DISCLAIMER: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the goa'uld and all other characters that have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of the people who made them up. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

SPOILERS: Singularity, In The Line of Duty

Manifestations

Part one

General Hammond looked up as an angry Colonel O'Neill stormed into his office without knocking and braced himself for what he knew was coming.

'Can I help you Colonel?' His voice was a touch frosty but did nothing to ease Jack's obvious irritation.

'I've just seen Dr Fraiser and Captain Carter,' Jack snapped, refusing to sit down at Hammond's invitation, towering over the seated General.

'Sit down Colonel,' Hammond said in steely tones, making it an order not a request and Jack, unable to help himself, obeyed the order. 'I'm afraid we have no choice, Jack.'

'Isn't it bad enough that they want Carter when she's still recovering from what that snake did to her, but Cassie as well? We can't let that creep get his hands on them, if we do that they'll be whisked away to some high security facility in the middle of nowhere and never see them again. Can't the president do anything?' Jack had gradually calmed down, but Hammond could see he was still tense.

'I've already spoken to the president and he's on Colonel Maybourne's side on this one,' Hammond explained. 'I did manage to get one concession out of him though. Maybourne has one week to carry out his tests and the rest of SG1, along with Dr Fraiser as Cassie's legal guardian, will be present.'

'It's better than nothing, sir,' Jack grumbled, reluctantly accepting the order. 'When do we leave?'

'A plane will be ready at 1500.'

'I guess we better go pack then.' Jack saluted sloppily and left the room.

XOXOXOX

Alysha stared wildly around as the world jolted then settled back down into the semi-familiar surroundings of the storage room. The footsteps that had been so close behind her had stopped and she allowed herself time to catch her breath as she tried to figure out her next move, taking a couple of steps to the end of the aisle to see what was going on. As she moved, lights began flashing and a siren sounded so loudly that it hurt her ears and she instantly squinted her eyes shut and covered her ears with her hands so wasn't aware of the danger until it was too late.

A number of soldiers wearing that unpleasantly familiar uniform had surrounded her, guns pointed directly at her. Too scared to try anything else, she crouched down and whimpered, fear-filled eyes darting around the faces focussed on her.

'Hold your fire, men,' one of them called out. 'It's just a kid.' He moved towards her and saw her flinch as he held out his hand to her. 'I'm not going to hurt you,' he said to her. 'I just want you to come with me and tell me what you're doing here.'

All he got in response was a shake of the head as she backed up against the shelving directly behind her, trying to make herself even smaller. Shrugging his shoulders, he turned around and beckoned for one of the female SF's to have a go, at the same time waving the rest of the guards further away.

'Hi, I'm Sandra, what's your name?' The guard asked her, crouching down in front of the frightened girl.

As Alysha heard the name her head jerked up before it went down again as she murmured 'Alysha.'

'Hello Alysha, that's a pretty name,' the woman continued. 'Can you tell me how you got in here?'

'Through the door,' Alysha whispered her fear gradually fading as she realised something had changed. These weren't the same guards as before, and although the clothes they wore seemed to be the same there were small differences. And these people didn't make her feel bad like those others had either.

'That one over there?'

'Yes.'

'Ok, well, this isn't a safe place for you to be,' Sandra smiled at her as she stood up. 'Will you come with me?' Alysha hesitated, still not entirely convinced that this was a good idea, but at last she reached out to grasp the hand held out towards her, clutching it tightly and trying to hide behind Sandra when the other soldier moved towards them.

'It's ok, sir, you go ahead and we'll follow,' Sandra said, feeling sorry for this kid in spite of the fact she had managed to get herself into one of the most secure facilities in the country without anyone seeing her. As the room cleared, she could feel the little girl relax slightly and allow herself to be led from the room.

XOXOXOX

'What have you got?' Colonel Maybourne asked in an extremely irritated voice as he entered, looking into the room beyond through the mirrored panel. 'It's a child!'

'This child, sir, just appeared in storage room seven alpha,' Captain Jeffries explained, knowing that his CO's irritation would disappear as soon as he knew what had happened. 'She doesn't show up on any of our security cameras, she just appeared in there and set the alarms off.'

'Seven alpha is where we keep the technology from Cheyenne Mountain isn't it?' Maybourne was definitely looking more interested now. 'Where exactly did you find her?'

'She was next to a slab of stone, sir.'

'Was she indeed?' Maybourne was lost in thought for a few moments, gazing into the room where the girl was sitting at a table, accompanied by a female guard. 'Who's that with her?'

'Sergeant Brown, sir. The child wouldn't respond to anyone else and seems to get jumpy when she sees someone different.'

'Has she been checked out by the doctors yet?'

'No sir, I wanted to let you see her first.'

'Good work, I'll take it from here. I'm also going to commandeer Sergeant Brown, I'll let you have the paperwork later.'

XOXOXOX

'Colonel O'Neill, nice of you to join us,' Maybourne greeted the new arrivals, working hard to keep his irritation with the other man hidden.

'Maybourne.'

Maybourne's eyes fell on the two people he was most interested in: Captain Samantha Carter, recently host to a goa'uld, although the SGC were convinced it was a good goa'uld, and Cassandra Fraiser, rescued from Hanka, a planet destroyed by Nirrti before attempting to destroy the Stargate by using the little girl as a weapon. He mentally rubbed his hands together in glee at the thought of all the information his scientists could get out of them, even though he only had a week and the rest of the gang had tagged along for good measure, including the girl's adopted mother who was even now watching him like a hawk, hovering protectively near her charge.

'Well, I guess there's no time like the present,' was all Maybourne said as he indicated for Sam and Cassie to precede him, Sam placing a protective arm around Cassie's shoulders. 'I'm afraid the rest of you will have to observe from another room.'

'But…' Dr Fraiser tried to protest, but was reassured by Sam.

'It's ok Janet, I'll keep an eye on her,' Sam smiled at her friend and walked with Cassie to the lab, fighting down the feelings of panic that were threatening to overwhelm her. Looking out for Cassie gave her something else to focus on.

XOXOXOX

Four days later, Sam stood up abruptly and began ripping the wires off her body, glaring angrily at the doctors who were trying once again to see how she responded to various stimuli.

'I've had enough of this,' she shouted at them, glaring through the mirrored window, her eyes almost boring through Colonel Maybourne who she knew would be watching along with her friends. 'You've been poking and prodding us for days now, asking us questions, submitting us to God knows how many tests - Cassie's only a kid and I'm not really interested in sticking around here any longer.'

Sam moved over to an alarmed Cassie, who was staring at her with round eyes and mouth, part of her wanted to giggle, but the other part of her was relieved that Sam wasn't going to let them carry on doing these tests. She missed her mom, her bedroom and her dog, even her school.

'It's alright honey,' Sam spoke soothingly to Cassie. 'I'm just going to get you free of these wires then we're going.'

'Sam…' Cassie's worried voice caught Sam's attention and she glanced over her shoulder in time to see Colonel Maybourne approaching.

'Captain Carter, General Hammond gave me a week to carry out these tests, it's only been four days,' Maybourne snapped at her.

'And?' Sam snapped back, her usual respect for the chain of command going right out the window under these particularly trying circumstances.

'And you still have three days before your week is up,' Maybourne looked slightly smug, not noticing Dr Fraiser and the remainder of SG1 who had followed him from the observation room and were gathered near the doorway, ready to leap into action should the need arise.

'You know something, Colonel,' Sam bit back at him, her face drained of all colour as she tried to keep the mix of emotions in check. 'I don't really care. You've had our full co-operation for three days, we've had no time to ourselves since we got here and we need a break. We are going to take that break now.' Giving him one last frosty look, Sam wrapped an arm around Cassie and escorted her from the room, sweeping past the others still staring in shock at this unexpected outburst from Sam.

As they headed towards the quarters they had been allocated for the duration of their stay, Janet caught up to the two of them in response to a silent agreement with the men of SG1.

'Sam?' Janet asked softly.

'Don't say or do anything Janet,' Sam said between gritted teeth, her back ramrod straight as she retained only a tentative grip over herself.

Janet nodded in response and continued to walk beside them, their speed picking up as they got nearer to their quarters, where Sam released Cassie into Janet's care when they reached the first door, letting herself into the room and shutting the door behind her.

'What?' Jack asked in a surprised tone, unable to figure out what was going on.

'One of you is going to have to deal with her,' Janet told him as she hugged Cassie close to herself. 'Cassie and I are going to sit down for a while.'

The next moment, Jack, Daniel and Teal'c were looking at each with bewildered expressions on their faces.

'Ok - so, do we toss a coin or what?' Jack asked flippantly.

'Jack,' Daniel said in warning tones.

'Alright, I was just kidding. Why don't you two go make some coffee or something,' Jack suggested. 'I'll catch you later.' When he was alone, he took a deep breath as he steeled himself to go in after Sam. He tapped briefly on the door and walked in, not waiting for a response. As he took in the sight in front of him, he doubted she had heard his knock anyway.

Sam was sitting with her back against the wall, her arms wrapped around her knees which were drawn up to her chest, her whole body wracked with sobs. Moving to the wall next to her, Jack slid himself down until he was sitting beside her. Hesitating for just a moment, he put an arm around her and that was all the encouragement Sam needed. Turning towards him, Sam buried her face in his shoulder, clinging to him as though he were the only thing stopping her from flying completely apart.

For several long minutes they stayed like this, Jack rubbing her back and making soothing noises. After what seemed like a lifetime, Sam pulled away from Jack but still retained her previous position, hugging her knees to her chest, comforted by the feel of her CO's arm still around her shoulders.

'Want to talk about it?' Jack asked mildly, looking down at her when she said nothing.

'I'm sorry about that sir,' Sam looked ashamed of her outburst. 'I guess everything just got on top of me.'

'No need to apologise, Carter,' Jack told her. 'It's perfectly understandable. You know, if it had been me in there I'd probably have shot the lot of them by now.' A curious sound from Sam made him glance into her face, relieved when he realised she had tried to stifle a giggle and wasn't going off into hysterics.

'It's just that this has all come so soon on top of Jolinar and I guess I'm still recovering from that. I felt so angry that our own people could subject a child to those tests, and so angry that they could put me through it all as well. I know I'm an air force officer, but if it had been one of them in my position, I'd like to see how they would have reacted.'

'It's ok, Captain, you don't have to explain yourself to me. I completely agree with you and if that asshole Maybourne tries anything, don't forget you've got me and the General on your side. Not to mention Dr Fraiser, Daniel and Teal'c. I'd like to see him go up against all of us.'

'Thanks sir,' Sam smiled weakly at him. 'I guess I keep forgetting how lucky I am to have you guys watching my back.'

'You bet.' They stayed where they were for a few more minutes before Sam made a move.

'I must look a real mess,' Sam said.

'Well, not a real…yes you do,' Jack agreed. 'Why don't you go wash up and I'll see if Daniel's got that coffee ready yet.'