spent many hours discussing Colonel O'Neill 
and Major Carter. They had decided that they needed to share their 
thoughts with General Hammond and the rest of SG-1. Between them, they 
had come up with a few theories. One being a lot stronger than the others 
and the only people who could confirm this were Colonel O'Neill and Major 
Carter.

Dr. Fraiser had called everyone to the briefing room. She once again had 
the screen up on the wall. O'Neill and Carter looked at it nervously as 
they came into the room, as they weren't quite sure where this was going. 
Dr. Fraiser started the ball rolling with the statement.

"Teal'c and I think we may have come up with the reason why Colonel 
O'Neill and Major Carter have these anomalies in their brain scans. These 
are routine scans that we have been taking since Colonel O'Neill and 
Major Carter came back from Tolgarth's planet. These are the latest 
scans, which I took yesterday. As you can see the white shape here has 
increased in size. Once again both scans are identical in size."

During this speech Teal'c carefully watched O'Neill's and Major Carter's 
reaction. They both tensed up and shifted uncomfortably in their seats. 
Almost confirming what Dr. Fraiser and Teal'c thought had happened to 
them.

Dr. Fraiser finishing her speech turned to Teal'c and nodded at him to 
continue.

"O'Neill, Major Carter, when you were in the sarcophagus, who went 
first?"

O'Neill looked at Carter. He nodded at her to answer Teal'c.

"Well, we aren't really sure, as we were both dead at the time. I suppose 
it must have been the Colonel, as he was on the bottom."

Teal'c leant forward. "You mean you were put in together? That is 
forbidden."

Teal'c glanced over to Janet. They both now had their theory confirmed.

"I can see why. We blew the thing up."

"Yes, you are right, O'Neill. That is why the sarcophagus blew up, but it 
doesn't explain the healing properties that you retained."

"So how do you know that Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter being in the 
sarcophagus at the same time, is what caused the explosion? What about 
the death gun?" Asked General Hammond.

"Though it is forbidden, I have heard of this happening once before, a 
long time ago."

Dr. Fraiser came over and sat down next to Jonas. She knew the story was 
going to be a fairly long one and she also wanted to see the Colonel's 
and Sam's reaction to the story.

"A long time ago, on a distant planet lived a Jaffa. This Jaffa had many 
sons and he was proud of them. He was first prime to his god and he was 
very loyal. His youngest son was four years old, who was full of mischief 
and always chattering and he had a best friend. This friend was the only 
daughter of another Jaffa, who was also the prime's cousin and they were 
neighbours. The daughter was also four years old and they had grown up 
together. They had a special bond, as they had been born on the same day. 
One day a tragedy happened. The two children had been playing in a 
disused house. Everyone knew that it was unsafe and both children knew 
that they were not allowed to play there. The roof collapsed killing them 
both instantly. The first prime was in a quandary. He had the use of the 
sarcophagus for only a short time, while his god had left it in his care 
since he was away and the Goa'uld would be returning shortly. The first 
prime knew that there was only enough time for one child to be saved. He 
as first prime had the privilege of using the sarcophagus for his son, 
but he had many sons and his cousin had only his daughter. In the end 
they decided to place both children into the sarcophagus together. As you 
know from experience the sarcophagus exploded, destroying it."

Sam was leaning forward and with a worried voice asked. "Surely not with 
the children in it?"
"No, fortunately the first prime managed to lift the children to safety 
first. After the explosion he quickly handed the children over to his 
cousin and asked him and his wife to care for them both: 'take my son as 
your own, as my life is now over.' The cousin did as he said and took the 
children home and brought them both up as his.

When the Goa'uld returned, he executed the first prime and all of his 
family. Though the two children were safe, they never were the same 
again. For many years neither of them spoke. It wasn't until they were 
about ten years old that their parents found out why. They were 
telepathic. They talked to each other with their minds."

Janet was watching both Colonel O'Neill and Sam. They sat there with 
identical looks on their faces. They were obviously shocked, but Janet 
wasn't sure whether they had quite realised the full implications yet.

"Are you saying this is what has happened to us? We don't talk to each 
other in our heads, do we Carter?"

Janet spoke up. "Well actually if you think about it, you do seem to 
finish off each other's sentences a lot. And there is the instance of the 
cut hand."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Colonel, you cut your hand according to the records at 1630 hours. 
At this time Sam had severe pains in her hand that quickly went away. I 
know, because I was with her when it happened."

O'Neill sharply looked around at Carter. "Yes, I agree." He was speaking 
to Carter.

Carter looked up at O'Neill. "I didn't say anything, Sir."

"Yes, you did. I heard you. You said: 'Oh no, this doesn't sound good.'"

"No, I didn't... I thought it."

O'Neill quickly scanned the other faces in the room. "Jonas, you heard 
her, didn't you?"

"No, Colonel, I did not."

He carried on desperately around the room. Each one in turn shook their 
heads. 

"Think about it, O'Neill. What about the apple pie?"

"What's apple pie got to do with it?"

"How did Major Carter know, that you would want apple pie. In fact, how 
did she even know that you were on base, as you had just arrived back? 
You also knew she wouldn't want to eat Jell-O with a fork. And how did 
you know that Major Carter was in the storage area. You said yourself 
that you hadn't seen her since that morning. When I found Major Carter, 
she knew that General Hammond wanted to speak to her. Also on missions I 
have noticed Major Carter obey silent orders. She has replied to you when 
you hadn't even spoken yet, like you just did now."

Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter were feeling exceedingly uncomfortable. 
General Hammond was sitting silently. He wasn't sure what to say first.

"Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, have you been aware of this?"

"No, Sir." They both replied in unison, almost too quickly to convince 
everyone in the room, including themselves.

Turning to Dr. Fraiser, he then asked his next question. "What 
repercussions can we expect from this?"

"Honestly, Sir, I don't know.  I would like to run some tests and see how 
much this is effecting them."

At this comment O'Neill and Carter groaned. More tests. They still hadn't 
got over the last barrage of tests they had been subjected to.

"Teal'c." asked O'Neill. "What happened to the children? And how do you 
know about this?"

"I know about this, because the children were my parents."

Everyone, including Janet, were stunned. They certainly hadn't expected 
this outcome. O'Neill and Carter were beginning to get more and more 
uncomfortable. They both needed to get away from the briefing room and 
discuss this on their own.

                         *******************

"You've got to admit it, Sir. Before the incident in the gate room, when 
the blue light was showing, there was a connection."

O'Neill shifted uncomfortably in his seat. They were both in his office, 
he at his desk and Carter sitting opposite him. O'Neill slowly nodded his 
head <"Oh crap!"> and then rested his head into his hands.  <"I heard 
you. You just said 'Oh crap!' And your mouth didn't move, just like mine 
isn't moving now." > O'Neill looked up with a start.

"Carter, we've got to find a way to reverse this."

"I don't think it can be done, unless one of us dies. Do you get a lot of 
headaches? Because I seem to be getting a lot recently."

"No, I don't usually, but my head has been hurting a lot. Maybe it's that 
white mass thing that the scans picked up."

"I've been thinking about that. One of the theories of the unused part of 
the brain is that it maybe has telepathic properties."

"Well, looks like we confirm that theory."

"Sir, I was thinking. As the white mass increased in size, maybe our 
telepathic abilities increased."

"I'm sure I never heard you in my head. Well, not until now that is."

"I was wondering about that too, Sir. When you spoke to me just then in 
your head, it sounded to me like you were speaking out loud.  That must 
be why we missed it."

O'Neill screwed up his face in frustration and rubbed his hands across 
his face.

"So, since the time in the gate room, we have been communicating our 
thoughts without realising it."

Carter, without smiling nodded in agreement to O'Neill.

"Sir, I have a question for you. A few weeks ago, when Janet was talking 
to us about the scans and the size of the mass being the same, did you 
say 'See, Carter's brain isn't bigger than mine,' out loud?"

O'Neill looked up in surprise. "Yeah, I remember thinking that, but no, I 
didn't say it. Looks like you heard it though."

"You realise, Sir, this is going to come in very useful when we have to 
maintain radio silence."

                         *******************
 
Over the next few weeks, Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill were subjected 
to all kinds of experiments. It started with them sending messages to 
each other from different rooms, then one off base while another on base. 
Then Major Carter was sent off world with Teal'c and Jonas to read out a 
message to Colonel O'Neill, who then had to repeat it to Dr. Fraiser.

"I am not saying that! Dr. Fraiser, this time you have gone too far."

Colonel O'Neill, Dr. Fraiser and General Hammond were sitting in the 
briefing room. Teal'c, Jonas Quinn and Major Carter had been sent off 
world with a sealed envelope that Dr. Fraiser had prepared. They wanted 
to see just how long the distance was before O'Neill's and Carter's 
connection was broken. By the reaction of Colonel O'Neill, Janet was 
pretty sure that the connection was still very strong.

"Do I have to order you to do this, Colonel, or is the connection broken 
between Major Carter and yourself?"

"No Sir, you don't have to order me to do this. The connection is not 
broken. In fact, Carter thinks this is all very funny and would like to 
be a fly on the wall of the briefing room." With a big sigh, he spoke 
again. "The message says ' I, Colonel Jack O'Neill, thinks Dr. Fraiser is 
a very nice Doctor and is always kind to her patients. And I promise to 
do as she tells me.' Happy now, Janet!" He looked pointedly at Dr. 
Fraiser.

General Hammond tried hard not to smile.  It wasn't very often that 
someone managed to get one over Colonel O'Neill.

"Can I go now, Sir?"

"Yes, Colonel. Dismissed."

Jack left the briefing room. 

"Dr. Fraiser, you do realise that what the Colonel and the Major are 
capable of doing, will help us in the fight against the Goa'uld more 
effectively?"

Dr. Fraiser slowly nodded her head. "I just hope that Colonel O'Neill 
doesn't send Sam around the bend first."

                         *******************

Part Six - Loss

O'Neill sat at his desk for a long time after Carter had left. He was 
finding this really hard to accept. Not only had they gone through a 
terrible ordeal in the gate room, but now they had to contend with this 
ability to communicate wherever they were. Leaning forward, he rested his 
head in his hands. He began to think back to the last few weeks, while 
they had had this ability. <'Did I know?' > He asked himself.  <'This is 
going to make it so hard, I don't know if I can hide my feelings any 
longer.' > Then he sat bolt up right.  Suddenly realising that Carter 
might be able to hear him. <"Carter, are you listening?">

<"Yes Sir.">

<"How long?">

<"About three seconds, Sir.">

<"What did I say?">

<"Sir?">

<"What did I just say?">

<"You asked me if I was listening?">

<"Sir?">

<"Yeah.">

<"Did you want something, Sir?">

<"What?">

<"Were you about to tell me something?">

<"Me, no nothing...nothing.">

<"OK Sir...Have a good night.">

<Yeah, you too, Carter.">

With a big sigh of relief, <'maybe we can't hear each other's private 
thoughts.'> O'Neill leant back in his chair and closed his eyes.  Once 
again his mind began to drift back over the past few weeks, going over 
what had happened.

He remembered back to when he was in the sarcophagus. He knew he couldn't 
feel Carter's emotions then. Thinking really hard he tried to work out 
when he first noticed them. First of all, he only could feel her emotions 
when they touched, but that was before Carter had died in the gate room. 
Then he remembered, after they were zatted by the sarcophagus, when he 
pulled Carter up off the floor. That must have been the beginning, but he 
was still suffering from the after affects of Tolgarth's torture. He had 
thought all those emotions  were his. It wasn't until Carter had grabbed 
hold of his arm in the infirmary, when he had seen into her soul...it had 
scared him. No one ever knew what he was really feeling. He had always 
made sure of that. With a sigh, he leant forward in his chair and rested 
his head onto his hands. 

<"This is going to be difficult.">

O'Neill looked up with a start. <"Carter? Is that you?">

<"Sir?">

<"You spoke.">

<"Did I? Sorry, Sir, didn't mean to.">

<"That's ok, Carter.">

O'Neill ran his hands through his short hair in frustration. <'Yes, it is 
going to be very difficult', > he thought to himself.

Suddenly a memory came unbidden into his mind. On the day that Janet had 
them testing the effects of the blue light. He remembered seeing the raw 
emotions of Carter. It wasn't just forgiveness or security she had felt 
for him, there had been more. Something that he knew was going to cause a 
lot of difficulty for both of them, now they had these abilities. <'At 
least we can't see into each other's emotions anymore.'> He thought with 
relief.

                         *******************

It took quite a while for Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter to come to 
terms with 'think talk', as they liked to call it. At first it was a bit 
of a novelty, O'Neill always knew where Carter was and vice versa. If 
O'Neill wanted a report on how any of Carter's projects were progressing, 
he just had to ask. But after a while, they both began to find it 
irritating. Carter could be right in the middle of a difficult problem 
and O'Neill would interrupt, making Carter lose her train of thought. 

It hadn't taken them long to differentiate their thinking patterns. They 
could both close off their private thoughts and even their surface 
thoughts. It wasn't unless they specifically spoke to each other in 
'think talk', that they were able to hear each other. They also couldn't 
read each other's minds, of which they were both very thankful. What was 
the most annoying thing was the fact that the entire base assumed they 
were each other's answering service. They were expected to pass along 
messages and devulge each other's location at any given moment. 

After a while they managed to come to a compromise. First of all, unless 
it was General Hammond asking, they refused to pass messages on to each 
other. Secondly, Carter tried to convince O'Neill to leave her alone when 
she was in her lab, of which she was not very successful. And thirdly, 
they tried to leave this 'think talk' at the base. This third one they 
found the hardest. Carter would suddenly come up with an idea that she 
wanted to talk over with O'Neill and instead of waiting until the 
following day, she would like to discuss it there and then. During the 
first few weeks, they had discovered something else. They always knew 
when the other one was asleep, as it went quiet. It's not that they could 
hear each other thinking, but it was more like a background noise that 
you only noticed if you really concentrated.

When they were off world, they still used the radios because they were 
trying to be very careful not to exclude Jonas and Teal'c too much. They 
weren't the only ones trying to come to terms with this new development 
in their team.

Fortunately, through this time the system lords seemed to have kept very 
quiet. The Tok'ra had managed to establish themselves on several 
different worlds without any interference from the system lords. O'Neill 
was very suspicious of the unnatural quiet. He was relatively sure that 
something was brewing.

                         *******************

~The sky was clear blue. There was a slight warm breeze that made the 
skirt of her pale blue dress billow out and swirl around her bare legs. 
Sam knew exactly where she was going.  She started to speed up her 
walking, as she was anxious to reach the brow of the hill.  She knew that 
once she had reached it she would see the beautiful meadow of flowers. 
When Sam stood on the hill and looked down onto the meadow, she wasn't 
disappointed. The summer flowers were as beautiful as she remembered. 
Quickly she made her way down to the blooms. The fragrance intoxicated 
her. She bent down and started to pick the flowers.   It was hard to know 
which ones to choose, as they were all lovely. Small insects were buzzing 
around the delicate flowers. Sam stood there for a while and watched 
them, fascinated by their antics. She looked up. There he was and he was 
walking towards her. Flowers forgotten, Sam started making her way 
through the flowers. This time she wanted to reach him and nothing was 
going to stop her.  She knew who this was. Her destiny. The one person 
she could trust with her life. Finally they reached each other. Jack held 
out his hands to Sam. Suddenly he leant forward and grabbed her round the 
waist, lifted her up off the ground and swung her around him in a circle. 
As he placed her feet on the ground he reached down to kiss her. ~

                         *******************

Sam wasn't sure whom to blame this time. It was the middle of the night.  
Something had woken her and she had no idea who or what it was. She 
automatically listened to see if the Colonel was awake, but it was 
silent. "He must be asleep." She muttered to herself. Climbing out of bed 
Sam decided to get herself a drink, maybe some camomile tea. Hopefully 
she would be able to get back to sleep. Pulling on her dressing gown 
against the cold, she padded out to the kitchen. She switched on the 
light and put the kettle on to boil. Looking out at the night sky, she 
decided that she would like to see the stars. So she reached across to 
the light switch and turned it off. After a while her eyes adjusted to 
the darkness and she could see the stars. It always amazed her that these 
stars were the ones that she had visited on her travels as they were so 
far away.

"Don't move." A hand had come round and clamped over her mouth and Sam 
could feel the cold metal of a knife touching her neck.

"Do as I say and I will let you live."

Sam immediately relaxed her body. If she could lull this man into a false 
sense of security she could overpower him.

"I don't think so, Major Carter."

<'Oh no. He knows who I am and what I am capable of doing.'> She thought 
to herself.

 The assailant released his hand over her mouth and pulled her hands back 
behind her.  Before she realised what was happening she felt the cold 
steel of the handcuffs against her wrists. <'I'm moving too slowly. What 
is happening?  I'm trained to get out of situations like this!'> Just as 
she finally decided to act, she felt the muzzle of a gun placed against 
her head. The assailant roughly dragged her over to the lounge and threw 
her down into one of the chairs. That's when she noticed that there was 
more than one man in her house. <'Quick, think. How am I going to get out 
of this?'> She asked herself. 

"What do you want with me?"

"Shut up! We wait. You will find out when he comes."

Sam sat there for a while. One of the men had tied her feet together 
while the other held his gun on her. She was certainly in a no win 
situation. She listened for Jack, but he was still asleep and neither of 
them had tried to wake each other up with 'think talk' before.  She tried 
yelling in her head as loud as she could, but it didn't work. Sam tried a 
different method. She gathered herself up and threw herself at one of the 
men. They reacted in exactly the way she thought they would. The one with 
the gun hit her across the face. Stars exploded in her head and for a 
moment everything went black. She thought she had overdone it. If she 
were rendered unconscious she would never be able to contact Jack then.

<"Whoa! Sam what's happening? Are you all right?">

<"Colonel, listen very carefully."> 

She then proceeded to tell him her situation, who and how many that were 
in her home. That they were waiting for someone.

By the time she had finished telling him everything she could think of 
that would help, he was in his truck and half way to her house. Jack 
called up the SF's at the base.  They most probably would get there too 
late, but it would be good to have some back up. 

<" Sir, the lights are out.">

<"Are you OK? Are you hurt bad?">

<"Yes, I'm fine, just a bit sore. It was the only way I could think of to 
wake you up.">

<"Well, it worked.">

O'Neill stealthily crept up to the back door of Sam's house. Fortunately 
he had keys to her house, just as he had had keys to Daniel's. With what 
they had to deal with from day to day, it was a precaution that they 
couldn't ignore. Sam guided Jack through the door by telling him exactly 
where the men were and where they were facing.

<"Carter, I want you to distract them. Be noisy, so they won't hear me.">

Sam immediately started to ask them what they wanted. When they ignored 
her, she started to shout at them to leave. They were so focused on 
keeping her quiet they didn't hear or see Jack come up behind them. With 
two swift blows to the back of their necks, they were both lying 
unconscious on the floor.  Immediately Jack searched them, finding 
another set of handcuffs and some more rope. He then made sure they 
wouldn't be any trouble by tying them up.

He had found a set of keys for the cuffs when he had searched them. He 
moved over to Sam and released her. Reaching over he put the lamp on 
beside her. Quickly he checked her injuries and without thinking he 
pulled her into an embrace.  Neither of them said a word to each other as 
they held each other tight. When they broke apart Sam looked at Jack. He 
was looking at her just the way he had in her dream. Her heart began to 
pound; time seemed to stand still as she looked into his eyes. As he 
started to lean towards her, he reached up with his hand, resting it on 
her cheek.  Unasked feelings flooded through Sam; relief, worry and 
tenderness. It felt just like it did before when the blue light affected 
them, but more so. Just at that moment, light from a moving vehicle 
flashed across his face. She quickly stood up and moved away from Jack. 
The SF's had arrived. Jack hesitated a moment, then stood up and went to 
the door and let them in. Switching the lights on in the process.

"What took you so long? They are in here. We need to take them back to 
base to find out what they were up to."

Turning round to Sam. "Major Carter, you had better come too. You need to 
see Dr. Fraiser."

"Yes, Sir."

Sam slowly walked into her bedroom to get dressed. As she came out, she 
noticed that the Colonel wasn't dressed properly. He had his jacket on 
with no shirt, tracksuit pants and boots without any socks. The journey 
back to the base was very quiet. The intruders had gone with the SF's and 
Sam was travelling with Jack in his truck. The atmosphere in the vehicle 
was very uncomfortable. Sam didn't know what to say, they had nearly 
crossed the line. She realised that for the next few days, things were 
going to be very awkward between them.

O'Neill spent to whole journey back to base kicking himself. <'What on 
Earth got into me?'> He asked himself unsuccessfully. He wasn't sure who 
he was angry at the most: himself, for putting Carter in the difficult 
situation, or angry with Carter for taking them out of the situation.  

The following day, they hadn't found out much from the intruders. All 
they said was that they had heard Major Carter had something of value.  
That they were to enter her house and hold her hostage until their 
employer arrived. They had no idea who he was or what he wanted. As far 
as the authorities could ascertain, that was all they were ever going to 
find out. Afterwards it was suggested that Major Carter should stay on 
base for a while until they found out more. They had their suspicions 
that NID were involved, but until they had more Intel, they would just 
make the necessary precautions.

                         *******************
 
Teal'c was first to be aware that things were beginning to deteriorate 
between O'Neill and Carter, when he had walked into Carter's lab and had 
heard them arguing. It wasn't their normal way of arguing, because it was 
quite heated. Teal'c had never heard Major Carter talk to O'Neill like 
that before. She was on the verge of insubordination. Teal'c was 
surprised that O'Neill hadn't pulled rank and put her up on a charge. But 
as soon as Teal'c entered the lab, they stopped talking.

"What do you want, Teal'c?" O'Neill asked roughly.

"I was wondering what film we were going to view tonight, O'Neill. But I 
see you are busy. I will converse with you later." Teal'c turned around 
and started to walk out through the door. Before he went through he 
looked back at O'Neill and Major Carter. It was obvious by their body 
language that they had resumed arguing, but not out loud.

Three days later, Sam was totally fed up with Colonel O'Neill. She had 
specifically informed him that she was going to finish off the 
calibration of the latest piece of technology she had been putting 
together. She knew they were meant to be having down time, but she really 
needed to get this finished. It was delicate work. She needed a steady 
hand and to be able to put all of her concentration into this. And *he*, 
Colonel Jack O'Neill decided to go and play ice hockey with some of his 
buddies. Why couldn't he just go fishing? The worse she would have to 
contend with would perhaps be a fishhook in the finger. Not being slammed 
into the side of the rink every ten minutes and whacked around the legs 
with a hockey stick. All right, so she wouldn't have the bruises or the 
lasting pain the Colonel would get, but it still hurt initially and it 
ruined her concentration. After the fifth time she felt the force of 
being slammed into the side of the rink, she gave up. She decided to go 
and find Janet and see if she could come up with something that might 
stop the Colonel.

"Janet, are you busy?"

"Oh, hi Sam. No, I'm free for a moment. Hey, you look awful. What's 
wrong?"

"The Colonel is playing ice hockey again. I'm sure he just does it to 
annoy me." With that comment, Sam doubled over in pain. She slowly 
straightened up, ran for the toilet and promptly threw-up. "Serve him 
right... I hope he's broken some ribs." Sam gasped and then leant back 
against the wall and looked at Janet.

"Is he all right? Do I need to go down there?"

"Hang on I'll ask him."

<"Colonel, what on earth are you doing? Are you all right? Janet wants to 
know.">

<"Well at the moment lying flat on my back, while paramedics prod and 
poke me. As to knowing if I'm all right? At this time I have no idea, as 
everything feels numb.">

<"Well you are lucky, because I certainly don't feel numb. Shall I come 
and get you?">

<"Yep! Try Memorial Hospital. They seem to think I need an ambulance for 
some reason.">

By this time, Sam had come out of the bathroom area and had washed her 
face and hands.

"Janet you had better bring your bag. We have to make a visit to the 
Memorial Hospital."

Janet groaned, took off her coat and reached for her bag. Not that she 
would need it, as the Colonel should have been patched up by the time she 
got there.

As Sam and Janet drove out of the gate, Sam tried to find out more from 
the Colonel.

<"Colonel. Colonel? What is happening?  Jack will you answer me please?">

Sam looked worriedly at Janet. "He's not answering me, but he's 
conscious. I can sense it."

"Keep trying him, Sam. Maybe he's talking with the doctors and can't talk 
with you right now."

Sam nodded and continued to keep trying to contact the Colonel. All signs 
of pain had gone now. She was worried. It wasn't the first time that the 
Colonel had ignored her, but he hadn't done it when he knew that they 
were concerned about him.  Finally she smiled; he had spoken back to her. 
The smile didn't last long on her face though.

"Janet, we have to get there fast. The hospital wants to do a brain scan 
on the Colonel and then they will find the white mass."

Janet immediately reached for her cell phone and rang the hospital.  
After a few conversations with different members of staff, she was able 
to stop the scan from going ahead before they arrived. "Tell the Colonel 
what's happening, will you?"

When they arrived at the hospital, Sam led the way, as she knew exactly 
where O'Neill was. As they walked into his room, they saw that he was 
sitting on the side of a hospital bed with his shirt off. He had been 
strapped up around his chest with bandages and he had a black eye, which 
was beginning to close up. Sam could see the bruising beginning to show 
below the bandages across his abdomen. Snorting to herself, she could see 
the reason why she vomited.

"Well Sir. With respect, serves you right!" With that she walked straight 
back out of the room.

Janet moved over to the Colonel and without saying a word proceeded to 
examine him. When she had finished, she stood back. "You are lucky that I 
know a few people here, or you will have ended up being the latest 
unexplained experiment. Come on, you can sign out and we'll take you back 
to the base."

Several hours later back at the base, Janet was having a quiet word with 
O'Neill.

"Well your scan came back OK, no permanent damage. What is it with you 
and Sam? You knew she needed to get her work done and apart from that, 
when you do something that hurts you, it hurts Sam as well."

O'Neill shifted uncomfortably on the bed.

"OK, lecture over. You will be in here for two days. Those ribs don't 
need to be jostled around. No!" She held her hand up. "You promised to do 
as I said." Referring to her trick with the note. "No arguments, you will 
stay here until I say so." As Janet walked away she thought to herself 
<'Maybe Sam will be able to get her work done now.'>

                         *******************
 
Three weeks later, Sam was discussing her nightmares with Janet again. 
They had got worse in the last three weeks. She was also finding that her 
headaches had increased.

"I've tried asking the Colonel about the headaches, but he just shrugs 
his shoulders and walks away. As for the nightmares I haven't even 
approached him with those. I know he suffers from them too, because it is 
obvious when we are off world." Sam sat dejectedly for a while. Janet 
stayed quiet and waited for Sam to continue. "Do you think the headaches 
are connected?" 

"You know I can't discuss the Colonel's medical condition with you. It is 
confidential."

"Well Janet, if he won't talk to me about it and you can't talk to me 
about it, I will give you permission to talk to him about my headaches. 
Maybe that will help. Will it Janet?"

Janet gave a small smile, handed Sam some more painkillers and told her 
to go and get some rest.

                         *******************

~Sam was standing in a hallway of a house.  The walls of the hallway were 
made of a light coloured timber. It was mid summer and warm. She had 
never been here before. There were pictures on the walls and a skateboard 
leaning up against the staircase.  A woman came out of one of the rooms 
and walked right past Sam. She looked familiar, but Sam couldn't quite 
place her. The woman hadn't seen her standing there, which Sam thought 
was strange. The woman went to the front door, as she pulled it open, she 
went outside, leaving the door open. A young boy came rushing through the 
door. He raced past Sam and shot up the staircase. Sam frowned.  The boy 
looked familiar too, but she couldn't work out where she had seen him 
before. Soon after, Sam heard a shot come from upstairs. 
Uncharacteristically shocked, Sam stood still. Just then a man came in 
through the door. It was Jack. He was a lot younger and his hair was 
still brown. Sara his wife followed him closely. They ran up the stairs 
calling out to their son. Sam couldn't move. She wanted to follow them, 
even though she knew what she would find. The next thing she knew she was 
standing in the bedroom. Jack had lifted up his son, yelling at Sara to 
call 911. Sam turned her head away as she didn't want to watch this 
tragedy. She looked over to her right and she looked straight into Jack's 
eyes. Not the Jack of several years ago, but the Jack of today. He had 
been crying. He took one menacing step towards her. "How dare you? What 
are you doing here? This has nothing to do with you! This is my private 
hell!" All the time he was walking towards her, she was frightened. Sam 
started to back away as she didn't like the look in Jack's eyes. Now this 
would be a very good time to wake up. ~

                         *******************

Sam sat bolt upright. She could feel the tears on her cheeks and she 
quickly wiped them away. She thought over what had just happened and she 
realised that she had been living one of Jack's nightmares. Maybe that is 
what she had been doing all the time, the nightmares weren't hers, they 
were his. Sam quickly checked to see if Jack was awake. When she realised 
that he was, she decided to leave him alone. If he wanted to talk to her, 
he would. Sam didn't really want to talk to him anyway at the moment. He 
had really scared her.

The following day Sam was busy working in her lab when the call came 
through to attend an emergency meeting in the briefing room. She hadn't 
managed to speak to the Colonel yet and when she had tried to 'think 
talk' he had ignored her. With a small amount of trepidation she walked 
to the briefing room. She was surprised at the Colonel's reaction when 
she walked in. He acknowledged her with a small nod. But she wasn't 
surprised at what followed, because after that nod he completely ignored 
her.  Sam sat down next to O'Neill and looked at General Hammond.

"Good you are here, Major. We have just heard from SG-9 and SG-4. The two 
teams are in serious trouble. They were overdue, so we sent a MALP 
through. We had a few moments of communication before it was destroyed. 
They are being attacked by an unknown force of Jaffa and are trapped. In 
one hour, SG-4 will launch an offensive on the Stargate.  This will be 
our window for you to go through the gate. SG-9 are trapped inside a 
building, 8 miles from the Stargate. SG-4 are concealed near the 
Stargate, but haven't attempted to get through as they didn't want to 
leave SG-9 behind."

"Do they have any idea at all who we will be dealing with?"

"No, Colonel, what I've told you is all the information I have. Be ready 
at 1055 hours in the gate room. Dismissed."

Before Sam got a chance to speak to the Colonel, he had risen from the 
table and walked out of the door. Sam looked across the table at Teal'c. 
He had been watching her. Teal'c bowed his head in acknowledgement and 
followed the Colonel.

SG-1 were standing ready in the gate room. Dead on 1100 hours General 
Hammond gave them the go ahead. They walked purposefully up the ramp 
through the Stargate. As soon as they reached the other side, they could 
see five Jaffa lying on the ground. Sam immediately recognised the 
insignia on their foreheads. The Jaffa belonged to Tolgarth. She glanced 
quickly at O'Neill <"Uh Oh!"> He nodded back in agreement; he had seen 
the marks too. Moving swiftly they joined SG-4 in the trees. Two of them 
were injured badly.

"Major Keating. I want you to send your injured men back through the 
gate.  The rest of you come with us. Major McDonald needs our help."

Soon, SG-1 and half of SG-4 were silently moving through the forest 
towards where SG-9 were holed up. As they approached, they could hear the 
sound of weapon fire and blast weapons in full battle. O'Neill directed 
Teal'c, Carter and Jonas around the back of the building that SG-9 were 
in. Major Keating, his lieutenant and O'Neill came around from the front. 
Because O'Neill was communicating with Carter all through this, they were 
able to attack exactly at the same time, taking the Jaffa totally by 
surprise. O'Neill burst through the door of the building. They found SG-
9, but Major McDonald and Lt. Grogen were injured.  

"Quick, we won't be able to hold them off for long.  You," pointing to 
Lieutenant Andrews, "come with me."

<"Carter, get everyone out of here and send Teal'c down. I'll need him.">

<"He can't, Sir.  He's injured. Nothing too serious though.">

<"OK, get going. We will be right behind you.">

Carter could hear the sound of weapons firing and then she saw SG-9 and 
SG-4 come racing around the side of the building. The others supported 
the two men. She knew that Lt. Andrews was with the Colonel. So Carter 
and Jonas supporting Teal'c between them, started back towards the Gate.

When they arrived at the Stargate, they could see the death gliders come 
swooping down firing at them. Carter quickly dialled the coordinates to 
Earth. <'Where on earth has Tolgarth managed to get death gliders from 
and why is he away from his planet?'> She thought it was very strange. 
Soon everyone had gone through the gate except Teal'c and herself. They 
crouched down by the DHD and waited for Colonel O'Neill. She knew he 
wasn't far away. She looked across at Teal'c and noticed that he was 
already beginning to heal. She never ceased to be amazed at how quickly 
the symbiote could heal him.

"Not long now, they are nearly here. They are just behind that ridge." As 
Carter started to stand up, she doubled over in pain and let out a cry. 
After a few seconds she looked up at Teal'c with horror in her eyes. 
"They've been hit. I've got to go back for them. You need to stay here, 
Teal'c.

Teal'c nodded. "I will keep the Stargate open, Major Carter."

"Thank you."

Sam immediately got up from her crouched position and ran back towards 
the ridge.  Zig zagging across the uneven terrain; she hoped that the 
death gliders wouldn't be able to hit her.

As she reached the ridge, she bent down and lay on the ground. Inching 
along slowly she carefully looked over the top. The death gliders had 
left the ground pock marked with craters, she could see Lt. Andrews lying 
beside the nearest one to her. She couldn't see the Colonel though. 
Carefully she slid down the side of the ridge. She didn't want to draw 
any attention to herself and put them into further danger. Eventually she 
reached Lt. Andrews. It was obvious that he was dead.  Just to make sure 
she checked his pulse.  Finding no pulse, she pulled off his dog tags and 
placed them in one of her pockets.

<"Sir, where are you? I can't see you."> 

<"I'm not sure, Carter. I can't see you either.">

Sam slowly stood up and searched the area. Then she saw Jack about fifty 
yards away. Some rocks and dirt half buried him. Quickly she ran over to 
him.  Sam didn't like the look of him. His face was ashen in colour and 
his breathing was laboured. She quickly cleared the debris away from 
Jack's legs. He was lying on the ground with his hands clutched to his 
abdomen; blood was oozing through his fingers.

"Hi Sir, what have you been doing to yourself?" 

Pulling his hands away, she grabbed some field dressings and started to 
pack the wound. As she lifted away his jacket, she saw the extent of his 
injuries and it didn't look good.

The front of his chest was bleeding and blood was coming from his 
abdominal area far too fast. She had to stop the bleeding. Just then a 
blast from a death glider hit the ground just above them. Sam quickly 
laid herself over Jack to stop all the dust and debris from hitting him. 
When the small stones and dust had settled, she leaned back. Jack's blood 
had started to pool on the ground beside him and she could feel it 
soaking into the knees of her trousers.

<"Sam, get out of here.  Leave me. You can't do anything for me.">

"No Sir, I will not leave you.  Remember, we don't leave anyone behind."

Pulling out more field dressings, she replaced the old blood soaked ones. 
She knew this was futile but she had to try. 

"Sam?"

"Yes, Sir."

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"For being such an idiot."

"It's all right, all is forgiven."

Sam had placed her hands on the wound to try and staunch the flow of 
blood, but it wasn't working. Sam was holding all her emotions in, but it 
was hard.  She could feel them rising up through her. Jack reached out 
his right hand and grabbed hold of Sam's jacket and pulled her towards 
him.

"Leave me." His voice was strained.

Sam reached up her hand and touched his face. "No. I won't." As she held 
his face in her hand, she could feel Jack's emotions. With this final 
surge of external emotion, she was unable to hold hers at bay any longer. 
"I can't, I love you too much Jack." She knew this was the right thing to 
say, before Jack even spoke to her.

"I love you too Sam." Jack replied very weakly.

Bending down, Sam kissed him. Jack's hand caught hold of the back of her 
neck and held her there. A great feeling of anguish filled her inside. Up 
until that moment, she hadn't felt any of Jack's pain, except when he was 
first hit. Now the full force of the excruciating pain hit her, as Jack 
let all of his emotions flow out to her. She knew then just how much this 
man really loved her.  As quickly as the pain had come it went. Sam could 
feel his hand sliding down her shoulder as she felt the essence of Jack 
fading. It was silent, like when he was asleep, but he wasn't. Moving 
back away from him, she studied his face. His eyes were closed and he 
looked at peace. Scrubbing the tears away, she left blood and dirt 
smeared over her face. Sam then carefully bent down, lifted Jack's head 
and removed his dog tags. Clutching them tightly in her fist she slowly 
stood up, not caring if the death gliders saw her. Taking the dog tags, 
she carefully placed them over her head and tucked them into her shirt. 

All this time everything had been silent to her.  She couldn't hear the 
bombing and the firing from the death gliders. Then the crackle of her 
radio broke through the silence. It was Teal'c.

"Major Carter, O'Neill, come in."

"Here, Teal'c."

"The Jaffa forces are increasing and they are coming your way. You must 
hurry."

"On my way, Teal'c."

Sam took one last look at Jack and then started running, dodging the 
weapon fire. The tears were pouring down her face and she couldn't stop 
them. She couldn't believe that he was gone. She hadn't run far, when a 
large explosion landed behind her, throwing her to the ground. Looking 
behind her as she got up, she could see that if she hadn't left when 
Teal'c contacted her, she could have been caught in the explosion.  Sam 
ran up to the Stargate yelling at him to go through.

"Where are O'Neill and Lt. Andrews?"

Sam shook her head at Teal'c and motioned him to go through the gate. 
Teal'c started back towards where Sam had just run from. Reaching out 
with her hand, she caught hold of Teal'c's arm to stop him.

"They are dead. The Colonel and the Lt. are dead."

Without wasting anymore time, Teal'c spun around and pushing Carter in 
front of him ran through the gate. 

"Close the iris," yelled Carter as they arrived at the SGC.

Just then a staff weapon blast followed them through the Stargate and hit 
Teal'c on the shoulder sending him careering into Carter and they both 
fell crashing down the ramp.

                         *******************

In the infirmary, Dr. Fraiser was having trouble controlling her 
emotions. Sam was covered in blood lying on a hospital gurney. The nurses 
were furiously cutting her clothes off to find out where she was injured. 
Dr. Warner was looking after an unconscious Teal'c, but otherwise he 
looked like he was going to be all right. Dr. Fraiser could see the large 
contusion on Sam's forehead and had already started to see to that, but 
the quantity of blood was what worried her. It was all down the front of 
her jacket and had soaked into her trousers. After Sam's clothes had been 
removed, she felt an almost overwhelming relief, as it wasn't Sam's 
blood. There wasn't any sign of an injury, only the bump on the head.

"Doctor! Look at this." One of the nurses held up the two sets of dog 
tags.  They were covered in blood.

"Whose are they?" With a feeling of dread, Janet reached over and took 
the dog tags from the nurse. Wiping each one on a cloth, she then started 
to read them. The first one was Sam's the second was Colonel O'Neill's. 
Janet looked down at Sam's face and saw the tearstains smeared over her 
face. She now knew whose blood this was on Sam's uniform.

"Nurse, take these clothes to the lab. I want an analysis on them to 
determine whose blood this is. Tell them to look for Colonel O'Neill's, 
Major Carter's and Lt. Andrews, ASAP."

"Yes, Doctor."

In the briefing room, Dr. Fraiser was talking to General Hammond. "Teal'c 
is going to be all right, as his wounds are being healed by his symbiote. 
Major Carter has only suffered a head wound and she is still unconscious. 
We still aren't sure exactly what has happened to Colonel O'Neill or Lt. 
Andrews, but the tests came back positive. 95% of the blood on Major 
Carter's clothes was Colonel O'Neill's. There is no way he would have 
survived that amount of blood loss."

"And the other 5%, whose is that?"

"A mixture of Lt. Andrews', Teal'c's and Major Carter's. Leaning to most 
of it being Teal'c's."

"Thank you, Doctor.  How long will it be before Major Carter will be able 
to talk to us?"

"I don't know, Sir.  She should have come to by now, but she seems to 
have shut down. This is going to be very hard for her with the telepathic 
connection; it will be a big loss for her. General Hammond watched Dr. 
Fraiser leave his office. After she closed his door he let out a large 
sigh. It was full of sadness. He was going to miss Colonel Jack O'Neill 
very much. 

Two hours later, Janet was sitting in her office catching up on her paper 
work.  She had written the reports on the team members of SG-4 and SG-9 
that had been injured and she was just waiting on Sam's and Teal'c's. She 
couldn't even start on Colonel O'Neill's and Lt. Andrews' until Sam and 
Teal'c had woken up.

Janet quickly got up from her seat. She had heard a scream. She rushed 
out into the infirmary and she saw Sam half way out of her bed calling 
out Jack's name. Janet rushed up to Sam and caught hold of her arms.

"Sam! You are safe. You are here." Sam opened her eyes and looked at 
Janet. "He's dead. I couldn't save him."  Tears had started to roll down 
Sam's face. Janet reached over and pulled the curtains closed. Then she 
sat on the bed and hugged Sam tight. "I know, Sam. I know." She murmured 
quietly to her.

                         *******************

Part Seven - Moving On

Major Samantha Carter was sitting in her lab finishing off a report on 
the latest analysis findings on the minerals from planet PX 849. She 
found she needed to keep busy. It had been three weeks since the run in 
with Tolgarth and his Jaffa. Without the constant use with 'think 
talking' with Jack, the white mass in her brain was slowly decreasing in 
size. Janet had released her for light duties and soon she would be back 
on active duty. Sam felt well rested. In fact she hadn't felt so good 
physically for several months. The headaches had stopped and she hadn't 
had a single nightmare for three weeks. She hadn't even dreamt. The last 
time was when she woke up in the infirmary. Sam had heard Jack calling 
out her name to save him. He had sounded terrified, but she couldn't find 
him.  Then, that was it, nothing. It confirmed her thoughts that the 
nightmares that she had suffered were actually Jack's and that she had 
just been sharing them. Though she had had similar types of nightmares of 
her own in the past. It now explained the one dream that had always 
confused her. It was the one where Jack wasn't there. She now realised 
that she must have been in Jack's shoes, as it was totally his dream. 
With a small sigh, she looked at her watch. It was time to go and see 
General Hammond. <'I wonder what he wants to see me about.'>

Sam walked into General Hammond's office and stood at attention in front 
of his desk.

"Major Carter. Please, sit down."

"Thank you, Sir."

"Major Carter. Colonel O'Neill's wishes were that you would take on the 
leadership of SG-1 if anything should happen to him. I happen to agree 
with him." General Hammond paused for a moment, as he watched the 
realisation of what he had just said come across Major Carter's face. 
"There is also something else that you were not aware of. I had put it on 
hold in light of the recent events. But a promotion had come through for 
you to be made a Lt. Colonel."

Sam sat there dumbfounded as she was still trying to get over the fact 
that she would be leading SG-1, let alone a promotion.

"Thank you, Sir."

"I have here three dossiers on three different potential additions to SG-
1. I'd like you to look through these and come back to me with your 
thoughts."

"Yes, Sir."

"Has Teal'c said anymore of what he wishes to do?"

"No, Sir. He hasn't."

"Dismissed, Lt. Colonel." General Hammond was smiling as he spoke. He 
watched the smile spread across Colonel Carter's face, when she heard him 
call her Colonel. It was the first time he had seen her smile since 
Colonel O'Neill had died.

Sam walked down the corridor of the SGC with the folders clutched in her 
hand. She couldn't believe it, because she had assumed another team 
leader would have been brought in over her head. She was pleased that she 
was leading the team and also that Jack had thought her capable. She just 
hoped that the others felt the same. Sam was relatively certain that they 
would. Shutting the door to her lab, she sat at her desk and started to 
study the dossiers. The first one was a Major Trent. She had worked with 
him before and he was a good soldier. The only thing was that he might 
find it difficult to listen to her orders as they had been equals up to a 
few minutes ago. Also, he was slightly sexist in his attitude. Putting 
the folder aside she opened the next one. This was of a Captain Green. 
From what Sam could see she was an excellent soldier, but was totally 
unknown to her. Sam thought it would be nice to have another female on 
the team, but she couldn't use that as a reason for her decision. Picking 
up the last folder, she opened it: Lt Grogan. Sam smiled and was pleased.  
She had made her decision. Grogan would be on her team. As Sam got up 
from her desk and made her way to General Hammond's office, she hoped 
that he agreed with her decision. 

Later in General Hammond's office, Sam had just revealed whom she would 
like to add to her team. 

"Excellent choice, Colonel Carter. He will make a good addition to SG-1. 
Would you like to tell him yourself?"

"Yes, Sir, I would, but I would like to inform the rest of the team first 
about what is happening."

"Good idea. Colonel, tell me.  What made you choose Lt. Grogan?"

"I have no doubts about him, Sir and I know from personal experience that 
I can trust him in combat conditions."

General Hammond gave a small smile and nodded at Carter.

"Dismissed."

                         *******************

"Jonas, that is my decision and my decision is final. Grogan is not 
replacing the Colonel. If anything, it is me who is replacing the Colonel 
and Grogan is replacing me."

Jonas glanced across at Teal'c, but as usual Teal'c was showing no 
emotion at what had transpired here. Getting up abruptly, Jonas walked 
out the door.

Sam sat down with a sigh. "This is going to be harder than I thought, 
Teal'c.  I thought everyone would be pleased. You are OK with this, 
aren't you, Teal'c?"

"I thought your decision was final, *Lt. Colonel* Carter. Congratulations 
on your promotion."

"Thank you, Teal'c." Sam said, giving him a small smile.

"I think Jonas is taking the loss of O'Neill a lot harder than we have 
allowed him. He hadn't known O'Neill long, so I believe we have tended to 
disregard his feelings."

"Yes, I think you are right, Teal'c. Can you talk to him? It will come 
better from you."

Teal'c nodded his head at Sam and walked out of her lab, but she quickly 
called him back.

"Teal'c, have you decided what you want to do yet?"

"No. I hadn't until now. I wish to stay with SG-1. That is, if you will 
let me serve with you on your team?"

"Of course, Teal'c. I am glad you are staying. And thank you, Teal'c."

Teal'c nodded his head in respect to Sam and then left her lab.

Sam was still using her lab as her office.  General Hammond had offered 
her Jack's office to use, but she hadn't felt comfortable about using it 
yet.  <'Maybe in time,'> she thought. 

Sam was relieved that Teal'c was staying. She had found it very hard with 
Daniel leaving and then Jack dying. The thought of Teal'c leaving too 
would have been too much to handle. Teal'c had also been very quiet since 
he and another team had gone back to the planet where Jack and Lt. 
Andrews had died, to see if they could recover the bodies. They had 
reported total devastation. The Goa'uld had obliterated everything. She 
had seen the pictures and the once green land was now a blackened smoking 
ruin of craters and rocks. When Teal'c had returned he stood for three 
days in the gate room. Only moving to take a short break for Kel'no'reem 
and use the facilities. Then he would take up his stance beside the ramp 
looking at the Stargate. It was almost as though the Stargate represented 
Jack's coffin and Teal'c was taking up vigil beside it. Janet had tried 
to get Sam to talk to Teal'c, as he hadn't eaten or drunk anything for 
two days by then. But Sam had refused to help Janet and when Janet had 
suggested that it was about time Teal'c had moved on, Sam had walked out 
on her.  Since then Sam had managed to repair her friendship with Janet, 
but until now she hadn't been sure that Teal'c was all right. She wasn't 
sure that she was all right yet herself. In fact, if she was honest with 
herself, she knew she would never be all right again. Getting up from her 
desk, she made her way to tell Lt. Grogan that he would be joining SG-1.

                         *******************
 
Two days later, SG-1 were off world and working well together. Sam wasn't 
sure what Teal'c had said to Jonas, but it had worked. There wasn't any 
tension in the team and things seemed to be running smoothly. They had 
just left a local village that was situated near the Stargate. They had 
been there before and the people had been kind and welcoming. Sam had 
found it hard explaining to them about Colonel O'Neill's death. She 
realised that this was going to be a regular occurrence for a while. When 
they arrived back at the Stargate, she stood and watched patiently while 
Lt. Grogan dialled them home.  Sam felt a bit weird, because usually she 
was the one who dialled them out. There were a lot of things she was 
going to have to get used to. 

As she stepped through to the other side of the Stargate behind her team, 
she saw her father standing at the bottom of the ramp. Sam felt relieved, 
as she really needed her Dad at the moment. By the look on his face, she 
realised that General Hammond must have told him. Immediately she felt 
the beginning of tears form. Blinking the tears away, she walked down to 
her Dad. As soon as they were in her lab, Sam locked her door and threw 
herself into Jacob's arms. Sobbing she told him everything that had 
happened on that fateful day. Jacob wasn't surprised at all. He had known 
that his daughter and Jack were having trouble keeping their feelings 
under control and the fact that they had become telepathic had made 
things considerably worse. Jacob soothed her and said that he understood 
and that he would be staying a few days this time. He would come home 
with her for a while and spend some time with her. Sam was grateful; she 
really needed his company for a while. 

"I will ask General Hammond if he will let me have a few days off."

"Its already arranged, Sam. As soon as you've been checked out at the 
infirmary, we can go. I'll have to get changed though."

Sam smiled up at her Dad through her tears. "Thanks, Dad."

While they were driving through the winter rain to get to her house, Sam 
thought about her outburst in the lab. This was so unlike her, as she 
never got this emotional over anything, especially in front of her Dad. 
She had noticed lately, that she had found it very hard to keep the tears 
at bay. It didn't take much to set her off crying. She knew if she were 
going to be able to lead SG-1 successfully, she would need to take better 
control of her emotions.

                         *******************
 
~Sam was walking up a small track. The sky was a clear deep blue and a 
slight breeze moved through her short hair and made the skirt of her 
summer dress billow out around her bare legs. Her brown open sandals were 
making slight footprints in the dry dusty ground. Reaching out, she bent 
down to help herself over a difficult part of the pathway. She knew where 
she was and where she was going. She started to go faster, because she 
had to get to that ridge. When she reached the top, she looked down. It 
was just as she remembered. The flowers swayed in the breeze. They were 
all the colours of the rainbow and the fragrance wafted up to her from 
the full-headed blooms. Not waiting for a second she rushed down amongst 
the flowers, looking for him.  Where is he? She started to walk through 
the flowers towards the direction he had come from before. As she walked, 
she noticed the ground crunched beneath her feet. She looked down to see 
what she was walking on. It was the flowers. They had withered and had 
turned black. She reached down and closed her hand over a black bloom. 
The once beautiful flower crumbled in her hand and a small cloud of dust 
puffed up through her fingers. In a panic she looked all around her. The 
flowers were all blackened as though they had been in a fire. Looking 
down again, Sam noticed that her dress was covered in the black soot from 
the flowers. Sam carried on towards the other side of the meadow. When 
she reached the other side, she came to a large outcrop of rock.  
Imbedded into the side of the rock was a black wrought-iron gate. She 
carefully opened it and walked through. Sam was walking down a large 
corridor. There were torches burning with a naked flame, set into the 
walls of the corridor. The ground was made up of hard packed earth. The 
corridor looked familiar to her.  It reminded her of Tolgarth's tunnels 
in his castle. Finally, she came to the end of the corridor. Across the 
end of the tunnel, set into the walls on either side, was a large iron 
cage. The flat bars were about two inches wide and criss crossed by 
weaving in and out of each other. The gaps in between were eight inches 
in diameter. Sam cautiously walked up to the wall of the cage and peered 
in through one of the gaps. She had found Jack.  He was chained up 
against the far wall and someone was torturing him. He was in obvious 
pain, but she couldn't see who it was doing this to him.  Frantically she 
looked around the cage wall hoping to find an entrance, but she couldn't 
find anything. ~

                         *******************
 
"Hey, Sammie, wake up. It's all right!"

Sam woke up with a start, looking at her father. Quickly wiping her face, 
she muttered. "Just a nightmare, Dad. I'm all right. Go back to sleep."

"Are your sure, Sam? I'll stay, if you want me to?"

"No, Dad. I'm OK. I have lots of nightmares and I'm used to them." She 
gave her Dad a reassuring smile and watched him walk out of her room. 

As soon as Jacob had closed her door, Sam leaned back against the 
headboard of her bed and thought about what had just happened. She was 
dreaming about when they had been tortured by Tolgarth again. Sam had 
thought the bad dreams had stopped when Jack had died. She really hoped 
this wasn't going to be regular occurrence again.

                         *******************
 
Teal'c walked into O'Neill's old office.  Lt. Colonel Carter was sitting 
at the desk going through some papers. She certainly had made an 
improvement to the place. On the shelf behind her was a large vase of 
hothouse flowers. A very strong perfume filled the room, which was coming 
from the colourful blooms. Parts of her lab seemed to have found there 
way into the room, also small bits of machinery were littered across her 
desk amongst her papers.

"Hello, Teal'c." Sam looked up with a smile.

"Good afternoon, Lt. Colonel Carter."

"Eh, Teal'c I think we need to do something about my name, don't you? 
It's a bit long. How about you call me Sam, or Carter. I don't mind 
which."

Teal'c bowed his head in acknowledgement.

"General Hammond needs you in the briefing room immediately, Sam."

She was pleased that he had chosen to call her Sam.

"Thank you, Teal'c.  I'm coming."

Getting up from her desk with a smile, she followed Teal'c out of her 
office down the corridor towards the elevator.

As Sam and Teal'c walked into the briefing room, Sam was surprised to see 
her father sitting at the table.

"Dad, hi. I thought you had gone."

" Hello, Sam. I will explain in a minute."

"OK, Jacob, why have you come back so soon? What is happening?"

"Well, George, since I saw you two days ago, a lot has happened. You 
remember when Jack said he thought something was brewing, well he was 
right. Anubis and the system lords have been systematically attacking our 
Tok'ra strongholds. Unfortunately, they have been very accurate; many of 
our people have been taken as prisoners. At the moment no planet that we 
have used as a back up for refuge, is safe. Tolgarth seems to be in the 
picture too, I think he must be using that new device that Sam spoke of. 
It seems a lot to have happened in only two days, but while I was here 
for the three days, it all seemed to have come to a head. You must be 
extra cautious with everyone who comes through your Stargate, even with 
the Tok'ra. We just don't know who to trust anymore." 

"Dad, where are you going to go when you leave here?" 

"I don't know yet, Sam. It will have to be a planet that we haven't been 
to before.  The Tok'ra are scattered right across the Universe. We have 
lost contact with each other. Twenty-four of us are here at the moment 
and it is something we will have to discuss amongst ourselves."

"Jacob, you are welcome to stay here as long as you need to, at least 
until your wounded are healed."

"Thank you, George, but we need to keep moving. Maybe we can find the 
others and we can't help them holed up here."

"Maybe Colonel Carter can look through our data banks and find some 
possible planets for you?"

Jacob looked up startled at General Hammond. Closing his eyes and bowing 
his head he then raised his head again and Selmac spoke.

"General Hammond, that is most generous of you. We will take you up on 
this offer. Maybe then we will be safe for a while."

                         *******************
 
Jacob's visit seemed to herald the beginning of a full-scale war. When 
Jacob was speaking to them, they thought it was something that was only 
affecting the Tok'ra. But only days afterwards, an uninhabited planet 
that was being tested for naquada by an SG team was raided. Two were 
killed and the other two were unable to be found. They found a dead Jaffa 
who had been in the service of Tolgarth.  They had to assume that the 
missing team members were prisoners of Tolgarth.

Sam found that she didn't have time to keep grieving for Jack, as she was 
too busy trying to work out Tolgarth's next move. Several friendly 
planets they had known, had been raided by Tolgarth's Jaffa. The Jaffa 
hadn't used the Stargate, but had come in ships and attacked from above. 
The small villages of these planets hadn't had a chance. Sam was 
furiously sending out different teams to other planets that hadn't been 
hit yet, trying to get the residents to move to a safer place. Often the 
teams would arrive and they would be too late, as the towns and villages 
would be wiped out.  Instead of being mainly an exploration team, SG-1 
were becoming a clean up the mess team. Everyone at the SGC was tired.  
General Hammond hadn't been home for several weeks now. 

SG-1 were all suited up to go to PX-953. They needed to go to this planet 
to warn the people who lived there. Sam was pretty sure that the two 
missing scientists that had been taken by Tolgarth were not aware of this 
planet, but she still didn't want to take any chances. All the codes had 
been changed in the computer system. Each team was given a new code when 
they left, which was changed again the next time they left. They couldn't 
take any chances. 

When they arrived at the village, it was quite calm. People were quietly 
going about their work and the children were playing outside their homes.  
Though as soon as the villagers saw SG-1, they dropped what they were 
doing and rushed forward to meet them. Sam asked to see the village 
elders.

SG-1 were seated around a table discussing the problem with the elders of 
the village. Sam was trying to explain the danger that they might be in.

"But Samantha, we are safe. The Goa'uld that you speak of, have never 
bothered us before and they are not likely to. We have nothing of value 
to them. We are but a small village."

"I'm sorry, but we believe that you may be in danger. Not because of what 
you have or are, but because you are known to us. We believe that this 
Goa'uld will attack you just to get to us. You must pack up your things 
and move far away from here. The further from the Stargate you are, the 
better. It will be only for a while, until things calm down. If you would 
rather, we could find you another planet to move to. There are a number 
of planets that should be safe."

Just then they heard some shouting coming from outside the building. They 
heard the whine of death gliders, swooping over the village. There was a 
great explosion as one of the houses was destroyed by fire, followed by 
screams from the villagers. Teal'c, Grogan and Jonas quickly moved out of 
the building. Sam spoke quickly to the village elders. 

"You must come quickly. Gather everyone together. We may make it to the 
Stargate in time. Don't worry about bringing your things, as we will help 
you settle into your new home."

With that said, Sam followed the rest of SG-1 outside. Teal'c and Grogan 
were already firing at the death gliders as they dive-bombed the village. 
Jonas had two crying children, one tucked under each arm. Teal'c was 
firing his staff weapon at the enemy with excellent results. Sam watched 
as a death glider whined it's way through the air with smoke billowing 
out of the fuselage. It then crashed into some trees. Soon most of the 
villagers had been collected together and they started running towards 
the Stargate.  Teal'c led the group and Sam took up the rear making sure 
that no stragglers were left behind.  They were nearly at the Stargate 
when a blast hit the group of villagers. It landed right in the middle of 
them, killing many of them instantly. Sam quickly bent down and lifted an 
injured toddler up into her arms. He was crying and there was no sign of 
his parents. When Sam arrived at the Stargate, Teal'c had already dialled 
it up and had gone through to the SGC to warn them of what was happening. 
Grogan was trying to hurry the villagers through. The death gliders 
banked around and started to come around for another strike at the group. 
Fortunately Sam had just arrived and the last of the villagers had gone 
through. It just left Jonas, minus the two crying children, which were 
safely at the SGC, Grogan and herself still carrying the crying boy.

"Come on. Let's go." Sam pushed Grogan through the Stargate, waited until 
Jonas had gone through and quickly ran through after him.

The SGC was in turmoil, when they arrived. The Gate room was full of 
shell shocked injured people. Some were crying.  Children were calling 
out for their parents, parents calling out for their children. It was 
hard to believe that you could fit 50 people in the Gate room, but they 
seemed to have managed it. Sam didn't envy Janet today; she knew that she 
would have her work cut out for her.

                         *******************
 
Over the next two months, things got worse. The Asgard had now become 
involved, as the system lords had openly broken the treaty with the 
Asgard by attacking protected planets. The Asgard certainly had their 
hands full. The replicators were still causing them trouble, even though 
not as bad as previously. So the Asgard were stretched very thin. They 
had the only ships that were large enough to penetrate the hulls of 
Anubis' ships. Fortunately, Anubis hadn't been generous and shared his 
technology with the other system lords. So the system lords were still 
vulnerable to the smaller ships that were available.

Throughout this time, Sam had been working on defence shields for Earth. 
This had been hard to do. When she wasn't off world with SG-1 or finding 
new planets for the refugees they would bring back, she was working with 
her science team on the shields. The Asgard had offered to help her and 
had sent plans to her. She had found them hard to understand. The 
technology was way ahead of them, but not impossible to decipher. If only 
she had more time.

Sam was still having trouble sleeping. The dreams had become more 
frequent, three or four times a week. Every time she would find Jack, he 
was being tortured. The previous night the dream was slightly different. 
When she had looked at her dress, it had been covered in blood. She tried 
not to think about it, but every so often, like now, the memory would 
come unbidden flooding her thoughts. Suddenly, she heard the klaxons 
sounding; there was a breach in the security. Picking up her firearm, she 
quickly made her way to the Gate room. She could hear the sound of rifles 
firing and staff weapons discharging. By the time she got there, it was 
all over. There were dead Jaffa lying on the floor of the gate room and 
several injured SF's. Janet was bending over someone on the floor. It was 
Teal'c and he was badly hurt. Quickly, he was whisked off to surgery. Sam 
seeing that everything was under control, followed behind, wanting to 
know how Teal'c was. It was four and a half hours before Teal'c came out 
of surgery.  Janet looked tired as she came out to speak to a very 
worried Sam. Jonas and Grogan were hovering in the background as well.

"He's going to be OK. It was doubtful at the beginning, as his symbiote 
was injured too. But knowing Teal'c's quick healing, he should be up and 
around in a few days."

"Can we see him?"

"Yes, but he is still under the influence of the anaesthetic and he will 
go into Kel'no'reem straight after he wakes up. So you most probably 
won't be able to speak with him until tomorrow. Don't stay too long."

They moved quietly through to where Teal'c was lying. He was hooked up to 
machines, so his condition could be monitored. Sam stood back and let 
Jonas and Grogan go first. After they had gone, she pulled up a chair and 
sat down. Reaching across, she took Teal'c's hand in her own. She was 
glad that the others had left as she noticed that her hand was trembling. 
Leaning forward, Sam whispered to Teal'c.

"Teal'c, I nearly lost you today. You can't do that to me again. We are 
the only two left with Daniel and Jack gone.  I can't lose you too."

She gave Teal'c's hand a quick squeeze. She stood up, quietly left the 
infirmary and walked towards the elevator.

Fortunately, she hadn't met anyone as she walked down the corridor of the 
storage area. Opening the door to Storeroom 16, she quietly slipped 
inside. Sam hadn't been down here since Jack had died. The storage room 
was a lot more crowded than before. They were waiting for JAG officers to 
go through his papers and belongings. A lifetime of classified 
assignments has a way of throwing a wrench into the probate process. So, 
Sam and Teal'c had rented out Jack's house fully furnished and had packed 
up his personal items and stored them down here with Daniel's things.  
Sam ran her hand over a large awkward looking package; the telescope was 
wrapped up in cloth and plastic to keep it clean. Moving over to the 
boxes, she started sifting through them looking for a particular box. All 
of Jack's boxes had O'Neill written on them in her own hand. She found 
the one she wanted. She had marked it so she would know which one. 
Opening it, she started to burrow down to the bottom. It was full of his 
clothes and nearly at the bottom she finally found it. When they had been 
going through Jack's things, Sam had come across a denim shirt. She had 
never seen Jack wear it before. She had found it folded up, tucked right 
at the back of his cupboard. The shirt was identical to the shirt Jack 
had worn in her dream. Picking it up, she went over to Daniel's couch and 
sat down holding the shirt closely to her. She started to cry. It had 
been a long time since she had had a good cry. The last time was when she 
had opened herself up to her Father. It seemed like such a long time ago.

                         *******************
 
~The strong wind whipped through her hair. She shivered as the icy wind 
blew her dress away from her legs. Sam was cold, very cold. She only had 
her summer dress on. She was standing in the meadow. All the flowers were 
just grey dust on the ground. Looking down at her dress, the bloodstains 
were still there, the only colour in the black and grey dismal landscape. 
She started to move towards the iron gate. Opening the gate, she 
carefully walked down the corridor. When she arrived at the cage, she 
sank down against the wall and tiredly looked through the gap in the 
bars. When Sam couldn't see him at first, she began to panic. Then she 
found him. He was curled up in the foetal position on the floor. There 
were chains fastened around his wrists and ankles. He was just clothed in 
his black t-shirt and BDU trousers. There were no boots or socks on his 
grime covered feet. In fact, all of his skin seemed to have a layer of 
filth from the dirty cell. Sam could see the red colour of his raw wrists 
and ankles where the shackles had rubbed them. No one else seemed to be 
in the cell. Shifting quietly, Sam knelt up onto her knees and sat back 
onto her heels. She noticed that Jack's eyes were open. They seemed to be 
fixed on her, but they showed no sign of life. She could see he was alive 
as he was breathing, but his eyes looked dead. Sam's heart began to thump 
fast with anguish as she sat back down and leant against the wall while 
she waited. ~

                         *******************
 
The beeping of her pager woke her up. Looking down at it, she could see 
that General Hammond wanted her.  With a sad sigh, she got up, re-folded 
Jack's shirt, placed it neatly back in the box and closed it. She 
wondered when she would have time to come back here again. Moving quickly 
she left the room.

                         *******************
 
A week later, Sam was in Janet's office. She was talking to her about her 
nightmares as she was getting to the stage that she was afraid to go to 
sleep. Since being in the storeroom, she had dreamed that same dream 
every single night. One night she even dreamt it twice.

"Isn't there anything you can give me for this. A knock out pill, 
something that will put me so far into a deep sleep, I won't dream?"

"No. I'm sorry, Sam. With counselling we could maybe do something, but it 
will take time. You should have come to me when they first started, not 
when they were this bad."

"I thought I could handle them, but now I keep seeing the different 
scenes over and over. Even when I'm awake."

"You are tired. You need some down time. When was the last time you went 
home for a rest?"

"When my Dad stayed for a visit."

"Sam! That was nearly four months ago." 

"I *have* been home, but not to stay. Just to see to a few things that's 
all."

Their conversation was interrupted by the warning klaxon telling everyone 
that the Stargate was active.

"Sam, are any teams due back?"

"No. Janet, none of the teams are off world at the moment. I've got to 
go. We'll finish off this conversation later."

Sam ran off towards the gate room. As she arrived, she saw her father and 
several Tok'ra run down the ramp.

"Close the iris." Jacob barked out towards the control booth.

As the iris closed, Sam walked up to her Dad. She hadn't seen him for a 
while.  He looked tired and he had fresh scratches on his face.

"Boy, that was close. Thanks. Hi, Sam, how are you?"

"I'm fine, Dad. What's going on?"

"Oh, Tolgarth doesn't like us much. He decided that we would make good 
target practice. Hello, George. Look, I need to speak with you and Sam. I 
have some good news."

"OK, Jacob, come to the briefing room."

"How long will you stay this time, Dad?"

"Sorry, Sam, only a couple of hours. We made this stop over to talk to 
you, but then we have to move on. Where are the rest of SG-1? This 
concerns them too."

"We are here, Jacob. It is good to see you again." Teal'c, Jonas and 
Grogan sat down with the others at the table. Jacob turned around so he 
was facing Sam. Looking directly into her eyes, he spoke quietly, but 
firmly to her.

"Jack is alive."

Sam started to shake her head from side to side in disbelief.

"Sam, it is true. One of the Tok'ra that was taken prisoner escaped. We 
came across him at the last planet we were on. He was very badly injured, 
but he asked me to give you a message. He said: 'Jacob, tell your 
daughter that Tolgarth has O'Neill. I know, because I've seen him.' That 
is all he said. He died soon after that. I'm sorry, there isn't more 
information."
 "It can't be, Dad. I watched him die and there was a large explosion 
behind me. It would have obliterated anything that was there."

"The Tok'ra who told me this, would not have lied. I knew him and he knew 
Jack too. Quick, someone get a glass of water."

Jacob had been watching Sam throughout this conversation. She had become 
very white and it looked like she was going to pass out any minute. Jonas 
quickly passed a glass of water to Jacob who in turn gave it to Sam.  Sam 
sipped the water as she slowly let the information sink in. Everyone else 
seemed to be talking at once, discussing what had happened and what they 
were going to do about it. Sam reached across the table, pulled a pad of 
paper towards her and furiously started to sketch something on it. Janet 
had come into the briefing room now and was joining in the discussion. 
Sam realised now why Tolgarth had known about all the planets. He must 
have got them out of Jack.  There is no way he could have held out from 
the effects of the death gun for any length of time, especially with the 
use of a sarcophagus. 

"I know where he is being held." Sam announced and then threw her pad of 
paper into the centre of the table. Looking at Janet and with enthusiasm, 
she went on to explain. "When the Colonel and I had the telepathic 
abilities, we would often share the same dreams or I should say 
nightmares. For just over three months I have been having the same dream. 
Until now, I thought it was residue from when Tolgarth held us captive. 
But now I don't think so.  We know from scans that the white mass in my 
brain had been decreasing over time, but it is still there and I think 
there may still be a connection between Colonel O'Neill and I. What I 
have sketched here is the holding cell he is in. I can't remember seeing 
any doorway in or out and so we will need to take cutting tools with us. 
There is one very important point. The ground is hard packed earth, not 
metal flooring, so it must be deep underground. I am certain that it is 
in Tolgarth's Castle."

Everyone sat in stunned silence. Jacob cringed within himself, realising 
the pain that Sam must have suffered through all of this time.

With the news delivered, Jacob gave Sam a small smile. "I have to go now.  
We were warned of an impending attack on a planet where many of our 
operatives are stationed. We need to go and try to get them out." He 
paused, quietly addressing the group. "I know that this may be hard for 
you all to accept, but there is the distinct possibility that the torture 
Jack has sustained is the source of much of the information that has 
allowed Tolgarth and the system lords to be so successful in their 
attacks."

"Yes. Dad, I totally agree with you. The effects of the death gun, used 
over all this time would be impossible to resist. We will have to assume 
that anything that the Colonel knows, Tolgarth knows."

Sam left the briefing room with a small amount of hope inside. Not as 
much as everyone else, as they hadn't seen the state he was in like she 
had. She wondered if the man she knew would be completely destroyed when 
they found him. For the first time, she welcomed sleep that night. Maybe 
she could find out more information, because tomorrow they were going to 
try and rescue Jack from Tolgarth's castle. Sam was convinced that was 
where he was being held.

                         *******************
 
~Sam found herself standing in the middle of the soot-covered meadow. The 
black clouds built up overhead and the wind blew the dust off the ground 
and it swirled all around her. She found this dream hard to control. She 
wanted to get to Jack's cell quickly, but it seemed to take her ages to 
get there. After she had closed the iron gate behind her, she cautiously 
walked down the corridor towards the iron cage. Crouching down outside 
the bars, she looked in through the square gap. Jack wasn't lying on the 
ground; he was sitting up against the far wall. His arms were lying 
across his drawn up knees and his forehead was resting on his arms. 
"Jack! Jack!" His head shot up and with clear eyes he looked directly 
into Sam's. "Jack, we're coming to get you. We are going to get you out 
of here." A look of horror crossed his face. He leaped up. Straining 
against the chains that held him, he shouted.

"No! Don't! It's a trap."

Sam had been reaching her arm through the gap, trying to touch him, but 
he was too far away. She only got her arm out in time as a solid metal 
door came crashing down in front of her. Spinning around, she could hear 
a distant rumble.  She ran as fast as she could through the iron gate. 
Just as she fell down amongst the ashes of the dead flowers she heard the 
resounding crash, as another solid metal door came down behind her, 
blocking off any chance of going back to Jack. ~

                         *******************
 
With a start, Sam woke up. She found herself breathing hard, as if she 
had been running. Remembering the dream, a feeling of anguish passed over 
her in a wave. Then with determination, she controlled her emotions and 
started to plan how to rescue Jack from Tolgarth.

                         *******************

Part Eight – Trapped

The following day, Sam informed the rest of SG-1 and General Hammond of 
Jack's warning and what had happened. She still wanted to go, but thought 
they had better know what could be in store for them. It didn't seem to 
make much difference, as they all still wanted to go with her. They would 
have to be extra cautious, that was all.

                         *******************
 
They had decided that only SG-1 would go. As they didn't want to be seen, 
they needed a small team to go in. The idea was to sneak in, release Jack 
and sneak out again. Hopefully, without anyone knowing that they had ever 
been there. Teal'c had an acetylene torch and a large hacksaw in his 
pack. Jonas had an extra set of clothes, as they weren't quite sure what 
state Jack would be in when they found him. Sam and Grogan had spare ammo 
and emergency supplies, if needed. They weren't surprised that the 
Stargate was unguarded. Tolgarth for some reason had never had a guard 
posted at the Stargate. For all Tolgarth's recent success, he was still a 
very stupid Goa'uld. He was arrogant and so full of himself, that he made 
a lot of mistakes. Not guarding the Stargate was one of them.

Cautiously, they moved through the night towards the large castle. Sam 
remembered the tunnels that she and Jack had used to escape before. That 
would be how they would go in.

They had only gone down a short way, when Teal'c had come across the 
first trip wire. It was made out of material that made it virtually 
invisible, but not totally, as the light from their flashlights glinted 
off the surface. These trip wires were placed irregularly along the 
tunnels, all at varying heights. When Sam had been leading, she 
completely missed one, as it went right over her head.  Fortunately, 
Jonas saw it before he blundered into it. 

They came to a fork in the tunnel. One corridor was large, with a metal 
floor and the walls were decorated with silver inlay. The other was a 
smaller tunnel leading to the torturous depths below. The floor of this 
tunnel was made up of hard packed earth and there were only a few lit 
torches placed along the walls. Sam took point, with Teal'c watching 
their six. They decided to follow the dirt floor passageway, as that is 
what Sam had seen in her dream. Sam had only gone a little way when she 
noticed a patterned row set on each side of the wall about six inches 
above the ground. She wondered if this was the beginning of the 
decoration that would soon adorn the tunnel, like in the corridor 
adjacent to this one. Suddenly Sam heard a familiar rumble. Crying out a 
warning, she spun around and started back up the passageway. But they 
were too late. A large solid metal door had come crashing down behind 
them. Turning back they tried to go forward again, only to find their way 
blocked there too. The naked flames from the torches were extinguished 
and it went dark. Sam switched on her flashlight and, shining it around, 
she could see a red gas being pumped into the small space. The gas was 
lighting up the invisible laser lines running across the passageway from 
the pattern along the base of the walls. They started to cough and then 
one by one sank slowly to the ground unconscious.

As soon as Teal'c had heard Sam shout out her warning, he had ducked back 
out of the tunnel. He could hear the tramp of booted feet coming down the 
tunnel they had just come from, so he quickly shot up the other corridor. 
Finding a place to hide, he waited.

                         *******************

Sam slowly returned to consciousness. She felt groggy. Her head felt 
thick and her stomach nauseous. Slowly, she opened her eyes and found 
herself in a small room. It was well lit and very similar to the room 
that she and Jack had been tortured in. Thankfully, there was no sign of 
the death gun. Jonas and Grogan were still unconscious. They were 
manacled to one large ring set in the ceiling and were hanging by their 
wrists with their arms above their heads. Their heads hung low down over 
their chests. With some difficulty Sam got to her feet. She was 
surprised, because there were no restraints on her at all. She quickly 
went over to the other two and started to wake them up. Jonas groaned, 
slowly opened his eyes and glared at Sam. He obviously didn't relish 
being slapped on the face, even if she was being gentle. Moving quickly 
over to Grogan she started to wake him. "Where's the truck?" He muttered, 
as he came round. "I'm sure I've been hit by a truck." Sam took one look 
at his face and stepped back quickly. If he felt anything like she did 
when she had woken up, she didn't want to risk wearing Grogen's 
breakfast. Fortunately for everyone, he was OK. 

"Where's Teal'c?" She asked them.

"Ma'am, he ducked down the other tunnel before the gate closed." Grogan 
replied.

Sam let out a sigh. "That's good. Maybe he can find Colonel O'Neill and 
get us out of here."

Sam moved over to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. She 
started to search through her pockets, hoping to find any tool that she 
could unpick their shackles with. But they had taken everything; they 
hadn't even left her with a handkerchief. She started searching the guy's 
pockets, just in case something was missed, when they heard the stamp of 
booted feet outside their door. The door was unlocked and Tolgarth 
stalked in.

Sam took an involuntary step back. Her heart began to pound and the palms 
of her hands started to sweat. The unpleasant memory of what this Goa'uld 
had done to her and Jack came flooding back. Just before his eyes glowed, 
she glimpsed the black steel colour of his eyes in the shadow of his 
mask. She realised that Tolgarth had already taken another host.

"Ah. Major Carter, we meet again. Did you miss me?" He asked with a 
sniggering laugh.

Sam began to feel the rise of bile coming up from her stomach. <'That's 
all she needed, throw up over the feet of a Goa'uld. Jack would've liked 
that though.'> Swallowing hard and in a deceptively strong voice she 
answered.

"Yes, like a plague."

Tolgarth laughed again. <'Yes,'> she thought, <'his laugh is annoying, 
Jack was right'.> 

Tolgarth moved over to Jonas and Grogan. "Hello, Lieutenant Grogan and 
Jonas Quinn, isn't it? We haven't met before, have we?"

Both Jonas and Grogan glared at him but did not answer.

"What do you want, Tolgarth?" Sam demanded rudely.

Tolgarth spun around and with his right hand fired his hand device at 
her. Sam was slammed back into the wall and slowly slid down to land on 
the floor. She lay there trying desperately to get a full breath. 
Fortunately, it hadn't been too strong a force and nothing felt broken. 
Sam slowly stood up and took a defiant stance.

"You know, Major." Tolgarth waggled his left hand at her as he spoke. Sam 
seemed mesmerised by the hand as he waved it in front of her face. "That 
was most rude of you. You didn't say please."

Sam took a step forward, her face full of horror. Reaching up her hand, 
she grabbed hold of the lower edge of Tolgarth's mask and ripped it off 
his head taking the fitted hood with it. Revealing the face of Colonel 
Jack O'Neill beneath it. 

Tolgarth let out a roar and then stepped back, he was angry and his eyes 
glowed. He lifted up his hand with the device and backhanded Sam across 
the face, knocking her to the ground. Sam lay there motionless. Tolgarth 
looked down at her with distain and then started to walk away. He 
stopped, turned and looked directly at her as an evil smile crossed his 
face. 

He turned to Jonas. "Thank you, by the way, for bringing me some spare 
clothes. Just what I needed." He bent down and picked up his mask. Then 
with an exaggerated swagger, left the room. 

Sam lay there motionless, totally unconscious. Jonas and Grogan tried to 
revive her by calling her name, but without any success. Now, they fully 
understood how Tolgarth had managed to know all he knew. They realised 
that no planet that had ever been visited by SG-1 in the past was safe.  
He would also know all the secrets of the SGC. 

After a while Sam came to. Her cheekbone hurt and she could feel blood 
trickling down the side of her face. Groaning, she slowly stood up. She 
felt terrible. She couldn't believe what had happened. No wonder Tolgarth 
had known that they were coming, she had told him by telling Jack. 
Feelings of despair washed over her, as she thought of Jack trapped in 
his own body for such a long time. How were they ever going to get Jack 
free now? It had been better, when she thought Jack was dead.

Sam staggered over to Lt. Grogan and Jonas. She didn't know what to say 
to them and they didn't know what to say either. She sat down beside them 
on the floor and waited to see what was going to happen next.

                         *******************
 
After Teal'c had seen the Jaffa take his teammates away, he started to 
follow them to see where they were taken. He realised that everything had 
fallen apart. Sam had been right, there had been a trap and they had 
fallen right into it. He watched quietly as he saw his teammates taken 
into a room. After the Jaffa had left, he carefully tried the door, but 
it was locked.  Realising that he was going to be no help to them for 
now, he decided to go and find O'Neill. After two hours of unsuccessful 
searching, he made his way back to where Sam and the others were held. As 
Teal'c came down the corridor, he heard some guards coming towards him. 
Quickly, trying the first door he came to, he slipped inside out of 
sight.

The room was a small chamber. There were a few comfortable chairs and a 
low table. In the corner, piled up against the wall, were the weapons and 
packs that belonged to the others. The packs had obviously been gone 
through as the contents were strewn over the floor. Teal'c quickly knelt 
down and checked to see if the GDO's were there amongst the weapons, but 
they had been taken. This was not good. Standing up, he looked around the 
rest of the room. He noticed that there was a pile of black and grey 
clothes sitting on one of the chairs. Teal'c went over, picked them up 
and looked at them.  Seeing what they were, he quickly rolled them up in 
a bundle and put them into his pack. As he was going to leave he noticed 
an object over by the far wall. The strange shaped object had a cloth 
covering it. Teal'c quickly lifted the cloth. He realised that from Sam's 
description that this was the death gun they had talked about. Teal'c 
swiftly lifted the panel on the side and taking some C-4 from the packs 
he fitted it under the panel. Punching in some numbers on the detonator, 
he carefully refitted the panel back in place and covered the death gun 
with the cloth.  This had taken him only a few minutes. After he had done 
this, he left the room moving very quietly. Now he needed to see if he 
could free the others.

                         *******************
 
When Tolgarth came back into the room, he was wearing BDU's. Apart from 
the cold, steel black colour of his eyes and that his hair was a little 
longer he looked just like Jack. Sam quickly stood up. She cautiously 
watched to see if his Jaffa would bring in the death gun. She was 
slightly relieved to see the Jaffa leave Tolgarth alone in the room with 
them.

"So. Major Carter, you will now tell me the new code, so I can get past 
the iris. You will also tell me where Teal'c is. He must be somewhere 
skulking around here."

"I have no idea where Teal'c is now a-days and you know what my answer 
will be about the code."

"See. I found out something new today. After all this time, he managed to 
keep it from me."

"Whom are you talking about?"

"My host. He has been most generous with his information.  It took a 
while, but I got it in the end."

Sam's body began to shake. It was hard to hear this evil voice come out 
of Jack's body.

Jonas shifted in his restraints, his arms had gone numb a long time ago 
and his shoulders were beginning to hurt. "What information?"

Turning around to speak to Jonas. "This has nothing to do with you, Jonas 
Quinn."

With a malicious smile, he turned back to face Sam, stepping up close to 
her. "It is to do with you. I think I can kill two birds with one stone." 
He reached a hand up towards Sam and then stopped. He laughed. "Oh, this 
host does know some unusual words. I don't think I will repeat them in 
front of a lady." Reaching up quickly with both hands, he grasped Sam 
around the neck and started to squeeze. Sam was pushed against the wall 
and she started to black out from the lack of oxygen.

Sam's vision was going black and the edges were tinged with red. He was 
slowly killing her and she couldn't fight back as her body seemed to have 
lost all of its strength. Her heart was not in the fight anymore, she 
found herself giving up. Suddenly, she felt the pressure lift off her 
throat and she was able to breath. With great gasps she drew air into her 
starved lungs. Her vision cleared to see Tolgarth sitting on the floor. 
He was clutching his head in his hands and groaning. She saw a flash of 
gold as his eyes glowed and he pulled out a knife from his boot. Bringing 
it up in both his hands he started towards her. Sam was still weak from 
what he had done to her, so she closed her eyes and waited for the blow.

"Sam! Help me."

It was Jack's voice.  She quickly opened her eyes. Looking at Tolgarth, 
she could see him holding the knifepoint towards himself and he was 
looking directly at her.

"Sam! Help me.  He's too strong."

Jack's frightened brown eyes were looking straight at her, pleading with 
her to help him kill this Goa'uld.

Sam couldn't kill Jack. She started to shake her head from side to side.

"Please, Sam. I can't hold on much longer. You have to kill me. Please!" 
As he spoke the last word his voice broke.

Sam abruptly launched herself at Jack.  Grabbing hold of his hands, she 
plunged the knife into him. Just as the knife reached his chest, light 
shone up into Jack's eyes. Tolgarth was back in control. He threw Sam 
clear across the room hitting her head against the wall, once again 
knocking her unconscious. Just in the split second that Tolgarth had 
taken control he had been able to deflect the knife into his shoulder, 
missing his heart. Swearing, Tolgarth stood up and pulled the knife out 
and with disgust threw it on the ground. Turning to the two men.

"I don't need your information, I have enough in here." Pointing to his 
head. He looked at Sam. "You can wait until I get back." Tolgarth stormed 
out of the room in a rage. 

Teal'c had watched O'Neill leave the cell from his hiding place. As soon 
as he heard O'Neill speak with the Goa'uld voice. He realised the 
seriousness of the situation. <'No wonder I have been unable to find 
O'Neill anywhere.'> He thought.

As soon as Tolgarth and his Jaffa had left, Teal'c wasted no time in 
moving towards the door where the others were trapped. Teal'c tried the 
door again. Surprisingly, it opened. Moving quickly through the door, he 
went over to Sam and checked to see if she was all right. Then using his 
staff weapon, he fired at the chains that held Jonas and Grogan setting 
them free.

"Boy, are we glad to see you, Teal'c. Tolgarth is using Colonel O'Neill 
as a host." Jonas said.

"Yes, I am aware of this. What has happened to Colonel Carter? She does 
not look well."

"It was amazing. Tolgarth tried to kill her, but the Colonel took control 
and stopped him. He even managed to stab himself in the shoulder."

Teal'c looked up. He was surprised, because there had not been many hosts 
who had been able to overpower the Goa'uld, even for a short time. 

Lt. Grogan pulled Sam up and supported her on one side, while Jonas 
supported her on the other. Sam started to come around, so they set her 
down again on the ground. After they had checked her over and given her 
something to drink, she tried to get up to walk on her own. The world was 
spinning a little, but after a few moments she was able to stand 
unassisted. 

"Sam?" Jonas queried. "How did you know it was Colonel O'Neill behind the 
mask?"

Sam answered; her voice was shaky as it rasped in her swollen throat. "I 
recognised his hands and the one without the device on it had the faint 
scar from when he sliced it on the ducting. I also knew Tolgarth had a 
new host, as his eyes were a different colour. We must get out of here 
and stop Tolgarth. I think he's trying to get into the SGC." She finished 
off tiredly.

While Teal'c had been searching for Jack, he had found a safe way to 
leave the Castle. Leading the way, they quietly moved along the 
corridors.

The Stargate was still unguarded. They couldn't understand the thinking 
behind this oversight.  Fortunately, Teal'c still had his GDO, so they 
were able to dial Earth. When it was clear to go they stepped through the 
Stargate.  As soon as they arrived in the gate room at the SGC, Sam with 
a still very husky voice spoke to General Hammond.

"Has Colonel O'Neill arrived?"

"Colonel Carter, yes he has. What happened to you? He said that you were 
all dead." 

"Lock down the base immediately.  Tolgarth is using him as a host."
 Just as she finished speaking, warning klaxons started up through the 
base.  SG-1 quickly moved towards the infirmary where Tolgarth had gone. 
As they travelled down the corridor, they could hear weapon fire ahead. 
Then, suddenly, the weapon fire ceased. They rounded the corner and they 
could see that Tolgarth had raised a force field up around him.

Sam cautiously looked round the corner. She hadn't been able to keep up 
with the others because she was still feeling groggy. Moving slowly 
forward behind the others, so that Tolgarth could not see her, she came 
up behind Teal'c. Sam bent down and lifted the knife that he kept in his 
boot and with a quick flick of her wrist sent it spinning into Tolgarth's 
thigh straight through the force field. With a yell he collapsed to the 
ground and the force field dissolved. Moving quickly, Teal'c went forward 
and removed the device and weapons from Tolgarth's possession. 

                         *******************
 
Two hours later, Sam, Teal'c and General Hammond were in a room. One side 
was divided off with large vertical solid metal bars and behind the bars 
was Tolgarth. A very unhappy Tolgarth, who wasn't being very polite to 
his captors. 

"Tolgarth, we wish to speak with Colonel O'Neill."

Tolgarth sneered and turned his back on them.

With a quick glance at the others, Hammond left the room, closely 
followed by Teal'c and Sam. When they got to Hammond's office, they sat 
down to discuss the situation.

"Colonel, we contacted the Tok'ra as soon as we could, but they are still 
in turmoil. They don't hold out much hope of getting here soon. They 
can't contact Jacob either, because he's on a mission. But they did say 
that they would come as soon as they were able. I'm sorry, Sam, this is 
all we can do."

"What about the Asgard, can they help?"

"They are too busy fighting the system lords and I don't think they can 
help us with this."

Sam felt awful. Her throat felt bruised and sore, her head hurt and she 
had trouble speaking. She just didn't know what they could do and she 
found it hard to think clearly. The only option open to them would be to 
have to wait and hope the Tok'ra would get here soon. Until then, they 
would have to be on full alert. It wouldn't be good if Tolgarth escaped.  
With Jack's knowledge he could do untold damage.

Sam desperately needed sleep so she wandered down to her sleeping 
quarters.  Maybe she could think of something when she had rested.

                         *******************

~Sam was standing at the edge of the blackened meadow. She was looking up 
at the large solid steel door that had come down before. The door was 
impenetrable. In despair, Sam sank down amongst the ashes and she leant 
up against the door and waited. ~

                         *******************
 
Four days later, they were no closer at separating Tolgarth from O'Neill. 
Jonas and Grogan had been looking after him, making sure that he was fed. 
They had also tried to talk to him along with Sam and Teal'c, but to no 
avail. 

Sam met General Hammond outside the holding cell door. They were going to 
try and talk to Tolgarth again and maybe manage to get him to let them 
talk to Jack. They didn't hold out much hope. Tolgarth had been totally 
uncooperative. The guard outside let them into the room. Hammond started 
asking questions. 

"What did you think you would achieve by coming here by yourself? You 
must have known you would eventually get caught."

Tolgarth turned around and his eyes glowed. "I will not reveal my plans 
to you."

"Well let us talk to Colonel O'Neill then." 

"Oh, you want to speak to O'Neill? I'll let you speak to O'Neill, but he 
won't be speaking back though. And before I let you see him, you must 
realise the longer you keep me here the longer *it* will last."

Not knowing to what he was referring to, they watched as Tolgarth lowered 
his head.  Immediately he fell to the floor writhing in agony. O'Neill 
was crying out in pain, clutching his head. Sam stepped forward, but 
Hammond pulled her back, she had got too close to the bars. Just as 
quickly as it had started, it stopped.  Tolgarth stood up from the floor 
and smiled evilly at Hammond and Sam and then let out a laugh. He 
promptly turned his back on them, showing them that he was not going to 
talk to them anymore.

As soon as they were outside, Sam and Hammond quickly discussed what had 
happened.

"He must be torturing the Colonel all the time."

"I'm not so sure Colonel Carter. He may have put that on as a show.  He 
does specialise in messing with people's minds."

Just then Jonas came walking up with a tray of food. On it was some kind 
of casserole and a desert bowl of apple pie. Sam looked at it in 
surprise. "You are feeding him that?"

"Well, I thought maybe Colonel O'Neill might get to taste it."

Sam nodded and gave him a sad smile. "I wouldn't bet on it somehow."

"Anyway, Tolgarth might not even like it. If you want to find out, you'll 
have to ask Grogan, he will be collecting the tray."

Jonas was let into the room while General Hammond and Colonel Carter 
walked off down the corridor.

Just over an hour later, Sam was in her office when she heard the alarm 
bells. Grabbing a Zatnik'atel she rushed out the door. It was quite a 
distance from her office to where the holding cells were situated. She 
could hear rapid weapon fire and it didn't sound good. The scene that 
awaited Sam when she arrived, filled her with horror. Lt. Grogan and some 
SF's were lying on the ground and they were obviously dead. People were 
milling around. She overheard a Major inform General Hammond that, 
unfortunately, they had no choice, as they had to kill Tolgarth. Sam felt 
herself begin to shake. She didn't notice Teal'c come up behind her, 
until he quickly reached out and grabbed hold of her shoulders to keep 
her steady.

"Sam?"

Sam turned around and saw Jack standing in the doorway of the holding 
cell. He was leaning weakly against the doorframe. His face was a white 
ashen colour and blood was trickling down the side of his mouth. Moving 
quickly forward, Sam went up to him, closely followed by Teal'c. With 
relief, Sam could feel no presence of Goa'uld within Jack. Without a 
thought to anyone in the corridor, she put her arms around him, partly to 
stop him from falling, partly for comfort. She felt his arms come round 
her shoulders tightly. Moving his head up beside her head, he whispered 
into her ear.

"Don't ever let go of me, Sam, don't ever let go."

"No. I won't, Jack, I promise." Sam whispered back.

                         *******************

Part Nine - The Inner Battle

"No! Absolutely not!" Sam was standing, leaning over the table in the 
briefing room, shouting at her father. "He's not ready, especially not 
for something like this. It's only been two days."

"Lt. Colonel Carter, sit down. That is an order." General Hammond said 
firmly.

"Yes, Sir."

Sam sank down into her chair. She had a very bad feeling about this and 
everyone else seemed to think it should happen, but she knew he wasn't 
ready.

"Look, Sammie. To a certain degree, we agree with you, but we can't let 
this opportunity slip through our fingers. At least let us ask Jack and 
see what he thinks."

"Ask me what?"

Jack was standing in the doorway.

"Good, Colonel, you are here. Come, take a seat." Hammond replied.

Jack cautiously came into the room. He was still finding it difficult 
being in control of his body again and he found that he was nervous of 
being with a lot of people at once. For him, the briefing room was quite 
full. General Hammond sat in his usual seat, sitting beside him was 
Carter and next to her were Jonas and Teal'c. Sitting opposite were 
Jacob, Dr. Fraiser and two visiting Tok'ra. Sitting in the middle of the 
table was a large cardboard box with a closed lid. Jack stood behind Sam 
and shuffled his feet. Jonas quickly stood up and moved to the other side 
of Teal'c so that Jack could sit down next to Sam.

"So, what do you want to ask me?" Jack could sense Sam's unease, which 
was making him feel even more unsettled.

Jacob leaned forward over the table and looked directly at Jack.

"Anubis is meeting with the system lords in two days time. We have become 
aware that Tolgarth had been invited to the meeting. Is this correct?"

Jack nodded carefully. "Yes that is correct, but he wasn't invited to the 
actual meeting, rather a preliminary meeting with just Anubis. Anubis has 
been very cautious with Tolgarth. I don't think Anubis liked dealing with 
him much." 

"While SG-1 were on Tolgarth's planet, Teal'c found these and brought 
them back." General Hammond pushed the box towards O'Neill.

Sam started to speak, but Hammond cut her off with a warning.

"Lt. Colonel Carter!"

Jack looked around at Sam. "Way to go, Carter, Lt. Colonel." He was 
smiling at her. She was pleased, since he hadn't smiled much in the last 
two days and he wasn't likely to smile a lot in the near future either.

Jacob brought Jack's attention back to the box with a gesture of his 
hand. Jack reached forward to open it, but then hesitated. He pulled his 
hand back and sat back in his chair and placed his hands in his lap.

"Show me."

Teal'c stood up and pulled the box towards him, opened it and pulled out 
the garments - they were the clothes that Tolgarth had worn. Sitting on 
the top of the pile of clothes, were the leather jerkin and mask. Jack 
suddenly had this overwhelming urge to run from the room. His heart was 
pounding rapidly and waves of nausea were washing over him. Sliding his 
hand under the table he gripped Sam's tightly, trying to draw strength 
from her. He didn't dare speak, as he was certain that if he opened his 
mouth he would vomit. His whole body was trembling and he was also quite 
sure that if he spoke his voice would show that he was afraid.

"Jack, we need you to go to this meeting. Anubis is expecting Tolgarth 
and you are the only one who could pull it off. You know how he walks and 
behaves. Also Anubis has met Tolgarth recently hasn't he?"

Jack nodded his head.

"Dad, won't Anubis sense that Colonel O'Neill hasn't a symbiote anymore?"

"Well, this is where I come in. I will be Tolgarth's personal assistant. 
If I keep close enough to Jack and we keep far enough away from Anubis, 
we should be able to fool him. Remember, Sam, the idea is to get the 
others into the ship, so they can plant explosives."

Jack tightened his grip on Sam's hand.

Sam and Jack sat there quietly listening to the plans. Everyone seemed to 
be having ideas as they worked out what they were going to do. They were 
all assuming that Jack was going to be involved.

It was Jonas who asked the obvious question, that everyone else but Sam 
had missed.

"Colonel, will you do it?"

Sam felt Jack take a deep breath. He was breathing very carefully and 
looking intently at the tabletop. He seemed to be having great difficulty 
controlling his breathing. The look he gave Sam before he answered was 
full of fear and trepidation. Looking back at Jonas, he answered in a 
firm voice.

"Yes, I'll do it."

Sam's shoulders sagged in defeat. She knew that once Jack heard the 
scenario, he wouldn't be able to refuse. Her Dad was right. It was too 
good an opportunity to miss.

Jack waited until everyone else had left the room. He was still clasping 
Sam's hand under the table, keeping her there beside him. He was still 
too scared to move, as he really thought he was going to throw up and his 
legs were still shaking.

"Are you sure about this, Jack?"

Looking at Sam, he shook his head from side to side.

After Sam had delivered a very white faced Colonel to the infirmary, she 
went back to her office to think about what had been happening over the 
last few days.

<Jack had explained to them how Tolgarth had escaped. When Lt. Grogan had 
come in to collect the empty tray, Tolgarth had tried to pretend that 
Jack had taken back control. Obviously, Grogan had been taken in at 
first, but he soon realised that it was a ploy of Tolgarth's. But he had 
got too close to the bars and the Goa'uld symbiote shot out of Jack's 
mouth straight into the back of Grogan's neck. Jack wasn't sure what 
Tolgarth was going to do with him, when he opened the cell door to get 
him out. The guard on the door must have heard something, because he 
interrupted Tolgarth as he came in. That's when all the shooting started. 
Jack had made his way out to the corridor and found Sam.

Sam hadn't found out a lot yet, about what had happened while Jack had 
been host to Tolgarth. Every so often Jack would tell her little pieces 
of information. Sometimes it was like about Lt. Grogan, very matter of 
fact and report like, but other times he would tell her what he had been 
feeling, these were the hardest for her to hear about. Sam felt sad about 
Lt. Grogan. She and the others were going to miss him, but every so often 
a feeling of guilt would come over her, as she knew that it could have 
been Jack lying dead in the morgue, not Grogan. The guilt was there, 
because she preferred this outcome to what could have so easily happened.

Sam now knew why she had dreamt that nightmare in the infirmary after 
Jack had been killed. He had explained to her, that when Tolgarth had 
been implanted in him, he had cried out to her to save him, but she had 
never answered him. He had been terrified. After this, for the first 
three and a half months, Tolgarth had tortured Jack constantly. Sifting 
through his mind, pulling out bits and pieces. Jack never knew from which 
direction Tolgarth would come from. Tolgarth would bombard Jack with 
immense pain to distract him so he could pry into his mind.  It hadn't 
taken Jack long to realise that Tolgarth was a weak Goa'uld and couldn't 
control his hosts very well without pain. Every so often, he would get 
the better of Tolgarth and manage to stop him from hurting other people. 
Tolgarth was desperate to retrieve the wealth of knowledge that Jack had 
of the Tau'ri and Tok'ra, but the only way he could keep control was to 
bury Jack so deep that Jack couldn't see or hear what was going on. As 
far as Tolgarth was concerned it was a no win situation. Bury Jack deep 
and not have access to his knowledge, or let him nearer the surface and 
risk him taking back control. That is what had happened when Tolgarth had 
tried to kill Sam. He wanted Jack to suffer. He wanted him to feel Sam's 
throat beneath his fingers, as the life was squeezed out of her. But that 
was Tolgarth's mistake, Jack had taken control and managed to stop 
Tolgarth.

There was one piece of information that Jack had told Sam, where she felt 
like he had only touched the surface, she would have liked to know more. 
He had said, that when he saw Sam's face before she had come to the 
planet, he thought he was dreaming. He had given up trying to fight 
Tolgarth. He had been buried for so long, that he had no idea how many 
days, weeks or even months had gone by. He kept on seeing her face, it 
would come and go, sometimes she was crying, sometimes not. Jack had 
started to hold on to that, he wanted to see Sam again. So he made a 
decision and started to fight back and the next time he had seen Sam, was 
when she had spoken to him to tell him that she was coming. Sam would 
have liked to know more of how he felt and what had happened through that 
time, because she knew that he needed to talk about this experience and 
he wouldn't speak to anyone else.

Jack was a very different person from what he had been before Tolgarth 
had got a hold of him. Now he was quiet, reticent and frightened. Little 
things seemed to fill him with fear, especially loud noisy rooms and 
people cornering him when they spoke to him. Apart from Sam, he didn't 
like being touched. If someone came up to him and touched him on the 
shoulder, it would startle him and he would break out into a sweat. Sam 
really didn't know how on earth Jack was going to manage to pull this 
Tolgarth mission off.>

                         *******************

It was 22 hours after the meeting in the briefing room. Sam was dressed 
in a long grey dress that had a tight fitted bodice with a full skirt. 
The skirt had to be full, as she had a knife strapped to her thigh. 
Around her was a long black cloak. This was fitted with a veil, as they 
didn't want to risk that Sam might be recognised by any of the Jaffa. 
Both the cloak and veil were made out of flimsy material. Sam hoped that 
the ship wouldn't be too cold. She would blame Janet if she caught a 
chill, as it was Janet who had brought the outfit into the SGC for Sam to 
wear. Jonas and Teal'c were with Jack getting dressed. She wondered how 
Jack was coping wearing those clothes again. Just in the last four or 
five hours he had seemed to get stronger and be able to cope with things 
better. He really needed time, something that he didn't have much of. At 
least they wouldn't have to cope with the fear of the death gun, as 
Teal'c had informed them of its destruction. 

Jonas interrupted her thoughts as he knocked on the door of her room. 
When she looked at Jonas' face, she knew that things weren't going very 
well with Jack.

"You had better come, Sam. We've done as much as we can to help him."

When Sam went into the locker room, there wasn't any sign of Jack. Teal'c 
looked decidedly worried and the black cloak and mask were sitting on the 
bench. Teal'c let out a big sigh of relief at the sight of Sam and 
swiftly left the locker room.

"Jack? Where are you?"

She found him leaning over a toilet bowl retching. He had complained of 
nausea that morning, but they had put it down to nerves and hoped it 
would settle. Obviously, the nerves had got control.

Grabbing a paper cup, she half filled it with some cold water and took it 
to him. He looked awful. The vomiting had stopped, but he was pale and 
shaking.

"I can't put it on, Sam. I just can't."

Sam looked over at what Jack was staring at. He was staring at the mask. 

"Jack, listen to me. You CAN do this. It is only bits of metal 
and...and...I'm not sure, anyway some kind of polymer. Tolgarth is dead. 
It's a costume."

Jack closed his eyes, took another sip of water and slowly stood up.

"I need your help, Sam. I can't do this by myself."

Sam took hold of his hand and led him over to the bench. He was already 
fully dressed in the clothes, so all that was needed, was for him to put 
on the cloak and mask. Sam picked up the cloak and firmly fastened it 
around his shoulders. She bent down and picked up the mask. Looking at it 
closely she could see that the silver had been inlaid into a light metal, 
she wondered what type of metal it was. Looking at Jack, she handed the 
mask to him. Lifting it up, he took in a deep breath and then fitted it 
over his head. As he brought up the hood and easily clipped it to the 
mask, Sam found it disturbing that Jack knew exactly how these items 
fitted together.

"Well, Sam, all I need is the doohicky to make my voice Goa'uldish."

Sam reached up and fitted the voice 'doohicky' under his shirt against 
his neck where no one would see it. Jack checked it to make sure it was 
working and quickly switched it off. Sam noticed that he was still 
trembling slightly, but as she couldn't see his face, she wasn't quite 
sure how he was coping. Even though she knew Jack was under the mask, she 
still found herself beginning to react adversely to the mask and the 
enhanced sound of his voice. Taking strength from within herself, Sam 
remembered that it was Jack and not Tolgarth that stood before her. Very 
carefully, Jack removed the mask and handed it back to Sam.

"You carry it for me, please? I s'pose you haven't got a doohicky that 
could make my eyes glow, have you?"

Sam smiled. She was glad to hear some humour come from Jack. "We could 
always plug you into a light socket." She retorted. "But I do have this." 
She pulled out a small device hanging off the end of a light silver 
chain. "This is Naquada. It is pure and hopefully Anubis will sense this 
and believe that you still have a symbiote inside you." Jack carefully 
took the chain and placed it over his head and put it down under his 
shirt. 

Feeling more in control of her fears, Sam spoke kindly to him. "Come on, 
Jack. We have to go, or they will be wondering where we are." Sam moved 
off, walking away from him, swirling her cloak behind her. 

Jack hesitated, as Sam walked away from him. This was the last thing he 
wanted to do. In fact, he had no idea what he wanted to do. His life had 
been turned right upside down and just as he started to feel human again, 
he had to wear this gear again. While he hesitated, he watched Sam float 
through the door. <'Wow, you're beautiful, Sam.'> He thought to himself. 
With this thought in his mind, he managed to unstick his reluctant feet 
from the floor and follow after her.

When they got to the gate room, everyone was already waiting for them. 
All the team members were wearing black and grey clothing. It seemed to 
be Tolgarth's trademark. Jack was the only one wearing any silver. Going 
with Jack, were Jacob as his personal assistant and Jonas and Sam, as his 
attendants. Teal'c couldn't go, as he would be recognized.  Jonas had a 
large bag. In this bag was food that Jacob had brought with him, as it 
wouldn't do to turn up with food that you could only get on earth. Also 
in the bag, was a large specially built tray and enough C-4 and 
detonators to blow up Anubis' ship. They would be gating directly onto 
Anubis' ship. This is something that Jacob hadn't accounted for, but 
fortunately, Jack knew the coordinates that they would need. After the 
event horizon had settled, they all started to walk forward except for 
Jack, who seemed frozen to the spot. Jacob leaned forwards towards Jack. 

"You can do this, Jack."

Sam knew going through the gate wasn't the problem it was putting on that 
mask again. He had felt trapped before and the memory of his captivity 
had come flooding back into his mind. He had told her about it on the way 
to the gate room. With a quick glance at Sam, Jack reached out and took 
the mask from her. Because they were going directly onto Anubis' ship, he 
had to have everything ready, voice enhancer switched on, mask in place 
and the arrogant manner of Tolgarth. From behind Jack, Sam could see his 
body trembling. She wished that they could still 'think talk' so she 
would be able to help him through this, but after extensive scans, there 
was now no sign of the white mass in either of their brains. She did know 
that this fear was something he had to overcome by himself.

Jack stood there for a moment before he swiftly placed the mask on and 
clipped the hood into place. He then adjusted his voice and with a very 
convincing Goa'uld voice, ordered them through the Stargate.

Sam was amazed at how well Jack was able to imitate Tolgarth's arrogant 
walk. He swaggered off the steps at the other side of the Stargate. They 
were now directly on board Anubis' Mother Ship. Jaffa were waiting for 
them and then escorted them into another room and left them there. Jack 
kept up the character of Tolgarth, because there was a very good chance 
that they were being monitored. Soon, two Jaffa came back to the room and 
spoke Goa'uld.

"Lord Tolgarth, Anubis is waiting for you. You will follow us."

"I wish my attendants to go to the kitchens to prepare my meals."

"Lord Tolgarth, refreshments will be provided for you."

"I only eat what I bring. And my attendants are the only ones who prepare 
my meals."

"As you wish, Lord Tolgarth. They will follow them." He pointed to two 
other Jaffa that had been waiting outside the room in the corridor.

Jack and Jacob followed the first two Jaffa. Jacob was keeping very close 
to Jack, just in case the Naquada necklace didn't work. They couldn't 
risk the Jaffa picking up that Jack had no symbiote. While Sam and Jonas 
followed the two other Jaffa, that were going in the opposite direction 
as Jack and Jacob.

Sam and Jonas were left in the kitchens, where Jonas quickly unpacked the 
food and the tray. He then nodded to Sam and left the kitchens. Sam very 
quickly started preparing the food, making sure that it looked good on 
the tray. The tray was large with high sides, almost like a large oval 
bowl. She couldn't help smiling at herself remembering when her Dad had 
said she would prepare the food and the guys had made caustic remarks 
about her cooking and food poisoning. Her Dad had flown to her defence 
and embarrassingly told them what an excellent cook she was. That she had 
kept him fed for years after his wife had died and he was still alive. 
The tray was set. With an effort she lifted it up, as it was quite heavy. 
The reason being, that set into the bottom of the tray was nearly half 
the C-4 that they needed. As Sam started to walk back towards the room 
that they had left, she started to make detours all over the ship. Every 
so often, she would stop put down the tray, lift the food up laying on 
the false bottom and pull out some C-4 and detonator and place the charge 
in a concealed place. Sam tried to put the charges against the interior 
of the outside wall of the ship. Many times she was asked why she was 
where she was. She would lower her eyes and say in rehearsed Goa'uld. 

"I am lost, I am taking these refreshments to my Lord Tolgarth." 

They would direct her in the right direction and as soon as they were out 
of sight, she would then shoot off somewhere else.

Finally, all of the C-4 was placed and the tray was considerably lighter 
now. Of which she was very grateful, as her arms were getting very tired. 
With all the directions that she had been given, she knew the way to 
where Jack was, blindfolded.

                         *******************

Jonas had shot down to the engine room and to the hanger where the death 
gliders were kept. He found it easier to stay undetected, for some reason 
most of the Jaffa weren't patrolling the ship. Jonas thought the reason 
was most probably because the Jaffa were making most of the quiet before 
the remaining system lords arrived. 

Just as he set the last charge, a Jaffa discovered him. Fortunately, 
Jonas managed to miss the blast from the Jaffa's weapon, as he swivelled 
around throwing his body straight at the attacking Jaffa. With a loud 
'oouf' and clank of metal, the Jaffa fell to the ground with Jonas 
straddling his body. In no time at all, Jonas managed to incapacitate the 
Jaffa with a blow from his fist. After tying him up, he dragged the 
unconscious Jaffa around behind some stores. Effectively gagging him, 
Jonas left him there, hoping no one would find him. Once he had done 
this, he went up to the room where Jacob and Jack were and waited outside 
for Sam to arrive.

                         *******************

Jacob was finding it very difficult to keep close to Jack, without it 
looking odd. The Jaffa guards walked very fast and after they left the 
others, four more Jaffa came up behind them and marched with them. Jacob 
also knew that he couldn't help Jack in any way, as he was a servant and 
must not speak unless spoken to first. It was very important over the 
next couple of hours that they kept Anubis occupied. They didn't want him 
wandering around the ship and coming across Sam and Jonas. 

Jack walked into the room with an arrogant swagger.

"Anubis." He acknowledged

"Tolgarth, I assume. Prove it."

Jacob was alarmed. How was Jack going to prove to Anubis that he was 
Tolgarth? He was amazed at how simple it was. Jack reached up and removed 
his mask and hood, putting the mask down on a small table. With a sneer, 
Jack then sat down on a chair uninvited. Jacob was relieved to see that 
Jack did not show any fear and he looked just like he would imagine that 
Tolgarth would look.

"So, Tolgarth, you have information for me, information about the 
Tau'ri?"

Jack leant back in his chair, steepled his fingers together and in a 
cocky voice.

"And why should I give *you* any information?"

"This is why you are here. This is why I gave you ships and Jaffa 
warriors. You owe me."

"The Tau'ri, they have a shield over their Stargate. They call it an 
iris."

"I already know that. What is it made of?"

Jack paused. "Some kind of metal, my host doesn't know what kind."

"I thought you said he was the leader of the Tau'ri."

"No, he is not the leader of the Tau'ri."

"You mean to say this host is not Colonel O'Neill." Anubis said as he 
quickly leant forward in his chair.

"Oh, he is Colonel O'Neill, but he isn't the leader of the Tau'ri."

The conversation carried along in this vein for an hour. Jack letting a 
little information out, just enough to keep Anubis interested, but not 
enough to put the SGC in jeopardy. After a while the door opened and Sam 
and Jonas were led into the room. Sam very carefully walked over to Jack 
and laid the tray down on the small table next to the mask. She was 
surprised to see the mask removed, but did not show it. Bowing to Jack, 
she then moved quickly around to stand with Jacob and Jonas behind Jack's 
chair.  This was Jack's cue. He reached across and took some food from 
the tray and started to eat it.

"My food is not good enough for you, Tolgarth?"

"I have a delicate palate." Reaching across again, he picked up another 
piece of food. As he leant back into the chair, he very carefully stuffed 
down the back of it, a small package that Sam had dropped down behind his 
back.

Anubis' first prime entered the room and he bent down and whispered 
something into Anubis' ear.

Anubis stood up. "You shall go now, Tolgarth. I want to see you again 
after the conference. You will come here, but wait until I contact you." 
Anubis walked out of the room.

Jack quickly stood up, picked up the mask and fitted it back on. "Right, 
we're outta here."

Moving swiftly, they walked to the Stargate room. When they got there, 
Sam quickly dialled in the coordinates for a planet that was close by. 
Waiting for them at the planet was a cargo ship, manned by the Tok'ra and 
Teal'c. There was no way that they could gate to Earth, as the Jaffa in 
the gate room would have seen the coordinates. They also needed to be in 
close proximity so they could detonate the explosives. As soon as they 
arrived on the planet, they moved towards the cargo ship. The ship took 
off quickly, as they had quite a way to go and they didn't want to arrive 
after all the system lords had left. While they were travelling towards 
the mother ship, they started to get changed. Sam couldn't wait to get 
out of her dress and get back into BDU's. It would be heaps more 
comfortable and a lot warmer. But she decided to wait for the guys to 
change first, as Jack had already started ripping off his clothes in 
obvious anger, as he stormed off into the back of the ship.

When they arrived near Anubis' ship, they noticed that most of Goa'uld 
ships were already there. They counted them off. Jack sat on the floor 
over against the wall, with his head in his arms not moving. Sam had 
tried to talk to him, but he had ignored her. He had been behaving like 
that ever since he had finished getting changed. When Jacob announced 
that Osiris had arrived, Jack spoke for the first time.

"I hope he's sitting in that chair when we blow the ship." Sam knew what 
he meant, as the package he had put down the back of the chair was made 
up of C-4 and a detonator.

Finally, all the Goa'uld had arrived. Sam walked over to Jack.

"Sir! Sir?"

"Huh?"

Would you like to detonate the bombs?"

Jack looked up at her and he looked tired. He quietly shook his head and 
laid his head back down on his arms. Sam lifted her thumb and brought it 
down on the button. They watched on the screen as simultaneous explosions 
erupted throughout the mother ship. They had done it; the system lords 
were all dead. Sam put the remote down on the consol and walked off into 
the back room.

Jacob hadn't watched the screen when the explosions had gone off, because 
he had been watching Jack.  Jack had been looking at Sam and Jacob had 
seen the longing in his face. Jack looked tired and burnt out. This last 
mission had taken a lot out of him. Sam had been right, as it was too 
soon after what had happened. Even so, if he had to ask Jack to do it all 
over again, he would. 

Jacob left the room and went to find his daughter. He found her sitting 
on the floor against the wall. Her legs were straight out in front of her 
and her head was leaning back against the wall.

"Sammie?"

"Yes, Dad." Came a tired reply.

Jacob sat down beside her. "Sam, when are you going to tell him?"

"Tell him what?"

"That you are leaving the Air Force."

"How did you know?" She asked surprised.

"I haven't been your father for this many years to not know you."

"I've had enough, Dad. These last eight months have been like a living 
nightmare and it's been even worse for Jack. I don't know if he is going 
to survive this. I don't know if *we* will survive this."

"I think Jack is stronger than you think. He will be OK. It's only been 4 
days since his release from Tolgarth's control. Time is a great healer."

Jacob leant back against the wall and they sat in companionable silence. 
Sam thought it was strange, she hadn't felt this close to her father 
before. Sam found she liked it, she realised that she should make more of 
an effort to share herself with her Dad.

Jack walked into the room. 

"Sam, I need to talk to you."

Jacob got up from the floor, turned and smiled at Sam. He mouthed, "tell 
him", before he walked out through the door, leaving Jack and Sam to 
talk.

                         *******************

Epilogue

Two months later.

It was warm and the sun was shining brightly in the blue cloudless sky. 
Jack was leading her through some small trees away from the cabin. She 
looked back towards the jetty and she could still see the fishing pole 
stuck up against the railing where Jack had left it. She remembered that 
he had suddenly sprung up off the jetty and grabbed her by the hand. 
<"Come on, Sam, I want to show you something."> So she followed him up 
behind the cabin towards these trees. As they came through the other side 
of the trees, a warm breeze blew through her hair and making the skirt of 
her pale blue dress billow out and swirl around her bare legs. Her 
sandaled feet were leaving slight footprints in the dry dusty ground. 
Jack bent down and held out his hand to her and helped her over a 
difficult part of the pathway. They carried on climbing. Sam felt good 
and she hadn't felt this happy before. Soon they reached the top of the 
rise. Sam gasped as she looked out at the scene below her. Still holding 
Jack's hand, she ran down amongst the flowers, pulling him along with 
her. It was the meadow, the meadow from her dreams. The fragrance was 
just as she remembered it. The only difference was that this was real and 
Jack was here, standing beside her. Turning to him, she said. "Jack, this 
was your dream, not mine." 

Picking her up off the ground by her waist, he whirled her around him, 
laughing the whole time. "No, Sam, this is *our* dream." He settled her 
feet gently on the ground, while still holding her he reached down and 
kissed her.

 
THE END 
OR SHOULD I SAY THE NEW BEGINNING

Feedback: Now there has been some mutterings from beta readers etc, of a 
sequel. I need fuel to feed the brain. So, please anyone who wants a 
sequel, please e-mail me. 


                         *******************

Tolgarth's Revenge - The Sequel
By Arrietty - arrietty39@hotmail.com


RATING: R (for violence)

CATEGORY: SJ, Angst, Action/Adventure and h/c.

SPOILERS: The Tolgarth Series.

SUMMARY: Jack's experiences with Tolgarth are not over.

DISCLAIMER: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of 
Showtime/Viacom. MGM/UA and Double Secret Productions. This story has 
been written for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has 
exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original 
characters, situations and story are the property of the author.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: My wonderful beta readers have inspired this story. They 
insisted on knowing more of what happened to Jack from his point of view. 
So this story, not only deals with the aftermath of what Jack has 
experienced, but also covers his thoughts from what happened during his 
capture by Tolgarth. 

It is imperative that you read the series first, of which you can find on 
any of the above sites. Otherwise, it will be very hard to understand 
what is happening. Dreams are indicated with the symbol ~ and Italics. 
Flashbacks are indicated with the symbol \\. I would like to thank all 
the lovely readers who have given me feedback. :)

Thanks: This is an extra special thank you, to my three wonderful beta 
readers. DJ, Vicky and Tricia, who have helped a tremendous amount while 
writing this complete series. Any mistakes are ALL mine.
 
FEEDBACK: Yes please. :) arrietty39@hotmail.com 


                         *******************

Tolgarth's Revenge - The Sequel

Sam smiled to herself, as she pushed the door of the cabin open with her 
foot. Looking for a vase, she first laid the large bunch of flowers on 
the table. With a small frown, she stood in the middle of the wooden 
cabin and looked around for something, anything, she could place the 
flowers in. A look of inspiration flashed across her face and with a 
smile, she started to pick up some of the flowers.

Jack leant his back against a post on the jetty, a fishing pole sat 
lazily in his hands. The float was bobbing with the movement of small 
ripples, as the light breeze disturbed the surface of the lake.  He leant 
his head back against the hard post and closed his eyes.  Without 
realising it, a grin spread across his face, as he thought about who was 
busy in his cabin, getting lunch ready.

Opening his eyes with a start, a look of fear crossed over his face 
momentarily, then he relaxed once again.  He had just realised that for 
the last hour, while they had gone for their walk, it had been the first 
time that he hadn't thought about his horrific time with Tolgarth. 
He was so pleased with Sam's reaction. Through all the times that they 
had dreamed that dream, she had been totally unaware that he had 'really' 
been there too. But then, he had been unaware that Sam was having the 
same dream as well. This time, it hadn't been a dream. Thankfully, she 
hadn't disappeared into thin air as he had held her and they had kissed. 

For Sam, the dreams had been wonderful, but for him they had been 
frightening, as she was always whisked away. He had tried to find her 
amongst the flowers, but he never could. Then, he would wake up and 
sometimes she would be there, reassuring him that everything was all 
right. It wasn't until this day, that they had fully realised what had 
been happening. Feeling secure, he pictured Sam's animated face, as she 
had tried to explain their experience scientifically on the way back to 
the cabin.  He still had no idea what she had been talking about. Taking 
a deep breath, he turned his mind back to when Sam hadn't been there, a 
time when he had needed her so desperately.

                         *******************

Flashback

\\Jack heard a grinding noise, as he struggled to open his eyes. After he 
opened them, the first sight he saw, was a pair of eyes glowing at him 
through Tolgarth's mask. Jack closed his eyes and groaned. The last thing 
that he remembered was the wonderful kiss that he and Sam had shared, as 
he had died. But he wasn't dead now. Two Jaffa guards roughly pulled him 
out of the sarcophagus, while Tolgarth watched. As yet, he hadn't said a 
word. Jack was taken into another room and was told to wash himself and 
change his blood soaked clothes. He was given a plain black tunic and 
matching pants. These he pulled on and padded out into the corridor in 
his bare feet. The two guards were waiting for him.  He was led into the 
large hall that he and Sam had been taken to before.  Jack looked 
nervously around for the Death gun, slightly relieved to see its absence. 

Tolgarth was sitting on his throne, like he had before. He stood up, as 
Jack was pushed down onto his knees. 

"Kneel before your god." Hissed one of the guards in his ear.

"I see you have learnt your lesson this time, Colonel O'Neill."

Uncharacteristically, Jack didn't come back with a sarcastic quip. For 
the first time in many weeks, he couldn't sense Sam's presence. He had 
come to rely on her being there all the time. Though he didn't show it, 
he was scared. He wasn't sure why, as he had been in situations like this 
many times before, but this time, something seemed different, very 
different. 

Tolgarth stalked down the steps towards Jack. Bending down he looked 
closely at him and then slowly nodded his head. Tolgarth stood up and 
removed his mask and hood.  Revealed below, was a cruel looking face with 
glowing eyes. Jack then knew exactly what was going to happen. He 
struggled against the firm grip of the guards, as Tolgarth walked around 
the back of Jack. As he shut his eyes, all he could see was Sam's face. 
The sharp pain penetrated the back of his neck, spreading out to his head 
and back.  As he screamed out in pain, he called out her name in his 
mind, but she wasn't there. All that was there, was the encompassing evil 
thoughts of Tolgarth, as he flooded Jack's whole being with pain. //
  
                         *******************

Jack opened his eyes with a start. He found his body was shaking from the  
memory. He really had to try and get past what had happened to him, but 
however hard he tried, the memories just continued to haunt him. 
Suddenly, he felt a pull on the fishing line. He watched the float from 
his line bob down under the surface. With total surprise he quickly 
scrambled up, then started to reel in whatever was hidden in the depths 
below.

A few minutes later, Jack ran up the bank towards the cabin. 

"Sam. Sam..." He stopped dead in the doorway. Everywhere he looked, there 
were bottles, jugs and bowls. All filled with the colourful blooms from 
the meadow. Sam was just placing a beer bottle with a few stems of 
flowers sticking out of it on the table. She looked up with a smile. Jack 
was standing in the doorway with a large fish hanging from one hand and 
his fishing pole in the other.  "Look what we've got for lunch." He 
announced with a large grin across his face.

                         *******************

It had been hard for Sam to say goodbye to Jack at the airport. She 
wasn't going to see him until the weekend, a whole week to wait. The last 
two weeks at Jack's cabin had been very peaceful. They had spent time 
together, getting to know each other all over again. Jack was different 
now. If she was honest with herself, she knew that she was different too. 
The experience with Tolgarth had changed them both considerably. Jack 
much more than herself, though.  

Jack had left on his flight for Colorado Springs two hours before her own 
flight. He said that it was about time that his house had a new coat of 
paint, so they had spent the last day packing up his cabin. She was now 
sitting in her seat, flying to Nevada. Sam was temporarily working at 
Area 51. General Hammond had not accepted her resignation and had 
suggested that after an enforced downtime of 4 weeks, she would be re-
assigned to Area 51. 

Though, she was officially on holiday for the first 4 weeks, she had 
spent the entire time in trying to help Jack get back to normal living. 
Even though he had recovered very well, he still wasn't ready for active 
duty. Sam was pretty sure that it would take many months before he would 
be. These last two weeks clinched it. They had only just come to the 
decision two days ago. Jack was going to retire and she was going to go 
back to the SGC. They both couldn't be in the Air Force and be together. 
Now, she had Jack back safe and the enforced rest had seemed to heal her 
misgivings of being in the Air Force, she thought she was ready to go 
back. As soon as she got back to work, she was going to contact General 
Hammond to let him know, that she was ready to come back to the SGC. If 
she could get past Dr. McKenzie's scrutiny, hopefully she would get back 
command of SG-1. Teal'c and Jonas were on temporary loan to other teams. 
It would be good to see them again, as she hadn't seen them for four 
weeks.

                         *******************

At approximately the same altitude, but going in a different direction, 
Jack was going over similar thoughts as Sam. He was secretly relieved, he 
had had enough of saving the world.  It was about time someone younger 
did this job. He couldn't keep the smirk off of his face, as he 
remembered their decision. Hopefully, only one more week, then Sam would 
be in Colorado Springs. They could be together now, with no rules or 
regulations or any pesky Goa'ulds to keep them apart. With these thoughts 
running through his head, he drifted off to sleep.

                         *******************

~It was totally black; he couldn't see or feel anything. Deep down inside 
himself he could feel a dull pain, throbbing like an engine working in 
the bowels of a large machine. Jack's eyes were open, but there wasn't a 
single point of light. He tried to move, but nothing happened, then he 
felt something come up behind him.

"Are you going to do as you are told now?"

That voice, it terrified him. Jack tried to remember why. Struggling 
within himself, he answered.

"Yes."

"I don't believe you. But I will give you the benefit of the doubt."

Suddenly, a blinding light assaulted his vision. He could see. Then, he 
could feel. With a sinking heart, he remembered everything. He was host 
to Tolgarth. Jack could feel the mask pressing up against the skin of his 
face and the closeness of the hood that encased his head. He had no 
control over where he looked, but he drank in the sight, like a thirsty 
man. Looking through the holes in the mask, he saw a man kneeling at his 
feet. Without warning, Tolgarth lifted his arm up and blasted this man 
with his hand device. Jack could feel the pain and suffering the man was 
being put through, as he died. Jack could also feel Tolgarth's glee, as 
the man before him died a rather slow and painful death. 

"No. No. Stop! You can't do this."

Tolgarth chuckled to himself and said to Jack. "Too late. You were too 
late. He is dead now."

Jack was horrified at what he saw and what he felt and he was terrified 
at what he was exposed to, the raw evil that was Tolgarth. He started 
shaking within himself with anger.  He started to swear at Tolgarth when 
he saw a young woman being led into the chamber, he knew what Tolgarth 
was going to do. She was going to die.  Using all of his will power, he 
tried to control his movements. He used every piece of himself, as he 
willed his arm to stay by his side.  Suddenly, he felt he was in control. 
Tolgarth was screaming at him in Goa'uld. Jack started to scream back at 
him, as they fought for control of this one limb. ~

                         *******************

Jack could feel someone holding him down, as he thrashed around in his 
seat. Realising that he had been dreaming, he opened his eyes. He stared 
up at three pairs of frustrated and angry eyes as they held him down. One 
lady near him held a syringe in her hand. Quickly, taking in the 
situation, he promptly assured them.

"It's all right. Only a nightmare. I'm okay."

They didn't let go of him, as the lady moved closer with the syringe.

"Really, I'm okay. I don't need that.  I was asleep." By now, Jack was 
beginning to get panicky. The last thing he wanted, was to wake up in a 
padded cell.

Jack could feel the sweat rolling off his face and down his chest. He 
couldn't move to wipe it away. "Please. Can I sit up now?" He looked 
pointedly at his captors, noticing for the first time, that one of them 
sported a swollen eye. 'Uh oh' he thought to himself. Slowly, one by one, 
the stewards that were holding him down let go. Jack carefully adjusted 
his position in the seat, held his hands up in a defensive position and 
said, "really, I'm okay. I won't move from this spot until we touch down.  
There's no need for any needles." One of the stewards looked at him 
closely and nodded his head. 

"All right everyone, back to your seats." 

The stewards and the woman with the needle left. Except for one steward, 
who promptly sat down beside Jack and stayed sitting there for the rest 
of the journey.

Jack turned away from the steward and looked out of the window. He really 
didn't want to explain himself and he needed time to pull himself 
together before leaving the plane. He had dreamed these dreams quite 
often, but not for the last four days. He had hoped that they had gone. 
But apparently, he had been wrong.

                         *******************

It was Monday morning and Sam had had a very trying meeting with the head 
of Area 51.  It hadn't taken this man long to take away the well-rested 
feeling of a good holiday. Two weeks with Jack at his cabin. It had been 
just what she had needed. What they had needed. Now she was annoyed. This 
man, Pritchard, was a pain in the mikta. Giggling to herself, as she 
thought of Teal'c, she walked into the very busy lab. 

She had to admit though, that she thoroughly enjoyed her work here, 
especially as they were working on the defence shields. A part of her was 
going to miss being here, even though she had only been here for two 
weeks before going to the cabin. The problem being, her boss didn't like 
her. He seemed to have decided to make it as hard for her as he could. 
There was something else that was bugging her. She had been so busy with 
Pritchard, going over his petty problems, that she hadn't had time to 
enquire about what was behind some locked doors. Sam wondered just what 
they were hiding down there. She had meant to talk to Jack about it, but 
for some reason she never thought to bring it up. 

Sitting down at her desk, she found herself remembering her holiday. It 
most probably had something to do with the fact that a large bouquet of 
flowers was sitting on her desk and the fragrance permeated her senses. 
There was one good thing about being the supervisor of the lab, she could 
have flowers on her desk and even though there was lots of sneezing, no 
one could complain. 

She hadn't known who was surprised the most, her or Jack, when he came in 
with the fish. Apparently, he had never caught anything in the lake in 
his life. Smiling to herself with the memory, she switched on her 
computer to start work.

Sam had spent the rest of the week working on the project. She had spoken 
to General Hammond, but he hadn't got back to her yet with a date to 
start at the SGC. It was, unofficially, accepted that she would go back, 
but there was always red tape and also she had to finish off a bit more 
of this project. 

She was due to go to Colorado Springs Friday afternoon for the weekend, 
only of course if she managed to finish this tonight. As tomorrow, she 
had another meeting with Dr. Pritchard and a few other bigwigs from the 
head office. That would take most of the day, so that was why she was 
working late tonight, to finish this. After running her hand over the 
back of her neck and stretching her muscles, she went back to working at 
the computer. Sam Carter was only disturbed once, by the security guard 
checking in on her. 

Three hours later, with a big sigh, Sam finally saved her work and shut 
down the computer. Everyone had gone home long ago. It was weird, as the 
security guard had only come in once to check on her, when he usually 
came in at least every hour. The hairs on the back of her neck began to 
stand up. Something was wrong.  Promptly, she moved to the phone. Picking 
it up, she dialled the security room. There was no reply, so she moved 
out into the corridor to investigate. It didn't take her long to come 
across the guard that had checked on her earlier.  He was lying face down 
in the corridor. He was dead, having been shot in the back. Puzzled 
slightly as to why she hadn't heard a shot, she moved on down the 
corridor to investigate.

Cautiously, she rounded a corner. She saw two guards sitting on the 
floor. They were slumped over unnaturally. Their backs were propping open 
the two doors that had previously been locked. Going over to them, she 
checked for a pulse, but both of them were dead. This time, she couldn't 
see how they had died, as there weren't any bullet wounds. Checking for 
weapons, she was surprised to see that they had holsters that would 
accommodate Zatnik'atel's. But, unfortunately, they were empty. 

Moving slowly through the open doors, she crept down the corridor. First, 
trying the handle of a cupboard, with relief she found it unlocked. 
Searching through some tools, she found a wrench. Carrying the hefty 
weapon in her hand, she proceeded down the corridor. She checked all the 
rooms, as she went along.  Silently, opening any doors that were 
unlocked. Sam decided that if the door was locked, it would most probably 
be a good idea to keep it locked. Who knows what the NID had stored in 
here without the Air Force's knowledge? Most of the rooms were empty. One 
she found had an untidily made-up bed, a small table and chair in it. It 
looked like it had been occupied very recently. With an increased sense 
of danger, Sam moved further into the complex. Another room, she came 
across, had her totally stunned. Sitting in the middle of the room, was a 
sarcophagus. 'Where on Earth did they find that?' She thought to herself. 

Hearing a noise behind her, she turned abruptly. Finding herself face to 
face with Tolgarth. Yellow, evil eyes glowed out of Lt. Grogan's face. 
With an annoying laugh and a smirk, Tolgarth said,

"So, Major...no, it's Lt. Colonel Carter, right? We meet again."

"You were dead." She stated.

Tolgarth started to walk around Sam, while all the time he was aiming a 
Zatnik'atel at her. "Yes, I was, but these fools put me in the 
sarcophagus. I have just been waiting for the opportunity to get free. 
And *you*! Are not going to spoil it." Just as he finished speaking, he 
fired the Zatnik'atel at Sam. She was immediately enveloped with blue 
electricity and crumpled to the ground.

                         *******************

Jack had just finished putting his brushes away. He only had the topcoat 
on the window ledges to do.  Then he was done. He had been painting the 
whole time, except when The Simpson's and a good hockey game were on. He 
wanted to get this finished, so he could show Sam.  It was a foreign 
feeling, as he had never wanted to show Sam things that he had done like 
this before. It felt so...domesticated. With a smile, he closed the 
garage door and started to move towards the house. Without warning, he 
found himself dropping to his knees. Everything went black. Shaking his 
head to clear it, he slowly stood up. "That was weird", he muttered to 
himself.  Making a mental note to mention it to Dr. Fraiser at his next 
check up, he went into his well-lit house from out of the dark.  

Switching the TV on, he settled himself down onto the sofa. With a beer 
in his hand, he let his mind wander over what he was going to do 
tomorrow. 'Get up, make breakfast, finish off those window sills and go 
to the airport and pick up Sam.' By the time he had finished making 
plans, he had a broad grin across his face. He had been so engrossed in 
what he had been thinking, he hadn't even noticed that The Simpson's had 
started. From what he could gather, Homer wanted something to eat as he 
had his head buried in the fridge. As soon as the commercials came on, 
Jack was mirroring Homer, while he hunted around his fridge for something 
to warm up. He could feel the cold air from the fridge on his face and 
the memory of Tolgarth's mask intruded into his mind.

                         *******************

\\He lost the fight, as Tolgarth took back control of Jack's arm and 
killed the young, frightened woman. Tolgarth was angry. He saturated Jack 
with so much pain, that it beat him back down into the dark despair where 
he had been before. He couldn't see, hear, touch, taste or speak.  The 
only thing he could do was think. The only blessing, he could think of 
with this situation, was that he couldn't see into Tolgarth's mind. He 
stank of evil. 

Jack had been witness to many cruel things that Tolgarth had done while 
using his body. He also had been shown the memories of what Tolgarth had 
done to previous hosts and victims. Jack's mind reeled, it felt numb. He 
started to give up. If he tried to fight Tolgarth, he just tortured him 
with memories of what had happened to him in the past as well as what he 
would do to him in the future. His only choice was to keep quiet and hope 
that Tolgarth left him alone. He had no idea of the passage of time. It 
could have been weeks. It could have been days since Tolgarth last tried 
to get information out of him. 

All through this time, Jack had kept the one thing he couldn't risk him 
finding out. Sam. He must never find out about their connection or their 
feelings. If ever he found her, Tolgarth would use her to get to him. An 
image of Sam's face came to his mind. She was watching him. Her blue eyes 
were filled with tears as she looked at him. He knew he was 
hallucinating, but welcomed the sight, as he gazed at the face that he 
loved. Blinking his eyes, he noticed that the vision had gone. However 
much he tried, the beautiful sight didn't reappear. With renewed despair, 
he let his mind go blank. After this, every so often she would reappear. 
Watching him, looking like she was waiting for something. 

Time seemed endless. He couldn't remember when he had seen real daylight 
last. Sam's face drifted in and out of his troubled dreams as he slowly 
began to lose himself in the darkness.  He seemed to see her more often 
now and she seemed distressed. Almost as though she needed his help. 
Dredging the last vestiges of hope from within, Jack started to fight 
back. He worked on finding a weak spot in Tolgarth's sub-consciousness. 

Without warning, he heard his name. 

"Jack! Jack!" 

Looking up, he saw Sam standing in front of him. She was reaching out to 
him. 

"Jack, we're coming to get you. We are going to get you out of here." 

As soon as Jack heard those words, he knew that Tolgarth had felt 
something, something that didn't feel right to him.  He shouted out a 
warning. "No! Don't! It's a trap!"

Suddenly, he was enveloped with a sheet of pain, as Tolgarth came into 
his inner mind. Pulling him, dragging him into the bright daylight.  
Tolgarth started his torturing again, as he prised the information out of 
the battered mind of Jack O'Neill. //

                         *******************

Jack found himself lying on the floor in the kitchen.  He was curled up 
in a foetal position, his body drenched in sweat. Slowly, he sat up, 
banging his head on the open door of the fridge. Reaching up shakily, he 
closed the door and staggered to his feet. This was getting too weird. 
Having nightmares when you are asleep is one thing, but when you are 
awake is another. Jack stretched his aching back and moved off to the 
bathroom to have a shower.  

After coming out of his bedroom, dressed in comfortable sweats, he moved 
back into the kitchen. This time he didn't feel very hungry, so he just 
grabbed an apple out of the bowl and wondered back into the lounge. The 
thought of going to sleep didn't sound too thrilling. So he picked up the 
remote and started to flip through channels until he found something that 
he could lose himself in, hopefully, without any bad memories intruding.

                         *******************

Sam groaned as she came too. Someone was bending over her. With a start, 
she backed away from him. With relief she sensed no presence of a 
Goa'uld.  Looking at her watch, she was surprised to see that it was 
nearly dawn. 

"Colonel Carter. What happened here?"

"I need to speak to Dr. Pritchard now! You have a dangerous person on the 
loose."

"He's in his office, Ma'am. He too has been injured like yourself. You 
need medical assistance."

"No! I do not! I need to speak to Pritchard now."

By now, Sam was upright. Even though she felt a little wobbly, she walked 
quickly towards where Dr. Pritchard's office was.

"Dr. Pritchard!" She yelled as she slammed the door of his office open. 
Turning to the medical staff in his office. "Have you finished?" They 
nodded nervously. "Get out! Now!"

"Yes, Colonel." They said and quickly departed.

Turning back to Pritchard. Carter with short sharp questions fired them 
at him with the same precision, that she fired her P-90.

"What do you think you are doing? Reviving a Goa'uld? Are you insane? 
Where did you get a sarcophagus anyway? On top of all that you have 
detained Lt. Grogan...who was reported 'Killed in Action'...without 
informing General Hammond."

Still shaken by his first encounter with a live Goa'uld, Dr. Pritchard's 
voice wavered as he attempted to redeem himself. "H-ow do you know he 
wasn't informed?"

There was no doubt in her mind what Hammond's actions would be. "Because 
Hammond would never have agreed to using the sarcophagus to revive 
Grogan, without the Tok'ra here to remove Tolgarth." The whole time she 
spoke, it was with a firm controlled voice. The anger she felt over the 
stupidity of the NID bubbled just below the surface. "Please tell me that 
this Goa'uld has been contained."

Although Dr. Pritchard was the senior scientist on this project, Carter 
totally outranked him. Especially, when it came to anything to do with 
Aliens and national security. Dr. Pritchard shook his head. Picking up 
the phone, Sam immediately put a call through to General Hammond. Who, 
though at home, surprisingly was awake. 

Sam informed Hammond of the situation. Held the hand piece away from her 
ear, as she listened to his reaction. Nodding, she said. "Yes, Sir." 
Then, promptly handed the phone to Pritchard. Finally walking out of the 
room, she felt absolutely no pity for Pritchard at that moment. 

Immediately, Sam organised a containment team to surround the complex, 
but she knew it would be too late. The Goa'uld would be gone. 

Several hours later, she was ready to take a jet from Nellis to Peterson 
Air Force Base, where a chopper would be waiting to take her to the SGC. 
While making the journey back to Colorado, Sam received a message 
directly from General Hammond. It did not relieve any worry that she 
felt. Lt. Grogan, minus Tolgarth, had been admitted to a local hospital, 
only half an hour's drive from the Colorado Springs airport. He was being 
transferred to the SGC infirmary right now. What concerned her the most, 
was that Tolgarth was loose near the Stargate and no one knew what he 
looked like.

                         *******************

When Jack woke up the following morning, he decided that sleeping on the 
sofa was definitely not the best thing to do at his age. Very carefully, 
he rolled his legs off onto the floor. "I s'pose I should just be 
thankful, that I didn't have any more nightmares." He grumbled to himself 
as he stood up, stretching his arms up above his head. Moving into the 
kitchen, he started to make himself some coffee. As he moved over to the 
fridge, he found himself hesitating. "This is stupid." He told himself. 
"You have been a Colonel in the Air Force, you are Black ops trained and 
you have faced countless nasty aliens. What's to be scared of? A very 
human fridge?" With that, he yanked open the fridge door, grabbed the 
carton of milk, while keeping his face as far away from the cold air as 
he could. He slammed the fridge door shut and leant his back up against 
it. Frowning, he moved over to the cupboard and pulled out a cereal box 
and started to get himself some breakfast.

Later that afternoon, he quickly cleaned up all of his painting things. 
Then, had a quick shower. Rummaging through his wardrobe, he finally 
found it. The blue shirt. It was the shirt that Sam had told him about in 
the dream. Smiling, he put it on and left it hanging out loose, over his 
jeans. 

Before he raced through the front door, he stopped and pulled his boots 
on. He had been looking forward to today. He hadn't spoken to Sam since 
Wednesday night. She had warned him that she would be working late 
Thursday night, so she wouldn't be able to speak to him until she met him 
at the airport. Just as he slammed the door, the phone started to ring.  
Not hearing it, he ran down to his truck, trying unsuccessfully, to dodge 
the large raindrops as they fell from the heavy-laden sky. He knew he 
would be too early, but he couldn't hang around the house any longer. 
Anyway, he needed some more supplies, as he wanted to cook something 
special for Sam tonight. He was enjoying this feeling of anticipation, 
the pleasure of seeing Sam again.

Six hours later, Jack stomped back through his front door. He was mad. 
She wasn't on the plane, no message, nothing. She hadn't let him know. He 
was cold, wet and hungry. The first thing he was going to do after 
putting the groceries away, was check his messages then have a shower. As 
he removed his boots, he noticed something was wrong. Something was very 
wrong. Someone was in his house. Reaching down carefully, he picked up a 
hockey stick that was leaning up beside the front door and started to 
walk towards the hallway. Something smelt different. He could smell 
cooking. 'Sam.' With relief, he put the hockey stick down and made his 
way into the kitchen. He wanted to surprise her, but realising that most 
probably wouldn't be a good idea, he called out to her. "Sam!" What Jack 
saw as he came in through the doorway was not Sam, but Lt. Berkley, who 
was busy frying eggs on his stove.  "Hey! Lieutenant! What do you think 
you are doing?"

"Colonel O'Neill.  Welcome home." He said, as he turned and faced him. 
Staring at Jack, his eyes lit up. "I have missed you." With that, 
Tolgarth raised his arm and fired his Zatnik'atel at him. Jack stood 
there rooted to the spot unable to avoid the pulse of the energy, as it 
hit him with full force.

                         *******************

As Colonel Carter's chopper touched down on the heli pad at the SGC, 
Teal'c and Jonas were waiting for her.

"Are you well, Colonel Carter?" Asked Teal'c.

"Yes, thank you, Teal'c." She then acknowledged Jonas with a smile and a 
nod.

"General Hammond has the SGC SF's, as well as Fort Carson, Peterson and 
the Air Force Academy on alert. He even called the Sheriff's 
Department...though he is really hoping they don't have to be involved."

She thanked Jonas for the information and then directing her question to 
Teal'c, she asked.  "Is Lt. Grogan awake yet?"

"Indeed." Came the short answer.

After going through the checkpoint with the others, she turned to the 
others and said. "I just hope he knows who Tolgarth is using as a host 
now."

                         *******************

~Jack's head hurt. In fact, the whole of him hurt, but then that was to 
be expected after you battled with Tolgarth. Not that he could really 
feel his body, just the pain. It happened every time. When Jack fought 
with Tolgarth for control of his body, invariably Jack always lost. But 
sometimes, just sometimes he could make a difference. This time, Jack was 
determined that Tolgarth wasn't going to make him do anything he didn't 
want to, again. Knowing deep inside, that it most probably wouldn't work, 
he blindly ignored that knowledge and bided his time, waiting for the 
next opportunity.

It came sooner than he expected. Suddenly, there was a bright light, as 
he now could see through his own eyes once again. His vision was slightly 
clouded, as Tolgarth still had control over him, but he could see Sam's 
frightened face in front of him. He could feel the vibration of 
Tolgarth's double voice as he spoke to her.

"Ah. Major Carter, we meet again. Did you miss me?" 

He thought 'good one Major', when she retorted with "Like the plague." 

"Couldn't have put it better myself." He taunted Tolgarth.

Tolgarth immediately fired a bolt of pain into Jack, as punishment for 
his insolence. Jack watched horrified, as Tolgarth lifted up Jack's arm 
and with the hand device activated, he blasted Sam against the far wall.

"Noooooooo!" He screamed at Tolgarth. 

Tolgarth fired another bolt of pain into Jack.  He was helpless, as he 
watched Sam reach up and pull away Tolgarth's mask. He knew what Tolgarth 
would do, but he couldn't stop him, as he had no strength left. Jack, in 
despair watched as his own hand was lifted up to hit Sam across the face. 
With total blind anger, he swore at Tolgarth, as he watched Sam's limp 
body lying on the ground. He swore revenge on Tolgarth, what he would do 
with him when he had the chance. Without warning, he saw a vision of Sam 
reaching towards him and kissing him as he lay dying on the battlefield. 
The all encompassing, feeling of love overwhelmed him, driving out any 
fear of death, flowed through him again. He couldn't hide it away from 
Tolgarth's prying mind.  With a triumphant laugh, Tolgarth taunted Jack 
with what he would do to Sam now that he had the chance.

Jack watched helplessly, as Tolgarth rummaged through SG-1's packs. He 
too was wondering where Teal'c was. He was aware of what Tolgarth was 
doing, as he changed into some BDU's. 

"You'll never manage it. They'll smell your slimy snake hide a mile 
away." He told him. Tolgarth ignored him and carried on dressing.  
Everything went black, as Tolgarth buried him deep down to shut him up.

The next thing he knew, he could see Sam and the others in the cell that 
they were kept in. Jack was relieved to see that Sam was relatively 
unharmed, except for the blood that ran down her cheek. His first 
instinct was to reach out and touch her, to see if she was all right. But 
he managed to control this and watched quietly, waiting for the right 
moment to come. When it came, he screamed at Tolgarth to stop, calling 
him every derogatory word he could think of. Tolgarth just laughed at 
him. In horror, Jack saw his hands come up and fasten themselves around 
the throat of the woman he loved. Watched, as her face suffused with 
colour, as the pressure built within her head and life-giving oxygen was 
restricted to her starved lungs. Once again, using all of the strength of 
who he was, he fought Tolgarth for the control of his own hands. For a 
split second, he gained control, but Tolgarth, seeing what was happening, 
fired pain into Jack's head.  Clutching his head with the excruciating 
pain, he felt Tolgarth slowly take hold again. He watched helplessly as 
he pulled out a long dagger from his boot.

"You stinking snake, you will not kill her. I will kill you first."

With renewed anger and with love for Sam, he thrust all of his strength 
into this one move. He took back control, bringing the knife towards 
himself. He cried out for Sam to help him. Just as he felt her hands 
pushing down on his, he lost control. He fell spiralling down to the 
depths below any awareness. He couldn't even tell if his eyes were open 
anymore.  All he could remember was Sam's frightened eyes as she launched 
herself at him, to help him kill this monster that lived within him. ~

                         *******************

Jack's head hurt. In fact, the whole of his body hurt, but then that 
always happened after you had been zatted. A paralysing fear overtook 
him, as he found he couldn't move his arms or legs. Tolgarth! Was he 
within him again? He blearily opened his eyes and gazed around his 
lounge. Obviously, Tolgarth had dragged him into the lounge while he was 
unconscious.  With relief, he could see Tolgarth sitting on the sofa 
watching him, with an amused look on his face. 

"Well.  Well. Well." He said in an irritating voice. "Colonel O'Neill, 
you are in a fix, aren't you?"

By this stage, Jack had realised that he was gagged and hog-tied.  Both 
his hands and feet were beginning to feel numb from the lack of 
circulation. Struggling against his bonds, he tried to swear at Tolgarth 
through his gag. But all that came out was an angry sound. His heart was 
beating rapidly, as fear coursed through his body. He couldn't believe 
that this Goa'uld was alive. He tensed as Tolgarth stood up from the 
sofa, moved over to him and crouched down beside him. With a familiar 
movement, that Jack did not want to be reminded of, he watched Tolgarth 
pull out a long dagger from his boot and dangled it in front of his eyes.

"You know, Jack. I have been waiting for this moment for a long time. You 
are going to help me get into the SGC and you are going to get me through 
the Stargate. You have a choice.  You can let Lt. Berkley through, or you 
can go through yourself...what will it be?" 

Realising immediately what Tolgarth was meaning, he nodded his head in 
acquiescence. Hating himself, for the fear that gripped him like a vice.  
He would never, be controlled by Tolgarth like that again. He would 
rather die, than that. If he had felt uncontrollable fear before, it 
increased tenfold as he heard his phone ring. He knew who it must be and 
he was right. The answer machine picked up the message. As he heard the 
clear voice speak out confidently on the machine, his heart sank into 
despair.

"Jack, it's me, Sam. Something has come up at work. I had to get an 
earlier flight into Colorado Springs. I tried to get you, but I must have 
missed you. I'm on my way home now to pick up some things. I will be 
around soon. OK?" 

"Ah! Jack. I wondered when the lovely Colonel would show herself. But 
until she does, I am going to have some fun." He then started to lift up 
Jack's shirt with the point of his knife. 

                         *******************

Sam was tired. It had been a long time since she had any proper sleep. 
General Hammond had sent her home, but she wanted to see Jack first, to 
apologise for not getting hold of him in time. He must be wondering where 
she was, even though she had left a message. Also, she was puzzled as to 
why he hadn't returned her calls. 'Well I will find out soon enough.' She 
thought to herself.

Lt. Grogan hadn't known whom Tolgarth had taken as host.  After they had 
got back to the SGC, she had started to look up information on missing 
persons on her computer. Janet had found her fast asleep with her face 
buried into the keyboard. She felt a bit guilty, as she hadn't told Janet 
that she had nearly blacked out several hours earlier. Sam had insisted 
that the sleep she had just had, was sufficient, but she had been sent 
home anyway. Inside, she was relieved, as she really needed to see Jack.  
Meeting Tolgarth again had really shaken her up and filled her with fear. 
'How could have the NID been so stupid to revive a Goa'uld?' She asked 
herself. 

She desperately needed a shower and a change of clothes. So she was going 
to go home first, shower, change and then go to Jack's.  If she bought 
some pizza on the way there, maybe he would forgive her for not 
contacting him in time. As Sam approached the turnoff to Jack's 
neighbourhood, an overwhelming feeling of loss flowed through her. She 
had just switched off the hands free cell phone in her car, after leaving 
Jack the message, when this strong feeling that Jack needed her, took 
hold. Making a split second decision, she turned off towards Jack's 
house.

                         *******************

Jack lay in the middle of his lounge in a pool of blood. He was having 
trouble thinking clearly through the pain that assaulted his senses. Two 
incongruous thoughts settled into his mind. One being that Sam would be 
disappointed that this shirt was ruined and the other was how on Earth 
was he going to get the stain out of the carpet? The thoughts began to 
get muddled as he confused the present with the past.

                         *******************

Flashback

\\He was staring out at Hammond and Sam through the bars in one of the 
SGC cells. Tolgarth was steaming mad. He was taking all his frustration 
out on Jack. Being stuck behind bars, he had nothing better to do than 
torture Jack. Making him relive all the memories that he never wanted to 
remember ever again.  The horrifying deaths of the men who had fought 
beside him. Men, who he had been responsible for.  The death of his son. 
This one, Tolgarth used over and over again. Filling his heart with pain, 
as he saw the lifeless body again and again. He reminded him of all the 
people he had killed over the years. Dredging them up from the depths of 
Jack's mind. Things, that had been forgotten long ago.  

Jack was relieved to see General Hammond and Sam there. Not only for 
himself, but also to distract Tolgarth from the anguish he was 
inflicting. Suddenly, Jack found himself writhing on the floor with pain. 
He couldn't even ask why he was being assaulted with so much pain. Every 
nerve ending screamed. His head felt as though it was in a large vice, 
being slowly squeezed. //

                         *******************

Sam parked her car behind Jack's truck. After climbing out of her 
vehicle, she went up to the truck and felt to see if the engine was still 
warm. But it was cold. So he had been home all this time. Was he really 
this mad at her, that he would ignore her calls? She couldn't work out 
why he hadn't rung her. She could see lights on and hear music being 
played in the house. Walking nervously up to his front door, she wondered 
what reception she was going to receive. She knocked on the door, but 
there was no answer. 'Maybe he didn't hear me?'  She thought. Calling 
out. "Jack?...It's me, Sam." The door opened, but no one was there. She 
looked around behind the door, expecting to see Jack standing behind it. 
But all she could see was stars and then blackness, as a fist connected 
with her face.

When she came to, she was lying on Jack's lounge floor, gagged and hog-
tied. Her sight was still slightly fuzzy, but not fuzzy enough to hide 
the vision that was before her. Jack was also lying on the carpet. He was 
obviously unconscious, but his shirt had been cut open and someone had 
cut into his flesh with a knife. The wounds didn't look too deep, but 
deep enough to bleed profusely. 

"Good evening, Colonel Carter.  I see you are awake now." Tolgarth leant 
forward and removed her gag.

"What have you done to the Colonel?"

Tolgarth smirked, as he stood up and walked out of the room. Sam looked 
across at Jack again, hoping that he was coming around. But there was no 
sign. She was disturbed to see blood still oozing from his many injuries 
across his chest. 

Tolgarth came back into the room and dumped a medium sized box, which 
fell with a thud onto the carpet. He then bent down again, while holding 
a Zatnik'atel to her head, proceeded to cut her bonds.

                         *******************

Jack could hear voices. Struggling, he tried to open his eyes. What he 
saw filled him with dread. Sam was sitting up against the sofa, while 
Tolgarth was cutting her hands free. The whole time, he held a 
Zatnik'atel at her head. Sitting on the floor between him and Sam, was 
Jack's first aid kit. As soon as Sam's hands were free, she removed her 
gag. Her feet were still tied together.  

"Now, don't do anything stupid, Colonel Carter. Now will you?"

Shaking her head, Sam picked up the first aid kit and shuffled forward 
towards where Jack was lying. Tolgarth followed closely brandishing his 
long thin dagger, the one that he had used to carve Jack with. With fear, 
Jack tried to warn Sam that Tolgarth had the knife and was right behind 
her. But he couldn't do a thing. Tolgarth reached around Sam, grabbed 
hold of the remnants of his shirt and cut them away from his body. 

"Get on with it. I haven't got all night." Tolgarth moved away from them 
and sat back on the sofa. 

Jack's whole body was shaking. He really thought Tolgarth was going to 
start in on him again, or worse start torturing Sam. He felt Sam lift him 
up slightly, as she started to clean the excess blood away. He had no 
idea why Tolgarth was letting her do this. 

"You OK?" She asked quietly, as she gently removed his gag.

He nodded his head at her, not feeling OK within himself. He felt her 
lift him up again, so she could get her arms around him, as she bandaged 
his injuries. At one point, she hesitated and held him tight, before she 
carried on. He could sense her fear, then her love as she held him 
briefly. 

"Why has he been doing this?" She asked bewildered.

"It's just something he likes to do, to pass the time." Wincing as the 
pain shot across his body as he shrugged.

"Do you know how he got here so fast?"

"He hitched a ride to Las Vegas and just caught a flight. Apparently it 
was very easy with Dr. Pritchard's credit card. What on Earth were those 
scientists thinking of?" He asked incredulously.

Sam just shook her head. "I just wish I knew, what he wants to do with us 
now. I mean he could get into the SGC as Lt. Berkley, he doesn't need 
us." She whispered quietly.

"I don't think he knows what he wants, he's nuts. He always was a bit 
before, but now, he's gone Looney tunes." He replied rolling his eyes.

"Silence!"

Sam and Jack exchanged glances, before Sam carried on bandaging him.

When she had finished, Tolgarth grabbed hold of her hands and retied them 
behind her back. He put the gag back in her mouth and threw her to the 
floor. 

"You've done a nice job, Samantha." 

"You slithering parasite you will never get away with this...when I get 
hol..." 

Tolgarth grabbed one of Jack's arms and pulled him away from the blood 
stained carpet. Effectively stopping Jack's tirade. The movement sent 
sharp pains through Jack's torso, as his body was dragged, face down, 
along the floor. His mind began to go blank, as the pain washed over him 
in waves.

                         *******************

~He was safe. Tolgarth had taken Grogan as a host. Jack was bewildered, 
as he moved his legs. They felt as though they weren't his at all. The 
metal of the bars were cold to his touch and he could feel the movement 
of the air around him as he walked. The weapon fire had stopped. 

All he saw as he leant against the doorway was his beloved Sam. The one 
person, he knew would be there for him. He must have said her name, 
because she looked up at him. Her eyes were full of tears. Slowly, her 
face turned from shock to happiness, as she walked towards him. He felt 
her strong arms surround him, as he struggled to stand. Holding her 
tight, he whispered to her.  "Don't ever let go of me, Sam, don't ever 
let go."

He barely heard the choked reply, as Sam made a promise that she would 
never break. "No. I won't, Jack, I promise."~

                         *******************

Jack opened his eyes. There was no sign of Tolgarth. He wasn't sure, but 
it seemed like he had been unconscious for some time. Jack could just see 
the back of Sam's head from behind the coffee table. She was wriggling. 
He hoped that she was successful in untying her bonds, as he was sure 
that was what she was attempting.

Tolgarth came back into the lounge. He had some of Jack's clothes in his 
hands. Throwing them down in front of Jack, he bent down and started to 
untie him.

"You - try anything, Jack, and she dies."

The pain was excruciating as the blood began to flow back into his hands 
and feet. Tolgarth pulled him up to a sitting position, stood up and 
kicked Jack's clothes towards him. "Put these on. You are going to get me 
into the SGC."

As Jack, struggled to pull the sweatshirt up over his head, without 
causing too much discomfort, he didn't notice that Sam had managed to get 
free. As Jack's arms were through the arms of the shirt while he was 
pulling it over his head, he felt a large body slam into him. It knocked 
him over, setting his already painful injuries afire once more.  Just as 
he managed to push his head through the neck of the sweatshirt, he felt 
the electrical charge of a Zatnik'atel flow over him. With a groan and a 
feeling of horror, the last thing he saw was Sam standing over him, with 
the offending weapon in her hand, before passing out.

                         *******************

Jack could feel a cool cloth being wiped over his forehead and face.

"Jack? It's all right."

Blinking his eyes open, his gaze fell onto Sam's face. "Wha...what 
happened?"

"I'm sorry, but it was the only way I could stop him. I had to zat him," 
grimacing slightly, she continued, " unfortunately, you got zatted as 
well."

"Well." He clutched his chest, as Sam helped him to sit up. "I'd rather 
be zatted, than be Goa'ulded any day."

Sam reached over and pulled the telephone down and started to dial the 
SGC. They needed security here fast. Jack's vision was still very blurry 
and he was having trouble focusing on his surroundings. He noticed that 
the blood had seeped through the makeshift bandages that surrounded his 
torso. 

Sam's voice began to sound fainter as he felt the energy drain from his 
body. The combination of the blood loss and the recent Zatnik'atel's 
charge were affecting him badly.  Suddenly, without any warning he saw 
Tolgarth standing above Sam with the long knife, ready to plunge it into 
her neck. Before she could react, Jack's instincts took over. Grabbing 
the Zatnik'atel he fired another shot into Tolgarth, killing him 
instantly. 

"Sorry Berkley, I tried."  He called out as he found himself beginning to 
pass out again, as the pain flowed across his body, plus the effects of 
being zatted became too much.

                         *******************

~An overwhelming feeling of fear and anger was draining all vestiges of 
energy out of O'Neill. After they had come back into the ship, he 
couldn't wait to tear 'the' clothes off. They reminded him of the 
terrifying time when he had been a prisoner of Tolgarth. He hadn't even 
noticed Sam at the time quickly getting out of the way, as he stormed 
into the back. Jonas had tried to talk to him, but he had shut him out. 
He vaguely remembered someone else talking to him after he had come back 
out into the main part of the ship, but couldn't remember whom it was. 
All he could see were the horrendous pictures of what he had done, while 
Tolgarth controlled him. One of the worst things he could remember was 
strangling Sam. HE had nearly killed her.  His heart ached with the 
memory. 
"Sir!  Sir?"  

"Huh?"

"Would you like to detonate the bombs?"

Shaking his head, he whispered "no" under his breath. And placed his head 
back into his arms. A strong vision of Sam's face changing colour as her 
life was squeezed out of her, flowed through his mind. Looking up, he was 
relieved to see Sam standing there in front of the consol, alive and 
well. The bruises around her neck had faded now. He watched as she 
dropped the detonator onto the consol and walked into the back room. 
Starting to get up, he stopped, as he saw Jacob follow his daughter.

After what seemed an insurmountable long time, Jack got up and walked 
carefully into where Jacob and Sam had gone. A feeling of security washed 
over Jack as he saw father and daughter, talking in obvious harmony. They 
looked up at him, as he made his way across the floor.  

"Sam, we need to talk."

Jacob got up and turned around to Sam. Jack couldn't see or hear what he 
said, but Sam smiled back at him and nodded. Jack sat down on the floor 
and took Jacob's place next to Sam.

"We need to talk, Sam."

Moving around so that she was facing him, Sam leant against the wall and 
gave him a small smile. "Yes, we do." She agreed. 

"I wish..."

"I can't..."

They spoke at once, stopped and smiled at each other.

"You first." Jack gestured with his hand towards her.

"Sir." Stopping, she noticed the wince that crossed his face, as he shook 
his head at her.

Looking down at the floor, she raised up her eyes to look at him again. 
"Jack...I wish we could still 'think talk'. It would make this so much 
easier."

Nodding his head, Jack stayed silent.

"Your turn, Jack."

Rubbing both hands over his face and then through his hair, he started to 
get up.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

Jack was standing with his back to Sam by now. He swivelled around on one 
foot, faced Sam and blurted out. "I can't do this anymore, Sam. I've had 
enough."

Quickly, getting up off the floor, Sam moved over to him. Touching him 
gently on the shoulder. "You don't have to. Anubis is dead. The system 
lords are dead. They don't need us anymore."

"Us?" He asked.

"Yes, Jack, us. You and me."

Sliding his arms around Sam, he held her tight. "Do you really want me 
after what I did to you?"

"Oh, Jack, that wasn't you. I know what it is like to be controlled. I 
don't blame you at all. Hey." She said softly, as she leant back away 
from him to look into his face. "If it wasn't for you, I would be toast." 
Giving him a smile in the process.

"There is something else, Jack, that I want to tell you."

"What?"

"I'm getting out of the Air Force. There is enough new technology for me 
to work on, just as a scientist. I've been making enquiries and I can do 
it. They want me to work at area 51." Sam stopped speaking, as Jack 
squeezed her tighter. Jack carried on speaking, as though he hadn't heard 
what she had said.

"I could never have survived without you, Sam. You kept me sane. Tolgarth 
he..."~

                         *******************

Once again, he could feel the cool cloth, as it was laid against his 
forehead. He could also hear Sam's voice, but no others.

Opening his eyes, he could see Sam sitting on the floor beside him, 
talking to someone on the phone.

"Hey."

Turning her head, she smiled at him. "They are almost here." She told 
him.

Jack nodded, not knowing who was almost here and not really caring. He 
still felt very vague, as he watched Sam get up off the floor and walk 
out of the lounge. When she came back, she had Teal'c, Jonas and Dr. 
Fraiser with her. Teal'c immediately, bent down and checked Tolgarth's 
body. Reaching inside of his coat, he pulled out a Zatnik'atel and fired 
it at Tolgarth. Jack watched mesmerised, as Tolgarth disintegrated before 
his eyes. Then, Dr. Fraiser filled his vision, as she knelt down beside 
him and started to check his injuries. Jack felt himself drift away into 
blessed darkness once again.

                         *******************

~He was climbing up a small slope. The sky was a brilliant blue, not a 
cloud to be seen anywhere. He felt the slight breeze lift the tail of his 
shirt and cool the warm skin on the back of his neck. He not only knew 
exactly where he was and where he was going, but also knew who would be 
waiting for him. Looking across the meadow full of colourful blooms, 
swaying in the breeze, he could see her. Her arms were full of the 
pungent flowers that she had obviously just picked. With confidence and 
anticipation, he strode towards her. He noticed her drop the flowers 
where she stood and start to walk towards him. Reaching out his arm, he 
took her hand in his and pulled her towards him. ~ 

                         *******************

He woke with a start, as a resounding crash echoed around the infirmary. 
The sharp pain seemed to have gone. All that was left was a dull ache 
that permeated his body, coalescing mainly across his chest and abdomen. 
A hand was locked into his. Looking down, he could see the very scruffy 
looking blond head of Sam, as it lay on the side of his bed. 

With a smile on his face, he spoke her name softly. "Sam." She was 
already stirring. The sound that had woken him, most probably had woken 
her too. He watched her quietly, as she sat up. Sam immediately, turned 
and looked at him. A smile lit up her face, when she saw he was awake.

"Hey. How are you feeling?"

"It's still there, isn't it?"

"Sorry, Jack. What are you talking about? You mean Tolgarth? He's gone. 
Teal'c finished him off."

"No. Not him. You and me, it's still there. The connection." Jack looked 
hard at Sam, as he watched the slow realisation cross her face. "You were 
zatted on Thursday night, weren't you? I felt it."

Sam lifted both her hands and ran them through her untidy hair, as she 
mulled over what he was saying. "But, we can't 'think talk' anymore. The 
white mass has gone. It can't be."

"Explain the awareness that we have and the dream."

Sam was looking down at the blanket on the bed, while he was speaking, 
but at the word 'dream' her head shot up and she looked at him.

"Yes! I knew it." He stated.

Sam moved closer to Jack and touched him on the side of the face. "I 
thought I was going to lose you again. I couldn't let that happen. I 
don't ever..."

"Shh..." Reaching up his hand, he pulled her down towards him. As they 
kissed, he felt all of her love wash over him, knowing now, that this 
woman was going to be his whole life. He didn't want to let her go, but 
she pulled away from him. Looking at him intently, she just said one 
word.

"Yes."

Just then, Teal'c and Jonas walked in with Dr. Fraiser. Janet immediately 
went up to Jack and checked his vital signs and the drip that was going 
into his arm.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Fine, thank you." He replied.

Straight away, Janet was suspicious. The Colonel was never this cheerful, 
when he was in her infirmary. Just as she was going to speak, Teal'c 
spoke first.

"You seem very pleased with yourself, O'Neill."

"Yes." He turned and glanced at Sam before he turned back to Teal'c. "I 
am. By the way, have you ever been a best man before?"

THE END


FEEDBACK: Please do let me know what you think. I would love to hear from 
you. arrietty39@hotmail.com <-- this is a great big honking hint. :)