Author Notes: This is not my first fic, but is my first Stargate fanfic, so please be nice! Though I don't think it will be bad or anything. I did quite a lot of other writing before this. I would "love" to get feedback, any fedback! Tell me what you loved, what I could improve, how a scene made you feel, or whatever. I'm just a young writer hungry to know what all of you think! E-mail me or send me a message here on GateWorld. ChristianGateFan is my forum name too.
This story takes place in both seasons three and nine, and involves quite a bit of time-travel and alternate-universe theory stuff, but I do my best to explain everything that happens, via the characters. Also, you probably saw the mention of torture in the description, so yes, it is a bit violent and there is plenty of Danny Whumping. I am a Christian, however, so nothing gruesome or anything, and no language or, uhm, other things, you know.
There is no 'permanent' character death, I should say. The story does involve alternate universes, but is not AU in itself. This story is meant to keep the continuity of the series.
So, anyway, please read and enjoy the story. Part 2 is in progress, and if you all like this and want to read Part 2, let me know! Have a blessed day!
--Kaitlyn Wooley

How Long is Forever?

Daniel Jackson was trapped. He was trapped on an alien world, brought here against his will, by a means he didn't yet understand. He was trapped in a Goa'uld facility belonging to Apophis, the one person-or thing, or whatever-he hated most in the entire universe. He was trapped in the grip of the two serpent guards that held him between them, wouldn't allow him to move even an inch.

Not that he would have been able to move much if they weren't holding him so tightly that his arms hurt. Because not only was he caught between them, but Daniel was trapped in the clutches of a Goa'uld hand device trained on his aching forehead. Pain racked his entire body so harshly that by all rights he should have been trembling violently, but he couldn't move. He couldn't struggle. His knees had given out long ago from the torture, but the two jaffa still held him halfway up, and by now his arms felt as if they didn't let go soon, they would tear from their sockets.

This wasn't right. This wasn't where he was supposed to be. The Goa'uld had been defeated. Except for Baal, they weren't a threat anymore. The Ori were the problem now. There shouldn't have been a Goa'uld trying to kill him, or get information from him, or whatever it was this one was trying to do. Daniel couldn't really remember anymore. This had been going on for too long; his mind was too blurred. But he knew this had happened before, in a way...

But that wasn't it. No, the worst part of it all was that Daniel was trapped in a nightmare that refused to end. Because the face that loomed before him, not quite in focus anymore because of his blurring vision, was too familiar, too precious to him to be the cause of the agony he was feeling.

But it was reality. He knew his eyes weren't lying, hadn't been lying to him since he had been brought here. And the knowledge brought with it an even more unbearable agony, one that tore at his heart relentlessly, one that showed on his face more clearly than anything else as he stared helplessly up at his tormentor, forcing back one of the loud groans of pain that had issued from his mouth so often in recent hours.

Instead the stricken young archaeologist forced himself to speak, even though it only made the pain worse.

"Sha're..." Daniel gasped once.

But of course she did not reply. Amaunet only frowned and increased the intensity of the orange beam leaping from the ribbon device to his forehead, and Daniel shouted, his face twisting in agony as the pain increased exponentially. He hadn't even thought that was possible. *Obviously I was wrong*, he thought helplessly as his vision began to darken quickly. About more than just that...

And Daniel Jackson's world abruptly went black.

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Three Days Earlier (Or six years previously, from his point of view...)

"Hey Sam, wait up!" Daniel's voice called from down the hallway.

Samantha Carter slowed her slightly urgent pace enough to glance over her shoulder at Jackson, coming up behind her. Then she did a double take on him.

*I've got to stop doing that*, she scolded herself as she stopped to comply with his request. She was still getting used to the shorter hair thing.

Seconds later, an out of breath Daniel Jackson caught up to her, and both continued together, their pace a bit slower than either's had been a moment before.

"Thanks," Daniel said, catching his breath. "I thought I was gonna be late-glad to see I'm not the only one running close." He was referring to the mission briefing they were both on their way to.

Sam looked over at him and smiled. "Same here," she admitted good-naturedly.

Daniel nodded. "Yeah...So, where are we off to this time?"

"Um...P5R-316," Carter replied after a pause in thought. "They just sent the M.A.L.P. through, so we should be able to see some of the telemetry after the briefing.

A moment later, the two of them were climbing the stairs to their destination. When they arrived, Daniel glanced self-consciously at the clock on the wall. He was relieved to see that General Hammond, Colonel O'Neill, and Teal'c, who were already present, were simply early. The two doctors were not late, but right on time. That surreptitiously assessed, Jackson and Carter took their places around the table, and the general began the briefing.

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After the briefing, SG-1 sat gathered around one of the computers in the control room that looked out over the Stargate, studying the telemetry the M.A.L.P. probe had sent back about P5R-316.

It seemed like a normal enough world, nothing unusual. From what the probe had been able to see, the Stargate on the planet was surrounded by trees when one reached the edge of the small clearing it sat in. There was no sign of civilization, but then again there could be anything beyond those trees, Jackson reminded them, and they should still look. Teal'c didn't recognize anything in the area, so the team prepared for a run-of-the-mill reconnaissance mission, though still, as always, unsure of exactly what they would find on the other side.

Late that afternoon they parted, all headed for their respective homes to rest before they headed out at 0900 the next morning.

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What the probe did *not* pick up was the jaffa patrol that watched the Stargate on the planet in question. They were too well hidden, and for good reason.

The moment the M.A.L.P. came through the familiar blue vortex, bounced down the stone steps and stopped several feet from the Gate, the serpent guards sprung into action, though still staying out of sight of the camera that they knew would be atop the device.

Almost immediately the message of the arriving Tau'ri machine was sent quickly to their master, Apophis. He, in turn, relayed the information to his queen, who was more than delighted to hear it.

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In space around the planet, several large ships surrounded two even larger ones, hu'tack class vessels. Apophis stood with Amaunet on the bridge of one of the two Goa'uld mother ships.

The alien false god turned to the woman beside him. "I must leave on my own business now, my queen, but I wish you well in your quest."

Amaunet bowed her head. "I will not fail you again, my lord. Before I return to you this time, the human will be dead, and I assure you it will be the worst one possible." At the last part, there was a hint of an evil, anticipating smile on the impassive, beautiful face as it rose again.

Apophis smiled and nodded once in satisfaction. "I hope as much."

And then, with a final stroke of her cheek, he left. Moments later he had ringed to his own ship, and the fleet separated. The majority of it jumped almost immediately into hyperspace with Apophis's ship, but two or three remained with their queen. Not long after Apophis had gone, Amaunet gave the order that sent her own ships into hyperspace, but in the opposite direction.

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She was *there*. Sha're was *there*. Over two years he'd waited, begged silently for the chance to rescue her, to bring her back into his life as the wonderful woman she was, not as the evil thing that the parasite that had taken over her body was. He had had her once, a few months before, but she had slipped through his fingers again.

But now she was here. She was standing right in front of him, once again dressed in the simple, brown robes of her home planet Abydos, the planet he had adopted as his own. Once again she smiled warmly, and her eyes looked at him softly, lovingly, not glowing. Her arms were open wide, welcoming him.

For a moment Daniel didn't know what to do. It was too good to be true. But then joy overran his uncertainties, and he ran toward her. But as he drew closer, Sha're began to change. Before he could stop his advance, the brown robes had melted away to reveal the colorful robes of an Egyptian goddess, her warm eyes and smile had disappeared, to be replaced by the cold, impassive stare he had come to hate so much. Worst of all, her arms were no longer open to him. A Goa'uld ribbon device had appeared on her left hand.

Daniel's eyes barely had time to widen in shock and horror, before she thrust out with the hand device, and he felt himself pushed off the ground, blown back across the room he couldn't identify. He landed hard, cried out in pain. And then she was on him, the ribbon device still active. He felt smothered, suffocated, and she was no longer smiling, not even still impassive. That was bad enough. But no, she was...she was laughing at him.

He tried to say something, plead with her, get through to his wife, but it was no use. He knew death was close. If only he had been able to tell her he loved her one last time...

"Sha're!" Daniel shouted, bolting upright in his bed.

Breathing heavily, he looked around. He was still in his own bed. He was still alive. It was the middle of the night, and this was his apartment, not his dream. Oh, that dream...

Daniel buried his face in his hands, trying to return his breathing to normal.

*Sha're*...he thought in despair. It had been months since he'd even seen her, more than two years since she had been taken from him, invaded by the Goa'uld Amaunet, taken over.

Daniel hadn't cried since just after his last encounter with her, since seeing her and not being able to save her. But the dream had awakened so many of the feelings that he always had to keep buried in order to keep himself functioning normally.

And now, Daniel cried. He collapsed back against his pillows and sobbed into them. *I promised her we would be together forever. I couldn't keep that promise. Will I ever get her back?*

Chapter 2

*Daniel smiled softly as his wife snuggled against him in the early hours of the morning on Abydos, which were actually a bit cool. It had only been two months since Jack O'Neill and the other two survivors of the Abydos mission from earth, Kawalsky and Ferretti, had gone back, and he had chosen to remain. Two months spent with his new wife and his new people, her people, 'their' people--months he would never forget.

"Dan'iel?" Sha're said softly, pronouncing his name with her Abydonian accent.

"Mmm?" he replied.

"You won't ever leave me, will you, my husband??" she asked innocently. "Will you someday go back to your planet without me?"

"Of course not," he assured her, wrapping his arms more tightly around her. "We'll be together forever."

In the darkness, her lips formed around the new English word. "Forever? Dan'iel, how long is 'forever'?"

Daniel's smile only widened, as much at her innocent question and the sound of her voice as at his own thoughts of their future together.

"Forever is a 'long' time, Sha're," he assured her quietly, comfortingly. "I'm not going anywhere. I love you," he said sincerely, leaning down to kiss her.

"I love you too, Dan'iel," Sha're replied when they pulled back from the kiss. Then once again she rested her head on his chest, and both fell back into a peaceful sleep.*

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The memory both saddened Daniel and made him smile through his tears. For several minutes he stared at the ceiling, thinking of her, remembering his favorite times from their life on Abydos before she had been taken, even if it had only lasted one brief year.

Finally he realized that he should really try to get back to sleep, if he wanted to be fresh for the mission in the morning. He closed his eyes and tried, but something kept nagging at his mind. Something told him that something was wrong, or something would go wrong. Daniel tried to ignore whatever it was, but no matter how hard he tried, sleep eluded him for the rest of the night.

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Amaunet stepped out of the rings as they deactivated, depositing her and an honor guard of jaffa on a small planet in the middle of nowhere, a hidden base underground base only accessible by rings, or the Stargate that loomed as the center of attention at one end of the main room. The room was huge, the rings at the other end, surrounded by crates of supplies, weapons, and other things. More serpent guards awaited her arrival. As soon as the light of the ring transporter ceased, the goddess pointed her attention to the jaffa most obviously in charge at this facility.

"My Queen," he bowed deeply. "The machine is still alone the planet, but the Tau'ri will undoubtedly send a team through soon, just as you suspected."

"Indeed, and more than likely it will be the infamous SG-1, part of which is the man we want," she replied, nodded. "Very good. Is the virus ready to be sent to earth?"

There the man hesitated. "A version of it ready, My Lady, but it still has a few flaws....Our scientists are still working-and quickly-to produce a better draft for you."

"There is no time," Amaunet stated quickly. "It must be sent before the humans come through the gate. If we miss them, we may not get another chance for a long while."

"But, My Lady," the jaffa faltered. "It is not entirely ready. In its present state, it might not work properly. It is prone to malfunction..."

"I said, *send it*!" Amaunet said loudly, her eyes flaring with the glow of the Goa'uld.

The man backed away hesitantly, bowing low. "Yes, my Queen." He turned to his men "*Jaffa, Kree*!" At the command, all turned to him, and he issued the order for the Stargate to be dialed.

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A young lieutenant stuck on the graveyard shift in the control room looked up in alarm when suddenly the "Unscheduled Off-world Activation" signal went off. Who would be coming unscheduled in the middle of the night?

Seconds later, the gate activated, but the iris was already activated. The young man waited tensely, but nothing happened-no audio, video, or even text messages, and no impact sounds from the other side of the sealed metal barrier. By the time General Hammond arrived on the site, it had shut down again. The gate had only been active for a few seconds.

Nothing seemed to be wrong. It had just opened and closed again. What they didn't notice because of the lack of presence of more expertise, was the discrete signal that had been sent into their computer system from the Goa'uld base currently commanded by Amaunet. The unnoticeable virus that was to sit dormant until the next morning, when it would be needed.

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O'Neill and Carter noticed immediately that Daniel looked tired the next morning when they gathered in the Gate room for departure. It took Teal'c a minute or so longer.

"Something wrong, Daniel?" Jack asked as the gate began to spin.

"Chevron One, encoded."

For a moment Jackson didn't reply, somewhat spaced out. Then he realized what O'Neill had asked him. "Huh? Oh. No, I'm fine."

"You sure about that?" Carter prodded. "You don't look so great."

"You do indeed look tired, Daniel Jackson. Are you certain you acquired enough rest last night?"

This time Daniel sighed. "No, Teal'c, I guess I didn't," he admitted. "I kind of hardly slept at all..."

"Chevron Five, encoded," came the voice from the control room.

"Should we scrub this and wait until tomorrow? Carter's right, you don't look so hot," O'Neill said sincerely.

Jackson shook his head. "No, it's all right, Jack. Let's go; I'll be fine."

"Chevron Seven, locked!" With those words, the Stargate whooshed open, spewing its deadly wave of particles as the wormhole formed, then collapsed back in on itself, leaving a shimmering, watery blue surface inside the huge gray ring of naquida.

Jack O'Neill look at open Gate, thought for a moment, then look back at Daniel and the rest of his team. "All right. If you say so, Daniel. Let's move out, campers."

Chapter 3

Daniel was about to step through the event horizon after O'Neill and Teal'c, but Carter's hand on his arm stopped him. When he turned to look at her, he realized that she had planned this from the moment she had seen him that morning-letting the others go through first to leave the two of them alone.

"Daniel...you sure you don't want to tell me why you couldn't sleep last night?" she asked with genuine concern.

The young archeologist looked at her for a moment. He knew he wouldn't have been able to say much about it to Jack or Teal'c, but maybe he could to Sam...After all, she had always understood him a bit better than the other two...

Finally he broke her gaze and looked away, sighing heavily. "It was just...nightmares."

Her face asked him to keep going. "I was dreaming about her..." he added quietly.

Immediately Carter's face softened even more in understanding. "Sha're?" Daniel nodded. The major put her hand on his shoulder and moved it to pat his arm comfortingly. "Hey, it's all right. We'll find her again."

"Yeah. I know she's out there somewhere..." His voice trailed off, stopped altogether. A moment later it came back, and it sounded suddenly for all the world as if the conversation they'd just had hadn't happened, like he'd pushed it to the back of his mind to get on with the mission.

"Well, we'd better get going," Daniel said, his voice no longer soft but at normal volume- maybe even a bit louder.

Sighing, Carter nodded in agreement, and the two of them stepped through.

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Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c's journey was not interrupted. Safely they stepped out of the gate onto P5R-316. The virus had not awoken fast enough. They were allowed to pass to their destination normally. However, it had come to full attention by the time Major Samantha Carter and Dr. Daniel Jackson had stepped into the wormhole. Surreptitiously, so as not to alert anyone at Stargate Command, as it had been programmed, it altered their course.

It wasn't so un-noticeable to the two travelers it affected, though. Both noticed the severe jolt, even in their dematerialized state, and when they stepped through the Stargate on the other side, both realized immediately that something had, in fact, gone wrong.

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As expected, less than a second after stepping through the Earth Gate, Jack stepped through the gate on P5R-316, Teal'c right on his heels. He took a deep breath of fresh air and let it out with a sound of satisfaction.

"Well, kids, seems nice enough here. I wonder how friendly the locals...are..."

O'Neill's voice trailed off when he saw that the only 'kid' present behind him was Teal'c. The others weren't there.

At the look on his commander's face, Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "You should not worry, O'Neill. More than likely, Major Carter and Daniel Jackson were simply later than we were in going through the Stargate."

Realizing that the larger man was probably right, Jack nodded. "Right, just a little slower. We just have to wait." But something annoying at the back of his mind was telling him that maybe that 'wasn't' correct. He'd heard about the off-world activation last night. Maybe something was wrong...But no, just wait, he told himself. They'll be through in a minute. After all, the gate was still active, which meant passengers were still in transit, right?

A couple of minutes later, the Gate shut off.

"Uh..." Jack started. "Hey T...You got an explanation for that one?"

The eyebrow went up again, but this time seemed more urgent, if an eyebrow could look urgent. But of course, O'Neill had become accustomed to Teal'c's expressions, and this one was definitely more worried.

"I do not," he said, which didn't make Jack feel any better.

"Okay...Well, maybe something went wrong and they had to shut it down before they could go through. That's probably it. They'll dial again and send them through in a few minutes. Let's just...wait here for now," the colonel said uncertainly.

Nodding, Teal'c sat down on the stone steps before the Stargate, sure to stay out of the path an opening wormhole would cover, vaporizing anything it its path. Jack sat down next to him, and they waited.

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The first thing Daniel noticed when he and Sam exited the Stargate was that there were no trees, and everything was the wrong color-not green, but gold.

"Uh...this doesn't look a heck of a lot like P5R-316, does it?" he said in confusion.

Sam shook her head, just as baffled. "No, it doesn't. And where are Teal'c and the colonel?" she said, raising her weapon in caution.

When she said that, Jackson looked around and realized that she was right. Their teammates were nowhere to be found, and neither was the M.A.L.P or the rolling, mechanized cart that had carried all of their extra supplies, which had gone through first, before Jack and Teal'c.

What Daniel noticed next forced him to suppress a gasp. The walls were gold, the writing that covered them was familiar, there was a set of rings at the other end of the room, and many boxes and crates with familiar-looking designs.

"Uh, Sam...I don't know where they are, but I can give you a good guess, because I think we're in a Goa'uld facility." He couldn't have expected the answer he got.

"Your first guess is wrong, Doctor Jackson. Your friends are not here. It seems they managed to arrive at their destination safely. However, your second guess was correct. This base is, in fact, Goa'uld."

Carter whipped her head around in the direction the voice had come from. Daniel started as well, also turning immediately to seek the source. The voice had been clearly Goa'uld, but there was also something familiar about it...

What they saw was a contingent of jaffa entering the room from a large door to the side. They surrounded the one who had spoken.

The moment he saw the beautifully dressed woman in the center, Daniel Jackson's breath caught in his throat, and suddenly he felt suffocated, almost as he had in his dream the night before.

There was so much he should have said, wanted to say...but in the end Daniel was only able to force out one breathless word.

"Sha're."

Chapter 4

Samantha Carter looked back and forth between them, not sure of what to do. Daniel simply stood frozen.

The corner of Sha're's mouth curled upward in a half smile. "No, I'm afraid not," said the deep, duel voice of the Goa'uld inside her. Daniel realized then that it was not his wife. Amaunet was in control, she was speaking. The hopes that had risen when he first saw her came crashing down, but didn't disappear entirely. Sha're was still in there...somewhere...

Jackson gulped hard. "What do you want? What's going on?"

What happened next happened quickly. Amaunet did not answer, but partly turned to one of the jaffa, giving a silent command. The serpent guard raised his staff weapon, and instinctively Daniel jumped in front of Carter, pulling out his zat and preparing to shoot the man with a stun beam, but he didn't get a chance to before the staff blast took him in the midsection. The young scientist shouted in pain and surprise and collapsed.

"Daniel!" Carter cried, catching him under the arms before he could hit the floor. Gently she lowered him the rest of the way to the ground, wincing involuntarily at the bleeding wound in his stomach. Daniel groaned in pain as she set him down. Major Carter momentarily re-directed her attention from her injured friend to the Goa'uld in front of her.

"What was that!" she said angrily.

"*That* was not meant for him," Amaunet said, equally perturbed. "Jaffa!"

Carter's eyes widened when she realized what the alien meant. But she had no time to move before another staff blast cut her down, pushing her backwards.

"No!" Daniel shouted, trying to pull himself into a sitting position. He failed as the searing pain from the wound pushed him down again. Carter crashed to the ground two or three feet back from him, her chest smoking. It was obvious the she was hurt much worse than he was. But she couldn't be...

"Sam!" he cried. No answer. "SAM!" A terrible fear suddenly gripped Daniel, and he all but forgot about his overcome wife and the contingent of jaffa that stood only feet away. Gasping in pain, he pulled himself to her side.

"Sam? Sam, can you hear me? Come on, Sam!" he called desperately. The wound looked horrible, and she lay unmoving, her eyes closed. He held a hand over her mouth, but felt no breath coming from it. He checked her pulse on both her wrist and neck, but found nothing.

Daniel's throat constricted. *No...*he thought. *She can't be...*

He pushed away from her, but was too weak to do anything but roll onto his back and stare up, still gasping. But now the gasps sounded almost like sobs, and tears stung his eyes as his breath became shorter. He felt unconsciousness closing in on him. *Sam...*

Daniel's last thoughts before the darkness swallowed him were his desperate attempts to understand why Sha're would have someone killed, and the last thing he saw was her very unhappy-looking face staring down at him.

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Daniel Jackson's eyes snapped open. He sat up quickly, looking around. He suppressed a groan when he realized he was in a sarcophagus. *I really don't like these things, but then again, I'd probably be dead if they hadn't used it...*

Expanding the area he scanned with his eyes, he searched the immediate area. He sucked in a breath when he saw was who was standing just a few feet from the sarcophagus, waiting.

"Sha're?" he asked hesitantly.

The smirk she gave him dashed his hopes again. "I am Amaunet, Queen of Apophis, and you are nothing but a human."

Daniel's eyes narrowed at the mention of Apophis. "But he's dead," the archeologist informed her. And he was glad of it, too.

Her smile changed. Now it seemed to be saying *I know something you don't know*. But all she said was. "It does not matter. What matters is that you are here." Daniel was still suspicious of her, but he ventured another look around as he climbed warily out of the sarcophagus to stand in front of her.

"Where is here?" he asked. He had to force himself not to run to her, take hold of her, force Sha're to fight the alien being inside of her, take control back. But he knew that, right now, Amaunet was in control. There was nothing he could do.

She replied to his question. "I had to have you brought to my ship in orbit, where the sarcophagus is kept, in order to revive you. You will be brought back to the surface shortly."

Daniel eyebrows went up, surprised she had actually given him a good answer. She noticed the reaction, and knew what he was thinking.

"Dead men tell no tales, Doctor Jackson," she said simply.

Daniel gulped. "Uh...last time I checked I was alive."

"Not for long."

"Then why did you revive me?"

That Goa'uld smirk that Daniel hated appeared on her face again. "You never died. Besides, I never wanted your death to be that merciful."

Daniel pulled in a quick breath. "And...what's that supposed to mean?" he asked shakily.

"I brought you here to kill you, Daniel Jackson."

Daniel suddenly felt as if he'd stopped breathing, hearing those words come from his wife's mouth. He had to remind himself that it wasn't her. Sha're didn't want him dead. Amaunet did. But why? She answered his silent question a moment later.

"Your very existence is a nuisance to me. My host wants freedom-all of them do-but mine causes me much more difficulty than is normal. And it's all because of you-most specifically because of our recent encounter. She struggles. Of course she fails, but it's uncomfortable for me. I intend to show my host that the reason she wants the most to escape, the man she wants to return too, is a mere nothing."

*Sha're? She's talking about Sha're! She's fighting. I knew she would. Maybe Amaunet's trying to hide it, but she's winning. I know she is. Why else would she bring me here, do something this drastic? I knew Sha're wouldn't give up. I knew she was strong...*

His thoughts were cut off as Amaunet edged closer to him, and Daniel felt his breath quickening at her words. "Your death will be as slow and painful as I can manage. You'll *wish* I had let you die back in the gate room. And who knows? I might even do it more than once. We have a sarcophagus, after all..."

Her voice trailed off, and she moved away. Daniel felt a chill run up his spine, and he shivered, gulping again. Trying to calm himself, he glanced around again.

That was when he spotted what lay on the floor on the other side of the room. It was Samantha Carter's body, dropped carelessly on the ground like so much garbage.

"Sam!" he said. He tried to move in that direction, but two serpent guards stepped up to him and took hold of his arms, holding him in place. "Let me go!" he cried, struggling.

But then Amaunet was in front of him again, much closer this time--close enough to use her hand device. There was a flash of orange light, blinding because it was so near his eyes, and then a beam of energy from the ribbon device had captured him.

Daniel gasped. He tried to keep his feet, but sudden pain from the energy flooded his body, causing him to cry out, and then suddenly he began to feel exhausted. He drooped, and the blackness began to close in again.

The only thing he heard before it engulfed him for the second time that day was Amaunet's voice, something about 'take him to a holding cell in the complex'...

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About half an hour after coming through the gate, Carter and Jackson still weren't there, and O'Neill began to get worried. Okay, so he was already worried, but now he was significantly *more* worried. He stood and looked to his companion.

"Come on, Teal'c, we're going back. I'm getting tired of this."

The eyebrow went up. "Are you certain we should not wait longer, O'Neill?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Dial it up. I've got the GDO."

Teal'c nodded and stood as well, moving to the DHD to open a wormhole to earth. In the correct order he pushed the seven symbols of the Stargate address for Jack's home planet, and then pressed the large red dome in the center of the round, tilted control panel they called the Dial Home Device. Jack sent the iris code through, and within minutes they were back at the SGC. Everyone there, to their surprise, seemed shocked to seem them.

General Hammond approached them as they stepped off the metal ramp.

"Colonel, why are you back so soon? What happened to Doctor Jackson and Major Carter?" he asked pointedly.

O'Neill frowned. "They're not here, sir?"

"Here?" the general asked in confusion. "Why would they be here? They left through the 'gate with you and Teal'c."

"But...General, they never showed up on the other side. Are you sure they went through?" Jack said. He could feel himself starting to panic, and he didn't like it.

"Jack, we all saw them go," Hammond replied. Now there was worry on the older man's face as well.

Jack looked around. Surely if Carter or Daniel were here, they would have been in the gate room by now, but sure enough, neither of them were to be found. He groaned.

"This could be a problem..."

Chapter 5

In the seconds before the staff blast had hit her, Samantha Carter had known she would be killed. What she hadn't known was that it wouldn't be the end of her. Only moments after Daniel had been taken from the room, she opened her eyes, and glanced around to find herself in the same sarcophagus.

Sam sat up quickly, and looked for anyone familiar. But Amaunet had gone, Daniel was nowhere in sight--only a few jaffa and serpent guards with their helmets up were in the room. *Why am I alive?* She wondered.

Two of the un-helmeted jaffa pulled her from the sarcophagus. When she was on her feet, she pulled away from them. They allowed her to remain free, but herded her toward the nearest door. She went with them, knowing by now that it was useless to ask questions, because she wouldn't get any answers. She also hoped that, if Daniel was still alive, she would be led to him.

The two guards took Carter to a set of rings, and used them. Then she was led through a series of corridors that all looked the same. They were similar to what she would expect to find on a Goa'uld ship, but different enough to keep her confused. Finally her patience and hopes were rewarded when they took her to a holding cell.

The door opened, and the first thing Sam noticed as they pushed her in was Daniel's unconscious form lying on one of the familiar, wide benches sticking out from one of the walls of the all-too-familiar holding room. As the door shut behind her she went to his side, bent down beside the bench, and attempted to rouse him.

"Daniel? Can you hear me?" When he didn't answer she began to shake him gently. "Come on, Daniel, wake up. It's me." After a moment her efforts were rewarded when her friend groaned, and his eyes slowly opened. When Daniel saw her, they quickly widened.

"Sam!" he said, sitting up.

"In the flesh," she said, smiling as she sat beside him.

Daniel leaned to hug her. "Thank goodness you're alive. I-I thought..."

She grimaced to herself as she returned the embrace, remembering what he was referring to. "Yeah, I know. I was."

Daniel released her and sat back, looking at her, relief still evident on his face. "But...I don't understand. Amaunet told me she had you killed because she didn't need you. She wanted me. Why did she revive you?"

Carter shook her head. "I don't know. I haven't seen her. She wasn't there when I woke up, and no one else has volunteered any information," she said, inclining her head in the direction of the jaffa outside the door.

"Yeah...but what they will or won't tell us is the least of my worries right now."

Sam turned back to him when she heard the emotion in his voice. He wasn't looking at her anymore; he was staring down at his hands.

She gulped. "Daniel, I'm sorry. I know this must be hard for you..."

Daniel shrugged. His effort to keep his emotions in check now that he actually had time to think about what was happening was outwardly obvious. Then, to her surprise, what appeared to be a half smile curled his mouth upward.

"Daniel? What is it?"

Finally he looked up at her again. "I was just thinking. Maybe the fact that you're still alive proves that that monster isn't completely in control of her. I mean, remember what happened just before she left Abydos with Apophis a few months ago? She looked straight at us but didn't give us away."

"Wrong again, Doctor Jackson."

The scientist's head snapped up at the sound of her voice, and Carter spun, both of them standing. The door to the cell was opening; Amaunet stood on the other side, several serpent guards behind her. When the opening was clear, she took a few steps into the room.

Daniel moved in front of her. "Why did you revive Sam? I'm not complaining, but...you said you killed her because she was useless to you. Why did you change your mind? What's going on?"

"My jaffa already had orders to kill anyone else that came through the gate besides you, because we only needed you. But..." She frowned, and it was the first time either SG-1 member had heard a Goa'uld pause in uncertainty. "After more careful consideration it was decided that Samantha Carter was more valuable alive."

Daniel's smile returned, but this time it was to mock the creature that controlled his wife's body. "You made a mistake."

He didn't see the hand coming before the back of it slapped the left side of his face so hard he stumbled backwards and fell to the floor, crying out.

"Hey!" Carter yelped, moving to Daniel's side. She tried to help him up, but he waved her off and stood on his own. The entire left side of his head throbbed, and he glared at the woman in front of him. She glared right back, her stare even more fierce than his own.

One of the jaffa behind her, obviously the highest ranking, stepped forward to bark at the human. "Don't speak to the queen in such a way. Our lady Amaunet is a goddess; she cannot make mistakes. Speak of such blasphemy again and I will kill you where you stand."

Daniel spoke through clenched teeth, and Sam watched on, fearing for his life as she looked back and forth between them. "She's not a god," he said, never taking his eyes from his wife. "Amaunet is a parasite that has taken control of a human body-my wife's human body. She's just as prone to make mistakes as any of us. She just admitted to one!" His frown deepened. "And the biggest mistake she ever made was choosing that body."

The jaffa brought his staff weapon up angrily, perfectly willing to blast this insolent human into oblivion, and Daniel stared him down. But Carter could see the tears that gathered in his eyes.

"Kree Jaffa!" Amaunet said before he could do anything with it, calling him off. At another silent nod from his queen, he opened his zat'ni'katel instead, and promptly fired.

Daniel shouted in pain when the electric-like beam from the zat hit him, sending pain through every last nerve in his body. He collapsed again, shivering. Carter knelt beside him as he gasped, struggling to regain control of his trembling body. Finally, after what seemed an eternity but was really only a several seconds, the pain faded to a dull, residual ache, and he could move again. But by the time he got to his knees and looked up, he and Carter were alone in the cell again.

"Daniel, are you alright?" Sam asked in concern.

He nodded, now rubbing his still stinging cheek. "Physically, anyway-I think. I can't say the same emotionally..." He trailed off, sighing heavily and blinking back tears. It seemed that the resolve he had shown toward Amaunet only a moment before had left with her. She didn't blame him.

Carter rubbed his back comfortingly. "Hey, at least we know where she is. Now all we have to do is get out of here and make sure we bring her with us, right?"

"Yeah, right." Daniel winced, and she could see that a good-sized bruise was forming on the side of his face. "Note to self-it *really* hurts to get hit when they have a ribbon device on their hand. Not to mention the fact that Goa'ulds are strong anyway...owww." She could tell that the humorous comment's only purpose had been to keep himself from crying.

Sighing again, he stood, moved to the bench in the corner of the room, and sat down again. Sam followed.

"Now what?" he asked, too distraught to really consider it himself.

"Well...I could try to hot-wire the door, but that hasn't worked so great in the past. We're just not familiar enough with Goa'uld technology." Carter offered.

"Yeah, I know," Daniel said. He leaned back against the wall, hiding his red-rimmed eyes in the shadow at the edge of the room "I'm sorry, I'm just not going to be much help right now. I need...time...I just-I can't..."

Sam put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "I know. It's all right. Why don't you just...tell me what happened before they brought me in here. Did I miss anything? Do you know why Amaunet wants you here?"

Daniel gulped. "Yeah. She wants me dead."

"What? But then why..."

"She didn't want it to be that quick."

Carter's eyes widened. She'd known that seeing Sha're under the control of Amaunet again must have been hard for him, but now she understood why he looked so shaken.

"Oh, Daniel, I had no idea..."

"It's okay Sam. There's nothing you can do about it," Daniel said quietly.

Carter looked at him for another moment or so, concern still on her face, but then she sighed and sat back against the wall herself, hoping that some kind of idea would come to her.

Chapter 6

"Are you sure you're *absolutely* sure, general?"

General George Hammond sighed. "Yes, Jack, I'm as sure as I could possibly be. I've checked numerous times. *Nothing* has been reported coming through the second gate. I'm sorry, colonel, but we'll just have to look elsewhere."

O'Neill sighed. "Yeah, but where is *elsewhere*?"

"They could be on any world between Earth and P5R-316, O'Neill," Teal'c said. "You should remember that this has happened before."

"I try not to," Jack grumbled. "But that was simple-sort of. We were on earth. We have no idea where Carter and Daniel are."

"Indeed, O'Neill, but we must attempt to find them."

"I'm not arguing with *that*, Teal'c. Of curse we have to find them. But I just don't get it. Not that I get what happened last time, but, doesn't there have to be some kind of energy surge thingy for this to happen? I didn't notice anything weird during gate travel, so why did it 'skip', or whatever? Assuming that really what happened."

"We have to assume that's what happened, colonel, no matter how unlikely it seems. Because unless I see proof of the alternative, I'm not going to accept it," Hammond said resolutely. "Daniel Jackson and Samantha Carter are out there somewhere, and we're going to do all we can to find them."

O'Neill stood, and Teal'c followed suit.

"Permission to join the off-world search teams, general?" Jack said. "I'm going to find my people."

"Permission granted, colonel."

---------------------------------------------------------

Only hours after they had been left alone, the door to the Goa'uld holding cell opened again, and two jaffa entered. The two ever-present guards still stood outside. Carter was the first to rise to her feet, and Daniel followed, slowly.

"What do you want now?" she said.

None of the aliens said anything, but the two who had come in moved immediately in Daniel's direction. One of them grabbed his shoulder and shoved him toward the entrance, shouting "Kree!" in his ear. The young scientist winced and did as he was obviously being told.

"What are you doing?" Carter demanded.

"It's okay, Sam," Daniel said, following the jaffa out of the cell.

"No, it's not. I heard what you said..." she protested.

"Sam, try to stop them and they'll hurt you. So just don't, okay?"

"But-" she began, but she could get no further, as at that moment the door slid shut in her face, and the serpent guards herded Daniel around the corner, out of her sight. She sighed in frustration. And sat down again, hard.

-----------------------------------------------------

Daniel Jackson gulped as he was led down the corridor of the Goa'uld facility. He was almost certain he knew what came next, and even more certain that he wouldn't like it if he was correct. True to his fears, a moments later he was pushed into another room, larger than the one he had been confined in the past few hours. Amaunet and two more jaffa awaited him and the two that had come with him.

Daniel heard the door close behind them. Then, before he could catch his breath at the site of his wife staring at him coldly, he felt the familiar, though unwelcome sensation of the butt of a staff weapon being rammed into the back of his legs, forcing his knees to give out. He grunted and fell, crying out when his knees slammed painfully onto the cold, hard floor.

Still wincing, Daniel looked up at her, hoping to be able to say something to her, but he didn't get the chance, before once again the hand device was focused on his forehead. But this time she was not trying to render him unconscious, and the ribbon of energy from the device sent paralyzing waves of pain through his body. For several minutes he struggled with it, gasping.

"No..." he choked, tears forming in his eyes again. It couldn't end now. It was too soon. He had just found her again. He couldn't die yet...

Amaunet smiled. "No need to worry, Dr. Jackson. I won't kill you now. Not this time. No, this is going to last a long, long time."

Chapter 7

Daniel gasped when the ribbon device finally shut off, and the hand that it adorned withdrew. Unable to shake off the pain and disorientation quickly, he swayed, moaning, and fell to the floor, struggling to catch his breath.

Amaunet stepped back, out of his way. "Jaffa, Kree! Get him up!" Seconds later two rough pairs of hands clamped around Daniel's arms. The two jaffa hauled him to his feet, and then their queen nodded towards the wall. The young scientist didn't know what she meant until the men dragged him to it and closed chains around his wrists, binding him to the fall, facing away from it on his knees.

Daniel's foggy mind fought to understand what was happening as his mind slowly returned to normal after the painful, paralyzing effects of the Goa'uld technology. He didn't know how long he had been under the hand device. It could have been minutes, or it could have been hours. All he had been aware of was the pain, and Sha're's face above him...until finally it had stopped. But now what did she plan to do?

After another moment or so, he felt almost normal again, except for being completely exhausted. He looked around, pulling futilely on the chains. Amaunet, standing only a few feet away, stared condescendingly at him.

"You can't get out of them."

Daniel looked at her, tears forming in his eyes again. "I don't understand. Why are you doing this?" he asked quietly, not only too tired to speak any louder, but not trusting himself too.

"I have already explained that to you. You're a nuisance. You must be eliminated." The corner of her mouth turned upwards. "But no one said I couldn't enjoy it."

Daniel gulped. "Sha're, please, fight it-ah!" He got no farther than that, crying out when the nearest jaffa stuck him-hard.

"Do NOT address the queen in such a manner!" the guard said angrily. "She is not her host; nothing of the host survives."

Obviously this one hadn't been in the room when Amaunet had explained exactly why she wanted him dead. Daniel glared at the jaffa through a wince of pain. "That's what they want you to think."

The archaeologist grunted loudly as another sharp blow to the same side of his face sent pain exploding through his head. The third and fourth blows only worsened it, and he shouted both times. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw the man pulling back for yet another strike, and he grimaced, ducking, but Amaunet stopped him.

"Enough!" she said, drawing him off with her words. The man backed off, and Daniel slumped against the wall, gasping, following the jaffa with his eyes. He seemed to derive pleasure from seeing his victim spitting blood, and that didn't surprise Daniel in the slightest.

"There is no need for that," Amaunet said. "Now we can continue." When her attention turned towards the door, Daniel followed her gaze, and his breath caught in his throat when he saw what she was smiling at now.

Daniel hadn't realized that one of the jaffa in the room had left until now, because he was returning with something in his hand. It was one of the Goa'uld energy torture sticks they had seen in the alternate universe. At least that's where he remembered them from most- he was sure they had encountered them elsewhere, but couldn't think of where at the moment. It didn't matter because none of them had actually been subjected to one before, and he had hoped he never would be. But suddenly it appeared as if that was one wish that wouldn't come true, and when Daniel realized it, his stomach tightened, a chill ran up his spine, and his breath unstuck and quickened all at the same time.

Amaunet looked back to him as the guard holding the torture device moved in his direction and handed it to the same jaffa who had tried to beat him up only a moment ago. *Oh, great, just add insult to injury why don't you,* Daniel thought bitterly. He gulped as the man who apparently didn't like him dangled the piece of Goa'uld technology in front of him.

Daniel's mouth gaped open and closed several times before he could say anything. "Uh..." he began shakily, then stopped, gulped, and cleared his throat loudly."You...you don't have to do that..." he said clumsily.

His eyes flicked toward where his wife stood. But of course it wasn't Sha're. She wouldn't let them hurt him. But she couldn't do anything. He was on his own, and Amaunet, standing with her arms crossed and a half-smile, seemed to be enjoying this, watching Daniel stumble over himself trying in vain in to talk himself out of what was about to happen. His eyes pleaded with her to fight, but he didn't say anything to her, knowing that at this point trying to get to Sha're would only make things worse for him. It had already happened once.

With great effort, Daniel calmed his breathing, and spoke to Amaunet. "You're not...really..." he said hopefully, shaking his head slightly and trying to conjure an amused smile. He only halfway succeeded, but then the Goa'uld cut him off, smashing his attempt at hope or humor.

"-And why not? These devices leave no permanent damage," she said, motioning to it, "and yet they cause the victim a great deal of pain. I have no reason to refrain from having it used on you. Aside from the hand device, it is one of most successful smaller inventions of Goa'uld technology."

She was baiting him, trying scare him, and Daniel knew it, but that didn't keep it from working. Jack probably could have come back with some snarky reply in a heartbeat, but he wasn't Jack O'Neill, and neither was he military trained like O'Neill and Carter were.

The smile on Amaunet's face then disappeared, and she backed away a bit more, barking an order to the man in front of Daniel. "Enough games. Begin."

Daniel pulled against the chains again, now with a little more strength because it had been a few minutes more since he had come out from under the ribbon device. "Wait-!"

But he was interrupted again when the jaffa holding the torture stick flicked it on. He heard the energy spike of the power-up, and turned his head just in time to see the active point of the device touch the end of the chain that bound his right hand. From there, the energy traveled almost instantaneously through the chains and into his body through his wrists, and Daniel screamed in agony.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Present

"Jackson!"

Daniel snapped gratefully out of his nightmarish daydream of the past when his name was called-loudly, and right in his ear.

He jumped, nearly knocking the plate and sandwich that sat on the commissary table in front of him to the floor. Samantha Carter reached across the table and caught it before it could fall.

"Thanks," he said, and she nodded, giving him a knowing smile. Then Daniel directed his attention to the man sitting beside him, the one who had shouted his name. "What was that for?" he asked in annoyance, lightly rubbing his offended ear.

Cameron Mitchell shrugged. "Jackson, you've been spaced out since we left the briefing room this morning. General Landry tells us we're going to some old abandoned Goa'uld base you guys have been to before because now we have intelligence that suggests the snakeheads might have left behind some nifty experimental time/space device thingy, and all of a sudden Carter gets tense, Teal'c does the eyebrow thing, and you act like you've been punched in the gut. Now come on, Daniel, what's up?"

Teal'c raised an eyebrow as he, Sam, and Daniel glanced at each other uncomfortably. Finally Carter winced and broke the silence.

"Cameron..."

"No, Sam, it's okay," Daniel interrupted. He could see she was going the way of *Cameron, lay off. If he doesn't want to talk about it, he doesn't want to talk about it.* And he didn't think that was fair. Mitchell was the new member of SG-1 in Jack's absence because of his promotion, its new commander of sorts, and he deserved to know what was bothering him just like Sam and Teal'c knew. Besides, it wasn't as if it was a secret. Carter gave him a look that asked if he was really comfortable talking about it, and he returned one that assured her he would be fine.

Daniel sighed, and Mitchell gave him his full attention. "Cameron, it's just...what happened there the first time. I mean, if you've seen one Goa'uld facility you've seen them all, but this one Sam and I kind of...stumbled across. We were brought there against our will, by some sort of virus that was sent into Stargate Command's computer. We were on our way to P5R-316, but ended up there...and it was Amaunet who had ordered it."

Cameron sat up. "Amaunet? But wasn't her host...?"

Daniel nodded. "My wife, yes."

"Yikes. So...what happened?"

"Uh..." Daniel grimaced. "Well, let's just say it didn't go so well."

"But why would she want you and Carter?" Mitchell said curiously.

"She only wanted me, actually."

When Daniel didn't reply to the other man's still inquiring gaze, Carter filled in a bit. "She wanted him dead."

"Ouch."

"Yeah..." Sam trailed. Then she abruptly stood. "You know, we should probably be checking our supplies and stuff for tomorrow."

Teal'c nodded and joined her. "I agree."

Daniel stood with them. "Good idea."

Cameron stood as well. "Okay, good. You guys do that. I have other things to get done before we leave. Later." With that, Mitchell turned and left, picking up the styrofoam plate that held the scattered remains of his lunch and dumping it in a trash can on the way out. The rest of SG-1 left through the door on the other side of the room.

"Nice save back, there, Sam," Daniel confided to his blonde teammate.

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed, a small smile appearing.

Carter shrugged and smiled. "What are friends for. I saw that you'd gone as far as you were willing to go on the subject for the moment. I just had to find a truthful way to get him off your back without offending Cameron-or you."

Daniel smiled. "I appreciate it." Then he stopped, bringing all three to a halt. "Wait...you said *truthful*. Does that mean we really have to check the supplies?"

"It has to be done. Might as well be sooner rather than later."

"Darn it."

Chapter 8

Past

Colonel Jack O'Neill and his team stepped through the Stargate to P7X-324, a nearby yet unexplored world in the infamous gate system. This team consisted only of himself, Teal'c, and Dr. Janet Fraiser, who had opted to join them rather than sitting around Stargate Command waiting for her missing friends to be found. General Hammond had gladly given his permission.

Almost immediately O'Neill noticed a strange stench, and took a few steps forward, wrinkling his nose. A second later, when he glanced downward, he jumped back several feet as the gate closed behind them.

"Whoa!" he said, looking at what lay beyond the large stone platform the gate stood on. "The M.A.L.P. didn't show *that*. Yikes!"

"I believe that is an extremely valid statement, O'Neill," Teal'c offered.

"You can say *that* again," Fraiser added.

Once the stone ended, the ground was nothing but gray, extremely mushy-looking, deep, bubbling, *mud*. There were plenty of healthy-looking strange trees sticking up from it, which, at first glance, had made this planet seem not too much out of the ordinary, but he would definitely have to mention to the technicians back home that they should really think about giving the surveillance cameras more maneuverability. For example, it would be really helpful, in this case anyway, if they could look *down*.

"Okay, somebody please tell me that they're not here, because I'd *really* like to save us all the unpleasantness of having to slog through any of that," Jack said.

Janet nodded. "As a doctor, I think I can safely say that, colonel. I don't think they could survive here for very long, and if they could, they wouldn't have gotten very far from the gate by now. We'd be able to see them if they were here."

Teal'c nodded. "And if, for some reason, they were here, yet unable to dial earth, they would have had no reason to venture out into this. Doctor Fraiser is correct."

The colonel sighed. "Yep. I think so too. All, right, let's dial home and get back. No use wasting more time here." O'Neill glanced over at Fraiser, who he knew didn't get off- world much. "Doctor, if you would like to do the honors?"

Janet smiled and stepped up to the DHD. "Thank you, colonel, I'd be happy to."

-----------------------------------------------------

Samantha Carter had begun to worry when Daniel had been gone for over an hour, but now it had been more than two, and part of her mind feared the worst. But surely Amaunet wouldn't have killed him already?

Carter jumped when the door opened and three figures entered. She sighed in relief when she saw that the one in the middle was Daniel, but at the same time her stomach tightened in concern for him when she realized that the two jaffa on either side of him were practically dragging the younger man. They dumped the weakened human on the floor and left, the door slamming down behind them. As soon as they were gone, the major jumped up and ran to kneel down beside her gasping friend.

"Daniel?" she said, rolling him from his side to his back. "Are you all right?"

Daniel groaned and opened his closed eyes, speaking between gasped intakes of breath. "No...not okay...but I'll...live. Uhhhhh...." He moaned.

Carter winced and slipped an arm under his back, helping him to slowly sit up. Once in a sitting position beside her, Daniel's head dropped to her shoulder and rested there, and his chest still heaved with heavy breaths. She kept her arm around his shoulders both for comfort and to keep him in a stable position. After another few minutes his breathing slowed somewhat, and she ventured to speak to him again.

"Daniel, what happened?" she asked quietly. "What did they do to you?"

"Oh, they just used the hand device, and one of those Goa'uld torture sticks--you know, the usual," Daniel said, gulping as he lifted his head from her shoulder and attempted to hold it up himself.

"She had you *tortured*?" Carter said with concern.

Daniel nodded weakly, and then suddenly his head seemed too heavy again and he let it drop into his hands. Sam rubbed him back gently, wishing there were more she could do. She knew it must have been horrible for him-to be tortured like that, and at his own wife's command. No, not Sha're-it was Amaunet, the being that controlled her body. But she also knew that didn't change the fact that it 'was' her body, her face looking at him...Carter shuddered, and sighed.

"It's all right, Daniel," she comforted him quietly. "You'll find a way to get through to her, and we'll get out of this."

"I just hope I can do it before it's too late," he answered.

Carter nodded, then stood and offered him her hand. Daniel looked up and took it, and Sam gently helped him up. On the way up he winced, assessing the damage. Thankfully there didn't seem to be too much of it. Both the hand device and the torture stick had simply left him exhausted and sore. The only real damage was from the blows to the face he'd taken, and the general rough handling. His knees still ached from hitting the floor so hard, and his wrists felt raw from the chains. Sam saw him rubbing them and frowned.

"What is it?" she asked with concern.

Daniel lowered himself onto the nearest bench, and held up one of his reddened, scraped, and slightly bleeding wrists. "What, this?" Carter placed her hands on her hips as if to say *Of course* that, *Daniel, what else would I be talking about?* And she was right. He sighed. "That would be from the chains that kept me bound to the wall while they used the torture stick," he said, letting his arm drop again. He leaned back against the wall, and Carter sat beside him, worry still on her face. She sighed at his response.

"Is there anything else you haven't told me?"

"Nope, that...that's pretty much all that happened."

Sam looked at him, and somehow Daniel knew that she was staring straight at the fresh bruises on his face. He grimaced.

"Okay, okay, so one of the jaffa got a little angry at me. It wasn't that bad, Sam. Really. I'm all right. I promise."

Carter sighed yet again, and nodded. "Okay. Sorry. I'm just concerned, you know."

"I know," Daniel answered. Then he looked around, as if the answer to his next question were in the air. "How long was I gone? I...uh...couldn't really tell..."

The tone and almost imperceptible wince that accompanied the last statement made it easy to realize the implications of it, and Sam winced again as she glanced at her watch. "Um, about two hours..."

Daniel's eyebrows rose at that, and he looked down at his own watch, which he seemed to have just remembered was there. "Oh...Oh, well, I guess it was...Yikes."

"Do you think they'll come back?" Carter asked quietly.

Daniel's lips pursed into a fine, uncomfortable line. "My impression was that they would."

"Perfect. So what are we going to do?"

"Hope they wait at *least* two hours before they do."

------------------------------------------------------------

"Colonel, why are you back so soon? You and your team didn't leave any longer than ten minutes ago."

Jack nodded as he, Teal'c, and Janet stopped at the bottom of the Gate ramp. "I know, sir, but the doc says there's no way they could be on that planet, so there was no reason to waste any time."

General Hammond looked to doctor Frasier next. "Why wouldn't they be there, doctor?"

"It's all mud, sir, very unfriendly mud. I doubt they would be there. You could see for miles, and they certainly wouldn't have gotten any farther than that by now. I can't see why anyone would go out into that in the first place."

Hammond nodded. "All right. I can agree with that. De-brief in ten minutes." The General started to turn and walk away, but O'Neill stopped him.

"Uh, sir, actually, if you don't mind, I'd like to get going again immediately. There's not much more to the de-brief than what you've heard, and it can be done later. Just have Walter dial the next address on the list, please."

Hammond eyed his subordinate. "And what about protocol, *colonel*?" he said, putting some emphasis on the rank.

"With all due respect, general, most of it went out the window the moment two of my people went missing," Jack said, trying to keep as straight a face as possible.

But George Hammond broke into a smile and nodded. "I understand, colonel. Permission to re-embark immediately granted." With that, the general looked up towards the window to the control room, and nodded to Walter Harriman, who began to dial a new Gate address.

"Chevron one, encoded."

Jack nodded to Hammond. "Thank you sir."

"You're welcome, colonel. Now get going. Find *our* people."

Chapter 9

Samantha Carter fought hard to resist the urge to continuously look across the room at Daniel, who was resting on the opposite bench, his jacket off and balled up under his head to create the illusion of a comfortable position. He seemed to be asleep, even though he moaned occasionally, but still...

She sighed, her brow creasing in worry. As Daniel had hoped, the Goa'uld had waited at least two hours before returning for him, but not much longer. They had taken him away again, and he had returned over an hour and a half later, even more exhausted and the worse for wear than the first time, though at least there hadn't been anymore new bruises.

Now, it had been almost two hours since *then*. It was late afternoon, and Sam was silently praying that the jaffa wouldn't come for Daniel a third time-at least not today.

Carter suddenly felt her hopes waver when she heard footsteps in the corridor. Jumping up, she moved to site next to Daniel, and shook him gently. "Daniel, wake up."

"Huh, what?" he said groggily, lifting tired eyes to look at her.

Sam frowned, "Someone's coming."

Daniel ears perked up when he heard the sound, and he quickly sat up, carefully masked fear on his face. Sam rested a hand on his shoulder, hoping it would help some. But all of her hoped shattered yet again when the two jaffa came into view, and one of the already present guards opened the door.

"Great," Carter muttered, and she could almost hear Daniel's own inward groan. Her hand tightened on his arm as the two newcomers stepped into the cell. Daniel, however, brushed it off and stood slowly, knowing he would only be pulled to his feet anyway if he didn't. He tried to keep a passive expression-probably just as much for his sake as for hers, but she could see that already his face was at least a couple of shades paler.

"Daniel..."

"Sam, don't try anything. I don't want anything to happen to you," he said quietly.

"Daniel, for crying out loud they've already taken you twice today-"

As the jaffa grabbed him and began to push him toward the door, Daniel shot her a withering look that quieted her. Sam growled low in her throat when they had led him away. She knew he was only concerned for her, but she wished he wouldn't go with them so quietly, when he knew what awaited him. Even if it got both of them zatted or something, it would be worth it if they would just leave him alone...Sighing, she sank to the bench again.

----------------------------------------------------

Daniel released a final cry as the jaffa guard pulled the torture stick away, leaving him to collapse back against the wall, gasping desperately for air. But his world hadn't even begun to assert itself again when, through the blur of lingering pain, he saw Amaunet raise her ribbon device. His breath quickened even more instead of slowing down, which at the moment was dangerous.

"No, Sha're, please..." he pleaded to his wife, hoping to reach her. Just maybe...Daniel's hopes rose when she frowned and pulled her hand back, but plummeted again at her words.

"You were warned not to call me that again," Amaunet said coldly.

"What..." But she didn't say anything else, only cast a glance toward the jaffa nearest him-the same one who had just finished torturing him, and the one who had tried to beat him up earlier.

Before Daniel knew what was happening, the man was on him, fists coming down hard., and soon the other jaffa in the room joined him, one or two using fists, another kicking him. Their victim was chained to the wall, unable to block any of it, and shouting helplessly in pain.

Amaunet did nothing as Daniel was beaten, standing away across the room, watching. The young archaeologist pulled against his chains despite the extra pain it caused his wrists; he cried futilely to her when he could, but it made no difference. After several minutes, a final, well-placed blow caught his jaw, knocking him into oblivion, and it didn't matter anymore.

-----------------------------------------

Outside, on this world that was *not* P5R-316, the sky had become dark. The few sensors it had shut down for the night, or switched to passive mode, only making light general sweeps of a small area around the small compound. Most of the jaffa serpent guards retired, leaving only a few to play sentry through the night. After all, this was a small, insignificant, back-water planet. It was worthy to house a Goa'uld facility only because of its secrecy. If no now knew it existed, they didn't need to waste resources on large security systems--or so they believed.

The sensors no longer scanning space did not detect the single, incoming enemy mother ship taking orbit around the planet, and no one saw the troops being deployed, hiding away from the base in the forest and elsewhere, waiting until morning, waiting for their chance to strike...

-------------------------------------------------

Sam Carter shot to her feet when the two serpent guards dropped the unconscious Daniel Jackson on the floor and left. She hurried to him, and stifled a gasp when she saw how much worse he looked than either of the times before. His wrists were rubbed raw and bloody; his face was covered in fresh bruises and had several cuts and abrasions, and without his jacket, on his exposed arms she could see more bruises.

Gulping, Sam slipped a hand under his shoulders, starting to lift him from the floor, hoping to move him to the bench and that it would be more comfortable than the floor when he woke up. She stopped, however, jumping in surprise, when suddenly Daniel came to, crying out in pain from the movement and grabbing her arm.

"No, Sam, wait-!" he gasped.

"Whoa!" Carter yelped, putting him down again and nearly dropping him, which only caused him to shout again. "Sorry! Daniel...sorry," she apologized, wincing in sympathy.

"No...it's okay...just...wait a minute...." Daniel said, grimacing and still trying to catch his breath.

"What is it?"

"I just...really don't feel like being moved just yet," he answered, his heavy breathing slowly starting to taper off.

"All right...what happened?" Carter asked.

Daniel sighed. "They got considerably more aggressive this time, that's what happened."

"In other words, she didn't stop them from beating you this time," Sam re-phrased, frowning.

Daniel flinched. "Uh...yeah. I got pummeled." Groaning, he rolled onto his side, obviously finding lying on his back uncomfortable. That set him short of breath again, and brought one arm around his stomach protectively. He moaned again, and Sam sighed, trying to move it away.

"Let me see?" Daniel nodded weakly, allowing her to gently push his arm aside and lift his shirt.

Carter had to stifle a gasp of worry at what she saw. Daniel's his entire middle was black and blue, even with minor bleeding in places, and when she rose up on her knees to glance over at his back, she saw it was almost as bad there. She would probably find bruises all over his legs, too, if she were to look, Sam thought sourly.

"Gosh, Daniel. They really did a number on you, didn't they?" she gulped, glancing at him. He nodded, grimacing. "Do you think anything's broken? Any cracked ribs?" Carter asked quietly, carefully feeling him over. Daniel cried out softly when she hit a particularly sore spot, and Sam winced herself. "Sorry."

He shook his head, but now he was gasping again. " 's okay. No, don't...think anything's broken...Cracked rib or two maybe. Ohhhhh...." Daniel moaned.

"Where?" Sam asked in concern. He indicated an area to one side that seemed particularly bruised, and gently she began to probe the area, to her friend's grunts of pain. "Sorry, but we need to know how bad it is. I'm being as careful as I can, I promise..." Suddenly Sam stopped when she found the damaged ribs and Daniel yelled loudly. She pulled her hands away quickly and gripped his shoulder with one of them.

"Oh! Sorry!" she apologized fervently. Then she sighed. "No wonder that hurt so much. It's cracked all right-lucky it didn't break. A couple more around it might have minor cracks, and it's pretty obvious a lot of them are badly bruised."

"Oh...guess that explains it," Daniel gulped, trying to catch his breath yet again.

"You all right? I didn't mean to hurt you."

Jackson nodded his head slowly. "You're fine. I'll be okay."

"Are you cold? Do you want your jacket? Glasses? You left them here too."

"I want to get off this floor; that's what I want," Daniel replied, attempting to keep the pain off his face as he pushed himself up on his elbows.

"Are you sure?" Carter frowned.

Daniel nodded. "I'm sure," he grunted, pushing himself up farther, trying to straighten his arms under himself. For a moment it seemed as if pain would win, collapsing his bruised, hurting arms and sending the young scientist crashing painfully back to the ground, but before he had a chance to find out if it would Sam moved next to him, allowing him to drape an arm around her shoulders. The major, in turn, wrapped an arm around Daniel.

Once in position, Sam glanced at Jackson. When he nodded that he was ready, she nodded in return and then began to stand slowly, carefully pulling her comrade up with her. Daniel cried out, but helped her with his own legs as much as he could. His grip on Carter's shoulders tightened, and her free hand came up to grip his, giving him something a bit easier to hold onto and pull up on.

Thankfully, once he was up Daniel found that, though it was still painful to stand, move, or much less walk, it wasn't nearly as bad as getting to his feet in the first place. Carter seemed to realize this as well, and seemed relieved for him, but was still as gentle as possible as she helped him to the bench he had rested on earlier. But as careful as she was, she couldn't keep him from hurting enough to groan as they went, and when she lowered him to his seat she saw the pain on his face and wished there were more she could do.

Daniel pulled in a slow, deep breath, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes for a moment as he caught his breath.

"Daniel...?" Carter asked. After another moment his eyes opened again and he nodded.

"I'm fine, Sam," he said hoarsely. Her lips pressing into a thin line, she offered him his glasses, but he shook his head, pushing them away. "No thanks. I think I'm just going to try and get some sleep."

Sam put the glasses down. "That's probably a good idea. It's late, and I know you could use it," she said quietly.

"Yeah..." Daniel trailed tiredly. Grimacing, he lowered himself to his side and rested his head on the balled-up green BDU jacket that still lay in the corner. Lying on his side seemed to be the only comfortable position be could find--or rather, the least painful position for the moment. Nothing was very comfortable in his present state, but the moment he was lying down, and his head hit his improvised pillow, his exhaustion caught up with him and he felt himself drifting of.

Daniel felt Sam's hand on his shoulder again, this time in a purely sympathetic gesture, and looked up to see the comforting smile she offered him. He mustered the best he could find to give back to her before he allowed his eyes to drift shut. The beaten archaeologist fell asleep almost immediately, oblivious to the added danger outside the compound.

Chapter 10

Daniel Jackson woke with a start, crying out in pain when someone suddenly shook him. "Sam! What are you-" he yelped, but stopped when he saw that it was not Samantha Carter, but a serpent guard who stood over him, another right behind him. "W-what do you want?" he gulped, still wincing. He got his answer when the two jaffa grabbed his arms and pulled him to his feet.

"Ah! OW! Okay, okay, I'm up!" he shouted, the rough movement sending waves of terrible pain through Daniel's bruised body. Without answering, the two men dragged him towards the door. A moment later, he heard Carter's groggy, but quickly awakening voice behind them.

"Hey! What are you doing! It's the middle of the night!-" Daniel didn't catch much of what she said after that, her voice drowned out by distance and his own grunts and groans of pain. The jaffa didn't seem to care what condition he was in-not that he had ever expected them to. In three years, Teal'c and Bra'tac were still the only two jaffa he had come to trust, and he knew they were different from most. As for what time it was; he managed to verify that by catching a glance of his watch. It was, in fact, the middle of the night, or extremely early in the morning, depending on one's point of view. What did they want with him at this hour?

Moments later, after taking the route Daniel had become accustomed to and learned to fear, they arrived at the same room he had been taken to before. Again Amaunet was waiting, and yet again they dropped him at her feet-though this time it didn't take any persuading to get him down, and it caused him considerably more pain. After catching his breath-not an easy task-the confused scientist looked up at her, his breath still a bit heavy.

"What...What's going on? It's the middle of the night...I don't...I don't understand..."

His voice trailed off as Amaunet smirked. "It doesn't matter, for us. We don't need the sleep that you weak humans require to function. Night, day, it is all the same to us, though granted, some things are more easily done in daylight when planet-side."

"Then why won't you let us sleep?" Daniel asked heatedly. The Goa'uld's cockiness was getting to him easily, as tired as he was. "Any *sane* person would be asleep right now...Ah!" He yelped when she struck him, ducking downward and nearly cracking his forehead on the floor.

"Silence!" Amaunet shouted, her eyes glowing briefly.

Daniel gulped as he sat up again, painfully, rubbing his cheek where she'd hit him with the hand that was covered with the hand device again. "What do you want from me?" he pleaded quietly.

"Before, nothing. I was merely flexing my muscles in what I was doing to you. But now, there are things I want from you," Amaunet answered honestly-surprising for a Goa'uld.

Jackson's eyes narrowed. "What kinds of things?"

She smiled. "You must know that our intelligence on the Tau'ri has been lacking, as of late. I intend to change that." She leaned closer, "And you are going to help me do that. I'll make it easy for you...The code for the devices you have which open that iris of yours on the Earth Stargate would be a good start."

Daniel frowned. "Nice try. I may not be military, but I have just as much responsibility to protect my planet as anyone else. I don't care if you're in my wife's body or not; you won't get anything from me."

Amaunet frowned in return and straightened. "Very well. You should know by now that we have other methods of persuasion..." she said, extending her hand above his face. *No, not that again...*was Daniel's desperate thought before the orange energy beam of the ribbon device activated, trapping him in its clutches. The archaeologist cried out.

The energy pierced his skull, sending paralyzing waves of pain through his body. It began almost subtly, but grew over time as she asked him questions about Earth-about the Tau'ri, as they called the humans and their planet-and he refused to answer. Eventually, to his relief, she became tired of the endless questions being met with no answers, and shut off the hand device, withdrawing her arm. Daniel collapsed, groaning loudly both from the lingering pain of the hand device and from the pain of the impact of his bruised body with the ground.

"Why do you not answer?" she demanded. "You know I cannot let you live, but if you give me what I want I will consider making your death less painful."

Despite himself, Daniel laughed weakly from the floor. "Too late for that..." He immediately regretted it when pain flared in his chest from the sharp movement. He regretted it even more a moment later when Amaunet nodded to one of the jaffa, who gave him a swift kick in the ribs-the same ones that were cracked. Daniel shrieked in agony and doubled over which, being on the ground, pulled him into a fetal position. Amaunet spoke again, and Daniel tried to listen even as he gasped painfully for the air that had been knocked out of him.

"So be it. If you will not tell me anything yet, then perhaps your friend will." With that, the Goa'uld motioned for two of the four jaffa in the room to follow her, and headed for the door.

"What?!" Daniel cried in alarm, grimacing as he pushed himself up on one elbow, ignoring the pain for the moment. "Y-you can't do that!"

But Amaunet ignored him. She did, however, turn to the two remaining jaffa in the room before she left. "Continue to interrogate him. I will be questioning the other prisoner."

"No!" Daniel shouted after her as she left. "Leave Sam alone! Sha're!-" He had more to say, but he was forced to break off abruptly when he received another sharp kick from one of the serpent guards at the last word. That sent more pain just as sharp tearing through his torso, and he wasn't even given time to recover before they grabbed his arms and dragged him to the chains on the side wall, only making his middle hurt worse, and he groaned loudly.

But what was worse was that Daniel felt sick; now Amaunet was going to interrogate Sam. He knew she wouldn't say anything either, which meant that, more than likely, soon she, too, would be caught in the grip of the ribbon device, and he didn't want that. He tried not to think about what else the Goa'uld might do to her, as well. *Please,* he pleaded to no one in particular. *Please, let Sam be okay, please...*

Daniel was pulled rudely out of his thoughts when a sudden new pain was called to his attention. He quickly looked in that direction to see one of the jaffa taking hold of his arm and opening one of the chains with the intention of putting it around his wrist as they had done before. But by now both of his wrists were so raw and hurting that he knew it wouldn't feel very good at all for them to be chained again.

"Do you have to do that...?" he implored hopefully, but was cut off again when the man snapped the cuff roughly closed, eliciting a yelp from Daniel. The scientist winced, "Okay, I guess you do...Ah!" He cried out again when the other jaffa closed the other one. "You know, you could try being a little less brutal for a change..." Daniel tried, but was only rewarded with another harsh blow to the face. "Guess not..."

---------------------------------------------------------

Samantha Carter looked up when she heard footsteps in the corridor, hoping that whoever was there was bringing Daniel. It had been over an hour. It could be him...

A moment later Amaunet came into view, and two jaffa...but no Daniel. Carter stood once the door had opened and the they had entered. "What do you want? Where's Daniel?"

"Doctor Jackson is still being interrogated."

"Interrogated!" Sam cried in alarm. "You never said anything about wanting any information! What are you doing to him!"

Amaunet smiled. "That is none of your concern. You should be concerned for yourself. Your friend is not revealing any information, but things will be easier for both of you if *you* do."

Carter glared at her, standing her ground. "I don't think so."

The Goa'uld nodded to the two serpent guards with her. "Your mistake," she said simply. The jaffa moved forward and took firm hold on Carter's arms, holding her in place.

"Let me go!" the major demanded. She pulled and twisted, but it was no use. Amaunet closed the distance between them, and activated her hand device. The orange beam caught Carter's forehead, and she gasped, her head snapping backwards for a moment.

"This isn't going to help you any," Sam growled through clenched teeth despite the pain that now flooded her body.

Amaunet only smirked and increased the intensity of the beam, drawing a moan from Carter. "We shall see, Major Carter. We shall see."

---------------------------------------------------------

By now, the only thing keeping Daniel Jackson conscious was the excruciating pain that permeated his body as he was dragged along the corridor, leaving a steady stream of moans, gasps, and cries in his wake. The two jaffa he was suspended between still didn't care how much pain their jostling caused him as they brought him back to the holding cell. At least, he thought tiredly, after what must have been another hour or more of interrogation, they had finally decided that it was enough for the moment.

There was something he should be remembering...something very important...but through the haze of pain that had settled over his mind, it was hard to think. What was it...? Daniel cried out again at a sudden bump, and his train of thought was derailed as he sank into the murky mist.

A few minutes later, Daniel was jarred to full consciousness again when he felt himself being dropped face down onto the floor of the holding cell. He shouted and rolled to his side, holding his injured ribs. But then he realized that his shout wasn't the only sound of pain in the room. Another sound of...moaning...was it feminine? His senses were still muted, his mind still murky. Gasping, he squinted as his vision slowly cleared-or cleared as much as it could without his glasses-and his ears slowly returned to normal. *I think this is what I needed to remember...*

After another few moments, the blurred sounds and hazy blobs of color he was seeing asserted themselves, and he found himself staring in horror at the scene before him. Amaunet had Carter on her knees, caught in the ribbon device, and from the brightness and thickness of the beam, the major's pained expression, and the cries that were escaping, it was obvious that the Goa'uld was being rather aggressive with it. Daniel eyes widened. *Sam!*

"Stop it..." he whispered weakly, but knew immediately that it hadn't been loud enough. "Stop..." he tried again, his voice above a whisper now, but not much louder. One of the jaffa glanced momentarily in his direction, bit then ignored him. Clenching his teeth against the pain, Daniel pushed himself up on one elbow, and gathered his strength. "Stop it!" he yelled as loudly as he could.

That got her attention, but instead of stopping, she only turned to look at him.

"Please, don't," Daniel pleaded, still breathing heavily. "She's...she's not the one you...you wanted here. I am. Just...stop it, please..."

Amaunet smiled. "You're right; she isn't. I wanted you...and information. Give me the information I desire, and I will stop."

Daniel stared at her, and looked at Sam, knew how much pain she was in. He could see streaks on her face where unbidden tears of pain had fallen, and almost considered it as he suddenly felt overwhelming anger at the Goa'uld for harming his friend.

"Daniel, don't-" Sam gasped, but was instantly cut off in a scream when Amaunet frowned and intensified the beam.

"No!" Daniel cried, pushing up farther. He looked at his wife desperately, hoping she was in there watching, somewhere, hoping she could help them. "I can't tell you anything now more than I could two hours ago, but please, just leave Sam alone! You can do what you want to me, but don't hurt her!"

"No Daniel!-AHH!" Carter screamed, trying again to dissuade him, but again only being rewarded with more pain.

Suddenly, Daniel could take no more of it. In an adrenaline rush that gave him more energy than he would have ever thought he had left, he leapt to his feet and lunged toward Amaunet. He didn't want to hurt Sha're, only knock her away from Sam, and get that hand device turned off...

But she re-directed the beam--snapping it away from Carter, widening it, and aiming it in his direction--faster than he'd have ever thought a Goa'uld was capable of. The energy wave slammed into Daniel's body and threw him backwards into the wall in a fashion remarkably reminiscent of his first encounter with Apophis--only this time, as injured as he already was, it hurt considerably more.

Carter collapsed, and Daniel howled in agony upon impact with the hard surface, then sank to the floor, gasping in heavy breaths that sounded almost like sobs. Amaunet only smirked, and strode from the cell, the door closing behind her. Once they were gone, Daniel pushed himself forward onto his hand and knees and crawled slowly toward his friend, unable to even think about standing again at the moment. He could barely move as it was without sharps knives of pain piercing his ribs, and if he hadn't been worried about Sam, he wouldn't have even been able to force himself to go that far.

Daniel suppressed another groan as he stopped in front of Carter. He took a moment to catch his breath--somewhat--before speaking, but it didn't help much. "Sam, you...you okay?" he asked with concern, grimacing as he help her sit up.

Carter nodded weakly, but her eyes were red-rimmed, and before she could stop them new tears began to fall. Crying softly, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and after a moment of hesitation Daniel put his arms around her in return, offering what comfort he could. Saying nothing at first, he held her gently, trying to ignore the uncomfortable nature of the situation--and the physical pain coming from most of his body--because he knew that Sam needed a friend right now. He did too, after something like this, so he let her cry, her tears falling on his shoulder, where her head rested. But that didn't mean he knew exactly what to do.

"It's okay, Sam..." he said clumsily.

After a moment or two, Carter's tears subsided, and she gave a weak laugh. "Daniel, you're really bad at this," she said, pulling back and looking at him as she swept an arm across her face to dry it with the sleeve of her long-sleeved black shirt.

Daniel smiled despite himself. "Yeah, I guess I am...Are you okay?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah...killer headache, but I'll be fine. And...thanks."

"For what? Being stupid?"

Carter laughed again, louder this time, and it made him feel better to know that she was feeling better. "No, Daniel, for what you did. And just..." she shrugged. "For being here."

"I knew it," Daniel complained good-naturedly. "You're better at this than I am."

Sam looked confused for a moment. "What?"

Daniel shook his head. "I...I haven't thanked you....You've been here the whole time...and..." But he stopped there, not knowing what else to say.

Carter smiled at him softly. "It's all right; I know. And don't worry about it. What are friends for, right?"

"Right...."

Daniel sighed, but that proved to be a mistake when fresh stabs of pain gripped his chest, doubling him over with a gasp--but the additional sharp intake of breath didn't help any, and he cried out.

"Daniel!" Carter yelped in alarm, catching him. He slumped in her arms, moaning; his strength was giving out, the extra energy expenditure of a few minutes before taking its toll, and the pain from his injuries was surging in full force.

"Hold on, Daniel," Carter soothed, gently lowering him to the ground. "Just lay down..." He was gasping in pain, and she winced in sympathy, wishing there were more she could do for him. "Just a minute..." With that, the major jumped up and grabbed Daniel's jacket from the far corner of the room, then knelt beside him again. "Here you go," she said quietly, lifting his head and placing the crumpled jacket under it. "You'll be all right." Daniel smiled at her through a grimace.

"Thanks Sam..." he gasped, and Carter put a hand on his shoulder.

"You're welcome. Now try to get some more sleep, okay?" He nodded weakly, not needing any more prompting to close his eyes.

Sighing, Carter pulled back, not sure where to sleep. Should she go back to where she had been sleeping earlier, or stay on the floor near Daniel? The latter would certainly be more considerate...

Making her decision, she snatched her own jacket from the bench beside her and stuffed in under her head as she lied down a few feet from her friend. Carter stayed awake until Daniel's moaning faded away, his breathing evened out, and she was sure he was asleep. At least that way he couldn't feel any pain--physical anyway. She wasn't sure about emotional, though, because even in sleep, she heard him muttering his wife's name.

Chapter 11

Jack O'Neill sighed in frustration as he and what was left of his team lowered themselves into chairs in the briefing room. Jack was tired. He hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, he hadn't left the base to do it, and he, Teal'c and Janet Fraiser had all agreed to wake up early to begin searching again. They had just returned from the first planet of the day.

"Planet number twenty-one; bust number twenty-one," Jack grumbled.

"Actually, colonel, two of the other teams that left this morning made it back before you did, so that would planet number twenty-three," general Hammond corrected as he took his own seat.

"All right, planet twenty-three," Janet said with a bit of guarded annoyance. "That doesn't change the fact that we haven't found them yet."

"I know that, doctor," Hammond agreed, his tone level.

Teal'c looked around at them all. "We do not seem to making much progress searching in this manner," the jaffa stated bluntly.

"Thank you, Teal'c, I think I figured that out about twenty-*four* hours ago. And nobody tell me I got that number wrong," O'Neill replied snarkily.

Despite herself, Fraiser smiled; Hammond felt a ghost of one pass fleetingly over his lips.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "I simply mean that I believe we should consider other options."

"What other options, Teal'c?" Hammond asked, clearly actually interested in the larger man's reply.

"I believe we should seek assistance."

"From who?" Janet inquired.

"Our only off-world allies who have the resources and willingness to help us in our search..."

All three other occupants of the table registered immediate recognition of who he was referring too, but O'Neill didn't look the least bit happy about it.

"Aww, Teal'c, don't say it-"

"...the Tok'ra."

Jack shook his head and put it in his hands. "I *told* you not to say it..."

"Teal'c has a point, colonel," Hammond said. "If we can contact them, they may very well be able to give us substantial help with our search. They may even have other options. Besides, I think Jacob would want to know about this. Don't you agree.

Jack looked at the general and winced. "That part-yes. The rest-sorry sir, but no."

"I'm sorry, Jack, but that doesn't matter. We're going to contact them whether you like it or not." Teal'c nodded in agreement with the general, and O'Neill glared at him. Fraiser seemed indifferent to the idea.

With that statement, General Hammond rose and headed in the direction of the control room, Janet not far behind. O'Neill and Teal'c rose to follow, the latter reluctantly.

Teal'c finally chose to take notice of his commander's sour expression, and spoke. "I am sorry, O'Neill, but I only wish to find our friends as much as you do."

"Yeah, okay," Jack relented. "But next time I tell you not to say something-don't say it."

The corner of Teal'c mouth tilted upward. "I cannot promise anything, O'Neill."

Jack sighed. "Yeah, I thought you'd say something like that."

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Morning had come; the order was given. The ground forces of the enemy moved, but there were no death gliders. As small as the outpost was, it had been assumed they would not be needed-Goa'uld arrogance at its best-even though the objective in itself was a large one--capture the base, kill Apophis's queen, and thus gain the service of the forces she controlled for their master, Heru-er.

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Daniel shouted in pain as he was kicked harshly in the gut yet again from his prone position on the floor, unable to get up. The force of the blow sent him rolling hard into the wall of the interrogation room, and upon impact the world abruptly blinked out.

When everything snapped on again Jackson found himself screaming, his back arching in agony as the Goa'uld torture stick dug into his neck for lack of chains. The jaffa who held the device pulled it away after a few moments, and Daniel went limp, gasping but trying not to do it too hard so as not to cause any more extra pain than necessary to his cracked ribs. At the moment they were burning quite severely, and controlling his intake of air in any form to keep from making them hurt worse was becoming harder and harder as time went on. Funny--he would have thought it would have been the other way around...

Daniel's thoughts trailed away again, dissolving in pain that seared through his body and mind when two of the serpent guards that had been beating him pulled him up onto his knees at their queen's command. The young scientist was too exhausted to do much more than moan.

Amaunet approached him, her left hand-the one adorned by the ribbon device-lifted, and Daniel bit back a sob. *No, Sha're don't...please...not again. Not that again. I can't take anymore. Amaunet's killing me. Stop her. You have to stop her. Please, please, Sha're, fight it...Come back to me...Stop this and come back to me...*

But none of the words left his mouth before the hand device activated, paralyzing him in agony yet again. Speaking them would only make thing worse, and right now, worse could finish him. He couldn't die yet. He had to find another way to get through to her, or a way to talk to her without any vengeful jaffa nearby. He had to live to save her...

But there was a difference this time in the way the Goa'uld wielded the device, a certain intensity of the pain that again and again ripped tortured groans from his throat, and suddenly Daniel realized that the beam was no longer meant only to torment him. Amaunet really was trying to kill him; she really was ready to finish him here and now. Now he tried to speak, to dissuade her, but it was too late. He was too far gone, held too tightly in the deadly beam, too weak.

*NO! Not like this! It can't end like this! No, Sha're, not like this...I love you...not like this...notlikethisnotlikethisnotlikethis...*Daniel thought desperately, his eyes glistening with tears that threatened to escape.

They might have, but suddenly Amaunet was interrupted by the sound of staff blasts in the background. The hand device snapped off as an alarmed jaffa ran into the room. Daniel collapsed, barely conscious and struggling to breath, and he almost didn't hear the man's report.

"Lady Amaunet! The compound is under attack from Heru-er's forces!"

The Goa'uld spun to stare at her subordinate. "What! That is impossible! The location of this base is not known to our enemies!"

The jaffa shook his head nervously, fearful of the wrath of his god. "They have discovered it, somehow, My Lady. The ground forces broke through our defenses and were in inside the compound so quickly, they are headed this way, and now we are detecting one enemy hu'tack in orbit." Already the other four jaffa in the room were picking up their staff weapons and leaving to join the fight down the corridor, but Amaunet continued to glare at the bearer of the news.

"But we have three vessels. Surely we have sufficiently more forces enough to defeat them easily," she said, her eyes narrowing.

"Yes, My Queen. They took us by surprise initially, but we will soon have eradicated the threat. Still, as a precaution, we should evacuate you to your ship for safety."

Daniel heard the sounds of the firefight between serpent and horus guards coming closer and closer-too close. But Amaunet glanced in his direction and then back at the jaffa. "No. I am not finished here. I am confident they can be quickly dealt with. I will be fine."

The jaffa nodded quickly. "Yes, My Lady."

Amaunet smiled slightly. "Good." And then, before Daniel knew what was happening, she had taken two large strides, closing the distance between herself and the jaffa, and had turned the ribbon device on him. Within seconds he was dead, and slumped to the floor. Daniel stared in horror at the jaffa's body, knowing that now she would come after him again, that soon that would also be him...

The battle was even closer to them now. It sounded as if it was right on top of them; in fact, through the open doorway of the small room, he could see blast bolts and blue arcs of energy coming from around the corner. But Amaunet paid no attention to them, her focus on her next target. With no more jaffa present to pull him up, she leaned over and roughly hooked her right hand in the front of the collar of his black t-shirt, pulling him upright to his groans of pain.

"Sha're, no," Daniel rasped weakly as her left hand rose to his forehead, eyeing the hand device fearfully. "Fight her, Sha're, fight her!"

Amaunet ignored him. Sha're either couldn't hear him, or just as before, failed to break out. But before she could activate the device, a stray blast bolt from the firefight just down the corridor found its way through the door, and took her in the leg.

"Sha're!" Daniel cried, catching her as she cried out and crashed to the ground. But almost immediately the Goa'uld within her snarled at him and pushed away.

"Do not worry yourself about me, human," Amaunet hissed, her voice even more gravely than that of a normal Goa'uld because of her injury, if that was possible.

Reacting more than acting, not thinking as his instincts took over, Daniel pushed himself to his feet, took her by the arms, then swung, pushed her into the nearest corner and crouched in front of her, covering her with his own body, shielding her from anymore stray or purposeful shots that might come their way even though his injured body screamed in protest.

"What are you doing?!" Amaunet cried from where she now sat in front of him, pressed into the wall.

Daniel scowled at her at the same time that he was trying to asses the severity of her wound. "Look," he said, his voice low and weak, yet steady and determined at the same time, "I don't care about you. I don't care what *happens* to you. But I do care about my wife-very much-and I *am* going to protect her." Then he sighed, and his voice softened. "The wound isn't bad. You'll be fine."

"Of course I will be fine. With our superior technology, your human bodies are-"

"-easy to repair. Yeah, I got that. Now would you please be quiet so we won't draw attention to ourselves. I'd rather not get both of us killed. Besides, you should be conserving energy."

Amaunet scowled. Even though the wound was not substantial, she was still losing blood. She was getting weaker and she knew it, so grudgingly, she shut her mouth, but her eyes flared at him for a moment-a short moment. Suddenly the glow died away and her eyes closed, her head rearing back. Daniel's eyes widened, unsure of what was happening or what he should do.

"No-!" the Goa'uld yelped, but for some reason was cut off. A moment later she pulled in a breath, but somehow...it sounded human. Her eyes opened seconds later, and she looked at him with new eyes. Or rather, not new eyes, but eyes that he hadn't seen in so long he had almost forgotten how they took his breath away with their softness and simplistic beauty...

"Dan'iel?" Sha're whispered.

Daniel released a breath he hadn't known he was holding. "Sha're?" he said in disbelief.

Sha're gripped the arms that held her back against the wall, gulping. "Dan'iel, I'm sorry-!"

"Don't," Daniel interrupted her, the tears that had gathered in his eyes starting to fall as he released the grip he'd had on her arms and brought one hand up to touch her face. The other took her hand. "It's all right. It wasn't you." Before he could stop it, a sob escaped his throat as he pulled her to him, embracing her gently. "Sha're, I love you. I love you so much..."

"I love you too, Dan'iel," she whispered back softly as she returned his embrace, snuggling into his chest. Staying upright, holding her, it all only made everything hurt worse, but Daniel didn't care. He had Sha're now, and everything would be all right...

Suddenly something slammed into Daniel's back, and he shouted in agony as searing pain ripped through his torso.

"Dan'iel!" Sha're cried in alarm. Only then did Daniel realize he'd been hit. He gasped and sank in her arms, his eyes widening in shock, unable to stay up on his knees anymore. Already he felt his consciousness fading. Sha're's grip on his arms tightened, trying to hold him up, keep him from falling to the floor. She saw how bad the wound was, knew what it probably meant, and he did too. "Dan'iel, no!" she cried, tears forming in her eyes.

Behind them the firefight wound to a close, the serpent guards finally overpowering the horuses, but neither noticed.

"Sh-Sha're..." Daniel gasped, struggling to stay awake. But he was fighting a losing battle.

"Dan'iel, hold on," Sha're answered tearfully. But then she gasped, flinging her head backward as she had moments before. When her eyes opened, they flared orange with the glow of the Goa'uld again. Amaunet had re-taken control.

"No, Sha're-!" Daniel rasped, but before he could continue the Goa'uld snorted in disgust as tossed him away from her. He cried out in pain and hit the floor a few feet away. He watched as she stood, favoring her injured leg and leaning against the wall.

"Stay away from me, human," she snapped, glowering at him.

Daniel felt his heart breaking all over again. He'd had her back, had Sha're back for a moment, but just as suddenly as she had been taken the first time, she had been stolen from him again. "No..." Daniel gasped even as he felt himself growing weaker and weaker, blackness closing in around the edges of his vision. "Sha're, come back..." But that was as far as he got before the darkness claimed him.

Chapter 12

Samantha Carter looked up tiredly when she heard the door to the cell open, and relief crossed her face when she saw that they were returning Daniel. When she'd heard the sounds of a firefight, and the yelled reports and realized what was happening, she had been worried for him. Now, she didn't say anything when the jaffa dropped him facedown onto the floor; she only stood, wincing, glad that he didn't seem to be conscious to feel it. As the guards backed out of the cell, she took another step or two toward Daniel, but suddenly stopped and gasped when she saw the nasty staff blast wound on his back.

"Oh my--what happened?!" she cried, running to his side and crouching down beside him. She didn't expect an answer, much less from whom she got it from.

"Stray staff blast from the attack," Amaunet answered bluntly. Sam glanced up to see her passing the cell, supported by two jaffa because Sha're's leg was injured as well. It didn't seem life-threatening, but it was bad enough that the Goa'uld could not heal it quickly enough to walk on her own. Her face twisted. "The fault is all his own. He chose to shield me."

Carter almost smiled at that; of course he would have. But then she frowned. "Why are you bringing him back here? He could...he could die. You have to do something..."

As she spoke, Daniel suddenly gasped, coming to, but even once he'd awoke, his breath came in short, pained huffs that he seemed to have to struggle for, and his eyes didn't open. Sam's throat tightened, realizing how much pain he must have been in. She wasn't even sure he was aware of what was happening around him yet. Then her attention was drawn back to the Goa'uld.

Amaunet's eyes flared, and she smirked. "I do not 'have' to do anything. I could simply let him die. But then I would not have the satisfaction of killing him myself. So he will be healed, but not now. I must use the sarcophagus first, and then there are other, more important things that need to be taken care of before attending to wounded prisoners."

Carter gulped. "B-but you can't just leave him like this! He's suffering!"

"Then he will have to suffer until there is time to bring him to the sarcophagus," Amaunet replied coldly. She turned to go, and Sam shouted at her back as she went, horror sticking in her throat and making it hard to speak.

"Wait! You can't do this! Don't!...Don't do this to him, Sha're, come back!"

"Sam..." Daniel's voice gasped from beside her knees.

Gulping again before taking her eyes off the retreating Goa'uld, Sam looked down at her friend, unable to hold back a grimace at the sight of the staff blast wound. "Daniel, are you all right?" It was a stupid question; of course he wasn't all right. His *life* was in immediate danger at the moment for goodness sakes.

And Daniel shook his head, his eyes still not open, clenched shut in agony as he gasped out his fractured reply. "No...C-can't...breath...help...roll off...stomach."

Carter's eyes widened as she forced her pure worry to slack off a bit in order to allow her to think, and comprehended that the reason he was gasping like fish out of water was because he was laying on his injured ribs. Nodding quickly, she gently rolled him onto his side, careful to avoid the fresh wound. When he had been positioned better, his breathing seemed to slowly be less of a chore, and Sam allowed herself to relax a bit.

"That help some?" she asked, just to make sure.

Daniel nodded weakly. "Some..." he whispered hoarsely.

"So, did you hear..." she inquired carefully.

"Yeah, I heard what she said," Daniel answered quietly. His voice wasn't comprised of strangled gasps anymore, but it was still thin, weak, and scratchy, with an occasional light gasp of pain--not surprising, when he'd just taken a staff blast full in the back. It was a wonder he wasn't dead already. The shot must have somehow missed all of the important things, leaving him crippled and in excruciating pain. Usually he would have tried to, but there was no way that Daniel could have hidden the fact of how much he was hurting at the moment, and it showed fully on his face as he spoke, along with the dread of having to endure it until Amaunet's jaffa returned for him.

Sam grimaced again and rubbed his shoulder. "It's all right. I'll be here."

Daniel only nodded weakly, but she didn't blame him for not feeling like talking anymore. Opening his eyes and glancing up, across the floor, Daniel stopped his jacket still lying on the ground few feet away. He groped for it, but it wasn't close enough, and trying to stretch only hurt more. Sam leaned over, caught the edge of it with her fingers, and pulled it closer to him. Daniel nodded in thanks and took hold of it, pulling it under his head, though when it was it position supporting his head he still gripped balls of the fabric tightly in both hands. His eyes clenched shut again before she'd gotten much of a chance to see them, fighting the pain.

Sam gripped his shoulder again, more firmly this time. "Daniel?"

He gulped. "It's okay, Sam. I can...I can handle it until they come back--provided it doesn't kill me first." The corner of his mouth curled up almost into a momentary half- smile at the last statement, and she wondered how he could do that when he knew he was dying. Even though the Goa'uld had promised Daniel would be put in the sarcophagus later, that still bothered her. What if he couldn't hold on until they returned? What would happen then? But she immediately pushed the though away, not wanting to dwell on it.

"Are you sure?" she asked in concern.

"I don't have a choice, do I?"

"Uhm...no, I...I guess not," Carter sighed.

An uncomfortable moment of silence passed, the only sound Daniel's labored breathing, until Daniel finally looked up at her, opening his red rimmed, tear filled, and exhausted eyes again. The bright blue of his irises only made the deep, dark circles under his eyes stand out more. Sam had to resist the urge to shudder at how much more pain her friend's eyes betrayed then the rest of his face, and not all of it was physical.

"Sam...I saw her," Daniel breathed.

At first she just looked at him, and then her own eyes widened. "Sha're? She-"

Daniel nodded slowly. "After she got hit, I covered her, but...Amaunet was weakened by the wound, I guess, and Sha're broke out...for a minute. But then I got hit, and..." He was blinking rapidly now, pushing back the tears that wanted to fall. "And then she was...she was gone...again." Something between another gasp of pain and a sob escaped his throat, and Sam's heart went out to him. "...again," he whispered.

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The response from the Tok'ra came thankfully quicker than they had expected, and as General Hammond ordered the iris to be opened to let through the Tok'ra representative they were sending, Jack O'Neill found himself thankful they had actually hadn't wasted time, but still hoping that the Tok'ra coming wasn't one of the really annoying ones...

O'Neill's worries halted when Jacob Carter stepped through the Stargate onto the ramp, and he let out a breath he hadn't noticed he was holding. Then he headed from the control room, following Hammond.

"Jacob! It's good to see you," Hammond said, greeting his friend warmly at the door to the 'gate room with a smile and a handshake.

"Good to be home, George," Jacob smiled back. "Jack," he said, nodding toward O'Neill, who nodded in return. "Selmak says hi, too, but you'll probably get to talk to him later anyway," the older man grinned. "Now what's this about, George?" Then he started to look around for his daughter. "And...where's Sam?"

Hammond sighed, Jack frowned, and that was all Jacob need to know something was wrong. His smile faded. "What wrong?"

"I'm afraid that's what this is about, Jacob. Major Carter and Doctor Jackson are missing."

"Sam and Daniel? What happened?" Jacob asked in concern as Hammond started to herd him and O'Neill toward the briefing room.

"We're not entirely sure, but we have a theory. The only problem is that our search plan is taking too long. Did Major Carter ever tell you how we found the second 'gate on Earth in Antarctica?"

Jacob nodded, frowning. "Yes, I remember something about. You don't think the same thing happened again, do you?"

"That's the only feasible answer we have right now. Nothing's come through the second 'gate here, but there any number of planets it could have jumped to between here and P5R-316."

"So basically, we have no idea," O'Neill offered.

Hammond nodded as the three of them sat down. "Can the Tok'ra help us, Jacob?"

Jacob looked thoughtful for a moment more, then bowed his head to look at his hands folded on the table for a moment. When his head lifted, it was the symbiote, Selmak, who spoke.

"Our resources are always stretched somewhat thing, and right now is no exception, but I believe we could spare a ship or two to help your search, though I will have to speak to the council on that matter, and we will certainly relay any intelligence we may come across concerning your missing people."

Hammond nodded again, this time in thanks. "Thank you, Selmak. We'll be glad for all the help we can get locating them." But even as he spoke, a chill that he could never stop ran up his spine at the voice of the Tok'ra, which was identical to that of a Goa'uld. He liked Selmak, and Jacob was one of the best friends he'd ever had, but it still spooked him a bit. He could see it did the same to O'Neill, who shifted uncomfortably even as he looked happy at the news.

Jacob's head bowed again, then lifted and Jacob spoke. "And we'll offer as much as we can, George. We'll find my daughter--we'll find both of them."

----------------------------------------------

Present

Daniel Jackson woke with a start, his head jerking upward, and he found himself staring down at his folded arms, set on top of his desk. His glasses lay a few inches away, on top of an open reference book, and he picked them up, groggily sliding them onto his face. What...? he wondered absently, looking around, and then remembered that he had stayed on base because he hadn't thought he'd be able to sleep before the mission the next day. Not to mention he hadn't really wanted to sleep; he'd known it would bring the kind of terrible dreams he'd been having.

Daniel shuddered at the memories-turned-nightmares, and not for the first time that day. Of all the places to go after he'd finally gotten rid of Vala, why did it have to be there? Having Vala MalDoran around for several weeks and having no choice but to remain near her at all times had been bad enough; now he was being forced to relive an even more potent nightmare from his past.

Sighing heavily, Daniel picked up the text he'd been trying to translate before he'd drifted off at his desk and attempted to continue. But just as before, he didn't have much luck pushing thoughts of Sha're and what had happened on that planet--now designated P5R- 322--from his mind. He was almost grateful for the interruption when Cameron Mitchell's voice echoed from the doorway.

"Hey, Jackson, what are you still doing here? It's after midnight."

Daniel glanced at the clock and that it was, in fact, almost two o'clock in the morning, and shrugged. "I could ask you the same question."

"Good point," Mitchell conceded. "Can I come in?"

Now Daniel actually looked in his direction. "Huh? Oh, yeah, sure." He motioned to another chair that sat beside the table near his desk, and the colonel sauntered into the office and lowered himself into the rolling chair, spinning a couple of times on the mechanism before stopping to face Jackson.

"Couldn't sleep?" At Daniel expression, Cameron shrugged. "Yeah, me either."

Daniel snorted. "You're just excited about what we might find there. I'm just..." He trailed off, grimacing, and Mitchell peered at him.

"You know, Daniel, if this is really bothering you that much, you're welcome to sit this one out."

The archaeologist shook his head. "No, you'll need me to read anything in Goa'uld we come across, and there's likely to be a lot of it, considering it was a Goa'uld base. I'll...I'll be fine."

"You sure? 'Cause I can even ask General Landry to assign this mission to another team if I need to...." Mitchell offered generously. "I mean, I know Carter's having a little trouble with this too..."

"Sam? No, she'll be all right," Daniel said, giving a half smile. But it quickly faded and he looked away, not saying anything else about himself.

Mitchell eyed him. "You know, maybe talking about it would help..."

Daniel shook his head slowly. "No...I don't think so. I'd rather not right now," he said quietly, plucking up a pencil, and twirling it between his fingers, hoping that if he took his attention away from Mitchell that he would just go away...

But Mitchell didn't give up so easily. "I don't mind listening, Daniel, and if something's going to affect the performance of my team, I need to know."

Daniel blew air through his teeth. "It's not going to affect anything, Cameron, okay? I told you, I'll be fine," he said forcefully, the edge in his voice clearly telling the colonel to back off, bordering on the irritated. His grip on the pencil tightened, and it stopped spinning.

"Daniel, I'm your commander. I know we haven't known each other all that long but still... If you can't talk to me, who can you talk to? Come on-"

The pencil in Daniel's hand snapped, and so did his patience, stopping Cameron Mitchell in his proverbial tracks. "Look, colonel, when I say I don't want to talk about something, there's usually a really good reason. I was tortured within an inch of my life on that planet, and the entire time I had to look at my wife's face, sneering down at me under the control of the Goa'uld who had taken over her body. It was one of the worst experiences of my life, and I just don't want to say any more than that, all right?!"

Mitchell gulped, raising his hands in the air as he gave up, suddenly knowing he'd gone too far. "All right, all right. Sorry. I wasn't tryin' to upset anybody..."

Daniel slumped, sighing heavily and resting his forehead in his hands on the desk. After a moment he spoke again. "No...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have blown up like that. You're...you're right. I should be able to talk to you. But..." He trailed off and looked at Mitchell. Cameron saw pain reflected in Jackson's eyes that had been under the surface for a long time, that he only allowed to surface for a moment before burying it again. "But I can't," Daniel finished softly. "Not about that."

Mitchell stood slowly. "Yeah...sorry, Daniel."

The scientist flashed him one of his famous smiles, if not one that was a bit smaller than usual, before turning back to his work. "It's okay."

Cameron nodded. "Right. Yeah, I think I'll get going now, see if I can get some sleep. You should too..."

But Daniel didn't even look up, engrossed in his work again--or was it his thoughts?

Mitchell sighed and moved off, mumbling to himself. "Or, you could just stay up all night. Knock yourself out."

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Chapter 13

Past

Sam Carter sat with her back against the edge of the bench, rubbing her temples as she kept a watchful eye on her friend. Daniel's pained, labored breathing seemed to drill into her skull at the exact moments the monstrous headache she'd developed pulsed in her head. She hoped someone would return for him soon for both their sakes. She hated to see him suffering. They should soon anyway--it had already been hours.

Unable to sit still anymore and wanting to get her mind away from the thudding pain, she moved closer to Jackson again and touched his shoulder.

"Hey, Daniel, how you doing?"

His eyes opened and looked up at her slowly. "Well, I'm still alive," he said with a grimace. But then Daniel coughed, and the simple grimace turned to an expression of agony. "Ohhhhh, they'd better get here soon," he moaned.

"I wish there was something I could do..." she said softly, voicing the thought for once.

"I know you do. And believe me-so do I." He came up short of breath, and his eyes clenched shut again as he struggled to get enough air in, and deal with the pain it caused. He thought he'd have gotten used to doing that by now, but unfortunately that wasn't so in the slightest. When he'd finally filled his lungs enough, he relaxed some, and his consciousness started to fade again.

"Hold on, Daniel," Sam comforted. He nodded weakly, and a few minutes later they were rewarded by the faint sound of footsteps coming closer.

"Sam...please tell me that's them," Daniel whispered hoarsely, an almost desperate note in his voice. Grimacing, Sam stood and took a quick look down the corridor, then returned to his side.

"Yeah, I think so," she reported, relief in her voice. She patted his hand, "You'll be okay."

"I hope so..." he answered, his voice barely audible. Daniel fought to stay awake, but ultimately he lost again. When Carter saw that he had slipped into unconsciousness, she sighed, knowing it was probably better. Maybe the sarcophagus would heal him, but that didn't mean they would be easy getting him there. She said nothing as the jaffa entered the cell and carried him away, only praying silently that when they brought him back he would be all right.

-------------------------------------------

Present

"Where is Daniel Jackson?"

Teal'c sudden question broke the silence that hung over the briefing room, where he, Carter, and Mitchell sat around the table.

"Last time I checked last night, he was still in his office," Cameron offered. "I don't think he ever left."

Carter sighed. "I knew I should have made sure he went home before I left. Something told me he'd probably do something like that..."

Mitchell stood, stretching. "I'll get him..."

Sam beat him to her feet. "No, I'll go."

The colonel sat down again. "Okay, fine with me. Whatever floats your boat."

Carter gave her friends a brief smile. "I'll be right back with Daniel," she assured them before she left, heading up to Jackson's office.

She found him hunched over his desk, his head in his arms, out cold. She smiled to herself and placed a playful hand on his head, mussing his hair even more as she gently shook his head back and forth in an attempt to wake him.

"Come on, Doctor Jackson, time to wake up," she prodded.

Daniel shifted, mumbling in his sleep. "I know I need to fix the tent today, honey, but just five more minutes, please..." Sam looked confused for a moment, and then realized that her shaking him must have brought to the surface a memory which was now playing in his dreams. She sighed.

"Really, Daniel, wake up," she said, a bit louder this time as she moved her hand to his shoulder and shook harder.

The archaeologist shifted again, groaning, his face showing that the dreams had gone sour. "No...Sha're, don't...please...fight her..."

Now Carter frowned. "Daniel!" He jerked, his head popping up, and Sam jumped back in surprise.

Daniel looked at her groggily. "You're not..." But he trailed off, sighing as he sat back in his chair. "I'm sorry Sam..." He looked around in confusion. "What time is it?"

"You're late; that's what time it is," she supplied. But then her voice softened. "You were dreaming about Sha're, weren't you?"

Her friend nodded, rubbing the sleep from his eyes before he set his glasses back on his face. "Yeah...This time it was okay at first," he smiled. "The old days on Abydos." Then his smile abruptly fell, and he shrugged, "But then..."

Carter nodded. "Yeah, I know. You were talking in your sleep. And...I had a few nightmares of my own last night."

"Oh. Sorry."

Sam smiled. "It's not a big deal. I'm okay. But you'd better get moving and gear up."

"Right..." Daniel nodded, taking in the fact that Carter was already in her own black BDUs. "Yeah, you can go on. I'll change and be there in a few minutes, okay?" Sam nodded back and moved off, but stopped at the door before leaving entirely.

"Daniel, are you sure you'll be all right?"

Jackson looked up at her and smiled. "I'll be fine, Sam."

Carter still wasn't entirely convinced, but she continued on anyway, knowing that she wouldn't get anything else from him at the moment.

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P5R-322 was just like Daniel remembered, though minus the lights and the Goa'uld and jaffa all over the place. Then there was the fact that he didn't remember it as P5R-322; he remembered it as the planet where he had not only almost been killed, but where he had lost Sha're yet again. Then only another few months later she had died. The memories of her death were still painful, but not as painful as the ones of what had happened here, and he struggled to keep it from showing on his face as SG-1 stepped through the gate to the planet for the first time in over six years--the first time for Mitchell.

The colonel looked around with obvious interest. "Impressive," he stated simply.

"It was a lot more impressive when it was in use," Carter interjected. "And it would have been even more so if we hadn't been prisoners at the time."

Daniel glanced in their direction, and saw Cameron wince. "Uh, yeah, sorry about that, Carter."

Sam waved a hand. "Don't worry about it."

Mitchell nodded. "Right. Okay, so everybody split up, and let's find this thing. This place isn't supposed to be that big, and there shouldn't be any danger, so it shouldn't be hard, and you shouldn't have to prove that comment about danger wrong, okay people?"

Daniel didn't need any more prompting to move off on his own, as he really didn't want to have to deal with someone like Sam following him through the compound, continually asking him if he was okay like he knew she would. He knew she would mean well, but that wouldn't make it any less annoying, and if he could avoid it altogether he would, so that's what he did. Jackson was gone almost before the sentence had left Mitchell's mouth.

For a minute or so Daniel just walked, trying to distract himself and push away the feelings that rose in his throat and keep his emotions from running wild. But both his feet and his efforts stopped in their tracks when suddenly he realized that he knew exactly where he was. He looked to his left, and there is was--the cell he and Sam had been held captive in. There were a few others in this section, but he had been dragged into and out of this one so many times that it was burned into his memory.

Daniel gulped and kept going. He felt his grip tighten on the P-90 in his hands, which only served to remind him of how much had changed since then. Six years ago he wouldn't have been caught dead using one of the more powerful military weapons that Jack, Sam, and now Mitchell preferred, opting to stick with his handgun, but now he didn't hesitate to pick up a larger one. He realized that with all he had been through since then that the changes had been inevitable, and he didn't resent the chance to travel through the Stargate every day, but part of him still wished he could go back to the days when all he had to worry about was who was going to believe his radical theories and where his next paycheck was coming from. But then, of course, he would never have met Sha're, and even though how it had ended had left scars, Daniel wouldn't have traded the time he'd had with her for anything.

The scientist slowed again when he neared another corner he recognized, and realized that he wasn't so sure if he wanted to go around it. But his feet carried him to the other side anyway, and his breath caught in his throat when he saw that room he was now staring into was the room where he had been tortured for so many hours at Amaunet's command, sometimes by Amaunet herself, where he'd seen Sha're again, and lost her again.

By the time his breath came back he was already dizzy, and, breathing heavily, Daniel leaned against the corridor wall for support, though he wasn't quite sure if the support he really needed at the moment was physical or not. His vision blurred, and he began to blink rapidly to clear away the tears that started to gather in his eyes. He started to say something, but had gulp past the lump that he suddenly found in his throat first.

"Sha're, I'm sorry..." Daniel whispered. Then his eyes closed and his head dropped as he took several deep breaths to clear his head. *All right, Doctor Jackson, you have a mission to complete. Now's not the time to fall apart.* When he lifted his head again he started to move off, slipping his glasses off for a moment to swipe at his eyes with his sleeve. Any tears that had been left were dried, and he continued his end of the search for whatever, exactly, it was that the Goa'uld had left behind here.

After searching for a few minutes more along the darkened main corridor, farther than he had been into the complex before, he came across a large circular room that looked interesting indeed. There were several entrances to the room, though it would have been more accurate to call it a chamber, and at its center was what was hopefully the experimental time/space device that they were looking for. There wasn't much to the device itself; it was about his height, and cylindrical, with control panels protruding about waste high that were similar to any Goa'uld technology. But it was obviously very important, or had been important at one time to have been placed in the center of a room like this, even though now it seemed abandoned and there were a few empty crates lying here and there about the floor. There was no doubt in Daniel's mind that he had found what they were looking for.

He keyed his radio. "Hey guys, I think I found it."

"All right, Jackson, be right there," Mitchell answered.

As soon as he had a response Daniel started into the room. After a moment he turned, still walking, to look at the walls behind him, but then tripped on a crate that he didn't see. He stumbled into the device, felt a button or two compress under the weight of his arms, and suddenly there was a brilliant flash of light.

Daniel shouted, bringing his arms up to shield his face, but when he lowered them again the only thing that seemed to have changed was that the room was no longer dark. He could also see lights in the corridor outside the room through the door he had come in. The others were still closed.

"Oh-kay...so I hit a light switch...weird....Sure pack a punch coming on..." he mussed. In confusion he headed back toward the door, keying his radio and not taking the time to notice that the crates on the floor--namely the one he'd tripped over--had disappeared.

"Hey, guys, something weird just happened. Did the lights come on where you are?" No answer. He stepped outside the doorway to the room, thinking that maybe there was some type of shielding around it to protect the device that was blocking his signal. "Guys?" Again, no answer. Funny; he'd been able to use his radio out here just a minute ago...He frowned. "Sam. Teal'c, Mitchell, can you hear me?" Still nothing.

Now worried, Daniel started back the way he had come, but he stopped short when the first corner he rounded set him staring at the backs of two jaffa, walking away from his position. Suppressing a gasp, Daniel jerked backward a step and pulled himself back around the curve, pressing himself to the wall. *Okay, what the heck was that? This place is supposed to be abandoned!* He took a deep breath. *Okay...no big deal. Just get back to the others, and watch your six-back. Gosh, I should've stopped listening to Jack a long time ago...*

But Daniel didn't have time to execute his plan before two more jaffa rounded the far corner, coming from the other direction. Both stopped when they saw him, and he stared at them in return. Only when one of them shouted "Intruder!" and went to raise his staff weapon did the archaeologist snap out of it.

"Oh crap!" Daniel yelped, ducking back into the large circular room before a blast bolt struck the wall where he'd been. *That* was when he realized that the crates that had been scattered around the room were missing. *What the-?* But he had no more time to think, with jaffa on his tail. He sprinted across the room, hoping that he could open a door on the other side and close it behind him to escape, when one of them opened for him. But on the other side were more jaffa, staff weapons and Zat'ni'katels ready.

Daniel skidded to a halt, his eyes widening, but it was too late to run in a different direction. He could already see the blue tendrils of energy lancing his way. A split second later one of them hit home, ripping a cry of pain from Daniel's throat as he went down. He was unconscious before he hit the floor.

Chapter 14

When Daniel came to, an acute sense of dj vu washed over him when he realized that he was being dragged by two jaffa down a corridor that was all-too familiar. For a moment he thought about letting them know he was awake, but then decided that that might not be such a good idea, and left his body limp. Maybe he would learn more of what was going on if they still thought he was unconscious. He was rewarded when, a moment later, one of the jaffa spoke.

"I still do not understand how he could have escaped. There were guards walking past the cell regularly. And you would think we would have heard if one of the prisoners had escaped before we found him."

*Escaped?* Daniel thought in confusion. *What does he mean by that? I didn't escape from anywhere. I haven't been here...recently. That was when a sudden realization struck him. Have I been thrown backwards in time? That's the only explanation. There must be prisoners here and they think I'm one that escaped.*

Daniel felt one side of his body move up a few centimeters and then down again as the other jaffa shrugged. "That will be for the guards in that section to answer for. For now, we must simply bring this one to our lord."

*Oh perfect, there's a Goa'uld here. Or is this backwards in time? Could I have gone forwards? Could this be a minor Goa'uld in hiding here from the Ori, or us, in the future? Maybe even Baal?* A small smile crept onto Daniel's face at the thought of Baal in hiding on some backwater planet like this one. But he wouldn't know until he saw the Goa'uld he was being brought to. He hadn't had a chance to look at the symbol on the jaffa's foreheads yet.

Moments later a door opened, and the jaffa dragged him through it. Daniel had recognized the route, and as the two men dropped him on the floor he felt a brief flash of panic when he realized where he was. It faded as he grunted, landing on his hands and knees instead of falling all the way to let them know now that he was, in fact, awake, but his mind was still in turmoil over his location.

*It's the same room,* Daniel thought in despair. *The same room where Amaunet...*He terminated the thought there, before it could continue, before it could lead to the memories of the last time he had been here. Images flashed through his mind unbidden, and he grimaced, still staring at the floor. He was almost grateful when one of the jaffa spoke, interrupting his thoughts.

"My Lady, we found this Tau'ri in the experiment room," the young jaffa reported.

My Lady. So it was a female Goa'uld, then. If this was some point in the past, it had better not be Nirti. She had almost killed Sam and Jonas, not to mention what she had done to Cassandra. Daniel felt his jaw clench, and had almost worked up enough courage to look up when he heard its voice. The voice briefly commended the jaffa for bringing him straight to her. That was it at first, and then he heard her moving toward him, but what had heard was enough make his jaw go slack again.

Normally, the voices of most Goa'uld were indistinguishable from one another, being so similar, but Daniel had heard this one enough to recognize it immediately, remembered the voice of its host to be so different...

*No. No, it can't be...*

Then she was close enough that he could see her feet without having to look up, and recognized them, the robes that hung around them...Daniel kept his eyes on the ground, his breath quickening. If he was right, he couldn't look at her. She would recognize him. That wouldn't be good.

"Let us see who we have here," the voice said, closer now.

*Please, please be my imagination, please let me be wrong,* he begged silently, clenching his eyes shut.

But seconds later he felt fingers capped with the metal of a hand device touch his chin, jerk his head upwards so she could look at him. Unwillingly Daniel opened his eyes...and found himself staring into the face of his wife, who he hadn't seen in almost six years. He couldn't even visit her grave anymore, because the Abydos pyramid and Stargate had been destroyed. Her eyes widened for a split second when she saw his face, but she quickly controlled and suppressed the action. And she simply studied him for a moment while he stared at her in return, open-mouthed, his eyes filling with tears.

"Sha're..." Daniel finally whispered, breaking the silence. It also broke the moment, his moment of hope that maybe it was his wife looking at him. Amaunet frowned and straightened again, sharply letting go of his face.

"If you are who you appear to be, you will know that I am not her," Amaunet said coldly, and his hopes crashed to the ground as they had so many times when he had been here last over six years ago.

Daniel couldn't respond. So many feelings were mixing with each other in his heart that he couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry or recoil in horror. The body was Sha're's, but again he was forced to see her under Amaunet's control. He'd thought it was part of the past, something he could deal with, but now that she was there again, right in front of him, he couldn't seem to control his emotions. He kept his mouth tightly shut; he didn't know what would happen if he tried to open it again.

One of the jaffa was speaking again. "But, my queen, I don't understand. Isn't he one of the prisoners-"

"No," Amaunet interrupted. "He looks like the other one, but his clothing is not the same, and he looks different--older perhaps." She looked down at him again. "That is what it is, is it not? You came through the device. It is operational in the future."

*Good guess,* Daniel thought blankly. But he didn't answer. The rest of his thought were elsewhere; his head was spinning at he stared at her. He was in the past. Sha're was here. Maybe...maybe now he could make things right. If he could just find a way to get her through the Stargate to Earth, return her to his younger self and the Tok'ra would free her and then his future would be--NO! He couldn't do that. He couldn't change the timeline just to suit his needs. It wouldn't be right. He had probably changed too much already just by being here, by Amaunet seeing him.

That was another reason he couldn't say anything to her. He couldn't let her know how he gotten here. She could speculate that he had used the Goa'uld device all she wanted, but he would never confirm it. Not that he really knew how it ad happened, exactly, in the first place, so simply saying he didn't know how he had gotten here wouldn't really be a lie...

Daniel's thoughts were interrupted when one of the jaffa behind him gave him a kick in the kidneys for his lack of an answer. The archaeologist cried out and fell forward, catching himself with his elbows. Sucking in a deep breath, after a moment he glanced up at Amaunet, the unshed tears still shimmering in his eyes. She saw them, and smiled the arrogant smile of the Goa'uld Daniel remembered hating so much.

"Yes, you know much that could be of use me, I think," she said as the jaffa pulled him up, held his arms, made him keep looking at her. "You know of the time device. You know of the future. Granted, it angers me that at this point you still exist in the future, Daniel Jackson, but once I have what I want from you that will change." Her smile faded. "Now...what can you tell me of the device in future? How far in the future do you come from?"

Daniel remained silent. Anything he said could change something, any knowledge he gave her, and that moment reminding himself that he couldn't tell her anything about the future was the only thing that kept him from breaking down.

At his silence, Amaunet frowned, and suddenly her left hand snapped forward, caught Daniel in the burning grip of the hand device. He gasped as the familiar pain flooded his body again.

"No," Daniel said, finally speaking again. "Sha're don't. Don't do this, please, not...not again," he gasped. He was only rewarded with more pain as the beam intensified.

Amaunet smiled again as he cried out. "So you are from the future. You remember this time--what happened here. Tell me how you escaped. It must be prevented."

Daniel only gave a minute shake of his head as he grimaced in pain, and her frown returned.

"You cannot resist forever. Both you and your former self will learn this," she said angrily.

*My former self...?* He started to wonder, but the energy from the hand device increased again, forcing a shout from his throat. Daniel tried to keep his thoughts, but the pain was too much now. He began to drown in it, the familiar yet unwelcome sensation of being able to feel nothing but the searing pain of the hand device. In the back of his mind, the only thought still intact pounded in his head.

*How can this be happening? How can I be re-living this nightmare like this? This can't be happening...Someone tell me this isn't real... It can't be...Please...*

----------------------------------------------------

Past

Sam sighed in relief when she saw Daniel walk back into the cell under his own power-- well, more like be pushed in, but at least he was on his feet. Jackson stumbled in and straightened, and the door closed behind him. He seemed all right, but he looked frustrated. She didn't blame him.

"Daniel, you okay?" she asked, standing.

He looked in her direction as she approached him, and shrugged. "Physically, perfectly fine. After all, I just came out of a sarcophagus, but other that, well..." He sighed, "You know how it is."

"Yeah," Carter sighed in return. "Is there something else?"

"It's just...well, she didn't show up when they brought me to the sarcophagus this time; they said she was 'occupied', whatever that means" Daniel admitted, frowning. "I was hoping to see her again. I was hoping..." But he didn't have to finish the thought for her to know what he meant. She touched his shoulder.

"Hey, you got through to her once," Sam offered comfortingly. "Now you know you can, that she can get out sometimes. I'm sure you'll see her again. We'll get out of this, okay? With Sha're if at all possible."

Finally Daniel smiled at her. "Thanks." Then he rubbed his arms. "Is it just me, or is it cold in here?"

Carter raised an eyebrow "It's just you. You think it has something to do with the fact that you have two staff-blast-sized holes in your shirt?"

To Sam's relief, he gave a small laugh. It was a welcome sound after everything he had been through in the past day or so, even if it was a small one. "Yeah, I guess it probably does," he answered as he moved off to the back corner of the room to snatch up his jacket and put it on. Once he'd zipped it up he put his glasses back on too, and sat down heavily. Carter went to sit beside him.

"So what now?" Daniel asked quietly.

Sam opened her mouth to reply, but snapped it shut again when they heard footsteps. She sat up, looking toward the door. "That's what I want to know," she frowned.

A moment later the door to the cell opened again, but this time instead of herding Daniel out, the two jaffa dragged someone else in. They dropped the black-clad figure on the ground; he landed face down, his face hidden in his arms, and groaned. One of the jaffa snorted in disdain, and then both retreated again.

As the door closed, both Sam and Daniel stood. Carter's frown deepened when she realized that the man's clothing was an exact match to theirs but for the color. Half a dozen reasons why ran through her mind at once, and she didn't like most of them. Sighing, she stepped to his side and bent down, Daniel close behind her.

Their fellow prisoner was still moaning off and on, breathing heavily, and Carter was pretty sure she could guess what had been done to him before he had been brought here. She grimaced at the memory of the ribbon device, then reached out and put a hand on the newcomer's shoulder and started to roll him onto his back.

"Hey, you okay--Whoa!" Sam shouted and jumped back when she saw his face--it was Daniel's. She fell backward, and would have landed hard on the floor if Daniel hadn't still been standing and caught her. She looked up at him, saw the shocked look on his face, and gulped. "Thanks."

Daniel only nodded absently, his eye still staring warily at the man on the floor. Sam returned her attention there as well, gulped again, and knelt beside him. He had been startled by her outburst and was now focusing on her through glasses and groggy eyes, pure confusion on his face.

"Sam?" he ventured hesitantly.

Carter nodded slowly. "Daniel?"

"Yeah..." he nodded in return, even more slowly that she had as he winced, trying to sit up. Sam put a hand on his back and helped him right himself. Once in a sitting position, he looked back on forth between Carter and his twin standing behind her. He raised an eyebrow at the latter.

"Daniel Jackson, I presume?"

Daniel nodded, crossing his arms. "Yep."

The one on the floor nodded. "Nice to meet you. Me too."

Sam looked back and forth between them. "Uhm...I'm confused."

"Join the club," both Daniels said together.

Chapter 15

Samantha Carter continued to look back and forth between the two Daniels--the one standing beside her, and the slightly different one sitting on the floor in front of her. Their voices were still ringing in her ears, Daniel voice twice, "join the club." It might have been funny if she still weren't so shocked. Finally, she managed to clear her throat and say something intelligible.

"Okay, so...you're Daniel, but...where are you *from*?"

The other Daniel looked thoughtful for a few seconds, then responded. "Uhhm...the future..." he answered carefully.

Her own Daniel's eyebrows went up. "Ah. Thought so. You do look obviously older."

His counterpart shot him a withering look. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." Then he rolled his eyes. "To think that came from myself."

Sam brought up her hands. "Okay! No arguing! We need to straighten this out. Okay, so...the future?"

Their newest cell mate nodded. "Right. Though...I probably shouldn't tell you how far in the future."

Carter nodded back. "Right. You shouldn't, and nothing about any other part of the future either." She looked up at the younger Daniel, who looked like he was about to protest. "No matter how much we may want to know something," she quickly added.

Daniel's mouth snapped shut again, but the hopefulness mixed with pain that had appeared in his eyes didn't go away. The Daniel on the floor looked up at him, and she could see a similar pain reflected in his eyes, and something seemed to pass between the two. This Daniel seemed to have changed, but she supposed some things always stayed the same. Sam couldn't keep herself from wondering the same thing she knew her Daniel was worrying about...What had happened to Sha're in the future?

Finally the younger Daniel broke the silence, shifting uncomfortably. "Okay, so I guess that means he shouldn't tell us how he got here, either."

The other sighed. "No problem there; I'm not really sure `I' know how I got here. There was just some crazy device, a big flash of light, and...I'm here." He frowned, "That's been happening way to often lately." Then he sighed again and let his chin drop to his chest. His hands came up to cover his face, and he rubbed his forehead absently. Sam thought she heard a faint moan.

Sam and Daniel glanced at each other for a moment, but soon he looked away, staring at the floor.

"Daniel?" Carter questioned quietly.

"What?" both replied, looking up at her.

Sam grimaced. "Okay...I can see right now that we're going to have a problem with this." She looked at both of them. "One of you is going to have to be something else."

"Like what?" her Daniel asked.

Carter shrugged. "I don't know...Danny?"

Neither looked happy with that, but after a moment of staring at each other finally the one standing shrugged, sighing heavily. "Fine. I'll be Danny. I'm the younger one of us, after all." He seemed happy with that part of it, anyway, and purposely ignored the new glare his twin cast in his direction, obviously hiding a smile. Sam had to smother her own before it led to a giggle.

"All right. I guess that will work," she agreed. Then she looked at the newcomer, and took a deep breath. "Daniel...you didn't answer my first question: Are you okay?"

His eyebrows went up. "Me? Oh I'm...fine, just...." He winced, and one of his hands went to his forehead again.

"Hand device?" the other Jackson asked.

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Then you saw her..."Danny gulped, inquiring.

Suddenly the older Daniel seemed even older, his expression pain. "I did. But I don't...I don't want to...to talk about it. It's just...so hard to see her like that again..." He broke off, gulping back tears, and Sam put a hand on his arm.

"It's okay. I know this must be really hard for you...both of you, and I'm so sorry this happened..." She looked at her own Danny. "That we ended up here in the first place, what you've been through..." Then she looked down at the future Daniel again. "And that you're having to re-live this. But we have to..." She paused, wondering what she should say, next, what she *could* say. "We have stay positive, and...if we all just work together, we can get out of this, and hopefully get Sha're out of here too. Okay?"

Danny nodded, looking hopeful, but Daniel sucked in a sharp breath at her comment. Carter looked at him, but he quickly looked away in the Daniel Jackson version of `no comment'. She sighed. At least the Daniel Jackson of the future seemed to pay more attention to her scientific advice. The Daniel she knew now would have told his past self what had happened to his wife by now. In fact, she had o doubt that if he had the chance, he would go back and tell himself of what would happen to her before she had even been taken. But he couldn't do that, and this Daniel knew it. Her only regret of that fact was the pain she could see in his eyes caused by it.

"Come on," she said quietly, slipping an arm under one of his. "Let me help you up."

"Sam, you don't have to-I mean, I'm not exactly--"

"Stop," she interrupted, holding up a hand. Then she dropped it and smiled at him. "Just because I won't know this you for a few years doesn't mean you're not my friend, Daniel. Let's get that straight right now."

"She's right, you know," Danny agreed. "Besides, we all have to help each other if we're going to get back to our respective homes."

Daniel sighed. "Right. I'm sorry; I'm still a little confused. I mean, I just got thrown several years into the past, run into you and myself, and then, well..." He looked at his counterpart, "...you know."

"We know," Sam assured softly, as her Daniel nodded. Then she retook her loosened hold on his arm, and pulled up. Danny joined in to help, taking his other arm as they guided him to the bench they had been sitting on minutes before. He had to admit, though, that it did feel a bit strange to be literally helping himself around. It seemed his future self felt the same way, as he fumbled through his thanks once Danny and Sam had set him down and sat down them selves, still on either side of him.

"Thanks.... I, uh, probably could've gotten up on my own, but, right now everything's kind of crazy, and I just...Well, thanks," he sighed.

"No problem," Sam replied.

"So what now?" Danny asked. "We have to do something. We know alternate universe counterparts can't stay in the same place for more than a few days before it puts them in danger. We have no idea when it comes to time travel like this." He glanced at his older self, but Daniel shrugged as well, signaling that he didn't know any more than they did on the subject.

With that established, both Jacksons turned to Carter expectantly. She felt her stomach tighten minutely. *Okay...no pressure......Good grief, who am I kidding? I`d really rather Daniel not have to go through what Dr. Carter and I had to go through when she had been in our reality too long; goodness knows Entropy Cascade Failure isn't pleasant. But it was bad enough to just have me and another version of myself counting on me--now I have two Daniels depending on me to fix this. Perfect. Bring on the nervous breakdown.*

Sam took a deep breath. "Well...obviously we have to get out of here first, and...Okay, with three of us we'd have a better chance of storming the guards the next time they come--what?"

Daniel was shaking his head. "I wouldn't. It didn't work so great the first time--"

"Daniel--"

"Hey, as long as I don't tell you anything that could change any major events I'm aloud to save us all any unnecessary pain, aren't I?" he asked heatedly.

Carter sighed. "Fine. Sorry. I'd just really hate to majorly screw something up..."

"Yeah, I know. You haven't changed in the future," Daniel smiled.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "You say that almost like it's a bad thing."

"Okay," Danny butted in. "If we can't rush the guards, what can we do?"

His question was directed at his older self, and it quieted Daniel as he thought about it. Finally he shrugged. "I got nothin'," he admitted.

Sam hid a smile, and Danny made a face. "Oh, please don't tell me I start acting like Jack."

Daniel looked honestly confused. "What? Why would you ask that?"

"You just said `I got nothin'.'"

"What, that? Oh come on, we've all picked up a few of his phrases by now--I mean by my time. Whatever. But it doesn't mean any of us start acting like him."

"Thank goodness," the younger Daniel sighed, and his counterpart laughed slightly.

"Seriously."

Carter couldn't restrain her giggle, and both Daniel's turned to look at her again. "What?" they asked together.

At that she laughed again. They kept their gaze on her until she stopped and answered them. "I'm sorry. I'm just trying to decide if this is more fun for me or for the... uhm...two of you."

"Ah," Daniel replied simply. But Danny's face fell abruptly.

"This isn't fun, Sam," he said quietly, the sadness in his voice rudely jerking all of them back to the seriousness of the problems at hand--namely the one that was closest to the heart of the two Jacksons. "I'm so worried about Sha're right now..."

"Worried?" Sam asked curiously as Daniel frowned now as well.

"Yeah. Remember I told you she was able to take control for a few minutes?" Sam nodded, and then he continued, looking back and forth between her and his future self. "Well...what if...if a Goa'uld can do something to punish their host if they don't cooperate, if they do something like that. Not physically, but...you know. I don't know. I'm probably just being paranoid, but I just don't want her to suffer any more than she already is by being a host in the first place, on my account."

Now Carter was frowning. "No, I see where you're coming from. I even understand why you might think that," she said slowly, careful of her friend's feelings. "I mean...Jolinar never would have hurt me, but the way it was, the way I perceived things in there while she had control of my body; the way it worked...I suppose she could have. How, exactly, I don't know, but..." She trailed off when she saw both Daniels go pale, though there was more of a resigned look on the older one's face; she remembered that he had probably heard this before.

Sam sighed. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to scare you or make you worry even more, but I'm not going to lie to you," she finished quickly, apologetically.

"It's okay; I understand," Danny nodded. "Thanks. I...guess you're the closest thing we have to an expert in here." But then he turned his gaze on Daniel, who looked back at him for a moment, struggling to keep his face from betraying anything.

"I don't know," Daniel finally shrugged. At his younger self's skeptical expression, he quickly added more. He remembered how he had been then, trusting everyone but himself; he couldn't blame him for not believing him immediately. "If I knew enough to tell you that she was all right now, I would tell you that, but I don't know. I promise. I don't know any more about how it works than either of you do."

The younger Daniel seemed to accept that and stood, sighing. "Okay."

"What are you doing?" Sam asked when he headed toward the other side of the room.

"It doesn't look like we're getting anywhere fast at this point, so if you don't mind I'm going to try and get some sleep," Danny replied, lowering himself to the opposite bench. "Maybe I just came out of a sarcophagus, but it didn't help with the exhaustion any."

"First or second time?" Daniel asked suddenly, and then mentally kicked himself. If this was just after they had been brought here, just after the first time he had been put in the sarcophagus, then he had just given away something rather big. He heaved an inward sigh of relief when he heard the somewhat flustered reply to his question.

"What? Oh, um...second time," his counterpart answered, grimacing.

Daniel winced in return. "Sorry. I was just trying to pin down exactly, uhm, when I am."

"It's fine," Danny answered, sliding down to lie on the bench.

"We've been here almost thirty-six hours," Carter supplied.

"Thanks." *Okay, then that means we'll hopefully get of here in...two...three days? Or was it just one more?* He remembered painfully well what had happened here, and much of it in excruciating detail--detail he wished he didn't remember. But most of the physical torture in itself was a blur even years later, which left his sense of how long they had been here useless. He had never cared to ask, but now he wished he had. He had no way of knowing enough to make absolutely sure nothing important was changed-like the day they were rescued, or escaped, or whatever.

*But even once we get out of here, there's still the problem of figuring out how to get back to the future...*Daniel suppressed a smile. Back to the Future...didn't that scientist who had gone to Atlantis--lucky nerd--McKay, the one who had driven Sam up the wall right up to the moment he'd left for the Pegasus Galaxy...didn't he hate those movies? Why had it been again? Something about the science being unsound and his `superior intellect' seeing right through the plethora of scientific mistakes and plot holes...Never mind.

Carter's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Hey, are you sure you're okay? Maybe you should get some sleep too. I know I'm going to," she said, rubbing her forehead.

"What? No. No, I'm fine. It was still morning when I got tossed back here, so my body's probably on something like mid-afternoon," he answered. But then he found himself yawning, and saw a small smile spreading over Sam's face. "But then again that hand device can wear a person out," he amended. Carter grimaced, nodding in agreement. "Right...Okay, fine; we all get some rest, then. I guess I can't argue with that."

"Good," Carter said, scooting over to the back bench and laying down herself. "I'm exhausted too."

Daniel sighed and lay back, lacing his arms behind his head. Once he had his tired nerves and muscles, worn out and frazzled from the lasting effects of the ribbon device, began to tell him that he too, did indeed need sleep.

Across the room, the Daniel of this time also closed his eyes. His body had been healed, so the tiredness was more emotional than physical. He was exhausted from the ordeal of the pain he had been subjected to from the staff blast wound for several hours, and the added emotional stress of seeing Sha're again only to lose her once more, but he didn't need the sleep any less.

Both Daniel Jacksons drifted toward sleep, both exhausted, both agonizing over Sha're, both wishing for this to be over, or that it was only a nightmare...and both still trying to rid themselves of the rather strange feeling that came with having another of yourself around.

Chapter 16

It was the planet where Sha're had died. Daniel knew that much. He didn't know how he had gotten here.

A battle raged around him, jaffa and SGC personnel clashing. He didn't realize it was the same battle from his memory until he had run up the hill and pushed through the opening into the decorated royal tent of the presiding Goa'uld. He stopped in his tracks at the sight of Sha're--no, Amaunet, inside.

Out of reflex, his gun came up. It was all wrong. This time instead of a handgun he carried the larger, more powerful P-90 that he had grown accustomed to over the years, the same gun the military members of SG-1 had always carried from the start. His BDUs were black, not green. Amaunet's robes were blue, not the tan and orange he remembered.

Amaunet's eyes began to glow and her left hand lifted, adorned in the ever-present Goa'uld ribbon device.

"Don't!" Daniel shouted, holding the gun higher but afraid to shoot. He didn't want to hurt Sha're. Amaunet smirked at him; her hand drew up and back. *Shoot, you idiot! Shoot Amaunet now or Sha're will die later! You just have to injure her, stop her...*a frantic thought in the back of his mind pushed.

*But I don't want to hurt her,* the other side of his mind whimpered again. But now it was too late.

The ribbon device activated; Amaunet's hand shot forward and caught him in its beam. Daniel gasped and sank to his knees. The gun fell from his hands, clattered to the ground beside him. It was all so familiar, painfully familiar but different. The worst day of his life all over again--almost.

"Sha're..."

The all-too-familiar burning pain flooded his body. He was helpless, only able to stare up at his wife's face, her features twisted in an evil sneer of victory not her own.

And then there was Teal'c. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the larger man sweep into the tent, raise his staff weapon...No! Daniel wanted to shout. Teal'c, wait! Don't shoot yet! Go back outside; find a zat gun! Don't kill her! DON'T KILL HER AGAIN!

But the hand device had stolen his voice, like those dreams where one was desperately trying call for help but couldn't no matter they did. *No. No, not again. I don't want to see this again. I don't want to see her die...*

But the staff blast came, and took a shocked Amaunet in the chest. The ribbon device snapped off and she fell, flung backwards by the force of the blast. But this time, unlike the first, Daniel was able to gather enough strength to scream her name as she went down. This time, instead of lying helplessly beside her where he had landed himself, he pushed off the floor and rushed forward, shaking off the effects of the hand device, and knelt next to her.

The yellow-white glow in her eyes was gone. Amaunet was already dead. Sha're was dying. Trembling, Daniel stroked her hair. His wife looked up at him, love and sorrow in her eyes at once.

"I love you, Dan'iel," she whispered. Her last words. Seconds later her eyes drifted shut, and Daniel's head dropped in anguish.

"I love you, too," he whispered in return. The ever-present thought that had been at the back of his mind for six years re-surfaced, plunging him into misery once again.

*I couldn't save her.*

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The current members and future member of SG-1 had thought it late enough that they could sleep un-bothered, but apparently they had been wrong. When Daniel was shaken from his nightmare by Samantha Carter, he immediately recognized the distinct sound of jaffa boots coming their way. And was it just him, or was the sound louder than he remembered? A larger number of jaffa, perhaps? But why? *There are more than two people in this cell this time,* he remembered.

Daniel sat up and glanced over at his younger self, who was already standing and alert, with Carter not far away. Danny shrugged at him, indicating he didn't know anything more bout what was going on, but he looked apprehensive, even nervous. Of course, Daniel knew that inside the younger Jackson was scared stiff. He remembered what that sound had done to him when he was here--his throat tightened--how it was still making him feel right now.

It was almost as bad as how the dream had affected him. He could still feel the lingering grief of Sha're's death hanging over his head again. He hadn't dreamed about it in years. Even with the recent streak of nightmares, they hadn't been about that--only about what had happened here. Daniel gulped past the lump in his throat. No. Now wasn't the time to worry about past mistakes and disasters. He refused to let his emotions control him; goodness knew he'd let them do it enough in the past.

A moment later, six jaffa rounded the corner and came into sight. Both Daniels drew in a breath when they saw that Amaunet was with them. Carter looked a bit taken aback as well, remembering the last time the Goa'uld had come into their cell. All wondered why so many jaffa had come with her, and what she planned to do with them.

This time, she didn't enter the cell, but six of the jaffa did. After the door had slid out of the way, two approached each occupant of the cell and seized their arms. Each struggled, clearly not wanting to find out the reason for the use of this strange tactic.

The two how grabbed Daniel pulled him our of the holding room and stopped beside Amaunet and the remaining jaffa. The ones who took hold of Sam tugged her to the side of the cell held her there, while the jaffa who had Danny pushed him to the center room and stopped. That was when a seventh jaffa came into view at what must have been a silent command from his queen, and the humans' silent queries were at least partially answered. This one carried what looked like a long, black metal bar, a cuffed chain, and a couple of torture sticks. It didn't help to ease their minds any.

The newcomer stepped into the cell with his load, and suddenly the younger Daniel Jackson realized that he was the center of attention of all their enemies. He didn't like it one bit. Danny started to struggle again, but the two jaffa on his arms forced him to his knees and prevented him from moving as the lone jaffa set down his load and picked up the bar and chain.

"W-what are you doing?" Carter stammered from where she stood, her own two jaffa holding her firmly in place. One of them jostled her, harshly telling her to shut up. She watched, not knowing what else to do at the moment, as the jaffa with the bar and chain took the bar and held the bar horizontally against her Daniel's back, looping his elbows over it, and then used the foot-long chain across the front of his body to cuff his hands. This left the metal bar braced firmly against Jackson's back, pinned by his bent arms, and rendered his arms immobile and useless.

Something pushed at the back of Sam's mind, telling her position was familiar, that they used this binding technique on their prisoners often. Then the jaffa picked up one of the torture sticks, and something flashed through her mind, a memory of being bound that way, on her knees, agonizing energy she'd never felt before running through her body as the business end of a torture stick dug into the back of her neck....She gasped as the image disappeared as quickly as it had come--not her memory. Jolinar's? It had to be. And it wasn't pleasant.

Carter's stomach flip-flopped when the jaffa handed the torture stick to one of the men holding her, but the one who took it made no move to use it on her. Instead, the jaffa who had handed it off in the first place moved back to Danny and picked up the other one. Amaunet watched passively from the large doorway, as if she had known that this would happen when she and her jaffa had arrived--and of course she had known. Who else would have ordered it?

The older Daniel, still being held just outside the doorway, looked a bit frightened, though he didn't say anything and she couldn't decide if the stricken look on his face said that he had known this would take place and was shaken to it repeating, or if he was worried because it hadn't happened this way the first time. All Sam knew was that the lone jaffa near the kneeling, chained Daniel looked ready to use the torture stick he was holding as he moved behind the young scientist, and that none of the humans--especially Danny himself, whose breath was visibly quickening in fear--wanted that to happen.

"Don't!" Carter finally exclaimed. *That* did earn her a jab from the torture stick. For a brief second or two the charged end stuck into her side, and she shouted in pain, her legs buckling out of both surprise and pain, sending her down onto the bench behind her.

"No!" both Daniels yelled simultaneously, pulling against their bonds, whether jaffa hands or metal.

The silence broken, Amaunet smiled as the jaffa with Sam roughly pulled her back to her feet. The major blinked hard and shook her head a couple of times, trying to shake it off. It took a moment to succeed, and the two Jacksons watch in concern, wanting to be sure she was alright. She nodded at them that she was, and they seemed to relax someone, though Danny was still worried about what they planned to do to *him*. She didn't blame him. She was worried for him too, but didn't say anything else at the moment, gulping.

Amaunet then spoke to the five jaffa inside the cell. "Continue to interrogate this one," she nodded towards Danny, "and the woman if necessary."

"Oh no you don't," Daniel said vehemently from in between the two jaffa next to her.

"Don't you dare let them hurt Sam," Danny growled from his knees.

At a glare from the Goa'uld, one of the guards restraining Daniel punched him harshly in the stomach, and the one behind Danny frowned and shoved the end of the torture stick he held into the back of Jackson's neck. Daniel grunted, and his legs went slack for a moment before he straightened again, grimacing as his younger self shouted from the energy that suddenly shot through his body. Carter gasped, though she was grateful at least that the jaffa only held the device there for a couple of seconds before pulling it away.

At the various exclamations of pain or surprise from the three humans, Amaunet smirked again. "I will be questioning our time-traveling visitor," she said shortly, and then turned on her heel and walked out of site. The two jaffa on Daniel's arms herded him after her. He tried to resist, but it only earned him another couple of punches to his midsection to urge him to keep moving. Gasping and stumbling forward, he grudgingly obeyed, but not before he cast a sympathetic glance over his shoulder at his former self and the former self of his friend. Then they disappeared, the door closed, and Sam and the younger Daniel were left with five jaffa who seemed more than ready and willing to follow Amaunet's orders. Both younger humans gulped hard.

The jaffa directly behind Daniel sneered--seriously, Sam thought, jaffa must have sneering contests--and hefted the torture stick, letting the point drift back behind Daniel's neck. Carter sucked in a breath. Jackson heard the movement as well as her reaction and paled.

*Oh no...*Daniel thought frantically. Sure, they had used the device on him enough the past couple of days, but usually it was only through the chains. Only the last time, just before the attack by Heru-er, and then a few seconds ago, had they put it in direction contact with his body, and it hurt quite a bit more no matter much he hadn't thought that was possible.

He could sense the business end of the torture stick coming closer and he ducked forward, desperately trying to avoid it, but with the bar and chain keeping his arms immobile in a rather uncomfortable position and the two jaffa who had grabbed him initially standing on either side of him, he couldn't escape. The guard behind him simply thrust the torture stick forward farther, and caught his skin. Burning agony flooded Daniel's body, and this time it didn't stop after a few seconds. He screamed and his back arched, bringing his upper body back up. That only served to dig the cold metal point that was relaying the energy into his body more sharply into his neck.

The torture continued, with the jaffa barely giving Jackson a chance to say anything when they stopped to ask questions because they knew he wouldn't answer anyway, and Carter watched helplessly. There was nothing she could do. They were trapped in this room with these jaffa, and even if she managed to stop them momentarily, they would only start again, and then probably on both of them. There was no way she and Daniel could take five jaffa even if she could get him freed--not without any weapons, anyway. She wanted to scream at them to stop, but it wouldn't do either of them any good; only make matters worse for them both. She knew he wouldn't want that, and so remained silent, as hard as it was.

Sam bit her lip and blinked back tears as Daniel screamed, wondering if she had ever felt as horrible as she did now.

*I'm sorry, Danny. I'm so sorry.*

Chapter 17

Meanwhile, the older Daniel was still being guided down the corridor by the two jaffa who had not remained in the holding room. Amaunet had been behind them at first, but had soon swept ahead. Daniel had felt her more than seen her move. He had been too busy nursing his offended stomach. It had taken a few moments to be able to straighten again without wishing he hadn't, and even now as he continued on behind the Goa'uld in front of him, one hand still hovered over his bruised middle.

The group passed the interrogation room generally used here in his experience--both past and present--and he frowned, wondering where Amaunet could be taking him now. Another few moments later it became clear to him when the Goa'uld entered the large room that housed the device that had accidentally brought him here, and the jaffa pushed him in after her. Grimacing in pain, he complied, though not happily.

Daniel looked to Amaunet, felt the confusion of emotions rising again like before, and forced himself to stifle them before they got out of control. He had a situation to handle.

"What are we doing here?" Daniel asked, putting on the most innocent face he could muster.

Amaunet looked at the device, and then looked at him, smiling. "This is the device that brought you here, is it not?"

"Why would you say that?" he said defensively.

"You were found here."

"No I wasn't. Actually, I was found down the corridor. Your jaffa followed me in here."

Amaunet glared at him, and one of the jaffa slammed the but of his staff weapon into the back of Daniel's legs, bringing him down with a loud grunt. Pulling in another breath at the pain in his legs and sore stomach, Daniel felt a lump forming in his throat again. He gulped it back mercilessly.

"Do not correct me," the Goa'uld hissed. "Yes, you were initially found in the corridor, but immediately came back here when chased. Why else would you have done that if you had not gotten here through this device in the first place?"

Daniel shrugged. "It was a door, and it was open," he replied nonchalantly, resorting to humor to distract himself from the tangle of feelings within.

"So you are telling me you did not arrive here using it?" Daniel remained silent, and Amaunet frowned. "Then how are you here? We already know you are from the future. You cannot hide that. Tell me how got here."

"I don't know how I got here," Daniel calmly answered in truth.

But she glowered at him again. "No. You are lying."

Without warning, a zat blast drilled into Daniel's back. Shouting in pain, he toppled forwards, shaking. Amaunet smirked as he trembled on the floor, gasping. He barely managed to stay conscious until the effects of the shot faded, and when the two jaffa pulled him upright on his knees again he was bleary-eyed, some of the tears having found their way to the surface. He blinked them back as Sha're's metal-capped fingers took his chin in her hand again.

"Now. You *will* tell me how you traveled here, Daniel Jackson," Amaunet said coldly. "It will not be hard...my host knows everything about you. I will learn what you know."

"I don't think so," Daniel answered quietly, just as firmly. "You couldn't force me to do anything then, and you certainly can't do it now. I'm different from the other man you have here. I've changed. You don't know a thing about me." Part of him hurt to say it, because he knew how true it was, and that if he ever really did see Sha're herself before he got home, she wouldn't be talking to the man she'd known. He was someone different, and not only that but he couldn't stay. No matter what happed here, he couldn't have Sha're back. It was a truth that had nagged at him ever since he'd realized where he was and who was here, what could happen, what he could do...but what he knew he couldn't do. Gosh...he hadn't even seen Sha're yet and already his heart felt like breaking again. Sha're...if he could just talk to the real Sha're...

As it was, Amaunet was especially angry now. Snarling, she drew back and hit him. Daniel gasped slightly in surprise and rocked one way from the force of the blow, his head snapping to the same side, but he refused to cry out. He winced at the stinging pain the back of her ribbon device-covered hand left behind, but then turned his determined gaze on her again. For a moment, just a moment, this threw the Goa'uld off, and her face faltered, but she quickly recovered and took up her superior sneer again. She backed away again.

"We will see, Doctor Jackson," she said simply. At her nod to them, the two jaffa pulled Daniel to his feet. In a split second, he made a decision. *I have to talk to her...*

When he had his footing, he made his move, pulling his arms from the jaffa's grip, and slamming his elbows back into their faces. Turning, he made a grab for one of their zat guns. The guard he tried to take the zat from had recovered enough to retaliate with a couple more punishing blows to Daniel's stomach, but the archaeologist still managed to grab the weapon off the jaffa's belt on the way down.

Daniel landed on the floor with a cry of pain, but managed to push himself far enough up onto one elbow to use his other hand to quickly shoot both jaffa with the zat, effectively knocking them out and getting them out of his way for the moment. Gasping from residual pain, he swept around and aimed the zat at Amaunet, who quickly smothered her shocked expression and opened her mouth to shout for more jaffa.

Daniel cut her off by raised the gun higher. "Call for anyone and I'll shoot." She shut her mouth again, but her eyes narrowed.

Using the wall next to him for support, Daniel pulled himself to his feet again with his free arm, though once up he leaned on the wall and that arm went around his middle as he tried to slow his pained, heavy breathing. But all the while he kept the zat trained on the Goa'uld. He knew what he had to do if he was going to talk to Sha're. He had to fire on her with the zat--the same tactic Jack had used to get to Skaara when Klorel had control of him almost eight years ago. Had it really been that long?

Daniel knew he had to shoot her, but his finger wouldn't move. He kept it aimed at her, but suddenly he couldn't bring himself to fire. He didn't want to hurt Sha're, but he knew he had to do it. There were things he had to tell her...*Shoot, you idiot!* He scolded himself as he flashed back to his dream earlier. He hadn't been able to do it then, or when it had really happened. He hadn't been able to stop Amaunet to save Sha're life because he hadn't wanted to hurt her. But in the end she had been killed. Now, if he was going to see his wife again he had to do what he hadn't been willing to do before. Why had he done what he'd just done? What had made him think he could do it this time?

The lump in his throat came back. Amaunet saw his inner struggle, and the corner of her mouth curled upwards. "You will not hurt me. You care for my host. You won't fire."

Tears stung Daniel's eyes as he fought with himself, but suddenly anger at himself for letting her die the first time took over. Even if this wasn't the same situation, even if her life wasn't at stake here, he wouldn't make the same mistake again.

"You're wrong," Daniel answered her softly, and then pulled the trigger before he could think himself out of it again.

Amaunet went down with a shout, but, as he'd expected, as she hit the floor the Goa'uld's cry pf pain morphed into a human's soft moan. Daniel's eyes widened and he threw the zat away, dropping to her side. Tentatively he touched her face.

"Sha're?"

After a few seconds her eyes opened and she looked up at him groggily. "Dan'iel?"

He nodded, sighing in relief as he gulped back the tears. "Yes." Then his face fell. "Well...sort of...I mean, I'm-"

Sha're reached up to where his hand rested on her cheek and took it in her own. "It's all right. I know you are from the future." Tears began to gather in her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Dan'iel. You are going through this again and I cannot stop it..."

Daniel helped her sit up and put his arms around her. "No, Sha're it's not your fault. I'm just happy to see you..." He stopped there, biting his lip. He shouldn't have even said that much; that sentence alone could give clues of the future.

Sha're pulled back and looked at him, saw the sorrow on his face before he pushed it away. "Dan'iel, what is it?"

He shook his head. "Nothing..."

Hoping to comfort him, Sha're leaned forward again to kiss him, but he held up a finger in between their faces. "No," he said quietly.

"Dan'iel?"

Sighing, he pushed a lock of hair from her face. "I'm sorry, but it's...it's not my place. I don't belong here; this isn't my time." He smiled softly, though there was sadness in it. "You belong to my younger self. I just wanted to see you. I had to tell you..." He trailed off, blinking back tears again.

"Tell me what?" She asked gently, her dark eyes searching his blue ones.

Finally Daniel took a deep breath and plunged ahead. "That no matter what happens, I'll always love you," he answered. "I-you know I know what the next several years will be like. I just...I just wanted you to know that before I left; I'll never stop loving you, Sha're."

His voice broke, and she embraced him again, more tightly this time. "I will always love you as well, Dan'iel," she assured him, now gulping back her own tears.

When she pulled back again there was sudden fear in her eyes. "Dan'iel, when Amaunet returns, she will be angry. She will want to hurt you..." she cried urgently.

Daniel gulped and nodded, shushing her. "I know. I know, Sha're, and whatever she does to me, I don't blame you, you hear me? It's not your fault. I chose to do what I did and if she wants to punish me for it I don't care; as long as I could see you," he whispered, kissing her forehead. Then he looked at her again. "But what about you? She can't hurt you, can she?"

At the question, something changed in her eyes and she looked away, as if guilty of something. His brow furrowing in concern at her reaction, he gently touched her chin and tilted her face back up to look at him. "Sha're?"

But he got no farther when suddenly her eyes widened and she shouted a warning.

"Dan'iel, look out-!"

Jackson didn't have time to turn before the zat blast struck him. He didn't even have time to cry out as the pain spiraled him toward unconsciousness. Before he blanked out he saw Sha're's eyes once again glow yellow-white as Amaunet re-took control.

He wasn't out for long, however. Only moments later one of the jaffa who had arrived awakened him with a harsh kick, drawing a yelp of pain from the barely conscious scientist. Daniel tried to pick himself up off the floor, but the jaffa pushed him down again. He glanced toward Amaunet, who sneered at him.

"You will pay dearly for your insolence, human," she informed him, before the squad of jaffa that had come to her rescue descended on him, fists and feet swinging in his direction.

Daniel would have found this newest bout of dj vu to be funny, but he didn't have a chance to as he shouted from the blows, beginning to drown again in the sea of pain he wished he didn't remember so well.

------------------------------------------------------

Darkness and pain were the only two sensations Daniel was aware of as his consciousness slowly returned. Part of him just wanted to sink into the nothingness again, but awareness pushed itself on him. *What...what happened?*

He shifted, trying to move, but it only sent sharper ribbons of pain shooting through his hurting body and tugged a groan from his throat. The movement did, however, tell Daniel that his wrists were chained to a wall above his head, and that he was sitting on the floor against the wall. The darkness was his closed eyelids, but he didn't dare open them. He didn't know who would be waiting for him to wake.

He remembered Sha're, talking to her, she hadn't answered his last question, then her warning, and then...pain. Daniel shifted again, trying to get a feel for how badly he was hurt, and with the pain it caused came more flashes of memory: The blue flash of the zat blast that had taken him down, the glow of Sha're's eyes under Amaunet's control again, the jaffa crowding him, pushing him to the floor again, beating him down...

That's what had happened. He'd been beaten to a pulp again. He suppressed the sigh that came because he knew it would only hurt; his rib cage hurt the most by far. He wouldn't be surprised if he had several *broken* ribs this time, not to mention the cracked ones.

An insistent foot pushed at his leg, and someone was saying something unintelligible. After a moment his mind had cleared enough to realize it was a jaffa speaking in Goa'uld. The man knew he was awake. Grimacing, Daniel squeezed his eyes more tightly closed and willed unconsciousness to take him again so he wouldn't have to face Amaunet's wrath, which now obviously awaited him. But a few seconds later after he refused to reply a harsh kick to his already severely bruised middle forced his eyes open and a shout from his throat. His reaction was to double over, but the chains stopped him and he fell back against the wall, gasping.

Amaunet smirked from above him. "Welcome back to the land of the conscious, Doctor Jackson."

"Welcome," Daniel rasped. "Yeah, sure."

The jaffa kicked him again for his remark, and seemed take pleasure in his victim's scream and subsequent moaning.

"D-Do you...do you have to...to do that?" Daniel gasped after a minute or so. The jaffa drew back as if to kick him again and he flinched, ducking, desperately not wanting to be hit again as badly as the first two times had hurt his already battered ribs.

"Enough," Amaunet said quickly, stopping the jaffa from kicking Daniel again. The archaeologist would have sighed in relief, but it would have hurt too much. He looked toward her, wondering why she had called the guard off, and saw her approaching him. "Now, Doctor Jackson, shall we try again? How did you get here?"

"Your jaffa beat me up and chained me here; that's how I got here," he replied weakly.

The Goa'uld's smirk stayed in place. "You are still just as smart-elic as your younger self." Then the smirk faded into a frown. "But I do not have time for such nonsense. Now tell me how you came here, and tell me when you are from. Tell me of the future."

"No," Daniel said firmly. "I wouldn't betray my planet then, and I'm not going to betray my future now. You can't change my mind."

"Oh, I believe I can. No one can resist the Goa'uld forever. You will tell me what I want to know eventually. Both of you will." She nodded to someone he couldn't see, and he turned just in time for dj vu to wash over him yet again as one of the jaffa touched the end of a torture stick to one of the chains that bound him. Amaunet smiled as Daniel cried out, though it didn't last as long as he'd thought it would, and a moment later the device had been pulled away.

Amaunet just looked at him, daring him to defy her. He took the dare.

"You're gonna have to do better than that," he snorted, trying to slow his breathing and ignore the pain from his ribs.

At that, she glared again. She skewered the jaffa next to Daniel with a meaningful glance, and he shoved Daniel's body forward. The scientist grimaced as his wrists pulled on the chains and his arms twisted in the wrong direction. Seconds later the jaffa touched the torture stick to the back of the human's neck, and Daniel started to scream.

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"Okay, I still don't think it was such a great idea to call the Tok'ra. Jacob's great and all, but it's been almost a whole twenty-four hours since they started to help, and we still don't have any leads," Jack O'Neill complained. "I mean, really, what was the point?"

Jack, Teal'c, and Janet Fraiser had just returned from their last search of the day. It was late, and though they would have gladly continued through the night, General Hammond had ordered them all to get some rest. Now the three of them had crashed in the commissary--all eating blue jell-o. They were the only three in the room.

Janet answered him. "They're doing everything they can, colonel. There getting in touch with all the contacts they can, and they have three ships out searching all the planets they can reach quickly."

"Yeah, cargo ships," O'Neill retorted. "Those things are, what, the size of this room, if not smaller?"

"Actually, O'Neill, I believe that they are a bit larger," Teal'c supplied helpfully.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Whatever. But we've been through, what, fifty planets now?"

"That's where we would be if we'd gone on by ourselves, but with the Tok'ra's help, almost a hundred have been searched," Fraiser answered.

Jack sat back. "All right, all right, so they have helped, but we still haven't found any trace of Carter or Daniel. We still have no idea where they whatsoever!"

Janet sighed. "Well, colonel, if it makes you feel any better, Daniel was just as frustrated as you are when we were looking for you and Sam when you got stuck in Antarctica."

"Ah," O'Neill replied. Then he turned to look at Teal'c "Wait...Daniel was? What about you?"

Teal'c inclined his head. "I was deeply concerned for you, O'Neill, but jaffa are not easily...'frustrated'."

"Uhh...okay," Jack said finally, and then turned back to Fraiser. "Okay, now what?"

"Now we sleep," the doctor replied immediately, gathering up the now empty jell-o cups from her friends and throwing them away.

"Well, actually," O'Neill said as she came back to the table. "I was kinda thinking more along the lines of sneaking out to look for them some more..." At the look on Fraiser's face he stopped. "I'm kidding, doc."

Janet raised an eyebrow. "It had better be."

"Sorry. I tend to do that more when I'm worried," O'Neill admitted, shrugging. "Daniel and carter have been missing without a trace for almost three days, and we don't know if they're hurt, or have been captured, or..." He shrugged again. "Well, yeah. I just hope we find them okay."

Fraiser nodded. "I know what you mean. I do too," she said quietly, but then quickly shifted back into doctor mode. "Now, you, colonel, to bed, now. I'm going too. We both need it. Teal'c-"

"I will kel-no-rim, Doctor Fraiser, as General Hammond has ordered us to rest," Teal'c answered, nodding. "I do not need to be forced to do so, as with some humans at times." A hint of a smile tugged at the corner of the jaffa's mouth as he stood and turned to go.

O'Neill stood as well. "Hey, that was a joke!" he called after Teal'c as he followed his teammate out. "Would you *quit* catching me off guard with them like that..."

Smiling, Janet shook her head and followed them.

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Eventually Amaunet had grown tired of having the jaffa use the torture stick, and had them unchain him and drag him to her. By then he'd been too exhausted to do much more than moan in protest from the pain of being moved.

And now, Daniel Jackson was trapped. He was trapped on an alien world, brought here against his will, by a means he didn't yet understand. He was trapped in a Goa'uld facility belonging to Apophis, the one person-or thing, or whatever-he hated most in the entire universe. He was trapped in the grip of the two serpent guards that held him between them, wouldn't allow him to move even an inch.

Not that he would have been able to move much if they weren't holding him so tightly that his arms hurt. Because not only was he caught between them, but Daniel was trapped in the clutches of a Goa'uld hand device trained on his aching forehead. Pain racked his entire body so harshly that by all rights he should have been trembling violently, but he couldn't move. He couldn't struggle. His knees had given out long ago from not only the torture, but from weakness from the earlier beating. The two jaffa still held him halfway up, and by now his arms felt as if they didn't let go soon, they would tear from their sockets.

This wasn't right. This wasn't where he was supposed to be. The Goa'uld had been defeated. Except for Baal, they weren't a threat anymore. The Ori were the problem now. There shouldn't have been a Goa'uld doing this to him. This shouldn't have been repeating...

But that wasn't it. No, the worst part of it all was that Daniel was trapped in a nightmare that refused to end. Because the face that loomed before him, not quite in focus anymore because of his blurring vision, was too familiar, too precious to him to be the cause of the agony he was feeling.

But it was reality. He knew his eyes weren't lying, hadn't been lying to him since he had been brought here. And the knowledge brought with it an even more unbearable agony, one that tore at his heart relentlessly, one that showed on his face more clearly than anything else as he stared helplessly up at his tormentor, forcing back one of the loud groans of pain that had issued from his mouth so often in recent hours.

Instead the stricken young archaeologist forced himself to speak, even though it only made the pain worse.

"Sha're..." Daniel gasped once.

But of course she did not reply. Amaunet only frowned and increased the intensity of the orange beam leaping from the ribbon device to his forehead, and Daniel shouted, his face twisting in agony as the pain increased exponentially. He hadn't even thought that was possible. *Obviously I was wrong,* he thought helplessly as his vision began to darken quickly.

And Daniel Jackson's world abruptly went black.

Chapter 18

The jaffa interrogating Danny was distracted when the door to the holding room opened, and he pulled back, allowing the younger Jackson another brief respite from the pain of the torture stick. Sam Carter had to bite back a sob when she saw the tears streaming down her friend's face as he sagged forward, gasping desperately for air that had been difficult to take in while screaming. She could still feel the tears on her cheeks that she had shed herself, and suddenly felt almost guilty for them as her Daniel continued sob. Sniffing, she pulled again against the hands that held her arms, wanting nothing more than to comfort her friend, for this to be over, but again it was useless.

Once the door had opened, another jaffa entered and stepped over to the jaffa holding to torture stick. The two conferred briefly in Goa'uld, and she couldn't understand a word of it. When the newcomer had finished replaying whatever message he had been sent to deliver, he left, but the door remained open. Then, to the relief of both humans the jaffa behind Jackson who had just received the message gave an order to the two on either side of Danny, and they bent to unbind him. Sobs of pain still shook his body, but he tried to keep them quieter.

As soon as his arms were free and the three jaffa around him had started toward the door Danny fell forward, but when his stiff arms touched the ground and the streaks of pain that shot up them made him realize that they wouldn't support him, he sucked in a quick breath and slowly sat back up. And he just sat there, crying, not knowing what else to do with himself as he rubbed his hurting arms. Sam wanted to go to him, and it was then that the jaffa holding her in place finally released her and left as well. She glared at their backs as they went, and then turned back to her friend just he began to sway, his exhaustion taking over as he tipped to one side.

Reacting quickly, Carter stepped forward, bent and caught him as he fell, gently lowering herself to the ground with him.

"Whoa, whoa," she said quietly once she was on her knees. "It's okay, Danny, I've got you. It's okay..." Still crying softly, he sank into her arms, and she kept them wrapped around his trembling body, helping him to rub his sore arms and trying to comfort him as she continued to blink back more tears of her own.

After a minute or so the younger Daniel's tears subsided, and he caught his breath. Only then did Sam venture to speak again.

"You all right?" she asked gently.

Danny sighed heavily and then spoke, his voice barely audible. "I will be...I guess..." But then he winced and slowly reached up toward his neck.

"What is it?" Sam inquired.

He didn't answer, but touched the back of his neck, which she couldn't see as his head was resting on her shoulder. His hand came away with blood, and Sam's eyes widened. Jackson only looked resigned as he gave another weak sigh. Carter started him in her arms to get a look at the back of his neck, suddenly even more concerned. He grimaced, but allowed it. Sam frowned at what she saw. The skin had broken and blistered from the continuous use of the torture stick, and blood had trickled down his neck and onto the collar of his jacket, but thankfully there didn't seem to be as much of it as there could have been, and the bleeding itself had stopped.

When Sam sighed and shifted Danny back into the position he had been in, he looked up at her. She could see the dark rims under his eyes, and the redness of his eyes themselves, how tired they looked.

"So?" he said, his voice asking a question even though it was obvious from his face that he wasn't really interested.

Carter answered anyway. "It's not bad. I think you'll be fine. Are you sure you're all right? It's never done that before..."

Danny nodded and then lowered his head again onto her shoulder again, staring into space. After a moment, as he felt her eyes on him, his closed and he sighed. "They didn't do it that way before," he finally answered as his eye opened again. "Sure, they used it plenty, but it was usually through the chains. It wasn't like that..." He grimaced, "That hurt a lot more."

"I think that's the way they usually do it," Carter said thoughtfully.

"Oh? What makes you say that?" he asked curiously.

Sam shrugged. "I don't know...something...I think it must be one of Jolinar's memories of that happening to her. I know it's not my memory so that's the only explanation I can think of..." Then she remembered something. "Oh, and besides, the colonel said that in the alternate universe that's the way they were, uh, torturing the, uhm, the alternate General Hammond."

Daniel's eyebrows went up. "Oh. That's...that's right...I guess that means I was lucky until now, huh?" He frowned. "Too bad it ran out," he complained tiredly.

Carter tightened her hold on him a bit. He didn't protest. "You can say that again."

The two sat for a moment, Jackson barely awake, until he looked around and frowned. "Hey...he, uh, the other me... isn't back yet?"

Sam shook her head in concern. "No...not yet. Look, Daniel, why don't you just get some rest, okay?"

Danny nodded slowly, his eyelids already lowering. "Yeah...that sounds like a good idea..." he trailed off. His head lolled, and seconds later Carter was holding a sleeping Daniel Jackson in her arms.

Sam smiled to herself. "Well, Danny, I didn't exactly mean *right there*, but whatever floats your boat..." She looked around for a minute, not quite sure what to do. Finally she sighed and scooted back to the wall beside the door, the only wall that didn't have a protruding bench obstructing it, and sat back against it with Danny's sleeping body still leaning against hers. Letting her head rest on the wall, she realized that she, too, was exhausted. Her arms still wrapped protectively around her friend, she soon also drifted into sleep.

---------------------------------------------------

Daniel felt himself wading once again out from under the veil of unconsciousness. Murky light found its way through his closed eyelids. The older Jackson didn't open them, knowing it would only aggravate the pounding headache he'd developed from the hand device. After a moment enough awareness came for him to realize that he was laying face down, feel the pain stabbing into his damaged ribs. Groaning, he rolled to his side. He laid there for another few minutes, adjusting to being awake again, adjusting his breathing so as to cause as little extra pain as possible. His entire body felt sore, after the beating, the torture stick, the hand device...

Finally, Daniel opened his eyes, hoping to find himself back in the holding cell, but instead he saw that he was still in the same room where he had been. A blurry shape stood above him, and that was when he remembered that he had lost his glasses hours ago, when Amaunet had brought him back to the room that held the device that had somehow brought him here. He hadn't had them the first time he woke up in this room, so he assumed that they had been knocked off while her jaffa had been beating him. Jackson blinked, and the indistinct figure became the Goa'uld, frowning down at him.

The archaeologist couldn't keep himself from moaning again, not looking forward to whatever Amaunet had in store for him now. She obviously wasn't through with him, if he was still here. But instead of having her jaffa pull him up now that she knew he was awake, she knelt beside him. He was a little confused, but still too tired to really wonder.

A moment later it seemed clear when she raised her left hand, the one adorned with the ribbon device, toward his face. Daniel flinched, resisting the urge to whimper or plead. Then, however, instead of activating the hand device, Amaunet ran a gold-capped finger along his cheek. He looked up at her silently, with no idea what she was doing until she spoke quietly.

"I have done everything I know to do to you--both of you, and still you resist. You will not tell you exactly how you came to be here, or of the future, and your younger self will not tell me anything important of the Tau'ri now," she said, her tone slightly complaining. "I am beginning to see that Daniel Jackson cares more for others than he does for himself, no matter what year he is from." She frowned, "A strange and pitiful behavior to be sure, with no match among the Goa'uld, but I suppose one not unexpected among a race as wild and unpredictable as you humans."

Daniel gulped, finding his mouth as dry as his old home of the planet Abydos. He opened his mouth to speak anyway, ignoring how uncomfortable it was.

"Yeah, we like both our values *and* our randomness just fine, thank you very much," he rasped weakly. The comment smacked of Jack O'Neill attitude, and a few years ago that would have bothered him, as evidenced by something his younger self had asked him back in the holding cell, but by now he'd grown to not care much.

Amaunet made him care this time, however, when she swiftly stood and sent her foot crashing into his rib cage. Too weak to scream, Daniel gasped and doubled over on the floor, his body curling into a tight ball of agony. The Goa'uld stood, watching him, until his breathing slowed and he carefully uncurled. Then she smirked.

"Yes...maybe I am taking the wrong approach," she said thoughtfully. She looked pointedly at him then. "You care most for your wife, yes?"

Daniel looked sharply up at her, unsure of where she was going with the question. "Of course," he said quietly, cautiously.

Amaunet smiled at his answer. "I thought as much seemed obvious." She paused. "You wanted to know if I could hurt her?"

Daniel's eyebrows rose in alarm. "What?"

"I can," the Goa'uld answered suddenly.

Jackson's stomach tightened, and pushed himself up on one elbow, grimacing but otherwise ignoring the pain. "What?" he said again, but this time it was a hoarse, fearful whisper, and her next answer only made him feel worse.

"I can," Amaunet repeated. "The Goa'uld do have the ability to punish a host who does not cooperate with pain. It does not bother us, but it can be quite excruciating for the host mind. My host has been suffering since you drew her out earlier today, being punished for speaking to you." That sadistic smile appeared on her face again, and suddenly Daniel felt sick. The fears he'd had while Sha're was a host came back in full force and more as they were confirmed.

"N-No," he stammered, desperately trying to deny it. "You're bluffing. You can't do that to her..."

"Oh, but I can," she quickly confirmed. "Perhaps I should show you..."

Before Daniel could say anything else Amaunet had withdrawn, and Sha're's gasps of pain filled the room. "Dan'iel!" she cried, dropping to her knees as her hands went to hold her head. Daniel's eyes widened in horror as she shouted. "Help me, Dan'iel, please! It hurts-!!" Quickly he sat up and took hold of her shoulders.

"Sha're, hold on! I'm here..." he fumbled.

A brief flick of her eyes in his direction told him she heard him, knew he was there for her, but then her eyes clenched shut and she leaned into him. "Dan'iel, help me..." she cried in pain.

Gulping, he tried to get Amaunet to stop. He tried to speak to the symbiote, desperately pleading for her to leave Sha're alone as he gulped back tears that tried to obstruct his words, but he didn't even know if the Goa'uld could hear him when not in control of the body. Daniel failed to keep himself in relative calm for long, though, and by the time Amaunet chose to re-take control of Sha're's body Jackson was sobbing as he held her, helpless to stop what the snake was doing to her.

Amaunet roughly pulled away and stood, leaving the stricken archaeologist on his knees. For a few moments she just stood looking at him, until his sobs faded to a few silent tears and shaky breathing.

At first Daniel was trying to calm himself, but suddenly he stopped as a new emotion rose--anger. Suddenly his conviction that the Goa'uld, everything that they stood for, everything they were, and everything they did was evil, was wrong, solidified, and he only felt angry at them, especially at this particular one. Right now he felt like if he could get the Goa'uld out of Sha're without harming her, that he would kill it himself right here. He knew that attitude wasn't exactly right, either, but at the moment he didn't care.

Then Amaunet spoke, pulling Daniel from his seething thoughts. "I can continue to hurt her for as long as it is necessary, and I *will* continue to do so until one of you tells me what I wish to know."

Finally Daniel looked up at her, his eyes red-rimmed. "You monster," he spat. A dozen other words much worse than that rattled around in his head, but he refrained from saying them. Amaunet only found the human's reaction amusing.

The room fell into silence again except for Daniel's pained grunts when the jaffa pulled him up. But before he gained his feet Amaunet opened her hand, using the ribbon device and sharply propelling Daniel out of the jaffa's hands and slamming him into the wall behind them, delivering a final, painful blow before she turned on her heel and exited.

Jackson sank to the floor, gasping as tears filled his eyes again, but he gulped them back as he doubled over from the pain that stabbed through his battered body from the impact with the wall. How many times now did that make that he'd been thrown into a wall by a hand device or something similar? It was getting old, but at the present he wasn't really thinking about it as his thoughts sank into turmoil and despair. Daniel struggled to straighten them out in his mind as the jaffa pulled him up again. It kept his mind off the pain that came with being moved as they dragged him out into the corridor and back to the cell, and served to calm him somewhat.

At least one of his emotions he was still sure of, though, and it was his anger--his anger at Amaunet...and at himself. A single coherent thought penetrated the gloom. *Sha're, I'm so sorry...*

----------------------------------------------------

Samantha Carter was running. She was running, hiding, always moving. She wasn't sure where she was, but she recognized the Goa'uld design of the architecture, and the sound of jaffa marching. Their boots always made the same sound no matter what Goa'uld they served, that ominous sound that any SGC personnel that had come in contact with them had learned to be wary of, especially she herself an the rest of her team, who for some reason always seemed to have the most run-ins with their enemies foot soldiers.

That sound was what she running from, trying at all costs to stay away from, but no matter what she did it followed her. The jaffa were always a step behind her, always around the corner behind her, always gaining. Sam knew she had to stay ahead of them if she wanted to stay alive, but she couldn't shake them. She was exhausted, and finally collapsed, resting against a wall. If only she could just sleep for a few minutes, just a few, then she would feel better, be able to outrun her pursuers...

And then Carter realized that she was awake, sleeping against the wall of their cell next to the door, and that the dream must have been prompted by the very real sound of jaffa coming their way.

Sam tried to stretch, but found herself weighted down with something in front of her that was leaning back against her. Now fully wake, she glanced down and saw that it was Daniel--or rather, Danny, she corrected herself, so as not to get confused--his head on her shoulder, sleeping peacefully, and she remembered what had happened before she fell asleep.

The major's face went a bit pale again when she remembered why the two of them had been so exhausted, Jackson most of all, but at the sight of Danny's sleeping face she couldn't help but smile. And despite the fact that Sam thought of Daniel Jackson as a friend and co-worker, even as a brother and would have found it strange to think of him in any other way, she couldn't help but notice how cute he looked the way he was now.

But then Carter remembered the sound that had awoken her, and began to gently shake him, calling his name until he stirred. His eyes cracked open, and he looked at her blearily.

"What is it, Sam?" he quietly asked in mild annoyance. He only wanted to sleep, but Carter roused him out of it by shaking him again.

"Someone's coming. They're probably just bringing back...uhm...your counterpart, but you should wake up."

Groaning, Danny groggily sat up, pushing away from Sam. After yawning, rubbing his eyes and waking himself up a bit more, he suddenly realized where he'd been sleeping and started to blush profusely. "Uh, yeah, okay, thanks for waking me up. Uhm, I'm...I'm sorry; I didn't mean to fall asleep on you like that, I mean at least not literally on you, I mean, uhm..."

Sam silenced him with a smile. "Stop it. It's okay, Danny. If I'd been through what you had, I would have fallen asleep on the spot, too. Don't worry; I didn't mind." It was then that what seemed to be a bit of a blush crept up her cheeks as well. "Besides, I kind of fell asleep too."

Now Jackson smiled, too. "Oh," was all he said.

Their conversation was cut short when the door opened, and the anticipated jaffa stepped into the cell and dropped the older Daniel onto the floor inside the door, right next to them. Danny grimaced at his older self's cry of pain, all too aware of how unpleasant that particular treatment was. He couldn't even remember how many times he'd been dropped over the past two or three days.

Sam and Danny waited until the jaffa were well gone before they leaned over their visitor from the future to check on his condition. Daniel was half doubled over, and his arms were wrapped protectively around his middle. It was obvious that some of his ribs must have been damaged from the way he was breathing. There were bruises and tear stains on his face, his forehead was red from the ribbon device, and his glasses were missing. He was conscious, but barely, and didn't seem very responsive.

Gulping hard with worry, she put a hand on his shoulder. Carter had almost expected him to flinch away from it, but he didn't, just continued to stare into space and struggle with his labored breathing. She glanced back at Danny, who had paled, and then looked back to Daniel.

"Daniel?" she asked. When he didn't answer, she tried again. "Daniel, are all right?"

After a moment or so and a couple more tries, she finally got a response as his eyes clenched shut. "It's my fault," he whispered. Sam glanced back at Danny again, who shrugged.

"What's you fault? What's wrong, Daniel?" she asked with concern.

Grunting, he pushed himself up on one elbow, but Sam kept her hand on his other shoulder. Daniel shook his head and spoke to his younger self instead of Sam. "I didn't mean too, I'm sorry..."

"Didn't mean to what?" Sam asked, still trying to get him to tell them what was going on as she helped him sit up the rest of the way. He grimaced in pain, but was too distraught to cry out.

"What is it?" Danny asked, joining in, now worried.

Daniel sighed, and his head dropped. When it came back up, there were tears in his eyes. "I was...you were worried about Amaunet being able to hurt her..." he said quietly. He gulped, "You were right."

The younger Jackson snapped back as if he'd been physically struck, horror on his face. "What?!" he cried. "You can't be serious..."

Daniel nodded wearily. "When she started to realize that what she was doing wasn't going to work on either of us, well...she decided to try a different tactic."

If he had been pale before, now Danny was as white as a sheet. "Oh no," he whispered.

Chapter 19

The news his older self had delivered had shaken Daniel Jackson to the core, and even though he knew he would need rest, Danny couldn't bring himself to close his eyes. His worry for Sha're had kept him awake for hours since the three cell mates had laid down to try to sleep, and now morning must have been near, but even though he was thoroughly exhausted he couldn't fall asleep now matter how hard he tried.

As a last-ditch effort, Danny deliberately pushed his worries for his wife to the back of his mind, and pulled forward memories from his life on Abydos with her. After she had first been taken, the memories had been the only thing that kept him going, along with the hope that he would find her. But exactly one year later, when he had returned to Abydos and discovered her there only to lose her again, the memories had become more painful, and more and more recently he had pushed them away. Right now, however, they were his only hope of getting any rest.

At first, it worked, and despite everything else that was happing he found himself smiling silently as images of Sha're and the two of them together filled the forefront of his mind. He remembered her teaching him her language, which hadn't taken very long to pick up because of its relationship with Ancient Egyptian. He remembered teaching her English, which had been harder, but he remembered how quick a learner she had been, how delightful a student. They'd spent many hours just sitting, pointing out different things and what they were called in each other's languages, learning more and more about each other's worlds.

The simple life of the Abydonians had been invigorating for Jackson, and there had been so many good times there...though life on his new home planet was not without its bad times. But there had never been anything that he and Sha're hadn't been able to pull through together, even when, on occasion thins had gotten especially difficult.

As Danny drifted down into a doze, that space between sleep and awareness where there are not-quite-dreams, a memory began to play that had been triggered when he had woken up in Sam's arms, a memory of being a similar position, but where Sha're had been holding him. It had involved one of more trying episodes of his life on Abydos, and at the time he had pushed it away, but now it came to the surface without obstruction, playing back again almost as clearly as the day it happened.

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*Daniel Jackson could hear voices. He could feel himself being moved, lowered onto what felt like a bed, and his body protested with pain. His ankle throbbed, his head felt as if a nail had been shoved through it, and the rest of his body felt bruised. He couldn't remember what had happened. He remembered going to the cave that held the cartouche of what he believed to be stargate addresses, the text he been attempting to translate for months since he'd found it several weeks after Jack, Kawalsky, and Feretti had left Abydos to return to earth. Skaara and another of the boys, Nekim, a mutual friend of Daniel's and Skaara's, had been with him. But after that...nothing.

Most of the voices drifted away, but one remained, and came closer. After a moment Daniel recognized it as Sha're's, and realized that whoever had been carrying him must have brought him to their home. But beyond that, his mind was too muddled to think much else, and he still hadn't opened his eyes. He wasn't planning too, either.

A cool, damp cloth began to dab gently at his forehead, and he flinched from the sudden cold. Now sensing that he was awake, if only partially, Sha're's voice became more urgent. Somehow Daniel understood that she was telling him to hold on, that he would be all right, but his mind couldn't tell him whether the words were English or Abydonian.

She continued to talk, but he couldn't understand any more as he slipped into unconsciousness again.*

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*When consciousness returned, and Daniel opened his eyes, he found himself where he'd thought he was before--at home. Sha're sat beside him on their bed holding his hand, and a brief smile lit her face when she saw that he was awake.

"Dan'iel, I am glad you are awake. How are you feeling?"

"Not so great," Daniel grimaced weakly. "What happened? And...where are my glasses?"

Sha're leaned forward and smoothed his hair, then kissed his forehead. "You do not need them. You should rest, my husband," she said, answering his second question but obviously ignoring the first.

Normally he would have questioned her about it, but he was still too worn out to notice much or even care. He still wanted to know what had happened, but for the moment let it go. If she wouldn't tell him, maybe he didn't want to know. Listening to Sha're's soothing voice as she wrapped her arms around him, he drifted into sleep, but with sleep came dreams, and with dreams came the memories, and with the memories of what had happened he discovered that his suspicion that maybe he didn't want to know was correct.*

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*"So, you believe that these symbols tell how to open the Chappa'ai to other worlds besides your own?" Skaara asked as he Daniel, and Nekim once again looked around the cave that they had come to so often lately. Daniel didn't even glance up from his intense study of one of the walls to answer.

"Yeah, I think so," he said simply, nodding, too distracted to give a more in-depth answer.

"Can we go to these worlds?" Nekim asked in Abydonian. He hadn't been able to pick up English as quickly.

That thought brought Daniel's head over to look at his friends. Switching to the native language, he replied, smiling. "I don't know. I certainly hope so. If I can just get one or more of these addresses to work..." He shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe the two of you could be among the first explorers from Abydos to leave your planet."

Both boys seemed excited at the idea, almost as excited as Daniel himself. But a damper clamped down on their excitement when suddenly a low rumble rippled through the cave.

"What was that?" Nekim yelped.

"Whatever it is, it is not good," Skaara said, also switching to his own language.

It was then that the cavern began to shake, and Daniel's eyes widened in surprise. All three occupants of the cave still speaking in Abydonian, Daniel shouted over the rising noise.

"Yeah, I think I can agree with that! Why didn't you people tell me you had earth quakes?!"

Both locals looked at him strangely, and the anthropologist shook his head. "Sorry, forgot you wouldn't know what that means...uh...this! You didn't tell me that the ground shook sometimes!"

"It does not! Not often, anyway," Skaara explained quickly. I only remember one other instance in my lifetime..."

Nekim nodded. "Yes, and that was not good. We should get out of here, now!"

Daniel had already moved, and was stumbling about the cave as it shook and dust fell, beginning to gather everything he'd brought with him, and other things that he usually kept there, tools, scores of notes and several books.

"Dan'iel we must go, now!" Skaara shouted to him from near the door. "There is no time! This chamber is secure, but the tunnel could collapse! Come on!"

"I can't leave these things here. If the tunnel does collapse, I'll lose them until we can dig back in here!" the scientist answered. Several more precious seconds were taken, until finally Jackson had scooped up the last book and stumbled to the door. Skaara and Nekim had not left without him, and immediately all three rushed toward daylight.

Just as they turned a corner and the entrance to the cave came into view, Skaara and Daniel heard the disastrous sound of rocks falling behind them accompanied by a scream, and realized that Nekim had ended up in back, and stopped.

Daniel skidded to a halt, a sound that he'd hoped never to hear again assaulting his ears. Twisting around, he and Skaara saw the final seconds of the rockslide that had swept down on top of Nekim. The blood drained from Daniel's face as his mind flashed back to his parents' deaths, when they were crushed beneath the heavy cover stone of an Ancient Egyptian display when the chain moving it snapped while they were working at a museum in New York. Only a child at the time, he'd seen the whole thing happen, and he hadn't been able to stop it.

"No!" Daniel shouted in horror as the tunnel continued to shake around them. The end of it was only a few feet away, but neither he nor Skaara moved until the native boy started to run back for his friend at the chance he was still alive. Daniel stopped him. "No, I'll go," he said quickly, shoving his things into Skaara's arms and then pushing his brother- in-law the last few feet out of the cave. Maybe he hadn't been able to do anything twenty- five years ago, but maybe he could do something now.

Skaara shouted after Daniel in protest as he ran back in, but obediently stayed outside the tunnel. At least something was going right. Daniel stumbled back down the tunnel through the falling dust and rock fragments, struggling to see and hoping to find Nekim between the entrance and the newly formed partial rock wall that now blocked the tunnel. But when he reached where the tunnel had collapsed, there was still no sign of him. He called Nekim's name, wondering if he could simply be trapped on the other side, but stopped when he saw the foot and the end of the brown homespun robe that poked out from under the rocks. Suddenly Jackson felt sick, knowing that there was no way the boy could have survived being buried that deeply under the rocks.

Desperately he called his friend's name a few more times, but to no avail, and by now Skaara was shouting at him to come out again, that it looked as if more rocks were going to fall. Blinking back the tears that started to cloud his vision, Daniel turned and started back toward the entrance.

"Dan'iel, hurry! It's going to collapse further, get out of there!" Skaara called.

He was almost there, but suddenly something hard and heavy struck his back, knocking him to the ground. Daniel knew it had been a rock, and knew that if he didn't get back up and get out that he would probably be killed, too. He tried to get up, but more rocks were falling, and one hit his leg, sending him back down and causing his ankle to twist painfully. Looking up again, he only had time to catch a glimpse of Skaara dropping the load in his hands and rushing back into the tunnel to help him before something hit his head, and the world blinked out.*

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*Daniel gasped as he woke again, and found himself trembling. Sha're was sitting up now, against the wall at the head of the bed, but he was still in her arms, his head resting on her shoulder, and he clung to her as he broke into tears.

"Shhhh," she soothed, stroking his hair. "It's all right, Dan'iel. What is wrong?"

"I-I remember. I know what happened." he gulped quietly through his tears. He bit back a sob. "Sha're, it's my fault. Nekim is dead, and it's my fault..."

Sha're shook her head immediately, her face showing only love and concern. "No, Dan'iel. Do not blame yourself."

"But...I was the only who stayed an extra minute, gathering my things. If I had just run, if we had just left a few seconds earlier...it wouldn't have happened.... Besides, I'm the one that decided to go to the cave today, brought them with me..."

"Dan'iel, stop," Sha're said firmly. "You could not have known that the ground would shake, or that the tunnel would fall in. It is 'not' your fault." Then her voice softened. "It is all right. I love you, Dan'iel, and I'm glad that you are safe." She leaned to kiss him, and he let her, returning it, but when she pulled back there were still tears in his eyes, and he was looking at her.

"What is it?" she asked in concern. "There is something else, isn't there?"

Daniel gulped again, and reached up to touch his wife's face. "It's just that...what happened wasn't all I dreamed about. I was also dreaming about what could have happened..."He started to blink back the fresh tears that threatened to fall. "What if...what if it had been you?" he choked out. "Just before I woke up, that's what I was dreaming, and for a moment I thought..."he trailed of, unable to complete the sentence. "Sha're, I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you..."

She shushed him gently, reaching up to the hand on her cheek and taking it in her own. "But nothing has happened to me, Dan'iel, and even though you have been hurt, you will be fine." She smiled at him. "Remember your promise to me, Dan'iel? That we will be together forever? I plan to keep that promise as well, my husband."

"I know..." Daniel whispered. Then, grunting from soreness, he sat up and embraced her as a few more tears fell from his eyes. "I love you, too."*

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Danny woke from the memory with tears in his eyes, but a smile on his face. He still regretted the loss of his friend, but after that incident he and Sha're had grown even closer. More memories of the better times afterward came, along with hope for the future, hope that he would get her back and, comforted, he was finally able to fall asleep.

Daniel, on the other hand, knew that he would never have her back, and could not sleep at all. He was afraid to close his eyes, knowing that all he would see was Sha're, held prisoner by the Goa'uld within her, her face twisted in pain, that all he would hear was her screams, and that all he would feel was his helplessness to do anything about any of it.

----------------------------------------------------

A soft sound from across the room woke Sam from a sound sleep. Sitting up slowly, she listened. To one side of her she could hear the slow, even breathing that told her that Danny was finally asleep. She was relieved to know that much, but her face fell into a frown when she turned to look across the room at where Daniel was sleeping--or not sleeping.

The major almost had to strain her ears to hear it, but she was sure that she heard the sound of crying. It wasn't a sound she heard often, not from her teammates, anyway, but of course she knew what it was. Concerned, she quietly stood and crossed to the opposite wall. Daniel was facing away from her, and she sat beside him. Tentatively, she reached out and touched his shoulder.

"Daniel...?"

The Jackson of the future jerked in surprise, but quickly recovered and swiped a sleeve across his face before he turned over to look at her. "Sam? What is it?" he asked quietly.

"Well..." Carter began slowly. "I, uhm...I heard you...I just wanted to make sure you were all right."

Daniel sighed. "Oh. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to make you worry about me..." He tried to sit up, but grimaced and an arm went around his injured ribs. Sam put out an arm and stopped him.

"It's okay. No, don't move." She sighed, "How are you feeling."

Daniel lay back again and suppressed a sigh, knowing it would only hurt more. He was tempted to lie to Sam, but couldn't bring himself to do it. "Physically, terrible, and emotionally...a whole lot worse," he answered simply, giving both answers to the question because he knew she wanted both. At her concerned look, he tried to bring humor into the conversation by squinting and complaining good-naturedly about the loss of his glasses, "I can't even see straight!"

Sam smiled briefly, but then became serious again. "It's not your fault, you know," she said softly.

Daniel gulped. "Yes it is. I didn't tell you everything."

"What do you mean?" Carter asked in confusion.

So he told her. He told what had happened in the experiment room, what he had done to talk to Sha're, and what that had lead to, though leaving out any details about his feelings that could give clues of the future, of what had happened to Sha're. It was difficult, but he managed to tell her what had happened without crying again or giving anything away that could further screw up the future.

"Daniel, you couldn't have known..." Sam said after a moment of silence.

"Maybe not, but it was still a stupid idea, and now Sha're is suffering because of me," Daniel said bitterly.

"Daniel, you said yourself that Amaunet showed you what she was doing to her because she realized that torturing you wasn't getting her anywhere, that you cared more for your wife. That means that even if you hadn't done what you did to provoke her to do it, she still would decided on it eventually, right?"

That stopped him. "Well...maybe...but I still made her do it sooner."

"You can't second-guess yourself at every turn, Daniel," Sam said, putting her hand on his shoulder again. "From what I've seen so far, in the future you've done a good job of learning *not* to do that so often, but nobody's perfect," she smiled.

Daniel gave her a small smile in return. "I'm still worried about her, though," he said after a moment.

"I know. We all are. Now try to get some sleep before I report you Doctor Fraiser when we get back. You know how she is. She'd write a note to herself and make sure she scolded you for not getting enough sleep when you get back to the future," Carter said, now grinning. When Daniel's eyes suddenly became sad again at her comment, she frowned.

"What is it?"

"Nothing," he said, looking away for a moment. When he turned to her again he mustered another smile. "Don't worry about me; I'll be fine. I promise I'll try to sleep."

"Good," Sam said, standing. So she left him again, going back to her own bench and laying down, and even though she did soon fall back to sleep, she couldn't get the look on Daniel's face when she mentioned Janet Fraiser out of her mind.

----------------------------------------------------

Jack O'Neill groaned in protest as shook him, trying to wake him. He rolled over in the small bed in his room on base, and pulled the blanket over his head, still too asleep to remember why he had wanted to wake up early.

"Five more minutes!" he grunted, but the persistent voice continued. "Or how about ten minutes...an hour?"

Whoever was there was ignoring him, and finally he uncovered his head and opened one eye to see Teal'c standing over him. "Teal'c...what are you doing in my room?"

"You must wake up, O'Neill," the jaffa answered. "Sergeant Harriman believes he has found something."

Jack now opened both eyes, and saw that behind Teal'c stood a groggy Janet Fraiser and a very hyper Walter Harriman. Slowly the colonel pushed the blanket off and sat up. Having slept in his clothes like the rest of them, wanting to get as early a start as possible on continuing to search for Carter and Jackson, he attempted to straighten his rumpled t- shirt on the way up. O'Neill peered at Harriman as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Okay...Walter, what have you got?" he asked.

"Well, sir, we've been sending M.A.L.P.s through all night on preliminary runs to get ready for today, and a few looked interesting, but you have to see for yourself what the one we sent through a few minutes ago sent back. I really think we could be onto something. General Hammond sent me to get the three of you."

"Ah," was all Jack said as he stood and grabbed the green long-sleeved buttoned shirt of his fatigues from the bed post and pulled it on. Then, slipping his feet into his boots, he stood without even bothering to tie them. "Okay, campers, let's see what Walter's all excited about." He glanced over at the sergeant as the group of four headed for the control room. "I don't guess your going to tell us what it is before we get there, are you?" he asked jokingly, back to his usual snarky self now that he was more awake.

"Only if you want me to, sir."

"Good. I'd rather see for myself."

"Yes sir."

When the four arrived in the control room, Walter went straight for his post and sat down, punching at the keyboard on one of the many computers nearby. Seconds later an image appeared on the screen in front of them.

"Here it is, colonel. Watch this closely, and I think you'll see what I mean."

"Yeahsureyoubetcha, now hit play already," O'Neill said with some impatience, wanting to see if this could help them locate the rest of his team.

"Yes sir, sorry sir," Harriman said quickly, pressing a key. A Second later the image on the computer screen came to life and began to play the video the M.A.L.P. had began to send back once it was through the wormhole. There was the momentary bumping and blurring of the image as the machine rolled down off of whatever steps or platform the stargate was on, and then the movement stopped and the picture stilled to show what appeared to be a Goa'uld base.

Jack's eyebrows went up and Fraiser leaned forward excitedly. They had brief view of the empty room, but seconds later two jaffa turned into the large chamber. One of them shouted something, and the other raised his staff weapon and fired. Almost immediately after, the screen went blank.

"They destroyed it!" Janet said, pulling back.

"Indeed," Teal'c said as he raised the eyebrow.

Jack looked to Harriman. "I gotta hand it to you, Walter, this is good news. I'd betcha anything that's where they are."

"Why would you say that?" Fraiser questioned.

"Why else would they want to keep it a secret?"

"They might just not like alien machinery coming through their 'gate--especially ours," the doctor retorted.

"Yeah, but look...Walter, replay that and freeze-frame it on the empty room," O'Neill ordered.

A moment later the image was up again and frozen in place at the colonel's request, and he pointed to something that the others had failed to see the first time around. There where stacks of crates around a ring transporter in what seemed to be an open storage area on the other side of the large room, and a few of the crates in the front here and there had not been closed yet. He pointed to one of the nearest ones.

"What do you see there?"

Sighing, Janet leaned closer and squinted at the screen, until a moment later her eyes widened. "That...that looks like SGC gear!"

"Right. I see vests, guns, and I think I can even make out a GDO--everything the Goa'uld would have taken away from them if they captured them there. I'm telling you; that's where they are."

"Are you sure about that, colonel?"

All eye turned behind them to see General Hammond, whom none of them had noticed come in.

Jack O'Neill nodded. "Positive, sir. It's the only explanation. We don't have any other leads, and this one looks solid to me."

Hammond nodded. "Good. I suggest that you start working on a plan then, colonel."

"Yes sir!" Jack agreed readily, snapping off a salute before turning back Teal'c, Fraiser, and Harriman. Hammond smiled and walked back toward his office as O'Neill began snapping off assignments to the team he had for getting their plan pulled together.

"Oh yeah, and Walter?" Jack said finally as he finished.

"Sir?"

"Call Jacob and let him know what we found for me, will you? And tell him we could use his help."

"I'd be happy to, sir."

Now more than fully awake, O'Neill felt his spirits rising as he realized that they actually might soon find his missing friends. But at the same time, he had to wonder how they were going to pull it of when the gate on that planet was right in the middle of a Goa'uld base.

Chapter 20

As soon as Daniel opened his eyes that morning he knew something was wrong. He could sense the tension that radiated from near him, and when he looked up and back behind his head, he wasn't surprised to see Samantha Carter sitting there stiffly, looking intensely worried about something.

"Sam?" he asked in concern. He was surprised at how much his voice croaked; that it came out barely above a whisper. As Carter turned to look at him he quickly took stock and realized that he already felt much worse than he had before he'd finally fallen asleep. Again trying to test just how bad the damage inflicted the previous night was, Daniel tried to sit up, but the pain from his chest drove him back down again before he'd even lifted his body more than an inch, and the sharp breath of air he sucked in before he could think about it didn't help any either.

Sam's eyes widened as Daniel broke into a fit of coughing, and grabbed his shoulders as he curled into a fetal position, fighting to bring his breathing back under control as the agony rippled through his shaking body.

"Daniel!" Carter cried in alarm. After a few more seconds Jackson's coughing stopped and he slumped, gulping in deep, slow, shaky breaths of air. He'd barely been awake for a minute and already he was sweating. "Daniel, are you all right?"

He nodded, but his eyes were still clenched shut. "Yeah..." he gasped. "Sorry....didn't mean to...scare you like that..." A moment later, when he had his breathing more under control, he opened his watering eyes and looked weakly up at her. "So...what's going on? Why did you...did you look so tense when I woke up?"

Sam frowned. "Well, if I was tense then, I'm even more freaked out now. You scared me half to death, Daniel! Are you sure you're okay?" she answered hotly, dodging his question. For a moment she feigned anger, but behind it was only concern.

Daniel frowned. "I said I was sorry..." he answered. "And yes, I'll be...okay. I'll survive, anyway...." He trailed off as he tried to shift his position, which had grown uncomfortable over the hours of the night. But as he moved, there where sharp stabs of pain as he felt the broken ribs shift inside his chest, and he couldn't stop the long, low moan that escaped.

All traces of the mask of anger Sam had shoved on fell away immediately as worry took over when she heard the heartbreaking sound. She blanched. "Daniel, is it just me or have you gotten worse since last night?" she asked hesitantly.

"Oooohhhh, I wish it were just you," Daniel groaned. Carter swallowed hard as she took in the sight of her friend from the future: black BDUs and hair disheveled, glasses missing, skin pale, beaten and bruised, forehead burned from the ribbon device, struggling to breath with one arm around his broken mid-section. Danny, her Daniel, from this time, had looked much better the last time she'd seen him, but before the Goa'uld had put him in the sarcophagus he'd been in worse condition than this; he'd been dying, and now if they tried to do anything else to this Daniel he was likely to die, too.

Sam closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again there were tears gathering in them. "We *have* to get out of here soon," she said quietly. "If we don't, I don't know if either of you will make it."

Daniel looked at her sympathetically for a moment, and then something occurred to him. "Both of us? What...do you mean? He uh...my other self...he seemed fine..."

Carter nodded. "I know, but he's the one I was worrying about when you woke up." She gulped, "They must have taken him again....He wasn't here when I woke up a few minutes ago." Sam pounded a fist on the wall beside her. "How could I have slept through that? I should have woken up! I should have..."

"Should have what?" Daniel said softly. "You couldn't have stopped them, Sam; you know that, I know that, and...he knows that...I knew that..."

Sam looked away for a moment, but turned to Daniel when she heard a muffled sob from his direction. When she looked back at him again he wasn't crying, but was obviously upset. "Daniel, what's wrong?"

It took a few moments, but finally he answered. "She's going to do it again, Sam. She probably won't due much to him physically, but she'll do what she did to me just before they brought me back." Now tears did start to sting his eyes as he remembered Sha're's screams, and when he continued his voice began to crack. "She's-she's going to do it again, Sam, she's going to hurt Sha're..."

---------------------------------------------------

The same thought echoed in Danny's head at that very moment as he sank down the wall of the interrogation room to the floor, nursing his freshly bruised stomach as the jaffa backed off. Jackson landed unceremoniously on the floor and let his head thump back against the wall while he gasped for air. He swiped a jacket sleeve gently across his cracked lips, and when it came away with the blood he'd known was there he winced anyway. Amaunet watched, still passive as ever, from a few feet away.

She was toying with him again, and again he knew it. Danny knew her central plan of action now was to employ the tactic she had recently used on his older counterpart, that this was just the opening act. That was why she hadn't allowed her jaffa to get overly brutal this time, why nothing was cracked or broken, why this beating hadn't lasted very long. But what could he do?

He tossed a glare in the direction of the Goa'uld even as he was still concentrating on bringing oxygen into his starved lungs. She smiled back at him, and advanced in his direction.

"As suspected, you still resist as well," she began. "It seems my change of approach with your counterpart was indeed called for. Of course it did not succeed the first time, but he seemed a good deal more shaken than before. I will have what I want from him soon. Now for you..."

Danny's face went slack; his scowl faded to reveal the terror that suddenly gripped him. "Leave Sha're...out of this," he hissed at her. He would have spoken louder, but was still short of breath.

Amaunet smirked. "Stupid human; it's already too late. I have not left her alone since she made the mistake of speaking to both you and your older self yesterday."

"Leave her alone!" Jackson growled.

"I'm afraid I can't do that--not until I get what I want." Danny watched helplessly in horror as Amaunet withdrew again, pushing Sha're to the foreground. A sharp gasp echoed, and then her legs had buckled.

Ignoring the bruises, Jackson jumped forward and caught his exhausted wife as she fell. Trembling, she sank into him while she groaned in pain. Gasping, she looked up at his face as he folded her into his arms. "D-Dan'iel?"

"It's me, Sha're, I'm right here," he said, holding her tighter, as if it would help. Danny felt tears welling in his eyes again. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..." he gulped, not knowing what else to say, or to do. From what his older self had said, it didn't seem that Amaunet could hear him when not in control, or refused to answer, so he knew begging the Goa'uld to stop would be useless. All he could do was be there for her. He'd tried to prepare himself for the possibility that this might happen, but nothing could have. At least she wasn't screaming this time. Maybe...maybe that meant Amaunet wasn't being as harsh now...or maybe her host was just too exhausted to shout anymore.

"D-do not...blame yourself for...for this, Dan'iel..." Sha're gasped, startling him with her words. They should have comforted him, and did to some extent, but the way she could sound so trusting and loving while at the same time her voice was tortured with pain only caused the hold Danny had to his tears to dissipate.

"Hold on, Sha're," he sobbed after a moment. "Just hold on, it'll be all right..."

"W-what...?"

Gulping back his tears for a moment, he looked at her. "You can fight her, Sha're; I know you can. You've done it before. Doing this to you...it has to do something to her, too, weaken her in some way..." He started to speak rapidly now, knowing Amaunet wouldn't want Sha're to hear what he had to say and might take control again now to keep him from saying it. "I'm sure she can't keep it up forever, and then if you can just get control for a few minutes, anything....You have to helps us. If you can get control and helps us escape, then you can come with us. We'll get you out of here and get that snake out of you. I can't let you stay like this anymore, trapped in your own body, where she can hurt you like this. I won't-" His voice broke and the tears started to fall again.

Sha're gripped the fabric of Danny's jacket more tightly between her fingers as the pain surged. "I will try, Dan'iel," she whispered as she sought comfort in her husband's embrace. She couldn't suppress the tortured groan that came next, and then felt him kiss her now damp forehead.

"Just hold on, Sha're. I've got you," he whispered again in return as he rocked back and forth while he held her. She knew that with the fresh bruises the movement must have been painful for him, but it was comforting to her, and even though she tried to open her mouth to ask him to stop if it was hurting him she suddenly found that she couldn't. She knew why.

Amaunet was taking control again, shoving her backwards. Sha're tried to fight to keep her body, but she was weak, and she only had time to release a muffled cry of pain and surprise before she was locked in the darkness once again, trapped in darkness but still aware of what was happening around her.

"Sha're!" Danny shouted when she cried out, but then Amaunet was pushing away from him and quickly standing.

"Enough," she said. "You understand now. She will suffer until you give the information I desire."

Jackson looked up at her through tear-blurred eyes. "Do all Goa'uld's always sound like broken records?" he said angrily.

Amaunet kicked him in the gut and he shouted and doubled over. When the jaffa pulled him to his feet he was still gasping, but Danny cast one last weary glance over his shoulder at his wife before the serpent guards led him from the room.

----------------------------------------------------------

Daniel had fallen asleep again soon after waking up, or lost consciousness again even, maybe. Carter couldn't quite tell, but she hoped that he was resting well; he certainly needed it.

Chewing on her bottom lip, Sam waited another few minutes where she was, until finally the door slid open and two jaffa shoved Danny back in. The younger Jackson stumbled and fell to his knees with a grunt. The major winced and made her way over to him. As she got closer she saw his bleeding lip, the fresh bruises on his face, and the way he bent forward, and she frowned.

"Hey, Danny, you okay?" she asked in concern as she knelt beside him.

He nodded miserably, his eyes still on the floor. "I'll be fine," he said quietly. Then he gulped, "But Sha're's not..."

Sam's eyebrows went up as she realized that Daniel's assessment of what Amaunet would do this time had been right, that she knew what had happened.

"She's still hurting Sha're, Sam. She won't-" his voice caught. "She won't leave her alone..."

Sam saw him fighting tears again, and leaned forward and hugged her friend gently, rubbing his back. "It's okay, Danny. It'll be all right..." she said, and after a moment Jackson returned the embrace.

"How can you be sure?" he asked when she pulled away.

"I'm sure she can't keep that up forever. She's probably not doing it nearly as much as you think she is. Sha're will be fine," Carter smiled, trying to reassure him.

"You really think so?" he asked, sincerely hoping she was right.

Sam nodded. "I don't see any reason why that wouldn't be true. I mean, whatever she's doing has to have *some* effect on her no matter what she says. I doubt she could do it continuously for very long." She sighed, "You should stop beating yourself up over it-- both of you."

Danny smiled weakly. "You're probably right--I hope you are."

Carter smiled back. "Yeah, I hope so to."

Then Jackson grimaced, and Sam's face became concerned again. "What is it?"

"Nothing...just a little bruised up; that's all," he winced.

"You sure? Nothing cracked this time?"

He nodded. "I'm sure, Sam. Could you just...help me up? Please?"

Carter sighed again. "All right," she agreed, moving closer to allow him to slip an arm around her shoulders. Putting her arm around him as well, she gently pulled him to his feet. Danny gasped once on the way up and grunted a few times as she helped him over to the bench opposite his counterpart, but for the most part seemed to be in considerably less pain than before. When he didn't cry out from being set down, Sam finally let herself feel relief that he wasn't hurt too badly. Then, however, her worry returned to the older Daniel.

"Thanks," Danny said as he sat back against the wall, and when she didn't answer him he looked up to see her looking worriedly across the room. Jackson frowned as a bit of worry of his own started to take root. "How's he doing?" he asked quietly.

Sam shook her head. "Not good. He woke up for a few minutes, but he was hurting pretty badly...couldn't even move. I wish I knew how bad the injuries were, but he wouldn't let me touch him last night."

"And we barely got him off the floor; I know," Danny nodded, and then looked pointedly at her. "You think it's really bad, don't you?"

"I don't know," Carter said, shaking her head. "That's the problem. All I know is that it *seems* bad--and that we have to keep them from taking him again. I mean, yes, Amaunet is using a new...method...now, but she's nowhere close to abandoning the old ones yet, and I honestly don't know if he could survive that again."

Danny's eyebrows almost disappeared beneath his now much shorter bangs Carter was still getting used to, and she flinched. "Now don't get me wrong," she added quickly. "His life isn't in immediate danger right now; but there's no telling what she'll do next time, and I don't think his body can take a whole lot more."

Jackson's head banged against the wall behind him and he let it rest there as the heels of his hands came up to press against his eyes. "Ohhh, I didn't need to hear that," he moaned.

"What?" Sam asked quickly, suddenly worried.

Danny sighed and turned to look at her, still frowning. "You do realize that's almost as bad as you telling me *I'm* in that condition, don't you?" he gulped.

Carter paled as she realized what he meant. "Oh! Omigosh, Danny, I'm sorry. I knew that, I just...I wasn't thinking..." She put her own head in her hands for a moment, embarrassed. "I'm sorry...I guess being a prisoner for two or three days straight can dull the brain."

"It's all right," Danny assured her, grimacing from soreness again before looking for a second time across the room at his older self--which was getting weird. "I guess you're right; he doesn't look so good."

Sam nodded wearily and pulled her legs up onto the bench, hugging her knees to her chest and resting her head on top of them. How hard could it be to get two Daniel Jackson out of here and home safely? It was at least possible, wasn't it? She certainly hoped so.

--------------------------------------------

"Jacob! Welcome back," Jack smiled, warmly greeting Samantha Carter's father as he came up the stairs into the conference room; O'Neill was in a much better mood this time, now that he knew almost for sure where his friends were.

Jacob nodded and greeted O'Neill in return as he sat down at the long table once again, joining the colonel, Teal'c, Dr. Fraiser, and General Hammond.

"I was happy to hear that you've found something," Carter said eagerly.

"Oh, we found something all right." O'Neill said enthusiastically.

Hammond nodded, and then turned to his friend. "Jacob, do the Tok'ra have any more information on P5R-322?"

Jacob nodded slowly. "Some...All we know is that Apophis has an outpost there--mostly underground. Most of the time it's abandoned or very sparsely occupied, but there has been a lot of unusual activity there the past few days."

"What kind of unusual activity?" Janet asked.

"Numerous matter streams leaving and returning through the rings, there are three ships in orbit; that sort thing. There was even a short-lived attack on the location by Heru-er's forces yesterday, but they were driven back." Jacob frowned. "If that's really where Sam and Daniel are, I don't like the odds we have of getting them out."

"Why not?" Jack questioned.

Jacob sighed. "The only two ways in or out of that compound is through the Stargate or the ring transporter. Both are in the same chamber, so it really doesn't make a difference which one we used. They would know we were there the second we arrived. That means our only option is to Gate there--a frontal assault; fight our way in, get Sam and Daniel;, and fight our way out again."

Now O'Neill frowned. "Oh. Well, you didn't say that before."

Fraiser had paled a bit. "How many jaffa do you think there are? What are our chances? If they had enough to beat back an attacking army..."

Carter's head shook. "Actually, we believe there to be as many as you might think. The force Heru-er spared to assault the outpost was rather small--only one hu'tack class vessel, and it didn't even seem to have a full crew, or so our intelligence says. Whichever Goa'uld is using that base now wouldn't have needed too many jaffa. On top of that, our surveillance before and after the attack hasn't shown any signs of large numbers of jaffa. That doesn't mean it'll be easy to get them out, but at least we have a chance."

"Well, we never expected it to be *easy*," Jack replied.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "Indeed. I do believe that Jacob carter is correct. We stand a fair chance of retrieving our friends safely. We should leave as quickly as possible" Then he looked toward Hammond. "If you agree, General Hammond."

The General seemed to hesitate for a moment.

"General?" Janet asked.

"Do we have the go-ahead, sir?" O'Neill added. He waited nervously for his superior's response, wanting nothing more than to get on with the rescue mission. He wanted his team back; he wanted his friends back. Goodness only knew what the Goa'uld holding them could be doing to them. He suppressed a shudder and forced himself not to think about it. Hammond would agree, they would find carter and Daniel, and both of them would be fine. They had to be.

Finally Hammond sighed. "I'm not entirely comfortable with allowing you to go straight in like that, colonel, but if we have no other choice..." After another moment he nodded. "All right, Jack, you have a go-"

"YES!"

"-but all of you do me a favor."

"Sir?" Fraiser asked as O'Neill calmed himself and turned back to the General as well.

"Don't get yourselves killed, and bring our people back safely."

O'Neill grinned, "Will do, sir!"

Jacob Carter smiled as well. "Thank you, George. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to ask permission to accompany them."

Hammond nodded. "Go right ahead, Jacob. And colonel, you'd better take SG-3 with you, as well. I'd send SG-5 too, but they're off-world."

"That's all right, sir; I think one extra team should do it. When can we leave, General?"

"How soon can you be ready, Jack?"

Chapter 21

Danny slumped back against the wall in relief as the cool water slipped down his parched throat. Finally their captors had given them something to drink. The three small containers weren't a whole lot, and still no food, but at least what they had been given would keep them alive for now. It had been almost three days since he and Sam had been captured, and they wouldn't have been able to go without water for much longer.

Beside him, Carter leaned over to wake his counter part, but when she touched his shoulder and whispered his name he didn't move. Afraid to shake him, she moved her hand to his forehead. Danny saw her frown at how his skin felt. Sam glanced toward her water container and back at the older Daniel, then pulled one arm out of her jacket and started to tug at the end of the sleeve of the black shirt underneath. When Danny realized what she was doing, he put out a hand to stop her, wincing in pain from the sudden movement.

"Sam, wait."

"What?" Carter asked, looking back at him.

"Let me," he answered, unzipping his own jacket and pulling at the bottom of his own t- shirt. "This thing already has holes in it anyway..."

Sam smiled at that. "Thanks," she said gratefully as he tore away a piece of cloth and handed it to her.

"No problem," Danny replied. He zipped his jacket back up, watching with concern as Carter dipped the cloth in water, rung it out and gently pressed it to the unconscious Jackson's forehead.

"He's not doing any better, is he?" Danny asked hesitantly.

Sam sighed and shook her head. "No; I'm afraid he's getting worse," she gulped. "Danny, if they don't find us soon, we're going to have to do something. We can't just sit around here any more."

"Like what, Sam? Every possible plan has been somehow ruled out. What are we supposed to do?"

"Anything!" Carter cried in frustration. "Amaunet probably knows by now that she's not going to get anything from either of you; she might just let him die this time. We can't let that happen. It would..." She trailed off, but the pained look on her face prompted Jackson to ask what was wrong.

"It would what, Sam? What is it?" he prodded gently.

Sam swallowed hard. "I know it's different, sort of, but...but if he dies...it would be just as bad as losing you," she whispered, blinking back tears. "I don't want you to die, Daniel--either of you. I don't know what I'd do...what SG-1 would do without you."

Now Danny swallowed. "Sam..."

He was almost relieved when he was interrupted by a soft moan from behind Carter, because he hadn't known what to say that. On the other side of Carter, the older Daniel was starting to come to, and Sam quickly turned back to him and continued to hold the damp cloth to his forehead.

"Daniel?" she said quietly as his eyes fluttered.

"W-what...?" he said faintly, now looking up at her from where he rested. "Oh...Sam." Daniel grimaced as he tried to pull in a deep breath now that he was awake. A moment later his hand went to his forehead and felt the cloth there, with Carter's hand still pressed firmly over it, and his eyes questioned her.

"Does it help any?" she asked.

"A little," he rasped. "Thanks."

"You're welcome, but thank your self over there for the cloth itself," Sam answered, smiling as she inclined her head towards Danny.

The younger Jackson shrugged when his counterpart glanced over at him. "Don't mention it; my shirt was torn up already."

"Yeah...I remember that part..." Daniel smiled.

"How are you feeling?" Sam asked.

Daniel groaned. "I'm not even going to *try* to answer that question."

Carter winced. "That bad, huh?"

He nodded weakly, and she sighed. "Here; maybe drinking something will do you some good," she suggested, picking up his container of water. Gently Sam moved her hand from his forehead to behind his head and picked it up enough so that he could drink. She started to bring the container to his lips herself, but was relieved when he was able to reach up, take it from her and do it himself, even if his arms were rather shaky.

When Daniel finished, he handed the container back to Carter and she set it down out of the way and lowered his head back to the bench. He thanked her again, and she nodded in return.

"You know," Daniel began after a moment, "it's kind of...frustrating..."

"What is?" Carter asked in confusion as Danny raised an eyebrow, wanting to know what he was talking about.

Daniel would have shrugged, but deemed it wiser to remain still and simply turned his head to look at Sam and his younger self. "Well," he said, a half smile pulling at his lips. "The first time I was here they had to take me three or four times before it got anywhere near this bad for me, but this time it only took once to put me out of commission. And it's just...well...depressing." Something that sounded like a choked off chuckle escaped before he gave a muffled cry of pain, and Sam put a hand on his shoulder.

Danny crossed his arms over his chest. "There's no need to feel bad about that; it's not your fault...or at least I don't think so."

Daniel resisted the urge to sigh, already hurting more from his weak attempt to laugh. "I know it's not...but that doesn't make me feel any less helpless."

Another silent moment passed, and then Danny sat up. "He's right."

"I am? About what?"

"What are you talking about, Danny?"

"About feeling helpless," he frowned. "I've had enough of it. You were right Sam; we have to do *something*. We need to get out of here, get him back to his own time, get Sha're out of here-"

A sudden pained grunt from the older Jackson brought Danny to a halt. "You okay?" he asked.

Daniel blinked. "Yeah...s-sorry..." he fumbled, hoping that his face wasn't revealing what he was feeling now. Oh how he wished they really could free Sha're now, but...

"Look," Daniel said, as Sam and Danny continued to look at him. "We'll get out of here, I promise. I'm not sure exactly how or when anymore, but...just trust me okay? Don't do anything rash."

"That's easy for you to say," Danny scowled. "You at least have some idea of how much longer we're going to be stuck here; we don't have ay idea whatsoever."

"I'm sorry; you know I can't..."

"We know," Sam answered quickly. "Danny, he's right. Maybe we should just be patient a little longer."

The younger Jackson shifted uncomfortably, wincing. Finally he nodded. "Fine," he conceded. Before he had a chance to say anything else though, a faint, distant and yet somehow familiar sound interrupted him.

"What was that?" Daniel asked, grimacing as he tried to lift his upper body enough to look out into the hallway.

Carter gently pushed him back down and stood. "I'm not sure, but..."

Danny grunted as he started to stand as well. "Ya think...?"

Sam nodded slowly, her eyes wide. "Yeah. I think so."

--------------------------------------------------------------

"Queen Amaunet! There is trouble!"

Amaunet turned at the sound of her name being called to see an alarmed young jaffa hurrying approach her. "What is it?" she demanded.

The man bowed hurriedly, then straightened again and made his report. "My Lady, the compound is being infiltrated-"

"What?!" she growled, her eyes flaring. "Again? That is impossible!"

"N-no, My Lady. It is true, but this time the invasion comes through the Chappa'ai."

The Goa'uld's eyes narrowed. "The Tau'ri?"

The jaffa nodded. "Yes, My Queen. It is the Tau'ri. It appears to be the remaining members of SG-1, another human team, and a few Tok'ra. They came through only a moment ago, and we have not yet alerted them that we know they are here. They are still in the main chamber. What would you have us do, My Lady?"

"Do not engage them yet. Let them believe we are still ignorant of their presence. There is something I must do before they are fought back."

"What is that, My Lady? If you require assistance to do this thing, than I and my fellow jaffa are of course always at your service," the young man said, bowing low.

Amaunet smiled; she liked this one. "Yes, I do require you and several more. I cannot take the risk of Daniel Jackson's comrades finding him and escaping with him; not after all the trouble I have gone to to bring him here so I could kill him. I had hoped to keep him alive a few days longer, to gain information from him, both of them, but if that cannot happen, then so be it. He must die now, before this chance to rid myself of the nuisance of his existence disappears."

"Are you certain, My Queen? We could learn of the future from the older one..."

"Yes, and it is regrettable that *that* chance will be lost, but at least he will be gone, and we will still have the woman to question about what the Tau'ri are up to in this time."

The jaffa bowed his head again. "Yes, Lady Amaunet."

-----------------------------------------------------------

Jack O'Neill looked around cautiously as the last members of the rescue mission stepped through the gate and it deactivated behind them, though he didn't relax even when he saw no jaffa in the immediate vicinity. They were here somewhere, and the teams probably didn't have much more time before they were discovered.

O'Neill nodded to Teal'c, who continued to scan the room and check the exits with the others as he, Jacob Carter, and Doctor Fraiser approached the open crate they had spotted on the M.A.L.P. telemetry that had caught their interest. Once next to it, he poked through its contents with the barrel of his gun.

"It's their things all right," Janet confirmed quietly, picking up the GDO that lay on top.

"Which means they're here," Jack agreed. He was at the same time relieved that they knew for sure where they were now and worried for they're safety because where they were was a Goa'uld facility.

"It also means that we'd better find them fast," Jacob added. "They could be hurt."

"*That's* why we brought the doc along."

"I thought we brought her along because she insisted," Jacob smiled, glancing at Fraiser, who smiled back at him.

"There's that," O'Neill granted.

"All right, enough talking about why I'm here," Janet intervened. "Shouldn't we be rescuing Sam and Daniel?"

"Right," Jack said. "Okay...we shouldn't leave the Goa'uld with this," he said, sticking the GDO into his vest. Then he continued to look through the box. The only other items in it were Carter and Jackson's vests, and their guns--Carter's, which was identical to his, and Daniel's much smaller handheld. He handed Carter's gun to her father and put Daniel's in his own belt. "They might need those once we find them," he commented briefly. "Their zats are gone, but I guess I should have expected that."

Jacob nodded. "The Goa'uld can use zats, but would have had no use for your primitive projectile weapons."

Jack shot the older man a look. "Hey, you used to use our 'primitive projectile weapons' too Mr. Air-Force-Guy-gone-alien."

The Tok'ra shrugged. "Sorry, Jack; I've got a new perspective now, remember?"

O'Neill rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Let's just get going." Then he looked toward the edge of the room. "Teal'c, everything still clear?"

The jaffa nodded. "It is, O'Neill, but I would not expect it to be so for much longer. I suggest we move out."

"Good idea."

---------------------------------------------------

"Anything yet?" Sam asked.

Danny shook his head from where he leaned against the wall on the opposite side of the door from her. "No. Nothing from your direction?" Carter confirmed. "Good," Jackson said. Sam was on one side of the door, facing deeper into the compound, watching for jaffa, and he was on the other side facing the direction of the 'gate room, the direction they hoped to see Jack and Teal'c coming from.

No one had appeared yet, however, and though disappointment was beginning to set in, at least no jaffa had shown up for any reason. Danny was almost starting to feel relief for that when Carter's eyebrows went up.

"Uh-oh," she said simply.

"Uh-oh what?" Danny asked, wincing as he moved away from the wall and turned to looked in the direction she was. That was when he heard the approaching footsteps.

"Jaffa," Daniel stated in bland annoyance from where he lay. Sure enough, a moment later several rounded the corner, Amaunet in their midst.

"Darn it," Danny hissed as he saw that his older counterpart was right. "What do they want?"

Carter sighed. "Maybe it really wasn't our people who came through the 'gate."

"Great. Now what?"

"They'll come," Daniel said confidently. "I just...hope they'll be in time for all of us."

"You and me both," Danny sighed, lowering himself onto the nearest section of the bench to the door. "Though I'm not really sure you and me qualify as *both...*"

Daniel smiled, but suddenly grimaced again when he felt his body automatically try to laugh. Instead of a laugh a strangled cry of pain issued, and Sam whirled to face him in alarm.

"Daniel?"

"I'm...o-okay," he gulped. He closed his eyes for a moment to catch his breath, and then glanced back toward Danny, who's eyes were now wide.

"Sorry," he apologized quickly before his older self could say anything.

"It's okay; just...try not to make me laugh anymore, okay?"

Danny flinched. "Yeah. Sorry, didn't mean to..." He trailed off when he saw that the door had begun to open. A moment later it was out of the way and several jaffa had flooded the holding room. Carter stiffened as two of them took her arms, and Danny yelped in pain as two more jerked him back to his feet.

From there, everything happened quickly. Amaunet nodded to the remaining three jaffa, who headed for Daniel and started to pull him up off the bench to his shouts of pain.

"What are you doing?! Leave him alone; he's in no condition for you to be doing that!" Sam cried in alarm. She glared at Amaunet as she stopped in front of her. "What do you want? What's going on?"

A sudden scream from near the back of the room brought Sam attention back to Daniel before she could get answer. As she turned her head, she caught a glimpse of a satisfactory smile from Amaunet, and when she had turned she say why. Two of the three jaffa who had pulled the older Daniel up were holding him up as the other started to pummel him again--not a good idea at all in his present condition, but then again they certainly didn't have the prisoner's best interests in mind.

"No! Don't! You'll kill him!" Sam shouted, struggling against the two guards who had hold of her.

"Exactly the point," Amaunet smiled.

"What?!" Carter and Danny said together.

"Of course," Amaunet supplied. "You see, it seems that your friends have found there way to this planet. Therefore, I must fulfill my original aim of killing Daniel Jackson before they can find you. Not that I will allow them to, but I cannot afford to take chances."

"You're kidding," Danny gulped.

"No; I am not," she replied coldly.

"Please-!" Sam begged as the jaffa dropped Daniel and resorted to kicking him. She felt tears in her eyes as both she and Danny continued to protest, but a moment later when his screams faded to nothing the lump in that had formed in her throat stuck, rendering the major unable to breath for a few seconds.

"N-no..." she finally stammered. The jaffa backed away and exited the cell, leaving Daniel's un-moving body on the floor. Sam stared silently for a moment, gulping back tears, but they still blurred her vision, and she couldn't focus enough to see if his chest was still moving. She couldn't tell if he was alive; not that there was much need to. There was little hope he could have survived a beating like that in the condition he'd been in.

Carter whirled back toward Amaunet, fury mounting over the sadness, but before she could open her mouth she found the Goa'uld's ribbon device activating in her face.

Danny tore his eyes away from the still form of his future self when he heard his friend shout in pain. "Sam!" he cried as she dropped to her knees. "Stop it!" he demanded as the beam of the had device continued to bare down on Sam. "You've done enough; leave her alone!" he begged when Amaunet ignored him. Another moment and she still had not listened. "Sha're, please-!"

At that the ribbon device snapped off and Sam slumped, unconscious. As the two jaffa who had held her dropped Carter to the ground and also exited the room, Amaunet turned to Danny, her eyes briefly flaring yellow-white as she scowled at him. She took a step in his direction, bringing her near to the center of the room.

"Bring him to me," she ordered the jaffa who gripped Jackson's arms.

Danny struggled, but the two guards effortlessly pulled him forward to stop just in front of her, and it only left him breathing heavily in pain from his sore middle. Amaunet smiled at him; an expression that sent a shiver of fear down his spine. As he looked at her, in his mind's eye he again saw the un-moving forms of Samantha Carter and his older self, whom he wasn't even sure was alive, and remembered what the Goa'uld had said a few minutes before--that she was here to kill him for good this time.

Suddenly Danny realized that it didn't matter if Daniel was alive or not; if Amaunet killed *him*, his future self would cease to exist. He gulped hard.

*Oh...'crap'.*

Chapter 22

Something told Danny he was doomed.

"L-Look, you-" his breath clogged in his throat when he saw her pull a dagger from her robes. "You d-don't have to do this," he stammered, pulling harder on his human restraints. The jaffas' grip tightened and moved closer to him, keeping him from moving much at all.

The Goa'uld gave him a condescending stare. "I see no other alternative. You will continue to bother me until I am out of this host or one of us is dead, and my host will continue to trouble me until you are dead. This is the only way to rid myself of my problem." She smiled again, "And I see nothing wrong with it."

*Well I do.* Panic started to edge its way into Danny's thoughts, but he shoved it aside for another matter. "What about Sam?" he asked shakily.

"She will remain alive--for now. We still have use for her; she has information we need-- the information you would not give us."

Danny stiffened. *No.* "No," he said aloud, through gritted teeth. "Leave her alone."

Amaunet's eyebrows rose at his audacity. "You cannot prevent me from questioning her if you are dead."

Jackson had no argument to counter that, but he would not back down from her. "Let me talk to my wife" he demanded, his teeth no longer grinding together but his jaw still clenched, working in fury. He should have been feeling fear much more strongly at this point, but the anger overrode it. He didn't want to die, only to leave Sam to be tortured as he had been, with the possibility of Jack and Teal'c being captured as well.

"No!" Amaunet said loudly, her eyes flashing again. "She has done enough talking in the past two days--no more!" Her fingers clenched around the hilt of the knife in her hand not covered by the ribbon device. "It is your time to die, Daniel Jackson, and may Osiris have you thrown to Ammut in the underworld!"

At the mention of the characters of Ancient Egyptian myth, the anthropologist in Daniel automatically began to wonder if the Goa'uld had not only taken on the personages of the gods of Egyptian mythology but had begun to believe it, or if the expression was just that--an expression, but his thoughts quickly stopped when he realized exactly what she had said and the intensity with which she had said it.

"No, wait-!" he cried, trying to back away, but of course failing.

Amaunet's smile returned. "Goodbye, Doctor Jackson."

Danny pulled again, desperately, at his captors' grip, but it was useless. Seconds later the Goa'uld had thrust forward with the dagger, burying it hilt-deep in his abdomen with skilled precision.

Jackson gasped in shock as pain ripped through his torso, and grunted loudly when Amaunet slipped the knife out. His face contorted with pain, and his knees crumpled as blood began to blossom out from where she had stabbed him, staining his jacket. But the jaffa on either side wouldn't let him go down, and held the gasping archaeologist up. *Oh no; she's not going to do that again, is she?* The thought alone made him groan aloud, which Amaunet seem to enjoy.

When the Goa'uld drew back as if to stab at him again and Danny flinched, and with the movement he was able to gather that he was already losing strength.

"N-No..." he stammered, but in didn't prevent the knife from being shoved into his stomach again. This time Amaunet gave the weapon a brutal twist before removing it, bringing a scream from her victim's throat and tears to his eyes. Then, nodding to her jaffa, they released him, letting the young scientist drop to the floor.

Danny cried out again upon impact, and, gasping, curled into a protective ball, his arms going around his stomach and tightening even though it was painful in what he already knew would be a futile attempt to quell the bleeding. Tears stung his eyes as through a haze of pain he heard Amaunet order all the jaffa to leave her, to send word to being the assault on the Tau'ri and Tok'ra forces that were invading her stronghold. The guards' retreating footsteps pounded in his head in time with the throbbing agony in his torso.

Jackson heard Amaunet start back toward him, but he didn't dare open his eyes for fear of being hurt more if she knew he was conscious, though the fish-out-of-water breathing was probably a giveaway...

Amaunet's footsteps stopped. The low gasp of the Goa'uld sounded as he also heard a clatter that he assumed was her dagger hitting the floor. But to his surprise a moment later he heard Amaunet's gasps of surprise and what might have been pain fade to human breaths--disoriented, but human.

His breath catching in his throat, Danny forced his eyes open to see his wife staggering away from the wall, surprise on her face--he assumed the surprise stemmed from actually being in control of her body again, and not in pain this time, thank goodness. Jackson pulled in a shaky breath at the sight of her, struggling to gulp back the tears that had gathered.

"Sha're..." he gasped.

Danny's voice brought her attention quickly to him, and she bit back a sob.

"Dan'iel!" she cried, hurrying to his side and kneeling beside him. Without hesitation she slipped an arm under his shoulders and gently pulled his upper body off the cold floor and into her arms. Streaks of intensified pain shot through his abdomen from the movement, and he moaned, his eyes clenching shut. When he was secure in her grasp Danny went limp against her, welcoming the warmth, which helped to counter the overwhelming coldness slowly taking over his body as he lost blood. "Dan'iel, I am sorry. I-I could not stop her. I *tried* Dan'iel, I tried, but she did this. It's my fault, Dan'iel, I'm so sorry..." she sobbed, holding him.

Danny's eyes opened gain and he looked at her, comforted just by the fact that she was there and she was herself, even if she could do nothing for him but hold him. He brought his hand up toward her face. His arm trembled, but he managed to cup her cheek. He was able to speak, but his words were broken every few seconds from his heavy breathing.

"No...Sha're, you have to...stop blaming yourself for...for what Amaunet does...I don't care what...s-she's done to me; I-I love you..." He choked off his words, frustrated with how shaky his voice was. He gulped. "I love you."

Sha're swallowed another sob and stroked his slightly sweat-dampened hair with her free hand that wasn't supporting him. "I love you, Dan'iel...Please hold on. The...the sarcophagus," she said. "If I can bring you there..."

Danny shook his head slowly as he realized the situation and suddenly realized what he had to do. A lump formed in his throat. "No..." he said quietly.

"But why, my husband? You-you're dying, Dan'iel! I won't lose you..." she gulped.

"Our friends are here...remember? Amaunet has her jaffa attacking them, which...which means security will be that much tighter everywhere...else with invaders in the compound..." Jackson said, sounding much calmer than he would have expected himself to be when signing his own death warrant. "There's no way you could...get me there; they would know it was...you, not her. It's too risky...I can't let you. Besides, I don't...I don't really want to...use one of those things again...And...we can't just leave them here...."

He nodded toward Sam and his older self; both were still unconscious...or otherwise. Then he looked into her sad eyes, feigning a small smile even as tears threatened to escape. "It's okay...r-really." He brushed at her hair. "I'm just glad I saw you again...I love you, but you...you have to go, Sha're. Take Sam with, you, find Jack...and Teal'c, and get *out* of here. They'll help you..." Trailing off, his eyes drifted shut and his hand drifted down from her cheek to her shoulder. The pain was clouding his mind, and he was getting weaker. It was slowly becoming harder and harder to speak, to think straight; his body was growing colder, more exhausted, as his blood left it.

"N-No, Dan'iel," Sha're sobbed, now crying again, and shaking her head. "I won't leave you. I will not let you die. I won't...Dan'iel? Dan'iel, hold on, please-!"

Danny moaned and pried his eyes open again. "Sha're, I'm sorry," he gasped, gripping the fabric of her robes tightly between his fingers.

"I will not leave you, my husband," Sha're said quietly, holding him tighter, offering what comfort she could from the pain. It was becoming harder to keep the tears back, and the lump in Danny's throat started to hurt.

"S-Sha're, please," he pleaded weakly, his voice faltering. "Please, just...go before it's too...too late, before Amaunet takes control...again or you can't get out...please, Sha're. I love you; I want you to be...safe. I want you to be free-" His voice broke completely there, not wanting to say goodbye to her for good, but finally, at least, it seemed that she was giving in. It seemed she realized that she wasn't going to change his mind.

Nodding in defeat, Sha're leaned closer to him. His lips found hers, and as Danny kissed her, the tears began to spill from his eyes and down his cheeks.

--------------------------------------------------------

Jack O'Neill stiffened when he heard the faint, familiar but unwelcome sound that the teams could just now pick up as they progressed silently through the corridors of the Goa'uld facility.

"Jaffa approach, O'Neill," Teal'c advised quietly.

"Yeah, I hear them," Jack whispered back, his hands tightening around his P-90.

"Is there any way to avoid them?" Jacob asked quietly.

Teal'c shook his head. "Not here. I do not believe we have any choice but to engage them should they continue in this direction."

"You sure about that, Teal'c?" O'Neill questioned. "Which direction are they coming *from*?"

The larger man tilted his head for a moment, and the raised an eyebrow. "Virtually all, O'Neill, except from behind us."

"Darn it," the colonel spat. He remained silent for a moment and then looked to Jacob Carter. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do, Jacob. We're going to split up. Teal'c and I will go this way with our people," he said, nodding in one direction, "and you take yours the other way. Maintain radio silence as a general rule so as not to give away the other's position, but whoever finds Daniel and Carter reports immediately. All right?"

Carter nodded. "Sounds like as good a plan as any." The ex air force officer threw off a lazy salute. "Good luck, colonel."

"Good luck to you too, you crazy old snake head you," Jack grinned, starting to move off and motioning the SGC personnel to follow.

The Tok'ra smiled back. "Why thank you, O'Neill," Selmak replied, but the twinkle in his eye was Jacob's.

Shaking his head at how well the two got along--human and symbiote--even though they had not yet been joined for a full year, Jack continued along his chosen route as Jacob and his few Tok'ra colleagues went the opposite direction. Behind O'Neill Teal'c, Colonel Makepeace ad the rest of SG-3 followed, all steeled for a battle if it was necessary, but Jack hoped they would reach their friends before the jaffa reached them.

-----------------------------------------------------

Sha're pulled back from the kiss, and Danny looked up at her as she tried to give him a smile. But his eyes grew wide when her face faltered, head snapping back as she gasped. He knew by now what was happening.

"Sha're, hold on!" he rasped weakly, but urgently, gulping back the tears again to speak. "Stay in...control, just a little longer...please!"

Her free hand went to her head as she cried out in pain as the Goa'uld pried its way to the surface, pushing her down. "Dan'iel, I cannot!" she choked. "I-I'm sorry, Dan'iel; I love yo-" Her sobbed words cut off before it could finish, and suddenly her eyes glowed again.

Danny barely had time to feel a reaction before Amaunet pulled away from him, removing her hand from behind his back and letting him drop back to floor. He groaned loudly, and looked up at her, gasping in pain again, as she stood.

"No, please," Jackson begged, too weak to care if he sounded pitiful or not. "Please, let her come back..."

"Silence!" the Goa'uld shouted, lashing out with her foot. She caught him in the chest, avoiding the bleeding wounds in his abdomen but still succeeding in knocking the wind from him and causing him to shout and double over in agony.

Amaunet sneered at the dying human, writhing on the floor as he struggled to bring air back into his lungs despite the searing pain from his middle. "Within minutes you will be dead," she smirked. "And then my troubles will be over."

"N-No they won't..." Danny gasped through his sobs of pain, his voice barely above a whisper. "They've just begun."

The Goa'uld said, nothing, but stared in disbelief at the defiant human as he weakly turned his head up from the floor to look at her, tears streaming down his cheeks as he squeezed his words in between the heaving of his chest. "She'll still ...fight you....Maybe I'll be...gone, but...she still...has a father...and her brother...is out there somewhere...and...her child.... You've accomplished...nothing..."

Danny felt the hot tears on face, warmer than the rest of his body, and the excruciating pain almost felt away for a moment as he spoke, forcing out what would probably be his last words as his emotions tumbled out and stumbled over each other. He knew he was dying, and in that one moment as he spoke to Amaunet, telling this Goa'uld what he thought of her and at the same time assuring himself and Sha're that she would still be free someday, if not with him, he felt like laughing, crying, shouting in anger and screaming in pain at the same time.

"She won't give up," he said vehemently. "Sha're is...strong. If...if anything, this will...will make her fight...harder. She'll defeat you...someday. She'll win. And this...this will be...worth it-" Jackson's voice chocked on the last words, but it didn't matter, because he was finished. His eyes slipped shut again, and he bit back another sob, determined not to cry any more in front of the Goa'uld as he concentrated on bringing in oxygen.

Amaunet glared down at him. "I do not have to listen to your foolishness, human," she said. "Both of you will soon be gone." That was when her attention veered to back of room as she remembered the older Daniel.

Stepping around the dying younger man, she approached the un-moving body of his older self. She frowned when she saw that he was still alive. He struggled to breath through a broken rib cage with closed eyes, barely conscious and near death, but he was alive nonetheless, even though he wasn't aware of her standing over him. For a moment she pondered reclaiming her dagger and using it to assure his death, but quickly deemed it an unnecessary expenditure pf energy, as he would cease to exist the moment his younger self died, if not before.

Amaunet then stepped out of the holding cell, but stopped at the door and turned, a smirk on her face. "Goodbye again, Daniel Jackson. I look forward to never seeing you alive, again."

With that parting sentence, she touched the door controls, and as the opening closed she spun on her heel and quickly left without looking back.

Danny was left on the floor, fighting for his life, and as she disappeared from view, out of his reach once more, he broke into tears again. *Sha're, I'm so sorry,* he thought once again, sobbing pitifully. *I tried to save you. I tried, but again I failed. And now it's all over. Please forgive me, Sha're, I love you...*

---------------------------------------------------------

Samantha Carter groaned as consciousness returned, bringing with in a splitting head gained from being knocked out by Amaunet's ribbon device. Grimacing, she pulled one hand up to her forehead, trying to get past the pounding and remember why there was an impending sense of doom hanging over head. A moment later her eyes snapped open. Daniel. Sitting up as quickly as she dared, she looked around for him.

Carter saw Danny first, curled on the floor with his back to her, sobbing quietly. She pulled in a breath as a sudden streak of panic flashed through her as she wondered how badly *he* was hurt. She quickly pushed it down, however, promising herself that she would get to him as soon as could, once she checked on Daniel. After all, the last time she had seen the older Jackson, he had been lying motionless on the ground, beaten down by Amaunet's jaffa, and she hadn't known whether he was alive or not. She had to find out. Turning, she saw that he was still laying in the same spot, and quickly crawled over to him.

Sam had been afraid that she was going to check his pulse and find nothing, but before she had a chance to his labored breathing told her he was still alive, and she slumped beside him, sighing. The hand that had been going toward his neck went instead to cheek.

"Daniel?" she said quietly, trying to wake him without moving him because she knew he would be hurting. "Daniel, can you hear me?"

The older man moaned, and a moment later his eyes fluttered open. It took a few seconds longer for recognition to register in his eyes.

"Daniel?"

His eyes closed again, and she was afraid she hadn't seen the recognition she thought she'd seen in his expression. But then he spoke, though his voice was barely audible. "I'm St-till here...Sam..." he rasped. He moaned again, and Sam used her other hand to take his for a moment.

"Hold on, okay?" she gulped, her chest tightening. "I have to check on Danny. I don't know how badly he's hurt. But I'll still be close, okay? Don't die on me, understand?" Daniel nodded weakly, his eyes still closed, but when she started to move off again his hand suddenly gripped hers more tightly.

"Daniel? What is it?" She looked back at him to see his eyes open again and on her. "Daniel?"

After another few seconds he spoke softly, his eyes intense. "Sam...I don't know...what she...did to him...," he gasped. "But you have to...to keep him...alive. Or...or we're both dead. I'll...cease to exist."

Sam nodded, but couldn't respond. Daniel's eyes closed again, and she slipped her hand out of his and turned to the younger Jackson, in the middle of the floor not far from her. Scooting up behind him on her knees, she touched his trembling shoulder and carefully turned him toward her. "Danny, you okay-?"

She stopped in mid sentence, the words clogging in her throat when saw all the...the blood. It took a few seconds more for her eyes to find the two wounds in his middle, one larger than the other, take in his pale skin, shallow breathing, the amount of blood that soaked the front of his jacket and half the sleeves where he'd had them wrapped around his abdomen...and could easily gather what Amaunet had done to him.

Carter blanched, chocking back a sob. "Oh no..." Putting an arm under his limp shoulders, she gently pulled him up, letting him rest on her knees. He moaned pitifully, but made no other sound, and didn't open his eyes. "Darn it, Daniel, no," Sam cried in alarm. "Come on, Danny, look at me." She took his hand with one of hers and squeezed, and wiped her other hand across his sweaty forehead. He was trembling, probably going into shock, and tears still rolled down his cheeks.

"It's okay, it's okay," she soothed, though not all of her believed it. "I'm right here, Danny, it's all right. Please, talk to me..."

Finally she got a response when he opened his eyes and looked at her. "S-Sam, I couldn't...I couldn't help her," he gasped. "I saw...Sha're again, but I...couldn't do anything. N-Now I'll...I'll never get another chance," he cried.

Sam held onto him tighter, hoping to give more comfort. "Don't say that," she said quietly, swallowing hard. "You can make it. The colonel and Teal'c are here now, remember? Just hold on until they find us and we can get back to the SGC. Janet will take care of you, okay?"

Jackson's tears slowly subsided at that, sensing the glimmer of hope, but at the same time all knew the chances weren't the best. A moment later Carter heard a sound beside her, and looked just behind her to see that Daniel had pulled himself over to them. Reaching out a hand to him, the older Jackson took it, pulled himself up her arm and leaned against her, gulping for air as he grimaced in pain. It almost made her smile, seeing how stubborn he still was even in the future, even here, even after what he'd been through the past couple of days, even though he probably wouldn't even be alive much longer, if even in existence...

Sam stopped herself there, not wanting to think about the possibility that she might lose Daniel twice in one day if the rescue team didn't hurry, that it might already be too late. "This is...really bad," Daniel voiced from his perch on her shoulder, when he saw what had been done to his younger self.

"Ya...think?" Danny replied weakly.

One arm around Daniel, her other hand still holding Danny's, Carter squeezed gently, reassuringly, she hoped. "Just hold on, Daniel--both of you," she urged quietly, blinking back tears.

Chapter 23

Sam saw the two Jacksons look at each other and, not for the first time, something seemed to pass between them--an understanding, and she could make out the grim line that his and his younger counterpart's mouths formed.

Carter gulped, afraid of what one of them was about to say, but before anymore words were spoken Danny's eyes shut again and he groaned. Seconds later, almost overlapping, Daniel's sudden, surprised cry of pain echoed after. Carter had been looking at Daniel at the time and...had the lights flickered?

"Daniel?" she said with concern.

"G-Great," he gasped. "I was afraid of-of this..."

"Daniel, what's wrong? Danny?" But Danny's eyes remained closed, and beside her, Daniel started to tremble. "Daniel, what's going on?!" Sam asked urgently.

"Sam, it's...it's the timeline--it's....changing. I can feel it...Ah!" It happened again--what she thought had been the lights flickering, but this time also with an almost unnoticeable flash of mixed colors, and she recognized it for what it was--ECF, Entropy Cascade Failure. The lights hadn't flickered; Daniel had flickered. Sam gasped as she realized what it meant; Danny was dying, and Daniel's existence was failing. Or in other words, the way things were going now didn't make either Jackson's survival look good.

"No!" she cried in alarm, suddenly squeezing Danny's hand much tighter, prompting a whimper from the younger man. Under other circumstances the major would have apologized, but right now she wanted him as awake and aware as possible. "Danny, listen to me. You have to hold on, you hear me? For both of you, Danny, please!"

"He knows..." Daniel said quietly, looking away. It was then that Danny's eyes opened again.

"Sam, it's too...late," Danny gulped, tears gathering in his eyes again. "You...c-can't try to...take us with you...when Jack and Teal'c...get here--too risky...slow you...down. Just go..." and his eyes closed once more. So that was what one of them had been about to say. Carter frowned.

"Danny, no, we're not going to leave you behind. You know the colonel won't go for that."

"Sam, you don't...understand..." Daniel said. "There...there may be nothing...to leave behind...Not of me, anyway..." He trailed off and gasped as the world flickered around him again, seeming to make his point. But that didn't mean Sam was going to accept it. She was *not* going to let one of her best friends die, darnit. She started to say something else in protest, but before she could she was interrupted by the sound of multiple footsteps rounding the corner outside, and then of the door opening.

"Carter!" a familiar voice called. Sam looked up surprise to see Jack O'Neill squeezing through the barely opened door before it had a chance to finish moving.

"Colonel!" she cried in surprise. "Colonel am I glad to see you! Daniel-" But O'Neill had already seen what was wrong with Danny, and she could see the color drain from his face as he dropped to the ground beside the younger man.

"Aww, crap, Daniel..." Jack groaned as he knelt over his friend, looking over the wounds, all attention suddenly on Danny. She saw him visibly gulp when he realized how bad the injuries were. "Carter, what happened?" he asked hoarsely.

"I-It's a long story, sir. I think we should just get them back to the SGC as quickly as possible..."

"Sam, no..." the older Jackson protested weakly from her shoulder.

Jack suddenly looked up at the voice, realizing for the first time that there was a third prisoner in the holding cell. "What? Carter, who's your...friend-yow!" O'Neill physically snapped backward, landing on his rear and staring in disbelief at the older version of Daniel Jackson. "Major, what the heck is going on here....?"

Somehow Daniel managed a shadow of a smile. "Nice to see you too, Jack." Jack looked to Sam. "Don't tell me it's alternate universes again..."

She shook her. "No sir. This *is* Daniel...from the, uhm, from the future..."

O'Neill looked back at the older Daniel as he pushed himself back up onto his knees. "Right...Geez, nothing's ever simple anymore, is it?" But he quickly forgot his confusion and turned his attention back to Danny, who was now looking up at him.

"Jack...?"

"Yeah, I'm right here Danny-boy. Don't worry; we're gonna get all three of you outta here, okay?" *And we'd better get a move on before those jaffa catch up to us...*he added silently.

A sudden weak grip closed around O'Neill's wrist. "No Jack...just...take Sam and...and go," Danny gasped softly.

Jack stared at him. "Are you crazy? I am not leaving you behind-" He stopped when Danny's eyes clenched shut with a hiss of pain, and Daniel shouted as he began to flicker again, though it was the first time O'Neill had seen this. "Doc!" he shouted over his shoulder. "Where are you?! You'd better get in here-" He cut himself off again when Janet Fraiser caught up and followed him into the holding cell.

"I'm right here, colonel. Teal'c and SG-3 are at the corner watching for jaffa. We can hear them now, sir. We don't have much time...oh no..." Janet stopped in her tracks halfway into the cell when she saw Danny, but quickly composed herself and rushed to her new patient, pulling her pack off her back.

As Fraiser tried to check over all three prisoners at once, Carter told her what she'd told O'Neill when surprise registered on her face at seeing another Daniel. Thankfully the tremors had stopped again and Daniel was still solid, but now he was even more quiet than usual for some reason, and Sam couldn't help but remember the look on the older man's face the last time she'd mentioned the doctor. As he looked at Janet now, it was making a return appearance.

"Daniel?" she asked quietly.

"N-Nothing," he stammered, but then sucked in a sharp breath when Janet hit a particularly sore spot in his ribs as she tried to feel him over in his upright position. He batted her hands away. "No!" he cried, and now there were tears in his eyes as well as Danny's. "All of...you, just...go! We're goners! You'll...never make it...to the gate if you...try to bring us..."

"Listen to us...J'ck..." Danny gasped. "Please...get out of here..."

"Out of the question," O'Neill answered hotly. "Doc, we can get them home, right...?"

Fraiser looked up at him, "Colonel, I...I hate to say this, but if we had gotten here sooner then they'd have had a better chance, but now..." She shook her head. "I just don't know. He's lost so much blood, and if this is really his future self, then if Daniel doesn't make it..."

"I know!" O'Neill said in annoyance. "I'm not a scientist like Carter, but I get the basic idea. Daniel doesn't survive, no Daniel in the future, and we lose both of them. I *understand* that, doctor, now how do we prevent it?"

"By leaving *now* sir," Carter said urgently, and it was then that they realized that the sound of approaching jaffa was growing louder.

"That's it; we're moving out," Jack agreed. Easily slipping an arm under Danny's shoulders as they were elevated in his position laying on Sam's knees, O'Neill started to pick him up and get his other arm under Danny's knees when the younger man released a startled cry of pain.

"Jack, don't-!" he choked. Grimacing as his friend's face contorted in agony, Jack gently set him back down.

"What else do you want me to do, Daniel? We have to get you out of here."

"No. Go."

"No way-"

"Darnit, Jack!" the older Daniel gasped. "I...forgot that you used to...be even more stubborn! Just...just go before those jaffa...close in on you...and you can't!"

Jack looked back and forth between the two Jacksons, knowing that he didn't have time to. Part of him also knew that they were right, but he'd be darned if he'd admit it...

"Jack...pleas-GAH!" Daniel suddenly screamed, sending a chill down O'Neill's spine when his body started to flicker again--and this time it didn't look like it was going to stop.

"Daniel!" Janet yelped.

"No!" Sam cried as the older version of her friend began to fade away beside her. "Jack! Get them...out of here! Don't...let anyone...else...get hurt!" Daniel gasped through the pain. "Sorry..." And he faded completely away, a swirl of colors blinking out with him. Jack lunged for him, but his hands hit nothing.

Sam grasped at the empty air beside her as tears welled up in her eyes. "Daniel!" she shouted.

O'Neill stared, dumbfounded, at the empty space where another version of his friend had been seconds before. Gulping past the lump that tried to begin forming in his throat, he slowly looked back down at Danny, fearing the worst, but the kid was still alive. Even though he didn't know much about time-travel theory, astrophysics and such, he did know that if Jackson were close enough to death for his future self to have ceased to exist, there really wasn't anything he could do.

Danny was looking at him, still wide-eyed from seeing himself disappear. The younger man's arms were around his middle again, and Jack could see the pain on his face. He only wished he could wipe it away, fix all this...Daniel couldn't just die, darnit; they'd been through too much together! And in the background he could still hear the jaffa drawing ever closer. They had to get out of here *now*. And even though the colonel knew he didn't have much choice, he desperately didn't want to just leave Daniel behind. Jackson must have seen what was going through his mind, because his expression softened, and then he spoke with a kindness that only someone like Daniel Jackson would have been able to show in his position.

"It's okay, Jack," he said weakly, his voice barely audible anymore. "Just...go."

"Daniel, I-"

"But promise...me something, Jack," Danny added before O'Neill could continue. The colonel nodded, gulping again. "Promise me...that you'll...find Sha're again...free her..." Jack nodded again, still trying to find his voice, and Danny smiled as his eyes drifted shut "Thanks..." And for some reason O'Neill got the feeling that Jackson wasn't thanking him for just the promise, that he wasn't thanking him alone at all, but all of them, for everything...

"Don't worry; we'll find her, Daniel," Jack said quickly, trying to keep the young archaeologist with him a little longer. "She'll be free, okay? You'll have her back; we'll find her together, Danny...Danny? Daniel, come on!"

"Daniel, don't!" Sam yelped.

But he had stopped breathing, and when Fraiser checked his pulse, it was gone as well. Hurriedly Sam scooted back, getting her knees out from under him, and she and Janet started CPR.

"Oh, no you don't," Janet breathed. "Come on, Daniel, come on..." But after another minute or two, their efforts had come to no avail.

"Doc, Carter...it's over," Jack whispered.

"Daniel, no," Sam whispered fiercely. She looked up at O'Neill, tears threatening to escape, as if to ask *What do we do now?*

"We...we have to go..."

"But colonel-" Fraiser protested.

"You heard him," Jack interrupted quietly. "If we try to take him with us we'll never make it out of here." Slowly he stood, obsessively gulping at the lump in his throat again. "Let's go."

But neither major nor doctor rose until they did it out of surprise when Teal'c suddenly burst into the room. "O'Neill, we must go! We have no more time!" The large man stopped in his tracks when he saw his unmoving friend on the ground at their feet. "Daniel Jackson?" he asked hesitantly, looking to O'Neill.

Jack shook his head. "We were..." he stopped and cleared his throat, looking away." We were too late, Teal'c."

Teal'c's usually neutral expression turned to one of despair, and his gaze shifted to Sam. "I am sorry that we were not in time, Samantha Carter," he said quietly. "Perhaps if I had woken O'Neill more quickly this morning..."

"Aww, Teal'c, now's not the time to play the blame game!" Jack said angrily. "Stop it! Let's just move out, okay? We're not gonna be able to avoid those jaffa on the way back to the gate, are we?"

Teal'c shook his head. "No, we are not."

Jack sighed. "Thought so." Then he turned to Sam and Janet, who hadn't said a word. "Come on...campers-" He stopped, surprised, when he choked on the word. Daniel, always a happy camper, the civilian had been the inspiration to use that term with his team...Wow, he had to get out of this room *now* or he was going to lose it.

Carter nodded and gulped. "Y-yes sir," she said as Janet silently moved toward the door. Sam picked up her jacket from the bench beside her, and then knelt beside Daniel's body. Leaning down, she kissed his forehead before placing the jacket over his face. "I'm sorry, Danny," she whispered. A single tear found its way from the corner of her eye, and O'Neill just caught sight of it as she stood again before she wiped it away and started toward him, still sniffing.

Jack pulled out the gun he'd put in his belt earlier and handed it to her. "Here, I...I think he'd want you to have this..." he said quietly. "Besides, I don't have yours. It's with Jacob."

"M-My dad's here?" Carter started, surprised.

"Yeah, the Tok'ra helped us out some, but we split into two groups to find you. Your dad's with the other group. Though Makepeace has probably contacted them that we found you by now. They'll join us again soon."

"Oh..." Sam said, but now she was staring again at the Beretta in her hands, Daniel's preferred weapon. Not that the archaeologist had really preferred weapons at all, but he had to have one off-world, and this was the one he used. Sam blinked back tears. She couldn't do his now. Now was not the time to get emotional. She knew that it might seem relatively quiet now, but they still had to fight their way out of here. They still had to get home. She could grieve later...

Jack briefly put a hand on his second in command's shoulder. "Come on, Carter, let's get going..."

Sam quickly ran a sleeve over her eyes again and nodded, "Yes sir."

The sound of a staff blast from down the corridor brought them all to full attention. "Let's move!" O'Neill shouted. The remaining members of SG-1 and Doctor Janet Fraiser bounded out of the holding cell and down to the corner where Makepeace and SG-3 were stationed.

"Sir, it's down the corridor!" Makepeace reported. "The Tok'ra contingent ran into trouble on the way back to us."

O'Neill and Carter glanced around the curve to see a minor battle raging.

"Dad!" Sam cried in alarm, spotting her father among the combatants.

"Calm down, Carter, we're going to help them," Jack confirmed.

"Where's Doctor Jackson?" Makepeace questioned.

Jack hesitated for a couple of seconds "Doctor Jackson's gone," he said quietly. The commander of SG-3 frowned and nodded, and then O'Neill gave the signal to move in.

-------------------------------------

*Dj vu again,* Daniel thought in amusement. To his surprise, instead of the image of Jack, Sam, Janet, and his younger self becoming nothing as he faded from existence, for the second time in only a span of months he found himself stepping through the swinging glass door of a certain diner he had once been to. But this time there were no customers. His clothes had not changed; he still wore his black BDU's. His glasses were still missing too, though he could see perfectly fine. He supposed sight was different when one was dead...or was he?

He couldn't think of any other explanation. His injuries were gone, and the one being who might have brought him here was gone now, destroyed stopping Anubis, and even though this wasn't his time it simply couldn't be...

"Daniel."

Jackson froze when he head the familiar voice that came from behind him. Slowly he turned, and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he saw the softly glowing, red-haired woman behind him.

"Oma?" he said in surprise.

She smiled. "So you do know me."

"O-Of course I know, you, Oma, what's going on? I thought you were-"

Oma Desala held up a hand to stop him. "No. Do not tell me what has happened to me in the future. I should not know."

Suddenly Daniel understood--well, who she was, anyway. "Oh...you're not the Oma I know..."

She nodded. "You are correct. Though I supposed that since I have been charged with the care of your wife's child that our eventual meeting would be inevitable."

Daniel nodded in return. "Right...so...what am I doing here? Why did you take the chance that I wouldn't know you? Because if I didn't, you'd be giving away a lot right now that I'm sure the others like you wouldn't want me to know..."

"I know that, but you deserved to know what I brought you here to tell you."

"Uh...oh, well....Wait a minute, how could you have brought me here? I'm dead for cryin' out loud. I don't even exist for you to bring..."

"Let's say that I pulled you out of the normal flow of time and space before the change in the timeline could completely erase you."

Daniel eyebrows went up. "Ah. Uh, okay...your reason being...?"

"To tell you that it isn't over."

Daniel blinked. "What? What's that supposed to mean? I can't stay here forever, and once I leave I'll be dead...been there, done that."

Oma smiled softly again. "I'm afraid I cannot tell you exactly what I mean, but your journey is not yet over, Daniel Jackson. You will continue."

"Been there, heard that," Daniel muttered, and then spoke up. "Why can't you tell me? I need some kind of idea of what's going on..."

"Just be patient, Daniel. I must leave you now, but you will soon know what I mean. Until then, you may wait here."

"But wait-!"

"Goodbye."

"Oma!"

But in the flash of light he'd become so accustomed to, she was gone. Daniel sighed heavily and sank onto the nearest booth bench. When he spoke, his voice echoed in the empty diner--or rather, whatever odd dimension this was that looked like a diner to him.

"What now?"

---------------------------------------------------

Sam finally caught up to her father as the two factions of the extraction team neared the 'gate. Seeing where he and one of the other Tok'ra had taken cover behind one of the stacks of crates, she ducked behind it with them.

"Sam, there you are!" Jacob said with relief.

"Hi, Dad," Carter greeted him, before leaning around the corner of the crates to squeeze off a couple of shots at their pursuers. Then she turned back to him.

"Where's Daniel?"

Sam froze. When Jacob saw her face go pale he realized that something was wrong.

"Sam?"

The major swallowed hard and looked away. "Dad, he's...he's gone," she said softly.

Jacob stared at her as she fired another shot at the jaffa. When she sat up again he spoke. "Oh, Sam...I'm so sorry..." he said, gulping at the pain in his daughter's eyes.

"Dad, I'm all right," Sam quickly lied, though she was unable to keep her voice from trembling. "Let's just get out of here, okay?"

Jacob sighed and nodded slowly. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Jack O'Neill's voice interrupted him from closer to the 'gate.

"Teal'c, dial us out! Makepeace, send the iris code! Carters! Cover them from where you are!"

Father and daughter smiled at the "Carters" reference. Despite difficulties in their relationship before Jacob had become a Tok'ra, the two now thoroughly enjoyed being related--not to mention being a part of the biggest secret on the planet earth. "Yes sir!" Sam shouted back. She rose a bit to fire toward the jaffa again, but then realized that the pistol was out of ammunition. Sighing in frustration, she shoved it into her belt and looked questioningly at her father.

"Oh!" Jacob said suddenly. "Right, I've got yours, I'm sorry." He his zat down momentarily to pull the P-90 off his belt and hand it to her, and then retrieved his own weapon from the ground and continued firing.

Sam took her gun, checked to make sure the Goa'uld hadn't taken the cartridge out when they'd taken it from her, and then started firing as well. Several jaffa had gone down before they'd gotten this far, so there were fewer of them now, but the fact that they were so close to escape meant that the remaining Goa'uld forces were doing everything they could to keep the Tau'ri team from getting back through the stargate.

The next few minutes were a blur as the firefight lobbed back and forth, until finally the gate opened, and Makepeace had signaled that the code was sent--it was safe to go through. Colonel O'Neill waved Janet Fraiser and SG-3 through first, and then the Tok'ra, until only Sam, Jacob, Teal'c and Jack remained.

"Okay, Jacob, get her out of here!" O'Neill ordered. "Teal'c and I have your six!" And then Sam and her father were running toward the gate. She could still hear shooting, and the colonel telling them to hurry, but then a staff blast shot by her so close she could feel it. It impacted the wall to her left, but a sudden pain in her arm made her look down to see that it had been shaved by the blast. The skin on her right forearm was charred and bloody, and it hurt terribly.

"Sam, you're hit!" Jacob cried in alarm.

He tried to get her through the gate immediately, but just in front of the event horizon, suddenly a flash of anger overtook her, and she turned and fired at the jaffa the shot had originated from, screaming, her weapon on automatic mode. The jaffa went down, but bullets were still impacting his body.

"Sam, that's enough!" Jacob said urgently. "Let's go!"

"Carter!" O'Neill yelled over the din.

"That'll teach you to *leave my friends alone*!" Sam shouted, and she would have continued shooting if Jacob hadn't twisted the gun from her hands and pulled her through the 'gate.

Jack watched them go, concerned, and then turned to Teal'c.

"Okay, T, let's blow this popsicle stand!" he called.

The larger man nodded and turned, firing once or twice behind him again before bounding through the shimmering blue surface of the open stargate. O'Neill followed right after him.

Less than a second later he stumbled through the earth 'gate onto the ramp.

"Close the iris!" he shouted up to control room. Walter responded immediately, and almost the before the words had left his mouth Jack heard it sliding shut behind him. He would have relaxed them, but that was when he spotted Samantha Carter at the end of the ramp.

Sam stepped of the metal grating to the floor, and there her legs gave out as she sank onto the end of the ramp. Jacob sat down beside her as Janet crouched in front of her to examine her arm.

"It's just superficial," Fraiser reported quietly. "Once it's cleaned and bandaged it should be fine in a few days."

Sam nodded weakly as her head lowered to Jacob's shoulder and his arm went around her shoulders. Jack sat down on the other side of her as General Hammond approached them. "Carter...?" "Jack asked. "You okay?"

Sam's eyes closed. "How could I be okay, sir? Daniel's gone..."

Jack grimaced and looked up at the general, who no longer needed the asked where the SGC's resident archaeologist was. Hammond sighed and spoke softly.

"De-brief in two hours, colonel," he said, and then quietly left them alone.

"Come on, Sam, let's get you to them infirmary," Fraiser suggested gently.

Nodding silently, the major stood and allowed her father to lead her from the 'gate room, with an almost equally subdued Janet not far behind.

Soon Jack O'Neill was left alone, standing in front of the stargate. It had deactivated, the iris had opened again, and all was quiet. Grimly O'Neill looked toward the huge, inanimate gray ring. Usually the device was a good thing to have, but today it had spelled the end of his best friend. An image flashed unbidden through his mind of Daniel's bloodied, unmoving body. "Thanks", he'd said before his eyes had closed for the last time. *Thanks for what? I let you die.*

Tears pushed to get out at the corners of his eyes, and Jack blinked them back in frustration. *After all we've been through, all the times you've come back...I never thought I'd see the day...*

"Come on, Daniel," Jack said quietly. "Now would be a good time for you to pull one of those miracles out of your hat for us."

Chapter 24

Jack O'Neill walked into the infirmary to check on Carter, and found the major sitting despondently on the edge of one of the beds, her sleeves pushed up and her injured arm well bandaged. As usual, Janet Fraiser was taking good care of his team. He couldn't blame her for what had happened to Daniel; she'd tried. It wasn't her fault they had been too late. Sighing, the colonel made his way over to his second in command.

"Hey," he said, standing in front of her. "How's the arm?"

"It'll be okay," Carter said, not looking up. "Still hurts some, but it's not that bad." "Ah," O'Neill nodded, rocking back on his heels. "Where's Jacob?"

"Something came up. All the Tok'ra had to leave immediately, but dad said he'd come back as soon as he could--hopefully in time for, Daniel's...uh..." She trailed of, unable to complete the sentence.

*Daniel's memorial service,* Jack finished in his mind, outwardly flinching at the words. "Yeah...So...you gonna be okay?"

Sam's shoulders only slumped farther. "Not for a while," she answered quietly. Jack sighed and slowly sat down beside her. "Carter...this isn't your fault." She looked at him quickly. "What...?"

He raised a finger. "Don't give me that 'what'. I know when you're feeling guilty, Carter. I've seen it enough." Sam gulped and looked back down at her hands as he continued. "If there was anything you could've possibly done to prevent what happened, you would have done it."

Carter nodded wearily. "Yes sir. I know, it's just...Y-you didn't happen to catch a glimpse of the local Goa'uld, did you?"

"Well, they were serpent guards, Apophis's guys. Anybody could have commandeered his forces by now....and...well, no. We were kinda too busy rescuing you..." The colonel grimaced. "Some rescue huh?"

Carter pulled in a shaky breath. "It was Amaunet, sir," she informed him quietly. O'Neill's face suddenly paled. "What? No..." he said in disbelief. When Carter nodded, his eyes closed. "Oh no. Oh boy, oh *crap*. Wow...poor Daniel..." When he heard Sam choke back a sob his eyes opened. "She did it, didn't she?"

Sam nodded, then pulled her feet up onto the edge of the bed and buried her face in her uninjured arm on her knees. "I-I'd never seen him so...so upset, sir, just...hurting so much emotionally, I..." her voice trailed off from inside where her face was hidden, and this time a real sob escaped. "Daniel's really gone this time, isn't he?"

O'Neill sighed heavily. "It sure looks that way," he admitted.

Carter's voice faded into muffled crying, and the colonel's face suddenly showed only concern.

"Aww, Carter...come here..." Jack said quietly, pulling Sam into his arms.

And all he could do was sit there and hold her while she sobbed, offering what comfort he could that way because he didn't know what to say. What *could* he say? Daniel was dead. How was he supposed to know what to say to make Carter feel any better when he couldn't make himself feel any better? He felt like crying too.

---------------------------------------------------

Doctor Fraiser looked up from where she sat at her desk when she heard a soft knock on the doorframe. What she saw was General Hammond stepping quietly into her office. Janet stood.

"General," she said in greeting. "Can I help you?"

George Hammond sighed. "How is Major Carter?"

"Her arm will be fine, sir, and I didn't find anything else that could put her health in danger. But beyond that, general..." She shrugged. "She was there when it happened, sir. I'm sure that emotionally she's even worse off than...than the rest of us..."

Hammond nodded. "I know. It's never easy losing people-friends, and even harder to see it happen. But we're all in this together, doctor. Samantha Carter will be all right." Janet nodded. "Yes sir..."

"Doctor?" Hammond inquired, his voice urging her to continue.

Fraiser stared at her feet. "General...Daniel was still alive when we got there, and I can't help feeling that..."

"-That you could have done more?"

She nodded. "Yes, sir. I'm the *doctor*, sir. That's one reason why I went, in case either of them needed immediate medical attention before we brought them back. Dr. Jackson did, but-but I couldn't-"

Janet stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked back up at the general, tears in her eyes.

"Doctor, I don't know exactly what happened yet, but I'm sure you did everything you could. If he was beyond saving, it isn't your fault. You've always taken good care of everyone on this base, and I have every confidence in you."

Fraiser swallowed. "Thank you, sir."

Hammond nodded, and then turned to leave. At the door he stopped and swiveled to face her again. "De-brief is in an hour, doctor."

She nodded. "I'll be there, sir."

Giving her small smile, the general turned again and exited, leaving Doctor Fraiser alone in her office. Sighing, she closed the door to the office and sat down heavily.

She was a professional. She wasn't supposed to become so attached to patients, even those that were as recurring as Daniel Jackson. She wasn't supposed to become this upset. So why wouldn't the lump in her throat go away?

Because she *had* become attached. Somehow the members of SG-1--all of them--had found their way into Janet's heart. They were her friends, and she didn't regret it at all, though she would miss the one that was gone terribly. There was no reason why she shouldn't allow herself to be sad, and as long as the door was shut...why not? It was all she wanted to do--just to cry. She had plenty of time before the de-briefing, and no other patients at the moment.

Daniel was dead, and she felt horrible. So Janet Fraiser put her face in her hands and wept.

---------------------------------------

The room on the Goa'uld mothership was guarded by two jaffa just outside the door. Otherwise it was usually silent and empty of people, with only the sarcophagus at its center. Apophis liked it that way. Amaunet did as well, and she smiled to herself as she stepped inside--as much because of that as because of the fact that today there was also something different about the room.

Off to the side a table stood, and on it lay Daniel Jackson's lifeless body.

Within her, her host rebelled at the sight, pounding against her barriers. She could sense her host's anger and sorrow, and it only satisfied her more. Soon she would give up her rebellion, with nothing left to live for. She was sure of it. Soon her life would be much easier, without having to deal with a restless host. Well...as soon as she had what she needed.

The Tau'ri and Tok'ra were gone, and had managed to escape with the woman, but that no longer bothered her because they, of course, had not been able to save Jackson, and had not taken his body with them. Now, if she revived him, his future self would exist again as well. She could keep them alive as long as she needed to get the information she wanted, before killing them again and leaving them that way. And this time she would never have to worry about his escape or rescue, for his friends believed him dead.

It had been over an hour since she had killed him, however, which meant that already the sarcophagus would not be able to heal him completely. She should not waste any more time...

"Jaffa!" she called, bringing the two from the corridor in.

"My Lady?" they asked simultaneously.

"Place him in the sarcophagus," she ordered, nodding toward Jackson's body. "And then leave us. Do not stay outside the door."

The two bowed. "Yes, Queen Amaunet."

The jaffa obeyed her orders, carrying the body to the device, opening it, and placing Jackson inside. Silently Amaunet watched as the lid slid shut, and Daniel's pale face disappeared. Funny, how a small smile had frozen onto his face. She would never understand humans and their ideals, their emotions...

And deep inside, Sha're wept.

-----------------------------------------------------------

"Samantha Carter, are you all right?" Teal'c asked as those called to the de-briefing settled around the large table.

Carter nodded wearily, though her face was still a bit pink and she looked exhausted from the stress of what had happened. "I'll be okay..." she gulped quietly.

Nodding, Teal'c slowly sat down opposite her, concern still etched on his face. Beside her, O'Neill briefly put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a small, reassuring smile before pulling it away as Hammond entered the conference room.

The general took his seat at the head of the table and looked over those seated before him--the remaining members of SG-1, Janet Fraiser, and SG-3. Both Samantha Carter and the doctor still looked considerably the worse for wear. He eyed them as he began to speak.

"Is everyone sure they can do this now? If we need to re-schedule for tomorrow morning..."

Somehow knowing that Hammond was talking to them, Janet and Sam glanced at each other, and then back at the general.

"It's all right, sir," Sam answered for them. Not that she really *wanted* to talk about what happened on that planet, any of it, but she could if she needed to-or at least she hoped so. Hammond nodded, satisfied. "Then we should get started. Why don't you start at the beginning? What happened after you stepped through the gate....?"

Chapter 25

*No. I will not allow any more of this,* Sha're thought vehemently. *She has hurt him enough! I can not stand by and let her start it all again! I will be the one to greet my husband when he wakes!*

She was through crying, through feeling helpless. She gathered her strength, thin though it was from the torment Amaunet had put her through in the last two days because of her rebellion. But that also meant that the Goa'uld was weak from delivering it. She was more easily overcome. She had done it before. She had to do it now, had to get Daniel out of here before Amaunet could cause him further harm. Sha're fought with everything she had and suddenly...

She had won.

Sha're blinked a few times, turned, to be sure that she really had control. She did. She was using her own body again, and it felt good. But how long did she have?

Behind her, a scraping sound caused her to whirl to face the sarcophagus as she realized that it opening. After a moment it had opened enough for her to peer inside, and her heart leaped when she saw her husband's chest moving steadily up and down, breathing once again. Another few seconds and the sarcophagus ceased its motion.

Danny's eyes opened slowly amidst a soft moan. Sha're took a step back before they could spot her, not wanting to startle him immediately and to give him room to get out.

Jackson's utter surprise that he was alive was overlapped by another groan when he saw where he lay. *Sarcophagus again...*A sudden streak of panic ran through him. *That's three times. Three. How long did it take for me to get addicted? I'm sure it was more than that, but-.*

Quickly he searched his mind for any thoughts out of the ordinary. Not that he would recognize them as strange if there were any, because he would be addicted... Gulping, he looked down at his hands. Not shaking. That was a good sign, anyway. Besides, he suddenly realized: if he really were addicted to the sarcophagus, he would feel fine--more than fine, perfect--but he didn't. The wounds were, for the most part, gone, but his body still ached--all of it. Though most of it was centered around his middle.

Satisfied, at least, that he was mentally intact, Danny reached up, snagged one of the edges of the sarcophagus, and carefully pulled himself into a sitting position. Immediately he leaned on the edge, breathing heavily and burying his head in his arms. Wow. That had taken a bit more energy than he'd thought it would. Was something wrong with the piece of Goa'uld technology?

"Dan'iel?"

----------------------------------------------------

Daniel didn't know how long he had been here. It could have been minutes, or it could have been hours. He'd had nothing better to do than sit. Finally he'd ventured behind the counter, and smiled when he saw a fresh pot of coffee. Wow. This Oma didn't even know him very well yet, but she'd figured that one out. She really was something.

A few seconds of looking around brought his eyes down on a tray of mugs under the counter, and he took one and poured himself some of the coffee. Then, crossing back to where he'd been before, he settled back onto the bench with his prize. Well, if one was going to be stuck in some whacked dimension for a while, leaving good coffee for him to enjoy was the least that could be done. Though it'd be nice if he had someone to talk to. Not that any of the other ascended beings would speak to him if they were here. They hadn't last time.

Sighing, Daniel took a sip of the coffee, found that it was, in fact, pretty good, and started taking bigger gulps. Okay, so this wasn't turning out to be too terribly bad. Now if he could just figure out what the heck Oma had been talking about before she'd disappeared on him...

As if on cue, there was flash of light, and she was there again, sitting across from him. Daniel jumped in surprise, almost spilling the coffee. Setting the mug down on the table, he stared across it at her.

"Oma! Thank goodness. Can you tell me what's going on here?"

Oma Desala shook her head. "I cannot, but you will understand in a moment, Daniel." She reached across the table and placed a hand over his. He looked down at it in confusion and then back up at her face.

"What...?"

"Now go," she said.

And everything vanished.

------------------------------------------------

"Dan'iel?"

Danny looked up in surprise at the sound of his wife's voice, and saw her standing there, waiting for him...

"Sha're?" he asked in disbelief, sitting up.

She nodded quickly. "It is me, Dan'iel, but I do not know for how long..."

Before she could go any further, Danny had jumped from the sarcophagus, ignoring the exhaustion and pain, taken her in his arms and pressed his lips to hers. At first she stiffened, surprised, but soon wrapped her arms around him as well and returned the kiss. A moment later she pulled back and looked up into his eyes, which were now filled with tears behind his glasses.

"Dan'iel, I'm sorry I let this happen-"

"No," Danny interrupted her, bringing a finger to her lips. He smiled softly and pulled her to him. "How many times do I have to tell you that none of this is your fault? Sha're, I love you so much. I'm just glad you're here right now."

"I love you too, Dan'iel," she said softly. "But...we must get you out of here while we can..."

She was interrupted by a pained groan from nearby. Danny frowned and took Sha're's hand as the two of them moved toward the source of the sound, and found themselves walking around the sarcophagus to the other side of it. There the floor there had been out of their sight before, and what they saw there now was very startling indeed. "What...?" Sha're said in confusion.

Danny's eye opened in surprise. "Oops. That's right; I exist again, don't I? Which means my future self would again..."

It was Daniel--missing glasses, broken ribs, rumpled black BDUs and all, just as he had been before disappearing. Except now he was curled on his side, obviously in a fair amount of pain. Duh.

"Uh oh," Danny said, kneeling beside him. "Hey...you okay?"

"No, I'm...not...okay," Daniel gasped, scowling. "Gosh, one...minute I'm...drinking coffee...and the next I'm...back here...geez...ah!"

"What?" his younger self asked in confusion.

Daniel shook his head. "N-Never mind...Uhhhhh..."

Danny glanced up and looked from Sha're's worried face to the sarcophagus, and back to Sha're. "We have to get him in there..."

"No!" Daniel yelped. "I don't...want to...use that thing."

Danny frowned. "Look, if Amaunet hadn't had me revived again, neither of us would be here, and if Sha're hadn't managed to get control again, she'd probably be finishing you off for fun *before* putting *you* in there. I don't like that thing either, but face it; if we don't get you in there *now* you're either going to die, or at the very least prevent us from being able to get out of here."

Daniel glared at him for a moment, then rolled his eyes. "Fine..." he said quietly. "Good," Danny nodded, and then reached down and took one of Daniel's arms. "Sha're, could you help me get him up please?"

Sha're nodded and took his other arm, and carefully the two helped pull Daniel to his feet. Though no matter how careful they were, they couldn't keep it from hurting him quite a bit, and he shouted.

"Hold on, Dan'iel. We are being as careful as we can."

"Yeah...I...kn-know...AH!"

Danny grimaced. "Be quiet, would you?"

"I'm sorry..." Daniel gasped. "But if you...felt like I...do right...now...you'd be...shouting too."

"I know, I know, but could you try to keep it down? Please? You're gonna get us caught," Danny pleaded.

Gently Danny and Sha're placed him in the sarcophagus, and it started to close. Daniel glanced around uncomfortably for a moment, but finally closed his eyes and allowed it to take him as the others disappeared from view.

Sha're watched the sarcophagus. "Will he be all right?" she asked in concern. Danny leaned heavily on the machine. "Yeah...I think so..."

"Dan'iel? What is wrong?"

"I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head. "Don't worry about me; I just don't feel the greatest..."

Sha're sighed. "She waited too long."

"What?"

"She waited too long before having you revived. It was not able to heal you completely, so you will still be weak for a while."

"Oh," Daniel said tiredly. Sha're stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He put his arms around her in return as she rested her head on his chest, and he rested his head on top of hers and closed his eyes. And they stayed that way, waiting for the sarcophagus to open again so they could make their escape, just happy to be together.

-------------------------------------------------

When Danny heard the sound of the sarcophagus opening behind him, he pushed away from where he had been leaning on it, standing, and Sha're let go of him. Both turned to look at the device as it stopped moving. Danny swayed, suddenly dizzy, but steadied himself on the edge of the sarcophagus and forced his eyes to focus. A moment later, Daniel sat up.

"Feeling better?" Danny asked.

Daniel nodded as he climbed out. "Yeah...a lot better. Now...we were planning on getting out of here, right?"

Sha're nodded. "Yes. I think we have a clear path from here to the rings, and they go straight to the room with the Chappa'ai, so we should be able to get out of here easily..."

"It's never that easy," Daniel frowned. "Let's just hope this time is the exception. But either way, I'm not going back to the SGC. I have to find that...thing, or whatever it is, and get back to my own time."

"But you're not even sure how it brought you here; much less how to make it bring you back," Danny said.

"True, but I do know what buttons I landed on. Maybe that will help..." he shrugged. "I have to try. I can't just stay here."

Danny sighed, still leaning against the sarcophagus for support. "I guess not..."

"Dan'iel, we should go before we are discovered..."

"Good idea," both answered together. They stared at each other for a moment, then rolled their eyes and started toward the door.

"Wait," Daniel said suddenly.

"What?" Danny asked, turning. "You heard her; we need to go." Then, to his confusion, Daniel started un-zipping his jacket.

"I know, but you can't wear that home. You'll scare everyone in the gate-room half to death."

Danny looked down at himself, remembering his blood-soaked jacket and shirt. "Oops. I guess you're right."

Daniel pulled off his jacket, leaving him with his t-shirt, and waited while Danny shrugged out of his shirt and jacket, and then handed the jacket to him.

"Thanks," Danny said, putting it on and zipping it up. Then he looked at his discarded things on the floor. "What do I do with those?"

"Leave them," Sha're suggested. "We should be gone before they are found."

Danny nodded, and the three quietly moved out into the corridor.

------------------------------------------

Once down in the 'gate room of the Goa'uld compound, Danny went immediately for the DHD. As he dialed, Sha're went for the box where Sam and Danny's things had been, but found no GDOs.

"Dan'iel!" she called. "The devices that send your codes are gone! And so are your weapons!"

Danny leaned on the DHD, breathing heavily, and turned to look at her. "What?" "Jack and them must have taken them," Daniel assessed. "Okay...uhm...where were my things?"

"Oh, uh..." Sha're ran to the back of the room, where another open crate sat. Daniel followed her. "Are these yours?" she asked, pointing inside it.

"Yeah, thanks," he said, grabbing his GDO from the box and hurrying back toward his younger self.

"Did you find one?" Danny asked hopefully.

"Uh huh. You can use mine to put in your code-" He stopped when Danny pressed the red globe in the center of the DHD and the `gate whooshed open. "Here," he said then, handing the GDO to him. Danny took it and entered the code.

"Huh; these things haven't changed a bit. Oh....kay. There," Danny said, and then turned. "Sha're, come on! We'd better go before something..."

But before he could finish his sentence, nightmare took root. Several jaffa suddenly stormed into the room and grabbed Sha're, who shouted Daniel's name before being pulled from the room as the jaffa began to fire at the two Jacksons.

"-happens," Daniel finished for him, stunned.

"Sha're!" Danny shouted, started back toward her, but, snapping out of it, Daniel grabbed his collar and pulled him backwards. "What are you doing?! We have to help her!" Danny yelped angrily.

"Are you insane!" Daniel replied heatedly. "There's no way! We're trapped, outnumbered, and weaponless. We need to leave, now!" he said, turning his counterpart toward the gate.

"But what about Sha're? And what about you! You have to get to your own time-"

"We can come back later, with help. Now go!" Daniel shouted, giving him a shove. Danny stumbled through the stargate, and Daniel ducked a couple of staff blasts before running through after him.

-----------------------------------------------

The de-brief was over. Everyone knew what had happened, and no one was happy about it. The mood remained somber as those gathered in the conference room started to file out. SG-3 left first. They had really only been there to give their report of the rescue operation--the half-failed rescue operation.

Slowly, Samantha Carter stood. An arm dropped around her shoulders, and Sam glanced over to see Jack O'Neill by her side. She tried to give him a smile, but only partly succeeded. She sighed, and the two started toward the door, Janet Fraiser and Teal'c not far behind, as General Hammond headed for his office.

But that was when the off-world-activation alert went off. All five still in the conference room immediately changed direction and broke into a run, hurrying down the stars to the control room. They arrived just as the gate opened behind the already closed iris.

"Are we getting a signal?" Hammond asked.

"Uhm...yes sir," Walter answered from where he sat.

"Well?"

"It's..." Harriman trailed off as a look of confusion crossed his face. "Sir, it's...SG-1's code," he said, glancing back the general and the team.

"What? That's impossible," Sam protested.

"Well, obviously it's not, Carter, 'cause it's what's coming through," Jack commented. "But didn't you bring all the GDOs back? Oh! Uh oh. Daniel had one too...the other one...He must have. They still have his..." Carter mused.

"But the Goa'uld don't have the code, do they?" Janet asked.

Sam shook her head, frowning. "No..."

General Hammond sighed. "All right, open the iris. But I want defense teams to stay down there in case."

On command, Walter opened the iris, and the defense teams down on the floor aimed their weapons toward the open wormhole. All stared at the blue surface; a moment later it rippled...and two Daniel Jacksons stumbled through.

"Close it!" The one without a jacket and missing his glasses called immediately, as a staff blast followed them through and struck the wall. His eyes wide, Hammond nodded to Harriman to do it, and the metal barrier spiraled shut.

"Major, what...?" Hammond began. He turned toward Carter to seek an answer to the bizarre scene, but found that SG-1 and Doctor Frasier were already gone, halfway down the steps to the 'gate room. Sighing, he followed them.

Down in the 'gate room, Danny and Daniel stepped off the ramp just as the door opened.

"Daniel!" Samantha Carter was the first through it and ran straight to Danny, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

Daniel grinned when his counterpart fell back a step as he returned the embrace. "Whoa...hey Sam. It's good to be home..." He sounded sincerely happy to be back, but it was also obvious that something else was on his mind.

A smiling Teal'c, Janet Fraiser and General Hammond, and a widely grinning Jack O'Neill hurried in behind Carter.

"Welcome back, Doctor Jackson," Hammond greeted them, looking forward to what was bound to be an interesting explanation.

"Daniel, you *insane* spacemonkey of a civilian! Are you *ever* going to stop pulling stunts like that and making me worry about you?" Jack joked.

Finally Danny smiled. "Probably not," he admitted, letting go of Sam.

"He's right," Daniel added, before also accepting a hug from Carter.

"Oh, well that's encouraging," Jack frowned. But he quickly wiped it away and smiled again. "So...what happened this time?"

Sam stepped back and looked at the two Jacksons. "Right. What...I don't understand..."

"Long story..." Daniel sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Uh, well..." Danny began. "Basically I guess Amaunet was going to have me revived for more interrogation because you were gone and you thought I was dead...But, uh, Sha're was able to get control so she helped us escape. She was going to come with us, but then the jaffa discovered us and she couldn't get to the stargate..." He sighed and frowned. "But we can give you the details later. We have to go back. We have to help her..." But he trailed off and stopped there, suddenly out of breath.

"Danny?" Sam asked in concern.

"S-sorry. I'm just...tired." Now that he was back, with no adrenaline pushing him to get home, he was feeling it even more. His stomach hurt--a lot, and the rest of his body felt sore. Exhaustion was beginning to take over--everything that had happened...

"I thought you just came out of a sarcophagus?" Janet questioned.

Danny nodded wearily. "I did, but apparently Amaunet waited too long after I, uh...died...and, it couldn't heal me completely..." He moaned.

"Feel terrible, I take it?" Jack asked, patting his friend on the back.

Danny nodded again, his eyes closing. "Yeah..."

Janet stepped forward and gently hugged him before stepping back, putting a hand on his arm and pulling him toward the door. "Come on. Let's get you to the infirmary and see how you're doing."

Hammond nodded. "I agree, Doctor Jackson. We'll do what we can about your wife, but we can worry about those things once you're all right."

"Yes sir," Danny quietly relented, and started to follow Fraiser. But as he moved forward everything blurred again. Why was the room spinning...? Danny dropped to his knees.

"Daniel?" Jack said.

"Danny?" Sam asked in concern, bending down next to him as everyone else started in surprise.

"Are you all right?" Janet asked, kneeling in front of him and putting her hands on his shoulders. "Could we get a gurney in here?" She asked no one in particular when Jackson didn't answer.

"N-No, Janet. I can walk..." he finally replied, trying to push off the floor. The doctor held him down firmly.

"Oh no you don't," she commanded. "Stay down. We'll have a gurney in here in a minute. You'll be fine."

Too exhausted to resist anymore, Danny only nodded again.

Janet looked up at Daniel. "What about you? Are you all right?"

Daniel blinked in surprise. "What? Oh...Yeah. I'm fine."

But he quickly looked away, and Sam could see that he had that look on his face again...She couldn't help but worry about him.

Sighing, Sam put an arm around Danny's shoulders as they waited for his transportation to the infirmary. When the pressure on her shoulder increased she looked down to see that he had lost consciousness. "Janet...?"

"I know," Fraiser smiled gently. "It's nothing to worry about. He probably just needs plenty of rest."

Sam nodded. "Right..."

*Well,* she sighed inwardly, smiling *At least he's back, and he'll be okay.*

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