Sibling Rivalry

by Carlyn

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/asc/carlyn/siblingr.php
Summary: Carter's analysis of an alien device leads to trouble for Jack and Daniel and could mean the end of SG-1.

Oh, for the love of...

The echo of a sigh reverberated through Samantha Carter's mind. She longed to free it, but past experience had shown that the colonel would either ignore her or become annoyed. Neither event would get him out of her lab.

"So, this thing does what again?" Jack O'Neill asked for the third time. Leaning his elbows on the worktable, he inched a hand towards the alien device dominating the surface.

Instinctively, Sam wrapped her hand around his. "You really shouldn't touch that, sir," she advised. Isn't there an unspoken time limit on drop-in visits? she wanted to say. As happy as she was that he had stopped by, she really wanted to get on with her work.

His fingers spasmed, entwining loosely with hers. Too startled to snatch them from his grasp, Sam watched as his eyes traveled in a deliberate arc from the device, to their conjoined hands, and finally, to her face. The corner of his mouth lifted in a bemused grin.

Her breath stilled, heavy in her chest, as though she was drowning in the dark chocolate pools of his eyes. A raucous ringing got her breathing again, the din eliciting a surprised gasp. Sam shook her hand free, and shoved away from the table, diving for the phone on the wall behind her.

"Carter," she coughed. "I'll be right there, Sergeant." Shooting a glance in the colonel's direction, she hung up the phone and started towards the door. "That was General Hammond's aide. The general wants to see me in the briefing room."

"I've got nothing else to do," O'Neill said. "I'll come with you."

Her lips twitched, a grimace disguised as a smile. "Yes, sir."

On the colonel's invitation, Sam slipped into the elevator ahead of him. Turning, she fixed her gaze on the glowing red numbers ascending in order as the elevator dropped. This isn't at all awkward, she tried to convince herself.

The colonel had held her hand. The general's summons had given her the perfect opportunity to flee, to put space between them and work out what it meant. Damn the man for not giving her that.

Truth be told, he hadn't given her much of late.

It's your own fault, you know. How many times has he gone all charming on you and you've blown him off with some flippant remark? If he was serious, he's probably lost interest now and moved on to someone else.

Yet, it wasn't all that long ago, he admitted he cared about me more than he was supposed to. Okay, it was the only way to prove we weren't both programmed assassins for the Goa'uld, but still...

And something happened during those time loops, I just know it. He can deny it all he wants, but that look he gave me when Daniel asked if he'd done anything crazy... did we finally give in to this... whatever this is between us?

Sure, he pulled back from me after that fiasco involving the Enkarans, but that was understandable. He nearly killed his best friend––and I provided the means for him to do it. Of course, he'd want to keep his distance for a while. Who'd want to be reminded of something like that?

I know we got close again on P3R-118. I don't remember much of the false personality Calder had seared into my brain, but there are remnant sensations––body memories, voice imprints–– that I can't shake. While we were confined underground, with only the dim light filtering through that ice encrusted dome, the colonel held me against the cold.

Then, once we got back to Earth, he turned colder than that perpetual winter we'd been trapped in. In the last five months it seems he hasn't come within ten meters of me unless duty required it.

Which is why that brief contact this morning caught me by surprise. Maybe it's not too late. I've just got to change the game plan a bit. Stop hiding behind smartass replies and let him know how much I appreciate his attention.

The elevator doors opened, and Sam strode from the car behind the colonel. She'd managed to find time to herself after all, even if it was only in her head. Unfortunately, she was no closer to figuring out exactly where she stood with him.

~oOo~

"You wanted to see me, sir?" Sam automatically straightened her spine as General Hammond turned to her, admiration and respect as much as protocol solidifying her posture.

"Major Carter, I––" Hammond's brow jerked upward. "Colonel O'Neill, I don't believe you were invited to this meeting."

"No, sir," O'Neill quickly acknowledged, "but, I was in Carter's lab when the call came in, so––"

"The colonel was inquiring into my progress on the backward engineering of the Travian moisture collector."

O'Neill's face pinched as though something unpleasant had passed under his nose. "That's what that thing was?"

"I see." Hammond's eyes shifted, one to the other. "Colonel, shouldn't you be preparing for the inductee orientation instead of disturbing the working members of your team?"

"Orientation's not until tomorrow, sir. I've briefed what, two hundred newbies in the past four years? There's very little preparation necessary; I've got it down to a 'T'."

Hammond snorted softly. "I suppose you do. Very well, Colonel, if you'd like to sit in, I have no objection."

"What's the meeting about, sir?" Without further prompt, O'Neill pulled out a seat and dropped into it.

Sam slid into the chair next to him. It bucked slightly, and, adjusting her foot to compensate for the shift, she flinched when her knee bumped something solid. Heat rose from her core at the momentary press of the colonel's leg against hers, but years of discipline snapped her attention back to the general as he began to speak.

"Major Carter, SG-8 has just returned from P8X-708. I spoke with Major Callahan in the gate room and he believes they've found a heretofore unknown type of alien technology. This discovery falls squarely under the jurisdiction of the science department. I'd like you to give it high priority. You know the sort of technical information you'll need to determine who is best qualified to work on this project, so feel free to ask questions during the debrief." Hammond glanced at O'Neill, his normally composed expression tinting towards amused. "Of course if you have anything to add, Jack, I'd welcome your comments as well."

"Thank you, sir," O'Neill replied flatly.

There was an underlying groan in the colonel's response, and Sam battled to prevent her grin from blossoming fully. The general had caught him in his own game. Having invited himself to the briefing, there was no way for the colonel to gracefully retreat; he'd have to sit through it no matter how much he loathed the subject.

"Yes, sir, thank you," Sam added brightly, hoping the colonel didn't mistake her enthusiasm for mockery.

Voices drifted in from the hallway, and Sam twisted in her seat to greet the members of SG-8. Leading his team into the briefing room, Colonel Allen pulled up short. "Jack. Didn't expect to see you here."

"Didn't expect to be here," O'Neill grumbled.

"Take a seat, gentlemen," Hammond invited. "Your video is cued. You may begin when ready."

The members of SG-8 arranged themselves around the table. Seating himself in front of the video cart, Major Callahan plucked up the remote.

"This was a standard recon mission. Upon exiting the wormhole, I performed the usual tests. Environmental scans showed everything was just as the MALP had recorded. Then, when I checked for energy readings..." With a small dramatic flourish, he switched on the equipment. The monitor glowed with soft gray light, the imageless surface like a canvas awaiting the painter's imagination to bring it to full life. "... I received a faint signal. It led us to a cavern in the side of a ridge approximately three kilometers south... where we found this."

Sepia flowed through the gray, a wall comprised of reddish brown stone materializing on the screen. The camera skimmed across it, on its way to another subject. A white flash washed out the picture for a second, before it resolved into the image of a large cylindrical tower.

Apparently composed of some highly reflective material––the blaze had occurred when the team's flashlights scanned the device––the tower was split into four distinct sections, one on top of the other. The topmost section flared out, sitting like a crown on the other, uniformly sized divisions. The whole thing looked like an inverted flashlight.

"The cavern is a few meters above the floor of a grassy plain. It didn't look as though anyone had been there in quite some time; we had to create our own handholds in the cliff. The entrance is pretty inconspicuous, basically just a break in the rock."

"You think someone was trying to hide this device?" Hammond queried.

Callahan shrugged. "I suppose it's possible, sir."

Sam rested her arms on the table, curiosity drawing her closer to the monitor. "What kind of tests have you run? Do we have any idea what it's made of?"

"Not naquadah," Callahan replied. "It didn't register on any of the equipment I had with me."

"Is this planet on the Abydos cartouche?"

Callahan glanced at his report. "It is."

"That's surprising. If this is Goa'uld technology, it should contain naquadah. I have a more sophisticated scanner. I'll try again when we get there."

"When?"

Startled, Sam glanced over her shoulder to the source of the outburst. The colonel pushed himself higher in his seat and Sam surmised that, true to form, he'd slumped in boredom during the techno talk. It seemed they had his attention now, though.

"Sir?" she queried.

"You said 'when,' Carter. Let's not jump the gun, here. You're not going anywhere until I..." The corner of his mouth lifted in a chagrined grimace and he tipped his head towards the general. "... we sign off on this mission." He turned a hard gaze on Callahan. "What about the planet? Any signs of life?"

"No, sir. Near as we could tell, the place was completely abandoned. The UAV showed a ruined city about twelve kilometers west of the 'gate, but there were no signs of inhabitants."

"That is curious," Sam said. Excitedly, she turned to Hammond. "Sir, with your permission, I'd like to take a science team back to run some additional tests on this device. I'd also suggest we schedule someone to check out those ruins."

"You think whoever lived there built this thing?" Hammond asked.

"The best way to determine that is to check it out."

"Wait a minute." In serious danger of hijacking the meeting from under his CO, O'Neill quickly turned to the general. "Sir, if I may.

"Go ahead, Colonel."

"Just because SG-8 found no indication of life does not mean there's no danger. There might be someone on that planet just waiting for a bunch of science geeks, hopped up on the thrill of discovery and clueless about threat assessment, to wander into their territory. Why don't you wait until the rest of SG-1 can go with you?"

"Teal'c's still recovering from his encounter with Tarok. He's not due back from his retreat with Bra'tac until the end of the week. You've got troop orientation tomorrow and Daniel's busy with that translation for SG-16. I've got nothing else that requires my immediate attention. I'm a trained combat officer as well as a scientist; I know how to protect my team. We could make it a quick jaunt––get in there, do our survey, and be back before you've vetoed your first recruit."

"A quick jaunt? Like Daniel's little exploratory missions are quick jaunts?"

Uncharacteristically, she bristled at the comparison. "I do know how to monitor myself, sir. I will bring the team back at the appointed time."

"That still doesn't address the issue of safety. I trust your skills implicitly, but even you'd be spreading yourself a bit thin keeping an eye on four civilians, watching out for threats, and studying this technology."

"Need I remind you, sir, that some of our best scientists are also trained––"

"Major," Hammond interjected, "Colonel. How about a compromise? Major, you pick two scientists to carry out your survey. I'll assign the other two members of your team, whose only job will be to monitor the surroundings and warn you of any unforeseen threats."

"That's acceptable to me, sir," Sam readily agreed.

"Colonel?"

O'Neill pursed his lips, clearly considering whether additional argument would yield him a favorable result. Giving in less than graciously, he huffed, "Yeah. Alright," before slumping back into his seat.

"Good. Major, I'll get those names to you later today. You'll 'gate out at 0900 hours tomorrow."

"Yes, sir. Thank you."

Hammond nodded. "Dismissed."

Standing as the general began to rise, Sam moved around the table, intent on finding out everything Major Callahan knew about the device. She glanced up as the colonel headed for the exit. Catching his eye, she mouthed thanks. His lips pulled back in what, to anyone else, would appear a conciliatory smile. But Sam knew her CO far better than the casual observer and that tight grin told her he was not happy.

~oOo~

"I promise, sir," Sam laughed lightly, "I have everything."

Turning away from her CO as she crossed the threshold of the 'gate room, Sam eyed the young airman extending a P-90 in her direction. Thankfully, he appeared not to have noticed the oddly coquettish lilt of her response to the colonel's query regarding the contents of her pack.

It had been no great surprise to find him waiting for her outside the gear up room; every time one of his kids went off-world with another team, Colonel O'Neill provided a personal escort to the 'gate room. He also habitually grilled said team member with an aim toward ensuring he got them back safely. This morning, though, the colonel's inquiry had turned decidedly playful.

"Extra socks?" he challenged, his scarred eyebrow waggling expectantly.

Sam's heart thudded against her breastbone. Is he flirting?

"Would you like to check my pack?" she parried.

"Can I?"

Discomfited by the genuine smile that accompanied his reply, Sam turned away. Her face warmed, and she made a show of donning her cap to mask what was surely a fierce blush. "My team is waiting, sir." The colonel only half a step behind her, she marched determinedly to the group standing beneath the control room window.

O'Neill greeted the pair of Marines Hammond had chosen for the mission. "Captain Olsen, Sergeant James. Drew the short straws, did you?"

Olsen shared a pained look with his fellow 'guardian.' "It's a dream assignment, sir," he said.

The pleasant grin Sam flashed was as false as the Captain's statement. To his credit, though, he had managed to infuse his response with some sincerity.

"Yeah, well, watch yourselves," O'Neill advised. "Dreams have a bad habit of turning into nightmares."

"So noted, sir. Don't worry, we've got their backs."

"Has it occurred to any of you testosterone-ridden military types that it will most likely be the scientists who win this war with the Goa'uld?" Half a foot shorter than both O'Neill and Olsen, Doctor William Tsai tipped his head back and gazed at them over the rounded tip of his nose. "Without us, you'd have no way to determine if this technology is one of those, how do you say it, 'big and honkin' space guns' you overgrown boys are so fond of, or just a specialized silo for grain storage." Satisfied he'd made his point, Tsai spun on his heel and strutted to the end of the ramp.

James snorted. "I'd judge that one a little light in the loafers."

Sam glanced at Captain Olsen, who, though he was James's immediate superior, took a step back, ceding to her status as team leader.

Turning to James, Sam pierced him with a glare. "You have no authority to judge anyone, Sergeant," she snapped, careful to keep her voice low. "Especially not a civilian."

Brow drawn in a severe knot, O'Neill moved into the Marine's personal space, eying him critically. "Do I have cause to pull you from this mission?"

James blanched even while pulling himself to attention. "N-no sir," he stuttered. Looking to his colleague and finding no support there, he quickly added, "It was an inadvertent slip of the tongue. It won't happen again, sir. I swear."

O'Neill slid his considering gaze from the Sergeant to Captain Olsen, then to Sam. She nodded faintly and, though he backed off, apparently content the Sergeant was genuinely contrite, he growled with emphasis, "I had better never hear of anything like that coming out of your mouth again, am I understood?"

It seemed impossible, but James stiffened further. "Yes, sir."

"Because if I get the slightest whiff that you've harassed anyone under this command, I'll make sure that you're reassigned to a place so remote there won't be anyone around to harass. Are we clear?"

"Most definitely clear, sir."

"Colonel, is everything alright?"

Taking a step back, O'Neill smiled blandly at Hammond, who peered down at them from the control room. "Everything's fine, sir. Just giving a few last minute instructions."

Returning his gaze to the Marine, the colonel watched him a moment longer before turning away. He marched off a few paces, and Sam followed.

"Thank you, sir," she said.

"It's not that I think you couldn't handle him, Carter. But, the last thing you need off world is to worry whether you can trust the guy who's supposed to be watching your back. I just wanted him to know I support your stance on the topic. I don't think he'll be giving you or Doctor Tsai any grief."

"I agree, sir."

The issue of James's indiscretion handled, O'Neill grinned mischievously. "So." He flicked his fingers at the third member of Sam's survey team, Lieutenant Ellen Van, who stood by the MALP conversing with Tsai. "Went Hammond one better, huh? Chose yourself a scientist who is also a combat trained officer."

"Military training notwithstanding, Lieutenant Van is one of the brightest minds in the science department."

"Giving you a run for your money, is she?"

Sam erased all expression from her face. "I don't know what you mean, sir." Glancing to the control room window, she nodded to the general. Immediately, the Stargate began its cycle.

"Come on, Carter. You love competition. I've even seen you trying to one up Daniel, and he's one of your closest friends."

"Chevron One encoded," the 'gate technician called.

"There's nothing wrong with a little healthy competition, sir. And Daniel's just as likely to challenge my viewpoint as I am to challenge his."

"Point taken. You're expecting big things from this little field trip, huh?"

Sam shrugged easily. "You never know," she said hopefully. "The energy readings are very low, but it was enough to lead SG-8 to that cave in the first place."

"I know," O'Neill groaned. "I was at the debrief."

"Right. Anyway, the placement of the device in a cave with a well camouflaged entrance, together with the fact that the nearest city has been abandoned, makes this too good a mystery to pass up. Plus, it's not like anything we've encountered before. I'm just going to get a good look at it, take a few readings––"

"But, you're not going to actually touch anything, right?"

Sam beat back a responsive frown. That's the sort of thing he generally says to Daniel. "Not unless I'm thoroughly convinced it's safe to do so," she hedged.

Obviously expecting the response, O'Neill rolled his eyes slightly, his mouth tipped in a knowing slant. "Wish I was going with you," he said spontaneously.

Sam snorted. "No, you don't. Though you may yet get the chance to join us off world."

"I may?"

"Well, you and Daniel. He was just so disappointed to learn that SG-8 hadn't done a thorough scan of the cave for signs of writing, I promised him I'd keep an eye out." She shrugged, offering an apologetic grin. "If we find the slightest smudge or impression, I'm to call him in."

O'Neill sighed, but bobbed his head in understanding. Sam and Daniel were kindred spirits when it came to discovery.

Eager to lighten his mood again, Sam blurted a little too enthusiastically, "What are you going to do with yourself while I'm gone?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. Paperwork. Meetings." He twitched his eyebrows slyly. "Good thing Daniel will be here to break the monotony."

Sam jolted, surprised by a sudden frisson of jealousy. When the colonel was bored, he was just as likely to come to her lab as to Daniel's. For the next few days he'd only have Daniel to bug, and, strange as it seemed, she didn't like the thought that Daniel would have his undivided attention, distracting as it often was.

You're being ridiculous, she chided herself. Daniel and the colonel are best friends. Of course they should spend time together.

"Chevron Seven, locked."

Preoccupied, Sam looked up sharply when the wormhole gushed forth. Her recovery nearly instantaneous, she gestured her team through the 'gate, tagging on to the end of the procession. She paused at the event horizon and turned back.

The colonel lifted a hand in farewell. "Have a good time," he called and flashed a grin, his dark eyes shining amiably.

"Yes, sir," Sam replied by rote. Shaking herself from the spell his easy manner seemed to have cast on her, she spun on her heel and strode through the 'gate.

~oOo~

Wandering the corridors on Level 18, Jack contemplated James's ill-advised outburst and his own response. He'd made the right decision in allowing the Marine to accompany the science team. Jack had put the fear of God into the guy. Plus, Carter could handle him. James would behave himself on this assignment. Still, a remark like that couldn't be ignored, and Jack made a mental note to have a long talk with the sergeant when he came back.

Course of action chosen, he put the incident behind him as he neared Daniel's office. "Hey," he automatically hailed as he crossed the threshold.

"Hey," Daniel returned, his attention never wavering from the book he perused. "Sam get off okay?"

Sauntering up to the work table, Jack picked up a small statue. "Yeah. And I have to say, as much as I hate lending out members of my team, I am glad that, for once, it wasn't you."

Lifting his head, Daniel met his gaze evenly, a brief knotting of his forehead the only acknowledgment of Jack's admission. He shot out a hand, plucking the artifact from Jack's grasp, and went back to his reading.

"I'm just saying," Jack continued, completely unfazed by the repossession, "it was different, saying goodbye to Carter. You didn't mind, right?"

Daniel glanced up again, his open-mouthed regard a sure sign of confusion. "What, that you escorted Sam to the 'gate room and made sure she had everything? No, Jack. You're her team leader; you're supposed to watch out for her welfare."

Unhappy with the response, Jack frowned, and Daniel sat back, eyeing him speculatively.

"Did you expect me to be jealous?"

"Well," Jack challenged, "I was attending a beautiful woman while you sat here in your dimly lit office with your nose in a dusty old book––"

"SG-16 needs this research for their next mission."

Jack shrugged disinterestedly. "Whatever. Carter sure seemed to appreciate my gesture." He slanted an eyebrow, a roguish grin lifting the side of his mouth.

"What exactly does that mean?"

"I don't know," Jack conceded, abandoning the intrigue now that he had Daniel's full attention. "It was kinda weird, actually. She was acting all... moon-eyed––"

"Moon-eyed?"

"Yeah, you know, all kinda..." Jack flapped his hand, searching for the right word. "Fangirl-ish. Awestruck."

"By you?"

"What? You don't think I can strike awe?"

Daniel captured his bottom lip between his teeth, trying unsuccessfully to bite back a grin. "I'm sure you can. What you're describing just doesn't fit Sam."

"I know! That's why it was weird."

"Look, I'm certainly not discounting your immense charm here, but maybe your observations were a little skewed by your state of mind."

Considering the comment, Jack leaned a bit closer, lowering his voice. "You mean because we..."

"Apparently, early morning sex agrees with you," Daniel concluded with a slightly reproachful smirk.

"I've already apologized for waking you."

A gentle smile curved Daniel's lips. "Yes, you did. Sorry I brought it up again. But now you've got to go or I'll never finish this report in time for SG-16's briefing with the General. Besides, isn't there a room full of eager new inductees awaiting your considerable pearls of wisdom?"

Jack backed away from the table. "Yeah. I should be through by lunch."

"Come and get me when you're ready," Daniel agreed. Pulling his book closer, he reached for a notepad.

Pleased with the reply, yet annoyed that Daniel had immediately delved back into his research, Jack slipped out of the room, leaving his lover to his work.

~oOo~

"Look at these readings," Lieutenant Van chirped. "There is definitely something out there." Marching along at Sam's left, Van thrust out her handheld device, placing it side by side with Sam's more advanced diagnostic implement to compare the readings.

"I'd say we're very close," Sam agreed with a supportive grin. The young redhead was practically vibrating with excitement. Sam well understood the feeling; it had been a few years, but she still remembered the rush engendered by her first glimpse of the Stargate. She searched the barren expanse that surrounded them. "It's a good thing we have the capability of scanning for energy. You sure couldn't guess from the surroundings that there's anything interesting nearby. According to the report, the cavern is in that hillside." She cocked her head towards a steep ridge approximately one and half kilometers across the grassy flatland stretched out before them.

"My first alien technology," Van enthused.

On point, Captain Olsen glanced over his shoulder. He cast a quick gaze over the three scientists, acknowledging Sam with a quick grin, before passing a significant look to his counterpart, who brought up the rear.

"Ah, ah," Tsai scolded, "Remember the rules, Ellie."

"No running ahead. Go where the major tells me. No touching anything unless requested to do so by a superior officer. Leave without question or complaint when the order is given."

The recitation was given without the slightest bit of resentment, and Sam nodded approvingly.

Not surprisingly, she thought of Daniel. From the beginning, her teammate had balked at such heavy restriction. His years working with the military hadn't suppressed that tendency, either; he still tested limits, toeing the figurative line the colonel drew at every opportunity, and more than once, boldly crossing over.

She'd pushed a few boundaries herself, of course, but, lately, it seemed the colonel was more tolerant of Daniel's little rebellions.

Maybe he's just tired of fighting, she mused with a sigh.

Or, a voice in her head immediately countered, maybe he's more inclined to cut Daniel some slack in the field because of a change in their personal relationship?

Sam frowned, instantly recognizing the voice as her more practical side.

You've had the feeling he's moved on to someone else, the voice continued. And Daniel is right there.

Memory transformed the open plain into the enclosed space of an SGC elevator. She stood inside with her father looking into the hallway as a clearly flustered Daniel, struggling with his heavy pack, trailed behind an impatient O'Neill. Once the doors closed the men snarked at each other––not an uncommon event––but then something so unexpected occurred that Sam squirmed with embarrassment. A sly grin pulling at the corners of his mouth, the colonel reached out and pushed Daniel's glasses further up his nose. The gesture was so intimate that even Daniel was momentarily discomfited.

Unsettled by her role as interloper on their private moment, Sam looked to her father for support. Rather than comfort, Jacob's patently sympathetic frown had only lent credence to her suspicion.

That's why you shut him down when he tried to talk to you about it later, the voice accused. Good thing he was called away or you might not have gotten off so easily.

Sam shook off the indictment. There was nothing to talk about. The colonel touched Daniel all the time; it didn't mean anything beyond the obvious––the colonel was helping a teammate. Daniel's glasses had slid down his face and his hands were otherwise occupied.

Besides, the colonel had demonstrated his affection for her during the Atoneek armband mission, when he'd refused to leave her trapped behind that force field on Apophis's new ship. He'd risked death rather than leave her. That had meant something. So much so that their subconscious attempt to cover up the incident had led to them being falsely suspected as zatarcs and held in isolation, under guard. It wasn't until they finally vocalized their feelings that they were released.

The voice scoffed. He said he cares about you. That's a rather nebulous phrase, don't you think? I'm sure the colonel 'cares' about Daniel and Teal'c, too.

Oh, shut up, Sam snapped. He was especially pleasant this morning. He obviously had more on his mind than just making sure I got safely through the 'gate. She determinedly refocused her attention to the mission, effectively cutting off any further internal debate.

Captain Olsen pulled up as they neared the ridge. Squinting into the sun, he scanned the cliff side. "What is it we're looking for?"

"Chips in the rock," Doctor Tsai reported. "SG-8 cut handholds and footholds. They should be fairly obvious. The opening to the cavern where they found the alien tech is approximately four meters above."

Olsen turned left and led the march along the rock face. Ten minutes later, he slowed again and pointed just ahead. Invisible from a distance, a set of crudely cut depressions became more distinguishable the closer they approached. The opening to the cavern showed as nothing more than a gash in the stone.

"Okay. Sergeant James, you keep an eye out down here. I'll go up first. This planet is supposedly uninhabited, but it never hurts to be cautious. I'll stay up there while Major Carter conducts her tests."

James glanced up to the cave's opening. "Yes, sir. Regular radio contact?"

Olsen turned to Carter. "Do we know how far back this device is?"

"SG-8 reported it's in a chamber approximately fifteen meters from the entrance."

"I'll report when we reach the cavern," Olsen determined. "Once an hour check-ins after that ought to do." Returning James's curt nod, Olsen clipped his weapon to his vest and moved to the base of the crag. Choosing efficiency over grace, he quickly clambered upward and disappeared into the rock. A moment later, he poked his upper body through the gap and waved the scientists on. "You'll have to pass your packs to me," he advised. "You'll never get through the opening otherwise."

Lieutenant Van turned to Sam, entreaty spilling from her excitement-enlarged eyes.

"Go ahead, Lieutenant," Sam relented. "But wait at the cave entrance until Doctor Tsai and I get up there."

"Understood, Major." Securing her weapon and her scanner, Van easily scaled the cliff. She paused at the entrance, anchored herself with her right hand and unclipped her pack with her left. She waited just long enough for Captain Olsen to take it from her and step back before swinging into the opening.

Sending Doctor Tsai after her, Sam brought up the rear. Lieutenant Van was already monitoring her diagnostic device when Sam slid into the small cave that served as a sort of reception room to the main cavern. Only slightly larger than necessary to accommodate the four of them, the cave featured oddly smooth, dark walls.

Sam pulled out her flashlight. A quick scan revealed a tunnel to their left.

"We're definitely on the right track, Major," Van reported.

"We're good to go?" Olsen asked.

"We're good to go," Sam confirmed.

Olsen waved an 'all okay' to Sergeant James and, weapon at the ready, led the way down the tunnel. Sam motioned the others ahead, moving in to cover their six.

The passage started out narrow, wide enough to allow only one person at a time to pass. Within half a dozen meters it widened significantly, and Doctor Tsai quickly moved into position beside Lieutenant Van.

True to her word, Sam scanned the walls as they went, looking for any sign of writing. Leaving no corner unexplored, she cast the light above, the beam glinting off minute reflective particles in the rock. The circular glow illuminated the entire width of the low ceiling, but revealed no text or significant markings.

"There it is," Doctor Tsai muttered suddenly, his hushed announcement almost reverent.

Automatically redirecting her light, Sam found her forward view blocked. She canted her head, peering between the two scientists, and just made out an opening in the right side of the tunnel wall, less than two meters distant.

Captain Olsen covered the span in a few hurried steps, Tsai and Van right on his heels. Sending his dubious gaze back and forth between the team members and the fissure in the rock, he queried, "Your tower is in there? I thought you said it was in a room?"

Sam smiled. "What were you expecting, ornate double doors with brass handles?"

"Well, an entrance wide enough to walk through naturally would have been nice," Olsen returned bemusedly. He shined his flashlight into the narrow gap. "You're sure this opens into a larger space?"

"SG-8 was able to get in and out without difficulty," Lieutenant Van pointed out.

"She's right," Sam seconded. "You might not be able to see it from this side, but according to SG-8's report there is a fairly sizeable cavern just through that crevice."

"Yeah, alright," Olsen sighed. He frowned at the opening. "Let me go first. I'll holler when I'm through the other side."

Skirting the others, Sam moved to the front and held her flashlight on the wall, illuminating the area for him. Olsen sidled into the gap and shined his light down the narrow passage. "It actually doesn't look too deep," he reported. Weapon leading the way, he moved slowly forward.

Van and Tsai shuffled closer. Intimately familiar with the eagerness that had propelled them, Sam grinned. She glanced at her watch just as Olsen called out.

"Well, I'll be damned. SG-8 was right. There is a cavern here." After another few minutes, he directed, "Okay, Major, send them through."

"Doctor?" Sam invited.

Tsai hefted his backpack, carrying it awkwardly in front of him, and slid into the opening. He'd no sooner disappeared from view than Lieutenant Van stepped up.

Sam nodded. "Go ahead. I'm right behind you."

Sweeping her flashlight around the tunnel one last time, Sam followed. The chamber, illuminated by Captain Olsen's lamp, was clearly visible at the other end of the passage, if partially obscured by those who preceded her. Taking a quick look at the walls, Sam determined it was a natural formation. Straight and narrow, it cut through the cave wall at a slight angle for a distance of three meters.

"Oh my god," Lieutenant Van breathed.

Hurrying through the last meter, Sam glanced into the chamber. Longer than it was wide, the roughly oval shaped space was approximately the size of the SGC briefing room. Dimpled walls soared upward nearly six meters, the ceiling dotted here and there with small stalactite-like protrusions. Sniffing discreetly, Sam wrinkled her nose at the musty air.

"It's humid in here," Tsai observed as Sam moved in behind him.

"Yeah," Olsen grunted, "and just a bit too warm for my taste." He shot a finger at the wall, indicating darker patches in the stone. "Did you know about the mold?"

"It was in SG-8's report," Sam replied. "They took samples back to the SGC. Preliminary tests didn't reveal anything remarkable about it."

"Bet they didn't test for odor. God, what a stink!"

"Not likely, no," Sam muttered distractedly. She aimed her beam at the knots on the ceiling. "There's obviously a source of moisture somewhere. On Earth, features like that are generally caused by calcium deposits from dripping water."

"Cracks in the surface allowing rain through?" Lieutenant Van theorized.

"That's a plausible explanation," Tsai agreed.

"Does it make a difference?" Olsen asked. "I thought you guys were here to check out that tower, not the rock formations."

Tsai tsked. "The tower doesn't exist in a bubble," he replied, taking on the air of a high school science whiz enlightening a dense peer. "The environment has to be part of our survey."

Looking slightly put out by the civilian's patronizing tone, Olsen moved back to the crevice. "The cavern is secure. This is the only way in or out. I'll leave you to your survey and go check in with Sergeant James."

Flashing a genuinely appreciative smile, Sam nodded. "Thanks, Captain."

She turned her attention to the far end of the chamber. Set up close to the wall, the alien tech shone softly, its metallic surface sending back their lights in muted reflection. She'd noted the tower on her initial examination, of course. It had taken a great deal of will power to keep her excitement to herself, but, with Lieutenant Van having so recently quoted the unofficial rules, Sam couldn't very well break ranks and run to explore, no matter how great the temptation.

She sighed internally. If she'd come with her own team, such self restraint would not have been necessary. Once she got the okay to proceed, she would have made a bee line for the technology, the colonel's teasing, "Carter, is it really a good idea to pant all over that thing?" sounding behind her.

His voice in her head engendered a small smile. As much as she protested such comments, Sam had to admit she enjoyed the fact that he paid such close attention.

"Major?"

Sam blinked, smiling vaguely into the concerned visage of Doctor Tsai. Damn it, Samantha, keep your mind on the job. She turned to Van. "Lieutenant, what sort of readings are you getting?"

"No change," Van reported. "Steady output. No energy spikes."

"Good. Based on SG-8's report, there's no reason to believe the technology is dangerous, but I recommend caution just the same." Sam pulled out her zat and cocked it, ready to fire. Spread out," she ordered. "Let's move towards it slowly. Keep an eye out for anything that may indicate a defense system, shields or weapons."

The lieutenant and the doctor each sidestepped away from her a few meters. "Lieutenant, monitor the energy output. Let me know the second anything changes."

"Yes, ma'am."

Signaling the advance, Sam placed her feet deliberately, plodding steps moving her forward. She scrutinized the technology as she approached. Just under two meters in height, its circumference approximated that of a rain barrel.

A low whistle pierced the air as they neared the object. Pulling up short, Sam cocked her head at the source.

"Sorry," Doctor Tsai muttered. "Someone needs to give SG-8 cinematography lessons. Their video did not do the technology justice."

"I've never seen anything like it," Sam agreed. "Still, we don't know how sound might affect it, so let's keep the whistling to a minimum. Lieutenant?"

"No change, Major."

"Okay." Sam handed over her diagnostic device. "Go ahead and give the tower a thorough scan. Don't touch anything, though, and continue watching those energy readings. Doctor, do you want to get some better photos?"

Tsai plunged a hand into his pack, coming up with his digital camera. "Absolutely."

"I'm going to do a quick survey of the walls. I promised Daniel––Doctor Jackson––I'd check for writing."

"It's too bad he couldn't come with us," Tsai said.

"He's got a deadline on a translation. Without evidence that there's something here for him to study, he couldn't justify the trip."

"Well, we're pleased you were able to make it, Major."

"Me, too." Leaving them to their tasks, Sam deactivated her zat and turned to the wall. Beginning at the back of the device, she skimmed her flashlight across the stone from ceiling to floor. Noting intermittent dark stains, which closer inspection revealed to be the mold Captain Olsen had pointed out to them, she took another sample as part of their environmental survey.

Sidestepping a few paces to the left, she repeated the sweep with her light and, pushing to her toes, ran her fingers over a small indentation in the rock. She sighed. It was nothing more than a natural depression. Moving again to her left, she continued her survey in the same manner, stopping here and there to investigate any potential markings, until she'd made a full circuit of the room. Promise to Daniel fulfilled, she turned back to the tower.

"Find anything for Doctor Jackson to drool over?" Tsai queried as she approached.

"No. There's no writing of any kind that I could find."

Tsai pushed out his lips. The gesture struck her as odd, and Sam found herself wondering if the pout signaled his disappointment that Daniel would probably not be joining them.

So, our archaeologist has charmed him, too. It would be nice to see Daniel with someone. Sha're's been gone more than a year. Maybe someone like Tsai is just what he's looking for. God knows none of the women on base have had any luck getting his attention.

Not that anyone's getting much of a chance at him since he's spending so much time with the colonel.

Frowning, Sam cut off her musings and refocused on the task at hand. "What can you tell me about the device?"

"I've been looking closely at this shell," Tsai reported. "I think the lack of luster is due to its age. There are a few spots where the material reflects the light like a mirror. Beneath all the layers of dust and corrosion of who knows how many years, I'd bet this thing shines like the Hope Diamond."

"Lieutenant, what about its composition?"

"The outer hull is mainly a mixture of trinium and carbon."

"No naquadah?"

"No, ma'am."

"But there's a Stargate," Tsai commented. "Wouldn't that make this Goa'uld technology?"

"Not necessarily," Sam corrected. "Generally, though, where there's a Stargate, any accompanying technology is naquadah-based."

"There's something else, Major," Van reported. "Some element my diagnostic instrument isn't recognizing."

"Isn't recognizing?" Sam echoed. "You've scanned using every setting?"

"Yes, ma'am. Including the one we recently downloaded from the Asgard."

"So, there's something here even the Asgard haven't encountered," Sam posited.

Stooping, Doctor Tsai set his camera down. He reached into his pack and extracted a small plastic jar. "It might take a while to whittle away some of this sediment, but we really should try and get a sample of the metal."

"Wait a minute. Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Sam suggested. "I'd like to observe it a while longer before we consider scraping at it."

"Ellie's been continuously monitoring the energy output," Tsai protested. "There's been no change."

Lieutenant Van tipped the screen of her diagnostic apparatus in Sam's direction. "It's true, Major. This reading has remained constant since we got here."

Making note of the information displayed on the monitor, Sam strode in a tight circle around the tower. "Have you seen anything that looks like writing? I'd hate set off a trap only to have Daniel tell us later 'Warning: This is a Trap' was emblazoned on the side."

"Wouldn't Colonel O'Neill love that?" Tsai chuckled softly. "There's no visible writing, but so little of the device itself is exposed. War and Peace could be etched into the side and we'd never know it."

Sam pressed her lips together. "You have a point," she reluctantly acknowledged. Checking the monitor again, she made another slow circuit around the alien device. This was the part of the job she found most challenging––attempting to reconcile her desire to investigate the unknown with her duty to protect her team and herself.

Carefully scrutinizing the tower while she considered all the evidence at her disposal, Sam proposed, "All indications are the device is harmless. There are no lights or obvious switches. It's not emitting any kind of sound, and the only discernable energy signature is low level."

"It's just a big tube," Tsai remarked. "Even this little fanning on top doesn't add anything to its appeal."

In spite of herself, Sam grinned at the comment. "It's most interesting property does seem to be the mystery element."

"And, unless we plan to blow a hole in the wall and take it with us, the only way we'll solve that mystery is by taking a scraping," Tsai concluded.

"Right," Sam sighed. She unfurled her zat again. "Work carefully, Doctor. Lieutenant, keep your eyes glued to that monitor."

"Yes, ma'am"

Tsai delved into his pack again, coming back with a scalpel. He stood slowly, and locked eyes with Sam.

Zat trained on the alien device, Sam nodded him forward.

Perusing the portion of the device that faced him, Tsai chose a spot at eye level. He tucked his specimen jar in a pocket on his tac vest and meticulously scratched off the debris of the ages. Slowly, he unveiled a three by five inch square of highly polished material.

"You were right about the reflectivity," Sam said. "It is sort of like looking at a large diamond in full daylight."

"Well, I know my gemstones," Tsai said, clearly pleased with himself. He fished the jar from his pocket. "Now, let's see if it's as hard as a diamond."

Placing the jar against the device, just under his scalpel, Tsai delicately chipped at the metal. After a moment, he gazed into the container and scowled. "We may have to take it back with us after all," he said. "We're sure not going to get a sample this way."

Van briefly glanced up from her readings. "Do you think scraping harder might help?"

"I suppose I could––ah!"

As one, the teammates leapt backward as the flared section of the device fell slowly open like the petals of a rose in the morning sun.

"Lieutenant?" Sam inquired sharply, instinctively extending the zat.

"There's no change in the energy level, Major," Van replied. "The device is maintaining the same low level output.

"Maybe the panels were just shaken loose," Tsai surmised. "Though, I wasn't rubbing that hard, and I don't think I moved it at all." He shuffled a little closer to the device.

"Careful, Doctor," Sam instructed.

Lieutenant Van made an adjustment to her diagnostic tool. "Major, I'm reading the presence of naquadah."

"Could be the power source?" Tsai put forth. "Maybe this material was shielding it before." He craned his neck and peered over the now-drooping panels. "Will you look at that? Guess we'll be seeing Doctor Jackson after all." Turning to the women, he smiled broadly. "There's writing in here."

Sam took a cautious step towards the device and briefly scrutinized the script. "I recognize some of those characters as Greek letters, but you're right, we'll need Daniel's help with this."

"I'm sure he won't mind," Tsai returned. "He's been at Colonel O'Neill's tender mercies for a few hours now."

"The colonel will likely come with him," Van pointed out.

"True," Tsai conceded. "But, at least here he'll have something to concentrate on other than relieving his boredom at Doctor Jackson's expense. It'll be his job to guard Daniel's... assets."

Sam coughed. "That's enough, Doctor. This is hardly appropriate––"

"Major! These readings are spiking!"

"What?" Sam sidestepped and passed her gaze over the diagnostic tool. A quick glance was all it took to confirm the evidence of increased energy output. She turned back to the tower. "All right, let's––"

A forceful blow to her breastbone cut off the order. Before she had time to register the attack, agony blossomed in her neck, screaming quickly through her. Sam blinked, and as her consciousness bled away, she stared, unbelieving, at the three small doors now visible in the side of the alien device.

~oOo~

Ducking back into the cavern, Captain Olsen called out, "I tested the radio's range. You have to retreat about halfway up the tunnel to get a decent signal." He walked towards the trio surrounding the tower, darting the beam of his flashlight around him as he went. "James says everything's quiet outside. I took a few minutes to search a little further down the tunnel. It runs another 200 meters, then just stops." As though the word were a command, Olsen halted and trained his flashlight into the shadows to the right of the scientists. A small mound of rock lay open, its components scattered. "You were digging?" Olsen marveled. "I thought that was the domain of the archaeologists."

The chuckle rising up from his diaphragm froze in his throat as the trio turned to face him. He hadn't expected them to be especially amused by his joke, but the subtle sneers they'd all affected hardly seemed warranted.

Shifting his gaze, Olsen gaped at the three cubby holes in the side of the tower.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed. "You opened it? Was that a good idea?"

Her scowl deepening, Carter raised her left hand. Olsen gasped. He had time for one stumbling step backward before his head exploded in pain.

~oOo~

"This had better be good, Walter," Jack called as he entered the control room. "You interrupted our lunch just as I was getting started on my pie." He paused on the landing and waited for Daniel to catch up. They walked up behind the 'gate technician together and Jack craned his neck to view the 'gate room.

Daniel pointed out the window. "Is that Sergeant James? I thought he went with Sam."

Instantly, Jack narrowed his focus to the tall figure standing with General Hammond. "What the hell. Where's the rest of the team?"

Turning in his seat, Walter gaped, the expression a mixture of surprise and dread. "Didn't the airman tell you, sir? Only Captain Olsen and Sergeant James came back. Major Carter and––"

The rest of Walter's report was lost in the distance as Jack flew down the steps to the 'gate room. Rounding the corner, he skidded to a halt next to Hammond. Daniel pulled to a more sedate stop beside him.

"Sir?" Jack inquired.

"Relax, Colonel," Hammond advised. "Major Carter and the rest of her team are fine. Captain Olsen became ill and Sergeant James escorted him back to base."

"You left them unprotected?"

"I did protest, sir," James defended, "but Major Carter ordered me to bring him back. As there's been no indication of anything dangerous on the planet, she determined they didn't need our protection. Plus," he groaned, rubbing his shoulder, "Captain Olsen is a bit of an armful. I'm not sure any of them could have gotten him out of there."

"What about the rest of the team? Anyone else get sick?"

"No, sir."

"How is Captain Olsen?"

Jack glanced into concerned blue eyes. Leave it to Daniel to inquire after the injured Marine.

"He developed a severe migraine. He managed to stay on his feet the whole way back to the 'gate, but didn't say much. Just did a lot of moaning."

"Doctor Fraiser has taken him down to the infirmary," Hammond said.

Daniel nodded. "Has he had migraines before?"

"Apparently, yeah. Never this bad, though. He said it felt like there was an axe buried in his skull."

"Been there," Daniel muttered around a sympathetic grimace. "Any idea what caused it?"

"My money is on that cave. It's pretty rank up there. There's mold growing all over. Doctor Fraiser said it's possible Captain James was sensitive to it."

"Certain smells can trigger headaches in some people," Daniel filled in.

Jack frowned. "We're sure that's all it is?"

"Tests performed on the sample SG-8 brought back found no toxic or noxious properties," Hammond remarked. "It seems it was just Captain Olsen's bad luck that the smell triggered a migraine."

"Doctor Fraiser will take good care of him," Daniel said reassuringly.

"Yes, sir," James agreed. "Oh, Doctor Jackson, Major Carter wanted me to tell you they found writing on that device they're studying. She thinks it might tell them how it works and she was hoping you'd be available to take a look."

Daniel's eyes sparkled, and Jack groaned.

"As it happens, Colonel O'Neill and I are both free at the moment," Daniel announced. He turned to Hammond. "With your permission, of course, sir."

Hammond nodded. "I was thinking of offering you both downtime until Major Carter returns, but if you'd like to go render your assistance, I have no objection."

Jack felt his jaw tighten. I object! he screamed internally. Downtime, Daniel! Take the downtime!

Daniel sent him a look of mute appeal.

Oh for crying out loud, Jack disparaged mentally. The last time I saw eyes like that Hammond's granddaughter was trying to persuade him to keep a stray dog that had followed them home. It hadn't worked for Kayla––or the dog––Jack recalled, but then neither of them had Daniel's big blue eyes and long lashes.

Jack sighed. "Fine. James, where is this device located again?"

"Just follow the path across the plain, sir. It leads to a rock face. You'll have to climb to the tunnel entrance. The cavern is just over fifteen meters down, on your right."

"Alright. Daniel, let's go get ready." Waiting for General Hammond's nod of dismissal, Jack begrudgingly followed his lover to the gear-up room.

~oOo~

"Chevron Six, encoded."

Facing the Stargate, weapon cradled loosely against him, Jack sent the ring a dark look. "Can't anyone do anything without you?" he griped to Daniel. "First you're snowed under with that research for SG-16, and now this."

"I'm the linguistics expert, Jack. You heard what Sergeant James said. Sam thinks the text might be instructions to operate the device."

"There are other linguists."

"But Sam is my teammate. I want to help her." He gazed at Jack over the rim of his glasses. "I know sitting around watching me study alien text is not your idea of a good time..."

Jack's features smoothed out, the corners of his mouth tilting upward. "It's the waiting that gets to me. I actually enjoy the watching part. Why do you think I keep showing up in your office?"

"Boredom?" Daniel submitted.

Jack slanted his head in concession. "There is that. You're not afraid this mold might trigger a migraine?"

"I've spent plenty of time in moldy caves, Jack. I've never had a problem."

"Chevron Seven, locked."

The energy plume burst forth and Jack pivoted, tipping his hat to the 'gate technician. Turning to find Daniel already halfway up the ramp, he quickened his pace, catching up in several long strides. "Geez, Daniel, what's your hurry?" he gasped, as they moved into the event horizon. Emerging on the other side, he immediately slipped on his sunglasses and followed Daniel to the track worn into the grassland. Matching his gait to Daniel's accelerated hike, he segued into guardian mode, scanning their surroundings as they walked.

"This is unknown technology, Jack. It could be something that'll help in our fight against the Goa'uld."

"The way the Eurondans helped?" Jack's lip curled, the name leaving a bad taste in his mouth. "Or the armbands Anise presented us with?"

"Exploration doesn't come with a guarantee of success. True, neither of those encounters proved beneficial, but––"

"Not beneficial? Euronda turned me into a real bastard."

"For which you've apologized."

"And those damn armbands nearly got Carter killed."

"It all worked out, Jack," Daniel reminded him.

"And let's not forget how well your meet and greet with the Unas went," Jack pressed on, thoroughly disinclined to let the matter drop. "Or our first contact with those Gag Me aliens."

"Gadmeer," Daniel amended automatically.

"Twice in short succession," Jack continued over the correction, "you were almost killed."

"I don't think Chaka really wanted to kill me."

"Neither did I," Jack sneered. "But, I damn near did it anyway."

Daniel skipped out in front of him and, spinning, pressed his hand to Jack's heart, stopping him in his tracks.

"Where is this leading, Jack? Yes, there were moments during both missions where I thought I might not survive, but that's a possibility every time we go through the 'gate. Besides, you said it was the thought of losing me that finally made you admit your feelings were a little more than fraternal."

"Yes, alright, I might not have told you about... you know, if I hadn't been so shaken from the fact that I almost blew you up."

"See. Benefit." Daniel grinned.

Jack shook his head. "But, we might not be so lucky next time." Head down, he stepped around Daniel, resuming his trek along the trail.

Coming up beside him, Daniel walked along quietly for a few minutes. "So, what are you saying?" he finally asked. "You want to quit?"

Jack shrugged. "Maybe. Retirement is not a dirty word."

"Not for some people, no. But I didn't think it was something you casually tossed around."

Jack looked askance at him, but declined to respond. Again, they walked along in silence. Twenty minutes into their journey, the path intersected with a sheer cliff. Turning left they walked beneath the shadow of the stone until the trail ended. Jack looked up, peering dubiously at the crack in the rock above them, the only thing resembling an 'entrance' that he could see. He squeezed his com. "Carter?"

"Sergeant James said they're in a cavern fifteen meters into the rock. I doubt the signal reaches that far." Daniel unclipped his survival pack and thrust it into Jack's side. "Here. Toss this up to me when I call for it."

"Wait a minute," Jack growled, backing away from the pack. "Where do you think you're going?"

Daniel blinked owlishly. "Up to the cavern. That is why we came here."

"You don't take point," Jack said. "Just because the planet's proven secure to this point, doesn't mean there's not someone or something skulking in the shadows up there waiting to pounce."

Daniel frowned, but stepped aside. He extended his arm at the wall, inviting Jack to take the lead. "Fine. You go first. I'll just hang around down here––alone––until I get your signal to proceed."

Narrowing his eyes, Jack looked from Daniel to the aperture above. He turned his gaze on the open plain behind them. "I'll go first," he reiterated. "This is an easier position to defend. Besides, I can always drop back down if you need help, but it might take me a while to get to you if something goes wrong up there." He fingered one of the shallow handholds, clawing out small bits of rock that tumbled to the base of the cliff like a miniature waterfall.

"Okay," Daniel conceded. "Be careful."

Jack twitched a grin. "Back to the wall."

Daniel complied without argument as Jack stepped up to the cliff. Reaching above for a handhold, he wriggled the toe of his boot into a cutout and pulled himself up. It took less time but just as much pain in his right knee as he'd expected, to reach his target. His P-90 leading the way, Jack clambered into the opening. He snatched off his sunglasses, giving the cave a thorough check before yelling down to Daniel, "Throw me your stuff."

The pack appeared, suspended before him, at just about the time he called for it. Snagging it from the air, Jack set it aside and watched as Daniel scampered up the wall like a squirrel on his favorite oak.

Tossing him a look of disgruntlement, Jack handed Daniel his pack, aimed his flashlight down the tunnel, and moved out front.

A few minutes later, they pulled up beside the entrance to the cavern. Jack took a step back, considering the fissure. He scanned the length of the tunnel before and behind them.

Daniel stood patiently by, watching. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking whoever built that thing sure went to a lot of trouble to make it inaccessible. You gotta wonder why they didn't want anyone to find it."

"Maybe it's valuable," Daniel posited.

"Right. Or dangerous."

Daniel breathed a harried sighed. "Major Olsen just told you they haven't encountered anything dangerous. Why do you always assume a worse case scenario?"

Jack shot him a silent 'duh.' "It's called doing my job."

Scowling, Daniel keyed his radio. "Sam?"

"Daniel. Where are you?"

"Close. How's it going in there?"

"Fine. We're just waiting for this translation."

"Copy," Daniel said. "We'll be there soon."

Dropping his hand from his com, he raised his eyebrows, a clear challenge to Jack's gloom and doom scenario.

Jack held his gaze unflinchingly. "Alright," he finally conceded. "We're going in. But I'm not letting my guard down."

Daniel snorted softly. "Tell me something I don't know."

Letting the remark pass without further comment, Jack stuffed his cap into a back pocket and moved into the crevice. Emerging into the cavern, he stepped aside and waited for Daniel to appear. Together, they strode towards the waiting scientists.

The room had an odd odor, smelling faintly of overripe cantaloupe. Jack screwed up his face. "God, I hope we don't have to spend too much time in here," he griped.

Daniel shrugged. "Sergeant James did say the room was rank."

Jack lowered the zipper on his vest. "Rank is one thing. He could have mentioned it smells like rotten fruit."

"What difference does it—"

"Hold up." Jack lifted an elbow, as they neared the alien device, blocking Daniel from getting too close. "Carter, any idea yet what this thing is?"

"We're hoping Daniel can help with that." Carter gestured towards the top of the device. "The writing's in there. Some of it looked familiar, but I couldn't make any of it out."

Daniel stooped down and began digging through his pack. Coming up with his notebook and video recorder, he took a step forward.

"Wait a minute," Jack said, this time halting Daniel with a firm hand to his shoulder. "The device wasn't open like that on the video SG-8 showed us."

"No, it wasn't." Sam said simply.

"Any idea what caused the panels to open?" Daniel asked, more curious than suspicious.

"Well, it happened while I was trying to get a sample of whatever material the casing's made of," Tsai reported.

Jack frowned. "You don't think you might have tripped a switch or something?"

"There aren't any switches," Tsai said with a small laugh. "You can see yourself the surface is perfectly smooth, if a little worn with age."

"It was likely the physical contact, though," Sam agreed. "That was the only variable not present when SG-8 was in here yesterday."

"I thought we'd decided you weren't going to touch it."

"No, sir, I agreed to thoroughly evaluate the risk before anyone touched it. And, technically, no one did. Doctor Tsai's scalpel made the contact."

"Really?" Jack fumed. "You're going to argue semantics?"

Daniel lifted his hand, a plea for peace. "Jack, it doesn't look like any harm was done. The device is open. Now, we can stand here and argue whether touching was authorized, or you can let me get on with translating that text."

Jack glared at Carter for a few seconds more. Relenting, he waved his hand at the device, granting Daniel access.

"Thank you." Instantly in explorer mode, Daniel approached the device and made a slow circuit around it.

As Daniel came back around, Jack noted the blue eyes were wide, like a child discovering his first butterfly. In spite of himself, he smiled softly, amazed that his lover still viewed the universe with such wonder.

He automatically raised his P-90 as Daniel stepped closer to the device. Daniel's gaze darted his way and, though they touched his only briefly, Jack warmed at the trust those eyes projected.

"This looks like a bastardized version of Greek," Daniel announced. "Some of the letters are very similar to those used on Earth. That's probably why it looked familiar, Sam."

"I took Greek as an undergrad, and I couldn't make sense of it," Tsai remarked.

"That's not surprising," Daniel said. "These transplanted languages commonly evolve into totally unrecognizable forms. For example, on Abydos, the people spoke a variation of ancient Egyptian; I didn't understand them at first, either. The people who wrote this were likely brought here from Earth about the time this language was becoming widespread. They knew enough of it to base their own language on the roots, but it's diverged from the original."

Lieutenant Van sidled up to him. "So, can you read it?"

"Well, I won't know exactly what it says without hours of work," Daniel grimaced. "But, a few things do stand out. This word here," he waggled a finger over a group of letters near the rim," is phthonos."

"Jealousy," Tsai translated.

"Yes," Daniel confirmed. "Though, in this context, I think it's a reference to the Greek god of the same name. In ancient Greece, Phthonos was the personification of jealousy; in particular the jealousy that sometimes accompanies romantic love."

"Oh, please don't tell me this is just a fancy diary," Jack carped.

Daniel favored him with a sympathetic smile. "I also recognize two other names: 'Eris' and 'Zelos.' They were also gods and both have been linked to Phthonos in mythology."

Jack groaned. "Do I want to know which other gods are associated with someone named 'jealousy'?"

"Eris is discord or strife," Daniel divulged a bit ruefully. "Zelos is sometimes equated with Phthonos, but he's also known as the spirit of rivalry, zeal and envy."

"Sounds like a fun group."

Taking up her pack, Sam skirted the device and moved to Daniel's other side, behind the tower. "I remember Eris from the Iliad. She's the one who tossed the golden apple with the inscription 'to the fairest' into a wedding reception. Several goddesses fought over whom the apple was meant for, and that little contest sparked the events that led to the Trojan War."

"Yes," Daniel confirmed. "According to Homer, Eris took great pleasure in war and bloodshed. Even after the other gods left the battlefield, she hung around celebrating the havoc she'd wrought."

"So then, this is some sort of literary work," Tsai concluded. "A retelling of Greek myths?"

Daniel raised a forefinger, deflecting that thought. "Not exactly." He found and held Jack's gaze. "I think it's a history of three beings that once came to this planet; beings who took on the guises of these particular gods."

"Goa'uld," Jack deciphered.

"I think so."

Jack stiffened and scanned their surroundings. The scientists shifted nervously, Carter rummaging through her pack.

"Maybe we should get the hell out of here then," Jack suggested. The overly sweet smell of that mold assailed him again, and he waved a hand to disperse it.

"Wait," Daniel argued. "According to this, they were... forced out, banned from human contact a thousand years ago."

"Forced out by whom?"

Daniel perused the writing. "I don't know. Other Goa'uld, I'd presume. There's reference to internal conflict. I'd really like to spend a little time translating the text. It just might tell us where they went."

"I don't care where they went. I've got the creeps just knowing they were ever here, even a thousand years ago. I say we pack it up and go home."

"Jack."

"Daniel."

Shaking her head, Carter chuckled. "Listen to you two, bickering like an old married couple."

Daniel's eyebrows raced up his forehead. "What?"

"Excuse me?" Jack growled.

Carter turned a devilishly playful grin on Jack. "I can see why you are so enamored of him. That much passion would be difficult to resist." The smile slid into a villainous smirk as she turned to Daniel. "Of course that didn't stop him from flirting with this female earlier, before she traveled through the Chappa'ai."

"Chappa'ai?"

"Carter?"

Blue eyes flashed hot white. "Eris," she corrected.

Skipping back a pace, Jack raised his P-90. "Daniel, get down!"

With a laugh unlike anything he'd ever heard from Carter's mouth, Eris stepped from behind the alien device. She placed her right hand in the center of Daniel's chest and shoved him into the waiting arms of Lieutenant Van, at the same time lifting her left hand towards Jack.

A beam of orange-yellow energy slammed into him, and Jack found himself flying backward. He fell heavily to earth, the impact knocking the breath from his lungs. Almost immediately, he moved to rise, but the ground tilted beneath him, throwing him back into the dirt. Squeezing his eyes shut, he fought the urge to vomit, and pushed hard against the blackness creeping into the corners of his mind.

On the periphery of his consciousness, Daniel shouted his name. Cracking an eye open, Jack saw Doctor Tsai rushing his way. He loomed over Jack, dark eyes smiling.

The eyes glowed briefly, as though lit from within. Tsai snorted disdainfully, his amiable features contorted by a sneer. "Not much of a guardian after all," he rumbled, the sound seemingly emanating from deep in his head.

Grunting, Jack pressed a heel into the dirt and managed to shift his upper body, swinging the barrel of his P-90 towards the Goa'uld occupying Tsai. The Goa'uld snagged the weapon, wrested it away with surprising ease, and dropped it on the ground behind him. Snarling, he swung back his leg.

Pain blossomed along Jack's side, and instinctively he curled in on himself. Almost immediately, he felt his holster tug against his thigh. Once again without conscious thought, he reached for his sidearm, wrapping his hands around the Goa'uld's wrist just as he released the clip on the holster. The Goa'uld eyed him sharply and, baring his teeth, swung out with his free hand. The fist caught Jack below the eye socket with enough force to jar his teeth. With a grunt, Jack fell back into the dirt, shadows closing in on the edges of his vision. The Goa'uld yanked his Baretta free and, though he mustered his staggering brain cells, Jack was unable to give more than token resistance as the snake shoved him over and slipped his knife from its sheath. He groaned, swallowing hard as the toe of a boot clipped his shoulder, tipping him onto his back again with nauseating speed.

"Jack!"

Letting his head roll to the left, Jack saw Daniel break free from Van's hold. He started to rise but a rough poke to his midsection kept him in place. The hard steel of the P-90, cold even through his tee shirt, pressed beneath his ribcage, and Jack's brow tightened in dismay as Daniel stilled utterly, his face frozen in horror.

"Don't!" Daniel called, the entreaty followed by a harshly whispered, "God, please."

The corners of her mouth turning up, Eris jerked her head to the side. The pressure on Jack's diaphragm eased, and Tsai's Goa'uld took a step back, though the P-90 still hovered menacingly.

The fog in his brain began to clear and Jack cautiously shook his head. Fisting his hands against the painful prickling sensation shooting through his arms and legs, he focused his slightly blurred gaze on Eris's hand device.

"What the hell was that?" Jack ground out. He sat up slowly, hands raised to emphasize his harmless status. "You have some sort of super charged hand device, or something?"

"Or something," Eris parroted cryptically. "We couldn't have you ruining our fun by forcing us to kill you before we even got started. Take their vests and jackets." She turned to Daniel as her cohorts made sure their captives were disarmed. "That was quite a heartrending plea," she critiqued, calling over her shoulder, "Don't you agree, Colonel?"

Jack watched Daniel, who pulled away from Van's grip, but otherwise ceded control to the Goa'uld as she took his Beretta. His video recorder and journal lay at his feet, no doubt knocked from his grasp in the initial struggle.

"Well, like you said, Daniel is very passionate," Jack replied, showing more teeth than necessary.

"No doubt he would rather die himself than lose you," she said significantly.

Jack winced, memory transporting him into the seat of a zatarc detection device where he'd spoken those same words to Carter. He glanced at Daniel, relieved to find his lover's gaze still fixed on Eris.

Daniel's eyes narrowed slightly. Though he couldn't know the significance, something in the statement, or her delivery, had piqued his interest. Suddenly, Daniel cut his gaze to Jack's and, in spite of himself, Jack flinched.

Masking his discomfiture with a smirk, Jack ripped his gaze from the responsive quirk of Daniel's mouth and glared at the Goa'uld who'd molded Carter's face into a smug grin. "So, you're Eris, huh?" he said. "Strife. A bit of a troublemaker?"

"A bit," Eris agreed.

"And, I'm gonna guess your cohorts here are Jealousy and Envy." Jack swung his gaze from Van to Tsai. "Just so we're all on the same page, who's who?"

"I am Zelos," Tsai's Goa'uld announced.

"Envy," Daniel translated. "And that would make you Phthonos," he said to Van. "Jealousy."

Phthonos smiled and inclined her head to him, as though Daniel was a new friend instead of a prisoner. More in line with her Goa'uld character, she wrapped one hand around his upper arm and roughly guided him from behind the device.

Jack cleared his throat. "So, what's your story?" he asked, looking from one to the other. "Surely you weren't just hanging out in here, waiting for some new hosts to stumble by."

"Ah, yes," Eris said. "My host knows this tactic. We have you at a disadvantage. Your apparent interest is really an attempt to gather... intel, I believe you call it, and assess what threat we pose."

Jack's mouth tightened in annoyance.

"This host––"

"Her name is Samantha Carter," Daniel ground out.

Silently cheering Daniel's hutzpah, Jack noted his lover's nostrils twitch at the same time that sickly sweet smell again inundated his own senses.

"Of course," Eris conceded with a stiff smile. "This Samantha Carter knows you well, Colonel. Perhaps too well?"

Daniel's brow shot upward, knotting at the bridge of his nose. "Too well?"

Suddenly wary of where Eris's response might take them, Jack reclaimed control. "One question at a time," he snapped at Daniel before turning to Eris. "You still haven't told us how you got here."

Eris met his gaze evenly. "We were imprisoned here against our wills. From the memories this Samantha Carter holds, I judge it was many of your centuries ago."

"What little of this text I've been able to read supports that timeline," Daniel said. He gestured at the unknown technology. "So, this device is some sort of stasis chamber?"

Phthonos spat. "It is."

"Do you know who built it? Who was it that imprisoned you?"

"More importantly," Jack tagged on, "why? Not that being Goa'uld isn't reason enough."

"When I first arrived on this planet," Eris began, ignoring the snipe, "I was warmly welcomed. I had become an outcast among the Goa'uld."

"Couldn't help living up to the name, huh?" Jack deduced. "Caused a bit of strife among the other Goa'uld and they ran you off."

Eris cast him a sour look. "That is an accurate, if somewhat crude, interpretation of events. I searched for years for a place I could settle. I learned that the people who occupied this world were brought here thousands of years ago by Hormes. He has been dead for quite some time–– killed in battle with Ra––but the people were quite industrious. They had managed not only to survive without their god, but to thrive. They took the knowledge they had gained of science and technology and created this advanced society."

"I'm surprised that none of the other Goa'uld claimed this planet," Daniel remarked.

Eris shrugged. "Most of the naquadah was mined ages ago, and it is––how do you say it?––in the middle of nowhere."

Daniel frowned, the only outward sign of his displeasure, but Jack knew it rankled his archaeologist every bit as much as it did him that Eris used Carter's body and mind so blithely.

"You said they welcomed you?" Daniel asked.

"Yes. In spite of their sophistication, they still longed for gods to worship. Among them was one who studied their history, including that which their ancestors had brought with them from their original home world. Those ancestors praised Eris for inspiring men to greatness."

Jack scoffed. "Well, that makes no sense."

"Actually, it does," Daniel countered. "Hesiod, a Greek poet writing sometime around the eighth century B.C., differentiated between this Eris and another, one who motivates men through benign rivalry. For instance, if a farmer saw his neighbor was more prosperous than himself, he'd be inspired to work harder in the field trying to surpass him." Daniel eyed her over the rim of his glasses. "But you're not the kinder, gentler version, are you?"

"I did try to be. I was gratified that the people worshipped me, even without an army of Jaffa forcing their reverence."

"But your true nature eventually won out."

"There was one prominent citizen, Thanos." Eris's mouth contorted grotesquely around the name. "He refused to acknowledge my deity. I could have destroyed him with my hand device, of course, but that did not fit with the benevolent role I had adopted. So, I placed in his path the wife of Owen, another equally prominent man."

"Fortunately, we found Eris here just after that or we would have missed all the fun," Phthonos piped up, her hazel eyes alight with mischief.

"The townsmen chose to also honor my friends as gods. Of course, it was necessary to deceive them; I introduced my companions as Ponus and Caerus."

"Ponus represents hard work," Daniel supplied unsolicited.

"Ah," Jack acknowledged. "You would be familiar with that one."

"And, Caerus, I believe, is opportunity."

"As in taking advantage of an?"

"Clearly."

Eris grinned indulgently, patently amused by their banter. "Zelos befriended Thanos, which only served to elevate the man's already heady status. He murmured in Thanos's ear at every opportunity, encouraging his desire to possess the wife of his rival."

"I was obligated to draw Owen's attention to the other man's untoward devotion to his wife," Phthonos said. "And question whether she returned the feelings. Discretely, of course."

"Of course," Jack snorted dubiously. He shifted, and muscles too long dormant twitched in protest. "Bottom line it for us, would you? My butt's getting numb."

Eris wrinkled her nose at the comment. "You should get up, then," she invited.

Zelos took a step back. He seconded the invitation with a wave of his weapon, and Jack clambered to his knees.

"That's far enough," Eris barked.

Instantly, Zelos shuffled forward and shoved the barrel of the P-90 into the hollow beneath Jack's collarbone. Curling his lip in irritation, Jack settled on his thighs.

Nodding curtly, Eris resumed her narrative, as though his interruption had never occurred. "We fostered animosity between the men. Their hatred and suspicion grew, bleeding over to those nearest them. We moved among the people, cultivating distrust, feeding resentment, until their entire society was affected."

"To the point they destroyed themselves," Daniel surmised. He turned a troubled gaze on Jack. "The ruined city."

"A few dozen survived," Phthonos said. "We had decided to leave that place––"

"Well, with no one left to manipulate, what was the point of hanging around?" Jack jeered.

"Our thoughts exactly," Zelos agreed, missing the significance of Jack's mocking tone. "After a few days, we made our way to the Chappa'ai..."

"Where a small army of Tok'ra waited for us," Eris concluded indignantly. "One of the survivors had sent out a distress call. We were incapacitated and removed from our hosts. The Tok'ra would have killed us, but those who had once worshipped us devised an even more heinous punishment. They built this device in this most inaccessible place and imprisoned us within it, alive but unable to interact with anyone. Not even each other."

"Too good for you, if you ask me," Jack opined. "The Tok'ra had the right idea."

Zelos growled, his grip on the P-90 tightening.

"What happened to the people?" Daniel called, successfully distracting the Goa'uld from whatever he'd intended.

"We presume they went with the Tok'ra," Phthonos said. "That is what they told us they would do. They also told us they had left a message warning others not to tamper with this device."

"Yeah, too bad it was written in a language only one person in the entire galaxy could understand," Jack muttered peevishly. "Okay, so, you're free again. Mind if I ask what your plans are now?" He locked eyes with Eris, who glared back at him. Carter's familiar blues took on a measure of contempt he had never experienced before, not even when she was possessed by Jolinar.

"Now, we go through the Chappa'ai and find other civilizations to conquer."

"Okay," Jack snarled, "that's not gonna happen. You're not going anywhere with my people."

Eris sashayed toward him and, detecting the cloying odor again, Jack absurdly wondered if it was Carter's perfume and not the mold as he had first supposed.

"Colonel, that is so touching," Eris cooed. "Tell me, are you equally concerned for all three of them?"

"Of course, I am," Jack declared. "I wouldn't wish one of you slimy snakes on my worst enemy."

"Really?" Flashing an impish grin, she turned to face Daniel. "That's interesting, because, as Samantha remembers it, you recently admitted you care about her very much. 'More than you're supposed to,' I believe you said."

Daniel gasped softly. "What?"

Flushing with anger at the disclosure, the heat propelling him as inexorably as rocket fuel, Jack surged to his knees. "Shut the hell up!"

Eris whirled on Jack. "You've never told him?" she asked in Carter's voice. Though clearly surprised, her features held a measure of triumph.

"We agreed it wouldn't leave that room," Jack found himself saying.

"What room?" Daniel inquired on cue. "Jack, what's going on?"

"You're still keeping secrets," Eris chided, reclaiming Carter's vocal cords. "A byproduct of your days in special ops, of course. But your professed affection for your second in command isn't your biggest secret, is it?"

Jack cut his gaze to Daniel, who leaned forward and would likely have come to him if Phthonos hadn't grabbed his arm. "We deal in secrets everyday," Jack retorted with forced calm. "The Stargate, you Goa'uld, the Asgard, Replicators... pick one."

Eris chuckled, but the sound held no humor. "Is that your defense? You can't help yourself?"

"Defense for what? If you're accusing me of something, you're gonna have to lay it out for me."

With a smug grin, Eris gazed significantly at Daniel. "She knows about you," she murmured conspiratorially. "She hasn't admitted it to herself yet––the poor thing is still holding out hope that he'll choose her instead. But, she's a smart girl. She'll figure it out."

Daniel blinked. "What are you insinuating? That Sam believes there's something going on between Jack and me?"

"Daniel!" Jack barked warningly.

"What, Jack?" Daniel bit back. "You want to continue playing this game?" Without waiting for a reply, he turned back to Eris. "Ordinarily, I like uncovering my own clues, but right now I'd rather you just tell me, point blank, what it is you think Sam knows?"

Sauntering in his direction, Eris flashed a patronizing smile. "Yes, I bet you would. And I want you to know... everything. But, I'd rather continue playing." She jerked her head at Phthonos. "Go. Disable the 'gate. We wouldn't want General Hammond sending a rescue team to spoil things."

Phthonos shoved Daniel to his knees. "Promise you won't take it too far until I get back."

"My dear friend," Eris mollified, "you are an essential player. The game would be no fun without Jealousy." She smiled down at Daniel. Reaching out with her right hand, she caressed his temple, entwining her fingers through his hair. Jaw taut with indignation, still Daniel stared straight ahead, pointedly ignoring the touch.

"Perhaps I'll let Zelos have this one while we wait," she announced casually. "I know his host is interested."

Daniel's eyes widened slightly, and Jack pushed himself taller, shuffling forward. "Wait just a damn minute," he growled. Zelos pushed the P-90 into his chest.

"Jack, don't," Daniel barked. His cry pitched higher as Eris balled her fist in his hair. She yanked his head back, and moved her hand device closer to his forehead.

"Ah, ah, Colonel," she cautioned.

With a growl of frustration, Jack slumped back on his haunches. Raking each Goa'uld in turn with a heated glare, he softened his gaze as it returned to Daniel, who met his eyes stoically.

"Yes," Phthonos said approvingly. "That possession will be all the sweeter now that we know Daniel belongs to another. A fitting prize for our Envy. You'll tell me all about it when I return?"

"In lurid detail," Eris purred.

Phthonos patted her hands together like a child anticipating the start of her favorite television show. She tossed a "Have fun," to Zelos, and hurried out to do Eris's bidding.

Eris released her hold on Daniel, running her fingers through his hair to smooth down the tresses her fist had disturbed. Daniel ducked his head, moving away from the contact. He sniffed, and his forehead knotted in confusion as he watched her walk towards Jack.

"Lucky you, Colonel," Eris declared brightly. "You get to watch it all live."

"If you think I'm going to just sit here while one of you rapes my teammate, you don't know me as well as you claim you do."

"My teammate," Eris mimicked. Again, her voice lost its Goa'uldish rumble. "The cat's already out of the bag, Jack," Sam's clearer tone mocked him. "You can deny it all you want, but I know you've been two-timing me with him."

Jack couldn't see the look she shot Daniel, but he knew from the sorrow etched in the younger man's face that it was not an expression Daniel ever expected his friend would aim his way. "I haven't two-timed anyone," Jack objected. "My relationship with Carter is strictly professional."

Zelos hummed. "Can we deduce from the omission that your relationship with Daniel is not strictly professional?"

"Of course it's professional. I don't where you're getting your information, but if I were you, I'd look for a new informant."

Eris moved towards them, and Zelos raised his weapon, making a show of placing Jack's head in the crosshairs. Behind her, Daniel shifted, and while Jack hoped that his lover would take the opportunity while their backs were turned to sneak away, he wasn't surprised when Daniel merely leaned to his left in an effort to maintain eye contact.

Jack looked down the barrel of the weapon, locking brown eyes with its wielder. "I didn't think Tsai knew how to use one of those things," he commented dryly.

"I may not have Major Carter's knowledge of weapons," Zelos replied. "But, at this close range, even I can't miss. I suggest that you remain very still. "

"Give me the weapon," Eris directed. "I'll cover your six. You'll have your hands full with Daniel."

Without hesitation, Zelos handed over the P-90. Stepping back, he removed his jacket and dropped it in the dirt.

Eris prodded Jack in the shoulder. "Listen carefully, Colonel. You will 'just sit here' while my companion enjoys Daniel's company. So much as twitch, and I will excise your heart with this weapon. That will be the last thing your dear Daniel sees before I put a bullet in his precious brain. Clear?"

Jack dropped his gaze, and found Daniel staring, eyes wide. Daniel's furrowed brow gathered at the bridge of his nose, and Jack spontaneously gnawed at his lip. Anyone else would read Daniel's anxious look as fear for himself, given what the Goa'uld planned. But Jack knew Daniel too well; the fear in those large blue eyes was for him. Daniel was asking Jack not to intercede, not to give the Goa'uld a reason to hurt or kill him.

Daniel's eyes narrowed, his expression hardening. 'Quit stalling and agree to her terms,' the look said. 'I'll be alright.'

Jack's belly roiled, the realization of what Daniel was asking making him physically ill.

"Colonel," Eris barked. "Must I repeat myself?"

Tearing his gaze away from Daniel, Jack shot her a baleful glare. "No," he ground out. "I heard you the first time."

Eris's gaze remained wary even as her face reflected self-satisfaction.

Zelos turned and strolled toward Daniel. Openly leering, he raised his hand to his throat, teasing the skin in long, sensuous strokes. "Though male, this host has a strong desire for other men." He slid the hand down and across his chest in a slow, seductive caress.

"I know," Daniel said conversationally. "The generally accepted term is homosexual. We also call it being gay."

"Gay," Zelos sighed contentedly. He pursed his lips, appearing to let the word roll around his mouth, seemingly enjoying the feel of it on his tongue. His hand continued its leisurely path, dropping to the contours of his belly. "I have known other Goa'uld whose host had this proclivity, of course, but I have never experienced it myself."

Daniel merely watched him, and Jack marveled that, for once, Daniel had nothing to say.

Zelos's hand dipped below the waistband of his BDUs. "Are you aware he is extremely attracted to you?''

Daniel's tongue skated across his bottom lip. "No," he said evenly. "Beyond sharing his sexual orientation, Doctor Tsai has never discussed his personal life with me."

"He told us everything," Eris chirped, clearly pleased at the chance to share Tsai's secret. "Said repeatedly he hoped we'd find writing so that you could join us."

Zelos fell to his knees before Daniel. Sliding his hand from his pants, he reached up and skimmed a tentative touch along the archaeologist's strong jaw line. "I understand the attraction," he breathed. "You are incredibly beautiful. I have never seen such a sensuous mouth." His thumb hovered over Daniel's bottom lip, never connecting, as though it was one of Daniel's artifacts, too precious to handle. Pulling away slightly, he shuddered. "The pleasure it must bring."

"Colonel?" Eris invited, blinking doe-eyed. "Care to weigh in on that topic?"

Jack pressed his lips together, as much in anger at the liberties the Goa'uld was taking with Daniel as in a show of obstinacy. Bad enough she's wearing Carter's face, but stealing her mannerisms... Shaking off his disconcertment, Jack focused on Daniel. Don't fall for it. It's just another device in her bag of Goa'uld tricks.

Moving in on Daniel, Zelos let his nose follow the path his fingers had blazed to a place just under Daniel's left ear. He inhaled deeply. "Oh, you smell heavenly. What is that scent?"

Surprised the Goa'uld could smell anything other than the overpowering odor of that damn mold, Jack knew he had to try and kill the amorous mood. "Probably bug spray," he interjected snidely. "Coats himself in it every time we go off world. Personally, I find it extremely off-putting."

Eris tsked disapprovingly. "It's Egyptian musk," she supplied over her shoulder. "He found a shop in the Springs that specializes in handmade soaps. Completely organic."

"How environmentally conscious," Zelos praised. He sniffed again, loudly. "The fragrance definitely suits you."

Daniel snorted. "I'm so relieved you approve."

Zelos's features darkened. Capturing Daniel's wrist, he pressed the hand into his crotch. "Feel how much," he growled coarsely.

Daniel reeled back, disgust creasing his handsome features. He tugged against the hold, but, slight though the host body was, Zelos held him fast.

Impulsively, Jack lifted onto his knees, hands fisted. His eyes never leaving the grappling duo, still he sensed when Eris moved closer.

"Colonel," she warned, waving the P-90 into his line of sight.

The threatening growl enough to draw his attention away from his predicament, Daniel seconded the sentiment. "Don't do anything stupid."

Pulling a deep breath that did nothing to calm him, Jack settled and rested his hands on his thighs. His anger channeled to his fingertips, he squeezed, the grip increasing incrementally until Jack could practically feel the bruises blossoming on his flesh.

Daniel backed off his chastising glare, and Jack knew the instant his full attention returned to his molester. His eyelids clenched down tightly, his brow puckered with tension. Full lips flattened to a grim line as his face flamed red.

Zelos teetered forward and cupped his unoccupied hand around the back of Daniel's head. He dragged Daniel toward him, maneuvering so that their lips touched.

Eyes suddenly wide with alarm, Daniel jerked to the side, pulling away from the kiss. Zelos pursued him, the hand splayed over Daniel's ear in an attempt to move him back into position. A finger hooked the arm of his glasses, knocking them askew and, no doubt frustrated as much by Daniel's lack of cooperation as by the barrier the specs suddenly posed, he snatched them from Daniel's face and dashed them to the dirt floor.

Instinctively, Daniel wrenched backward, but Zelos's hand shot out and captured him again. His breath harsh from the struggle, Daniel worked his free hand between them and shoved against the Goa'uld's shoulder. Though insignificant, he managed to put some distance between them. He stared hard into the dark eyes, horror and loathing intensifying his glare.

Jack noted a subtle softening of Daniel's eyes just before they narrowed in anger. Anger not for himself, Jack realized, but for Tsai, who was as much a victim of the Goa'uld as Daniel was. Conscious of the Goa'uld's actions but powerless to stop him, when they got him back––and Jack swore they would get them all back––Tsai would remember every detail.

Daniel would endure the Goa'uld's attention, would even ask Jack to endure it, knowing they could survive whatever happened. But Daniel could not and would not sit idly by and allow Tsai to be hurt in this manner. His jaw bulged with tension just before the Goa'uld fell backward with a hoarse cry.

Realizing Daniel had taken advantage of the awkward position the Goa'uld had forced him into, Jack winced in sympathy for the host. Still he had to crow, "Looks like Daniel has taken your cohort, ahem, firmly in hand."

Rising awkwardly to his feet, Zelos struck out, viciously cuffing Daniel on the side of the head. Daniel toppled, and Zelos stepped toward him. He pulled his leg back, clearly intending to give the prone body a brutal kick, but aborted the move, one hand going to his groin. He spun and staggered away. "Clumsy beast," he growled.

With some effort, Daniel sat up and shook off the clout. Spying his glasses nearby, he plucked them from the dirt, grimacing at their less than pristine condition. Gingerly twisting the frame back to its original shape, he wiped the lenses against his tee shirt and put the glasses back on.

Zelos shuffled to Eris. "You could be wrong about them," he huffed. "Daniel had no clue how to handle me."

"I think he knew exactly what he was doing," Eris sneered, Jack's taunt obviously still ringing in her ear. She turned a disapproving frown on Daniel. "And Samantha believes you're such a kind soul. That wasn't very polite, grabbing poor Zelos like that."

"Tit for tat," Jack contended. "Drooling all over Daniel wasn't exactly what you'd call hospitable." His nose twitched, and he snorted, that damn decaying melon odor now irritating his sinuses. His vision blurring slightly, he shook his head, noting, to his dismay, the damn stuff was starting to make him lightheaded, too.

"I suppose that depends on who is doing the drooling, doesn't it?" Eris returned. "No doubt he's well disposed to your attention."

"And here we are again," Jack carped, his discomfort instantly forgotten. "Why do you insist that Daniel and I are having a thing?"

"Empirical evidence," Carter's voice answered. "That little gesture in the elevator last week was entirely too intimate."

Jack looked inward a second, the incident in question coming quickly to the forefront of his memory. "Circumstantial at best," he argued. "You can't prove that it was anything more than me helping Daniel right his glasses when his hands were full."

"But his hands weren't full, were they?" Carter parried. "You were helping him with his bags, too. Not really the sort of thing a military leader generally does for someone under his command."

"No," Jack granted readily, "but it is something a friend would do. I would have done it for Carter, too, if she'd been in that position."

"Yes, but as we've established, your feelings for her are suspect as well."

The room seemed to tip for a second as the melon odor grew. "You haven't established anything!" Jack bellowed, his hands balling into fists. "Except that you want to cause a rift in my team. And stop using Carter's voice. You're not fooling anyone. These accusations are yours, not hers."

"On the contrary, each and every charge I've made has come directly from Samantha. There is no point in further protestation, Colonel. She has known, since that caress in the elevator, that Daniel has usurped her place in your life."

"Carter's place has always been as my second in command. She knows that."

"Does she? You don't think she might have read something into your declaration that you cared for her more than you should?"

Wiping his dusty hands against his tee shirt, Daniel raised a finger by way of interrupting. "You said that before. Is someone going to explain it to me?"

Lifting sculpted brows, Eris canted her head in inquiry. "Colonel, would you like to field that one?"

Jack's lips grew taut, prompting Daniel to add an impatient, "Jack?"

Jack pressed his lips together, a symbol of his reticence to discuss the matter. Knowing Daniel would understand, he shook his head. "Not here."

Eris scowled and Jack slammed his eyes shut, feeling suddenly as though he was about to tumble off a mountainside. He fell to his hands and knees, clutching at the dirt for something to anchor him. That cloying odor assailed him, and he wondered fleetingly if he'd somehow been immersed in the crap that was causing it. Slowly, the ground beneath him ceased spinning and, pulling a heavy sigh, he rose to his knees. The vertigo was still there, though greatly reduced, and Jack found the gentle swaying mellowing.

He gazed at Daniel, who, apparently also overcome by his exposure to the tainted environment, slowly lifted his head. Even through the fog that clouded his mind, Jack noted Daniel's expression was oddly relaxed given the circumstances.

Not that his functions were all that reliable. Though he'd just told Daniel this was not the place to discuss his confession to Carter, Jack was disconcertingly unconcerned that he was about to do just that. "It happened during the experiment with those damn Tok'ra armbands," he babbled. "Carter got trapped behind a force field on Apophis's ship. I was afraid she would die... I couldn't leave her."

"No, of course you wouldn't––"

"There's more." Jack squared his shoulders, keeping his eyes trained on Daniel's. "Remember the aftermath? Carter and I were suspected of being zatarcs."

Daniel's lips parted gently as his jaw slowly dropped. "Yes," he replied, his gaze narrowing warily.

"I know you've wondered how we got out of that. Hammond had the file sealed from all eyes except those who were in that room at the time."

"I know. He said the Tok'ra were concerned––"

"No," Jack cut him off. "The Tok'ra had nothing to do with it. That file was sealed at my request. Mine and Carter's. I didn't tell you because this was before we got together..."

Daniel's mouth twitched, but the question perched on his lips remained unspoken.

"Carter figured out that we hadn't disclosed everything that happened on Apophis's ship. That's why the machine thought we were zatarcs."

Daniel just stared at him a moment, and Jack surmised he was digesting what he'd learned.

"Okay," Daniel finally said. "What did happen?"

"Oh, this promises to be good," Zelos muttered.

Jack let out a string of curses in his head. He'd almost forgotten where they were. We shouldn't be discussing this here. I should just tell Daniel to can it. He'll understand why I refused to answer him—eventually. Jack inhaled, steeling himself for a fight, and caught another whiff of honeyed air. He sighed, Daniel's expectant frown dominating his thoughts. Just look at him, so good and so trusting. How can I deny him? His need to reassure his lover suddenly overwhelming, Jack tossed all his rationalizations aside and met Daniel's gaze squarely.

"When I was trying to free Carter from that force field," he said, "I experienced certain... feelings."

"Feelings," Daniel echoed dully.

"Yeah. And my failure to include that information in the initial test made Anise's machine think... well, you know."

Daniel blinked at him a few times then nodded. "So, what did it take for the machine to clear you?"

"I admitted that I cared about Carter," Jack ground out. "A lot more than I'm supposed to."

Again, Daniel nodded, his forehead tensing in thought. "As her commanding officer?" he asked. "Or as a man?"

"What difference does it make?"

"You tell me," Daniel huffed out, going from calm to agitated in under two seconds. "You were the one with the feelings."

"At the time, yes."

"At the time?"

Jack flinched at the increasingly strident tone. "What I described was accurate for how I was feeling at the time it happened. But it wasn't how I felt later, when I talked about it in that room during the whole Zatarc fiasco."

Daniel frowned. "So, you're saying you did once have feelings for Sam, but now you don't?"

"I'm saying..." Jack began gruffly. He reigned in his sudden annoyance and tried again. "Look, you remember what it was like when those armbands pumped that virus into us––all our senses, all our emotions heightened. Kind of like I'm feeling right now, he observed absently. "I do care about Carter. Yeah, probably more than I'm supposed to. But not nearly as much as that armband made me feel it. I have no romantic interest in her."

"She believes otherwise," Eris refuted.

"Well, that's her problem! I've never done anything to foster that impression."

"No? Not even during your time loops?"

"The time loops?" Daniel's query took on a suspicious edge. "What did you do during the time loops?"

"Nothing!" Jack protested. "She's just trying to cause trouble. There's no way Carter could remember anything––"

"She'd remember that shit-eating grin you gave us both when I asked if you'd done anything you might not ordinarily do, knowing there'd be no consequences," Daniel charged. "I sure remember it. You looked pretty pointedly at Sam, too, as I recall."

Face burning, Jack bit his tongue against further disclosure. He breathed deeply and the heady waft of air, contaminated with disgustingly sweet smelling mold spores, crowded his concern to the back of his brain. "Again, this was before we got together," he said without compunction. "And I was bored out of my skull––"

"What. Did. You. Do?"

Jack threw up his hands. "I kissed her, okay? I kissed Carter. And for the record, if we hadn't found a way out of those loops when we did, you would have been next, and then maybe Fraiser or Walter. I was pretty much loopy myself by that time."

"You kissed her out of boredom?" Daniel asked through lips taut with censure.

Sighing, Jack nodded. "Not a very professional response to the situation, I'll admit. But, if you hadn't put it into my head that I could do anything,
without consequence––"

"So, it's my fault you sexually harassed a junior officer?"

"No, I didn't say that. And, I can't believe you'd accuse—"

"Just out of curiosity, why did you kiss her first? I wouldn't have remembered it, either. You could just as easily have gotten away with kissing me. Why did you choose her?"

"It sounds like I got back just in time," Phthonos called as she climbed through the opening in the stone. "Though, I don't think Daniel needs any encouragement in the jealousy department."

"You!" Jack aimed a finger at her then swung it around to take in the other Goa'uld. "This is your fault! Daniel, don't you see what they're doing? They're trying to turn us against each other."

"This is your mess, Jack," Daniel disputed. "Yes, they're obviously doing their best to make a bad situation worse, but no one's making up accusations. They're just bringing to light some things I think we should have talked about long ago." He folded his arms against his chest. "So, why don't you just tell me the truth now? All of it."

~oOo~

Klaxons sounding around him, George Hammond hurried down the stairs to the control room. "Sergeant?" he called long before he reached the bottom.

"Receiving IDC now, sir," the technician replied. "It's Teal'c."

"Open the iris." Without breaking his stride, Hammond continued through the control room and descended the steps to the 'gate room. He halted at the bottom of the ramp, smiling fondly at the large, tan-robed figure ambling his way.

"Teal'c," he greeted. "Has something happened? We weren't expecting you for another two days."

"All is well, General Hammond," Teal'c assured him. "I merely wished to return early and spend the remainder of my medical leave with my Tau'ri friends."

"I'm afraid the rest of SG-1 is currently out on a mission. Major Carter took a science team to conduct tests on some alien technology discovered on P8X-708. Colonel O'Neill and Doctor Jackson followed just a little while ago, after the major uncovered some writing."

"If I may, General Hammond, I wish to accompany SG-1 on this mission."

Hammond chuckled lightly. "That doesn't surprise me in the least. But, are you sure you're up to it?"

"I believe I have recovered fully."

"How about we let Doctor Fraiser make that determination," Hammond suggested. "Report to the infirmary. If she gives you the all clear then gear up and report back here.

Bowing silent ascent, Teal'c headed to the infirmary.

~oOo~

Forty-five minutes later, he returned to the 'gate room, fully kitted.

"It's good to have SG-1 fully functional again," Hammond called to him from the control room. He gestured to the 'gate technician.

Teal'c canted his head in accord and turned to the Stargate as it began its cycle. He watched the successive chevrons engage, the tech's verbal announcement all but lost in the great ring's metallic churning. Automatically leaning forward when the seventh chevron was announced, prepared to mount the ramp as soon as the vortex settled, he stiffened when it failed to lock into place. The 'gate shut down, and Teal'c sent an inquiring gaze into the control room. A low growl issued at the technician's confused shrug.

After a moment, Hammond's steady voice filled the void left by the silencing of the 'gate. "Teal'c, the technicians are going to have to run a diagnostic."

Glancing back over his shoulder, Teal'c eyed the 'gate with dismay. He evened out his features before returning his gaze to Hammond.

"Acknowledged."

~oOo~

Standing just to the right of Hammond's chair, the gate technician tendered an apologetic frown. "The diagnostic indicates that the 'gate on P8X-708 is the problem. A theory supported by the fact that we've since successfully dialed two other 'gate addresses."

"When is Colonel O'Neill due to report?" Hammond asked.

"Not for another four hours, sir."

Teal'c shot from his place at the briefing room table. "Four hours is too long, General Hammond. We must contact the Tok'ra for assistance."

"Hold on, Teal'c," Hammond said. "We don't even know that 708's 'gate isn't working; just that we can't get a lock from here. It would likely take much longer to get there by ship than those four hours."

"Sir, may I join this conversation?"

Hammond glanced over his shoulder. Janet Fraiser stood in the doorway, folder clutched to her chest.

"Doctor Fraiser." He gestured her to a chair. "What would you like to add?"

Offering the Doctor a respectful nod, Teal'c slid back into his chair as she neared the table.

"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I was bringing you an update on Captain Olsen."

"How is he?"

"There's been no change in his condition. I've given him a dose of Imotrex which generally takes care of his symptoms. This time, though, he's gotten no relief. It's not unheard of for a medication to stop working but, given what I just heard, I'm thinking there might be another cause."

Hammond's brow wrinkled. "You think something might have happened to him on that planet?"

"It seems likely now. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll be able to rely on Captain Olsen to confirm it."

"Why is that?"

"You'll remember he was nearly nonresponsive when my staff and I collected him in the 'gate room. Given the level of pain he was experiencing, exacerbated by the three kilometer hike to the 'gate, I wasn't overly worried. But, Captain Olsen has recently regained consciousness and he claims he has no memory of being on that planet."

"No memory? Is that a usual symptom of migraines?"

"It's unusual, but it has been known to happen. To my knowledge, though, it has never happened to Captain Olsen. And, there's more."

"Such as?" Teal'c rumbled.

"I took an MRI to rule out head trauma. There is evidence of intracranial bleeding. It's slight, but it's there."

"Any idea what might have caused it?" Hammond asked.

"The memory loss is still a mystery, but I've encountered the minute bleeding and the medication insufficiency before. With Daniel, after he'd been exposed to a Goa'uld hand device."

"Sergeant," Hammond ordered without hesitation, "contact the Tok'ra. Doctor, I need to speak to Captain Olsen."

~oOo~

"We are not having this conversation here, Daniel."

Eris affected a look of disapproval. "Ooh, don't you hate it when he shuts you down like that? Just like he did on Euronda."

"This is nothing like Euronda," Jack contradicted. "And I'm not shutting him down. I'm just saying this is not the time or place, for this discussion."

"Are you afraid Samantha might hear something she doesn't like?"

"It's got nothing to do with her. This is about me and Daniel. Carter has no part in it."

"So you keep saying," Eris smirked. "But you've yet to refute the evidence I've presented that she is very much involved."

"I have a suggestion where you can file that evidence."

With a haughty chuckle, Eris handed the P-90 over to Phthonos. She raised her left hand and splayed her fingers, kneading the air like a cat waking from a nap. Making a show of examining the component parts of her ribbon device, she sauntered toward Daniel. "Are you sure I can't persuade you to talk about your little love triangle, Colonel?"

Waggling his fingers at the weapon hovering menacingly above him, Daniel cleared his throat. "Um, I know this is off topic, but can I ask, how is it you still have your hand device? Surely, the Tok'ra didn't just let you keep it."

Lowering her hand, Eris favored him with a tolerant smile. "Of course not. They didn't even know I had it. When I first took on the guise of benevolent Eris, I removed it and hid it away so that I would not be tempted to use it."

"A leopard doesn't change its spots," Jack remarked.

"Oh, so cliché, Colonel," Eris criticized. "But in this case, fitting. Sometimes the desire to let my true self take over was overwhelming. I would wander alone until the urge to rip apart this happy hamlet went away. On one of those pilgrimages, I discovered a small cave. I buried my hand device within it and returned there from time to time to confirm that no one had discovered it.

"I found out later one of the townsmen, a young man very much like our stalwart archaeologist, was curious about where I went when I left the city. He followed me and, once I left the cave, explored if for himself. He never found my hand device but, when the people were looking for a place to conceal our tomb, this young man spoke up and told them about the cave."

"This cave," Daniel deduced. "They'd buried you in the same place you'd hidden your weapon."

"Don't you love irony?" Eris chirped brightly. "But, enough about me. We were talking about you, Colonel. You and Daniel. And how Samantha figures into the mix."

"And I said I'm not going to talk about that," Jack maintained. "I'd be wasting my breath anyway. You've got your own twisted version of how we all fit together. You don't care what's true."

"I care," Daniel said quietly.

Jack met his lover's wounded gaze. "Daniel," he sighed. "I promise we will talk about this. But not here."

Eris tsked. "I'm disappointed in you, Jack. You would rather talk about Samantha behind her back when you could share your feelings here, where she can hear them?"

"I'll talk with Carter, too. Once you three are gone."

"Not good enough." The declaration low and threatening, Eris whirled and thrust her left hand at Daniel. Orange-yellow light burst from her palm, smacking him squarely in the forehead. Daniel's frame went rigid, his muscles seeming to contract all at once. A soft grunt passed his lips before his breath froze with a sickening rattle in the back of his throat.

"Son of a bitch!" Jack snarled. "Let him go!"

"Are you prepared to answer my questions?"

"Yes, damn it!"

"All of them?"

"I'll tell you whatever the hell you want! Now, turn that damn thing off."

The beam died. Daniel's shoulders drooped, his head hanging between them.

"Daniel?"

The sandy brown head jerked slightly then lifted to reveal watery blue eyes, pain etched in sharp lines at the corners. They wandered slightly off course before finding Jack. "I'm okay," Daniel muttered.

Eris moved into Jack's line of sight, eclipsing his view of his lover. "Now," she said, grinning smugly. "Let's start with Daniel's last question. Why did you kiss Samantha during the time loops instead of him?"

Jack clamped his lips together, knowing what he was about to say could damage his team beyond repair, but even more fearful of the consequences for Daniel if he didn't talk. "Because I was afraid," he hissed.

"Afraid?" Eris scoffed. "Afraid of what? Of being caught kissing Daniel? What difference would it make? No one would remember once the loop reset."

"No." Jack heaved a weighty breath. "Afraid that once we got out of the loops, I wouldn't be able to stop myself from kissing him again."

"But you never had that same fear about kissing Samantha," Phthonos deduced. She smiled sadly at Eris. "Oh, my dear, that has to hurt."

Expression inscrutable, Eris's eyes burned hatred. "Why him?" Carter's voice challenged.

"What––"

"Why would you choose him over me?"

"Why?" Jack parroted. "Because he's the most extraordinary person I've ever known. You know this too, Carter. I didn't set out to fall in love with him; it just happened."

"When?"

"When did I fall in love?" Noting movement behind her, Jack lowered his gaze, locking onto the large blue eyes that peered around her thigh. He smiled gently. "Probably the second he stepped in front of a staff blast meant for me."

Carter's face pinched with indignation. "That's very sweet," she sneered. "But I meant, when did you first fuck him?"

Daniel flinched, those words coming from his friend's mouth like a physical blow.

"That's not really––" Jack began.

"Have you already forgotten the consequence of defying me?" Turning slowly, she aimed the ribbon device at Daniel's head.

"No! Damn it! Okay! It wasn't a fuck, as you so crudely put it. He means more to me than that. I, we, Daniel and I got together for the first time the night we got back from sending the Enkarans home. He came over. We drank, we talked, we fought. It hit me how close I'd come to losing him again––right on the tail of his kidnapping by that Unas––and I had to let him know how much he means to me... before it was too late. So, I told him I wanted to be more than friends, and we kissed. Things just followed a natural course from there."

"Natural?"

"Yes! My relationship with Daniel feels more right than any I've ever had, even with Sara. I can be who I am with him; there are no unrealistic expectations. It wasn't Sara's fault. I understand why she wanted a softer version of the bastard special ops required. I don't have to play a role with Daniel. In fact, it wouldn't do me any good. There's no bullshitting him; he sees right through any pretense I might make. He keeps me honest."

"Oh, that's ironic, considering he's caused you to tell the biggest lie of your long, deception-filled career."

"That's not Daniel's fault."

"Yes, yes, I know. Don't ask, don't tell."

"If not for the military restriction, I'd march into Hammond's office tomorrow and tell him about us. But, as it is, that would likely mean I'd have to give up the Air Force. I'd for sure have to give up SG-1."

"And he's not worth the sacrifice," she interpreted.

"That's not what I said," Jack growled. "Don't put words in my mouth. Daniel agreed it's not worth the risk. He insisted we discuss this before he even let me kiss him."

Eris ducked her head, an unsuccessful attempt to hide her discontent.

"Oh, you don't want to know about the stuff that makes us a couple, huh?" Jack smirked. "It's easier just to think I'm using him to get off."

Eris's head jerked up, her pout transitioning to a thin, sharp smile. "On the contrary. I think you should tell us everything. I know Samantha is eager to listen." She turned to Daniel. "Tell me about the first time he made love to you."

Jaw set, Daniel eyed her angrily. "No."

"Oh," she said with mock sympathy. "You didn't enjoy it?"

"You don't give a damn what it was like for me. You just want to torture Sam with the information. I'm not going to help you do that."

All humor fell from Eris's face as her eyes flashed white. "Guess again," she rumbled. Lifting her left hand, palm facing her, she admired the hand device. "I know you and Samantha have discussed how this works. You asked her after your dear departed Sha're sent you a dream while Ammonet was using it to kill you. A dream that led to your wife's son. A very romantic tale, wouldn't you agree, Colonel?"

Jack growled at the sweet smile she flashed.

"It's interesting. Samantha has a great deal of knowledge concerning Goa'uld technology, including the hand device."

"Stop poking around in her head," Daniel demanded.

Undeterred, Eris continued. "She's quite fond of you. She easily accepted your claim that Sha're was able to project her fear for her child to you, so she obviously believes such a function is possible. However, she seems not to believe the opposite is true––that the device can pull emotions from your mind."

"I've been ribboned more than once," Daniel scoffed. "No Goa'uld has ever rummaged through my brain with it."

"That is because they are only interested in information that furthers their goal of galactic domination. They don't care about the passions that make you each unique––your hopes and dreams. I, however, am very much interested in those things. Especially if you don't want anyone else to know them."

"You've modified the device," Daniel ventured. His brow lifted, curious in spite of himself.

"She can do that?" Jack asked.

"We've seen personal modifications to the ribbon device before, Jack. But this..." Daniel shook his head, doubtful. "You would have to alter the way the stream works."

"It required only a slight variation in the frequency of the beam. I once offered to make the same adjustment for several of my fellow Goa'uld, but for some reason, they would not trust me."

"Go figure," Jack sniped.

"I am certain, had I learned how to access everything in your minds, they would have forgiven me my past transgressions. But, your emotions serve no useful purpose to them." She turned the ribbon device on Daniel. "However, they are invaluable to me."

The crystal glowed briefly, the usual energy stream bursting forth to strike Daniel in the forehead. He recoiled slightly then slanted forward as though the device was drawing him towards it.

"You will assist me, Daniel. Your feelings for him are strong. They will guide me to the images I want and I will show them to Samantha. So much more effective than just talking about your fornications, don't you agree?"

Daniel grunted, his face screwing up in pain. Forcing his gaze upward, he glared defiantly.

The energy stream flared red. "The more you resist me, the greater the possibility you will suffer irreparable damage," Eris warned.

Daniel's eyes narrowed to slits, his lashes quivering violently.

"Daniel!" Jack yelled. "Damn it! Give her what she wants!"

~oOo~

"The Council has authorized the use of a Tel'tak. The closest Tok'ra outpost containing ships is here," Selmak touched the relevant portion of the star map tucked in the corner of the control room. "At maximum speed, we will reach SG-1's current location in just over two of your hours."

Hammond nodded. "Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any more information from Captain Olsen, but we've got to assume there's a Goa'uld on that planet and he has our people hostage."

"That is likely."

"SG-2 is waiting to accompany you."

Selmak bowed his head briefly. "Well, then get them up here, George," Jacob Carter said, "because I'm not holding that ship for anyone."

"Give the sergeant the coordinates," Hammond replied. He slipped around another technician and picked up the phone hanging over the console behind him. Almost immediately, the left side blast door opened, and an SG unit filed into the 'gate room. As the 'gate began to turn, Hammond pinned his friend with an earnest gaze. "Good luck, Jacob. Bring them home."

Jacob responded with a tight smile and, gesturing to Teal'c to follow, moved toward the exit. They entered the 'gate room as Walter called out the third chevron. Jacob gave the rescue team the once over. "Major," he addressed their leader.

The officer snapped instantly to attention. "Griff, sir." He indicated his men with a tilt of his head. "My second in command, Captain Branigan, Sergeants Silla and Hamlin."

Sparing just a glance for each man, Jacob returned his attention to Griff. "You've been briefed?"

"Yes, sir. We're prepared to do whatever it takes to bring SG-1 back safely."

"Well, for now, you can relax," Jacob suggested. "Save some of that adrenaline for the mission."

Griff smoothly transitioned to 'at ease.' "Yes, sir."

Sharing a tense look with Teal'c, Jacob turned to the 'gate as it blazed to life. He led the way through the event horizon, and once on the other side, headed directly for a nearby tree line. Several meters into the stand, he halted on a barren plot of land. "Huddle together," he instructed.

The men did as instructed, pulling into a tight circle. One of the sergeants flinched when rings flew up from the dirt to envelope them.

As they were deposited in the tunnel below, a nerve ending fired behind Jacob's left ear, like a light switch had been flipped on. Is this a good idea? Selmak questioned. They seem extremely edgy.

Turning down the first hall to his right, Jacob replied, It's a rescue mission. Keyed up is a natural state in this situation. Sergeant Hamlin's reaction to the rings was involuntary. It does feel a bit like the ground's come up to swallow you. Once we get to P8X-708, they'll channel that nervous energy to the job. George picked these men for a reason. They're good at what they do. Besides, there are five people on that planet. Depending on their conditions, we may need help getting them back.

"Selmak?" A tall, lean woman emerged from another tunnel to intercept them.

"Asta," Selmak greeted her. "I am on a mission with the Tau'ri. We require one of your Tel'taks."

Asta passed an imperious gaze over his companions, clearly affronted by what she no doubt saw as an intrusion. "Yes, I have been notified. General Carter's daughter is in need of assistance. I am surprised that the council agreed to the use of one of our ships for a personal mission."

"This is more than a personal mission," Jacob contended. "This Goa'uld has taken the rest of her team captive as well. The Tau'ri are our allies. Five of their people are in trouble. Plus, it's possible this Goa'uld is someone we've not heard from before. They're on a planet formerly ruled by Hormes."

"He has been dead for thousands of years."

"Exactly. We need to find out who this Goa'uld is and where he's come from."

Asta frowned. "Agreed. He may have information beneficial to our cause. Very well. There is a cloaked Tel'tak on the other side of the forest. I wish you success."

"Thank you. I will return the Tel'tak as soon as I can." Without another word, Jacob spun on his heel, shouldered his way through the members of SG-2, and marched back to the rings.

On the planet's surface once again, they quickly located the ship. "Make yourselves comfortable," Jacob invited SG-2 aboard. "But don't touch anything."

As Griff led his men to the rear of the flight deck, Jacob climbed into the pilot's seat and set the coordinates for P8X-708. The craft lifted smoothly and raced towards deep space. With nothing to do until they reached their destination, Jacob cast his mind back to the last time he saw his daughter, and winced.

They'd argued about her apparent attraction to her CO.

Ah, Sammie, he lamented. Jack is not the man for you. The fraternization restriction aside, I've had suspicions since we rescued Jack and Teal'c from that runaway death glider that his heart belongs to someone else. It was Daniel whose eyes Jack sought first, not yours. Then we were treated to that incautious display in the elevator prior to the Tobin mission. There was no doubting it after that. They couldn't have been any more blatant if Jack had pinned a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on Daniel's back. I wish we'd had more time to discuss it.

He let out a long, unsteady breath. I'm sorry we fought, sweetheart. When we get back, we're going to take some time away together and have a long talk.

Decision made, he determinedly ripped his thoughts from his daughter's plight, and focused on getting the SGC rescue team to her as quickly as possible.

~oOo~

The stream paled to dark orange, decreasing in size just before the device deactivated. Daniel slumped to the ground, a sob ripped from his throat.

Eying him with a dirty grin, Eris whirled on Jack. "Oh my, Colonel," she tittered. "You've got amazing stamina for a man your age."

Daniel groaned. "I'm s-sorry, Sam."

Zelos knelt beside him, tugging an arm to get him upright. "What are you sorry for, Daniel? That you allowed Eris to show Samantha the two of you in flagrante? Or that you allowed the Colonel to do those things to you in spite of your friend's obvious feelings for him?"

"Daniel had no idea Carter had any sort of feelings for me. Hell, I didn't even know."

"How could you not have known?" Phthonos challenged. "It was obvious that she was flirting with you just before she travelled through the Chappa'ai. And, if I'm not mistaken, you were doing a fair amount of flirting yourself."

Daniel peered at him through eyes narrowed in pain. "You were?"

"No," Jack huffed, flustered by the accusation––even more by Daniel's apparent acceptance of the Goa'uld's claim. "Remember, Daniel, I told you Carter was acting weird. Like she'd gone all girlie on me."

"I remember," Daniel said. His brow tightly clenched, he closed his eyes, visibly pushing through what had to be a significant mental haze. "Did you do anything to encourage her?"

"What?"

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Daniel drew a steadying breath. "I've seen you with her, Jack. Your manner isn't always strictly professional."

"When have I ever––"

Daniel dropped his hand, sending Jack a look of disapproval. "What about the tank top comment after our encounter with the Touched on Tuplo's planet?"

"You heard that?"

"And when we came to retrieve you on Edora," Daniel continued, ignoring the query. "You were awfully solicitous towards Sam on the walk back to the 'gate. You... touched her, more than once. And later, in the infirmary..." He paused and, poking out his tongue, haltingly skimmed his lips. "I saw you hug her."

"She was worried about me. I was just trying to reassure her."

Daniel snorted softly. "There are other, less dangerous ways to reassure someone."

"What are you saying here, Daniel? You think I'm egging Carter on?"

"I'm saying..." Inhaling deeply, Daniel straightened his back and, squaring his shoulders, locked his gaze with Jack's. "I'm saying you need to be more aware of the way you interact with her."

"What would be the fun in that?" Phthonos jumped in. "It must really boost your ego, having that pretty young thing throwing herself at you."

Zelos planted his hands on his hips, clearly affronted. "Hey, Daniel's a pretty young thing, too."

"No one is denying that," Eris soothed him. "As a matter of fact, it is his beauty which makes this a truly interesting competition."

"There is no competition," Jack protested. "I'm not interested in Carter that way." That sickening scent wafted down at him again, and Jack glared at the dark, moss-covered wall to his right.

"Then why do you flirt with her?" Daniel threw back. "If you're with me, why––" The query died abruptly and Daniel's eyes widened. Drawing a stuttering breath, he released it in an equally shaky sigh, and frowned at Jack.

"What?" Jack asked, concerned at Daniel's sudden loss of spirit.

"Are you ashamed of it? Of us?"

"God, Daniel, no, of course not!"

"Then why do you still seek attention from Sam? Is it an ego boost? Is your manhood lacking some... essential spark without a woman at your side?"

"Ahh," Eris cut in, her features lit with the satisfaction Sam generally displayed when she had solved a difficult scientific puzzle. "That explains the cuddle on P3R-118."

"P3R-118," Daniel echoed, face darkening in thought. "Ice planet. Domed city. Administrator Calder replaced our memories and made us believe we were part of a labor crew working to keep their civilization from being destroyed by the ice." An unhappy set to his mouth, he snapped his eyes to Jack's. "You cuddled with Sam? That mission was just a few months ago."

"And, based on your expression, it came after you and the Colonel began your little tryst." Eris shook her head disapprovingly. "Shame on you, Jack, toying with Samantha that way. It was such an intimate embrace, of course she would believe it meant something. You told her you remembered feeling feelings."

Daniel gasped. "You remembered feelings for Sam?"

"Hello! How could I have remembered anything? My memories had been erased!"

"Memories, yes," Daniel acknowledged, "but emotions are more basic. You and Sam did seem awfully close in that cavern. And, I have to admit, I felt... unwelcome in your little clique of two."

"Unwelcome by whom? Not by me."

"We fought, Jack. You flipped me over your back because I took Kegan's side against Sam. Do you remember that?"

"What the hell are you talking about? This isn't you, Daniel, this, this... jealousy!"

"How can he not be jealous?" Phthonos defended. "You're screwing your second in command at the same time you're doing Daniel?"

"I am NOT screwing Carter! That 'cuddle' as you call it was more about keeping warm than anything. Besides, as I remember it, she snuggled up to me not vise versa."

"But you didn't deter her?"

Growling, Jack roughly rubbed his fingertips over his forehead, a vain attempt to hold back the headache knocking on his skull. "No, Daniel, I didn't deter her. I told you, it was cold. And, if you recall, we'd all been brainwashed, so I don't see how I can be held accountable for anything that happened on that planet."

"Convenient excuse," Zelos muttered.

"You stay out of it!" Jack flared. "All of you! This is between me and Daniel." Nearly choking on the heavy dose of overpowering perfume that hit him full in the face, Jack snapped his mouth shut. Gah! That mold... if I could just keep a coherent thought... Jack gasped. Wait just a damn minute. He shook himself violently against the resultant vertigo and determinedly pushed through the fog enveloping his brain, mentally waving his arms to scatter it. He lifted his head, his narrow-eyed glared taking in the self-satisfied smiles each of the Goa'uld aimed his way. "Or is it?" He glanced at Daniel, whose eyebrows had risen to their apex on his forehead. "That odor, that sickening sweet odor. You smell it, don't you?"

Daniel gaped, the non sequitur apparently throwing him. "It's the mold, you said."

Scrutinizing the Goa'uld, who watched them with mild interest, seemingly content to let him wander down this unauthorized trail, Jack shook his head. "Maybe not. Remember, James said the smell was rank."

Daniel wrinkled his nose in distaste. "This qualifies."

"Yeah, but why didn't he specify the nauseating sweetness? It's pretty distinctive."

"I don't know. What did SG-8's report say about it?"

"I didn't read the report."

"What?"

"I didn't read the report," Jack said again. "I never read the report. Not even yours."

Again Daniel gaped, clearly offended this time. "How could you not read the report?"

"Daniel! Can we focus here? We were talking about the smell." Jack threw an accusing glare at the three Goa'uld. "It's them. They've got some kinda nishta, or something. They're drugging us." Eris grinned smugly, an expression Jack returned in spades. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"Very good, Colonel," Eris praised. "We brought you here to find out exactly what is going on between you and Samantha. Of course, you would never have given up that information willingly. So, we persuaded you a bit."

Daniel's brows drew together as he turned his attention to Eris. "You brought us here?"

"Yes," Eris sang, quite pleased with herself. "I used my hand device on Captain Olsen. Claiming he'd suddenly fallen ill, Major Carter then convinced Sergeant James that he should take him back to the SGC. As an aside, she also suggested that, as they'd found some interesting writing on this alien technology they were studying, you might like to join their little expedition. Getting you here assured we'd get the colonel as well. I knew he'd be nosing after you like a bloodhound."

Jack felt his teeth press together and reflexively worked his jaw to relieve the tension.

"Poor Samantha," Phthonos moaned. "If only she had seen it sooner."

"Samantha loves you like a brother, Daniel," Eris said quietly. "She is quite wounded by your betrayal."

"Betrayal?" Daniel echoed brokenly.

"Alright, cut it out!" Jack bellowed. "I already told you, he had no clue Carter thought of me that way."

Eris flashed a patently patronizing smile. "When I accessed Samantha's mind, the first thoughts I encountered were of you, Colonel. That was far too intriguing a circumstance to ignore; naturally I had to dig deeper. And guess what else I found?"

Jack and Daniel shared a glance, but neither jumped on what was clearly a rhetorical question.

"In spite of her fondness for him, Samantha has always thought of Daniel as a rival."

"Well, that's hardly news," Jack scoffed. "These two can turn a discussion about which movie to rent into a contest of facts and figures."

Her smile twisted at the corners, turning unpleasant. "I was speaking of her access to you, Colonel," Eris corrected. "Did you know she was actually happy that Daniel was confined to the infirmary after his appendix burst? She felt guilty about it, of course, but once she knew he'd recover, she was relieved that it might afford her the opportunity to spend some time alone with you."

"Carter wasn't interested in being alone with me," Jack parried. "I invited her to go fishing––"

"You did?"

"Daniel." Jack shot his lover a look that screamed 'Not now!'

"Sorry."

"Are you sure that's how it happened?" Eris challenged. "I must admit, I'm quite in awe of her skills. She played you brilliantly."

"Played me how? What are you talking about?"

"Think about it, Colonel. Did the words, 'Carter, do you want to come with me to the lake' ever cross your lips?"

"Are you saying Sam invited herself?" Daniel asked.

"No," Jack insisted. "She shot me down. Wanted to play with her reactor... or something."

"What a relief that must have been. You bolted out of there like a demon was on your tail. Afraid you'd give in to temptation and beg her to go with you?" Eris flashed a coy smile. "Tell me you weren't thrilled to find her chasing after you."

"There was no chasing. She just wanted to tell me to have a good time."

"And you tried once again to convince her to come with you. If Thor hadn't whisked you away, she would have accepted the offer. You really should talk to the Asgard about their lousy timing."

"I wasn't trying to get Carter to come with me; I was just trying to get her out of the mountain. But even if I had invited her to go fishing, what is the big deal? We're teammates, co-workers..."

"Man and woman," Phthonos added significantly.

"That doesn't mean anything!"

Zelos ambled toward Daniel, his movements lazy and graceful, cat-like. "He's right, you know. Gender is hardly relevant here." He sunk to his knees, lifting a hand toward the bruise on Daniel's cheek. "Does your injury trouble you?"

"No," Daniel replied evenly, mirroring the Goa'uld's self-satisfied expression. "Does yours?"

His quiet snort died in his throat, choked off by the hand that encircled it. Before Daniel had time to react, Zelos shoved him backward and climbed on top of him, spreading his lean body over Daniel's more solid bulk.

"Let's test it, shall we?" Zelos proposed, thrusting his groin into Daniel's hip.

"Get off me," Daniel croaked. Pushing against Zelos with his left hand, he swung his right fist at the Goa'uld's head. With an animalistic snarl, Zelos released his throat and snagged Daniel's wrist, viciously twisting his arm until Daniel cried out.

Muttering a curse, Jack instinctively moved to assist his lover. Cold steel pressed into the back of his neck, sending chills down his spine.

"I'd stay where I was if I were you, Colonel," Phthonos suggested. She nudged him again with the muzzle of the P-90 to emphasize her point.

"Jack," Daniel gasped.

Head back, his neck elongated in an attempt to keep Zelos away from his ear, still Daniel pinned Jack with intense blue eyes, silently begging him not to risk his life.

Forced into inaction, Jack gnashed his teeth. On his own, Tsai would have had no chance against Daniel, who outweighed the slight scientist by at least thirty pounds. The snake in his head gave Tsai a clear advantage, though––one the Goa'uld was determined to capitalize on.

Zelos shifted, straddling Daniel's legs. His unoccupied hand skimmed down Daniel's side until it encountered his belt. Lifting himself slightly, the Goa'uld worked the hand between them.

Daniel flinched, his face white with alarm, and Jack deduced the Goa'uld was trying to unfasten the belt. "Hey!" he yelled. In spite of Phthonos's counsel, and that of his lover, Jack planted a foot, prepared to launch himself at the pair.

The butt end of the P-90 entered his peripheral vision the microsecond before it clipped his temple. Perception inundated with stars, he squeezed his eyes shut and dropped face first in the dirt. Thick, warm fluid trickled onto his cheek.

"Jack!" Daniel called to him through the fog.

"I warned you, Colonel," he heard Phthonos say, her utterance echoing in time to the pounding in his head.

"No!" Daniel cried distantly.

Figuring she had the P-90 trained on his head, or some other vital part, and was about to pull the trigger, Jack ground out what he expected would be his last words.

"God, Daniel, I'm sorry."

"Wait."

Jack peered from beneath drooping eyelids. Carter's boots moved out of his line of sight, headed in the direction of the alien device. He marked her return, recoiling weakly from the knapsack that smacked the ground just inches from his nose.

"Give me the weapon," Eris ordered.

The P-90 clacked faintly above him as it changed hands. In the background, Daniel breathed in frustrated groans, testifying to his ongoing struggle with Zelos.

"There are zip ties in the backpack," Eris advised. "Perhaps, since the colonel seems unable to restrain himself, it would be in his best interest if we did it for him."

Adrenaline surging, Jack shoved with all he had against the ground and managed to get onto his hands and one knee. At the periphery of his vision, a boot approached, too quickly for Jack to evade the sweep that knocked his supporting arm out from under him. As he collapsed, Phthonos fell onto his back with the force of a welterweight wrestling champ. Wits he had barely started to gather after the blow to his head were once again scattered to the four winds and Jack found it necessary to focus all his waning energy on remaining conscious.

"Jack!"

Jack opened his eyes, Daniel's panicked cry the driving force he needed to bring him back from the brink of darkness. Zelos lay on top of Daniel again, pressing him into the ground, but Daniel seemed less concerned about his molester than the fate of his lover.

Above him, Phthonos rummaged through the backpack. With a small squeal of delight, she tossed the pack aside and Jack surmised she had found what she was looking for, a theory proven out when Phthonos grabbed his wrist. Jack pulled against her grasp, more instinct than intention, but was unable to put up much of a fight. Phthonos made short work of the bindings, rolling him over to face the action as she got to her feet.

Eyes finding Daniel's, Jack tendered the same lop-sided smile he'd shown to many a Goa'uld who thought they'd bested him. 'I may be down,' the look said, 'but I'm definitely not out.'

Spurred by the show of confidence, Daniel returned his full focus to his attacker, swiping at the Goa'uld's face with his fist. Zelos reared back, loosed his hold on Daniel's pants, and responded with a backhand that sent Daniel's glasses sailing across the enclosure.

"Perhaps you'd like one of these as well," Phthonos suggested, gesturing to the zip ties littering the floor at her feet. "I don't think he's going to cooperate. Tying his hands would, at least, free you to use both of yours."

"No," Zelos panted, pressing his chest to Daniel's. "I'm actually enjoying the fight. The friction is wonderful and leaving him unfettered will only make my victory all the sweeter once I've subdued him." He latched onto Daniel's throat with his mouth, like a lamprey to a shark, eliciting an angry shout and another awkward blow from the archaeologist.

"Well, I hope your host has recently had a good meal," Eris commented dryly. "If Samantha's memories are anything to go by, it takes a lot of energy to deal with him when he's like this."

"Oh." Phthonos perked up as though she'd just had a revelation. "My host has heard stories, too, of how the colonel has practically had to resort to violence to keep him in line."

Releasing his hold on Daniel's neck with an audible smack, Zelos lapped at it gently. "Is that right, Daniel?" he rasped against his captive's shoulder. "Do you like it rough?"

Hand splayed against Zelos's shoulder, Daniel grunted with the effort of pushing him away. "Stop talking to me as if I'm some horny tramp you picked up in a bar," he spat, "and not an unwilling participant in your sick game."

"He is testy, isn't he? Should make for quite an entertaining show." Eris grabbed Jack by the collar of his tee shirt and hauled him to a seated position. "There," she breathed in his ear. "Now you've got the best seat in the house."

Zelos resumed his attempt to mark Daniel, licking and sucking again at his throat. He fisted the neck of Daniel's tee shirt and tugged downward, fingernails drawing lines of blood across neck and shoulder as they raked over unprotected skin. The cotton fibers separated with a distinctive rip, exposing the left side of Daniel's chest. Freeing his fingers from the twist of fabric, Zelos grabbed at the nipple and squeezed.

"Ow!" Daniel loudly complained, clawing at the intruder. "Get your damn hands away from me!"

Zelos chuckled. "My dear Daniel. You seem to have missed the point of this exercise entirely."

"I know the point," Daniel snarled. "You want to prove you can manipulate Tsai, you want to prove you can dominate me, and you want to hurt Jack by making him watch."

Zelos raised his head, his nasty smile grotesquely twisting Tsai's friendly features. He lifted his hand from Daniel's chest, making a point of scraping the taut nipple with his fingernails.

"All of those are worthy goals," he conceded. "But my only aim at the moment is to get at what you've got hiding behind these BDU pants." The hand dove between them again.

Daniel jolted violently. "No!" he growled. He bucked, but the Goa'uld's position allowed him little room to maneuver.

Laughing triumphantly at Daniel's failed attempt to unseat him, Zelos echoed his victim's growl, though his was more a lusty trill than a warning. "I am going to take you, Daniel," he said with finality. Sliding his hand along the waistband of Daniel's boxers, he hooked his thumb into the garment just over Daniel's hip. "Why don't you just give in and enjoy it?" Heedless of Daniel's comfort, he brutally shoved against pants and underwear until he'd freed the left buttock.

Daniel redoubled his efforts, clubbing at the head that dipped down to lick at his hipbone.

"That's it!" Jack decreed. Sparing a quick glance at the weapon that turned in his direction, he shifted to his left hip and dragged his right leg out from under him, setting his foot in the dirt with a decisive plop.

Phthonos widened her stance, setting her feet to counter the kick of the P-90. "Colonel, you were told to sit still."

"And I'm telling you," Jack snarled back, "that the only way he is going to rape Daniel is over my dead body."

Phthonos shot a look at Eris, who merely shrugged noncommittally. "If you insist," she said and raised her weapon.

"Jack, no!" Daniel called desperately.

His denial was echoed immediately by one from Eris.

The familiar tune of a zat filled the air and Phthonos was suddenly surrounded by a blue aura. She dropped like a stone.

His back to the doorway, Jack spared no time in seeking out his savior. He launched himself forward as Eris raised her left hand, and buried a shoulder in her midsection just as the crystal in her hand device began to glow. Rolling quickly away from her once they hit the ground, he grunted satisfaction when the zat's energy field likewise enveloped Eris.

He came to his knees to find Teal'c and Jacob moving towards them. Teal'c stopped and loomed over Daniel's assailant. The Goa'uld hissed at him and, with a smile that made Jack supremely glad the Jaffa was on their side, Teal'c snatched the much smaller figure by the collar. Lifting him easily, Teal'c shook him like a terrier with a rat and flung him several meters away. Jacob took careful aim, zatting the Goa'uld before he had time to react.

"Teal'c," Daniel panted.

"Daniel Jackson," the Jaffa returned. "Are you wounded?''

Rolling to his right hip, Daniel yanked his pants over his exposed ass. "Does my pride count?" he asked bitterly.

A severely canted eyebrow was Teal'c's only response.

"Hey," Jack grumbled. "What am I? Chopped liver?"

With Daniel's approval, Teal'c went to Jack, wrapped a large hand around his upper arm and lifted him to his feet. As soon as he was released from his bindings, Jack staggered to his lover's side.

Daniel lifted his gaze, his eyes widening significantly. "You're bleeding," he announced, raising a hand to Jack's temple. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'll be okay," Jack assured him. He yanked the hem of his tee shirt from his waistband and swiped at the tacky substance. "You know me, head as hard as a rock. How about you?"

Daniel scowled at his ruined tee shirt. Gathering up the torn edges, he fisted them together. "I'm fine," he said. "I'll be sore as hell tomorrow, but I know it could have been much worse." He pushed onto his elbows. Glancing over his shoulder when Teal'c began speaking into his radio, he caught a glimpse of their fourth team member and her father. "Jacob, how is Sam?"

Jacob tugged the last of the finger caps from Sam's hand and slid off the Goa'uld weapon. Grimacing with disgust, he hooked it onto his waistband. "She's been inhabited by a Goa'uld, Daniel," he snapped. "How do you think she is?"

"Hey!" Jack bit back. "There's no need to be snippy. We're all concerned, you know."

Jacob drew up his mouth, small and tight, a chagrined expression that offered apology.

"He's just worried, Jack," Daniel defended.

"Yeah."

The members of SG-2 filed into the cavern and two of them pulled plastic cuffs from their survival packs.

Griff acknowledged Jack and Daniel with a respectful nod. "Colonel. Doctor Jackson. I'm glad to see you both relatively unharmed." He took in the SGC personnel lying around them. "They were all compromised?"

"Yeah," Jack confirmed. "Restrain them all."

"Yes, sir." Griff directed his team members to proceed. "Doctor Jackson, do you need medical attention? I have a med kit." He unclipped his pack and reached into an exterior pocket.

"I'm fine," Daniel replied wearily.

Griff cut his dubious gaze to Jack.

"Tell you what, Major. Leave that med kit with me and go help your men."

"Yes, sir," Griff handed over the small box.

"I don't suppose anyone has a spare shirt," Daniel called to the room at large.

"Sorry," Griff replied for his team. "This is a rescue mission. We weren't thinking we'd need a change of clothing."

Jack dismissed him with a jerk of his head. Their discarded vests and jackets littered the floor nearby. Instinctively watching Van's unconscious form from the corner of his eye, Jack crawled to them. Tossing one jacket aside, he brought the other back to Daniel.

"Thank you," Daniel breathed, eyes tired but warm with gratitude.

Jack held the jacket just out of reach. "First, we need to disinfect those scratches."

The warmth bled away, and Jack thought for a moment Daniel might argue. He matched his partner's steely gaze, upping the ante with a twitch of his scarred eyebrow.

Releasing his hold on the tee shirt, Daniel flopped onto his back with a heavy sigh.

Jack made quick work of his ministrations. Swabbing Daniel's shoulder with sterile wipes, he apologized softly when Daniel hissed his discomfort and finished the job by attaching a gauze pad over the bulk of the injury.

"We're ready to move out, sir," Griff announced behind him. "Do either of you need assistance? How's that head wound, Colonel?"

"It's nothing." Jack ripped open another sterile pad and swiped it over his temple. "I think we're both good to go. Daniel?"

"I can walk out on my own."

Jack nodded. "Get Major Carter and the others out of here," he ordered. "We'll be right behind you."

"Yes, sir." Griff turned away and soon the members of the rescue team were carrying the Goa'ulded personnel back through the opening.

Left alone with his lover, Jack laid a hand on Daniel's bruised cheek. Troubled blue eyes met his.

"It's going to be okay, Daniel," Jack said confidently. Waiting just long enough for Daniel's responsive nod, he climbed to his feet. With more effort than he cared to admit, he tugged Daniel upright, waited for him to don the jacket and, despite Daniel's protests, helped him to the exit.

~oOo~

Daniel sucked in a breath, holding it as Jack lowered him to the floor of the Tel'tak's flight deck.

"Rest here while I check in with Hammond," Jack said.

Physically and emotionally exhausted, Daniel exhaled with a whoosh, curled in on himself, and fell into a dreamless sleep.

Almost immediately––or so it seemed––Jack roused him with a gentle nudge to his upper arm. "We're approaching the Tok'ra outpost."

Filtering out the words from the pounding of blood in his head, Daniel slowly opened his eyes. His forehead felt tight, as though his skull was suddenly too large for his skin. Waiting for the familiar pitch and roll in his brain to cease, he lifted his head.

Teal'c was a welcome presence in the pilot's seat, huge hands nearly concealing the ball-like control stick of the Tel'tak. Jacob and the members of SG-2 were nowhere to be seen, and Daniel surmised they were in the cargo compartment with their prisoners.

Unfurling stiff limbs, he cursed as abused muscles seized in protest. With a lot of exertion and more cursing, he managed to stretch out his legs and sit with his back to the bulkhead. He dabbed at his damp forehead with the sleeve of his jacket.

Groaning softly from his own hurts, Jack stooped beside him. "Hey, instead of 'gating with the others to Vorash, why don't you and I head back to Earth? You look like you need the infirmary."

"Could be, Daniel admitted. "I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I wouldn't even object to the muscle relaxant Janet will likely try to force on me." He released a long, shaky breath. "But, I can't, Jack. Not until I know they're okay."

"Okay is a relative state, Daniel. Even after the damn Goa'uld are gone, it could be a while before they're really okay."

"Yeah," Daniel conceded on another sigh. He swiped his hand roughly across his face, wincing when the contact caused the bruise on his cheek to flare angrily. "Thank you for convincing Jacob to wait for a full debrief. I need time to process everything that's happened."

"Yeah, about that..." Jack glanced toward Teal'c. Leaning closer to Daniel, making a show of checking his injuries, he murmured very close to Daniel's ear. "You don't really think I'd start something with you if I knew Carter––"

"Jack," Daniel cut in. "I really can't talk about this now."

Snapping his mouth shut with a sharp pop, Jack moved out of Daniel's personal space. He dipped his head and bobbed it jerkily. It was such an unexpected picture of dejection that Daniel instinctively reached out and laid a hand just above his lover's knee.

"We will talk," he promised. "Later."

Jack's eyes touched briefly on the hand splayed over his lower thigh as he scooted backward, out from under the touch. Glancing quickly over his shoulder toward the cargo bay, he pushed stiffly to his feet, and extended a hand to Daniel.

"I'm guessing from that slight look of alarm that we won't be telling Jacob the whole story," Daniel said once he was on his feet.

To his credit, Jack offered a penitent smile. "Jacob is military, Daniel."

"Retired military," Daniel corrected. "And a Tok'ra. He can't be censured for failing to pass on information of a personal nature."

"It doesn't matter. Carter is his daughter, and even though we never meant to do it, our actions have hurt her. Do you want to gamble that he'll just let that go?"

"Well, I don't see how we can prevent him finding out," Daniel reasoned. "Sam and the others know. It would be better coming from us."

Jack's shoulders sagged. "God, what a mess."

With no way to refute the assessment, Daniel let it pass. "Did Jacob say how long the Tok'ra interrogation might last?"

"Not long, I hope. I can't imagine these Goa'uld have a lot of useful information. They've been imprisoned on that planet for what, a thousand years?"

"Maybe longer. They'll want to know how Eris was able to take images from my mind with her hand device." Daniel frowned at the reminder. Eris had used the memory to mock Jack, but Sam would be far from amused by the X-rated movie of him and Jack the Goa'uld had assailed her with.

A just audible buzz sounded in his ear, accompanied by a vibration that set his teeth on edge. The doors to the cargo hold separated, and Jacob stepped out. Waiting while the doors closed behind him, he glanced at the two of them huddled together against the bulkhead. His brow dripped, his intense gaze strangely significant, before he looked away and marched to the pilot's seat.

"You know, I'm thinking we might not have to tell him anything," Jack commented wryly.

Daniel shot him a rueful grimace.

Their destination, a small, dull brown orb, seemingly more moon than planet, filled the view screen. The descent was smooth and soon the craft skimmed the surface of dry grass like a stone on a quiet lake, headed for a lone stand of trees. The Stargate stood on the other side, seemingly guarded by the line of giant sentries.

Teal'c vaulted from his seat almost as soon as the Tel'tak touched the ground. Sliding his zat from its holster, he moved to the exit, his weapon trained on the cargo hold.

Cocking his own zat, Jacob punched the code to unlock the door. "Bring them out," he ordered.

Sergeant Silla led the procession. Lieutenant Van followed, the Goa'uld tipping her nose in the air, pointedly refusing to acknowledge any of her captors. Strutting regally behind the sergeant, she showed her teeth at Teal'c when he ordered her to a halt at the Tel'tak's exit.

Behind her, Doctor Tsai paused on the cargo bay's threshold. Purposefully seeking him out, he caught Daniel's eye. Letting his gaze travel languidly downward, Zelos licked Tsai's bottom lip as though savoring the lingering taste of a particularly delectable treat. A slight shove from behind got him moving again. He shot a sneer over his shoulder at Captain Branigan, but managed to give Daniel a smug grin and a wink before he was forced away.

Eris marched out in Sam's body. She, too, stopped just outside the cargo hold and passed a disdainful eye over them, as though they were no more significant than the insects Sam unwittingly trod on every day. Her gaze rested on Daniel, the familiar blue eyes dark with enmity.

"She'll never forgive you, you know," Eris said casually, like she was giving him directions. "There is no going back. Your friendship with Samantha is lost... as is your team."

Daniel ducked away from the hateful glare, wrapping himself in the comfort of his own arms, a defensive habit he thought he'd finally overcome.

"Get them out of here," Jack snarled.

Griff prodded her shoulder and Eris moved to the exit without further comment. Jacob opened the outside door and the men herded the Goa'uld to the DHD.

"You okay?" Jack asked as soon as the last of them was out of earshot.

"Okay is a relative term," Daniel reminded him with a grim smile.

"Don't listen to her. We haven't lost anything." Jack took his shoulder in a supportive yet gentle grip and steered him out the door.

Jacob dialed the 'gate. SG-2 ushered the Goa'uld forward as soon as the vortex settled.

"Strange that they're all going so willingly," Jack commented. "I expected a much bigger fuss."

Daniel shrugged slouched shoulders. "Who knows, maybe they figure destroying our team was enough of an accomplishment for this thousand years," he said wearily. "Unlike most Goa'uld, they seem more interested in disrupting lives than conquering worlds."

They came through the 'gate on Vorash into the midst of a contingent of Tok'ra, who circled the Goa'uld, joining the SGC guard for the walk to the rings. One of the Tok'ra separated the captives, assigning each a mixed squad of Tok'ra and Tau'ri to accompany them to the tunnels below.

Jack and Daniel squeezed into the final group. Once they materialized in the Tok'ra base, Daniel craned his neck, peering through the press of bodies to see the Goa'uld being guided down the tunnel to his left. He smiled wanly as Jacob, Teal'c and an unfamiliar Tok'ra approached.

"You can wait here," Jacob said. "Merise will take care of anything you need."

"Teal'c is going with you," Jack insisted. "Someone from the SGC should be there during the interrogation.

Jacob nodded. "I've already cleared it with the council. Are you ready?" he asked Teal'c.

"Indeed," Teal'c affirmed and, canting his head to his teammates, strode after Jacob into the left side tunnel.

Grinning awkwardly at their appointed caretaker, Jack gestured to the crowd. "Look, I know the Tok'ra aren't much on privacy, but can you find us a quiet place to wait?"

Merise, a petite blonde, bowed slightly. Just down the hallway, she ushered them into a small room. As expected, there was no door, but the room was vaguely crescent-shaped. A couch created by the Tok'ra crystals was situated into the bend, out of the line of sight of passersby.

"Thank you." Daniel smiled sincerely. He ambled to the seat and collapsed gracelessly onto its hard surface.

Jack dismissed their guide and, after making a slow circuit of the room––from habit, Daniel guessed, or nervous energy––he joined Daniel on the couch.

They sat for a while, neither of them saying anything. The distant sounds of Tok'ra going about their daily lives and the soft thump of Jack's fingers against his thigh were all that disturbed the quiet.

"So," Jack said at length.

"I wonder what they'll do with the Goa'uld?" Daniel muttered distractedly.

"Seriously?"

Turning, Daniel grimaced sheepishly at the bemused look Jack affected and shrugged.

Jack grinned crookedly at the reaction, the look of affection drooping to become a sad smile. "I'm sorry, Daniel. I should have figured it out sooner."

"What, that the Goa'uld were drugging us? I think this particular Nista was designed to ensure you couldn't figure it out. They wanted us to feel and react without thinking."

"I'm trained to resist mind control."

"But, as we've seen in the past, the Goa'uld have some pretty potent narcotics. Surely, you remember how easily Hathor was able to take over the SGC. "

"Yeah," Jack growled, clearly disinclined to recall any part of that particular incident. "That stuff was pretty strong. It seemed every time I'd start to have a clear thought that damn odor would wrap itself around my brain and get me all foggy again. It got so, even when I knew I was giving something away, I didn't even care."

"Which means it worked just the way they wanted it to."

"I guess we're lucky they only got our personal secrets and not the iris code," Jack said with trademark sarcasm.

Daniel's mouth tightened at the bitterness in his lover's tone, but he let the remark pass without comment. Once again they fell into silence, and Jack resumed his restless fidgeting.

Daniel closed his eyes, but in spite of his body's need for the respite of sleep, his mind would not allow him to relax. So much had been revealed in that cavern. So many accusations dropped with ruinous accuracy, like laser guided missiles. So much pain and regret expressed.

Yet, oddly, none of those things weighed as heavily on this thoughts as the one truly positive thing he'd learned: Jack loved him, was in love with him, and had been for quite a while. Probably the second he stepped in front of a staff blast meant for me, he recalled Jack saying.

"Still, he walked away."

The thumping ceased. "What?"

Raising his eyelids slowly, Daniel looked askance, his feelings too close to the surface for eye contact. "On Abydos. You left me there and walked away."

"You said you wanted to stay," Jack reminded him, sounding a bit defensive. "Remember, I asked if you were sure. Please, don't tell me you weren't happy with Sha're."

"No," Daniel sighed. "I was very happy." Resting his head against the crystalline wall, he chanced a more direct glance. "What about you? Given what I heard today, it must have been hard, what you did."

"Leaving you on Abydos? Yeah, it was. But, it's not like I would have professed my undying love to you had you come back with me anyway. You had to die, or nearly die what, eight, ten times before I realized that if I waited much longer, I might be too late?"

"You're exaggerating," Daniel scoffed, grinning sheepishly at the slight censure in Jack's voice. "It was half a dozen times at most."

"Whatever. The point is you were better off staying on Abydos."

Daniel's grin turned instantly melancholy. "I never expected to see Earth again. When I did dream of coming back, Sha're was always with me." He sat up, capturing Jack's gaze, his eyes brimming with admiration. "And, even though it must have hurt you, still you promised to get her back for me." He sighed deeply. "And, when that didn't happen, you helped me through her loss."

"It's what friends do, Daniel. Especially friends who want nothing more than for you to be happy."

"I'm happy now." Daniel's countenance brightened significantly. "And you have wasted an awful lot of time waiting for me to reach that death quota you set for me."

"Becoming more of a jerk to you each time, knowing that, eventually, I'd give in to the fear I'd lose you for good and tell you how I felt. It makes no sense, but I needed to keep you at arm's length."

"It makes perfect sense," Daniel countered. "A confession like that would change everything. It did change everything."

"Still, I'm sorry I took my discontentment out on you. And I'm even sorrier I didn't tell you all the dumb things I did to try to distract myself from the impulse to spill my guts to you."

"It's in the past now, right?"

"I swear, Daniel, if I did flirt with Carter, it wasn't serious. I never meant to give her any reason to believe I was interested in her that way."

"I believe you, Jack," Daniel assured him around a small smile. "You said the 'L' word. That's proof enough for me."

"I should have said it sooner. Like when we were alone. But, you know it's not easy for me to express myself."

"Hearts and flowers are not your style. Besides, I think announcing it to a room full of Goa'uld who were trying to drive a wedge between us was the perfect time to say it."

"Talk about irony," Jack chuckled. "Bet they never expected their shenanigans to result in me telling you... you know."

"I'd guess that was definitely not in their plan."

"It sucks, though, that you had to hear it secondhand like that. You deserve better."

Daniel shook his head. "It's fi––" he began, his attempt at exoneration cut short when he found himself suddenly face to face with his lover, Jack's strong hands gripping his biceps.

"Daniel––"

Despite his shock, Daniel had the presence of mind to cover Jack's mouth with the tips of his fingers, offering Jack a reprieve from saying the words. "I know, Jack," he said.

"O'Neill."

Jack immediately released his hold but sat back nonchalantly, as though being caught in such an intimate moment with his archaeologist was an everyday occurrence.

"Teal'c?"

Daniel cleared his throat of emotion. "It's over already?"

"The Tok'ra soon determined that the Goa'uld have no useful information. There was no need for a lengthy interrogation."

"Looks like you were right," Daniel said to Jack. "How are they?"

"Doctor Fraiser is with them now."

"Janet's here?"

"Yeah," Jack answered. "Didn't I say earlier? Hammond told me he was going to send her."

"Oh," Daniel breathed tiredly. "I don't think you did say... or, maybe I just don't remember."

Teal'c canted a quizzical brown. "Perhaps Doctor Fraiser should examine you as well, Daniel Jackson."

"Now, that's a great idea," Jack seconded.

"No. The others need her much more than I do. Besides, I suspect she'll find me on her own."

"She does have an uncanny ability to sniff out illness and injury. You hardly ever pull one over on her anymore."

"Uh huh," Daniel tossed back. "Were you thinking of telling her about the fact that you stopped the butt of a rifle with your head?"

"What Fraiser doesn't know can't hurt me."

Daniel huffed impatiently. "Jack."

"Yeah, alright. When she asks, I'll tell her. Teal'c, see if Fraiser can check in here once she's through with the others."

With a concordant tip of his head, Teal'c went to relay the message.

Daniel stared at the empty doorway. Beside him Jack stirred restlessly.

"I really wish you had said something sooner about my 'less than professional' conduct with Carter."

Daniel shrugged. "I figured you knew what you were doing."

"Right," Jack snorted bitterly, "because I'm so great at the interpersonal communication thing."

Daniel smiled grimly. "Plus, I had no idea Sam was hoping you'd..."

"You and me, both."

"You're going to have to talk to her. You may not have intended it, but obviously she read something into your too casual manner."

"Yeah."

"Do you think she'll tell? About us?"

Jack scratched his bisected brow. "I don't know. If her suspicions had been confirmed when she was just Sam, I think she could have dealt with it. But with the snake... that bitch had her so twisted up."

"Jacob's already concerned about her," Daniel tendered. "He'll want to minimize her pain. It's to her benefit to forget what she knows and move on. Hopefully, that's the advice he'll give her."

"From your lips," Jack sighed, gazing heavenward.

~oOo~

Halting just inside the room set aside for Sam's recovery, Jacob did a quick visual sweep, confirming she was alone. He frowned at the too pale version of his daughter that greeted him. Curled up on the hide-draped crystalline couch, she stared at nothing, her fetal-like posture reminding Jacob of her behavior following her mother's death. It was hardly surprising, though. Having a Goa'uld removed might not be as devastating as losing a parent at a tender age, but from what he'd seen, the aftermath was always emotionally traumatic.

"Sam?" he called quietly. "Do you need anything?"

She blinked, slowly and deliberately, and trained her eyes on him.

"A time machine," she replied bitterly. "Can you make it so the past twelve hours never happened?"

Jacob moved to her bedside. "If I had that power, I would have used it already."

Sam smiled, the peculiar lift of her upper lip shading the expression more towards irritation than gratitude. "What do you want, Dad?"

"What do you mean? I came to see how you're doing. You've just been through a horrible experience."

She snorted inelegantly. "You don't know the half of it."

"So tell me," he encouraged. With Sam's compact position, there was plenty of empty space at the bottom of her couch. He gestured as though asking permission to sit, but did so without waiting for her response. "Sam, I know these Goa'uld aren't like any you've dealt with before. They refused to say much, but several of the Tok'ra were familiar with them. As they remember it, Eris's sole aim was to wreak havoc in the lives of those she encountered. Apparently, they all have a well deserved reputation for teasing out information you'd rather have kept secret." He tipped his head, gaining more direct eye contact. "Is that what happened?"

Sam closed her eyes with a heavy sigh. "He doesn't want me. He never did. It wouldn't have made any difference if I had taken him up on his invitation to flirt. And, apparently, all his coy little advances were nothing more than nervous tics and alien influence. Yet, just this morning, I swear he was flirting with me again."

"Sam."

"Don't you dare say, 'I told you so.'" Rolling onto her back, Sam pushed away from him, scooting until her back met the wall. Having put as much distance between them as the situation allowed, she drew in her legs to form a barrier.

"I would never say that," Jacob gently assured her. "I'm sorry you're hurting. What exactly did Jack say?"

"That, in spite of what his often playful demeanor led me to believe, I never had a chance in hell of being more to him than his second in command."

"He said that?"

"As good as. Bottom line, he's not interested in me as a woman."

He's not interested in women at all.

Jacob caught his lip between his teeth to stifle any verbal retort. Thank you, Selmak, he growled sarcastically. If I want comments from the peanut gallery, I'll ask for them.

Surely she's aware the colonel is enamored of Doctor Jackson.

That's not something she's ready to admit to herself. Now be quiet and let me talk to my daughter. He received a visual image of a man with his hands held aloft in concession and the unique connection with his symbiote faded.

"Sam," Jacob began.

"You know what, Dad? I really don't feel like talking right now. Having a Goa'uld symbiote removed really takes it out of a girl." She smiled wanly, a poor attempt at softening the rejection.

"Sure. I'll come back later."

"Yeah," she agreed. "I just need some time to regain my strength."

"I understand." Jacob rose slowly. "Have someone find me if you decide you want company."

"I will," she replied, though the declaration was distinctly noncommittal.

"I'll see you later, then."

She nodded mutely, and Jacob headed into the hallway. Thanks a lot, he grumbled to his symbiote.

Selmak stirred. I do not understand.

You broke my rhythm back there and gave Sam just enough time to cut me off.

The suggestion of the relationship between Colonel O'Neill and Doctor Jackson had this effect on you? Though formed as a question, the remark had the distinct sting of an accusation.

No, it was more your voice in my head at that particular moment that threw me, but now that you mention it, I don't need you reminding me that Jack has apparently tossed my little girl aside in favor of Daniel.

You did not want Samantha to pursue a relationship with the colonel. Does this not accomplish that goal?

Well, I didn't want her heart broken. How Jack can just disregard her feelings while he has his little fling with Daniel...

Selmak hummed in Jacob's head. Again, I wish to point out that you appear more incensed by the fact that the colonel chose another man than you are that he did not choose Samantha.

Yeah, maybe, Jacob admitted reluctantly. In my world men belong with women, not with other men.

I do not understand your kind's aversion to same sex bonding. May I give you my perspective?

Is there anything I could do to stop you?

No.

Well, go on then. Enlighten me.

I have blended with male and female alike. I have enjoyed loving relationships through both sexes and I have discovered that, whatever your gender, you are creatures of great passion. I have seen that passion reach frightening heights, on more than one occasion causing my host or his or her chosen mate to do things that made no logical sense. The heart does not listen to reason and the brain has no part in choosing whom you love. It doesn't matter what is expected or what makes sense in the outside world. In love, the heart is in control and it will not be denied.

Head tilted in consideration, Jacob chuffed a small laugh. I'm not sure I buy your argument, but I understand what you're saying.

What I am saying is: gender is not a consideration where heart mates are concerned.

Heart mates?

Am I wrong?

No. Unfortunately for Sam, I think you hit the nail right on the head.

~oOo~

A small woman, auburn hair and brown eyes blazing in the harsh artificial light, scurried into the room. "Do I need to call ahead and have the nurses prepare a bed?"

Shaken from his quiet moment with Daniel, Jack clutched dramatically at his chest. "Geez! Warn a guy, would you? Maybe I should talk to Hammond about making you wear the heels with your off world BDUs. At least on Earth we can hear you coming."

Daniel rolled his eyes, greeting their visitor with a chagrined grimace. "Janet. How are Sam and the others?"

"Goa'uld-free," Janet said, marching toward them. Med kit clutched in her left hand, she flapped the other at Jack, shooing him aside. As soon as there was room enough, she squeezed between them and grasped Daniel's wrist. "You two look a bit rough."

"I disinfected the scratches on his neck," Jack announced proudly.

"And the wound on his left temple," Daniel added helpfully, as he pulled down the zipper of his jacket to give her access to his injury.

Janet eyed Jack over her shoulder. "You have a head wound?"

Shooting a glare at Daniel, Jack pinched his thumb and forefinger together. "A minor wound. Tiny."

"You know better than that, sir," Janet admonished. "What happened?"

"Lieutenant Van... err, that is the Goa'uld inhabiting her at the time, clubbed me with a P-90."

"Mmm hmm," Janet acknowledged. "Any headache, dizziness, nausea?"

"I thought you were examining, Daniel."

Donning exam gloves, Janet lifted the bandage from Daniel's neck and gently fingered the broken skin. "I'm a multi-tasker. Now, which boxes are we checking?"

"Headache," Jack grumbled. "My vision was a little fuzzy, but it's okay now."

Janet turned to him, brow pinched in consideration. "You know where you are?" She peeled the gloves from her hands, plunging one into the breast pocket of her BDU jacket to retrieve her small flashlight.

"Tok'ra planet, Vorash," Jack replied irritably, adding without prompt, "My name is Colonel Jack O'Neill. He is a weasely little tattletale and you are a major pain in my butt."

"Sounds normal to me," Daniel commented dryly.

Thrusting a forefinger in front of his nose, Janet ordered, "Follow this with your eyes." She hummed softly again as Jack slid his gaze first one way then the other. Raising her penlight, she checked his pupil responses then quickly slipped into another pair of exam gloves, gripped his chin, and turned his head.

"Ow," Jack protested when she prodded the injury.

"That's an awfully big reaction for such a 'tiny' wound," Janet remarked.

"It's not the injury, it's the treatment that's painful," Jack countered.

Janet sighed. "Well, as much as I hate to agree with your diagnosis, it does appear to be relatively minor. You likely have a mild concussion, so I'll want to do a more thorough exam when we get back to base."

"Will the others be coming with us?" Daniel asked.

"Let's get through this first, shall we? Colonel, any other complaints?"

"Your beside manner stinks off world, too."

"I'll make a note of that," Janet returned glibly. She turned her back on him, pausing for a deep breath before addressing Daniel. "Do you want to tell me how you got those scratches?" she asked gently.

Daniel ducked away from her too-attentive gaze. "I'm guessing Teal'c's already told you what they found when they came into the cavern."

"Yes."

"Zelos, that's the name of the Goa'uld in Doctor Tsai... assaulted me. He, um, he didn't get very far. He marked my neck, I think." Daniel rubbed at the spot where the Goa'uld had fastened onto his throat. "And he scratched me when he ripped off my tee shirt."

"What about the black eye?" Janet gestured to his left eye, and Daniel noted suddenly that the surrounding skin felt hot and swollen.

"He smacked me a few times, but not hard enough to cause any lasting damage. He also twisted my right arm behind me. The elbow and shoulder are tender, but I don't think it's serious. I can move it." He extended the arm, wincing slightly, and carefully rotated it through its full range of motion. "Actually, I'm sore all over. Doctor Tsai may be small, but the Goa'uld wasn't exactly careful how he moved."

Janet grimaced in commiseration. "Okay. Anything else I need to know about?"

"They used some sort of drug. Like the Nishta Hathor and Seth had. It worked to release our inhibition against discussing personal matters. It sort of muddled my thoughts, too, probably so I wouldn't realize what I was saying. Of course, the ribbon device probably didn't help," he added almost as an afterthought.

"Ribbon device?" Janet echoed significantly.

"The Goa'uld threatened to fry his brain with it if I didn't talk," Jack disclosed angrily. "She found a way to dig into his thoughts with the thing, too."

"Daniel?"

"I don't think she caused more than the usual amount of damage. The headache doesn't feel any worse than any other ribbon-induced headache I've had. There's a little lightheadedness, some nausea. Nothing I haven't lived through before."

"Maybe I should send you back––"

"No."

"I already tried that, Doc. He won't go anywhere until he knows the others are okay."

"I could sedate you and have you taken back on a stretcher," she threatened.

"But, you won't," Daniel called her bluff.

Janet smiled sympathetically. "I want an MRI the minute you get back to the infirmary. In the meantime, let me know if your symptoms get worse." Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a chemical ice pack and punched it solidly. "Put this on your elbow. As long as you insist on staying here, I can't do anything about the ribbon-induced headache, but would you like something for your other discomforts?"

Daniel took the ice pack without protest and laid it on the bench. "I won't say no to a few Tylenol."

Janet dropped the pills in his hand, passing over her flask of water.

She likewise offered Tylenol to Jack, who gazed distractedly at the capsules. The flask danced into his line of sight and he looked up to find Daniel nodding encouragement. With a patient smile, he plucked up the meds and popped them in his mouth, downing them with a mouthful of water.

"What can you tell us about Sam, Doctor Tsai and Lieutenant Van?" Daniel asked.

Janet took the flask from Jack, tucking it away as she replied. "Physically, they should recover very quickly."

"And emotionally?" Daniel's query was hesitant, his lips reluctantly releasing the words.

"They'll all receive counseling. Lieutenant Van hasn't said much at all. Doctor Tsai is beside himself with grief over what the Goa'uld did to you. And Sam... Sam is just very angry."

"What has she said about what happened?" Jack found himself asking. Daniel pinned him with wide blue eyes, his expression more reproachful than alarmed.

Janet shook her head sadly. "That this has been one of the worst experiences of her life. The Goa'uld apparently left her with some pretty disturbing memories. She declined to go into detail, but it seems this Eris shared some things with her that Sam says she's going to find very hard to live with."

The censure in Daniel's eyes gave way to regret as the bridge of his nose bunched in a frown. He dropped his gaze away, seemingly finding the zipper of his jacket intensely interesting.

"Janet, can I talk to Doctor Tsai?" he asked suddenly. "Maybe if I tell him that I don't blame him for what happened..."

"It certainly can't hurt." Janet wrapped her hand around the fingers that tugged agitatedly at his zipper. "How are you dealing with it?"

Glancing up, Daniel shrugged stiffly. "I wish it hadn't happened, of course, and I'm thankful Teal'c and Jacob came when they did." He gently shook off her hold. "Look, Janet, I appreciate your concern, but I know it was the Goa'uld who attacked me. I might be able to help Doctor Tsai through this." He stood, straightening with obvious difficulty. "I want to help him."

Jack rose as well, and Daniel challenged him with a muted glare. "Where do you think you're going?"

"With you."

"Jack, that's not necessary. In fact, your presence may be detrimental to what I'm hoping to accomplish."

"Daniel––" Jack cut off his intended argument, noting in his peripheral vision a tan-draped figure crossing the threshold.

"Jack, can I talk to you?"

Spinning, Jack glared at Jacob Carter, who stood casually in the doorway. A weak grin tugged his lips out of line, but something in his gaze belied the calm.

"Can it wait, Jacob? We were just about to––"

"It's fine, Jack," Daniel broke in. "I can do this alone." Without waiting for Jack's response, he marched towards Jacob, nodding amiably when the older man stepped aside to let him pass.

Janet jumped to her feet. "I'll stay with him, sir," she muttered over her shoulder as she too disappeared into the hallway.

Tearing his gaze away from the empty doorway, Jack returned to the bench. "What's up, Jacob?"

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Jack?"

Jack spontaneously gaped. "I don't know what you're talking about, I haven't done anything––"

"I just talked to Sam. She told me you've been flirting with her, leading her on. Even as recently as this morning."

Wincing at the accusation, still Jack protested. "That wasn't flirting... at least it wasn't meant to be. I was just making sure she was ready for the mission. Like I always do when one of my team goes off world alone."

"That's not how she saw it."

"I can't help that. Whatever Carter thinks, I am not interested in pursuing anything with her outside of our professional relationship."

"I know. You chose Daniel instead."

Jack tightened his jaw to keep it from dropping open. "Sam tell you that, too?"

"She didn't have to tell me. I have eyes, Jack. Next time, let Daniel adjust his own glasses."

"What?"

"In the elevator, just before our mission to the Tobin system."

Casting back in his mind, Jack felt his stomach clench at the memory: bright blue eyes peeping over the rim of lenses riding too low on a handsome face. In that microsecond when all he could see was Daniel's flushed features, he'd let instinct override caution and pushed the glasses back into place. "That didn't mean anything," he lied through his teeth. "You know Daniel. We all have to help him out from time to time."

"You're going to try and bullshit me?" Seemingly startling himself with the increased volume, Jacob glanced over his shoulder. He moved away from the doorless entry. "Then how about the look you gave Daniel after we rescued you from that runaway X-301?"

"I have no idea what that 'look' looked like. All I remember is I was glad to be alive."

Jacob eyed him for a moment, brow pitched low. Sighing heavily, he dropped to the bench beside Jack. "To be honest, I don't care who you're sleeping with," he said more calmly than Jack could have managed under similar circumstances. "Or not sleeping with. I only care that you've hurt my daughter. Deeply."

"I'm sorry she's hurt. I really am. But I swear to you, I never intentionally said or did anything to make her think there was something between us."

"Well, you'd better go talk to her," Jacob advised, "because she obviously believes you did."

Scraping his fingers through his hair, Jack groaned under his breath. "Yeah. That seems to be the consensus."

~oOo~

Daniel's determined stride slowed significantly as they neared the corridor where he'd last seen the Goa'ulded SGC personnel. Surprised by the unusually large number of Tok'ra still milling about, Daniel scoffed at his naiveté. Of course they'd all congregate here. From what I hear, Goa'uld removal is quite a show. He stared down the hallway, his gaze flitting between the people to four distant doorways.

A distinct copper tang filled his senses, startling him from his fugue. Touching his tongue to the blood on his bottom lip, Daniel discovered that he'd been absently chewing on it.

Janet gripped his forearm, her concerned features confirming her awareness of his distracted state. "Maybe it's too soon," she suggested gently.

Fingers and tongue working in tandem to staunch the flow from his lip, Daniel shook his head. "I'm fine, Janet. I'm just not sure what to say to Doctor Tsai. I don't want to upset him any more than the situation already has."

"Why don't you let him lead the conversation? Encourage him to talk about what he's thinking and feeling."

"Is that a good idea? I'm not a psychiatrist."

"No. But you're the most sensitive person I know and you have good instincts––Colonel O'Neill's opinion regarding your nonexistent sense of self preservation notwithstanding."

Daniel smiled faintly.

"You'll know what to say when it's necessary to say it," Janet opined sincerely.

Squeezing the small hand still resting on his arm, Daniel nervously swiped the back of his hand over his mouth and centered his attention on the doorways lining the hall. "Which one?"

"Second on the right."

His gaze fixed on his destination, Daniel nodded and pulled the zipper of his jacket as high as it would go, covering the sterile gauze just below his throat.

"Do you want me to come in with you?"

"Maybe you could just stay outside? Close."

"I'll be within shouting distance," Janet assured him.

"Okay." Her hand lifted from his arm and, as though she'd waved a green flag, Daniel shot forward. His sure and steady gait faltered only once: when he caught a glimpse of Sam in the room opposite, several Tok'ra tending to her needs.

Tearing his gaze away, he turned into Tsai's room. The gray-haired woman who was sitting with Tsai came instantly to her feet.

Daniel shuffled back a step, the suddenness of the movement, as well as her size, startling him. "I'd like to talk to Doctor Tsai, if he's up to it." He met her gray-green eyes, on a level with his own, and then turned his regard to her patient. Tsai sat stiffly on the couch, reclining against the wall, his legs draw up to his chest.

The Tok'ra scrutinized him, and for a moment, Daniel wondered if she would send him away. Instead, she turned her considered gaze on Tsai and, at a vague signal from him, eyed Daniel one last time before leaving them alone.

"Don't take it personally," Tsai said lightly into his knees. "Turns out I remind Mavis of the son she left behind when she joined the Tok'ra." He smiled grimly at the double meaning. "Guess moms are the same all over the universe."

"I'm glad she's so attentive to your welfare."

"Yeah. I have to confess, after what I experienced this afternoon, the TLC is really going down easy."

Daniel shifted uneasily. He folded his arms across his chest, dropping them immediately when he realized they posed a barrier between himself and the man he'd come to comfort. "How are you doing?" he asked lamely.

Tsai shrugged, his mouth contorted in what Daniel assumed was meant to be a reassuring smile. He still hadn't lifted his gaze from his feet. "The Goa'uld is gone. That's a major step in the right direction."

Unsure how to respond, Daniel merely nodded agreement. Silence descended, thick and black as a funeral pall.

"I'm sorry this happened to you," Daniel said at length.

Tsai looked up then, brown eyes impossibly wide. "What happened to me?" he spluttered. "I was going to rape you!" He wrapped his arms around his legs and pulled them tight against his chest.

"No," Daniel countered emphatically. "Zelos was going to rape me. You had no part in it." He moved toward the couch, approaching cautiously, as though Tsai were a skittish cat he'd backed into a corner. "The Goa'uld used you, William. Your thoughts and your body. You were as much a victim as I was. More so, in fact."

"It was my attraction to you that gave him the idea to assault you. If I hadn't... wanted you myself..."

"Desires aren't actions."

Tsai squeezed his eyes shut. "I should never have had those thoughts about you. It was wrong." Bowing his head, he shook it back and forth, the very picture of anguish.

Frowning, Daniel reached out in sympathy, but aborted the gesture before his hand made contact, fearing, under the circumstances, his touch would harm more than help. "Just being attracted to someone isn't wrong."

Tsai's eyes opened as he lifted his head. Dammed up behind his eyelids, tears spilled down his cheeks.

"Let me ask you," Daniel continued. "Had you ever thought of attacking me before you were possessed by the Goa'uld?"

"God, no!" Tsai choked, the words bubbling up around a sob. "I tried to stop him in that cavern. When he put my hands on you... I pulled back, but my body wouldn't obey my commands."

"Exactly. It wasn't your fault, William. I don't blame you."

Tsai stared intently, the desperate need to believe Daniel's statement clear in the lines of stress across his forehead. His breathing slowed somewhat, hitching occasionally as he fought to control his emotions.

"I don't know how you can say that," he choked out at last.

"The only one at fault here is Zelos."

"I still gave him the ammunition. It was my thoughts that spurred the attack!"

"He would have found some other way to hurt me."

"Not like that. Not with a sexual attack. God, how can you even stand being in the same room with me? I must disgust you."

"Why?" Daniel challenged. "Because you're gay? Because you think I'm attractive? We don't know each other well, William, but I hope you think better of me than that."

"I can't think at all right now! What the Goa'uld did, what he would have done if Teal'c hadn't stopped him. He twisted my attraction to you and turned it ugly. And he shared his vile intentions with me." Tsai began crying again. "He wasn't able to carry them out; he never raped you in actuality, but in my head... I'll never get rid of that image. Of my hands and my body... violating you."

"He showed you...?" Daniel gulped, swallowing down the bile the revelation brought to the back of his throat. "That's... God, I'm so sorry."

"I can't bear it, Daniel. Please, help me. This memory..."

"Of course. Whatever you need."

Tsai calmed instantly. Stemming the flow of tears with the sleeve of his tee shirt, he waved a hand, beckoning Daniel, who acceded to the request without hesitation.

"The Tok'ra have taken all of my things," Tsai said as though he were sharing a secret. "I don't think they'd stop you from bringing something to me. Daniel, I need my pistol––"

"What?" Horrified, Daniel backed away, gaining no more than a step before Tsai's hand shot out and captured his wrist.

"You have to," Tsai ground out, tugging Daniel nearer. His eyes were wild, his features an odd mixture of anger and despair. "I can't live with this memory. I know it never happened but... I remember it so clearly."

"William," Daniel said gently, "killing yourself is not the answer." Fisting his hand, he turned his wrist, but Tsai just tightened his hold. "Let's wait until we get back to Earth. The doctors there can help."

"How? The only thing that will help is a lobotomy. Do you think they'll agree to rip out the part of my brain that believes I raped you?"

"There are other options," Daniel stressed.

"No!" Tsai tugged again on the wrist, nearly yanking Daniel off his feet. He twisted his free hand in the shoulder of Daniel's jacket. "You have to get me that gun."

Accepting with regret that reason would not sway Tsai, Daniel said with finality, "I am not going to help you kill yourself."

"Then get out of my way!" Surging from the couch, Tsai pushed at him.

Daniel stumbled backward, but managed to stay upright. He reached for Tsai as the doctor lumbered past him, his fingers just brushing the fabric of Tsai's tee shirt.

"William."

Tsai staggered to a stop before the tall, gray-haired Tok'ra blocking his exit. Behind her, a much smaller redhead peered around the tan-clad shoulder.

"Mavis," Tsai whispered harshly. "I'm sorry. I have to... I have to go."

"No, William," Mavis replied, her voice equal measures reprimand and comfort. "You must return to your bed. Doctor Fraiser has something that will help you forget for a while."

"Forget?"

The desperate hope in his strangled utterance made Daniel's chest hurt.

"Doctor Tsai." Janet smiled kindly as she came around the larger woman. "I'd like you to lie down, please. You need to relax."

Tsai looked from Janet to Mavis. The Tok'ra stepped forward and, cupping his elbow with the palm of her hand, led Tsai back to his bed. "Doctor Fraiser will help you."

Sharing a pained look with Daniel, Janet followed. As she passed him, Daniel noted the hypo she concealed behind her back.

Stopping next to the couch, Mavis stood aside as Tsai dropped onto it and lay down. With a whoosh of breath, he closed his eyes and went limp, his chest rising and falling evenly, as though he'd fallen immediately to sleep. Mavis arranged him in a more natural repose, then stepped back to allow Janet access.

As the doctor uncapped the needle, Daniel turned away and walked out. Content that Tsai would find temporary relief, he went in search of someone who might offer a more permanent solution.

~oOo~

"Jacob!"

Feeling like a man being led to his execution, Jack saw salvation in the familiar figure of Daniel Jackson, who sped toward them at a steady clip.

Jacob slowed to a halt, stealing an inquisitive glance at Jack before turning to the breathless man pulling up in front of them. "Daniel?

"Hey, you alright?" Jack asked. "Does Fraiser know you're out running a marathon?"

Frowning at Jack's remark, Daniel pointedly turned to Jacob. "I need to talk to you," Daniel puffed urgently. "Janet is with William Tsai."

Jack's brow gathered at the bridge of his nose, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. Suddenly, Daniel looked more like a complication than a rescuer.

"This is important," Daniel pushed when Jacob failed to immediately respond. "Just give me five minutes. Please."

Gaze traveling a circuit from Jack to the hallway before them then back to Daniel, Jacob let out a long breath and nodded.

"Whoa," Jack barked as Daniel opened his mouth to continue. "Should we do this in the hallway?" He glanced over his shoulder, and waved a hand to encompass all the people who might overhear them. "Jacob, there's gotta be a room we can use." He startled when someone calmly petted his arm and turned just as Daniel withdrew his hand.

"No, it's fine, Jack."

"What's going on, Daniel?" Jacob asked, before Jack could argue further.

Daniel's lips turned inward for a moment, as though he were having second thoughts about sharing his information. "Doctor Tsai just asked me to give him a weapon so he could kill himself."

"What?" Jack gasped.

Jacob nodded. "It's a common reaction after the Goa'uld's been removed. I understand having your body hijacked in that way is quite disorienting. Like a deep depression."

"Well, it's more what the Goa'uld did while in his body than the actual possession that's made him suicidal," Daniel said.

"You mean...?" Jack rolled his hand, a poor substitute for the word he couldn't bring himself to say in the present circumstances.

"Assaulting me, yes," Daniel filled in without qualm. "William said something that's got me thinking."

Jack's mouth twitched in objection. Only Daniel would ignore his own pain to work so fiercely on behalf of someone who'd just tried to rape him.

"Zelos wasn't content just to attack me. He assailed William's mind, leaving him with a false memory of the assault. Although you and the rescue team arrived before... things went too far, William remembers an actual rape. He said the only thing that would help him is a lobotomy–– removing those memories completely."

"The Goa'uld can be particularly heinous when they know they're about to die," Jacob lamented. "What is it you want from me?"

"The Tok'ra are pretty proficient with the memory recall device. Do you think it could be, I don't know, reprogrammed or something to remove specific memories?"

"It wasn't designed to––"

"Wait a minute," Jack interjected. "You want to let the Tok'ra poke around in his head and take stuff out?"

All his energy focused on helping Tsai, Daniel had none left to deal with Jack's protests. Whirling impatiently, he admonished, "Jack, don't. Just let me do this. Please." He turned back to Jacob. "You were saying."

"The memory recall device was not designed to permanently remove memories, just to bring them to the fore."

"Anise modified it once, though, to work with the zatarc detector," Daniel said far too expectantly for Jack's liking. "Maybe she could alter it to remove or at least overwrite these destructive memories."

Jacob shrugged. "I suppose anything's possible. You'll have to talk to Anise.

"I will. Thank you."

"You know," Jacob added as Daniel turned to leave, "It's also possible the procedure you're describing would take more than the Goa'uld memories."

Daniel's mouth pursed briefly in thought before it hardened in resolve. "I'll make sure Doctor Tsai's apprised of all the possible risks. But, if Anise can make it work, we need to offer it to him. To all of them."

"Hang on," Jack grumbled. "Letting Tsai have his brain probed is one thing. But Van and Carter are military."

"The Air Force doesn't own their brains."

"No, just the information in them. In fact, we shouldn't even offer it to Tsai without first contacting Hammond."

"Who will have to contact the Joint Chiefs or the President."

"That's the chain of command, Daniel. You know that."

Daniel's brow knotted and he roughly scoured his forehead with the palm of his hand. "How long do we wait? You didn't talk with Doctor Tsai. He is suicidal, Jack. What if, while we're following the chain of command, he finds the means to take his life?"

Jack turned to Jacob, expecting the former general to weigh in on his side.

"Daniel's right," was what Jacob said instead. "One of the officers you're talking about is my daughter, Jack. I'm not concerned that she might kill herself, but she is hurting. If Anise can take some of that pain away, I want Sam to have that option."

"Let me go talk to Anise," Daniel proposed. "Let's at least find out if it's even possible before we get the military involved."

With no reasonable argument to counter the request, Jack sighed. "Go ahead. Talk to Anise."

Flashing a quick smile, Daniel nodded. "Thank you."

"You'll probably find her in the labs," Jacob offered. "Back down the hall to your right. If she's not there, one of the other scientists can find her for you."

"Okay." Daniel turned on his heel, quickly disappearing around the bend.

Jack watched him race away, unaccountably perturbed that Daniel would so easily leave him to run this gauntlet alone. No, that wasn't fair. Daniel had no idea Jack was about to step into a mine field, where anything he said could instantly blow up in his face. In fact, it was probably better that he did go in alone, maybe trip a few of those charges. Daniel would likely have to take this journey himself eventually. By going first, Jack would be able to prepare him. Not that foreknowledge would actually protect Daniel if Carter chose to be venomous.

"Are you ready?"

Jack blinked, the image of Daniel's broad back resolving to Jacob's stern visage, as though he'd flipped the lever on a View-Master. "No," he said frankly. "But it needs to be done. Which room?"

"Down that hallway on the left."

Rolling the tension from his shoulders, Jack drew a large breath which did little to calm him, and marched crisply forward. Composing himself for a battle he hoped would never be waged, he refocused his mind for the conversation to come.

Carter raised her eyes as he entered, and his belief that they could resolve the tension between them without animosity faded instantly. The look brought him up short. Her normally clear baby blues were clouded with rage, raw and fierce. It weighed down her brow and the corners of her mouth, erasing all traces of her familiar good nature. Poised on the edge of her cot, she curled her fingers into the stone-like surface.

"Carter," Jack said softly, as though he were afraid she might spring at him if he startled her. "We need to talk."

The corner of her mouth lifted in a smile, but it was far from pleasant. "What did you want to talk about, sir?" She lobbed the honorific, wrapped in condescension, as skillfully as she tossed a hand grenade.

It was meant to be just as deadly, too, Jack concluded. He wondered briefly how much her military training and his role as her superior would temper her responses. Rejecting the injustice of such restraint in the present circumstances, he turned to Jacob, who had paused on the threshold, and, with a raised eyebrow, requested he leave the room.

Frowning, Jacob gestured over his shoulder, a reminder to Jack that he'd be right outside. Jack acknowledged the information with a nod and, as Jacob began to back out, turned to Carter.

"Look, Carter. Sam. We both know that what we need to discuss falls way clear of the boundaries the Air Force has drawn for us. What do you say to no holds barred? Let's hash this out, off the record, so to speak. I want you to talk to me honestly, without fear of reprisal. This is between you and me, Jack and Sam, not colonel and major."

"Honesty? That's a novel proposal coming from the man whose life has been nothing but lies."

"I never lied to you," he argued. "I may have misled you––unintentionally––but I never promised you anything."

"You said you care about me."

"I do, Carter. Yeah, more than I should as your commanding officer. That doesn't necessarily translate to romantic feelings."

Her forehead buckled a moment, before the harsh lines of her features smoothed, more sad than angry. "It did for me."

"I'm sorry," Jack sighed. "We should have talked about this when it happened. I, I guess I knew you had taken what I said in a way other than what I intended, but... well, you know me, Carter, talking is not something I'm fond of doing."

"You talk with him," she countered, the rigidity returning to her lips.

"No, he talks," Jack parried. "And, he doesn't care that all I contribute to the conversation is a word or two when he pauses for breath. Something tells me you would expect a lot more."

She frowned again, but her head bobbed in understanding. "So, this relationship you have with Daniel..."

"Is the real thing, yes."

"And yet, you held my hand yesterday morning. In my lab," she added when he shot her a quizzical look.

"Carter, you grabbed my hand," he defended.

"You didn't object."

"What did you want me to do? Push you away?"

"Yes!" She launched herself from the couch and began pacing a tight line. "God, if only you hadn't given me reason to hope, we might not be here right now."

"I told you, I never meant to lead you on."

"No? Are you sure about that? It didn't boost your male ego just a bit, knowing all you had to do was ask and I'd give you anything you wanted?"

"First of all, I didn't know... that. And, secondly, I was never going to ask."

Carter's porcelain skin flushed scarlet. "Then why flirt with me? Were you just stringing me along until Daniel got tired of you?"

Outrage at the accusation propelled him a step in her direction. "Okay. Let's get one thing straight. I did not string you along. If I'm guilty of anything, it's allowing a little too much familiarity between us. I should have kept those lines of fraternization rigidly drawn."

"Like you've done with Daniel?" she sneered.

"Daniel never took my fooling around as anything but friendship."

"So," Carter said dramatically, like she was some crime show detective who'd just gotten her suspect to unwittingly confess, "you admit you knew that I had read more into your less than professional interactions with me."

"Not exactly," Jack hedged. "I figured you were smart enough to know that, if I were really interested, I wouldn't play games with you."

"You have all the answers, don't you?" Carter snorted. "You certainly had them for Daniel."

"Everything I said in that cavern was the truth. I've known for a very long time that Daniel was the one for me. I tried to deny it, even pushed him away and distracted myself with that little circle we were apparently running around each other."

"That's what I was to you? A distraction?"

"Look, Carter, I'm not proud of the way I've acted. It wasn't fair to you or to Daniel. But I'm through running now."

Carter's head dropped between her shoulders, but not before Jack saw her features crumple in dismay. She drew a deep breath and when she again raised her eyes to his, their bright blue gaze was darkened with defeat.

"Do you love him?"

"Come on. You don't really want me to answer that."

"Probably not," she conceded. "But I would like to know why you'd choose him over me. Is it because you prefer men?"

"That would make it easier for you, I know. But I'm not going to lie to spare your feelings. It's got nothing to do with gender. I chose him for the very reason I told you––or Eris, I guess––in that cavern. He's the most amazing person I've ever known. And being with him makes me feel like a different person, too. A better person."

"And I don't do that for you?"

"What do you want me to say here, Carter? I see you first as an officer under my command. I'm not supposed to be influenced by your opinion of me."

Her mouth formed an 'O' but no sound passed her lips. She sat heavily on the bench, like she was a marionette and someone had cut the strings which held her upright.

Jack watched her, waiting for her to say something. After a minute, the silence began to wear on him. "Look," he said, "I know I'm being a first class heel here, but I have to know what to expect when we get back to Earth."

With obvious effort, Carter raised her head. She pinned him with a glare so reminiscent of one the Goa'uld had manufactured, the skin at the back of his neck prickled. "What are you afraid of?" she jeered. "That I'll tell everything I know?" A small smile twisted her lips––an uncharacteristic display of delight in his discomfort. The smile bled away, the corners of her mouth turning downward as though the effort to keep them up was too much for her. "Hell, I've even got visual aids. We'll need to borrow a memory recall device and one of those monitors, but I don't think the Tok'ra will mind."

"God, Carter," Jack whispered harshly. "I wish you hadn't found out like this."

"Like this?" she echoed dubiously. "Or, you wish I hadn't found out at all."

Jack inhaled deeply. Squaring his shoulders, he met her unfriendly gaze. "Not that it's any of your business what I do during my downtime, but I was never comfortable with the idea that I had to keep my relationship with Daniel hidden from the rest of the team. The way the regs are set up, though, I had no choice."

"You didn't believe I would keep your secret?"

"That wasn't the issue. If we'd told you and someone found out later that you knew and didn't report it... I might be willing to jeopardize my career for Daniel, but I couldn't ask you to do the same."

"How very noble," she said, but her tone completely negated the compliment.

Compressing his lips to keep in the retort that immediately formed in his head, Jack instead ground out. "So, where do we stand?"

"Do you mean will I tell General Hammond that you're having sex with Daniel?"

"I guess that's what I'm asking, yeah."

Her eyes lost focus as though she was considering a complicated equation on a chalkboard across the room. Just as Jack thought about turning to make sure there wasn't something back there he should be aware of, Carter returned her gaze to his.

"I don't know," she said flatly.

Jack nodded. He raked his fingers along his jaw then across his scalp, the prickle he'd felt earlier at the back of his neck seeming to have grown to encompass his entire head. "Okay," he replied with forced calm. "But while you're deciding you might want to consider how that revelation will affect what you've got right now. SG-1, in its current configuration, will cease to exist. Hammond will relieve me of command and I don't think Daniel will stick around for long. Are you sure you want to destroy your team, just because your feelings are hurt?"

"Now you're concerned about my feelings?"

"I never meant to hurt you, Carter."

"So you've said," she returned with a sigh, clearly disinclined to start the conversation over again. "But, I'm not sure it matters anyway. I can't just forget the things I learned in that cavern. The Goa'uld made sure of that."

"What if you could?"

"What?"

"What if you could forget? Daniel's talking with Anise about the possibility of removing some of those memories. Doctor Tsai is having a particularly hard time with what his Goa'uld dumped on him."

"God, poor William. He really is a sensitive soul. Knowing that he'd been used like that for the Goa'ulds' amusement would weigh pretty heavily on him."

"Yeah," Jack concurred. "How about you? Your Goa'uld wasn't all sweetness and light herself."

Carter shrugged stiffly. "Eris did share a few images that I could very happily live without. But I'm not sure allowing Anise to try and dig them out is a much better option."

Cringing at the picture her description left him with, Jack nodded. "That was my first thought, too, but, if she can help you forget those things, you might want to try it."

"Yeah, maybe."

Uncertain he'd actually accomplished anything, still Jack had the feeling that they'd said all they could for the moment. "I'll go see if I can find Anise and get an update," he said backing away from her couch. "Do you need to see Doc again? I could send her in."

"No. But, could you ask my father to come in from the hallway?"

Pulling a chagrined smile on Jacob's behalf, Jack nodded again. "Right," he said, and made a quick getaway. He encountered the elder Carter just on the other side of the door.

"I heard," Jacob said as Jack opened his mouth to relay the message. "Even when she was a kid, she always seemed to know when I was watching, no matter how careful I was to hide the fact."

Jack smiled blandly and, as Jacob turned to go to his daughter, went in search of Daniel.

~oOo~

Sam turned away from the sympathetic frown her father wore, unaccountably angry at his show of sympathy.

"Hey, sweetheart," Jacob greeted. "How are you doing?"

"You heard everything, Dad," she snapped. "How do you think I'm doing?"

"Not everything. I walked away to give you some privacy. I have a pretty good idea how the conversation went, though."

"He wants Daniel, that's how it went." She sucked in her traitorous lip and held it fast between her teeth to stop it spewing more objectionable truths.

"Sam," Jacob said gently. "You already knew that."

"You mean that look in the elevator?" Chuckling coarsely, she tapped her temple. "Well, let me tell you that memory is nothing compared to what I've got in here now."

"You intimated something like that earlier. Stop being so damn cryptic and tell me what happened in that cavern."

Face screwing up as though her tongue was suddenly bathed in something sour, Sam spat out, "Eris showed me exactly what it is they do with each other."

"What?"

"She pulled a memory from Daniel's mind with the hand device and gave me a 3D Technicolor viewing of the two of them––"

"I get the idea," Jacob cut her off with a wince. "That was a particularly cruel thing to do."

"Which part," she snorted derisively, "the colonel screwing Daniel or Eris giving me the vision to live with the rest of my life?"

"Sam, you know about the device Anise is working on. If she can get it working properly, you need to let her remove that image. You don't have to live with that kind of reminder."

"Maybe it's exactly what I need to help me remember what an idiot I've been."

"You're not an idiot."

"Daniel is sharing his bed, not me."

"And keeping the visual in your head will only rub salt in that wound. Sam, I know it's hurting you––"

"You don't need to protect me, Dad," she said, resentment tingeing the words. "I'm a big girl."

"You're still my girl. And I can't stand seeing you this upset."

She hit him with an ice blue stare. "Then maybe you should just leave."

"Sam."

"I mean it, Dad. I can't cope with your fatherly concern right now. You can't fix this for me. I have to sort it out on my own."

Jacob tendered a mournful smile. "Fine. I'll leave you to that. But I won't be far. If you need anything––"

"I'll call you," Sam finished forcefully, the admonition against unsolicited assistance implicit in her emphatic tone. She balled her hands. The nails cutting into her palms were an insufficient distraction from the pain in her father's eyes, but backing down was not an option. It was bad enough he knew of her humiliation; she would not add to her shame by allowing daddy to take care of everything for her.

"I hope you do," Jacob said quietly. He watched her for a moment longer before turning and walking out.

A sob seethed up inside her, but Sam swallowed it down. Her face pinched disagreeably. How fitting that acrimony would leave a bitter aftertaste.

Relaxing her fists, she drew a measured breath, releasing it in a long slow stream. Completely done in, she lay down, turning her back to the door.

As her eyes closed, a face coalesced in the darkness like an image on a movie screen. Topped with gray, the features were sharp and handsome, eyes exceptionally dark. Jack. He smiled and the vision expanded, revealing a strong, long-fingered hand extended in her direction. Her breath caught in her chest, Sam stretched out her hand towards his. She felt the warmth of his skin but, just before their fingers touched, he moved the hand out of her reach. A tall, brown-haired figure stepped into the picture. She instantly recognized the lean body with its broad shoulders. Daniel. He ducked under the hand just offered to her and molded himself against Jack's side, fitting neatly into the space as though they were two pieces of the same puzzle. Jack cupped the back of Daniel's head, the tips of the long fingers obscured by the short hair. Daniel tenderly placed a hand over Jack's heart and, utilizing his hold, Jack guided Daniel's lips to meet his.

Sam wrenched her eyes open, her breath gushing out with a stifled cry. She rolled hastily onto her back, swinging her legs over the side of the couch in one jerky movement, and sat up. Dashing tears from beneath her eyes with her thumb, she drew a shaky breath.

"Face it, Samantha," she hissed. "You've lost this one to Daniel."

~oOo~

"Colonel O'Neill!"

Practically lunging at him, Anise latched onto Jack's arm. Her eyes lit up and, for once, Jack found himself wishing it was due to the symbiote's influence.

"It is a great pleasure to see you again," Anise gushed, her breath surprisingly fragrant.

Jack flashed a tight smile. "Yeah. You too." He managed to slide his arm from her hold and took a step back. "I'm actually looking for Daniel."

Anise pursed her obscenely large lips. "You just missed him. I believe he was going back to Doctor Tsai's room. Why don't we take this time to get reacquainted?" Her hand floated towards his arm again and Jack shuffled backward.

"That's a swell idea," he blathered, "but I really need to speak with Daniel. Look me up the next time you're in my neighborhood." Moving through the tunnels like a hunted man, Jack paused just outside Doctor Tsai's room to compose himself.

A peek around the corner offered him a view of the bed. Doctor Tsai reclined heavily thanks to Janet, but he looked far from relaxed. Dark eyebrows jerked above eyes that visibly raced beneath their lids. Tsai's thin mouth was pulled down in a frown so fierce, Jack mused that the man might be incapable of ever smiling again.

Not that he'd have much to smile about if Anise couldn't help him.

Peering a bit further into the room, he caught sight of Daniel. Wearing an unhappy expression to rival Tsai's, he stood vigil over the sleeping figure. Jack softly cleared his throat, drawing Daniel's attention, and motioned for his lover to join him in the hallway. With a last look at his self-appointed charge, Daniel came to him. He stopped just outside the room's entrance and positioned himself so that he could watch the occupant.

"Janet's magic potions not helping, huh?" Jack observed sympathetically.

"Apparently not. He's been muttering in his sleep. Mostly horrified denials of his part in the assault."

"What did Anise have to say?"

Daniel tore his eyes away from Tsai. "You won't be surprised to learn that she's already working on a variation of the memory recall device which locates memories and... well, I'll spare you the scientific jargon."

"Please."

"Bottom line, she can bury the memories deep in William's subconscious. They'll become inaccessible except by a very nasty-sounding means of extraction that, again, I will spare you the details of."

Jack pulled a face. "The 'nasty-sounding' was plenty detail enough, thanks. So, she thinks she can help them?"

"The device is still in the experimental stages, but she seems pretty confident she can make it work."

"Well, for Doctor Tsai's sake, I hope she's right."

"Me, too. How is Sam?"

"What makes you think I've been to see Carter?"

Brows surging, Daniel dipped his head and gazed at him expectantly.

Jack slanted a grin. "You know that look really only works when you're wearing your glasses, right?"

Taking the analysis to heart, Daniel improvised, blue eyes narrowing significantly.

"Yeah, alright," Jack relented. "I was with Carter."

"And?"

Jack shrugged. "It's like Fraiser said. Physically, she's fine, but she's pretty mad about the things the Goa'uld revealed to her. I passed Teal'c on my way here. He's going to sit with her."

"That's good." Daniel grew quiet, his brow knotted in what Jack recognized as deep thought. "We can't blame her for being angry," he said at length.

"No," Jack agreed. "I checked on Lieutenant Van, too, while I was out and about. She seems to be managing okay."

"Of the three, she was the least involved. More of an observer than a participant."

Passing a hand over his eyes, Jack pinched the bridge of his nose. "She still learned as much as the rest of them."

Glancing around to make sure no one was within earshot, Daniel said quietly, "About us, you mean?"

"Yeah."

"Did she say anything about it?"

"Who, Van? Not directly, no. But she did tell me she wouldn't reveal anything about which she was not asked specifically."

"So, unless someone comes right out and asks 'are you aware of anything going on between Colonel O'Neill and Doctor Jackson...'"

"We should be fine. At least as far as Van goes."

"Well, I don't think we have to worry about Doctor Tsai. Though he's out himself, he'd understand why we need to keep our relationship secret. And he's not military, so he's not under the same burden to expose us."

"Which makes Carter our wild card."

Daniel's eyes widened slightly. "You think she's angry enough to tell General Hammond what she knows?"

"Hell hath no fury," Jack quipped without humor.

Turning slightly to shield the movement from prying eyes, Daniel took Jack's hand. "Well, I prefer to think optimistically. But, if the worst happens... I'll be there with you. All the way."

Jack smiled. "Of all the things I've had to worry about today, that was never one of them."

~oOo~

As though he were moving up on an enemy position, Teal'c silently approached the door of Major Carter's room. He frowned at the specimen of abject misery huddled on the couch. Knees drawn to her chest, Major Carter had wrapped her arms tightly around them, holding them in place for her head to rest on. Even from his vantage point several meters away, Teal'c noted the tremors that shook her condensed frame.

"Major Carter," he called gently.

She raised her head slowly, as though she lacked sufficient energy to accomplish the task, and peered at him through red-rimmed eyes. For a moment he feared she did not recognize him until, finally, she spoke. "Teal'c. I heard you were here."

"Indeed. My friends required my assistance. I could be nowhere else."

She smiled grimly and uncurled from her compact position. "Indeed," she echoed. "I can always count on you, Teal'c. Unlike certain other friends whose names I can't even utter just now."

"You are angry with O'Neill and Daniel Jackson."

"Angry doesn't even begin to cover how I feel. Add hurt and betrayed.

"You believe they have betrayed you?"

"Yes, Teal'c. Haven't you heard? The colonel is doing our archaeologist."

Teal'c frowned at her choice of words. "I am aware of the bond between O'Neill and Daniel Jackson."

"Is that what they call it on Chulak?" she snorted mockingly. "Bonding?"

"They are kalach prim," Teal'c returned solemnly.

"Kalach prim?"

"Joined souls," Teal'c translated. "What the Tau'ri term 'soul mates.' O'Neill has wasted far too much energy resisting the inevitable. He and Daniel Jackson belong together."

"You knew they were a couple?"

Teal'c nodded. "As did you. Only you declined to acknowledge the bond for what it was."

"No. I never suspected anything until very recently."

"Do you not recall that you once described their disagreements as analogous to an old married couple?"

She frowned. "Eris used the same phrase in that cavern."

"She would have retrieved that impression from your mind. If you are truthful with yourself, Major Carter, you will find that it was not the only expression of its kind available to her."

"What do you mean?"

"On our trip back to the Stargate following the events involving the Enkarans and the Gadmeer, when O'Neill and Daniel Jackson were involved in a particularly heated discussion, you uttered a reproach beneath your breath. Do you recall what you said?"

Carter's face creased heavily, repeating the words clearly painful for her. "I said, 'Get a room,'" she confessed. "But it was criticism, not a suggestion. The way they were going at each other..." She clamped her mouth shut, as if she feared freeing the remainder of that thought.

"You understood their passion to be more than a difference of opinion," Teal'c proposed kindly.

"No. I... I could never see the colonel with someone else. Certainly not Daniel."

"I have discussed the topic of human courting rituals with Daniel Jackson. As with the Jaffa, human females seek a mate who is powerful, who can protect and provide for them. Based on these criteria, Colonel O'Neill is clearly desirable."

"Yes," Carter concurred, though her hesitant response showed she had no idea where he intended to take the conversation.

"It is difficult to surrender such a prize to another."

"But this is about more than the fact that I've lost a suitable mate. I have feelings for him."

"You have had ample time to act upon these feelings. Why have you not done so?"

She flinched as though he'd slapped her and quickly dropped her gaze.

"I am aware of your military's prohibition against relationships between officers. Would you forfeit your position on SG-1 for a place at O'Neill's side?"

Startled, she blinked. "What?"

"If O'Neill proposed marriage, would you resign from your military post?"

"Would I give up my commission to marry the colonel?"

His usually inscrutable expression cracked just a bit as Teal'c noted that, even now, she could not refer to O'Neill by his first name. "Yes."

Her lips drew taut as she considered her response. "No," she replied at length. "I'm not prepared just now to give up everything I've worked so hard to achieve."

"Do you intend to expose the relationship between O'Neill and Daniel Jackson?"

"I don't know. I should."

"Would doing so not destroy everything for which we have all worked so tirelessly to achieve?"

Her expression shifted multiple times, transitioning from confused to angry and, finally, reluctant concession. "I guess I have some thinking to do," she said quietly.

Taking the statement as his cue, Teal'c bowed his head. "I will leave you to your contemplations."

She nodded. "Thank you, Teal'c, for giving me a bit more perspective."

"I trust you will do what is best for all concerned, Major Carter." He offered a rare smile then turned and walked away.

~oOo~

"How's it going?"

Comforting warmth traveled the length of Daniel's spine, its origin the point low on his back where his lover had surreptitiously settled his hand. He glanced over his shoulder, smiling softly into Jack's concerned brown eyes, before turning back to the occupants of Doctor Tsai's room.

"They're just getting started. Janet's in there with him. Did SG-2 get off okay?"

"Yeah. Griff's going to give Hammond a preliminary report, but we'll have to brief him fully when we get back."

Daniel grimaced faintly. "I can't say I'm looking forward to that debrief."

"Yeah. Things might not be as bad as we feared, though."

"Oh?"

"Teal'c spoke with Carter earlier. She's considering what to do with the information she learned in that cave. Teal'c thinks she might be leaning towards keeping it to herself."

Turning to fully face Jack, Daniel frowned. "I hate putting her in that position."

"Me, too. But the only alternative is to break up SG-1. I could retire, and you three would carry on..."

"I don't want to go on without you, Jack."

"Or, if Carter can't work with us, she can transfer to another team."

"I don't want to lose Sam, either."

"So, we'll hope for the best."

"Doctor Jackson?"

Instinctively, Daniel took a step away from Jack. He smiled pleasantly at the tall, blonde Tok'ra who'd hailed him. "Yes."

"My name is Lantos. I have been asked to relay a message from Samantha Carter. She would like to speak with you."

His smile fading, Daniel pursed his lips, a silent query perched there as he looked to Jack.

"You should go," Jack advised. "You're gonna have to talk to her sometime. It would be better if you hash everything out here. Go on. I'll stay with Doctor Tsai."

Daniel glanced back into the room. "Okay," he said after a moment. "If there's any problem..."

"I know where to find you," Jack assured him.

"Right." Out of reasons to stall the inevitable any longer, Daniel turned to Lantos. "Lead on," he said with a toss of his hand.

~oOo~

Detecting Daniel's distinct shuffle in the hall, Sam pulled herself from her contemplative cocoon and turned to face the door.

Lantos paused just outside the doorway, ushered Daniel in, then went about his own business.

Darting his gaze behind him, Daniel widened his eyes, seemingly panicked to find himself alone with her. Clearing his throat, he regrouped, taking a hesitant step towards her. His first words were exactly what Sam expected. "I'm sorry this happened to you, Sam. How are you doing?" Though the words were typical, his ill-ease in her presence was wholly foreign.

She shrugged stiffly. "The Goa'uld didn't die in me, so at least I don't have to suffer through a week long depression like with Jolinar. Though from what I understand of the Goa'uld, if Eris had died inside me, she would have made sure I went with her."

"I'm really glad that didn't happen," Daniel replied sincerely.

"Me, too," Sam agreed.

Daniel grinned and shifted his stance, his arms coming up to enfold his chest. His apparent discomfort was painful to see, and, in the silence that followed, the tension between them grew to the point Sam grit her teeth against the urge to squirm.

"Why don't you sit down?" she said a little too harshly if his flinch was an accurate guideline.

"Yeah. Okay." Swinging his arms free as he moved forward, Daniel plopped onto the seat beside her.

"Sam, I wish you had told me," he blurted almost as soon as his butt hit the couch. "If I had known you have feelings for Jack..."

"What?" she spat reflexively. "You would have given him to me? How magnanimous."

Daniel blinked startled blue eyes at her, and Sam dropped her gaze. Praying her animosity was a lingering effect of the Goa'uld invasion, Sam talked herself down. Easy. This isn't like your debates over the merits of obtaining alien weaponry. There's much more at stake here than being right.

"He wasn't mine to give," Daniel replied unexpectedly, drawing her from her internal rebuke. "At least not until a few months ago. But, I would never have started anything with him if I had known you were interested."

"How long have you two been carrying on this clandestine relationship?"

"It's not like that. We weren't hiding. We couldn't tell anyone; the regs prevented it." Gushing out a breath of exasperation, Daniel shot to his feet and whirled on her. "You don't think I wanted to tell you? God, Sam, you're one of my closest friends. I couldn't love you more if you were my own sister. Don't you think I wanted you to be part of the joy I've felt these last months?"

Sam gasped. "Joy? The colonel brings you joy?"

Daniel ducked to conceal a fierce blush, and Sam felt her own skin warm.

"Sorry," Daniel muttered. "I... I'm not really sure what to say to you, Sam. I don't want to hurt you, but yes, he brings me joy. I haven't been this happy since Abydos."

Sam gaped. "You're in love with him," she said with sudden clarity.

Daniel smiled, his face seemingly illuminated with the intensity of it. "Oh, yeah. I don't know when it happened. Jack..." He clamped his lips together to stem the excited flow of his words. Flashing an apologetic grimace, he ducked his head again.

Her face heating, this time with chagrin, Sam swallowed hard, her disgrace a particularly bitter pill to get down. Her entire focus in this conflict had been on her own wounded feelings and her abhorrence to losing a competition that never really existed. Daniel and the colonel were in love. Really in love. She had totally discounted that possibility in her calculations. What she felt for her team leader paled so much in comparison to what Daniel displayed to her now, her infatuation was as the glow of a penlight next to his lighthouse beacon.

Teal'c was right; they belong together. You can't stand in the way of their happiness. Not if you love them the way you claim you do. And let's be real, she scoffed, the way you love them, both of them, is like family. Your feelings for the colonel are no more romantic than they are for Daniel or Teal'c. You wouldn't even give up your career to be with him. What does that tell you? You just convinced yourself you wanted him because someone else had him.

No. Not just someone else. Daniel. Eris took your... oh, just admit it, Samantha, you are jealous of any attention Daniel steals from you. Eris took that and twisted it into something sinister and used it in her plot to destroy your team. Are you going to let her win?

Decision made, Sam reached out and took Daniel's hand, pulling on it until he sat next to her again. "Tell me, Daniel," she encouraged. "I want to hear all about how you two fell in love."

Daniel's lips worked silently, his brow draw in uncertainty. He shifted his gaze between the door and her face, and Sam inwardly frowned at the wariness in their blue depths.

She squeezed his hand, drawing his attention, and offered a genuine smile of affection. "You can tell me, Daniel," she said with assurance. "I promise it will be our secret."

~oOo~

Sensing he was being watched, Jack spun towards the door.

"Hey," he greeted Daniel as his lover moved into the room. "I was about to send out a search party. How'd it go?"

Glancing back over his shoulder, Daniel carefully positioned himself between Jack and the door. "Well," he said a bit huskily. Lifting his hand, he trailed a forefinger up the center plane of Jack's body, the touch feather light, until the hand reached his heart, where it settled possessively. "It went well."

Letting the hand fall away, he stepped around Jack to William Tsai's bedside. "How did things go here?"

Shaking himself from the distraction of the unexpected interlude, Jack cleared his throat. "Good. All indications are the modified memory recall device worked." He flicked a finger at the sleeping scientist. "The events of the day have done him in, apparently. He fell asleep shortly after Anise confirmed he had no memory of even going to that cave. She and Janet have gone to see if Lieutenant Van wants to undergo treatment as well.

Daniel nodded. "Good."

"So, what about Carter? Do you think she'll agree to have her memories of what happened in that cavern erased?"

"I don't know," Daniel replied. "But I don't think it really matters." Coming back to Jack's side, he met the dark eyes evenly, his serene gaze calming the storm of uncertainty still swirling there. "We're gonna be okay, Jack," he said confidently. "All of us. We've come through too much together––both on Earth and off world––to let a couple of deviant aliens take us down."

Jack extended a crooked grin. "You know, stubbornness is not your most endearing quality. But, in this case, I'm glad to know you're refusing to accept less than total victory."

"I'm not stubborn," Daniel protested, "just determined. Some things are worth fighting for."

His gaze turning soft, Jack leaned closer. "Yes, they are," he said, his voice hushed. "And the likelihood of success is always greater when someone else fights alongside you."

"I'll always be there, Jack," Daniel vowed. "No matter the odds against us."

Jack grinned. "To quote my favorite smartass, 'Tell me something I don't know.'"

Daniel squinted in mock indignation while stealthily entwining his fingers with Jack's. With all the uncertainty that had so recently dominated their world, Daniel was sure of only one thing. He and Jack were secure. And considering the volatile nature of the lives they had chosen, that one thing was everything.