The O'Neill Chronicles Book V: The Long Road Home

by chazevelt

Jack and Maddy are lost in space. When they stumble across old aquaintances of SG1's, Jack is force to deal with someone from his past. Maddy is lost in the Trygar System, and Earth presents a whole new set of problems.

Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, Sci-fi and Gekko Productions. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author.

The author of this story owns the character of Maddy and expressly denies permission for anyone else to use her- especially to kill her off!

Comments are welcomed and encouraged. I try to respond to all emails.

WARNING: Adult language, adult situations, violence, and nudity. Mature subject matter, mature readers please.

Please Note: This is Book Five in an ongoing series, The O'Neill Chronicles. Due to recurring characters, plot lines, and themes I strongly suggest you start at the beginning, The O'Neill Chronicles, Book One, Jack Retires and progress through the series in order.

Book One, Jack Retires and Book Two, The O'Neills had to be downloaded in two installments each due to size vs site constraints. Book Three, Memories, and Book Four, Plague are available in a single download. I apologize for any confusion or inconvenience. Perhaps the easiest way to access prior installments of The O'Neill Chronicles is to do a search by author, Chazevelt.

The O'Neill Chronicles

Book Five

"The Long Road Home"

Jack O'Neill stared at his wife.

Maddy lay unmoving, naked as the day she was born, eyes staring blankly at the alien sky, her body slowly changing colors.

Jack wondered if he was having a sixties flashback.

Like a computer program generating a single flower constantly opening in different colors from the center outward- or a psychedelic acid rush- the rainbow spectrum began at her navel and rolled outward over her entire body. The rhythmic undulating and phasing pulsed in time with her heartbeat. Jack watched her eyes change color as well then winced and gently lowered her eyelids. Partly so they wouldn't dry out, partly so he wouldn't have to see them turn weird colors.

Mostly because they looked so dead.

He felt her pulse again. Strong, steady. Fascinated, he watched her breasts turn pink, purple, blue, teal, green, yellow, orange, red, and back to pink. She was making him dizzy.

"Damn it, Maddy!"

He tried the Gou'ald healing device again. Braced one hand on top of the other and concentrated as if his life depended on it.

It did, actually. If Maddy died...

The device glowed and he felt the vitality being sucked out of his body. That was okay. He didn't mind as long as it was flowing into Maddy. But it wasn't helping, wasn't slowing or stopping the eerie colors. No more than it had the last two times he had tried it. He lowered the device and watched a section of greenish blue roll over her knees, expand through her toes, then pop back out of her belly button. He picked up her hand and studied her fingers. Entire digits turned colors, not just the skin on the top. Holding her hand in both of his he watched the pulsing rainbow chase itself over her lips, nose, eyelids, and ears.

"Maddy!"

Not even a twitch.

Bonnie, their Boxer dog, edged closer to him and stared hard into his eyes. She was shivering nervously.

"You had a snake in your head for awhile," he muttered to her. "Why don't you do something? At least you have enough sense not to taste every damned fungus you find on an alien planet!"

Jack couldn't shake his guilt. They were hungry and there was pitifully little to eat on this barren rock of a planet. They had found water, but not much else. No animal tracks, no civilization, no grocery stores. Maddy had been determined to find them something edible and as was her penchant, she had started nibbling on everything from roots to bark. He had begged, then bitched, then demanded she stop.

"Damn it, Maddy," he murmured, as near to desperation as he had ever been. He rocked back on his heels and scanned the cloudless sky. "And you tell people I'm the one who will eat anything."

He had spirited her away to Nirrti's planet, both to give her a chance to clear Meret and Qua'sel out of her head and to escape imprisonment for high treason. Ridiculous charges that Hammond and Landry would eventually clear for her. But until then...

Until then they were stranded in space with only a Gou'ald cargo ship, a healing device, a zat, and a ribbon device. And Bonnie.

They had been skinny dipping in a remote river on Nirrti's planet when a race of strange, furry creatures had collapsed a natural dam that nearly drowned them. Then, as they escaped the flood by the skin of their teeth, the aliens had taken them captive- ship and all. After spending months in a cage being treated like prize animals in a zoo, Maddy had managed to get them away while he was sleeping off the effects of an erotic delirium caused by an exotic flower.

Jack had known exactly where in space they were, but had allowed Maddy to think they were lost. He had hoped to give her time and incentive to get past what Meret, Qua'sel, and Ba'al had put her through. Had wanted this time alone with his wife.

Naked.

If he had just admitted he knew the coordinates of Earth, taken her home instead of gambling on this planet to provide food and shelter...

"Another fine mess I've gotten us into, Ollie."

Maybe he should zat her. The shock might jolt her system back to normal. He grimaced and shook his head. He didn't have a damned thing to work with, not so much as an aspirin to give her. His eyes drifted to the ship.

He had a radio.

He rose and sprinted to the ship.

An hour later he hadn't managed to raise any sort of response on the ship's con. It was too much to hope that the Odyssey might be in range of wherever they were.

"Way my luck's been running," he muttered to Bonnie, "I'll end up contacting the Klingons." He made a decision and stood. "No use sticking around here. Let's put your momma in the hold and go see if we can find help."

With Maddy carefully situated on the makeshift bed in the cargo hold, Jack lifted the ship into space and set a course for Nirrti's planet.

Bonnie whined from her perch in the copilot's seat. Jack shot her a sideways glance.

"I know, I know. Nirrti's planet is too far off, and all we can get there is food. But Ba'al- or whoever he stole this ship from- had to have had a list of stargates logged into something... somewhere."

He studied the alien labels on the control panel, trying to summon Qua'sel's knowledge of Gou'ald writing.

"If we don't find a stargate between here and there, we can at least salvage some of the supplies those Turdokins scattered. Bag some fresh meat. Gather up a bucket of crystals for bartering. Then go from there."

'If Maddy survives that long.'

He angrily pushed the appalling thought from his mind and concentrated on the console. After scrolling through several holographic screens he saw one that looked promising. Squinting, he leaned forward and peered at the list.

"Bingo!" He shot a grin at the dog.

Bonnie grinned back.

Jack did a double take and narrowed his eyes at her.

"Just how the hell much do you understand?" he demanded.

Bonnie wrinkled her forehead at him and whined softly.

Jack snorted and turned back to the list. He tentatively touched a glowing pad and the holographic map expanded. A flashing planet-dot grew red brackets around it. A moving yellow dot indicated their position.

"Okay, how far from here to there?"

He fiddled with controls, lost the entire screen and swore at it, then retrieved it and started over. The furrow in his brow deepened into a channel.

"Don't know Gou'ald days from light years from snowballs," he muttered. "Ah! There we go!" He leaned back and stabbed a finger at the screen as he glanced at Bonnie. "Those are the locations of planets with stargates on 'em."

Bonnie looked at the screen and perked her ears. She canted her head to the side then sneezed.

Jack eyed her narrowly. "You're starting to scare me," he told the dog as he leaned forward again. "This one," he indicated a blue dot, "Looks closer than Nirrti's planet." He tilted his head not unlike Bonnie had done. "Yeah, closer. Let's head for that one and see what we find. Your momma needs help and we need fed, huh, Girl?"

He experimented with the controls until he thought he had the planet with a stargate locked into the coordinates.

"Hang on, here we go."

A moment later the cargo ship blasted into hyperspace. Jack got up long enough to check on Maddy. She was still changing colors, still breathing easily. He drew the single, thin sheet of material over her and hurried back to the pilot's seat.

His mind was a million miles away, uncharacteristically fretting, when Maddy's voice startled him.

"Jaa-aak, come da-ance with meee..."

He whirled around to see Maddy doing drunken pirouettes around the ship. Her body and eyes were still changing colors, and the look on her face was frighteningly euphoric.

"Jaa-aakie... come da-aance with meee-eee..."

"Jackie?" he echoed.

She didn't appear to have heard him. He didn't think she could hear anything that wasn't inside her own head.

He winced as she stumbled over her own feet and giggled. Then she froze in place and stared ahead of her, her eyes going impossibly wide.

"Oh!" She sucked in a delighted breath then whispered, "Flutterbys!"

Jack watched incredulously as her eyes tracked the imaginary butterflies all over the ship. She darted forward, leaped, made a swipe in the air and giggled.

"So pretty," she crooned.

Jack closed his eyes for just a moment, not quite sure he believed what he was seeing. His wife, stark naked, changing colors, higher than a kite, skipping around a Gou'ald cargo ship chasing imaginary butterflies. He looked at Bonnie.

"Why didn't you remind me to pack a video camera?"

Bonnie sneezed at him and jumped down to help Maddy chase butterflies.

Jack started to laugh. Maddy would gasp and point, Bonnie would try to see what she was pointing at, and when Maddy would make a wild leap at nothing, Bonnie would leap with her.

His incredible Maddy who had never even been drunk in her life. Who had never experienced the effects of so much as morphine due to a strangely immune system, was spaced completely out of her mind. Relief swept over him. Hopefully this meant she was out of danger, that she would suffer no ill effects as it wore off.

Whenever that ended up being. From the looks of it she was just getting started.

She lost interest in the butterflies and waltzed over to Jack doing some sort of exaggerated hula. Her eyes, blank and empty as space itself except for the rolling bars of color, were glued on him.

"Hi, Handsome," she crooned. "Wanna make love? I wanna make love. Come love me, Gorgeous," she coaxed, wiggling her fingers and her hips at the same time. "Soooo pretty..." She moved her fingers up and down in time with the rolling colors, her eyes trying to follow the pattern. Jack realized she was seeing the colors as if they were fazing over him. She moved closer and a moment later was letting her fingers drift over his head in the same lazy pattern. "Pretty Boy... Pretty Boy..." She undulated herself into his lap and gazed dizzily into his face, her eyes tracking with the colors.

It was unnerving.

"Maybe you should go lay down," he suggested.

Her eyes didn't stop moving. "I can't kish you when you're rolling..." Her head began to bob, her eyes tracking eerily as she tried to catch is lips. It made her giggle as her entire body picked up the rhythm and she gave Jack the lap dance of his life. Eyes vacant, hands buried in her hair, breasts brushing his chest, she moved like she was riding a bucking bronc in decadently slow motion.

Jack was torn. His body responded immediately- with both of them stark naked there was little hope otherwise- but he couldn't wrap his head around the perversity of the situation. Maddy took the quandary out of his hands when she raised up and slid onto him. Jack grasped her hips and let her have her way with him.

Maddy was in her own erotic little world all by herself. Jack remained still, his hands unmoving except to keep her from falling, observing and enjoying without trying to participate.

God, she was sexy. Head thrown back, lips parted, her body rocking to its own excruciatingly slow and exotic tempo, she was the picture of exquisite bliss. Enthralled , Jack watched her hands move over her breasts; caressing, stroking, squeezing. Her face registered her pleasure without any trace of conscious thought or inhibition.

Jack wondered if he was dreaming. This was too erotic, too fantastically sultry to actually be happening. An electric shiver ran through his body and puddled in his groin. He breathed in deeply, striving for control to hold out a long as possible to prolong her incredible exhibition. She had him impossibly deep, was squeezing him, working him in a way that made him dig his fingers into the flesh of her hips.

She started to moan. Jack let his head fall back and watched through half lidded eyes. Her rhythm increased, her chest rising and falling as she gnawed on her lower lip. He ground his teeth against the exquisitely building pressure. She was curling his toes for him and he wondered how much longer she would hold out. She shifted, gasped, grabbed his shoulders and bent her head. Her hair spilled over his chest.

"God, Maddy, you bite me and it's all over," he rasped.

She was whining now, an imploring sound coming from behind clenched teeth. He slid his hands to her ass and increased the potency of her movements. Her mouth was a hot, wet circle on his neck, her nails digging grooves in his arms. She began panting his name, over and over, with steadily increasing desperation. When her body seized she sank her teeth into his shoulder.

That was it for Jack. He let go with a groan and let the sensation carry him into mindless ecstasy.

When his mind began settling back into his brain he lifted arms that felt like rubber and hugged her close. Maddy was sound asleep. He let his head fall back again and grinned.

"You are never gonna live this down," he gloated.

He gingerly shifted her sideways in his lap and cuddled her until she woke and blinked up at him. He dropped a kiss on her nose because he couldn't help himself. Her arms twined around his neck and she closed her eyes. The delirious smile still parted her lips, her face so sweetly carefree that Jack's heart swelled.

"God, I love you Maddy." He pulled her close and held her.

She was humming softly, a tuneless sound so completely off beat that he chuckled.

"Pretty colors..." she sighed.

"How do you feel?"

She sighed softly. "I... feel... wonderful! Sexy! Am I sexy, O'Neill?" She drew back slightly and almost opened her eyes. Didn't quite manage it and that made her giggle again. "Look at me, Silly! I can't see you!"

"I am going to have such a ball telling you about this," he teased.

"Um hmmm. Hmmm. Hmmm..."

Jack grinned and drew her head onto his shoulder. He looked out at space flying by at light speed.

His Maddy. How had he survived, how had he endured before her? She so completely captivated and delighted and enchanted him. Drove him to distraction, to be sure, took him to levels of anxiety he wished he had never experienced, but it was so completely worth it. To be loved the way Maddy loved him was a daily dose of shock-and-awe. He stroked her back and smiled when she nuzzled her face against his neck.

"Sing to me," he murmured into her ear.

She took a breath. "Boom, boom... boom boom... ...Boom boom boom... boom...."

Jack laughed. It was pretty bad when Maddy couldn't remember the words to her pet song.

"Come on, Boom Boom," he chuckled as he stood. "Time for beddy-by."

"Beddy beddy boom boom boom..."

"Yeahsureyabetcha." He carried her back into the hold and carefully placed her on the pallet. She clung to his neck and tried to draw him down with her.

"Make love to me."

"Can't, Baby. Somebody has to drive the boat."

"Rock the boat," she sang quietly, "Rock my boat. Come rock my boat, boom boom... boom. Boat boat boom... Boat boat boom. Boom boom boat..."

Jack drew the red material up over her shoulder as she curled into a ball, still softly singing to herself. He stood staring down at her with a tender smile on his face.

"You're gonna be alright, Maddy. Thank God you're gonna be alright."

"Boom boom boom boom boom..." Her voice drifted off on a soft sigh.

Bonnie padded in and curled up against the small of Maddy's back. She raised her eyes to Jack's for a moment, sighed, snuggled up close then went to sleep. With both his girls sleeping Jack returned to the console.

"A horse, a flea, and three blind mice. Were sittin' on the corner shootin' dice. The horse slipped! Fell on the flea! Whoops said the flea- there's a horsie on me! Boom boom..."

Chapter Two

The planet had a stargate, but the ship's sensors were picking up no life signs. At least none that registered as humanoid. Jack thought he recognized the Gou'ald word for animal. There were a lot of those. He dropped through the atmosphere, cloaked the ship, and swooped low over the terrain.

Deer-like creatures, a few larger, a lot smaller. His stomach growled in response. He found a stream and wound along its course, skirting tree tops and startling alien birds. Several large circles in the vicinity of the stargate showed no trace of villages, towns, or settlements. He swung around and set the ship down near the gate.

Maddy wouldn't appreciate being carried into the Alpha Site naked, so he ripped the red material in half and got her limp, helpless body into a makeshift toga. He wrapped the remainder around his waist, hoisted her into his arms, and paused to grab the arm band that would remotely open the ship.

"Come on, Bonnie, let's go get something to eat."

Bonnie bounded out of the ship ahead of him. They were half way to the dialing device when the gate activated.

Jack froze.

He was too far from the ship to make it back in time. A glance around showed no cover. As the whoosh flushed outward, he gripped Maddy protectively and cursed himself for not grabbing the zat or fitting the ribbon device to his hand before he left the ship.

The men who came through the gate were dressed rather primitively but were armed to the teeth. They pulled up short when they spied Jack.

For several heartbeats they stared at each other in mutual shock.

Finally, a young man stepped forward.

"I am Garan, of Edora." His face registered surprise. "Colonel... O'Neill? Is that you?"

Garan... Garan... Jack knew he should recognize that name. Then it hit him. Edora!

"Garan," he said amiably, plastering a smile across his face. "Fancy meeting you here."

The young man strode forward, slung a crossbow over his shoulder and extended a hand. Jack shuffled Maddy as best he could and gripped his hand.

"You were just a teenager when I... last saw you," Jack said hoping to mask his discomfort.

Laira. Had he sired this young man's brother or sister?

"Mother speaks often of you yet," Garan told him. His eyes dropped to Maddy in question.

"I need to take her... home," Jack told him. "She needs medical treatment."

Garan took in the pulsating colors and shook his head. Jack thought he sensed disgust in the gesture.

"She ate the Forbidden Cus'sa. Our village's healer keeps the antidote on hand. Come, I'll take you back to Edora and your friend will be well within fazes."

Jack shifted uncomfortably. "I'll just take her home..."

"I insist," Garan said firmly. "Do your people have a cure for the Forbidden Cus'sa? Do they even know if it's existence?"

Jack grimaced down at Maddy's face. If the Edorans had a cure...

"What is that?" Garan asked as he back away from Bonnie.

Jack glance down past Maddy's knees. "That's our pet. It's called a 'dog'. She won't hurt you... and she wouldn't taste good."

"Oh, well." Garan turned to the group of men who were drifting closer. "This is Colonel O'Neill, of the Tau'ri. Remember him? He was one of the first who came to Edora through the Ring of Stone. Saved many of our people from the Fire Rain. It was through him that Edora began to prosper from the mining treaty with Earth."

All of them recognized his name, if not his face. Jack heard someone whisper Laira's name. A couple called out to him. Of the group, about half gave him welcoming looks. The balance ranged from distaste to outright dislike.

"Go on with the hunt," Garan instructed, puffing out his chest and taking charge. "I will escort Colonel O'Neill to the village. Bring back extra meat so the women can prepare a feast for the whole village to celebrate our visitor." His eyes rounded and began to dance. "We'll have it on the night of the Fire Rain! Three nights hence! Bonfires and food and dancing..."

Jack saw several of the men look away. They weren't as impressed with his presence as Garan and he wondered if both had to do with Laira. And the woman he now held in his arms. He shifted Maddy and looked down into her face as Garan hurried to redial the gate. What had he dragged her into now? More heartache and jealousy if they found Laira had born his child?

Chapter Three

Jack stared at the pair of eleven year old twins who flanked their mother and his heart was torn between soaring and breaking. The look on Laira's face told him all he needed to know: These were his children.

"Hello, Laira," he said quietly, forcing himself to watch her eyes instead of allowing himself to stare at the kids.

"Jack," she said carefully, hopefully. "It's so good to see you again."

He tried to smile but it failed miserably. She put a loving hand on each of the children's heads and looked down at the girl first.

"This is Selene. And this," she beamed her pride and devotion, "Is Jack."

Jack started and tore his eyes from the boy to drill a look into Laira's very soul. She smiled her answer.

"Hi, guys," he managed a bit roughly.

Young Jack stepped forward and extended his hand. "Garan tells me this is your custom."

Jack took his hand and shook it firmly, held it a moment to stare into the boy's eyes. His chest filled with emotion. His son. He had a son. And a daughter. His eyes moved to Selene. He saw anger there, bitterness and distrust.

"Hello, Selene."

She turned and stomped away.

"Aw, don't mind her," Jack told him. "She's got her time. She's always cranky when she gets her time."

Jack raised an eyebrow at him. "That so?"

Laira clicked her tongue and playfully boxed the boy's ear. "Not a polite topic for conversation!" she chided. "Go ready... Colonel O'Neill... a place to sleep."

She almost said 'your father'. Jack could taste the insinuation.

"I should stay with Maddy in the Healer's... house." He had almost said 'hut' but remembered that it would offend these proud people.

"Maddy?" Laira's smile was a bit too bright. "Is she under your command, in your military?"

"My wife." He said it without preamble or apology.

"Wife... Does that rank above or below 'major'?" she asked innocently.

She understood the term. Laira didn't play dumb well and Jack didn't appreciate her effort to put him on the defensive. She might as well have said, 'You left me to be with Carter and you aren't.'

"She and I are married, Laira."

The woman didn't try to hide her disappointment. "Oh. I see. That is why you didn't come back. As you promised." She stopped just short of making it a question.

'Oh, Lord, not now. Not yet. I don't want to get into this right now.'

"Laira... I did mean to come back. I just... It never seemed to be the right time..."

"But you had time to fall in love with her."

Jack grimaced. "It wasn't on purpose."

She shrugged it off and turned away, but not before he saw the glitter of moisture in her eyes. "Come. Let us get you settled and I'll make you a meal." She slipped her hand into his and led him toward the house he had helped to build. Jack stopped and drew her around. Her eyes bored into his.

"Are they mine?" he asked gently.

Her eyes searched his and she nodded once.

"Do they know?"

She nodded again. "I took Paynan into marriage after you left. He raised them as his own, but the whole village suspected the truth."

"Right after I left?"

She held his gaze bravely. "I saw the way you looked at Major Carter. The way she looked at you. I knew you wouldn't be back. I was heartbroken, but more, I was embarrassed. The entire village knew of my feelings for you. I had to prove to them, and myself, that I had moved on. That I wasn't pining for you. It was my way of salvaging my decency, my pride. ...Of providing my children with a father." Her hands played around the collar of his shirt. "That woman... The one you took into marriage... Did something happen to Major Carter?"

Jack shook his head. Then he took a deep breath. Maddy was going to take this hard. He urged Laira to move on and squeezed his eyes closed a moment as he allowed her to lead him into her home.

Chapter Four

Earth's mining engineers had found that Edora was as rich in coal, copper, and iron ore as it was in naquada. The discovery was driving Edora into an industrial age before it was ready, pushing a primitive people into skipping important stages in their evolutionary learning curve. The Earth equivalent would be catapulting England from the fifteenth century into the eighteenth without sufficient population to fill the necessary social castes. Despite scrambling efforts of Earth sociologists, Edorans were sliding into political and social unrest. Jack knew this, had skimmed over the reports when he was in command of the SGC. The details came to mind as he contemplated his situation.

He sat on the rim of a high bluff just outside the village and stared out over the bleak, barren landscape. Lights from the naquada mine far across the valley cast a small pocket of glowing warmth against the vastness of an all but empty planet. Above him the Fire Rain made an exciting- but safely distant- show in the night sky. Behind him the village was lit by firelight, filled with music and laughter and motion.

Maddy still lay inside the Healer's hut, unconscious, sleeping away the effects of that nasty mushroom.

But Jack's mind was on none of these.

Jack and Selene. His children. The product of yet another period in his life when he had all but given up hope. Had resigned himself to a fate he couldn't manhandle. He shouldn't have brought Maddy here. He should have taken her to the Alpha Site and taken the chance that Dr. Lam could figure out how to get her through the effects of that mushroom. That Hank would allow her to be treated by SGC medical personnel. That he wouldn't place her under arrest in her hospital bed.

He had made the wrong choice. Taken Garan's word for it that this Healer had dealt with Maddy's affliction before. And to be fair, the wizened old woman was confident in her course of treatment. But it meant Maddy had to wake up to yet another of her husband's dramas. When she had just been through a whopper of her own. Wasn't completely through it yet. He still saw her hourly battle to hold Meret's voice, her instincts, at bay. Would this mess of his drive her back into hiding behind Meret's evil influence? He would have to watch her closely.

He needed to get her away from here as quickly as possible.

But how could he leave his twins?

Jack shifted uncomfortably, raked a rock out from under his ass, and stretched a kink out of his knee.

Jack and Selene were delightful. Jack had taken to him immediately, showing him his prize treasures and chattering with all the open tactlessness of an eleven year old. Selene was warming up to him, not as talkative but just as expressive with her eyes and her smile.

Laira had told them who he was before he could caution her to wait. To his surprise they had both accepted it as fact and dove into a parent-child relationship without any reservations. Laira explained to him that they had heard the village rumors all their lives, had lived with the truth since they had been old enough to understand the difference between biological fatherhood and Paynan's place in their home. They had, in fact, enjoyed a special level of reverence and respect that apparently came with being the offspring of Colonel O'Neill of Earth. Some of these people still admired and respected SG1 for their efforts at saving so many them from the lethal meteor shower that decimated their village. Many still appreciated they way he had helped them to pick up and rebuild when the bulk of their number had been hopelessly stranded on Earth. A few still superstitiously blamed him for the Fire Rain hitting Edora at all.

Jack, having been trapped into living with them for over a hundred days, for better or worse had left his mark indelibly stamped on their lives.

And sired a pair of twins that had captured the imagination and homespun whimsy of the villagers. They wanted to believe the twins were Jack's as much as Laira wanted them to be his.

Jack still had reservations.

Paynan had, after all, moved into Laira's home shortly after Jack had left and according to Laira, had died when the twins were about three. True, Jack and Laira had been lovers, but not as soon, not as quickly, as many had surmised. He had been too preoccupied with getting back to Earth, then with rationalizing that he never would, to allow himself to be seduced.

Not that Laira hadn't tried. Subtly and often, then not so subtly and with more frequency.

He had told Maddy the entire story, had left absolutely nothing out. Including the possibility of having fathered a child. It wouldn't come as a shock to her, but it would still hurt. Especially after having just miscarried Ba'al's Harcesis and dealt with Jack's reawakened longing for fatherhood.

She'd understand, but she'd still have a damned hard time dealing with it.

The question now was, at what point did they leave? Could he leave if he proved for himself that the twins were his?

He sighed and leaned back on his elbows to stare at the sky. This place wasn't so bad. Maddy would be right in her element. She ate up this type of primitive living. They could build a house. He could slip back to Earth and bring her a couple of horses, Diamond and the rest of their dogs. They could bring the Nautilus to Edora and slip away whenever they pleased. This could be the safe haven Nirrti's planet had turned out not to be. They'd make friends, socialize, start a new life.

He could be close to his kids without compromising Maddy's happiness and contentment.

By the time the treason and criminal charges against her had been ironed out and dropped, by the time it was safe to go back to Earth, maybe she'd be content to just stay on Edora.

She was going to be great with those kids. She could teach Selene so much, and her wild spirit would draw Jack into escapades all over this planet and others.

'Laira and the rest of these women would benefit from a few cooking lessons, too,' he thought with a grumble of agreement from his stomach.

Were those two kids his? Charlie had Jack's grandmother's smile, Sara's father's eyes. Jack's dad's hands, right down to the odd ridge in his thumbnail. He had way of wrinkling up the side of his nose and almost squinting with one eye when he was thinking that had been the spitting image of Jack's grandfather. Jack hadn't had more than a few days to observe the twins, but he saw nothing of his heritage in either of them. Brown hair and brown eyes could mean anything. Charlie had Sara's blue eyes.

Maddy would know. She would know the instant she laid eyes on them. She had never seen Paynan, but she would know.

And she'd know if Laira knew the truth. Or if she was lying to him, had been lying to the entire village.

Maybe Laira didn't know the truth herself. If she had slept with Paynan right after Jack left, it would be even odds as to which of them had gotten her pregnant.

Actually, considering the time frame, the odds were in Paynan's favor.

Jack sighed. He wanted those kids to be his. Hell, that aside, what would it hurt? They didn't have a father, he wanted kids...

It would hurt Maddy.

Damn it, if Maddy hadn't gone to Ba'al none of this would have happened! They wouldn't be on the run in space no less.

'And I wouldn't be walking. I'd still be a vegetable, trapped inside a paralyzed, nonfunctional body. In diapers, being spoon fed, going out of my friggin' mind.'

If he had just quit the SGC and never allowed her to become involved...

Jack sat up and pushed the guilt and recriminations aside. The past was over with and rehashing it wouldn't change the present, or the future.He needed Maddy to wake up and tell him the truth. He needed her to show him which way this was going to work. Because when it was all said and done, her happiness was all that mattered to him.

Maddy was just never wrong. Her instincts were unerring, her judgement impeccable, her heart always in the right place. He needed her, missed her. That thought drove him to his feet and he walked to the Healer's little hut on the outskirts of the village.

The old woman who was tending Maddy raised age-washed eyes when Jack rapped a light tattoo on the doorframe. She had been dribbling a fluid into Maddy's mouth and wiped a few drops off her chin before gently laying her head back on the pillow. Bonnie, who hadn't left Maddy's side since their arrival, watched the old woman closely.Jack moved forward to help the ancient healer to her feet.

"Thank you," she said in a frail, nasally voice. She patted his hand. "She's doing fine. Sleep is what she needs now."

Jack grimaced down at the vivid colors still rolling through her body. "When will that stop?"

The old woman shuffled away. "It'll stop when it stops. It's not hurting her."

Jack knelt down and ran his hand over Maddy's head. "Can she eat anything?"

"The fluids I'm giving her will sustain her. Go back to the celebration. Leave her rest."

Jack petted Bonnie for a moment and thought irrationally that the dog was giving him a rather intense stare. Blending with Ba'al had given her uncanny understanding at times.

"She'll be alright, Bon."

He ruffled her ears reassuringly then rose and stood staring down at Maddy. He wanted nothing more than to stretch out beside her, curl around her and hold her against him. Feel her pulse, hear her breathe, know she was alive in his arms.

"Can I bring you something to eat?" he offered as he moved to the door.

She shook her head and settled into a crude rocking chair. "Everyone has been stopping by with food- for me as well as your beast. I want only to rest."

"I'm sorry to have foisted Maddy's care onto you. I'll come by and do more."

The old woman shook her head adamantly. "Tis my job, tis my right. My duty to this village. I have yet to find a suitable replacement for when I die, someone to whom I can transfer my knowledge and skill so that they can tend to the ill and injured..." Her wise old eyes raked him shrewdly. "Perhaps you could convince your daughter to become my apprentice. Then, when she is old enough, you could take her to your world and have her trained by your healers. She could bring back to her people the advanced knowledge from your world and combine it with what I shall teach her. She would serve her people well..."

"Her people?" Jack frowned. "You make her sound like royalty."

"Isn't she?" the old woman said slyly. "From the time of conception those children have been held in reverence, have garnered the high esteem of this village simply because of who their sire is. They have been granted special privilege, been handled with fondness and leniency not showered on the other children. If she is true to her lineage, she will return the favor she's been shown."

Jack digested that and it left him with heartburn.

"Let me know if there's anything you or Maddy need." He left, but skirted the festivities and headed for Laira's house and his bed.

Laira spied him, sat down her mug of tolka, and followed him inside.

Jack turned without much surprise as he was unbuttoning his shirt. Laira closed the door and leaned back against it, her arms still behind her in a posture geared to accentuate her curves. Lingering fumes of the brutal moonshine tickled his nostrils. He stopped undoing buttons and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Party over already?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I thought we should talk. It's been nearly a week and we haven't discussed the children."

"What's to discuss?"

"You're wonderful with them. Jack idolizes you. Selena is so proud of you, thinks you're so handsome. I told her you were, what a brave and strong and influential man her father is..."

"Laira..."

"When you were off on a distant planet... they could accept that their father was doing brave and important work. Now that you're here..."

"You want to know how long I'll stay?"

She nodded.

"It depends a lot on Maddy."

"Maddy? What's she got to do with any of this?"

"She's my wife, Laira. My life. This isn't going to be easy for her."

"You could make it easier for me."

Jack sighed, not sure he wanted to hear how. "You want me to take the twins with us when we leave? Raise them on Earth, with all the advancements they'll never have here?"

Her face froze. "No. No! Is that what you have in mind? Taking away my children?"

He shook his head and rolled a shoulder. "Then what is it you're asking of me?"

"Only to fulfill your duty as their father. Stay here. Raise them. Teach them..."

"You could have contacted me, Laira. Through the ambassadors, the negotiation delegates. You were a part of all that, helped to set up the mining treaty. You had access to me if you really wanted to tell me I had fathered twins."

She smiled tightly. "And you could have contacted me, Jack O'Neill. Asked after my health, my welfare. Asked if I was carrying your child."

He nodded and scuffed a toe. "I didn't forget you, Laira," he said gently. "I always thought... It was in the back of my mind to return.... at some point."

"Then you met her."

His head came up and he met her eyes squarely. "Then I met her."

"You love her very much."

"I love her very much."

"Did you ever love me?"

Damn, he hated it when women asked that! If they had to ask, then they knew the answer and were trying to guilt him into lying to them both. Washington or Edora, predatory females were the same. It made him appreciate both Carter and Maddy for the women they weren't. How to explain without insulting her that he had settled for her as a part of a life he was forced into settling for as well. That he had every intention of trying to fall in love with her- and never letting her know if he didn't. And that would have been a losing proposition; back then he had been too hard, too jaded and cynical, to fall in love.

Then he met Maddy. The thought brought a rush of sentiment that softened his heart all over again.

"I'm in love with Maddy," he told Laira. "I didn't know I was capable of this level of feeling until I met her."

"Then I am happy for you." She shifted uncertainly. "Is she a jealous creature? I know I would be," she hastened to add. "How will she react to the twins? Will she insist you leave and never see them? Will she tolerate me as your past lover, the mother of your children?"

"Maddy is grace itself. She has a tender and forgiving heart. But she's been through a lot recently..."

"I suppose she is accustomed to the privilege and advancements of your planet. This will be..." she waved a hand to encompass the humble amenities, "A drastic change for her. A shock, after the pictures and stories of Earth culture that have been related to us."

Jack's smile was genuine. "She'll fit right in."

"Then there's a chance she'll agree to stay with you on Edora? So that you can be near your children?"

"We'll discuss it, Laira, as soon as she's well again."

"Then you are considering staying?"

Jack grimaced. She had trapped him into that one and he wasn't pleased by her effort or his slip. She read his reaction and instantly backtracked.

"I don't mean to push," she said contritely, coming off the door and moving towards him.

Jack held his ground as she advanced, hoping she wasn't going to force him into hurting her feelings. When her fingers touched his buttons he gently tugged her wrists away. She raised luminous eyes to his, then lifted her mouth to within kissing distance.

"This shirt needs attention. I merely wanted to add it to the morrow's wash."

"By taking it off for me?"

Her smile was that of a child caught in a minor transgression. "Can I help it I still find you incredibly attractive?"

"You're as beautiful as ever, Laira. But I'm not interested in rekindling our past. Please don't make an awkward situation harder than it already is."

Her fingers crept into his hair and Jack stiffened reluctantly.

"Then allow me this one parting taste of what I've pined for all these many seasons..."

When her lips touched his, Jack recoiled. He planted his hands on her shoulders and firmly put her away from him.

"Don't."

Her smile was misty, but not convinced. She patted his chest.

"Leave your clothes in the pile and I'll wash them."

Jack watched as she moved to the door and opened it. His eyes narrowed as she took a moment, silhouetted in the doorway for everyone to see, to straighten her dress and pat her hair into place. When she dabbed at her mouth with the back of her hand he knew for certain she was trying to radiate the wrong impression to anyone who happened to be watching.

Chapter Five

"I'm sorry, Colonel O'Neill," Garan said earnestly. "There are no empty homes in the village. We are still recovering from the devastation of the Fire Rain that destroyed everything when you were last here. True, many of our numbers were eliminated by the destruction, but..." He shrugged fatalistically.

Jack mourned the passing of time. Garan, Laira's oldest son, had been but a teenager when SG1 had made first contact. That everyone in the village still addressed him as 'colonel' didn't bother him and he didn't bother to correct them. It was immaterial. Garan was a man now, with a wife, two children, and another on the way. Still a bit of a scatterbrain, but a man in his own right.

"I would invite your woman to live with us," Garan continued, "But we are crowded as it is, and with Naytha again with child she is impossibly possessive about her home. It's never clean enough, or arranged correctly..."

"Back on Earth we call that 'nesting'. Comes with the territory."

Garan pulled a face. "I suppose it's one of the mysteries of womanhood that we men must deal with."

Jack grunted, partially in agreement, partly at the male superiority Garan was attempting to radiate.

"Are you not comfortable in my mother's... house?"

Garan had almost said 'my mother's bed'. It was all over his face. The guy was as transparent as a window.

"It'll be an imposition on Laira to take us both in." At Garan's questioning look he added, "Once Maddy wakes up."

Garan waved him off. "She'll delight in mothering the lot of you- including that strange creature that won't leave the woman's side. In truth, my mother should bear another child. She is still of age and the twins are too old now to be hovered over the way she needs to hover."

"She'll be a lot of help to Naytha when the baby comes."

Garan gave him a sideways grimace. "Naytha and my mother do not always agree on what their respective positions are in this family. Naytha stubbornly refuses to allow Mother to advise her. She should be grateful for her wisdom and knowledge."

Jack raised an eyebrow. Family tension must run galaxy wide. Right along with momma's boys.

"It would be uncomfortable for both of them," Jack explained patiently.

Garan gave him a knowing look that bothered Jack.

"I'll see what accommodations can be found for your woman, Colonel. Surely someone will be willing to take her in..."

"Not her. Us. I go where Maddy goes."

Garan frowned at him. "It's not uncommon- or unacceptable- for our men to bed more than one woman. Senchi, for example, has three women living in his house. All of them have entered into marriage with him. He's already sired five sons and three daughters."

Laira's son obviously admired this Senchi's virility.

"His meals are diverse, his home spotless, his clothing clean and promptly mended..."

Jack thought that with Naytha having two kids already and one in the oven, Garan should pick up a needle and learn to do his own mending. But he was an Air Force General, not a marriage counselor.

He settled for saying, "Thats not how we do it on Earth."

Well, not always, but why confuse the kid?

Irritation crossed Garan's features. "I keep telling Naytha that another woman would lighten her burden. I cannot understand her anger when I suggest it." His eyes tracked an attractive young woman who hurried past with her head lowered coyly.

Jack half turned to watch the girl, then he looked at Garan. If the kid knew what was good for him, he'd go straight home and lock himself in.

"If Maddy and I stick around for awhile, we'll need our own place."

Garan gnawed on his lip, his gaze still on the girl. "The men are working on expanding a house for a large family, then Naytha has insisted they begin expanding our own home before the birthing. It may be some time before we are able to help you build, Colonel. But I assure you, if that is your intention we'll see to it that you have what you desire."

Jack scrubbed a hand through his hair. "I just asked if there was an empty house in the village. I don't know what we'll be doing, Garan. When Maddy wakes up we'll discuss it. Don't go starting a house for us until I see how she feels about... everything."

Garan gave him another odd look. "There is a question as to whether or not you'll stay on Edora? What about Jack and Selene? My mother? Did you not promise you would come back to her?"

"It was a long time ago," Jack said tiredly. "A lot has changed."

"This other woman you brought with you. She tells you what you can and cannot do? How you must live your life?"

"It's complicated."

Garan puffed out his chest and squared his shoulders. "You must tell her that she will live in my mother's house, help care for the twins, do her share of the work so that you can take your rightful place as head of the household. A room can be added off the kitchen for her."

Jack gave him a blank look.

"Colonel O'Neill, I am prepared to step aside and afford you the honor of being the head of our entire family, the clan which will number ten when Naytha gives birth. Our number alone commands respect and deference... That you have come into our fold will make our clan the most respected of the entire village! It is already whispered that you will be adopted as leader of our growing community- that you are the head of our family will make..."

Jack held up a hand to stem the excited flow. "Hold on, there, Garan. I don't wanna be the head of anything. I'm retired. I have a wife- one wife- and that's all I can handle. More than I can handle at times. I don't know if Maddy and I will end up staying on Edora, but I'm damned sure not stepping into any role as chieftain of your clan or any other. You're doing a fine job, Son, you just keep on doing it."

"But the twins..."

"Speaking of the twins... When did you first notice your mother showing, you know," he rounded his hand over his belly.

Garan frowned. "I was young. I noticed only that she was with child."

"How long after she married Paynan?"

Garan's face darkened angrily. "Are you questioning my mother's truthfulness as to the sire of the twins?"

"I'm questioning, Garan," Jack said sternly, "Her ability to know the truth herself."

Garan's eyes came alive with a vindictive fire. "If Mother says the twins are yours, they're yours."

Jack shrugged. He wasn't going to argue with the kid.

"Just think about it."

"What is there to think about?" he demanded. "There is no way to tell for certain, except for my mother's word."

Jack flipped a hand at him. "Let it go, Garan. I'm not accusing her. Come on, I'll buy you a drink."

Garan gave him a skeptical look. "Water and tolka are poured freely..."

"It's a figure of speech. See, back on Earth..." Jack put a hand on Garan's shoulder and ushered him into what passed for a tavern.

Loud, angry voices greeted them as they passed through the door. Jack tensed warily. Garan shot him a look over his shoulder.

"Pay no heed. It is only the old men arguing politics."

"I hate politics," Jack grumbled as he toed out a heavy chair and sat down. Garan planted two mugs of tolka on the table, swung a leg over another chair, and plopped down with a mannish groan.

"I need to introduce you folks to beer," Jack mused as he peered into the cloudy liquid that smelled suspiciously like kerosene.

Garan's attention was on the argument. "Some, like Keetly and Mara, believe we should be bartering with Earth for weapons with which to defend ourselves. Others disagree, feel all negotiations should be centered on agriculture."

"Defend against whom? There's so few of you here on Edora, and Earth is protecting the naquada mines from alien incursion."

Garan shrugged and it was obvious to O'Neill that he was leaning towards arming the small community. "Seems unfair that the only ones with weapons on our planet are the aliens who want our minerals."

"What would you do with naquada if you had some?" Jack pointed out.

"Perhaps it would bring a higher price with another species."

"To what end? What is it you feel these people need more than a means of producing more food? You're already using coal for heat."

A flash of something crossed the younger man's face. "I've seen the advanced technology the Earthens carry with them. We've seen pictures, heard stories... Edorans should have the same."

"Yes you should. And you will- in due time. When you develop and discover it for yourselves. You're not ready for all the high tech problems that come with the toys. Enjoy this simple life, Garan. Covet it. Protect it. Trust me."

He made a face. "The crossbows we use to hunt. They are as twigs and rocks compared to Earth weapons."

"And yet you bring down sufficient game to feed yourselves," Jack pointed out. "Take pride in a skill that feeds you instead of using it to wage war. Over stuff."

"It may come to war- among our few numbers. Tempers are flaring over the terms of the mining treaties. Several have already threatened to move from our village and begin another many days trek distant. They will lay claim to other deposits of the mineral and demand to be compensated for it in their own right."

Jack shrugged. "It's a big planet with lots of room and lots of naquada. Let 'em go do what they want."

Manifest Destiny and capitalism were on Edora's horizon. He hoped he and Maddy could distance themselves from both.

"And if they succeed in negotiating for weapons instead of seeds and grain? Instead of looms and shovels and medicines?"

Jack grimaced and made a mental note to warn the SGC of the impending trouble. "What would they take from you by force?"

"Our looms and shovels and medicines. Our food- that we scrabble in the dirt to grow! Perhaps even force us to labor for them. Whatever they gain, we must gain more to protect ourselves."

Maybe introducing them to beer wasn't such a good idea after all.

"If they start a new village, a new colony, they will splinter families. Tear brother from sister, grandchildren from grandparents. Clans will be divided and lose influence."

Jack toyed with his mug but was loathe to drink. "Garan, this is the natural process of a growing culture. Instead of taking sides against one another, people like you and Laira need to take a stand and keep the division from becoming spiteful and angry. There's no reason your people can't spread out and populate Edora. It doesn't have to be done in a snit."

Garan stared at him in shock. Jack sighed, then thought he seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.

"Help them carry what they want to wherever it is they want to go. Help them dig wells and build houses. Get together a couple times a year and throw a big party. Trade stuff. Compare notes. Then go back to your respective villages and use what you've learned." He leaned forward onto his elbows. "Your kids. When they grow up, you expect them to move out, do their share of the work, get married and have kids of their own. You don't expect them to stay under your roof, under your care forever, right? So look at a new village in the same way. Your people are expanding, developing, growing. All that technology you're so envious of? Well, this is the first step in advancement, Garan. Striking out and exploring your options. Life is constantly learning new things- not hitting a level where you think you know everything and just existing from there."

Garan listed forward excitedly. "See? This is what the Edoran people need from you, Colonel! You could advise and guide us! With your knowledge and experience, you could hold our people together and teach us..."

Jack rocked back and fluttered both hands at him. "Whoa, easy. I have no desire to lead or teach or guide anybody. I've had my fill of that- it's why I retired from the military. I wanna be like that guy over there," he indicated an old man slumped over his mug of tolka. "Drink myself into a stupor then go home to my woman for some pampering and loving."

That wasn't quite the truth. Jack had no desire to go home to Maddy in a drunken stupor. He just wanted to go home to her. Go home with her. But it got his point across to Garan.

"How many offspring has this woman born for you? Do you have many sons to carry your name, your heritage?"

How to answer that without compounding Garan's already jaundiced opinion of Maddy?

"Earth's population is expanding just fine without our help."

Garan started to speak but Jack gave him a quelling look. They sat for a moment, listening to the others argue.

"What about Jack and Selene?" Garan finally asked.

"What about them?"

"Do you feel no duty to them?"

Jack winced. "What's that go to do with not wanting to take a leadership role in village politics?"

"Do you not want to see them grow up in a more advanced culture? Do you not want to garner for them the best possible life? Mold and shape this village to their best interests? It is what I want for my children!"

"Then do it, Garan. For all the kids."

"You refuse to help?"

Jack finally took a slug of the powerful hooch. It bought him time. He fought not to choke and cleared his throat a couple of times. The bite brought tears to his eyes. He decided Maddy had made him soft, then decided he was alright with that.

"Garan, I don't know what I'm going to do, or how this will all play out. What I can tell you for damn certain is that I do not intend to involve myself in politics."

"What of that woman you arrived with?"

"Her name is Maddy."

"Maddy," Garan conceded. "What life will she demand of you- and will it include my brother and sister?"

"Can't speak for her."

"Is it because of her that you refuse to become an integral part of our village?"

"No... yes. Actually, Garan, whatever she wants is what I'll do."

"She has no right to force you away from your own children!"

"You have no right to judge her," Jack said evenly. "You don't know what she's been through, what she means to me, what I owe her. The kind of person she is." He wagged a finger under the younger man's nose. "That is the exact kind of rush to judgement that has no place in politics... or anywhere else."

"What debt could you possibly owe this woman that you'd be willing to abandon your children for her?"

Jack was starting to get hot under the collar. "First off, Garan, those kids have survived eleven years without me. Second, I wouldn't be abandoning them- their life is here. Mine is elsewhere. They wouldn't fit in where I live and..."

"Your woman wouldn't fit in here?" Garan finished shrewdly.

"Maddy will fit in just fine- if that's what we decide to do."

"It would be cruel to leave them after having just discovered their father."

'If I'm their father', Jack amended to himself. "Doesn't mean I won't come back to visit."

Garan choked on his tolka. "To visit! Leave my mother to tend to your children all alone?"

"She's done a fine job so far, and she didn't waste any time finding a husband after the first time I left."

"Ahh, so you are jealous!"

Jack shook his head. "Your mother and I worked all this out. Our past is just that- behind us. I'm glad she found someone to be with. I hope she finds another. But it's not going to be me."

"Because of... Maddy."

Jack gave him a hard stare. "Because it wasn't meant to be, Garan. Not before and not in the future."

"Because of Maddy."

Jack snorted his defeat and slammed back another jolt of tolka. This time it went down a bit more smoothly. "I'm going to check on Maddy."

Chapter Six

Jack was sitting with Maddy's head in his lap, gently stroking her temples when Selene came into the Healer's hut. The little girl gave the healer a nervous look and darted past as quickly as she could. She dropped to her knees and gave Maddy a curious once over.

"Why is she such odd colors? Is she an alien?"

"She is to you, but not to me. She's changing colors because she ate something she shouldn't have."

Bonnie rolled onto her back and wiggled invitingly. Jack chuckled and rubbed her stomach.

"Pet her," he coaxed. "She likes to have her tummy rubbed."

Selene cringed back and made a distasteful grimace. Jack gently took her hand and guided it to the dogs soft underbelly. Selene allowed him to lay her hand on the fur but her expression didn't change.

"See how soft and warm she is? How much she likes you to pet her?"

Selene pulled a nasty face and jerked her hand away. "Mother says to come and have evening meal, Da."

Jack started. The fatherly endearment touched him deeply.

"Tell her I'll be there in a minute."

"But I want to walk through the village with you," she pouted. She darted a quick glance at the old woman. "And the Healer frightens me. Don't make me walk past her alone, Da," she whispered.

"Okay." Jack cupped Maddy's face in both hands. "I'll be back after supper, Babe. Be great if you'd wake up and talk to me." He fondled Bonnie for a moment then stood and took Selene by the hand.

The little girl talked his ear off as they made their way through the village. Laira welcomed him with a bright smile and a huge bowl of stew.

"The vegetables Earth has introduced us to have greatly improved our fare," she told him happily. "Next season, we're to be taught how to grow something called 'corn'. And barley."

'Well, beer can't be far behind,' Jack mused. "It smells great. Laira, what's the story on the Healer?"

Laira laughed softly. "She's an old woman with great skill and a distaste for being social. It's all a front, really. She's a sweet and caring woman once you get to know her. I'm sure she's taking the best possible care of your... wife."

"Selene is scared of her." He received a solid kick to his shin for his efforts. Jack shot the girl an apologetic grimace.

"As I said, it's all a front. Many of our young ones feel it necessary to try the Forbidden Cus'sa. It is said the plant allows one to see into the future- which," she said with a stern look at young Jack, "is entirely untrue. All it does is cause great dementia and physical pain, and it is rumored to damage the brain. As a deterrent, Old Hesta has developed a veneer that is frightening and distasteful to the young ones. Since she is the Healer they would be brought to for treatment, it serves to keep them from trying the plant. Fear of her keeps their curiosity at bay." She finished serving the kids then sat down with her own bowl. "Our medicines are not as advanced as Earth's. It is better not to get sick, not to be injured. Knowing they would be taken straight to the Healer has stopped many a young one from taking foolish chances."

"Whatever works," he grunted. "You know, Maddy is an excellent cook. She could teach you a few..." At the look that crossed Laira's face Jack realized just how badly he was botching this. "... things about Earth foods. You could teach her about foods native to Edora, too," he added hastily. "I'm just saying, you both have an opportunity to learn from the other... And the way Maddy loves to cook she'll be glad to help out in the kitchen."

His fast attempt at covering his blunder hadn't worked. Laira's face had a stony look to it.

"She's awake then?"

Jack shoveled in a mouthful and chewed as he shook his head. He swallowed before he said, "She's not as... colorful... as she was, though. I'm hoping she's about through it."

Laira nodded without looking up.

"Laira, I was not criticizing your cooking."

She forced a smile. "I borrowed more clothes from those among the village, laundered them for you this day. You can dress in fresh ones on the morrow."

"Thank you. I'm sure Maddy will help out with that, too." He peered at her down turned eyes. "You're gonna like her. Everyone does."

She nodded and finally raised her eyes to his. "I'm sure I will," she said a bit too brightly. "The children have learned a new game. They hope you will play with them after the meal."

"Sure," Jack agreed to their delight. "In fact, when we retrieve our ship I have a few games and stuff on another planet I'll bring..."

Laira's stricken glance, quickly hidden, made Jack frown. "What?"

"Your... ship?"

"Spaceship," he nodded. "Surely you've heard we have interstellar travel besides the stargate."

She nodded. "Your Earthen ships protect the mines from far above, and it is a great treat to see the ones which transport the naquada. I just didn't realize you had one of your own."

"Two, actually. Maddy has one of her own, and we have this one."

"Oh, Da! Can I go for a ride?" Jack piped up.

Jack laughed. "Sure. I'll take you all for a spin around the stars."

Laira grimaced. "I'll leave that up to you brave souls. I have yet to find the nerve to step through the Stone Ring."

"Never pass up the opportunity to experience something new," Jack told her gently.

"Yes, Mother!" young Jack insisted, hoping to curtail a negative vote on his ride. "Never pass up the opportunity to experience something new!"

"Does... Maddy... like to ride in your spaceship?" Selene asked.

Jack nodded. "Like I said, she has one of her own. Flies it herself and everything."

Laira abruptly rose and took her bowl to the wash basin. "Maddy seems quite... adventurous."

"That's an understatement," Jack grunted.

"She must suit you well, then."

Jack studied her stiffened shoulders. "Yes."

Laira nodded to herself then turned brightly. "I made a special dessert..."

Later that night, as Jack once again sat with Maddy, he tried to push Laira's disappointment aside.

"Hey, Babe, remember how excited you were about introducing that new Jaf'fa colony to chickens and turkeys and sunflowers and stuff? Well, here's your chance. These people are ripe for new stuff and you're just the person to show them. It'll give you something constructive to do- I know how you hate idle time. There's not much to see on this planet; it's kinda drab and unexciting... until the Fire Rain once a year. But you can shake it up for us all. After you wake up we're gonna go bring the cargo ship here. I left it cloaked so I hope it's still where I parked it..."

The old woman brought another dose of that clear liquid and began dribbling it down Maddy's throat. Bonnie rose slowly, stiffly, her eyes hard on Jack. On impulse Jack snagged the bottle and took a swig. The old woman's eyes widened. Jack grimaced at the vile, bitter taste and handed it back.

"That gonna hurt me?" he asked.

Their eyes met and another of Jack's suspicions were confirmed.

"It will not," she rasped.

What it did, about an hour later, was put him into a hard, deep sleep. He woke with a headache, grateful he had made it back to his pallet in Laira's house before the sedative had taken full effect. When he was able to stand and walk, he stormed to the Healer's hut.

"Why are sedating her?" he demanded. "Let her wake up and tell me she's alright!"

The old woman had her story ready. "As you wish. But be warned, she is not yet through the period of pain and cramping. The plant is not yet fully flushed from her body and she will not thank you for allowing her to feel such distress."

Jack eyed her closely, abruptly remembering the agony of withdrawal caused by the drugs the Lucians had pumped into him. He wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy. Well, maybe Ba'al...

"What motive would I have for keeping her sedated?" he old hag demanded.

"You- and the rest of this village- are determined to see Laira and I together."

"If you don't trust my methods, take her to Earth's healers."

Jack was tempted. But it would involve going back to that distant planet and getting a sample of that mushroom for Lam to test. Then days, maybe longer, for the doctor to come up with an antidote.

Providing Landry would allow Maddy to be treated on the base.

"I promise you, harming Maddy will not guarantee Laira a husband."

"Will it guarantee those two children a father?"

"It'll guarantee that I rip this village apart with my bare hands. Starting right here." He turned on his heel and left the hut.

What the hell had happened to him? He had just stooped to threatening an old woman. He acknowledged in himself the lengths he'd go to protect Maddy and the admission frightened him.

Chapter Seven

"Your sister is out-fishing us both," Jack said to the boy.

The wooden canoe rocked dangerously as the boy shifted to watch Selene land yet another flopping fish.

"Easy," he warned. "I already had one bath this morning."

The boy's face turned red as he relived his embarrassment at having capsized them once already.

They had been fishing since dawn. Jack was pleasantly surprised by the lack of mosquitoes on this planet and wondered why he hadn't remembered that little detail from his first stay.

"I think we have enough for supper. Ready to call it a day?"

The little boy scowled at him. "Is it not already 'a day'?" He glanced upward to study the sky. Jack laughed.

"Earth expression. It means to end what we're doing for today."

"Oh. I am getting tired."

"Oh, Da, can we stay a bit longer?" Selene called over her shoulder. "I just saw a... 'whopper'," she carefully used one of Jack's words.

Jack motioned for her to cast again and the boy sullenly followed suit. Jack wasn't sure how he felt about them calling him 'Da' with such easy familiarity. At first it had been endearing, but now it worried him. What if he discovered that Paynan was their father instead of him? It would make breaking the news to them all the more harsh and disappointing.

All the more harsh and disappointing for him, too.

"Work your line in more slowly, Jack," he coached the boy. "Don't be so smooth with it. Bugs don't swim smoothly- they jerk around, stop and start, change directions. Move your hands around more. It'll telegraph those movements to the bait, make it look more appetizing."

A moment later Jack saw the line go taut before the boy realized he had a bite.

"Okay, gently now. Give it a tug to set the hook- not too hard or you'll jerk it right outta his mouth. That's it, goood. Excellent. Now, start working him to the boat."

Selene had turned and was all eyes and ears as her brother brought in his first fish under Jack's tutelage.

A gigantic fish broke the surface, flopped angrily, then splashed back down.

"Wow!" Selene gasped.

"That's my fish! That's my fish!" the boy cried in delight.

"You've got a fight on your hands- don't let go. Give him some slack, that's it. Just a little. He's big enough to break your line. You need to tire him out."

Edora didn't have much in the way of indigenous wildlife. The SGC, as part of the mining treaty, had offered to stock the rivers and lakes with edible species of fish. Obviously the cutthroat trout had thrived and this one was a beaut. And he was mad.

"Okay, ease him in some." Jack watched with pride as the boy found his stride and began working the fish. "Oh, you've got 'im. Be patient..."

Maddy was the one who should be teaching these kids to fish. She out-fished him on a regular basis. But would she join him, or would she resent the kids encroaching on what had been their private, personal time together? He was going to have to learn how to divide his time, give her the attention she needed, deserved, without ignoring his kids.

If they were his kids.

Not that he wouldn't want to spend time with them like this even if they were Paynan's kids. But he wouldn't be as... obligated. Both of them were bright, smart, enthusiastic. Fun. He was enjoying playing 'Da' again.

Maybe they were too smart to be his offspring.

Bonnie's excited barking brought his head around sharply. She was racing up and down the bank, barking her head off, her eyes locked on Jack.

Maddy.

"Bring him in, Jack," he told the boy. "We're headed in as soon as he lands this one, Selene. Pull your line in."

The girl glanced at the dog then gave him a spiteful glare, but she did as he asked. When the fish was close to the boat, Jack leaned over and heaved it inside.

"Oh wow!" the kid cried. "Look! Look at what I caught! It's bigger than any of yours, Twinnie! Bigger than all of them together!"

"Well I caught more!" she spat back. "You just got lucky! And don't call me 'Twinnie'!"

"Ok, paddle, the both of you," Jack commanded. He guided the boat to the shore and hopped into the water to drag it up on the bank. Bonnie hit him like a furry torpedo.

"Okay, okay, I got the message. I'm coming." He took the time to help Selene out of the canoe and made sure they could carry their catch, then kept them at a fast trot to keep up with his long strides as he headed for the healer's hut.

Maddy was drooped at a table outside the hut, holding her head.

"Maddy!" He broke into a run. When he reached her side he sat down and scooped her into his arms. "You okay? How do you feel?"

She laid against him and sighed. "Awful headache. I'm so tired, so weak." She managed to lift her head and look into his eyes. "Jack? Don't eat that mushroom. It's not good for you."

He laughed and drew her head back to his shoulder, then hugged her tightly.

"God, I missed you! I was so worried."

Bonnie nosed in between them and licked Maddy's elbow.

"Thanks, Bonnie. You done good, Girl."

Bonnie grinned up at him.

"I swear being blended with Ba'al made her understand us," Jack told Maddy.

"God really must love me," Maddy mumbled. "He gave me the most wonderful husband and dog..."

"Hungry?"

She shook her head. "My stomach feels full. I just want to sleep."

"Well, you have to sleep in my arms. I refuse to go another day without you."

Her smile was wan. But it wasn't colorful. Then she frowned, and that wasn't colorful either so Jack decided it was okay.

"Where are we?"

Uh-oh. "Edora," he said carefully.

She gave a halfhearted shrug and Jack knew her brain was still foggy. The old hag shuffled out of the hut and drew Maddy's head back to peer into her face. She thumbed up an eyelid and studied her eye.

"Are you in pain?"

"Huh-uh."

"Cramps? Muscle spasms? Aches?"

"Just my head."

The old woman grunted and glared at Jack. "Take her, and be gone with you both." She shuffled back inside and Bonnie growled.

"Yeah, me too. Come on, Babe. Can you walk?"

She nodded, stood, and immediately collapsed into his arms. He scooped her up and she wound her arms around his neck.

"I'm too heavy for you to lug around, Jack," she protested weakly. "Set me down and I'll walk in a minute."

"Between what Meret did to you and weeks flat on your back, you're light as a feather. Just hush and let me carry you."

"You'll be too tired to make love to me."

Jack flashed a grin then sobered. "Uh... we're not gonna have much privacy for awhile, Babe. We're living with... people."

She stirred against his neck. "What people? Edorans?"

"Yep."

He was nearly to Laira's house when he felt her stiffen. Loki's memory implants must be smoking.

"Laira?" she whispered.

Jack sighed. "Yeah."

She tried to push herself up to look at him. "Stop, Jack. Put me down so we can talk."

He glanced around and made a detour to a pile of firewood, then seated her on a wide stump. She weaved a moment and he steadied her before rolling another stump up in front of her. Her eyes were full of questions. Jack took a deep breath.

"There are twins, a boy and a girl. Laira says they're mine and the ages are right. But she married Paynan right after I left so, in my mind anyway, there's a question. They were raised to believe I'm their father and the entire village assumes I'm the father. They call me 'Da'."

"Because Laira says so?"

He nodded. "That's about it, too. I can't see how even she can know for certain. But telling everyone- including Paynan- they're mine has raised their status in the village. All three of them have capitalized on it."

"What's Paynan have to say?"

"Paynan's dead."

"Does Laira think she can use the kids to get you?"

"Maybe. But you understand it won't work, right?"

She nodded. "I know, Jack. If you really loved her you would have made an effort to come back. How did we get here?"

Relief swept him like a refreshing breeze on a hot day. She had total and complete confidence in him, in his love for her. She wasn't questioning his motives or his feelings.

"I got us to a planet with a stargate, planning to take you to the Alpha Site. Before I could dial the gate, Garan and a group of hunters came through. Garan recognized me, recognized the effects of that mushroom you ate, and brought us back here for their healer to... heal."

"Well, at least now you know, Jack. I know it's bothered you."

He took her hand but didn't look up. "What if they are mine, Maddy?"

"What if they are?"

"How will you feel?"

"About them, or about you wanting to stay here to be with them?"

He looked up. "Yeah."

"Gimme time to wake up, Dear. I'm still foggy."

He grinned at that. She was no more foggy than he was. She was buying time to think about it, get her bearings, analyze the situation. He shouldn't be pushing.

"How long have I been out, anyway?"

"A good month. Well, after you woke up on the cargo ship and danced naked for me. Chased imaginary butterflies all over the ship and begged me to make love to you. Had your way with me. Took extreme liberties with my body."

She grinned. "You must have loved that!"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact I did. God, Woman, you're sexy!"

"Ass."

"I gotta get you drunk. You're a blast."

"So I'm boring otherwise?"

"You weren't until I got to see you dancing the hula while changing colors."

"Naked. Don't forget 'naked'."

"That was the best part." He snapped his fingers. "Except for the lap dance. In my next life I wanna be a horse so you can ride me like that..."

She pinched his lips together to shut him up. "Thank you for dressing me before you took me out in public. Um, you know there's a foolproof way to determine if you're the twins' father?"

"Yeah, but how do I get them to Earth for blood tests? We don't have a GDO. I don't even know that Landry will approve Lam running the tests for us."

"Let the medics at the Alpha Site draw blood. If they can't do the test, Lam can send them what they need."

Jack's eyes lit up. "I was going to go get the cargo ship after you woke up. The kids want to ride along. We can make a quick detour to the Alpha Site from there."

She patted his cheek. "I love you, Jack O'Neill."

"Maddy, if it turns out that I am their father..."

"One step at a time, Dearheart. Don't get your heart set on it until we know for sure. I hate to see you disappointed."

"Da! Da!" Young Jack came panting up to them. He ignored Maddy to tug on Jack's sleeve. "Are you coming? Mother says it's your job to prepare the fish for the evening meal. Hurry, Da! I'm starved!"

Jack grabbed the boy's elbow. "Jack, this is Maddy."

He spared her a fleeting glance. "I know. I saw her in the healer's hut. Come on, Da, Mother's waiting."

Jack's face clouded but Maddy stepped in to avert the oncoming storm. "Go. I'll follow in a minute."

The boy turned on her. "We don't need you."

"But I want to watch. Jack fileting a fish is an awesome sight to behold. Poetry in motion."

Jack snorted at her sarcasm as the boy stared in confusion. He wasn't sure whether to be aggressive or ignore her. Maddy's charm was working it's magic. He flashed her a grin.

"I'll be there in a minute. Get everything ready."

The boy frowned but turned to run back around the house. Jack stood and offered Maddy his arm. Her eyes thanked him as she rose and moved unsteadily beside him.

Chapter Eight

Jack stepped into the doorway just as Maddy picked up the wooden paddle Laira used to stir food. He paused when Laira gently removed it from Maddy's hand as she poised it over the bubbling caldron.

"Please," Laira said kindly. "Cooking for this family is my privilege. Allow me to do it."

"I was just going to stir..."

"I'll stir."

"Of course," Maddy said meekly. "I noticed the laundry was piling up. If you'd show me how it's done, I'd be glad to..."

"The washing is another of the privileges I guard with an uncommon jealousy," Laira said lightly. "Don't bother yourself."

Jack watched Maddy turn away with a distressed expression.

"If you really want to do something to help out," Laira said over her shoulder, "The vegetable patch badly needs weeding. And we could use more wood splintered."

"Certainly," Maddy agreed instantly.

"That way." Laira pointed with the wooden paddle, all but throwing Maddy out of the house.

When Maddy exited through a back door, Jack backed out and rounded the house to meet her.

"Hi!" He kissed her cheek. "How's it going?"

Maddy smiled for him. "I'm just headed out to do some weeding. Join me?"

"Why soitenly," he mimicked Curly of the Three Stooges and made Maddy giggle. He admired the way the sunlight shone in her hair and the gladness in her eyes as she looked at him.

It had been two weeks since introducing Maddy into Laira's home. He could sense the tension, but being typically male he determined that it would work itself out. Maddy was being very careful not to step on Laira's toes and he was proud of the way she let little things bounce off her. She'd have Laira eating out of her hand in no time. Laira was, after all, a practical and rational woman.

It went without saying that Maddy was sensational.

Chapter Nine

Maddy stared down at the pile of Jack's freshly laundered shirts, stacked neatly beside Maddy's crumpled and soiled dress. One of the only two dresses she was given to wear- and she was in the other. She gnawed on her lip and slowly counted to ten. The woman was insufferable and Jack was being deaf, dumb and blind to the entire situation. Maddy snatched up the dress and stomped out to where Laira did the laundry. The washtub was overturned, the fire out. Maddy methodically set everything up and went inside to heat enough water to wash a single dress. Then she decided to wash both and changed into one of Jack's shirts. She carried the second dress outside and looked around for something that passed for soap. She located a cake of primitive lye and the washboard. When she went back inside to get the hot water, it had been dumped out. She patiently filled the pot a second time and stood guard until it had heated. When she carried it outside, the laundry tub, washboard, and lye had been put away. She raised her eyes to the sky.

"Give me the strength to endure this, for Jack's sake. And while You're at it, open his eyes to what's happening. So I don't have to."

But all Jack saw was Laira being attentive and polite to Maddy. She was the perfect hostess, even enduring Bonnie's presence with patient grace.

He spent his time playing with the twins and doing his best not to neglect Maddy in the process. From time to time he spirited her off to one of the caves for an afternoon of lovemaking, but at night they had to settle for snuggling together in the crowded space of the tiny house. He resisted the efforts of the village men to draw him into their heated politics, but gladly helped with community building efforts and planting crops. When Maddy seemed to be fully recovered, he suggested she join him. Maddy proved proficient and skilled in both fields- as he had known she would be- but he sensed the growing impatience of the village men. They had a definite caste society and Maddy's expertise was not welcomed into what was considered manly work. He decided it galled them that she knew more about it, was better at it, than they were. He sat her down for a long talk.

"I know this is hard for you..."

She shrugged. "I've faced it before. On the road, in the steel mill... It's alright, Jack. I'll sit here in my dress and twiddle my thumbs all day."

"Until...?"

She leveled him a long look. "Until you make a decision."

"What if I decide to stay?" He couldn't read her expression. "We'll build our own house, plant our own garden. You can import chickens, your horses..."

"And have them butchered the first time I turn my back?" she yelped. "I don't think so, O'Neill!"

He tried to smile but he wasn't sure she was joking. "Would it be such an awful existence? Could you be happy here?"

"Pariah here or back on Earth, what's the difference?"

"Pariah? What are you talking about?"

"Everyone back home is mad at me and these people refuse to accept me. I'll just have to be happy being with you. Wherever that ends up being."

"They haven't gotten to know you yet. You're different, Maddy, but that doesn't mean you have to adapt. Just be yourself and you'll have the whole damned village in love with you."

"You poor, dense, foolish man, I love you to death."

Jack pulled a face. "Look at that Jaf'fa colony you stayed with. They adored you. Bra'tac said..."

The loving hand she stroked over his head eased the sting of her words. "These people don't hate me, Jack, they hate that I'm the woman standing between you and Laira. It doesn't matter how pleasant or helpful or interesting I try to be. I could be the Good Witch of the East, or a genie in a bottle granting everyone their fondest wishes, and I'd still be resented. It's just the way it is, Jack. The way it's always gonna be."

"Laira is nice to you. She likes you. She'll sway their opinion... eventually."

"No, Babe, she won't. And she isn't. Being a typical man, you see what you want to see. What Laira wants you to see. You're gone a lot of the time and you don't pick up on the subtleties."

Jack abruptly remembered the innocent show Laira had put on in the doorway the night of the Fire Rain Festival. He winced.

"What's been happening?"

Maddy slowly shook her head. "If you can't- or won't- see it, I'm not going to point it out." She took a deep breath. "If staying here with Jack and Selene is what you want to do, what you need to do, then I'm with you. We'll build a house on the outskirts of town and we'll build a life that includes your kids. I'll be happy as long as I have you, Jack. Wherever that ends up being. I don't have a home anymore so I guess beggars can't be choosers. Here is as good as the next planet."

Jack ached for her. "Landry and Hammond will clear you of those bullshit charges. I promise. Then we can go home."

"And face Sam and Daniel and Teal'c."

The tears in her eyes stabbed right into his soul. He couldn't stand it and pulled her into his arms. Her sob nearly broke him.

"They'll get past it. They love you. By the time we can go home it'll be like none of it ever happened."

'Whatever I have to do to make it that way', he vowed to himself.

"If we go home, Jack," she said against his shoulder. "What if the blood tests prove you are the twins' father? Won't you want to make this your home? To be with them?"

Jack pressed a kiss to her head and wondered how he could win either way. Have her here, miserable, or be miserable himself knowing he'd left two of his flesh-and-blood children to scrabble out a life on this desolate planet. Laira would never leave Edora, would never adapt to Earth. And taking his children out of their element, throwing them into the chaos of Earth was out of the question. Which was a moot point if Laira didn't agree to come with them- he'd never take them away from their mother. And what would he do with her? He couldn't expect her to move into an apartment in Colorado Springs and survive. Maddy would be gracious and patient- as she proved when Sara had shown up on their doorstep- but Laira still believed she could win him away from Maddy. Having them under the same roof would be like tossing lit firecrackers at an ammo dump.

It had taken eight of them the last time he tried.

This was what Maddy was tactfully trying to tell him now. She pushed away and stared hard into his eyes. He braced himself.

"If you aren't their father... could you still leave them? You're getting very attached, Jack. I know you. You won't just shrug it off. Not now."

He closed his eyes against the truth he saw in hers.

"I've been thinking about that." He gripped her shoulders. "I promise, if they aren't mine we won't try to make a home here. I won't tell you I won't want to come back- often- to see them, but it'll be more like a doting uncle than a father."

"You know how I feel about promises, O'Neill."

He made a face. "Have I broken one yet?"

Her eyes flickered but she managed a smile. "Just... keep it all in perspective. I don't want to see you hurt." She touched his cheek then turned to walk into the forest.

She was out of sight when Jack remembered she had called him 'O'Neill'. It was her cue to him that she needed attention, wanted him to ravish her. And he had been too preoccupied to pick up on it. He thought about going after her but too many disturbing thoughts were pounding his brain.

With sudden insight he understood that this was why Maddy had never wanted kids. She wanted a love that didn't have to be shared. She wanted him all to herself, and she wanted to be all he needed, wanted, thought about. It was how she loved him- to the exclusion of all others. As big as her heart was, when Maddy fell in love it was so hard, so deep and indivisible, that there was no room to love anyone else that completely.

This was that elusive difference between loving someone and being in love with someone.

Children automatically drew on that unconditional reservoir of in love. When he had questioned her motives, her determination not to have kids, it hadn't dawned on him that she wasn't capable of sharing her heart with anyone else. She gave him, literally, all the love she was capable of. She had told him she was selfish and he had blown it off. Maddy selfish? Not a chance. But she had been right again. Her wild spirit could only love absolutely and that she gave to him. She was helpless to hold anything in reserve to do children justice. To make the attempt would be to dilute and diminish what she gave to each of them. Which Maddy couldn't accept. It was all or nothing for her, in everything she did.

Which explained why it hurt her so deeply that he craved a child of their own.

How many times had he been frustrated because she never asked anything of him? She had asked all along- for his complete and undivided devotion- and he hadn't understood. He thought he loved her as much as she loved him, to the fullest extent of his ability, but every time the issue of kids arose it had been like a slap in her face. He was withholding from her that pocket of emotion that had been set aside for a person who didn't even exist yet.

Qua'sel had tried to make him understand. Qua'sel had been capable of returning that level of devotion, had been bitterly aggravated that Jack had not. Maybe it was Quasi's influence now that was opening his mind to the truth.

Jack had to sit down.

Now, in the face of this new understanding, he was wrestling with denying her his complete and total devotion and handing part of what she was due to two strangers who might or might not carry his genes.

Wrestle, hell, he had already done it. Time away from her was not the issue. The affection and attention he was showering on the twins came directly out of, not his heart, but Maddy's. Because she owned him heart and soul. To love anyone else to any degree was to deny her that portion. And anything less than everything was less than she deserved.

Less than she gave him.

Jack was left with the feeling that he had cheated on her.

Maddy would better handle him spending a night in another woman's arms than she would him falling in love with these two kids. Because she could forgive a mistake and convince herself to believe it had nothing to do with love. She'd blame his inner caveman. But losing even a part of him to the legitimate devotion of a father for his kids would tear a huge, honkin' hole in her heart.

"Damn you, Quasi, for opening up my thick head like this!"

He longed for the days when he had stumbled through life being blissfully dense.

He had always been in awe of the way Maddy loved him. To recognize that he hadn't even scratched the surface of just how wrapped up in him she was, well, it staggered the mind.

She had tried to tell him. Tried to make him understand. He thought he knew it all, had seen it all. That she was just insecure. She had known herself, known how fragile her heart was. He remembered how hard she had fought him on Nirrti's planet, what, nearly nine years ago now? How adamant she had been that she wasn't going to fall in love. Then, when she did, that she wasn't going to subject herself to the heartache of finding out he wasn't capable of loving her with the singleness of heart she required.

Jack dropped his head into his hands.

He had thought he loved her that way. Agape love. But all along he had been holding enough in reserve for a child. Had been denying that small part of himself that she had willing handed over.

What others, including Maddy, saw as selfishness he now saw in a different light. It was a responsibility he wasn't sure he could manage.

Because a part of him would always love kids. His own, others, it was still a part of himself he was denying Maddy.

She knew this, understood it, and loved him in spite of it. If he chose to be a father to Jack and Selene she would accept it with all the grace and charity in her soul. But it was going to change their dynamic. Was it worth it?

He was suddenly afraid of what the blood tests would prove.

Bonnie appeared and pressed against his leg. He patted her absently as he agonized over this new revelation.

"I never asked for insight," he told the dog. "Damn Qua'sel, damn the Ancients, and damn the SGC!" He stood. "Let's go find your momma."

Maddy had wandered deep into the forest and was perched on a rock beside a tiny trickle of a stream. From the way she smeared at her eyes with the back of her hand, Jack knew she was crying. She probably wouldn't welcome the intrusion.

That she felt she had to hide from him to cry bothered him and he wondered how often she came here for just that reason.

"Hey, Gorgeous," he called from across the small clearing.

Maddy started and whirled, then hurriedly dabbed at her eyes. Eyes that lit up when she saw the huge bouquet of wild flowers he had gathered for her. She looked up at him through fresh tears she made no attempt to hide.

"Thank you!"

"No roses..."

She laughed softly. "These are every bit as lovely."

"Liar."

She snorted. "Getting these is every bit as lovely."

"That's better. You didn't get away with it, you know."

She frowned. "What?"

"Calling me 'O'Neill. When you least expect it, when it's the last thought in your mind, I'm gonna nail you."

There was a quick flash of something across her face that told him he had been right. She thought he had forgotten.

"Maddy, I've been thinking."

"Run for cover, Bonnie!"

He pulled wry face as he dropped down beside the rock. "I really have no desire to make a permanent home here."

"What about the twins?"

"Laira has raised them quite well on her own for eleven years. I see no reason to upset the apple cart."

"Don't do this for me, Jack. You'll end up resenting me."

"Hey, she could have contacted me through the ambassador. She chose not to."

"She wanted you to come back because you wanted to. Because you wanted her. Then she would have presented you with the gift of twins."

"Will you shut up and hear me out? I thought when we bring the cargo ship to Edora, we'll find a nice place to set her down and live out if it instead of building a house. When we get the urge to take off, we'll just untie the clothes line, move the firewood aside, and lift off."

"Like an intergalactic motorhome?"

Jack snickered. "Isn't that sorta what we've been doing? We'll stock up on supplies, find containers to carry water, gather up some clothes... Well, if you promise only to put them on when we land somewhere."

She laughed at that.

"Maddy, I want to be a part of the twins' lives. Whether or not they're mine. More if they are, but... I don't have to be with them every single day. They've survived eleven years without me- and vice versa. We'll all fare just fine if I only visit from time to time."

"It's not like you to be a part-time father."

"Happens every day on Earth. It's called 'divorce'. Might have happened with Charlie..."

"If he hadn't..." She stopped short and bit her lip. "I'm sorry."

"Maddy, Sara and I were destined to split up. You and I were designed, predestined, to be together. If it hadn't been Charlie's death it would have been something else. It couldn't have been any other way, now that I know you exist. I'm in the twins' lives for a reason whether or not I fathered them. So are you." He paused to play with Bonnie. "Babe, nobody, nothing, is more important to me than you. I know you'd settle in and make the best of it if I asked you to, but it's not what I want. We have a home. A home I love and miss. The home you make perfect for me. Edora- kids or no kids- can never take its place. And nobody can shove you aside. I won't let them. Strike that- it's just not possible. You own me."

"I love you."

"I know it must seem like you woke up after a month-long snooze to find I'd replaced you with the twins. And I'm sorry I've neglected you, haven't been paying attention to what you're going through here. I did have my head up my ass at the prospect of being their father. But it's passed. We'll work them into our life, but they won't ever take precedence over us."

When she didn't respond he twisted around to look up at her. She was quietly crying. He rose to his knees and laid his head in her lap. Her fingers felt exquisite on his scalp.

"Thank you for not hiding behind Meret through all this." It would have been so easy for her to do.

"She tried. But I couldn't do that to you."

"To me?"

Maddy sighed as she drew a lazy finger around his ear. "It would have been too much like using that to get your attention. You needed to come to terms with all of this without interference from me. I needed you to follow your heart... even if it was away from me."

"God, Maddy, where do you get your strength? Your wisdom?"

"I need you to be happy. I can't be happy unless you are. Whatever that means."

"One of these days you're gonna trust me to make the right decision and it'll be the wrong one."

"I trust your love for me."

"It's my head you need to worry about. It gets all foggy and mixed up."

"That's when I love you the most. Well, then and when your inner caveman cuts loose on me."

He snorted. "I'm sorry that hasn't happened lately."

"It never happens when you get the fatherhood urge."

He raised up to stare at her. She shrugged.

"They're mutually exclusive. You can't feel fatherly and out of control at the same time. Like trying to come in and go out all at once."

"I still don't get it. Wouldn't the urge to plant some sperm automatically make me horny?"

She grinned at him. "It makes you all mushy and lovey-dovey. Which I enjoy the hell out of. But your inner caveman is altogether different. He's territorial and feral, ferocious. The only thought in his head is hunting down and overpowering the strongest female he can find. He wants to do battle, prove he has the right to take her, then punish her for daring to defy him."

"And you enjoy that?"

"I have an inner cavewoman. She likes to be hunted down, chased, forced into submission... then shown beyond any doubt that she's met her match. That the male who is taking her is taking her because she is the choicest piece there is for him. She wants to know he's lord and master when it comes to mindless desire, primitive need."

"That doesn't sound like you."

Her smile was misty. "I'm a strong woman, Jack..."

"You're preaching to the choir."

"...but sometimes I need to feel feminine. At a base level. A very base level. Takes a hell of a man to do that for me, Jack. So far you're the only man who has made the grade."

"What the hell do you mean, 'so far'?"

She laughed and boxed his ears for him. "To date? Until I met you?"

"I plan to make damned sure nobody else ever gets the chance!"

She sobered. "It isn't possible, Jack. You're the only man capable of it."

"I dunno, Teal'c is pretty..."

"Prehistoric?"

He grimaced at her. "I was going to say 'primal'."

"Silly boy, if I didn't want it that way it would become 'rape'. And I don't want it in any way from Teal'c or anyone else. Just you."

"There's a fine line, isn't there?"

"Never between you and me, Big Man. It's seduction on base, animalistic level. Which I find entirely erotic."

"I thought you liked the ways I seduce you," he pouted.

"I love all the ways you seduce me. I love that after this long you still seduce me."

"I can't help myself, Maddy. I can't get enough of you. And you make me feel so good..."

"Careful, O'Neill, or you'll get me all horny."

He growled and dragged her onto the ground.

Chapter Ten

"Maddy, I'd like a word with you."

Maddy braced herself, gathered her patience, and sat down at the table. Laira took a seat across from her.

"You are aware that Jack is planning on going through the Stone Ring at sunrise to bring this... ship... back to Edora. He is taking Jack and Selene with him."

Laira's affected 'villager speak' might impress upon Jack that she and the twins were sorely underprivileged and in need of his charity, but Maddy saw right through the ploy. The woman had headed interplanetary negotiations and helped to broker the details of Edora's mining treaty with Earth. She knew damn well it was a stargate- not some magical, mysterious 'stone ring'. Just as she knew what spaceships were and that Earth had them. Maddy plastered on a polite smile and wondered where this was leading.

"The children have asked me to speak to you on their behalf. They'd like to have this time alone with their father. They feared angering him with the suggestion you remain behind, so they asked me to intercede."

Maddy narrowed her eyes. She had been looking forward to getting away for awhile, to visiting the Alpha Site.

"I'm asking you to make Jack believe it is your idea that he and the children go alone."

"I won't lie to my husband, Laira. Just ask him. He's not the one who bites."

"You prefer to deny his children this time alone with him." Her longsuffering tone said it was no less than she expected of the harlot who took her man from her. "Are you afraid they'll win him away from you?"

"I think you're pushing for them to win him away from me for you."

The woman studied her narrowly. "I am the mother of his children."

"On Earth, it doesn't work that way."

Laira gave her a superior smile. "You are not on Earth."

Maddy's smile was slow and confident. "Not at the moment."

The other woman started. "You are planning to force him back there? Away from his children? The only children he has from what I'm given to understand."

Maddy summoned her best poker face and refused to be baited into that particular discussion.

"I will happily be wherever Jack asks me to be. If we leave Edora- and the children- it will be his decision. Not mine. Same if we stay, or drop in for a visit."

"He will defer to you. If you show him you are unhappy..."

"I just told you I won't lie to my husband, Laira. I'm not happy here. You and everyone else have made it quite plain that I'm an interloper. All you're succeeding in doing is driving Jack away from those kids you insist are his."

Laira bristled. "He is their father!"

Maddy leaned forward. "Oh, come on, Laira! They don't look like you and they don't look like Jack. But they bear a suspicious resemblance to that old hag who kept me sedated to buy you time with Jack. Who is she, Paynan's mother?"

Laira refused to answer but her face betrayed her.

"You know the truth, but it's served your purpose to pass them off as Jack's. God bless Paynan for buying into your duplicity. And the Healer- she knows but she won't open her mouth. Because of the special treatment those kids get from people who believe your lies."

"I suppose you've filled Jack's head with these ridiculous accusations?"

"I've said nothing. It's up to him what he chooses to believe, to discover the truth for himself. It's not my place to point it out to him, Laira, anymore than it's yours to lie to him."

"Your overconfidence will be your downfall," Laira warned darkly. "Jack loved me first."

"And if he decides he loves you more, you're welcome to him. I refuse to fight for a man who can't give me his whole heart."

Laira's eyes narrowed down on her. "You don't deserve him. A woman in love will fight for her man."

"A woman in love will put his happiness first. If that means you and the twins, then I'll kiss him goodbye and none of you will ever lay eyes on me again."

"Yet you deny him the children he craves."

She hit bone with that one but Maddy refused to give her the satisfaction of knowing.

"I've never resorted to promising him a baby I didn't intend to give him just to keep him around. And I've certainly never used another man's children as bait to lure him into my bed."

Laira's face was stormy as she rose. "So you won't honor the children's request and speak to him?"

"You have a lot of nerve asking me for a favor after the way you've treated me, Laira."

"I accepted you into my home," she defended hotly. "Fed you, clothed you..."

"Clothed me?" Maddy laughed incredulously. "You say that with such pride, Laira. Such righteous indignation. How proud would you be if Jack knew where you got these?" she flicked the collar of the threadbare dress. "Would you want him to know you scavenged these out of the town's burn pile? A gracious host would have at least shook the wet ashes off them- oh wait! You wanted me to know where they came from."

Laira lifted her chin and looked down her nose at Maddy. "I dare you to try to make him believe that of me."

"You think it'll make you look poor and needy and brave while I'll look whiney and spoiled and ungrateful?" Maddy shook her head and smiled. "What you don't understand is that I'll gladly wear whatever I have to. It really doesn't matter to me as long as I'm covered. But it would matter to Jack. And don't stand there and tell me how good you've been to me because we both know better."

Laira spun and headed for the door.

"Laira?"

The other woman paused without turning around.

"These spiteful little games you're playing? I hope you enjoy playing alone because I have no intention of joining in."

Laira walked out of the house without another word. Maddy heard her voice just outside the door, then Garan's. He must have been eavesdropping, probably heard the entire exchange, and Maddy wondered if Laira had arranged that, too.

Maddy sat there thinking. Let them plot and plan. Jack would eventually open his eyes. He wasn't as dense as he wanted others to believe, but he was a man. As soon as the giddiness of possibly being a father settled into rational thinking again, it was going to piss him off that those innocent twins were being used in so many ways. Some of that anger would be in her behalf, too- Jack was so protective of those he loved. She just had to be patient and trust him. That well of determination was fast drying up, but if she dug deeply enough she'd find enough to give Jack the time he needed to sort this out for himself. Any attempt on her part to rush the process would only backfire, make Jack question her motives and give Laira the advantage. There was nothing Laira could throw at her that she couldn't endure.

And she reminded herself that all of this was her fault. They wouldn't be here if she hadn't royally screwed up Jack's life for him. Suffering through this the right way for him was penance she would bear with gladness and grace.

She bent her head and prayed for guidance, patience, wisdom, and the strength to accept whatever the outcome might be.

When she finally rose to leave, it was to go find Jack.

She found him, but Laira had found him first. Maddy dropped back, found a place to sit, and watched.

Jack had scared up a length of rope and was teaching Selene and several other village girls how to jump rope. Laira stood to one side, a smile plastered on her face, her hands clasped almost piously. When she could get Jack's attention she motioned him over. Jack stood listening, his attention on the girls, calling out to them from time to time as Laira earnestly bent his ear.

Maddy wondered at her own tenseness. Would Jack buy her story? What would his reaction be and how would he present it to her?

When Jack's face seemed to ice over, Maddy knew he wasn't pleased with what he was hearing. Was it the suggestion, or was Laira telling him Maddy had confronted her? Jack said something, gave Laira a stony look, then went back to the girls. Laira stood a moment longer then turned away. Maddy's eyes tracked the woman as she strode up the slope to the house, unable to decipher anything from the woman's posture or gait.

Jack, however, was losing interest in the game. He spent more time scanning the village, his eyes touching on every nook and cranny. Maddy didn't move. When he looked in her direction he immediately headed her way. Maddy took a deep breath and told herself it didn't matter if she got off this God-awful rock for a few days or not.

"Hey," he said as he leaned his back against a tree and studied her face.

Maddy mustered a smile. "I see she ran straight to you."

"Why didn't you?"

She pulled a rueful expression. "I tried. She beat me. Feel like a rat being batted back and forth between two cats?"

"I feel like a man who should have kept it in his pants eleven years ago."

Maddy shook her head. "Not this time, Babe. You thought you were stuck. You were trying to reinvent your life. She set her sights on you and you were vulnerable."

"Stop excusing me."

"It's just that you're such an awesome man I can see why she wanted you. Still wants you. I know I couldn't let you go without a fight. What did she say to you?"

"That the twins need time alone with me and all three of them would prefer it if you didn't go when I bring the ship here."

Maddy was glad he didn't say, 'bring the ship home.' It made her feel better.

"How do you feel about it?" she asked.

"You're going. End of story."

She smiled. "Thank you. But I think I'll stay if you don't mind too much."

He was instantly irked. "Why the hell not? If there's bonding to be done, I want you involved."

"You go. I'll be fine." This wasn't the time to inform him she had no desire to bond with those twins. Ever.

Jack's face darkened. "Just what the hell has she been doing behind my back? Because I'm not seeing it."

Maddy shook her head. "It's petty stuff and doesn't matter."

"I'm not defending her- and I'm not accusing you, damn it!"

"I know, Jack. But I refuse to play her catty games or make you a part of it."

"But you agree with her about this jaunt?"

She shook her head again. "Not a bit. But I refuse to give her the satisfaction of thinking she has me worried. I could go just to prove that I can, or to prove that you want me with you. But I have every confidence in you and it'll solidify my position if I show her my trust in our relationship is rock solid."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "You've been anxious to get away from here. Don't deny yourself to spite her."

Maddy laughed. "Once the ship is here, Jack Darling, I can leave whenever I want. With or without you."

She thought he was going to start steaming from the ears.

"Don't you think for a minute you're gonna fly off and strand me here! Get it through your head, Madison Elaine, that I don't want to make a life here- regardless of what those blood tests show!"

"I didn't mean forever. I meant for a couple of hours. Maybe just sit out there in space and enjoy the peace."

"With me along."

"I said 'peace'."

"And I said 'no'."

"Yes, Dear."

He came off the tree to tower over her. "Don't start that shit, Maddy. You and I can go get the ship and leave the twins here. We won't come back. Not if it's going to come between us."

She took his hand and pressed it to her cheek. "Nothing is going to come between us, I promise. Just let me wage my war with Laira the way I see fit. I'm not giving in to her, I'm making a surgical strike. The only backup I need from you is to let her know it's my decision not to go, not yours. That's crucial."

"No problem. Less of one if you just came with."

"You just want me along to run interference when those two get on your nerves after a few days confined in a spaceship."

He grunted. "Will you mind if I take Bonnie?"

It was Maddy's turn to stiffen. "Why? Selene hates her. Jack could care less."

"Exactly. Maybe time away from Laira's influence will win them over. I can't imagine kids not loving a dog. Especially Bonnie."

"You forgot to say 'of mine'."

He scowled. "What?"

"You meant 'I can't imagine kids of mine not loving a dog."

They stared at each other for a long time.

"They just need time to realize how cool a dog can be," he said evasively.

"You're a good man, Jack O'Neill. Just don't let them throw her out of a hatch or something."

Jack tugged her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry I got us into this. All of it. I'll take you away from here as soon as I can."

She cuddled into his chest and sighed. "Stop apologizing. Such is our life. We'll be fine and someday we'll look back on all of this and laugh."

"While we're laughing, will you tell me what she's been pulling on you?"

"Sure."

"But not now?"

She shook her head against his shoulder.

"Because you want me to see it for myself?"

"Because I want you to make the decisions that are right for you. I don't want you taking my side on my word alone."

He made an impatient sound, grabbed her head and pulled her back to glare at her. "There are no sides to choose, damn it! It's you and only you! Laira has no pull on me, no claim on me."

"She's tilting at windmills?"

"Exactly. Babe, I know you woke up to find out I'd been staying in her house for nearly a month. That I might have fathered her twins and that I was living with them. I had made friends, learned my way around, and you were lost and alone and uncomfortable. I didn't help you through that as much as I should have. I was preoccupied and left you twisting in the wind. And for the record, I have seen a few things that's gotten my hackles up. Like chasing you out of the kitchen when all you wanted to do was stir that friggin' stew I'm sick of choking down. I see how she washes my clothes and leaves yours laying, but won't let you do them all. I've seen the villagers avoid you, whisper behind your back, turn away when you pass. It pisses me off, all of it. And it's all because they want Laira and me together- not anything you've done to cause it."

He splayed his hands in her hair and tilted her face up.

"I'll get you away from here as soon as I sort this out. You're not going to live like this. Let me find out for sure if I'm the twins' father, then I can have a long talk with Laira and work something out. But it will not include us staying here. Okay?"

She nodded.

"I need your help, Babe. Don't make me do this on my own. I'll screw it up for everybody."

She stroked his cheek then let her finger trail over his lower lip. "I can't, Jack. The only way you'll be a peace with your decisions is if you make them on your own. You'll do the right thing. I trust you and I'll support whatever you decide. ...And I'll watch your back."

"Do you know how amazed I am at your patience? How much I love you for being the person you are?"

Maddy smiled. "Not the vacation you had in mind, huh?"

He grimaced ruefully. "I'll talk to Landry from the Alpha Site, see if we can go home yet."

"I don't care where we go, Jack, as long as it's together. I was kinda looking forward to planet hopping for awhile."

"We'll stop back at Nirrti's planet and gather up some crystals. Then we'll do some exploring on our way home. And we don't have to put down roots. We can trade the cargo ship for the Nautilus and take off again."

"After I make things right with Sam. And Daniel and Teal'c."

Jack drew her back against him and held her tightly, laid his cheek on the top of her head.

"I love you so much, Maddy."

"I hear the mining crew from Earth is due back in three or four days. Maybe I can hang out there until you get back."

"That might be good news. If they need naquada, it's probably because Carter has come up with a new way to blow the Ori to hell."

Maddy laughed. "I'll find out when they get here." Then she drew back to frown up at him. "Is it okay for them to know where I am? I mean, will Landry send an SF to take me back in chains?"

"He'd better send a whole friggin' unit if he's serious about taking you. No, Babe, Hank wouldn't have let us go aboard the Odyssey if he really wanted you in custody. You don't have to hide from the mining crew."

"Oh good! I'll have somewhere else to be while you're gone. Somebody to talk to."

Chapter Eleven

As Maddy waved at Jack a moment before he led the twins and Bonnie through the stargate, she chided herself for the glee she felt at look on Laira's face. Jack had let her know, plainly and clearly, that he wanted Maddy along and it had been her decision to stay behind.

Laira turned to Maddy the instant the gate shut down.

"I suppose I should thank you."

"You think Jack's going to come back so wrapped up in your children that he'll stay on Edora?"

"That's why you did it? To prove me wrong?"

"So that when you don't end up with my husband, Laira, it isn't because I stopped you from exhausting every available effort."

"You're not threatened in the least, are you?"

Maddy shook her head. "I'm sorry you're still in love with him. I understand what wanting that man and not being able to have him feels like. The only way you'll ever have peace is to understand it's not meant to be."

Laira gave her an odd look before she turned away. She took several steps then turned back.

"Don't expect to sleep under my roof or eat at my table while he's gone. He's the only reason I tolerate you and I will not do it while I do not have to."

"Why thank you for your gracious hospitality," Maddy said lightly. She'd slept on the ground under the stars before. It would be a relief to be away from the bitch.

But later that night, as a hard, cold rain started to fall, Maddy began to rue her determination. With no shelter, no blanket, and the thin material of the dress plastered to her wet body, she sat huddled and shivering beneath a huge tree. The mining crew wasn't due for another three days and the mine was shut down, locked up tight. She'd been chased out of the tavern long before it was closed for the night, too. And Laira had put a lock on the shed where she kept the laundry tub, axe, and garden tools. A shadow loomed in front of her and Maddy tensed to defend herself.

It was the ancient healer, bent beneath the cover of a heavy cloak pulled over her head. She handed Maddy a steaming cup of liquid.

"A hot drink to chase away the chill," the old hag rasped. "Come. Take shelter with me this night. Tis not fit outside even for you."

Maddy gratefully followed the old woman back to her hut. A fire was going and its warmth was welcome indeed. The old woman threw off the cloak and draped a heavy blanket over Maddy's shoulders.

"Is Laira showing her teeth, or is it your own stubborn foolishness that will lead you to your death from illness?"

Maddy shivered and sipped at the brew, relishing the way it seemed to warm her bones.

"A little of both, I suppose. Thank you so much for bringing me inside."

"Pride has killed more fools than wise men."

"I think neither the fools nor the wise of Edora would mourn my death," Maddy snorted.

"SG1 is revered by our people. They saved many of us during the fatal Fire Rain, brought a means for a better life for those of us who survived that holocaust. When it was thought that the good Colonel was here to stay, the entire village pushed for him to wed Laira. It was a good union, fated to be."

"But he left when he got the chance," Maddy said gently.

"And he came back."

"Not for Laira."

"He was led back because of his children. The children were used to lure him back because the village needs his leadership. Tis fated."

"He didn't know about the twins. He was on his way to one of our bases..."

"Twas fated he return," she insisted.

"They aren't his kids, are they?" Maddy asked abruptly.

The old woman's eyes met hers. Cold, hard, brutal.

"It is only necessary that he believe they are. That the village believes it is so."

"I see you in their faces. Not Laira. Not Jack."

"No one can know for certain. My grandson wedded Laira within weeks after the colonel abandoned us. She was certain the colonel had impregnated her, was determined that it was his child that grew within her womb. Laira is a strong headed woman, steady and stubborn. But she is also wise and far-seeing. She swayed Paynan to her conviction and by the time the twins were birthed, the entire village saw them as their greatest hope. Hope for the future, hope that they would bring the colonel back to us."

"What is this obsession with Jack? I mean, I know what an awesome man he is, but..."

"Earth's bounty has been both blessing and curse. While it is enhancing our ability to survive, raising our quality of life and helping Edora to advance, it is also breeding greed and unrest. The colonel taught us much in his time here. He is seen as the ideal leader for the Edoran people, a man who can lead us into peaceful prosperity. When Laira was not enough to hold him, hope manifested itself in the form of the twins."

"And nobody cares that it's all based on a lie?"

"Is it not the function of hope to help blind the desperate to truths that deny hope itself?"

Maddy mulled that over. "Jack will make his own decision. Making an outcast of me has not endeared the Endoran people to him." She felt a wave of dizziness and glanced at the emptied cup.

"If you did not distract him, Laira's charms would win his heart once again. There were many, including Laira herself, who refused to believe he could resist her because of you. Your hold on him is powerful. It must be broken for the good of Endora."

Maddy felt herself fading. Panic gripped her.

"You poisoned me!" she gasped, fighting the effects of whatever was in the mug.

"Merely more of the sedative that kept you out of Laira's battle to win the colonel's heart."

"Wha..." Maddy lost her fight and slumped onto the floor.

The old woman rose and opened the door. Garan stepped inside.

"Do what you must," she told him. "She will not resist."

Garan levered Maddy over his shoulder and stepped out into the rain.

Chapter Twelve

Jack led the twins through the stargate and grinned at their wonder as they turned to look at the puddle. Dumbstruck, they stared around at the alien planet.

"Watch this." Jack touched the armband and the cargo ship uncloaked.

Both kids gasped in shock.

"Is that what will carry us through the stars?" Jack asked.

"Yep. Hey, would you like to visit another planet before we go back to Edora?"

They turned wide, startled eyes on him. Jack motioned them to the DHD.

"Watch this." He dialed the Alpha Site and they shrank back as the whoosh flushed outward.

"I've seen that since I was a child," Selene said softly. "But it is always frightening."

Jack grinned at her choice of words. "Yeah, it hasn't lost its thrill for me, either. Come on."

"Where are we going, Da?" Jack asked. "Will there be monsters? Is there an... iris... that will kill us?" He stumbled over the unfamiliar word that had been drilled into the Endorans.

"Nope. No iris on the Alpha Site stargate. It's one of Earth's military bases. Super secret. Don't tell any of our enemies, okay?"

Young Jack's eyes widened at the enormity of the trust he had been given. He elbowed his sister.

"Not even Chella and Bene. Take heed!"

Jack grinned and gave the boy a push towards the gate. Selene slipped her hand into Jack's and he smiled down at her as they stepped into the puddle.

They were met by an armed guard on the other side. A major gaped at Jack then gave the order to stand down.

"General O'Neill!" He snapped to attention and saluted smartly. "You're alive!"

"In the flesh, Major. Who's the CO now?"

"Colonel Richards, Sir. This way."

"Da?" Jack whispered, staring around them at the blinking banks of lights, the metal walls and ceiling. "Where are we?"

"Inside a mountain," Jack told him.

He squeezed Selene's shoulder and shooed them along. The major led them to the base commander's office, rapped sharply, then stepped inside and announced their guest. The colonel rose and greeted Jack with a warm clasp of hands and a shake of his head.

"I understand rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated."

"Yet again, Sir. How are you, General?"

"Fine, thanks." He indicated the kids. "This is Jack and Selene."

Colonel Richards' eyebrows climbed his forehead when he heard the boy's name. "Nice to meet you both. What can I do for you, General?"

"These two would like to sample Earth food, I'd like to speak to Landry."

The colonel nodded his understanding. He keyed his radio. "Have Lieutenant Baker report to my office."

A moment later a young blonde woman stepped inside and came to attention. Her eyes touched on O'Neill, then on the two kids.

"Lieutenant, I'm putting you in charge of escorting Miss Selene and Master Jack to the mess, then on a tour of our base. Entertain them. Get them whatever they want."

"Understood, Sir."

"Dismissed."

The lieutenant dropped down to eye level and smiled at the kids. "Hi! I'm Amanda. Are you guys twins?"

The pair nodded shyly.

"Cool! I'm a twin, too, but I have a sister instead of a brother. You guys ready to eat? Cook has pizza today."

Selene raised her eyes to Jack. "Da?" she said uncertainly. "Are you coming?"

Jack ignored the startled expressions of the colonel and lieutenant when she called him 'Da'.

"Lieutenant Baker will take good care of you and there's nothing to be afraid of here. I'll catch up to you in a little while. Have fun, okay?"

They reluctantly followed the lieutenant out of the office, casting worried glances over their shoulders until the door closed. Jack turned to the colonel.

"You want to gate to Earth?" the colonel asked.

Jack shook his head. "Just radio contact."

"No visual?"

Jack shrugged. "That's fine, Colonel."

"This way, Sir." The colonel led Jack to the communications center, made the link to Earth, and asked for General Landry. When Landry saw Jack he sat down abruptly.

"Son of a bitch," he growled. "And I said such nice things about you at the memorial service!"

"Nice to see you too, Hank."

"You have a lot of explaining to do, Jack. Where the hell have you been and what the hell happened? Is Maddy okay? No, wait. I'm coming there. Don't move." He spoke to Sargent Harriman. "Redial the Alpha Site."

Jack waited by the stargate for Landry to arrive. He came through shaking his head. The two men shook hands.

"Let's grab a cup of coffee, Hank. I've got a wild story to tell you."

Hank Landry agreed to allow Dr. Lam to run the paternity tests and blood was drawn much to the dismay of the twins. Landry was still shaking his head in wonder.

"If this is what retirement has in store, I'm never stepping down," he muttered.

"What's happening with those charges against Maddy?"

"We had to go the route of issuing security clearances to a special council of Pentagon brass in order to plead the facts of Maddy's case. The criminal and treason charges have been dropped, but they're holding fast on the security risk factor. They want her in protective custody but we're arguing for just keeping her on a short leash. Or we were. Once she was declared dead it all went away on a vast sigh of relief."

Jack bristled at that. Landry waved him down.

"Not any of us, Jack! The special council."

"So she still can't come home?"

"I'd chance it. As long as she keeps a low profile and doesn't call attention to the fact that she's alive. Nobody at the SGC is going to peep. It hasn't been the same without the two of you keeping things stirred up."

"I don't expect to be spending a lot of time in one place anyway," Jack told him. "With two ships now we can disappear in a flash."

"You're still not coming back to work?"

Jack shook his head. "Not in an official capacity. Let 'em think I'm dead, too. If you need me, Hank, I'll be there. Just keep my name out of the reports."

"No problem. The more we can keep out of official reports the better. This new administration is a hard-line bunch. They fight us at every turn. I can't wait for the next general election so we can oust this bunch and get someone in there who will work with us."

"Another bunch of Kinseys?"

"Give me Kinsey any day."

Jack grimaced his sympathy. "It's not gonna get any easier, Hank, as more and more people find out about the Stargate Program."

"That's what I'm afraid of. We have a Chinese SG team now, and an oversight committee of international delegates. The red tape keeps getting thicker and tougher to cut through. They've tapped Colonel Carter to head Atlantis but I've convinced them not to promote her until we get the Ori in hand."

"How is she and the rest of SG1?"

Landry's face clouded. "Thinking you and Maddy were killed has affected us all, Jack. The team dynamic is skewed. They're still a top notch group, still kicking intergalactic ass, but a vital component is missing. The news that you're both alive and kicking is going to breathe new life into the entire command. Replace a little of the starch that is being methodically regulated out of them all."

Jack had the grace to blush. "It's nice to know we were missed."

"How's Maddy dealing with..." he motioned at his head.

"Great. It took awhile, but Meret hasn't surfaced in a long time now. I gotta tell you, Hank, she ate this mushroom and it..."

It was late in the day before Jack tracked down the twins. Lieutenant Baker had introduced them to video games and they were mesmerized. Jack sat down and played a few games with them, then asked if they wanted to eat before they went back through the stargate.

"Can we have pizza again?" the boy asked excitedly.

"Then chocolate cake?" Selene asked.

"Tell you what. I'll see if Cook can scrape up some of both to take with us."

Chapter Thirteen

Maddy woke to a raging headache and hot sunlight beating down on her. She moaned, grabbed her head, and sat up. Squinting, she held her hand up to shield her eyes and peered around. She was on the steps of a stargate, perilously close to the device. Had it been initiated while she was still unconscious, she would have been vaporized. Her arm was bruised, her elbow was throbbing, and her knee had a scrape that had stopped bleeding. She must have been heaved through like a sack of potatoes. There was steam rising off her dress and it was nearly dry.

Where was she? This was not Edora, and it wasn't the Alpha Site.

She had to get off the steps, and she needed to get out of the sun. She needed water. Groaning, she pushed herself to her feet and stared around.

Shimmering sand, as far as she could see. Why was there even a stargate on this barren desert planet? Surely there had to be something here either the Ancients or the Gou'ald had wanted.

It certainly wasn't water.

The only shade she could see, in any direction, was cast by the DHD. Maddy fought down panic and tried to remember a gate address- any address. The only one she could think of was Earth, but she didn't have a GDO. Maybe if she dialed it, repeatedly, Landry would get curious and send through a MALP to see what was up. Without a radio she had no means of communicating with them. She touched the keys and watched whoosh sweep outward. When it disengaged she dialed again. After the third time, she decided to wait and see if they responded. It was as close to SOS as she could manage. She sank down in the dubious shade of the DHD and rested her head against the pedestal.

It wasn't long before she heard the gate engaging. Elated, she rose and brushed the sand off her tattered dress. The puddle flushed outward. But it wasn't a MALP that came through the event horizon.

Chapter Fourteen

Jack watched the twins stare out at space as he wrestled with his emotions. They were a delightful pair, inquisitive, daring, bright and happy. They'd love the Colorado lodge, the horses and the lake. All the toys he could introduce them to. But it would be wrong to force them away from Edora. Maybe for a visit, then when they got older they could make their own choices. He wondered what Laira would think of that, then decided she had made decisions that could only lead to that eventuality and she'd have to come to her own terms with it. Whether or not they were his biological offspring, Jack knew he would extend every opportunity to them. Maddy would help. She held no animosity towards the children, and as they got older she'd be more comfortable around them. SG1 would adopt them as well. Daniel was great with kids, and Carter had fallen in love with Cassie. None of this had to turn out badly. He just hoped he could talk sense into Laira.

Bonnie licked his elbow and he absently fondled her ears.

"How long before we're home, Da?" Selene asked.

"A few hours now. Tired?"

She nodded.

"There's a bed in the cargo hold. Take a nap."

"I don't wanna miss anything."

Jack grinned at her. "Nothing much to see right now. I'll wake you so you can see Edora from space before we land, okay?"

She nodded and dragged off to the hold. Jack jumped into the copilot's seat.

"Can I make it go?"

"It's going by itself right now."

"I want to do what you do. With those things," he said, pointing at the controls.

"Someday," Jack promised. "Right now neither one of us needs to touch anything."

"Is this where Maddy sits when you go flying?"

"Sometimes. Sometimes I sit there and she sits here."

"She can fly?"

"Yep. She had her own spaceship before I did."

"I don't like her."

"You don't know her. Give her a chance, Jack. She'll be your best friend."

"Mother says she won't let her stay."

Jack grimaced. "Laira doesn't have a say in that particular matter."

"That's what you think," he shot back smugly.

"Maddy is my wife, Jack. That's not going to change. Whether you or your mother like it or not."

"Mother says I don't have to like her. She says nobody likes her and they'll make her go away."

"If Maddy goes away, I go with her."

The child's startled look struck Jack oddly.

"You'd leave us, Da?" he demanded incredulously.

"Maddy and I aren't going to live on Edora," Jack told him gently. "We have a life and a home on Earth. We both miss it. But we'll come back often to visit and someday, when you're both older, we'll take you to visit Earth."

The boy's reaction was not what Jack expected. His face closed off and he eyed Jack defiantly.

"Wouldn't you like to visit Earth?"

"Can Mother come too?"

"Sure."

He nodded solemnly. "But we can live on Edora. All of us. Together."

"No, Jack, Maddy and I live on Earth. That won't change."

"That's not what Mother told me."

"What did Laira tell you?" Jack asked warily.

But the kid clammed up and Jack didn't press. He studied the boy's face, though, and decided the conspiracy to shut Maddy out ran deep throughout not just the family but the village. Maddy had seen it, sensed it, but he had been too obsessed with potential fatherhood to realize its extent for himself. He had seen too little too late.

Too dense, as usual.

And Maddy wouldn't point it out to him for fear of swaying his decisions. Warmth rushed over him and he acknowledged how much he missed her. Nothing was the same when she wasn't close enough to touch.

"Go wake Selene. We're almost there."

Chapter Fifteen

The group that stepped through the gate were humanoid, but they weren't from Earth. They carried large leather bags slung over their shoulders, long-handled things that might be a type of shovel, various tools attached to wide leather belts, and a few energy weapons. Each had a sizable pouch that she hoped contained water.

Maddy held her ground and wished there had been somewhere to hide. The first two through the event horizon spied her immediately and stopped to stare.

Maddy spread her hands out slowly to show them she presented no danger.

Others poured through, eight of them in all. They were dressed much like the Edorans in rough cloth and leather.

"Hi," she said in a friendly tone.

The initial two advanced on her. She gripped the DHD and took a breath.

"I'm stranded. Can you help me?"

The two conversed in an alien language, then turned and pointed at the gate.

Maddy spread her hands helplessly, then indicated what she hoped was a water vessel. She touched her mouth and throat. One of the men unhooked the pouch and held it out to her. Pushing past thoughts of alien cooites, she took it with a grateful smile and tasted the liquid. It was tepid but wet and she drank deeply before handing it back.

"Take me back with you? So I can try to get home?"

The others cast her curious glances before they began shoveling into the sand. She watched them dig a hole and eventually expose a striated orange expanse beneath the sand. They used a form of hammers and chisels to break the brittle substance into chunks which immediately floated free and rose into the air. The sacks were used to capture them before they rose out of reach, but she noticed they were careful not to touch the substance. They worked quickly and efficiently and very soon the one who had given her the drink approached to dial the gate. Maddy watched, knew Loki's memory devices would help her remember- for all the good it would do. As they prepared to leave, Maddy started to follow then hesitated.

Would the SGC send a MALP? Should she wait? A glance at the wicked sun made the decision for her. She wouldn't last long exposed to this climate, especially with no water. She didn't dare take a chance on waiting- not when escape stood open before her.

If they would allow her to go with them.

She started up the steps. The last man through turned to give her a curious look. Maddy looked up at the sun, spread her hands wide, then clasped them in a pleading gesture. He man looked uncertain, glanced around, then jerked his head for her to come with him.

Maddy stepped up to the event horizon, cast a last look around, then stepped through.

Chapter Sixteen

"Give me the fucking address!"

Jack slammed Garan against the wall again and held him off his feet.

Jack hadn't been overly concerned that Maddy wasn't present when he landed the cargo ship on the outskirts of the village. A cursory search hadn't turned her up, but he surmised she had gone off into the woods for some alone time. Or was at the mine with the crew from Earth. When she didn't show up for the evening meal he started to get antsy.

"When was the last time you saw her?" he asked Laira.

She turned wide eyes on him. "I... don't recall, exactly. Few days ago?"

"Where's she been sleeping? Eating?"

Laira shrugged. "I thought she found someplace else to go. Perhaps with the mining crew from Earth. She hasn't been here since the day you left."

"And that didn't concern you in the least?"

She held his gaze steadily. "No."

Jack's eyes narrowed. "If something's happened to her..."

"I'll call a village meeting. We can send out search parties."

"That didn't occur to you a week ago?" he shouted. "Do it. Now."

Young Jack slammed into him with both fists. "Stop yelling at my mother! Leave her alone!"

Jack brushed him away and glared at Laira. She grabbed the boy by the hand and took him with her as she hurried through the door.

A week turned into two and there was still no sign of Maddy. Jack searched on foot and with the ship. He questioned everyone at the naquada mine but nobody had seen her. He put Bonnie on her scent and the dog led him to all the places Maddy frequented, but there was no trace of her. Bonnie didn't seem interested in the area around the stargate, scented nothing of interest near the DHD. If anyone in the village knew anything, they weren't talking.

Jack's fury nearly equaled his fear.

He began to pay attention to Jack. The boy was nervous, anxious, avoiding his 'Da'. He was hiding something. Jack replayed the conversation in the ship over and over in his head and came to the conclusion that the boy knew something, that something had been planned, but he wasn't talking. He confronted Laira but she insisted she knew nothing. He didn't believe her, and if beating it out of her would have helped he was in the mood to do it.

What the hell had happened to Maddy? Dread settled into the pit of his stomach. He couldn't eat, couldn't sleep for the nightmares that tormented him as badly at night as his imagination did by day.

Jack O'Neill was on the verge of exploding.

He was sitting on a log under the wide branches of a tree, resting, thinking, beside himself with worry, when one of Selene's girlfriends approached.

"Colonel O'Neill?" she spoke timidly.

He reined in his temper and looked up.

"Is the pretty lady going to be alright?"

"I hope so, Bene."

"Is she sick?"

"I hope not."

"Momma says I'll get sick if I go out in the rain. Healer scares me. I don't wanna get sick."

Jack stared at her. "Did you see Maddy out in the rain?"

She nodded. "Sleeping. Right there." She pointed at the base of the tree. "It was dark and I felt bad 'cause it was so cold. I wanted to take her a blanket, but Momma told me to go back to bed and leave her alone. Momma said she was Selene's momma's problem, not ours. Is she your problem now, Colonel O'Neill?"

Jack's spine stiffened and an icy chill swept over him.

"Did you see her the next morning?"

She shook her head. "Momma made me go to bed, but I got up and looked out again. It was so sad and she looked so cold and lonely... I saw the Healer take her into her house and I was glad she'd be okay. But maybe she got sick anyway and the Healer is curing her. Did you look there?"

"Yes, Bene, I looked there. But I'm going to look again."

"I thought she went through the Stone Ring to find you. Did you look there?"

Jack's heart started to race. "What made you think that?"

"I saw the light and the standing water from my window."

"Late at night?"

She nodded. "After she went into the Healer's house. It was still raining. But the standing water would make her wet, so I guess it didn't matter if she got rained on again."

Jack stood and gripped the little girl's shoulder. "Thank you, Bene."

He stepped around her and headed for the Healer's hut. The door slammed wide when he smacked it with his palm. The old woman glanced around, saw who it was, and went back to mixing her potent.

"What did you do with her?" Jack demanded.

She turned slowly and shuffled to her chair. "What could I do?"

"You tell me! She was seen coming in here the night it was raining."

The old hag nodded. "She foolishly chose to sleep in the rain rather inside Laira's house. I took pity on her, brought her inside. Gave her a warm drink and a blanket."

"Then what?"

"She left."

"That night? In the rain?"

The old woman stared at him. "That night. In the rain."

"With nothing more than that thin dress to keep her warm and dry? Did you give her a cloak?" It might be a new scent for Bonnie to track.

"She took nothing."

Damn.

"Where did she go?"

She shrugged.

"What did she say?"

"Nothing of consequence."

Jack glared at her. "Did she leave under her own power? Was she forced?" The old woman simply stared at him. "Or was she carried?" Jack demanded with a growing dread. "What did you give her to drink? More of your sedative?"

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "You think I have the strength to heft a woman of her size?" She cackled dryly.

"Who took her through the stargate?"

The woman's eyes betrayed her.

"Tell me, damn it! Where did they send her?"

Oh, God, not Earth! Without a GDO she would have hit the iris... He advanced on the old woman and picked her up, chair and all.

"Tell me now! No more games!"

"What was done is done and was done for the good of Edora," she rasped defiantly.

"Tell me!" he roared.

"She was put through the stargate. That's all I know."

"Who did it?"

She clamped her mouth shut.

"What address?" He shook the chair until the old woman clutched at its arms.

"I can't tell what I don't know."

Jack slammed the chair down.

"This isn't over," he warned darkly as he stormed out of the hut.

A small crowd had gathered outside. They disbursed quickly in the face of his fury. Jack turned a full circle without slowing his forward momentum.

"I'll find her!" he shouted to the abruptly deserted street. "And if she's not alright I'll burn this damned village to the ground!"

Laira met him at the door, drawn by the commotion. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her against the door.

"Start talking. Now, Laira."

"I speak the truth, Jack. I know nothing."

"You're lying. Damn it, Laira, Maddy did nothing to..."

Young Jack attacked him as he had before, pummeling madly with his fists.

"You leave my mother and brother alone!" he screamed. "Go away! Don't hurt them!"

Laira and Jack stared at each other. Laira twisted out of his grip and crouched to grab the boy and spin him around. She pinched his ear to make him face her.

"Jack! Did Garan do something to Maddy?" she demanded.

The boy stared at her through tear filled eyes and refused to speak. But his defiant expression told them enough. Jack bolted out of the house.

He found Garan in the tavern, surrounded by sullen and determined townsmen. The look on the young man's face told Jack all he needed to know. The village men silently rose to stand between the irate general and Garan. Jack waded in, throwing men out of his way, throwing fists when necessary, until he had Garan by the throat.

Chapter Seventeen

Maddy washed the last of the plates and wiped her hands on her apron. She approached her boss and bowed her head politely. The man finished some paperwork and turned to her.

Maddy had picked up a few words of the alien language, thanks in large part to Loki's memory implants. She said the word for 'ended' then 'food'.

The man nodded and smiled briefly. She turned back into the kitchen, got a plate and filled it, then sat down in a corner to eat.

This planet was similar to Earth, circa late eighteen hundred. Inhabitants traveled on foot or astride animals that reminded Maddy of furry ostriches. Electricity was nonexistent, but there was a form of crystal technology that had been adapted as a weak power source. The only color seemed to be shades of brown- even the grass was wheat colored. At least the sky was blue enough to break the monotony. At night the dull glow generated by the crystal power source was never much brighter than candlelight. She felt as if she were living among the Amish. The people were nice enough, peaceful and generally happy.

She had been through crude medical examinations, tedious questioning that got neither side anywhere because nobody understood anybody, then she had been put into the restaurant owner's care. He gave her a room to sleep in, provided her with clothes and food, and in return she worked from dawn to dusk. It was her plan to find the stargate and try dialing Earth until they came to see who was pestering them. The only trouble was, they had brought her several days' travel on foot from the gate and she had only a faint idea in which direction it lay.

For now she was alright. As soon as she learned enough of the right words she'd start making requests. In the meantime she kept watch for any of the men who had gone on the mining expedition. If she could mark one of them, keep track of him, then perhaps she could follow him to the gate.

All of her options were long shots. But staying here, not getting back to Jack, was not one of them.

He would come looking for her. It was a faint hope at best- how would he have any idea where to start?- but she clung to it. He would wring her whereabouts out of Garan and the old Healer. Jack would find a way to locate her. He wouldn't let her down.

Chapter Eighteen

"I sent her home!" Garan gargled. "To Earth! Where she belongs!"

"NO!" Jack bellowed. "Not Earth! You know about the iris! You know that would kill her! Where did you send her, Garan?"

The man paled. "I... I forgot about the iris...!"

Jack's face went totally white. He began choking the man, all reason gone in the face of his anger and horror. Many hands pried at his fingers, pulled at him until Garan was levered out of his grip. He spun, threw the crowd off him and went after Garan again. The man ducked away and put a table between them. Jack upended the heavy table and advanced on him.

"I swear, Colonel!" Garan panted. "I wanted only to send her back to Earth! I never thought about the iris! I didn't mean to kill her! I just wanted to make her understand she wasn't wanted here!" He tripped and fell on his ass, crabbed away until his back was against another wall. "It was an accident! I thought I was sending her home! Safely! I never meant... I wouldn't hurt her on purpose!"

Jack wrapped a fist in his shirt and hauled him to his feet. With hands pulling at his clothes, trying to ride his arms, he smashed fist after fist into Garan's face. When the man went limp he was dragged out of Jack's reach. A chair was swung across the back of his head and Jack O'Neill was driven to his knees.

"Maddy!"

He crumpled into an unconscious heap.

Chapter Nineteen

Jack dialed the Alpha Site then turned to stare at the village as the gate activated. Crackling flames leaped from one structure to the next as panicked villagers raced with buckets to and from the central water source. The tavern and the Healer's hut were already gone. Smoke curled high into the air. Shouts and screams tore into the night. Beside him, Bonnie whined. Jack ignored her. He gripped the zat angrily and wished it was a P90 instead.

Garan had been spirited out of his sight, but he hoped the bastard was dead.

The puddle stabilized and he turned to walk through it, Bonnie hot on his heels. When he reached the Alpha Site he stormed past the armed guard to the base commander's office and slammed through the door without knocking.

"General... O'Neill..." The colonel took one look at Jack's face and paled.

"I need the GDO. Now."

"General... what's happened?"

"My wife is dead, Colonel. Those fucking Edorans killed her while I was here. I'm going to Earth."

The colonel keyed his radio. "Dial Earth. Send the iris code. What can I do, General?"

"Pray the Odyssey isn't in orbit."

When Jack strode out of the office the colonel keyed his radio again. "General O'Neill is headed for the gate. Stand clear and do not approach him. Get me Landry."

Jack came through the gate as Colonel Richards was relaying the information to General Landry. Landry turned to Mitchell.

"Grab a zat and don't hesitate to use it."

"What's up, General?"

"Stand down!" Landry barked to the SF in the gateroom. He turned to Mitchell. "Maddy's been killed. Jack's out for blood."

Colonel Mitchell bolted for the gateroom, Landry hot on his heels. Jack shouldered past them both and strode down the hallway. Bonnie stuck close to his heels.

"Jack! Stop!" Landry commanded.

O'Neill kept moving.

"Stop now or I'll have Mitchell zat you."

Jack took several more steps then stopped. He didn't turn around.

"Come into my office and tell me what happened."

Jack whirled and drove his fist into the wall. Then he stood there, slumped over, breathing hard. Bonnie backed against the far wall and sat looking back and forth between the men. Mitchell and Landry glanced at each other.

"Recall SG1 and contact Teal'c on Chulak," Landry said softly. "Alert Dr. Lam."

Mitchell nodded, his face registering his own feelings. "We just found out they were alive..."

"I know, Son. I know. Get moving." Landry carefully moved towards O'Neill. "Jack... Come with me."

"No," Jack said quietly. Then more loudly, "NO!" He turned wild, unseeing eyes on Landry.

Landry tentatively reached out to touch his shoulder. Jack batted his hand away. Landry took another step and carefully eased the zat out of his hand.

"No!"

"Tell me what happened."

Reason slowly seeped into Jack's eyes, but it didn't quell the flames of insane anger. He looked blankly at his empty hand, then glanced around for Bonnie. His eyes finally came to rest on Landry.

"They drugged her, dialed Earth, and threw her through the gate."

Landry winced. The implication was clear.

"I'm sorry, Jack. Come sit down. I've got a bottle of scotch in my office."

Jack allowed himself to be herded into Landry's office. He sank into a chair and dropped his head into his hands. Bonnie whimpered, licked his hand once, then lay down across his feet. Landry poured him a stiff drink and set it on the desk.

"You saw it happen?" he asked gently.

Jack shook his head without looking up. "While I was here. They wanted her out of the way. She didn't do a damned thing this time, Hank. The whole damned village got it in their heads that I was going to marry the twins' mother and become some sort of leader to them. Maddy..." He choked on her name and caught a rough breath.

"Here." Landry handed him the scotch.

Jack looked up and took the glass. He downed it in one gulp as Dr. Lam came through the door. Landry waved for her to keep her distance. She showed him a hypodermic and he held up a hand for her to wait. Mitchell appeared in the doorway behind her.

"She did nothing wrong, Hank. Stayed out of it all. Kept to herself. God, she actually behaved herself for a change. They hated her just because she was married to me. She stood between them and what they wanted."

"Who actually... did it?"

"Laira's son, Garan. And that old hag that was the village healer."

"Permission to take a team..." Mitchell began.

"Granted," Landry interrupted him. "Take SG3."

Jack seemed to gather himself. "I left the place in flames," he told him hollowly. "I might have killed Garan, I don't know. I sure as hell tried."

"Take a contingent of SF with you," Landry advised. "Bring me details, Colonel."

"I left a cargo ship outside the village. If it's still there bring it back," Jack said bitterly. "Don't leave a damned thing there for them."

Landry nodded at Mitchell. The colonel sprinted down the hall, barking orders into a radio.

"The rest of SG1 are off world," Landry said gently. "I'll notify them immediately."

Jack didn't respond. Landry glanced at Harriman who was hovering near the doorway. "Coffee, Sergeant."

Harriman hurried away. Dr. Lam stepped forward.

"Will you let me check you over, General?" she asked.

"Leave me alone."

She traded a look with Landry. He motioned for her to move back.

"What can I do, Jack?"

It was a moment before he spoke. "Nothing." When he stood up Bonnie leaped to her feet. Jack headed for the door.

"Where will you be?"

Jack flipped a careless hand.

"Your quarters are still available. Take some time, have a shower..."

Harriman offered him the coffee. Jack ignored him as he walked past. Harriman looked down at the cup then up at Landry. Landry shrugged helplessly. Jack was nearly out the door.

"Where can I contact you?"

He didn't get an answer. When he looked down the hall, Jack O'Neill was stepping onto the elevator.

It was the last anyone saw or heard of him.

Chapter Twenty

Maddy was hanging freshly laundered sheets on a line when she saw the stargate engage. It was off in the distance, just close enough for her to see the whoosh.

It had taken her a week to work her way across the alien plains to where the stargate was located. A lucky break had brought one of the miners into the diner and she had followed him home. Two days in a smelly alley had gained her the opportunity to trail him and several others across a grassy expanse to the next town. Playing a deaf-mute, she had begged a job with the town's laundry.

The mining detail was leaving. When they returned, she'd slip off and dial Earth. She stoked the fire beneath the huge vat of soapy water and dumped in another load of vile smelling tunics. By the time she was hanging the last of them she saw the gate engage again. She started to tremble. If all went well she'd be back with Jack in a couple of hours.

What was he doing, where was he? He had to be going through himself with worry, wondering where she was, what was happening to her. Had he wrung her whereabouts out of Garan? Should she have stayed on that desert planet, waited awhile longer? She couldn't get back there- she had no idea what the address was. There was no cover around the gate for her to hide and watch what symbols were dialed.

The mining crew was back. They came into town and entered a saloon. Maddy finished the tunics, wiped her hands, and glanced around. It was nearly sundown. She headed for the gate.

Chapter Twenty One

"Colonel Mitchell, report," Landry barked. He glanced around the table. All of SG1 was present. All of them looked more than a little shell shocked. To learn both Maddy and Jack were still alive after having found their camp on Nirrti's planet in ruins, now this.

They had no idea where Jack O'Neill had disappeared to.

Colonel Mitchell cleared his throat. "It wasn't pretty, General. More than half the village had burned to the ground. Garan, Maddy's killer, is dead. General O'Neill beat him to death with his bare hands. Laira, his and the twins' mother, is pretty broken up about the whole mess. She got the story out of her youngest son- Jack." He cleared his throat again and winced. "Seems Garan's plan was to enlist the aid of the old healer to sedate Maddy then dial Earth and toss her through."

Everyone cringed at his words. It was a moment before Mitchell could continue.

"The kid insists they never planned to hurt her. Just make her go away. Laira said Garan knew about the iris, but it's the general belief that he simply... forgot. I don't believe the mother was in on the plot, but I do believe the old woman was up to her neck in it. They wanted to scare Maddy into staying away. They thought that if General O'Neill was forced to choose between Maddy and his children, he'd choose the children and stay on Edora."

"Why were they so set on keeping him there? For Laira?" Carter asked.

"Well that did enter into it. But it appears Edora is in the throes of expansion. The mining treaty has brought them wealth, and the knowledge that there's more out there than what they have. Many of them still have vivid memories of their time on Earth. The village is dividing into factions, arguing over how they should proceed. They saw Laira- and the twins- as their means of looping General O'Neill into becoming a leader of the Edoran people. They thought he'd be the one to unite the village and guide them to what is termed as, 'peaceful prosperity'. Apparently when the general had no desire to get involved in their politics, when he showed no sign of leaving Maddy in favor of Laira..."

"Laira's two sons got their heads together and decided to get rid of Maddy," Daniel finished.

"I can tell you General O'Neill was questioning the legitimacy of Laira's claim that he's the twins' father," Landry told them. "He got them to the Alpha Site and had blood drawn."

"Do we know the results of the paternity test?" Daniel asked.

"We do," Landry confirmed.

They all watched him expectantly. Landry looked around the table.

"That's personal, confidential information."

"Do you know?" Daniel asked impatiently.

"Of course I know."

"But you're not telling us?"

"That's General O'Neill's business to tell you or not."

"But you know," Daniel persisted.

"It's my job to know," Landry said shortly. "Continue, Colonel Mitchell."

"Well, there's not much to tell after that. General O'Neill went on a rampage and burned the place down. After seeing what he had done to Garan, nobody would attempt to stop him."

"Were any of the villagers in on this plot?"

"According to Laira- who is terrified by what has happened and the potential repercussions, not only regarding the treaty but what the General might still do- no. The entire village had shunned Maddy, let her know in no uncertain terms that she wasn't welcome, but no one wanted to see her dead. Including Garan. The guy was a flake. A know-it-all with wild ideas. It didn't surprise anyone that he did this, or that in the heat of the moment he would forget about the iris."

"I'll buy that," Carter said. "He was the kid who was convinced he and his girlfriend could ride out the meteor shower in the caves. Like their ancestors did. He's the reason General O'Neill and Laira didn't make it through the stargate in time back then."

"As Maddy would say," Daniel smiled sadly, "Garan has always been 'a bubble left of plumb'."

"I still can't believe she's gone," Vala murmured. "I never did believe they had been killed on Nirrti's planet." She spread her hands wide. "There was no evidence. No bodies, no blood..."

"None this time, either," Mitchell brooded.

Carter shot him dark look. "There wouldn't be..."

"I know." He winced and gave a verbal shudder.

"What is the status of the Earth-Edora relationship?" Landry asked to get them back on track.

"Scared shitless that Earth will rescind the treaty and obliterate them from space." Mitchell's tone said he didn't think that was a half bad idea.

"We'll let the negotiation team handle the details. Has anyone heard from General O'Neill?"

There was a mutual shaking of heads.

"You have no idea where he is?" Daniel asked.

"I was hoping he'd show up at the lodge," Landry replied.

"That's the last place he'd want to be," Carter said softly. "Anyone check his cabin in Minnesota?"

"It's being watched. Nothing so far."

"If General O'Neill does not want to be located, you will not locate him," Teal'c intoned.

Daniel looked around the briefing table. "Am I the only one who is dying to know if Jack's the father?"

"A consensus won't alter the fact that I'm not telling anyone," Landry informed him. "Anything else to add?"

There was a dejected shaking of heads.

"Dismissed."

Nobody moved. Landry decided to give them some leeway. He rose and left the room. Nobody spoke. Sergeant Harriman rapped on the doorframe.

"Colonel Carter? Do you have a minute?"

She glanced up. "Oh, sure." She slid back her seat, glanced around the table, then followed Harriman into the control room. "What's up?"

The sergeant sat down at the dialing computer. "Something didn't track right about Mrs. O'Neill. I checked the gate logs. We've had several ghost attempts at contact, but I see nothing to indicate something impacted the iris."

Carter leaned over his shoulder. "Do you have the time frame of the incident?"

"We don't know the exact day it happened but I've isolated a week prior to and a week after General Landry met with General O'Neill at the Alpha Site. There were three wormholes initiated from Edora in that time frame- mining crews coming and going- and I verified having gotten an iris code for all three. Again, no iris events. So I wondered if Mrs. O'Neill could have been taken to another planet, sent through to Earth from somewhere else. Eliminating all incoming wormholes that I can verify by iris codes, I came up with three instances of initiation where no iris codes were sent through. They were in fairly quick succession- almost back to back- and from the same origin. General Landry ordered a MALP sent through. It was a desert planet, nothing around. And we got no more signals from that address."

Carter drew up a chair and sat down. "Nothing hitting the iris in that time frame?"

"No, Ma'am."

"Go another week in each direction."

It took him awhile to run through the computer data and audio logs of gate activity, but there was no evidence of anything having come into contact with the iris.

"It could be a fluke," he said when they had finished. "But there have been no iris events recorded in the past eight months."

"You've been here since day one," Carter said sarcastically. "When is a fluke ever really a fluke? What made you check the logs for an iris event?"

Harriman pulled a sour face. "I uh, I've been keeping count," he admitted.

Carter stared at him. "Why?"

He shrugged. "Someday it'll win me a bet?"

She snorted.

"That aside, an iris event is pretty... dramatic. The implication and all. It's not something I can force myself to ignore. Sort of a morbid fascination, I guess. But that's why, when I heard what had happened to Mrs. O'Neill, I had to double check. I didn't remember it happening on my watch, and if it had happened overnight I would have gotten a memo to alert General Landry the next morning. An iris event is a pretty big deal, Colonel. It's not something we just ignore."

"I'm aware of that, Sergeant, but thank you for bringing this to my attention. I'll talk to the general, see if he was alerted through other channels. In the mean time, let's keep this between us until I can investigate further. Nice call, Sergeant. Well done." She clapped him on the shoulder on her way to Landry's office.

General Landry listened intently to Colonel Carter's information.

"So there's a chance she didn't impact the iris?" he asked when she had finished.

Carter rolled a shoulder. "It's within the realm of possibility that it didn't register, but to our knowledge that's unprecedented."

"And unverifiable."

She nodded. "But those three ghost initiations that happened within that time frame have me intrigued. There was no iris impact logged during any of the three."

"I sent a MALP. There was nothing there but sand. Footprints, a few holes that were being filled in by the weather, that's it. As far as the camera could show us, not a tree, not a life sign..."

"Did you send a team?"

"It wasn't warranted. Pull up the video logs and look for yourself."

"I'm not questioning your judgement, Sir," she said a bit uncomfortably.

"I didn't think you were, Colonel. But I'm still waiting to hear a hypothesis. You didn't bring this to my attention to save me losing a bet to Harriman."

"No Sir. But it seems to me that if we have no record of an iris impact, that raises doubt as to the address Garan dialed when he put Maddy through the gate. Colonel Mitchell said- and I can verify- that Garan was a bit of a flake. If he was rattled enough by what he was attempting to do to forget about the iris..."

"Then he might have been rattled enough to mis-dial!" Landry finished, coming forward in his chair.

"And those three successive contacts from the desert planet could have been an SOS. You mentioned holes in the sand. Maddy would have known to dig down to try to find water."

"But why wouldn't she just dial the Alpha Site? Or Chulak?"

"Sir, Maddy would have no reason to know those addresses. Her memory implants would have recorded them had she ever seen them, but to my knowledge Earth's address is the only one she's ever seen."

"Qua'sel or Meret would have left a few inside her head."

"If she's struggling to suppress Meret in order to survive... And it has to be damn hard, Sir, confusing if not impossible, to discern which memories belong to which symbiote. At this point, knowing Maddy like we both do, I don't think she'd risk what Meret's influence might make her do to come up with an alternate address when she knows Earth's."

"Jack said she was making progress." Landry steepled his fingertips. "You realize this is grasping at straws?"

The colonel nodded. "Yes Sir, I do. But we've brought our people home on less."

"If Jack hadn't killed Garan we could have gotten it out of him."

"Doubtful, Sir. He was certain he had dialed Earth. I'd like to visit that desert planet. See if there's any sign..."

"Approved. Take Teal'c with you."

"In the meantime, Sir, I'd like to have Sergeant Harriman run a program that will give us all possible combinations of addresses that would come up if Earth was dialed with one symbol right or left of the correct one was pressed."

"If Garan did make a mistake dialing Earth, chances are it was one symbol close to the right one," Landry mused. "But the potential combinations..."

"Are enormous," Carter agreed. "But once we have all the possible combinations, we can extrapolate from those the ones which actually go somewhere. That should narrow it down considerably. And I'll program the computer to immediately flag the address of those ghost initiations if it happens to show up as one of the potential mistakes."

"Circumstantial at best. Won't prove it was Maddy who dialed us from there."

Carter braced him with both hands planted on his desk. "But it will addsupport to Harriman's theory, Sir."

Hank could tell she was trying hard not to let him see how desperately she wanted to believe her friend was still alive. Her battle to quell overwhelming hope had her on the verge of tears. This was one of those times Hammond had warned him about; a circumstance when his instinct as a compassionate human being had to take precedence over facts and regulations. It wasn't hard- hell, he wanted to believe Maddy was alive, too. But he found himself saddled with the unsettling responsibility of needing to caution Carter, protect her from getting their hopes up instead of simply her superior officer issuing calculated orders. It was what the Stargate Program had knitted them into over a decade- a family unit every bit as much as a military one. Much of the responsibility for that rested solely on Jack O'Neill's shoulders. For all his blase aloofness, he had humanized what should have been a cold and strictly by-the-book operation.

"Give it a shot, Colonel. It can't hurt."

He had to grin when she slapped the desk and did a triumphant spin.

"Yesss!" She caught herself and regained her composure. "Thank you, Sir. Should we make an effort to locate General O'Neill?"

Landry shook his head. "He's grieving. Once is enough. If we uncover enough evidence to warrant..."

"Unscheduled off world activation!"

Landry and Carter both raised their eyebrows. As one they bolted for the control room.

"What have you got, Sergeant?"

"Nothing, Sir. Just like last time. No iris code, no radio signal."

"Open a channel."

"Open, Sir."

"This is Stargate Command."

Silence.

"This is General Landry of Stargate Command. Identify yourself."

Nothing.

The gate shut down.

"Redial that address," Carter snapped. Landry canted her a surprised look. She didn't notice.

"It won't go through," Harriman said a moment later.

"Wait a few minutes and try again," Carter instructed. "If she's dialing at the same time as we are..."

"Have a MALP brought to the gate room," Landry commanded.

The gate started dialing.

"Is that us or them?"

"Incoming, Sir. Same address."

Again, no response to Landry's hail. He called for SG1 to report to the control room and turned to Carter. "Gear up. Check this address first. If you don't turn up anything, you can go to that desert planet next."

Carter's smile warmed his heart. "Thank you, Sir."

Landry scowled at he stared down at the stargate. If this turned out to be a wild goose chase, he'd be nursing a broken heart along with the rest of SG1.

Where the hell was O'Neill and what had he done with himself?

Chapter Twenty Two

Maddy was attempting to dial the gate for the third time when it initiated before she could finish. She crouched down behind the DHD and held her breath.

It wasn't a MALP this time, either. This group looked much more advanced than the civilization she was living in now. Maybe they could help her. She rose and waited for them to approach.

The leader strode forward and said something in a commanding tone.

"I don't understand you. I speak English, um, Earth language. Tau'ri," she tried.

He turned to look at one of the others. That man held up a universal translator.

"Who are you?"

"Maddy O'Neill, of Earth. The Tau'ri. I don't belong here. Can you help me get home?"

The leader rocked back in surprise. "I have heard of the Tau'ri. Are you being held captive?"

"No," she said with relief that made her legs weak. "I'm lost. I want to go home. Can you help me?"

"Come with us. We shall investigate."

Maddy fell into step with the group. The man she worked for at the laundry gaped at her in surprise as they passed. They headed for the saloon. Inside they were greeted like long lost family. Names were called out, alien inebriants were poured. Maddy was taken by the elbow and propelled into a seat between two of the aliens. Thanks to the translator she was able to follow the conversation.

"At long last," a local bellowed. "We have quite a stockpile of rishu awaiting payment!"

"What's the story on this one?" the leader pointed at Maddy.

"A waif rescued from our source planet. She must have been a slave or something, dumped there for punishment. She is a hard worker, strong and tractable. I will give her to you for a good price."

"You'll do nothing of the sort!" Maddy snorted.

They all turned to stare at her.

"I am a free Earthling. I was kidnapped and pushed through the gate. I want to go home. If anyone has a radio, I can contact my friends on Earth."

"Where is this... Earth?"

"She speaks of the Tau'ri. Slayers of the Gou'ald. Enemy of the Lucian Alliance."

"This is a powerful race, then?"

"Powerful and revered in some parts of the galaxy, a scourge in others."

"My husband is a leader of Stargate Command," Maddy told them bravely. "He will reward you for my return."

That was met with loud guffaws.

"I have friends among the Free Jaf'fa. Teal'c, Master Bra'tac, of Chulak?"

A few hands stilled, a few more heads turned in her direction.

"Aris Boch?" she tried hopefully.

The entire place roared their scorn.

"Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet?"

The laughter abruptly quieted. Every eye in the place was on her now. There were a few hoarse whispers.

"Who owns this slave with the big mouth?" one of the newcomers demanded.

Nobody spoke up. Then a man stepped forward. "I own the wench. She can be bought for a good price."

"You don't own me," Maddy yelled. "Nobody owns me!"

She didn't see who drew the first weapon, but a heartbeat later she was ducking laser blasts and energy bolts. She dove under a table then made a fast dash for the door. A searing pain bit into the back of her arm, then something hit her hard and carried her through the door. She realized it was the leader of the new bunch. He leaped to his feet, snagged her around the waist, and all but dragged her towards the gate. There was pandemonium behind them, then several of the party raced past. Shots were still being fired in both directions.

"Get that gate open!"

"Cover me!"

"Come on, Tau'ri!" her companion urged. "Pick it up or I'll leave you here!"

Maddy put on a burst of speed. The vortex flushed outward, almost in their faces. They didn't slow their pace as they raced through the puddle.

Chapter Twenty Three

SG1 watched the monitors as the MALP disappeared through the event horizon. The picture cleared.

A group of men were advancing on the MALP, weapons drawn.

"Oh boy," Daniel muttered.

"This is General Landry, of Stargate Command, Earth. We just want to talk to you."

One of the men peered into the camera. Several others poked at it with their weapons. The one nose to nose with the camera thought he had to speak into the lens to be heard. They got a close up view of yellowed, rotting teeth, a deeply grooved, white-coated tongue, and thick strings of saliva.

"Yeah? Whadda want?"

"I can smell his breath through the camera," Daniel muttered.

Landry shot him a look that said he agreed. "We're looking for one of our people. A woman. Can we come through the gate and discuss it with you?"

"Didja say Earth?"

"Earth, yes. Stargate Command."

"Tau'ri," Daniel added helpfully.

"We mean you no harm," Landry said. "We just want to find the woman. Maddy O'Neill."

A man at the far back of the group started forward. "She about this high?" he held his hand at about Maddy's height. "Decent looking wench?" He cupped his hands on his chest and bounced them. "Reddish hair, dark eyes, mouthy?"

"Shut up, you fool!" another shouted. "You wanna bring the Asgard down on us?"

"I ain't the one who shot at her, asshole!"

Before Landry could answer another shouted, "We ain't never seen her!" An energy bolt into the camera ended the conversation.

Landry turned to the team, his jaw hanging slack.

"Well I'll be damned," Mitchell breathed. "She is alive!"

"If they were shooting at her..." Vala said urgently.

"Ready SGs three, five, and eight. Two details of SF in riot gear. Move people. Sergeant, contact SG7 and delay their return until tomorrow. Get Major Davis and General Hammond on a conference call. Put the trauma team on alert- tell them to expect casualties." He pivoted to SG1. "Colonel Mitchell, you head the assault team. Clear a path and get our people through with as little collateral damage as possible. Colonel Carter, as soon as Colonel Mitchell has them pinned down you and the rest of SG1 go find Mrs. O'Neill. Let's not make enemies if we can help it, but if she's there you bring her home."

Carter was beaming from ear to ear. "Yes, Sir!"

"Dismissed!"

As SG1 galloped for the locker rooms Landry pounded up to his office.

"Your conference call is holding, General."

"Are we scrambled?"

"Just a moment, Sir." Then, "Go ahead, General."

Landry slammed into his chair and punched a button. "George, Major Davis?"

"Here," they both answered.

"We have strong evidence that supports Maddy O'Neill was not killed as first believed. I have teams readying for a mission that should tell us one way or the other. In the meantime, I need O'Neill located."

"Already have teams working on it, General," Davis assured him.

"He no longer has an implanted tracking device," Landry warned.

"Understood."

"Keep this low key. I'm not ready to inform the whole damned Pentagon."

"Also understood, Sir."

"Do not attempt contact. He's in pain and won't welcome the intrusion."

"Not even with good news?"

"We're not sure yet whether it's good, bad, or a false alarm. But when that man goes to ground, it'll take one hell of a hound to scent his trail. I want him pinpointed so we can attempt contact if the news is good. It may take you longer than it takes us, Major. He could be anywhere."

"We're finding that out, Sir," the major replied dryly.

"Good luck, Major." A solid click told him the major had disconnected. "You still there, George?"

"How solid is your intel?" Hammond asked sharply.

Landry related the events, starting with Harriman's and Carter's theory.

"I have three teams going in to give SG1 back up."

"It certainly sounds like our Maddy," Hammond agreed. "I hope Jack didn't do anything stupid."

"The man was a wreck."

"I can imagine. I'll put a couple of trusted people on it as well. If you find her alive we need to get to Jack as quickly as possible."

"I'll call you as soon as the mission has a definitive resolution."

"You do that. I don't care if it's the middle of the night." Hammond hung up and Landry sat back to breath for the first time in an hour. He got three breaths before Carter appeared in his doorway.

"We're ready, Sir."

Landry rose and followed her into the gate room. He stepped onto the ramp and addressed the teams.

"Make this as fast and casualty-free as possible. We don't want to start a war, and these people are not responsible for what happened to Mrs. O'Neill. They're basically uninformed and innocent bystanders, but they are armed and they are aggressive albeit out of ignorance. That being said, do whatever it takes to get Mrs. O'Neill home if she's there."

When he finished, the Marines answered with a loud 'hooo- ya!'.

Landry stepped aside and nodded at SG1. "You have a go."

Chapter Twenty Four

Maddy paced the dank cell, fuming over her own gullibility. She had done a swan dive out of the frying pan and directly into the fire.

Her would-be savior had whisked her directly from the gate into this cell without so much as offering her medical attention for the wound on her arm. She was cold, hungry, thirsty, in pain, and had to pee. She craned around trying to see the wound but all she could see was dried blood. The low echo of voices warned her she was about to get visitors.

Three men crowded in front of the barred door. One of them was the man who had dragged her through the gate.

"So, Maddy, is it? Now what's this about knowing the Asgard?"

"My husband is on very good terms with Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet."

He nodded as if he didn't believe her. "And who is your husband again?"

"General Jack O'Neill, of Stargate Command."

"And that was on... Chulak?"

"Earth, but they have a base on Chulak."

"You say this 'Earth' is the same as the Tau'ri? The ones who defeated the Gou'ald?"

"That's right."

"If the Tau'ri defeated the Gou'ald, what are they doing in collusion with the Jaf'fa?"

"The Free Jaf'fa. They're no longer under Gou'ald control."

"They need symbiotes to survive. Therefore they are still in service to what's left of the Gou'ald. Get your story straight."

Maddy sighed and moved up closer to the bars. "First off, Earth helped a race called the Pangarans develop a serum called tretonin that allows a Jaf'fa to survive without a symbiote. The Jaf'fa are free now, and Teal'c is helping them establish themselves in the galaxy. Second, my story is straight and you'd know that if you'd just contact Earth and verify who I am."

"This husband of yours, is he wealthy?"

She eyed him shrewdly. "Extremely."

"What if I can't spend Earth currency? What good is it to me... and so what good are you to me?"

Maddy thought of her strongbox aboard the Nautilus. "He can get whatever currency you prefer."

The man threw his head back and laughed. "You either spin a good story or have a vivid imagination. I think my best option to net a profit on you is to take you to the slave auction on Trygar Three."

"Trygar Three!" Maddy pounced. "You know Gon?"

The man stilled. "What of him?"

"He's dead. My husband killed him and leveled his establishment. For luring SG1 onto Trygar Nine to be hunted for sport. Then he went after Solan, the Lucian who paid Gon to get rid of SG1 for him."

The men behind her captor shifted restlessly. He narrowed his eyes at her.

"I heard rumors that Gon had met a rather fantastic demise, and that the Tau'ri were involved." He considered her a moment. "What I think is that you were one of Gon's slaves that escaped in the confusion after his murder. That's how you come to know so much about it."

Maddy stamped her foot. "Why won't you just believe I am who I say I am?"

"Because slave women are incapable of telling the truth."

"I'm not a slave!"

"You were when we found you."

Maddy huffed in defeat and turned to pace the cell. "Can I have medical attention for my arm?"

He tilted his head for a better look at her wound. "It's not bleeding. You're fine. How do you know Aris Boch?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. What could she possibly say that he'd believe?

"Contact him. Ask him yourself. Tell him I promise Jack will reward him this time instead of trying to shoot his balls off."

"Not likely. Rest well, Maddy. We'll try again tomorrow and see if you can tell me something I can believe."

Chapter Twenty Five

Colonel Samantha Carter stood looking down on the overwhelming number of houseboats moored at a vast number of piers.

"So this is Sausalito," Daniel observed curiously.

"It'll take forever to find him in that clusterf..." She stopped herself just short of the colorful military adjective.

Daniel shot her a quick grin. "Well, his credit card statement shows he's been buying dog food and cereal at the store behind us, beer from the place across the road. He withdrew a major chunk of cash from his bank account before he left Colorado Springs. And according to the title transfer, he apparently sold his truck in San Francisco."

"Daniel, look at the number of boats down there! We have to narrow it down somehow."

"He'd want to be on the fringes, where he wouldn't be bothered."

"I think we can rule out any of those newer, fancy outfits," she added.

"Yeah, find the shabbiest, most run down, leaky houseboat here and that's where we'll find Jack."

"We don't dare ask questions. He gets wind of us being here and he'll vanish again."

Daniel canted her a look. "You think so? Really?"

"I think so. Really," she answered dryly.

"You bring a pair of glasses?"

Sam reached into her shoulder bag and handed him a small pair of binoculars. He raised them to his eyes and she took a deep, bracing breath.

"I read up on this place," she said. "There's a community of what was listed as 'aging hippies, poets, and pirates'. We should start there."

Daniel lowered the glasses and stared at her. "Really? Jack?"

"Well can you see him hobnobbing with the elite?"

He thought about it. "Noooo... But Jack? Poetry? An 'aging hippy'?"

"We'll find him with a shaggy mullet pulled into a ponytail. Bet he hasn't shaved since he left the base."

Daniel snickered at the image that brought to mind. "I'm leaning more towards piracy." He stuck out his hand. "Betcha fifty bucks."

Sam shook his hand. "You're on. Where do you say we'll find him?"

"On the water." He handed back the glasses and started for the marina.

"Hey!" she called. "No fair! All the boat are on the water! I meant with the hippies or the pirates?"

"Pirates!" Daniel called over his shoulder.

Chapter Twenty Six

Jack O'Neill closed his eyes and pictured Maddy in the little clearing on Edora. The last time he had made love to her. Her eyes, her skin, her laughter. Her hair, that amazing hair. She had been so passionate. But his Maddy had always been passionate. About everything.

He could almost taste her, almost smell her scent. That was the hardest so far, missing her scent. He found himself breathing into his pillow at night, trying to find a trace of her there. He should have stopped at the lodge, should have brought something of her with him.

He was terrified of losing even the briefest memory of her. They would fade, he understood that, but the understanding only deepened his loss.

He imagined her walking down the dock, the sun picking up red streaks in her hair, her eyes dancing as she spied him on the houseboat. The feel of her hand in his as he helped her aboard, her soft curves pressing into him as he dragged her into his arms. The feel of her lips, the taste of her tongue, the thrill of her kiss. He never had been able to get enough of her. She was a thirst he could never quench.

"Need beer," he mumbled.

If he drank enough he'd go to sleep. Maddy always came to him in his dreams. No matter how the dreams began, they always ended with that awful sound of something hitting the iris, the horror of knowing it was her. But the first part- seeing her, laughing with her, teasing her, touching her, loving her- those wonderful images that felt so real were worth that awful moment before he awoke. With any luck one of these times when he drank himself into a stupor he'd just stay in that first part of his dreams. Never have to wake up and face another day of brutal, ugly, agonizing emptiness.

It was driving him nuts, constantly catching glimpses of women and seeing Maddy. Hearing a faint voice, a ripple of laughter, a footfall, and having his heart jump into his throat. For just an instant he was alive again.

"I'm sorry, Maddy, that it took me so long to fully understand you."

Bonnie looked up at the sound of his voice, then settled her nose back on her paws.

Jack slouched further down on the bench seat and tapped into Maddy's memories, courtesy of Qua'sel. He was doing that more and more often, finding a sweet taste of solace in hearing her voice inside his mind, feeling her incredible love for him. A single tear escaped his eyelid but he paid it no mind.

Such soft, deep eyes with the little gold stargates ringing her irises. The way she worked little nips across his lower lip. Her breath against his ear. Just the thought made him tingle all over. He could actually feel her fingers running through his hair, so much that he tilted his head trying to lean into her touch.

"Ah, Maddy...!" His voice broke and he choked on the tears in his throat. He opened his eyes and stared at the cloudless sky, seeing her face, watching her smile, delighting in the sparkle in her eyes. The blue began to swim as the tears came faster, harder, hotter.

"Did you ever really know how much I loved you? So much it hurt sometimes. Like I was gonna burst." He abruptly sat forward and leaned his elbows on his knees.

The nine mil on the seat beside him beckoned.

"I don't know how much longer I can do this, Bon," he told the dog.

She looked up and wagged the stub of her tail.

He palmed the gun and stared at it.

"I promised us both I'd wait until you were gone. I can't leave you, Bonnie, for Maddy's sake. She'd be depending on me to take care of you. ...Why didn't you tell me not to leave her behind? I saw how they treated her, the way they reacted to her. I saw and I heard and I ignored it. She tried to tell me, as tactfully as she could, but she didn't want to interfere. Didn't want to push me one way or the other. She was so good like that, wasn't she, Bonnie? Never any pressure. She took it all so I wouldn't have to."

She lived her life centered on him. It all hit home when she dove head first into caring for him when he had been so hopelessly broken and paralyzed after the plane crash. How tender and considerate and conscientious she had been. Carrying on one sided conversations, carrying the load for both of them, all the insightful little details that had such a huge impact on his existence. Loving him with all the selflessness of the angel she was. Then buying his mobility with her freedom, her life, putting her soul on the line when she went to Ba'al.

He shook his head. God, what she went through for him!

He had told her constantly how much he loved her, but had he ever really showed her, proved it as she had?

He hadn't even gone to her memorial service. He couldn't. Didn't even know when it had been held. There was no way in hell he could have faced that. Maybe SG1 hadn't bothered. Maybe they figured the first one would suffice. It didn't matter. Maddy was where she had worked all her life to end up and a memorial service would have no bearing on her soul's destination.

He absently, methodically, punched all the bullets out of the clip then just as slowly reloaded them. He pressed the clip back into place and turned the gun to look at the barrel. His thumb flicked the safety on and off, on and off.

Bonnie whined.

Jack grabbed a breath and seemed to shake himself. Bonnie's stomach grumbled loudly.

"Time to eat? Come on, I'll find you something."

He set the nine mil back on the seat and stood. His eyes raked the marina but he saw nothing that distracted him.

Maddy wasn't on her way down the pier.

The bag of dog food was empty. He dropped it on the floor with the others and opened the refrigerator. Amid stacks of beer cans he found a stale hot dog, delivered days ago by a well meaning neighbor. He fed that to the dog then opened a drawer. She wolfed down a hard piece of cheese. He found a dozen eggs in another drawer and broke half of them into an encrusted bowl for her.

"If that'll hold you until tomorrow, I promise we'll go shopping."

He had to hitch his pants up as he made his way back to the deck. He caught a moment's reflection in the glass and almost didn't recognize himself. His face was angular and unshaven, his lips drawn down in a perpetual frown. The crease in his forehead had deepened, as had the lines bracketing his mouth. He realized his teeth felt gritty and wondered if he had a toothbrush somewhere.

"Feels like they're wearing fuzzy little sweaters."

Maddy had a fuzzy sweater. A dark red one that showed off her amazing cleavage, the roundness of her breasts. Daniel had bought it for her when he had been stuck in that hospital bed. He loved the sweater on her but hated that Daniel had bought it instead of him.

He moved to the rail, gripped it, and raised his eyes to the sky.

"Why'd You take her? I was just coming to terms with You, with all the ways she loved us both. What'd I do to deserve this?"

He dropped his chin to his chest.

"Ah, hell, don't give me a list. I know. And I know I didn't deserve to be loved the way she loved me. No wonder she was so afraid of this. Hurts like hell when you lose it."

He was silent for a moment.

"I did this. Set her up for it. I should have protected her, never allowed her to get involved. Shoulda popped my head outta my ass and opened my eyes."

He squeezed his eyes shut on a fresh jolt of pain.

"You'd think I would've learned after Charlie. God, Maddy!"

He sighed.

"Please just tell me she was fully sedated when she hit that iris. Tell me she didn't feel a thing, that she didn't have a clue until she found herself at Your feet."

Jack closed his eyes and pictured her at her Lord's feet; radiant, glowing, eternally happy.

Waiting for him.

His mind put glittering white wings on her back, then he saw her waving at him. He had to laugh and he had to cry. He caught his upper lip between his teeth and did both. His shoulders shook and he gripped the rail with all the strength he had left.

Taco had been there, waiting for her. Was that the reason the horse had died so unexpectedly? Had he been taken first so she would have him to keep her occupied until Jack got there? He imagined her galloping across endless fields of Heavenly flowers, through the clouds, then the stars.

Maddy unquestioningly believed that everything she loved would be waiting for her in Heaven. Her family, her pets. Would he make the grade? Be granted the privilege of spending eternity with her? Should he send Bonnie to her?

"God created them all the first time, Babe," he remembered her telling him when he questioned whether or not animals would be in Heaven. "It's not a question of whether or not they have souls- God will just create them for me again. It's part of why I work so hard to earn jewels in my crown. I'm hoping God will let me swap them for critters."

"Give them to her," he murmured brokenly. "Give her any I managed to earn, too. The only one I want to cash in is for Charlie. Just let me come to be with them. I don't deserve it, I know. But Maddy said You forgive. Show me what it takes."

It was a long while before he sat down again. Bonnie immediately stretched across his bare feet and farted. Jack didn't notice.

He was staring at the pair walking down along his dock.

The breeze lifted Carter's hair away from her face and Jack thought about how much he loved to watch the wind play in Maddy's hair. It made him want to play in her hair, too.

"She didn't even have time to grow it back," he told the dog.

It struck him then, that when Meret cut her hair Maddy's days had been numbered. It never dawned on him that she'd be gone before that hair reached her waist again.

What ever happened to those strands of her hair he had collected on Nirrti's planet? There had been a time when he was never without them. He didn't even know where they were. All he had of her now was Bonnie. He leaned forward and stroked the dog's back, strangely comforted by the knowledge that Maddy's hand had moved over the same fur.

His chest constricted with an ache born of the need to hold her close. He sat back and folded his arms across his chest, tried to press away that powerful, dreadful ache. How he missed the way she had filled his arms with softness and warmth. His Maddy had been an armful of bobcat and he delighted in the memory.

When he opened his eyes Carter and Daniel were a little closer. He watched them stroll along trying to look like tourists as they studied each and every houseboat.

He wished they'd go away.

He was in no mood to hear platitudes like 'she didn't feel a thing' or 'you won't have to watch her grow old', or 'she lived life to the fullest'.

He thought about slipping inside and dropping the blinds. He would have if he'd had the strength. He closed his eyes and summoned the memory of Maddy in the waterfall. The water cascading over her body, her nipples puckered and luring him. They way she dropped her head back and let the water carry her hair all the way to her thighs. The feel of her skin, both warm and cold, as the water rushed over it. The taste of her kiss as icy water merged with their lips...

Daniel poked Carter in the ribs and pointed.

Two boats down Jack O'Neill was sitting sprawled and slack jawed on the tattered seat of the rattiest houseboat in the marina.

"Pirate," Daniel said gleefully.

Carter fished out her wallet and handed Daniel a fifty dollar bill.

"Is he sleeping?"

"God, I hope so," she answered grimly. "I can smell him from here."

Daniel winced at the implication. "Bonnie sees us. Jack's not stirring."

Carter's step faltered. "I don't want to go down there, Daniel."

He stopped and glanced at her.

"If he... If we're too late, when she's alive..."

Daniel mauled his lower lip. "The sun's going down. If we're gonna do this..."

She inhaled deeply then sneezed when a whiff of marijuana slipped into her nostril. She canted Daniel a wry look.

"Hippies."

He handed the fifty back.

As they neared they both saw the nine mil sitting on the bench beside him. Daniel shook his head and darted a look at Sam. Her blue eyes held more pain than he had ever seen in them. He cleared his throat loudly.

The voice that emanated from the cadaver-thin body was rough and broken.

"Go away."

Carter exhaled in relief.

"Jack, we have news..." Daniel began.

"Don't care. Go away."

"You'll want to hear this, Sir. We believe Maddy's alive."

Jack didn't move.

"Sir? Did you hear me?"

Jack opened one red rimmed and bloodshot eye to peer at her.

"Sir, we tracked her to a planet where they gave us a very accurate description. She's been taken captive and we're trying..."

Jack bolted upright and tried to focus. "What did you say?" He licked his chapped lips and tried to swallow.

Daniel reached over the rail and caught the dog's head in both hands. "Hi, Bonnie! You wanna come help us find your momma?"

"Dan-iel...? Carter?"

"Sir, we believe Maddy is alive."

"I heard you the first time. I'm waiting for details."

"Permission to come aboard?" Daniel asked sarcastically.

"Fuck you, start talking!" Jack bellowed.

Carter actually back-pedaled a full step. Unfazed, Daniel looked at her over the rims of his sunglasses.

"Start talking," he suggested.

She took a healthy breath. "Sergeant Harriman realized the computer had never logged an iris event. Then we began getting series of ghost wormholes, in threes, from different planets. General Landry kept sending MALPs but nobody was there."

"You came here to tell me Maddy's a ghost?" Jack snarled.

"Shut up and listen," Daniel said sternly.

Jack eyed him murderously.

"One of the planets we sent a MALP to garnered a decent description. We had to go in with three teams and a riot squad..."

Jack sat forward. That sounded more like Maddy.

"We got a story of a woman matching Maddy's description having been found on a desert planet- the origin of the first series of signals. They told us she had begged for help to get back to Earth and a group of traders took her with them."

"We don't know who the traders are, or what planet they're from, but Cam, Vala, and Teal'c are working on it right now."

"How'd she survive hitting the iris?" Jack asked.

"She didn't hit the iris, Jack. That Garan was a flake. We think he dialed the wrong address."

Jack felt as if he'd been dashed with icy water. "The wrong address? He tell you that himself?"

Carter and Daniel exchanged glances.

"He didn't survive the beating you gave him," Daniel said carefully.

Jack scowled. He decided he didn't feel badly about it.

"Sir, all the villagers agreed that he never intended to harm Maddy, just get her off Edora and scare her into staying away. They all believed that he could have been shaken enough by what he was doing to forget he needed a GDO to gate to Earth. If he was that air headed, it stands to reason he could have mis-dialed. At night. In the rain. Scared as hell..."

"We did an extensive extrapolation of possible mis-dials if Garan happened to hit a symbol next to one in Earth's series and came up with a match for the first planet the ghost initiations came from..."

"So where is she now?"

"We don't know that, but we know where she's been."

"You're sure? Don't do this to me if you're not damned sure, Carter."

"She was throwing around your name, Aris Boch's name, the Asgard, the Free Jaf'fa, Stargate Command..." Daniel listed impatiently. "Stop arguing, Jack, and get your ass off that boat."

Chapter Twenty Seven

Carter leaned out of the car window and breathed deeply of the rushing air.

"Pull into the next motel we come to," she told Daniel. "I can't take another mile of this."

Daniel glanced at Jack in the rear view mirror. The retired general was stretched across the back seat with his feet hanging out of the open rear window. Bonnie was wedged between him and the seat, her head upside down in Jack's arm pit and her feet up in the air. They were both snoring.

"Bonnie's already feet up," he grinned. "I think it might be too late for her."

"It's nearly too late for me. There's a Kmart- pull in and I'll buy him some clothes. And strong soap. ...Deodorant..."

"They still make lye soap?"

"I don't know, but I hope they sell haz-mat kits. Those clothes of his are radio active."

Daniel wheeled into a spot and shut off the car. "After we get him cleaned up we need to feed him. He looks like he hasn't eaten a decent meal in ages."

Carter all but dove out of the car and stood breathing deeply. A woman with two small children pushed a cart up to the next vehicle over. She darted a glance at the rear window of their car and tried to keep them from seeing her wrinkling her nose. Her little boy was fascinated by Jack's bare feet, right at eye level with him. He sniffed and made a face.

"Mommy? Is that man dead?"

"Hush, Kyle!" she hissed, darting an apologetic look at Daniel.

"But he smells like that dead cat that was laying..."

She grabbed him by the shoulder and propelled him into the car.

"You know, Mommy, the one with the swelled-up tummy and flies..."

The woman slammed the door shut, heaved the little girl into the back seat, shoved the bags in beside her, and hurriedly dug out her keys.

Sam turned away laughing. Daniel glanced at Jack, frowned, and swatted at a fly that was heading in through the window.

"Think Bonnie will jump out?" he worried. "I hate to close the windows..."

But Sam was already across the lot. Daniel decided he'd better stick close so he leaned against the door and crossed his arms. It wasn't long before he moved to the front of the car. To amuse himself he started keeping track of how many people noticed the smell, then from what distance. It shouldn't have come as a surprise when the police car with lights flashing rolled slowly down their aisle. It stopped behind their car and the officer noted the licence number. Daniel rolled his eyes and walked back.

"Afternoon, Officer."

The policeman stepped out, walked around Daniel without speaking, and peered through the open window.

"That a body?"

"Oh, he's quite alive." Daniel fished out his wallet and handed the officer several pieces of ID.

"You're a long way from home, Dr. Jackson. Shouldn't this man be in a hospital?"

"Doctor of archeology," Daniel corrected.

The officer raised his eyebrows. "So what pyramid did you dig him out of... and how long ago? Look, Dr. Jackson, I'm all for Good Samaritans and everything, but why don't you let me take him to a shelter..."

Daniel opened the back door and Jack opened his eyes. He stared up at the officer then yawned widely.

"Jack? You got ID on you?"

Jack grimaced, shifted his hips, and dug out his wallet. Daniel took it with two fingers and found Jack's ID.

The officer read the information and raised his eyebrows. "General O'Neill? Do you need medical attention, Sir?"

"I need a shower, Officer."

"Are you being held against your will?"

"Like we'd force him to smell like that then lock ourselves inside a car with him in ninety degree weather on purpose?," Daniel asked incredulously.

"Against my will?" Jack echoed. "Hell no." He twisted his neck to glare at Daniel. "I told you we should've flown."

"Like they'd leave you on a plane," Daniel shot back.

The officer's eyes went back and forth between the two men. Bonnie sneezed, farted loudly, then went back to sleep. Jack grinned and rubbed her belly.

"You said 'we', Dr. Jackson."

"Yeah," Jack scowled. "Where's Carter?"

"Buying you clothes. And soap."

Jack lifted his chin once. "Who's buying the food?"

"I didn't want to leave with the windows down for fear Bonnie would jump out, Ja-ack."

"I wouldn't worry about that," the officer said dryly. "Dogs love to roll in dead smells." He indicated the way Bonnie was laying on top of Jack. "Okay, you folks seem legit. But get what you need and find a place to get him cleaned up. You're disturbing the peace."

Daniel looked up in time to see Carter, laden with bags, abruptly turn and walk briskly in the other direction.

Chapter Twenty Eight

Jack wound a towel around his waist and used another scrub at his hair. The smell of pizza made his stomach growl.

"Save me one!" he yelled through the door.

"Just one piece?" Daniel called back.

"One pizza," Jack growled back. He looped the towel around his neck, grabbed another and began drying Bonnie. He opened the door and grinned as she shook her way through the room. "What'd you get for Bonnie to eat?"

"Dog food?" It sounded like Daniel's mouth was full.

The mirror was fogged so he left the door open. A towel over the glass squeaked a lot but did little to remove the condensation.

"Call Carter. See what Landry had to say."

"She'll be here in a minute. I told her the pizza was here."

"You know how long it takes a woman to shower. Call her. Tell her to get a move on."

He stared at his mottled reflection and thought about how he loved to shower with Maddy. Something he thought he'd lost forever. When he brought her home that was the first thing he intended to do- get into the shower with her. The idea made his legs weak and he gripped the edges of the sink to steady himself.

It was almost too fantastic to believe. She was alive. He was still reeling, still trying to absorb and adjust.

"She get us a flight out of Travis?"

"She was working on it."

Jack thought about how close he had come to using that nine mil and it made him shudder. What was wrong with him that he couldn't face life without those he loved so much? Or that he couldn't deal with guilt? First Charlie, then Maddy. Was he that weak, that cowardly? That dependent on others to make his life worthwhile? That afraid of loneliness?

"Call her and see."

"How the hell is she supposed to do all this if we keep tying up the phone?"

Jack decided he'd better put on a pair of pants before Carter arrived. He rooted through the bags and shook out a pair of jeans. In this heat he would have preferred shorts. No underwear. Ah well, it wasn't like he hadn't gone commando for the past year anyway. He pulled on the jeans and grimaced when they were a size too large. The mirror had cleared enough to shave. He leaned in and got a good look at his face.

The image that stared back at him from deeply sunken eyes startled him. He had to get himself together before Maddy saw him like this. He wondered what kind of shape she'd be in, if she was eating. Was she cold? Injured? He needed to hold her, look into her eyes, feel her clinging to him.

He wanted to take her dancing. It had been so long since they'd gone dancing.

He picked up the pack of safety razors and grimaced. No way were these flimsy things going to cut through the tough growth on his jaw. Never mind- Maddy could shave him. The thought made him shiver. Maddy loved to watch him shave, loved to shave him herself. He'd save that chore for them to share. That they'd be sharing anything again brought moisture to his eyes and his breath hitched painfully. He tossed the razors back into the bag and found the toothbrush. Carter had bought toothpaste, pre-rinse, and a very strong mouthwash. He smirked at that then made use of all three before heading for the pizza box.

"Any word from SG1?" he asked as he devoured a slice of pizza.

"Sam's checking."

Jack picked up two slices, stacked them together, and downed them. Daniel watched him over the tops of his glasses.

"When was the last time you ate?"

Jack shrugged.

"You're a walking skeleton, Jack."

Jack chewed and swallowed. "Didn't have much to eat before we ended up on Edora. That's why Maddy tried that funky mushroom that made her change colors. She was trying to find..."

"Change colors?"

Jack nodded as he stuffed another double slice into his mouth. He was just getting into the story when Carter tapped on the door. Daniel let her in then picked up the phone to order two more pizzas. Jack stared at her impatiently.

"There's a transport out of Travis headed for Peterson tonight at eight. They'll hold it for us."

Jack glanced at the clock. "Not soon enough. Get us a Lear."

"I tried," she placated. "None available sooner than the transport."

Jack scowled as he fed Bonnie a piece of pepperoni. "What'd Landry say?"

"Cam and Teal'c got a gate address and found the traders who took Maddy through the gate." She shot a glance at Daniel. "They're still searching."

"They're hiding her?" Jack asked sharply.

"I didn't get all the details- Landry didn't have them- but it seems this race is advanced enough for space travel. The group SG1 is dealing with are intergalactic traders..." She paused to choose her words carefully. "They deal in most everything, including slavery."

Jack choked on his pizza. Maddy wouldn't take that without a fight. She'd get herself into trouble.

"Cam did tell General Landry that they tailed these traders through the gate to Trygar Three. They came back with several women and an unas they had gotten through the slave auction."

Jack's heart plummeted. If Maddy was sold through a slave auction she'd be damned hard to track down.

"We gotta get there now."

Sam nodded. "Teal'c stayed on Trygar Three to monitor the auction and watch for Maddy. Vala gated back to Earth and she's taking the Nautilus there as we speak. If nothing else, Maddy's cache of intergalactic currency should be sufficient for them to bid on her if she ends up there."

It occurred to Jack that Landry was expending a lot of resources on Maddy. Resources that might get shut off without warning. How much of this was the Pentagon aware of, and would they bring her back only to take her into custody? Well, if the Nautilus was waiting for him on Trygar Three and Landry was forced to pull SG1 off this mission, he could go after her himself. Then they'd decide what they needed to do. He realized Daniel and Carter were watching him. He looked up.

"What?"

Carter shook her head briefly. "Just good to have you back, Sir."

Jack grunted, then gave her a piercing stare. "Will it be as good having Maddy back?" She and his wife hadn't parted on the best of terms. Under Meret's influence, Maddy had said some very hateful things to Carter. Things Carter didn't deserve.

Bless her heart, Samantha Carter gave him a blank look.

"What do you mean?"

Daniel's eyes moved back and forth between them.

"She feels awful about the things she said to you, Carter. Been fretting about your friendship. She hated that she hurt your feelings."

They both remembered the things Carter had said to him. In front of the entire team. She blushed but held his gaze without wavering.

"Over with and forgotten, Sir."

"Don't blow it off if it's gonna come between you sometime down the road."

She shifted uncomfortably. "It won't. I've had a lot of time to think..."

"I'm gonna go... find us something to drink," Daniel said abruptly.

They watched him leave. Neither could look at the other. Jack busied himself rubbing Bonnie with the towel. Carter sat down and toyed with the pizza box.

"I was out of line, Sir, what I said that night."

"No, Carter, you were right on the money."

He looked up in time to see her stifle a smirk. She saw that he caught her and shrugged.

"I didn't say I was wrong. I was out of line to say it."

Jack had to grin.

Sam frowned thoughtfully. "I didn't think I ever gave her a reason to feel jealous."

"You didn't. ...But did you have to work at it?" Jack asked.

Sam rolled her eyes.

"Maddy's influence," he apologized. "She introduced me to my feminine side."

Carter's eyes widened. "You, Sir? A feminine side?"

"I have an inner caveman, too," he boasted.

One pale eyebrow slowly crept up her forehead. She turned to stare out through a crack in the curtains. Jack didn't press, gave her time to organize her thoughts.

"I came to terms with... everything... when I realized you had fallen in love with her." She paused, then continued bravely. "At first I did sort of... panic. When I realized you were serious. Moving out of reach."

"I know that feeling," Jack muttered.

Their eyes met. He looked back down at the pizza.

"Pete?" she asked.

He nodded without looking up. She bit her lip and looked away again.

"Would it have worked between us, Sir?" she asked softly.

"Not if you insisted on calling me 'sir'."

She made an impatient sound. "Would it have worked between us Jack?"

He took a moment to answer. "Sure it would have."

"You think so? Honestly? I'd have never given up my work."

"I know that. I guess I had ideas of you quitting field work and staying in a lab, having a slew of kids for me to raise."

"Yeah, I sorta had the same idea. Why didn't it ever happen?"

"Wasn't meant to be, Carter, or it would have happened."

"Do you think there's any truth to what Maddy said?"

"I think I would have driven you nuts. I think you would have spent a lot of time at work and been happy with that. I would have spent all my time with the kids and been happy with that. The distance would have kept us together."

"Until I retired and the kids left home?"

He shrugged. "You'll never retire, Carter. Like me, you'll keep getting sucked back in. You'll be ninety and still pulling brilliant ideas outta your ass, still coming up with the key to saving the universe."

She snorted delicately. "And you would have put up with that?"

"I wouldn't have had a choice. You're too gifted, too brilliant, to be expected to give it all up for family life. I would have been content to handle it that way."

"I want a family."

"You deserve one. And I would have given you one, kept it together so you could keep on saving the world."

"But?"

"But nothing, Carter. It'll still happen for you." He finally looked up. "Just don't let any man force you into making a choice between one or the other. You can have both and you deserve both. Anything less is unacceptable."

She looked down at her hands. "You might be the only man in the universe who would see it that way."

"I can think of at least two more."

She frowned without meeting his gaze. "Daniel and Cam?"

"Yep. Carter, we don't live in the real world. To make it work, it takes someone who's been there, lived it, understands it. Anything else is doomed to failure."

"That narrows down my choices considerably."

He looked at her, took a deep breath, and waded in. "Are you still in love with me?"

She looked startled. "I could never be for you what Maddy is."

"Not my question."

She winced. "I could never love you the way she does. I don't think I could love anybody the way Maddy loves you."

"Still not answering my question."

"Damn it, what's this getting us?"

"Straightened out. Before Maddy comes home."

She met his gaze then. He gave Bonnie a final pat, raised up, stilled, and waited.

"Ten years ago my answer would have been 'yes'."

"What about now?"

"Now... Now I feel like I had a mad crush on a rock star that's worked itself out of my system. I admire you greatly. I respect you. I appreciate you. You are one of the most important people in my life. I love you, but not the way I used to."

"No more wild sexual fantasies?" he teased.

She blushed. "Since we're being brutally honest here, those got old long before you met Maddy."

Jack grunted at that.

"We could have married," she said gently, "And made it work. The affection and respect and admiration wouldn't have changed. But we would have fallen into the same rut so many married couples do. Traded the spark for blase contentment."

"You don't want to be content?"

"I don't want to be blase."

He gave her half a grin. "I can tell you from experience, with the right person it'll never happen. Unless some weird alien entity takes one of you over and starts screwing with your head..."

She started to relax a bit. "I guess I've been looking for the man who can fill your considerable shoes. With a few minor adjustments..."

He looked indignant. "You mean I'm not perfect?"

She laughed. "Not for me. I don't have the wild streak Maddy does that keeps you entertained. Keeps you... interested."

His grin gentled. "You've got plenty to keep a man interested, Carter. You kept me interested for a hell of a long time."

"Why didn't..." She hesitated and searched for the right words. "When you took the position in Washington. I wasn't in your command. Why didn't you...?"

"I came to the realization long before then that you're weren't meant for me. You're destined to great things, Carter. I would have held you back."

"Bullshit."

He snorted. "I thought about it. A lot. You were the first check mark in the 'pro' column when I was considering this civilian oversight position. But when that door opened I couldn't bring myself to step through it."

"Couldn't muster anymore wild sex fantasies?" she threw back at him.

"Oh, there were still plenty of those," he drawled to watch her blush again. She didn't disappoint him. "But I'd matured- or maybe aged- enough to realize neither of us could live up to them."

"Then you met Maddy."

"Sometimes I wonder if The Fates threw her in my path to keep me away from you."

"The Fates? You, Sir?" she slipped back into the familiar address.

"Didn't know I had some depth, didja?"

"Too deep for me."

"You see? We knew more about each other than most married couples ever will, yet we may never have been comfortable enough to learn the basics."

She gaped at him.

He flipped a hand at his head. "Quasi," he explained sourly. "Look, Carter, Maddy's not going to get over the things she said easily or quickly- if ever. Her conscience is gonna drive her nuts. Take the time to be open with her? Let her apologize, feel like she's made it up to you. She needs that. And you deserve it."

"It did hurt to find out she felt that way. I like Maddy a lot. All due respect, Sir, but you weren't the reason I hung around the lodge so much."

"That's good to know... I think," he added with a wry grin. Then his smile twisted. "It's gonna be good to have her home."

"Yes. It will be," she agreed with feeling. "You too, Sir. We were worried..." A sharp knock on the door interrupted her.

"Pizza!" Jack's eyes lit up.

Sam grimaced at him and stood to dig money out of her pocket.

"You and Daniel just polished off two!" She opened the door and handed the boxes over to Jack.

"That had to be at least an hour ago." He sniffed appreciatively.

Sam paid the delivery boy and turned. "You go ahead. I'm going to go see what's keeping Daniel and those sodas."

Daniel was lounging in the vending machine alcove. He glanced at his watch then looked at her curiously.

"You two get stuff ironed out?"

She grimaced as she popped quarters into a machine. "Maddy told me he starts talking and can't stop. With her gone it must have been backing up on him."

Daniel grinned at that. "Have you noticed the change in him since blending with Qua'sel?"

Sam turned wide blue eyes on him. "Yeah, he's gone deep on us."

"As in... off the deep end?"

"As in frightening fathoms of 'depth'. You think there's any pizza left?"

Daniel made a face and headed for the room. "Another way Jack's deep; his stomach is a bottomless pit."

Chapter Twenty Nine

Jack picked out a black angora sweater and added it to the growing pile in his buggy. He bypassed the bras and paused beside the women's panties. He had no clue what size Maddy wore. She always ripped out the tags because she said they itched. She wouldn't appreciate him bringing her those shiny, satiny things, not out there. Those she wore for him, at home, and he made sure she had scads of them.

He held up a cotton pair and studied them critically. His eyes drifted to a rack of satin and lace teddies but he forced them back to basic, comfortable cotton. An older woman gave him a stern look as she moved his buggy aside to pass. He heard her click her tongue.

"Hey," he said defensively, "My wife is being held captive and naked on an alien planet by a bunch of intergalactic slave traders. Shouldn't I take clothes with me when I fly my spaceship out there to rescue her?"

The woman couldn't decide whether to be offended or frightened.

"Well I'm gonna take chocolate, too," he said defensively. "Roses probably wouldn't survive the trip..."

He watched blandly as she hurried away.

"Too much?" he called after her.

He put the cotton panties back, turned to the bright lace and satin panties and couldn't suppress a wicked grin. It felt good to be alive again. He bought two pairs in every color they had.

When he got back to the motel he left the bags in the car's trunk and fumbled with the room key. Daniel looked guilty and Carter quickly turned her back to him. He raised his eyebrows at Daniel.

"I interrupt something?"

"Uh, no, Sir. I'll be ready to leave a five minutes." Carter darted past, bending her head under his intense gaze.

Jack bent down to ruffle Bonnie's ears. "Wish you could talk."

"If she could talk I would've locked her in the bathroom," Daniel muttered.

"You think she wouldn't tell me that?"

Daniel gave him a pained look.

"It's about time you stepped up..." Jack grunted.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"...instead of just making eyes at her when she isn't looking."

"Mind your own business."

"You've nailed every other woman in the galaxy. I'm proud of you, Son, but enough practice already. Get in the game."

"Shut up, Jack."

"Nailing's goood."

Daniel glared at him. "You're in fine form. Pizza always do this to you?"

"It's just that your mother and I would like to have grandchildren before we're too old to spoil them."

Daniel snapped his fingers. "It's the caffeine! You've had nothing but beer for..."

"Beer and eggs and bacon. Cinnamon toast with real butter..." A tap at the door interrupted him. Daniel went to open it.

Carter greeted them with a cardboard tray and three cups. The delightful aroma of coffee made Jack sniff euphorically.

"Oh no," Daniel warned, taking one of the cups and dumping it in the trash. "He drinks that and we'll have to listen to him giggle all the way home!"

Jack shouldered past them in the narrow doorway, snatched one of the remaining cups and kept going. Carter quickly laid claim to the last one and shoved the tray at Daniel.

"Hey!" Daniel complained. "He took yours!"

Chapter Thirty

Maddy struggled and another guard was waved in to hold her still. The pair of women who were tattooing her legs drew back until she was forced to quit moving. She twisted her head around to find Zebulon.

"What do you want?" she demanded. "Tell them to stop- I don't want to be tattooed! Let me negotiate for my release. I tell you I can pay you whatever you ask if you'll only let me contact my husband!"

Zebulon Riker sucked on a foul smelling tube and inhaled. He held the acrid smoke in his lungs as he contemplated his newest slave.

"Use more yellow, more green. And do her breasts."

"No, damn it! I can get you crystals. Whatever currency you want. Just give me a chance to explain. I'm not a slave!"

"You are now."

Maddy huffed her impatience. She went limp, hoping her guards would ease their grip. They did. Maddy took a couple of deep breaths and exploded. Making use of Master Bra'tac's lessons, she managed free herself of two of the three guards and render them unconscious in the process. Not to mention make a sloppy mess of the paint pots the artists were using. With one guard still clinging to her arm she gained her feet and slammed the back of her head into his nose. The eunuch roared in pain and tried to wrap her in a bear hug. Maddy dropped to her knees, dove between his feet, then leaped onto his back. Clinging with her legs, she locked him in a sleeper hold and hung on for dear life. The eunuch gargled and fell to his knees, but she didn't relent. Eyes locked on Zebulon's, she rode the guard down flat and made sure he was out before she let go.

The female artists had cringed back and were staring at her in shock.

Maddy snagged the guard's weapon and backed into a corner.

"I just want to talk," she panted. "Let me tell you who I am, what I can get for you. I want to go home- whatever the cost."

Riker laughed at her. Red smoke curled lazily out of his nostrils. "Woman, I don't care who you are or what you can get for me. I don't care who your husband is or what planet you come from. I want you painted and taught to dance."

"I'm not gonna dance for you," she reasoned. One of the guards groaned and stood up. Maddy pointed the weapon at him and fired. It acted a lot like a zat and he dropped like a rock.

"Did I kill him?" she asked.

Zebulon shrugged. "Sometimes it takes one shot, sometimes two."

Maddy shot him again then aimed at the second, stirring guard. "Can we talk now?"

"Talk all you want. It won't change the fact that I want to see you painted and dancing."

"Oh, for cryin' out loud! If I dance will you hear me out?"

He rolled a shoulder and shook his head. "You belong to me, bought and paid for. You dance or you die."

"I'm a hell of a cook..."

One of the artists screamed. Maddy glanced in her direction then tracked her gaze. A brace of unas had entered the hall. Riker jerked his head in Maddy's direction. The creatures advanced. Maddy shot. Fired as quickly as she could but the energy weapon seemed to glance off them. Before they could reach her she aimed at Riker. He laughed again. She fired, over and over until the weapon was torn from her hand.

"Personal shield, Woman. Gou'ald design."

She let out a scream of her own when they reached for her.

Chapter Thirty One

Daniel and Carter watched Jack stare out of the jet's tiny window. He wore a half smile, his expression wistful. They traded looks and couldn't help smiling themselves.

"We're happy she's alive too, Sir," Carter said softly.

Jack turned to her. "You don't know, Carter. You just don't know..." He turned back to the window as the pilot asked them to fasten their seatbelts.

The landing was soft as silk. While the jet was still taxying along the runway Jack unbuckled his seatbelt and stood.

"Let's go bring her home."

General Landry greeted Jack with a wide smile and a vigorous handshake.

"Great news, isn't it? God, I can't wait to see her."

"Until she drives you wacko again," Jack grinned back.

The general's eyes misted just a tad. "She's bought herself a lot of leeway, Jack, just don't tell her I said that."

"What do you hear from SG1? They find her yet?"

Landry's smile faded just a bit. "Not yet. They think she's been sold again, but they're tracking down a couple of leads. Vala should arrive at Trygar Three with the Nautilus sometime tomorrow."

Jack nodded. "Can we brief now, or..."

"Now is fine. I need to talk to Colonel Carter anyway."

"They're dropping Bonnie off at the lodge."

"That'll give us time to catch up." He clapped a hand on Jack's shoulder. "I'll meet you there in a minute."

When Landry walked in he was carrying a white envelope. He slid it across the table in front of Jack. Jack looked down at it, saw the notation in the upper corner, and the breath in his lungs suddenly grew barbs.

"So what else did you and Maddy get into the past year?"

"Well..." Jack tore his eyes from the envelope, glad for the opportunity to ignore the results of the paternity test until he decided how he was going to feel about it. And what he was going to do about it, either way. "...at first I had my hands full trying to deal with Meret..."

It wasn't long before Colonel Carter and Dr. Jackson joined them. There was no new intel regarding Maddy, so Landry moved on to the next topic. Carter glanced at the envelope, met Daniel's gaze, then tactfully ignored it. Daniel's eyes kept settling on it like child seated before a bowl of candy waiting to be offered a piece.

"I need Colonel Carter and Dr. Jackson to rendezvous with the Odyssey for the next hop to Pegasus. Dr. McKay is working on a..."

Carter's spine stiffened and Jack watched in fascination as her face seemed to freeze.

"Excuse me, Sir? Pegasus?"

Landry nodded. "McKay thinks he's onto a means of regenerating a ZPM using a..."

"Excuse me," she said again. "Mrs. O'Neill is still missing, may be in mortal danger."

Landry gave her a long look. "I understand your desire to follow through with finding Maddy, Colonel. And I sympathize. But two factors make that impossible. One, the search for Maddy is not an Air Force sanctioned mission. We've managed to keep the brass out of the loop and I've about run out of excuses for putting SG1 missions on hold."

"And 'two'?" Daniel asked. He sounded as pissed as Carter looked.

Jack tore his eyes off Carter to stare at him.

"Two, Dr. Jackson, you and Colonel Carter are needed on Atlantis. I can leave Colonel Mitchell with Jack for another week, then I need him to..."

"Excuse me. Sir." Carter's demeanor was icy and aflame at the same time. Jack watched a vein in her temple pop out and begin to throb.

"As much as I sympathize with your concern, Colonel," Landry made a patient attempt to head off the argument he saw coming, "Now that General O'Neill is here to pick up Maddy's trail I need SG1 to do their jobs. Once he's pinpointed Maddy's location, if he needs help I assure you I'll send..."

"Aside from all the personal and moral reasons this base's resources should be dedicated to bringing Mrs. O'Neill home, driving Ba'al off Earth and bringing down The Trust for us has more than bought her the time SG1 needs to find her. If you need an excuse, Sir, perhaps the top secret knowledge that makes her a security risk in the Pentagon's eyes is excuse enough to sanction this mission. The issue of whether or not SG1 manages to bring her back in custody can be addressed after we find her."

Just the fact that Carter interrupted her CO made Jack's chest swell with pride. Misplaced pride, perhaps, but pride nonetheless.

"I agree with you in theory, Colonel. But..."

"Excuse me Sir..."

Daniel's eyes widened as he stared across the table at her.

"...If the powers that be disagree with my opinion on this matter, then I am formally taking my accrued vacation time, starting now. To my calculations that would be roughly twenty-one months. If taking the vacation time I've put off in the interest of defeating the Gou'ald, battling the Ori, and saving the universe from the plague- not to mention the plethora of missions I've completed since the onset of the Stargate Program- is inconvenient, you will have my resignation on your desk, in triplicate, within the hour."

Landry was rendered speechless.

Jack had to bite his cheek to keep from grinning. While Carter was tougher, more fearless and adventurous than anyone this side of his wife, she had always been meek and obedient when it came to interacting with superior officers. His mousey protege had grown teeth while he was away.

Seconds ticked by and turned into minutes. Jack distracted himself by watching Landry's neck turn deep red then slowly return to normal. Finally he cleared his throat.

"I'll authorize your vacation, Colonel. If, on the outside chance you get bored and want to defer any balance you may find yourself encumbered with, feel free to let me know and I'll return you to active duty status." He turned fatalistically to Daniel and raised his eyebrows.

"What she said," Daniel quipped.

Landry threw his hands into the air and looked at Jack.

"Consider it a trial run for when they retire," he dead panned.

"I'll tell the three of you this: Colonel Mitchell has not accrued enough tenure to play this card and get away with it. As soon as you are in position to take over for him, you send his ass back to Earth. That's a direct order."

"What abo..." Daniel started to speak but Sam's hand shot up to stop him.

"Uh!" she warned sharply.

Jack knew Daniel had been about to ask about Teal'c and Vala. Carter had the right idea; being aliens their whereabouts- unlike their allegiance- was rarely questioned. Without issuing a direct order for them to be elsewhere, Landry was giving them ample leeway to help in the search.

"Uh!" Sam repeated her warning and added a piercing blue stare.

Daniel's eyes widened and he slowly closed his mouth.

Jack thought Daniel should consider that a trial run for marriage.

"Notify me when you're ready to ship out," Landry said brusquely.

"Will you issue me gear or should I go get Maddy's hunting guns?" Jack asked lightly.

Landry gave him a sour look. "Sign out whatever you need, and raid the supply room while you're at it. I'll back date everything. It's not like paperwork showing up late is unprecedented... usually when I needed it yesterday." He stood and marched into his office.

The remaining three traded looks.

"I don't understand his attitude," Daniel muttered.

"General Landry is on the hot seat. It's not that he doesn't want to help, but he has to account for every damned bullet that's expended through this base. Maddy's on shaky ground with the Pentagon and he's trying his damnedest to do everything he can for her without any of the brass finding out she's even still alive. He and General Hammond are already out on a limb on her behalf and their loyalty to all of us has them on damned thin ice. They're breathing down his neck, going through every detail of this command looking for something to call him on. It's not a matter of covering his own ass, it's a matter of juggling resources so we can go get her," Carter explained. "I can think of a dozen charges that can be brought against him right now."

"Well you sure as hell didn't cut him any slack."

"Yes, thank you for that," Jack added.

Sam's anger seemed to drain out of her. "You thought I wasn't paying attention all those years," she said with a ghost of a smile.

"I taught you to sass the brass?" Jack asked. "Way to go, Carter!"

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Full-bird colonel has gone to her head. I meant that in a good way," he hurried to add.

Carter pushed back her chair and stood. "I need to pack. How soon will we gate out, Sir?"

"One hour."

"Wait," Daniel yelped. "Aren't you gonna read the results of the test?"

"Daniel!" Carter reproved.

Jack looked down at the envelope. "Maddy and I'll open it together."

"I understand your feelings, Jack..." Daniel paused to mull over what he had just said and raised his eyebrows in surprise. "...But don't you wanna know?"

"Apparently not as badly as you do," Carter sniped. "We'll meet you in the gate room, Sir."

Daniel looked petulant as he followed Carter from the room like a chastised puppy. Jack thought she might has well have been dragging him by the ear.

Chapter Thirty Two

Maddy tried to let the music flow through her, tried to pretend she was dancing for Jack. Tried to push aside her situation and embarrassment to do what it took to survive. The thin material of her flowing costume did little to hide her intimate parts from the ogling species lounging on cushions in a circle around the platform on which she moved. She made eye contact with each of her audience, searching for an iota of sympathy, the slightest hint of a possible ally. The heavy smoke haze made her eyes water and burn. Half of them were in a drug induced stupor. None of them met her gaze- their eyes were on her body. The music finally stopped and she whirled herself into the next chamber where the two unas dutifully watched over her. The rest of the female slaves hurried out for their performance and the erotic music started again.

Maddy chose a piece of alien fruit and began nibbling. An aromatic meat was roasting over a brazier but she wasn't in the mood for heavier fare. She studied the unas and realized their hideous eyes kept drifting towards the meat. Taking a chance, she pulled the half cooked meat off the spit and carried it over to them.

The creatures grunted at each other, speaking softly in a language Daniel understood but Maddy didn't. Their ugly heads bobbed and jerked much like birds trying to swallow large, dry worms. She used both hands to offer the meat to them equally. They quickly shook their heads and drew back. Maddy chose one and slowly, carefully, lifted the meat to its mouth. It sniffed, leaned forward, then locked gazes with her.

"Chukkaaaa," she crooned, recalling Daniel's stories. "Chukka zooo..."

The two unas gasped and stared at each other.

"Chukkaaaaa!" the one she was trying to bribe repeated almost reverently. It snuffled noisily then tentatively allowed her to feed it the meat. The second guard took it more readily. She beamed at them as they savored the flavor.

The music stopped. Maddy hurried back to her cushion as two females rushed into the chamber.

"Go keep them occupied," one snapped at her as she used two of her arms to lift an elaborate headdress. Two more of her hands dabbed on more makeup. The third set were reaching for another costume. "The rest are working the crowd."

Maddy mustered her courage and reluctantly moved through the door. If Jack hadn't had Loki disable her transportation device she'd be outta here by now! Qua'sel's memories could help her through this. His considerable lifetime as a Tok'ra spy among Gou'ald slave women would give her ideas of how to do this, how to handle it. But opening her mind to his thoughts would give Meret an opportunity to push through. Meret would get her killed. And she didn't want Jack to have to deal with the bitch again once he found her.

If he found her. Was he even looking? It had been so long...

When she was finally able to return to the chamber, it was to find Riker's personal guard shaking out a long, barbed whip. The unas were glaring at him.

"What's going on?" she asked.

The green female said waspishly, "The beasts ate our food! They know it is forbidden for them to touch meat! Meat is for us. Meat will make them uncontrollable, drive them into a frenzy. They are to be punished."

Maddy planted herself between the towering, hulking unas and the guard. "I ate the meat! They didn't touch it! Check their... hands... for traces of grease if you don't believe me." She moved forward and shoved her palms into the guard's nose. "Smell! I touched it- not them!"

"You ate all of it?" the instigator demanded. "It was still raw!"

Maddy whirled on her. "All of it. I was hungry."

The guard with the whip wavered uncertainly.

"Whip me if it's a such an offence," she demanded. "But those unas are innocent."

She could see her argument was winning him over. He slowly recoiled the wicked lash. Maddy got the impression he had not been anxious to assert his dubious authority over the massive creatures. With a severe glance at the green female he turned on his heel and left. Maddy put her back to the other slaves and gave the unas a broad wink and a quick smile. They both snuffled softly.

Over the next week Maddy routinely fed the unas as much meat as she could get away with taking. She concentrated on recalling unas words she had heard Daniel say and Loki's memory devices gave her a few. The unas were shocked, then thrilled to hear her try to speak to their language. She tried desperately to communicate her desire to find the stargate but had little luck finding the right words.

All the time she was watching for a chance to escape.

Her opportunity came after a particularly wild night. Zebulon Riker had plied what seemed to be very influential guests with excessive amounts of drink and drugs. When everyone was nearly comatose, he had his dancers rob them blind then shooed them out a side door. The unas, watched by armed guards, were ordered to keep them together and discourage outside interference. Riker had a ship waiting to take them to the next planet he planned to con. He and his second in command took a different route with the loot to insure their swift getaway. He routinely used the dancers as bait to draw away pursuit if an alarm happened to be raised.

As the bevy of dancers raced through dark alleys and dimly lit streets, Maddy began to drop back. The unas fell back with her, bringing up the rear. The guards hissed at them, motioned threateningly with their weapons, but the rest of the dancers were nearly out of sight. Maddy knew the guards were torn between losing one dancer and a pair of unas and the entire contingent of exotics. When a dark alley opened up to her right she darted into it and ran for all she was worth. The heavy steps of the unas followed her and her heart sank. She wasn't sure she could outrun them but fear of their brute strength spurred her on. She almost screamed when a thorny paw clamped on her shoulder and made her stumble to her knees. Whimpering anger and frustration, she bowed her head in submission the way Daniel had described and prayed they wouldn't tear her limb from limb.

She was lifted and slung bodily over a bony shoulder. Tears ran as she anticipated a wicked beating from Riker for attempting to escape.

But the unas did not take her to Riker's ship. They faded into the darkness and craftily avoided the half hearted search by Riker's guards. Riker was in a hurry to get off this planet and the search was both silent and brief. She watched the ship rise into the atmosphere from among a copse of stunted trees.

The unas held an animated but quiet conversation. Apparently they came to a decision because she was nudged into moving with them. Keeping to the shadows, the unas worked a stealthy and winding path around the settlement. When daylight began creeping into the shadows, they drew Maddy deep into a wooded area and took shelter in a shallow cave. They both curled up to sleep and Maddy weighed her options.

She could make a run for it, but to where? She didn't even know if this planet had a stargate. Was she now a captive of these unas... or just their next meal? She decided her chances were better on her own. As the pair of unas snuffled and cooed softly in their sleep, Maddy crept out of the cave.

Crouching, she studied the terrain, watched for movement, tried to scent something besides the reeking unas. She needed to head for high ground, get her bearings, and figure out where a stargate would be if there was one here. The forest seemed to slope upwards to her left. She pushed off into a low run... and was dragged down flat on her face.

She hit the ground with a grunt and spit out a mouth full of alien sod. A rough hand around her ankle dragged her backwards into the cave. She didn't have time to claw, twist, or scream. The unas clamped a hand over her mouth and stared outside.

A ship passed overhead, barely skimming the tree tops, its shadow arcing and making another pass further up the slope.

The unas grunted a soft reproach as he released her. He gestured at the sky, then made a motion Maddy thought might indicate being whipped.

Inspiration struck and she smoothed an area of dirt. Then she drew a rough outline of a stargate.

The unas grunted at each other excitedly, had a lengthy conversation, then wiped away her marks.

"Oooh, chakkaaaa," he told her earnestly.

"Oh, yeah, chakka," she replied. "Do you guys roast humans, or eat them raw with a light dressing?"

The other unas fumbled in a pouch slung from his wide belt. He withdrew several pieces of rotting fruit and handed Maddy the first mushy mess. She bowed her head at him then did her best to pick out the edible parts. They watched her a moment then devoured their portion with loud slurps and lots of smacking sounds.

"Okay, you guys need names. You're Bert and you're Ernie," The unas watched her intently. Then she pointed at herself. "Maddy. Ma-addy."

They picked it up instantly and she had to spend the rest of the day listening to them pronounce her name.

When darkness fell she was roused as gently as an unas was capable of rousing her. They stood, studied the forest, then led her out of the cave.

Chapter Thirty Three

Jack dropped two overstuffed duffle bags near the foot of the ramp and turned in time to see Carter walk into the gate room. She, too, carried a pair of bags and a backpack. She was dressed in faded jeans, a T shirt under an unbuttoned flannel, and hiking boots. She had a denim jacket and a bulky tote slung over one shoulder, a P90 over the other.

"Where's Daniel?" he asked.

"Coming!" Daniel called breathlessly from the corridor.

"You pack sun screen? A bikini?" Jack asked Sam.

She shot him a grin.

"I can spare a FRED," Landry said from the control room.

Jack pivoted. "Thanks, Hank, but I want to move as fast and light..." He glanced down at the growing pile of duffle bags as Daniel added his to the stack. "...as possible."

"Unscheduled off world activation," Harriman announced abruptly.

Jack took a step back and stared up at the giant stone ring that had so changed his life.

"Security personnel to the gate room," Landry barked. "Close the iris."

SF in riot gear thundered into the silo and took up defensive positions. Jack, Carter, and Daniel moved behind their protective line. The wormhole initiated and the puddle stabilized. Nothing happened. Jack turned to stare up at Landry.

"Nothing, Sir," the tech reported. "No radio signal, no iris code."

Sam and Jack traded looks as the gate shut down.

"Hold your positions," Landry instructed. "If it's Maddy, she'll call back in a minute."

They didn't have long to wait. As soon as the second wormhole disengaged Landry ordered that address redialed. Harriman watched the computer then shook his head.

"Busy signal," he announced.

"Wait five minutes and dial it again."

Chapter Thirty Four

Maddy watched the chevrons light up the darkness as the unas glanced around nervously. When the wormhole initiated they headed for the puddle. She stood her ground. Ernie motioned impatiently for her to follow them. She shook her head.

"I'm calling home. You guys go on." She had no desire to be stranded among a whole planet of unas. She waved them through then pointed at the DHD.

They grunted a few times, motioned at her and the gate, then stepped through the puddle. When it shut down, Maddy dialed Earth. As soon as the gate shut down again, she dialed a second time.

A strange, hard wind buffeted her, rocking her into the DHD. She looked up.

Riker's ship was hovering directly over her head.

The gate shut down. Maddy hesitated, her hand poised to push the first symbol for Earth's address. The ship began to descend.

"Damn it!" She quickly dialed the address she had watched the unas use and darted through the puddle.

Chapter Thirty Five

The gate finally initiated.

"Send a MALP," Landry ordered.

Jack adjusted his backpack and picked up his gear. "We're just going through," he called.

"Jack, wait! We have no idea what's on the other side!"

"Maddy," he returned confidently.

"Sir, he's got a point. If it wasn't Maddy we could be walking into toxic atmosphere, a lava flow, water..."

"Laser fire," Daniel added.

"...anything."

Jack sighed impatiently, dropped his gear, and waved a hand Landry.

Chapter Thirty Six

Maddy pressed herself back against the tree and tried to make herself as small as she could. Roaring fires dotted the blackness as far as she could see. When the group she had been adopted to were quiet enough, she could hear echoing drumbeats and unnerving howls. Cold, she drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around herself. 'Bert' rose and handed her a stick impaling a gruesome hunk of some sort of meat.

Maddy gave him a tight smile. The unas grunted and motioned for her to eat.

"Yeah, yeah, okay. But I'm cooking it first." Warily eyeing the unas around her, she edged closer to the fire and held the stick over the flames. The other unas became agitated, grunting and snuffling in alarm as grease dripped into the fire making it crackle and smoke. Bert and Ernie attempted to explain her strange behavior but it did little to sooth the rest. They watched her with an eerie stillness until the meat was done enough for her to eat. She blew on it and took a nibble, her eyes searching out the several unas who were trying to imitate the way she blew.

It would have been funny if she weren't so damned scared.

The meat was gamey and rank but she was starved. Before she had finished, a peculiar, spine-tingling howl rolled down the valley. It seemed to begin at the far upper end and gather voices as it neared. Maddy looked up with wide eyes as the unas in her group seemed to straighten and still. Pronged chins were lifted to the sky, horned hands came to rest on knobby knees.

A huge, orange moon was just beginning to peek over the lip of the high mountain that rose above the valley. The unas closed their eyes, seemed to be waiting. The rolling, soaring howl grew louder, nearer as neighboring camps joined in. When it was her group's turn to add their voices to the din, Maddy eased back into the shadows against her tree. Shivering, she picked at the meat and tried to shut out the ungodly noise. The next group down began, and on it went. There was an abrupt silence, then a sharp, deafening, unified grunt that rocked Maddy's bones. She jumped and dropped the meat. The sound reverberated throughout the valley, echoing over and over as if inside a cave.

Maddy let out the breath she had been holding, thinking it was over and she could relax.

Then the chant started. She couldn't make out individual words except for 'chakkaaa', and 'chakkaaa zooo'. It began, once again, with the farthest group at the head of the valley and worked down. Maddy listened closely and realized a certain phrase was being repeated over and over, much like a rousing round of 'Row Row Row Your Boat'. The unas in her camp obviously enjoyed the chorus, and if unas were capable of smiling all these were beaming. Bert's eyes were on her, watching, coaxing. There was no way she could even begin to follow along so she simply smiled and tried to convey her appreciation. But cold seeping into her bones soon had her teeth chattering.

Bert and Ernie stopped chanting and seemed to be discussing her. Ernie rose and disappeared from the circle of firelight. When a twig snapped behind her, Maddy yelped and scuttled around the fire to Bert's side. Bert chortled gently- as gently as an unas was capable of chortling- and awkwardly patted her head. Ernie grunted, his horned chin bobbing, and held out a thick hide. Bert nudged her and gargled a string of words. Ernie lumbered around the fire and draped the foul smelling hide around her shoulders, then sat down with Maddy sandwiched between him and Bert. She reached out to touch his chest.

"Thank you," she said, bowing her head to show respect. "Chukkaaa."

The entire group of unas cooed softly.

Maddy settled gratefully into the hide and vowed not to close her eyes this night.

She woke with a start and stared around before daring to move. Her head was pillowed on an unas's scaly thigh, her feet pressed tightly against another's back. She was quite warm under the hide but the ground under her was hard and cold. The fire had died down to glowing coals. There were only about half the unas there had been earlier. Maddy closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

Chapter Thirty Seven

Jack dodged a laser blast, rolled into the dubious cover of a brazier, and came up firing the zat. Carter was doing some major damage with her P90 and Daniel was darting into another chamber.

Where the hell was Maddy?

Something had pissed off these folks, pissed them off to the extent that they hadn't bothered to speak when he, Daniel, and Carter approached them.

It was a decent sized settlement and the first people they had encountered had been fairly friendly. They had managed to communicate a description of Maddy and been met by helpless shrugs. Then someone had suggested they speak to the owner of this establishment. When Jack, flanked by Daniel and Carter, had walked through the door they had been greeted with weapons fire.

What the hell had Maddy done now? Well, he rationalized, she would have been trying to get home. That alone might have put her at odds with someone.

He fired again, dropped an alien in the doorway, and everything went quiet. He slowly gained his feet.

Carter rose from behind a pile of crates. "That was the last one, Sir."

"Why the hell did they open up on us?"

She shrugged and nudged a pile of cushions with the toe of her boot. Daniel appeared with a handful of thin, wispy scarves.

"There are pots of paints and lots of these back there," he informed them. "Lots of pillows, a brazier, mirrors... Looks like a harem chamber."

Carter snorted.

When another alien appeared in the doorway all three whirled to cover him with their weapons. He stopped and held out his hands.

"Who are you?" Jack demanded.

"I am Roth. I own this establishment. Who are you?"

"Jack O'Neill, Earth. I'm looking for my wife."

"I was informed I was being robbed."

"Robbed?" Daniel repeated.

"Take what you want and leave," Roth told them. "I've had enough trouble."

"Trouble?" Jack's ears perked up. That sounded like Maddy. "What kind of trouble?"

"You don't work for Riker?"

"Who's Riker?" Carter asked.

Roth eyed them narrowly. "Earth, you say? Where's that?"

"Far, far away," Jack told him. "We just came through the stargate. My wife is missing and we have reason to believe she was here."

"Against her will?"

"Let's assume so," Jack answered.

Roth nodded sagely. "I thought one of the women seemed reluctant to dance."

"What did she look like?" Sam asked sharply.

The man shrugged. "I was as inebriated as the rest. All I noticed was that Riker kept threatening her. She wasn't one of the green or blue ones. Only two arms."

Jack made a face. "Where was he headed?"

The man's expression darkened. "Who knows? They drugged my associates, divested us of everything they could carry, and left in a ship."

"How many were there?"

He thought for a moment. "Riker, his lieutenant, maybe a dozen females, couple of guards, two unas..."

"Unas?" Daniel echoed.

"He used them to protect the females."

Daniel and Jack traded looks.

"Then Riker isn't from this planet?" Carter asked.

Roth shook his head. "I met him on Trygar Six, and he told me he does trade on Trygar Three. A regular at the slave auction."

"Which... Trygar... is this?" Daniel chanced.

"Five."

"So we're in the Trygar System," Carter said to O'Neill. She turned back to Roth. "Do you have the gate address for Trygar Six?"

Roth shook his head again. "Trygar Six doesn't have a Travel Ring. I can tell you the address for Three, though."

"We have that one," Carter told O'Neill.

"Who were those men who just attacked us?" Daniel wanted to know.

"I assume they were thieves. Thought you were my contingent, coming to protect what little Riker left me."

"How do you contact this Riker," Jack asked.

The man's eyes began to glitter. "Perhaps we can help each other..."

"You want us to pose as customers for his 'show' so you can regain your property," Carter guessed.

The man shrugged. "That would be a start. I intend to kill him."

The look on Jack O'Neill's face said Roth would have to beat him to it.

Chapter Thirty Eight

Maddy was almost to the DHD when a huge, angry unas leaped into her path. It roared and waved it's arms threateningly. Maddy shrank away and started to back pedal, loathe to turn her back on the monster. It continued to rant and rage but didn't give chase. When she had opened a wide space between them she turned and forced herself not to run as she moved away. Sweating and shaking, she retreated to her tree beside Bert and Ernie's campsite. Maybe she could convey to one of her buddies how important it was for her to dial the gate. Three times in a row.

That night when the evening chant started, Maddy burrowed into her smelly hide and tried to block it out. She covered her ears and hummed. Then she started to sing softly to drown out the creepy, spine-tingling noise.

"Boom boom, ain' t it great to be cra-azy? Boom, boom..."

Over and over she sang the silly song. She concentrated on how it had alternately irritated and tickled Jack when she sang it.

"Boom..."

She felt the hide begin to move and jerked her head up. Ernie was peering at her with an amazed look on his face.

"...boom..." she trailed off. The entire valley had fallen silent. The unas around their campfire seemed to have frozen in place, their eyes riveted on her.

"Booooom," Ernie repeated, cocking his head to the side.

"Just joining in," she murmured, keeping her voice even and gentle. "Trying to be sociable..."

His head ducked and bobbed, the firelight illuminating the pair of horns that jutted out from his chin. "Chukkaaaa, boom."

"Boooom," another echoed.

The unas looked at each other and seemed to be laughing. Soon they were vying with each other to see who could make the strange word sound the strangest.

Maddy propped her chin on her hand and sighed.

Bert wiggled his claws at her and cooed, "Booom. Booom." The rest quieted and stared at her expectantly.

"You want me to sing?" she asked.

"Chakkaaa booom!" Bert insisted.

Maddy took a shaky breath and sang the ditty for them. They sat, wide eyed and gaping, until she had finished. They coaxed her to sing it again, then again until she simply curled up and pretended to go to sleep.

The gutturally crooned 'booom, boooms' haunted her sleep.

After that, the nightly howl and chant was not complete until Maddy had sung her song, too.

Twice more Maddy tried to approach the DHD, and both times she was driven away by irate unas. Exasperated, she took Bert by the elbow horn and coaxed him in the direction of the stargate. Almost to the DHD, the unas dung in his spurred heels and stopped. He gave her a long, earnest lecture then pulled her away. Maddy planted her feet and shook her head.

"I need to call home," she all but whined. "Maa-aady. Phone ho-ome!" She held out her hand toward the stargate and repeated the phrase over and over. "Maddy phone home!"

The unas stilled and studied her, his head making a stuttered tilt from one shoulder to the other like a bird eyeing a worm.

Maddy crouched down and drew the circle in the dirt again. "Maddy phone home, dammit!" She rose, crossed her arms over her chest and stamped her foot. "Phone! Home!"

The unas made a show of glancing around. The area appeared deserted. He looked back at her and she thought his shoulders seemed to sag just a bit. He jerked his chin towards the gate and Maddy bolted for the DHD.

She tried to dial Earth but the last chevron wouldn't activate.

Chapter Thirty Nine

"Jack, we've got to come up with a better means of communication," Landry protested via radio and an open gate.

Jack winced up at the sky. "The Trygar we're headed to doesn't have a gate."

"And the Nautilus's com system won't reach Earth."

"Daniel suggested we have Teal'c gate to the Alpha Site and bring Ba'al's cargo ship here. At least it has ring transport. The Nautilus's transport beam leaves a lot to be desired."

"That's right," Landry remembered. "Maddy did most the transporting..."

"And if I'd left the friggin' technology alone she'd be home by now."

"Don't beat yourself up over it, Jack," Landry offered. "You did what was best for her at the time. I'll notify the Alpha Site to expect Teal'c."

Chapter Forty

Maddy dropped her armload of branches onto the growing pile and turned to eye the stargate. Ernie bumped her shoulder and grunted.

"I know, I know." Ernie hadn't been as easily convinced as Bert that she needed access to the DHD.

He broke off a leafy twig and handed it to her. Maddy looked at it questioningly. The unas tore off another twig and started chewing on it. He motioned at hers. Maddy winced, remembered the last time she had dared to taste a new plant, but dutifully gnawed on the woody stem.

Licorice. It tasted like licorice! She raised her eyebrows and nodded at Ernie.

"Good. Thank you! Chakka."

He grunted at her and turned back into the forest.

The unas seemed to be preparing for a ritual of some sort. She watched as a dozen unas dragged a mammoth flat rock across the valley floor. The enormous rock was lashed in crudely woven ropes. The unas would heave in unison, grunt in unison, move the slab a few feet, then pause. Maddy was reminded of an old movie she had seen where slaves of some sort were moving giant rocks. A task master would bellow 'heave!' and then 'ho!' in a singsong bass to keep their efforts coordinated. The slaves had picked up the chant as they labored.

It took the unas all day to get the rock to the mid point of the valley where a ring of stones and stumps had been placed just so. As she watched in amazement the rest of the unas came together and, shoulder to shoulder, lifted the massive rock into place. The result was a platform of sorts, about five feet high.

Daniel would love to be here observing this communal interaction of such a primitive species. Her memory implants would give her a wealth of information to relay to him. If Jack would leave the two of them alone long enough.

She wondered nervously if the unas planned to make some sort of sacrifice out of her and eyed the distance to the stargate. Maybe she should take a chance with the iris- being zapped like a bug had to be better than being roasted alive.

The gate initiated and Maddy whirled.

"Jack!"

But it wasn't Jack who came through the puddle. Maddy watched a steady stream of unas explode through the gate. Each dragged a shaggy animal the size of a Black Angus steer. These strange unas raised their weapons and roared victoriously. They were met with a growing crescendo of roars and howls. Maddy slipped behind a tree trunk not far from the DHD and waited for the gate to shut down. With the entire community of unas focused on the new comers she was able to dial Earth without being accosted.

She got through three times.

The unas celebration got underway immediately. The slain animals were crudely butchered and feasted upon. Fires were lit in a rough circle around the stone platform. Bert located her and insisted she join them. He stuck a large chunk of meat on a long stick and motioned at a fire.

Maddy's stomach growled. She was hungry and the idea of a fresh, well cooked steak overrode the nauseating stench of blood and raw flesh.

As her supper cooked Maddy watched the first in what turned out to be a long series of unas leap onto the stone platform and begin to orate. The community fell silent. The unas continued to eat as they listened intently, and rather politely, to the speaker. The unas pranced and prowled the perimeter of the stone as he told his story. When he jumped down the rest showed their appreciation by howling. The moon began to rise and as one the unas struck a meditative, or perhaps pious, posture and began their nightly howl and chant.

Maddy took the opportunity to say a lengthy prayer of her own.

When five more unas had told their stories, Bert appeared at her side.

"Booom booom," he coaxed.

"I don't want to sing. Let these guys have their party."

He waved a hand at the platform. "Ma-addy. Bo-oom boooom."

She shook her head then bowed it to show respect.

The unas lifted her bodily and planted her on the rock.

There was total silence in the valley. Maddy could hear the crackling flames, the wind rustling through the trees. The moon hung low overhead, casting the already frightening scene in a misty orange glow.

"Boooom. Boooom," the unas began to chant softly as they stared up at her.

"Oh, God," Maddy breathed. "I can't do this...!" She wrung her hands and peered out into the sea of grotesque, upturned faces. She thought of Jack and decided if this bought her time, she'd do it for him. She took a deep breath, wondered if it would be her last, and began her goofy little song.

"Boom, boom, ain't it great to be cra-zy? Boom, boom..."

The new unas gasped softly as she sang. They traded looks of surprise, then turned their attention on her with an intensity that rivaled that of their meditation. Maddy sang her heart out.

"A horse, a flea, and three blind mice. Were sitting on the corner, shootin' dice. The horse slipped, fell on the flea... Whoops! said the flea- there's a horsie on me! Boom, boom..."

She sang the song through four times and ended on a low, drawn out note. When she finished the unas roared their delight. But when she tried to climb down off the platform she was pushed back. They began chanting, 'Boooom Boooom!'.

Maddy looked around worriedly. She raised her eyes to the stargate and realized it was active. Jack! They had gotten her message! He had come for her. To distract the unas, she took a deep breath and launched into a heartfelt rendition of 'Amazing Grace.' Off key, hitting more sour notes than good ones, forgetting the order of the words, she decided she didn't sound too bad- in echo at the other end of the valley.

In the darkness, on the fringes of the crowded unas, she thought she saw a movement. It had to be Jack. Whatever he was up to, she'd keep the unas occupied for him. Then she saw it. An unas on the outer edge seemed to be jerked backwards and disappear. She turned to glance at the stargate. It was still open. They must be holding it open with a radio signal. From her vantage point atop the stone she could just see its light, but the unas below her, crouched or sitting around the fires, apparently hadn't noticed. Or cared. Maybe they thought it was more unas joining the celebration. She turned back in time to see another unas disappear. If he was taking them out one at a time, she'd better come up with a few more verses.

Maddy abruptly felt as if she'd been struck by lightning. She had a momentary sensation of being sucked backwards, then everything went black.

Chapter Forty One

"When did it come through?" Jack demanded when Landry told him of the triple ghost signal.

"About four hours ago. We have a MALP ready to go, but didn't want to tip our hand if there's trouble."

"I'll grab Carter and Daniel. We'll be there in a minute. O'Neill out."

"Unas!" Daniel choked as the MALP's camera panned the dark, primitive setting then zoomed in on the figures moving through the firelight.

Jack grimaced.

"Itmight be advisable to wait until daylight," Landry suggested.

"We're going now," Jack decided. He was already moving through the door.

Sam and Daniel hurried after him.

"Let me send SG3 with you," Landry called.

"Uh, no, Sir, a show of force might incite them." Daniel turned to Sam. "But it might be a good idea to redial as soon as we get there."

"Fast getaway?"

He nodded as they broke into a trot to catch up with Jack. He was already stepping through the puddle.

"Send the MALP back," Jack said softly as Daniel appeared at his shoulder. His eyes were scanning the surrounding darkness. "Have Landry hold the door open."

"It looks like some sort of rite."

"Or a party," Jack muttered. His heart was racing at the thought of finding Maddy. "Let's crash it and see."

"Let's not," Carter muttered.

"Jack, wait," Daniel pleaded. "It might not be a good idea to just... bust in on them."

"We could get pretty close from that tree line, Sir," Carter said as she moved up beside them. "See if we can spot her first."

"All hell's gonna break loose when they notice the open gate," Daniel added.

Jack struck out for the woods.

An hour later they had seen no sign of Maddy. Some of the unas were drifting off into the darkness, others curled up near the fires.

"We need something to give them. Gifts. A peace offering to open communications," Daniel murmured.

"The only thing I've got that many of on me, Daniel, is bullets," Jack snapped.

"I could slip through the gate, Sir," Carter offered. "What should I bring back with me?"

"Cases of energy bars," Daniel said immediately. "Get peanut butter- that's what Chukka liked the best."

"Do it," Jack hissed. "Cover her to the gate, Daniel."

As they left Jack raised the night vision glasses and went over the encampment inch by inch. It seemed to Jack like hours before Carter and Daniel reappeared by his side. He was still studying the valley.

"Ready to go, Sir. I've got a FRED full of energy bars parked beside the gate. How do we do this?" Carter panted.

"Daniel?"

"Daylight can't be far off," he replied thoughtfully. "I don't think we should walk up on them, especially while they're sleeping. Let's just... sit beside the gate and wait for them to discover us."

Jack glared at him in the darkness. Daniel could feel his anger.

"Listen, Jack, we're at a definite disadvantage here. We've gotta do this right. If Maddy's here we don't want to incite them."

"Especially that many of them," Carter added.

"Fine. Just don't spend all day making small talk."

They slipped back to the gate, reported to Landry, let the wormhole disengage, and settled down to wait.

When the first rays of sunlight began to burn away the heavy morning mist Jack watched through glasses as the unas began to stir. He glanced around. Carter was propped against the FRED, Daniel was curled up at the base of the DHD- both sound asleep. Jack took a moment to be both amused and impressed that the two of them could fall asleep in this situation. He scooped up a handful of pebbles and began bouncing them off Daniel's chest.

When the first unas spotted them, he sounded an alarm that had the entire community on their feet, armed, and stampeding towards the gate.

"On your knees," Daniel told them quickly. "Bow your heads."

"So we can take it on the back of the neck?" Sam grumbled.

"You wanna see it coming, Carter?" Jack asked gruffly.

"Yes, Sir. In time to move."

Carter shifted her P90 so it was laying across her thigh, the muzzle pointing outward and slightly upwards. She kept one hand near the trigger. Jack grinned to himself.

"Keep it short and sweet, Daniel. I gotta pee."

The vanguard of unas thundered up, bristling and roaring angrily.

"Chukka," Daniel said gently without looking up. He spread his palms.

The unas waved their weapons menacingly and started to advance.

"Dan-iel..." Jack murmured.

"Don't touch your weapon," Daniel cautioned. "Don't look up. Show respect but don't show fear."

"If I piss myself will they misconstrue that as fear? 'Cause I'm about to burst here."

Carter snickered.

Daniel reached into the case of energy bars he had opened and unwrapped the night before. He took out a handful, slowly looked up, took a bite, then offered them to the nearest unas. He was met by suspicion and anger.

"Eat one, Jack," he ordered, passing him a bar.

"Without coffee?" Jack asked indignantly. But he obediently bit into the bar as he eyed the unas. "Ummm. Goood."

One of the unas stepped forward and snatched at a bar. He sniffed it, licked it, then tasted it. Then he downed it and took another.

Inside a half hour Jack, Carter, and Daniel were busily unwrapping bars and passing them out.

"Now we can talk," Daniel said with satisfaction.

"Turn your back, Carter."

"Don't urinate near the FRED!" Daniel cautioned quickly. "Not near a food gift we just presented to them!"

Jack cursed under his breath and backed around the DHD. Daniel opened the conversation using his limited unas vocabulary to the best of his ability. Jack glanced down briefly then his eyes tracked back across the DHD. There! He zipped up then carefully pinched the long, reddish hair and drew it out from between two symbol pads. Heart hammering, he approached Daniel. Daniel absently motioned with his hand for Jack to sit. He did, then held the hair between two fingers for Daniel to see.

Several unas gasped and started cooing. Daniel stared at them.

"Maddy. This is Maddy's hair. She's been here..."

Jack's spine tingled when the unas started to chant, "Ma-aaddy. Ma-aaddy."

"Yes! Maddy! Where is she?" Daniel praised.

Carter started handing out more bars.

"Booooom booooom," another said. Several more followed suit.

"Boom boom?" Daniel echoed. "Maddy went 'boom'?" he asked with an apologetic glance at Jack. Then he did a double take at the look on O'Neill's face.

"Boom, boom, ain't it great to be cra-azy?" Jack sang softly.

The unas gasped and rocked back, then moved forward curiously. Two big brutes shouldered through the throng and planted themselves in front of the humans.

"Ma-addy," one said clearly. "Ma-aaddy phooone hoooome." He indicated the DHD.

"Oh my God," Carter breathed.

Jack beamed and handed the unas an entire carton of energy bars. "Where is she? Boom boom. Where'd she go?"

The second unas abruptly left the group. Daniel and Jack traded cautiously exuberant looks as Carter broke open the last of the cartons.

But when the unas returned it was to hand Jack a heavy, crudely cured hide.

"That isn't..." Carter sounded like she was going to gag.

"No, no," Daniel said quickly. "Too big, too hairy. That's not Maddy."

"Ma-aaddy," the unas said. "Booooom."

Jack stared blankly at the hide. The unas snatched it back, turned it over several times, then picked off another long, reddish hair and draped it over his horny, yellowed claw. He extended it to Jack.

"Ma-aaddy. Ma-aaddy phooone hoooome."

"She was here but she left through the gate," Daniel said in a defeated tone. "I don't think they harmed her."

"What's the unas word for 'when'?" Jack demanded, his heart dropping into his boots.

"I don't know, Jack!" Daniel said defensively.

"Sir, if the SGC got her signal yesterday and she was obviously here..."

"She left during the night?"

"Must have, Sir. Took advantage of them being distracted by their ritual or celebration or whatever it was. It stands to reason."

"Any way you can tap into that DHD and pull out the last address dialed?"

"With the proper equipment, yes, Sir. The last address dialed..."

"Which was Earth," Daniel sighed. "We dialed it."

"Damn it!"

"At least we know she's alive," Daniel encouraged.

He and Jack both turned to look when Carter laughed softly.

"On top of everything else, now she's an Unas Whisperer!"

"Ma-aaddy," the unas repeated. "Booooom booooom."

"Couldn't have been that hard after dealing with Jack," Daniel muttered. Then he brightened. "Her memory implants will give me a ton of information..."

"Dial us home, Carter," Jack sighed. "We'll return the FRED and get our asses to Trygar Three. See if Vala has come up with anything."

"Sir, shouldn't we look around here? Maybe come up with a clue..."

"If they knew, they'd be trying to tell me," Daniel reasoned.

"We know she was here," Jack said roughly. "We can always come back."

"And she was alright, Sir. We've got that."

"Yeah," Jack nodded as he raked the sky with his eyes. "With my luck she's planning on dragging an unas home as a pet."

Carter started pushing pads on the DHD. "If it'll help with the laundry maybe she'll coax one home for me, too."

Jack glared at her.

Chapter Forty Two

Maddy woke to muscle pain and spasms that took her breath away. Why the hell had Jack zatted her?

"Jack?"

Her back itched. She rolled her shoulders and pried her eyelids open. The ceiling above her was made of roughly hewn planks. She rolled her head to the left and saw heavy iron bars. Her fingers told her she was laying on some sort of straw or hay. A wicked throbbing began hammering her eyes from the inside and she closed them again.

The next time she woke she was inside a room. She shifted and whatever she was laying on moved. She could hear sloshing. She raised up and heard chains rattling. An abrupt tug on her arm kept her from sitting up and she raised her hand to stare at the wide iron band around her wrist. She followed the chain to where it disappeared over the edge of the bed she was laying on. Her legs were similarly chained.

She groaned and flopped back.

"Awake, I see." The voice was very close.

Maddy twisted around. The room was empty.

"I wasn't sure you'd survive the capture device. It's set to stun an unas."

"Where are you?" Maddy asked.

There was a movement, and Maddy's eyes widened as she watched a man step out of thin air. A cloak appeared in his hand and he held it by the collar.

"Cloak of Discretion. It is how we hunt the unas."

"Why do you hunt unas?"

His smile was condescending. "Slaves, naturally."

He moved to her side and Maddy was able to get a good look at him.

"Cacious Orion; purveyor of hardy, domesticated unas, fine carriage animals, and exotic slaves." He bowed from the waist.

"And a line of bullshit a mile long," Maddy muttered.

"I have no idea what 'bullshit' is, but if someone needs a line of it rest assured I'll get it."

Cacious Orion was a darkly handsome man, middle aged by Earth standards, with piercing black eyes that somehow reminded her of Jack. A fading scar from his cheekbone to his jaw was the only thing marring his chiseled features. He had a thatch of shiny, wavy black hair, inky eyelashes, straight, white teeth, and cruel lips.

"Why am I being restrained?" she asked.

"All my slaves are restrained until they've been trained."

"I'm not a slave," she started to explain.

"You are now."

"I keep hearing that. All you slavers must get your licence from the same intergalactic correspondence course."

He motioned impatiently. "What were you doing with the unas? Were they holding you captive, or were you bewitching them with your siren song? Are you their queen? Do they do your bidding? Can you control them?"

"They escaped with me from the last man who thought he could hold me captive," Maddy said around clenched teeth. "And I have no control over them. I was just trying to stay alive."

"A skill that will continue to serve you in good stead," he said lightly. "I hate it that female slaves die so quickly. You are painted. Did you dance for your last master?"

"I was forced to."

"Is your decoration set?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"The paint. It wears well; doesn't wash off but will wear off eventually if it's not been set with a laser."

Maddy didn't answer.

He gave her a tolerate smile and raised an arm. She could see a control device clamped around his forearm. He touched a button and a jolt of energy shot through her from head to toe. Maddy's body arched up off the liquid bed and she couldn't help a strangled scream.

"An example of the power I have over you. Now, is your decoration set?"

"I don't know!" she gasped. "I fought them. I'm not sure what they did!"

He nodded. "Very nice, very nice. You must have escaped from Zebulon Riker- I recognize the work of his artisans. No matter. You're my property now. To what name to you answer?"

"Maddy. Maddy O'Neill, of Earth. The Tau'ri. SG1?"

The man's eyes flickered.

Encouraged, she continued. "I want to go home. I'll pay you. My husband will pay you- whatever you want. Crystals, currency, whatever you ask. Please, just contact Earth. I'll give you the stargate address..."

"You will close your mouth now, and you will never speak of it again," he said quietly. He whirled the cape around his shoulders and vanished.

Maddy reared back and shouted her frustration. "Orion, if you're still in this room you listen to me! My husband is Brigadier General Jack O'Neill of Stargate Command, Earth. We have alliances with the Free Jaf'fa and the Asgard. Contact any of them, contact Earth. You'll be rewarded for my return, but if he finds me held captive you'll pay with your life! I'll bring you more profit by reward than..."

A wicked jolt of energy ended her rant with a pain filled cry. Maddy bit her tongue and tasted blood. She fought for breath as the terrible spasms finally subsided, but she made no more effort to talk her way to freedom.

'Jack, Jack, where are you? Please, Lord, lead Jack to me!'

A short time later two women came into the room. A bright red collar was fit snugly around her neck and the chains removed. She tried to question them but their eyes warned her to keep quiet. Maddy guessed Orion was hovering nearby. She meekly allowed herself to be led from the room.

They were on a second floor of a starkly metallic structure. The walls seemed to shimmer and move slightly, and she could watch her reflection moving down both sides of the hallway. She was led into a communal bathroom and her tattered scarf costume was removed. Eight more women filtered into the bathroom and Maddy was pulled with them into a rectangular stall. They all stood waiting, not talking, not making eye contact with each other. A stinging spray began to shoot out from every direction, including the walls and floor. It stung Maddy's eyes and she realized it contained some sort of soap. She took her cue from the other women and scrubbed herself. The spray changed to clear water and the suds were sucked down through fine vents in the floor. When the others squeezed their eyes shut and pressed two fingers tightly over them, Maddy quickly followed suit. The brilliant light penetrated enough for her to know that was what was happening. Her body became uncomfortably hot, and the areas that had been painted began to burn. She tried to leave the stall but hit a force field and was thrown back.

"Stop! Please! It burns!"

"Shhh!" someone hissed harshly. "T'will only make it last longer!"

Maddy endured the pain by turning her thoughts to Jack. His smile, his voice, his touch. He would be going crazy looking for her. Would anyone from the SGC help him? Had he gone back to Earth for help? How she loved the sound of his voice over a radio...

A tug on her elbow shook her out of her reverie. It took a moment for her vision to clear, then she had to close her eyes again as she was buffeted by a hard, warm wind.

'Being blown dry like a Chevy in a carwash,'she thought wryly. 'After having my fenders popped and getting a fancy paint job.'

There was a brief hum and the women started filing out of the stall. Maddy moved with them and stood in a loose line. The black haired woman directly in front of her was tattooed in a flame and smoke motif. She eyed the curling orange, red, and blue flames that licked up over her rump and back.

'Jack would love to see that,'she thought. 'Wish I had a camera.'

As they waited she had a chance to see her body full length for the first time since having been held down and 'decorated'. The walls reflected her image as clearly as a mirror. Judging from the way the painted areas of her skin were still stinging, she surmised the brilliant light had been the laser Orion said would 'set' the paint.

Her knees were large, bright yellow flowers that reminded her of a hibiscus. The hues and tones were actually quite beautiful, expertly done. When she flexed her knee the flower seemed to have a life of its own, as if fluttering slightly in a breeze. Twisting vines wound around and down her legs, complete with leaves, thorns, and yellow buds. At her ankles the vines tapered into fine lines, looped around three times, then corkscrewed onto her instep. The thorns had a silver touch to their tips and looked real enough to draw blood. The tiny yellow buds looked ready to open into blossoms.

'At least they picked a color Jack will like,'she grimaced.

She tracked the vines back up her legs to where they thickened slightly as they twined around her thighs. Her pubic hair had been shaved and whatever method they used, it hadn't started growing back in. A large leaf over the area made her look like Eve.

'Thank goodness they didn't put a flower there. Way too cliche.'

One hip had a larger open flower, the other a trio of green leaves. Maddy edged into a corner where she could use the double reflection to see her back. The vines merged and twisted together at the small of her back then crept upward where they went all the way around her front then back to loop together between her shoulder blades. It wasn't overdone, but there were several more open flowers along the length of her back. She swept her hair aside and saw the trailing end of a vine disappear into her hairline. At least they hadn't shaved her head and tattooed that, too, or made the vines go down over her face.

She took a deep breath and turned to look at her torso.

Her navel as been used as the center of another yellow flower, but it had been set at a slight angle instead of straight on, incredibly realistic and, she admitted sullenly, exquisitely beautiful. There was a delicate vine crossing her lower abdomen and her hips where it merged just above her haunches. Where it crossed to the front again at her rib cage, the leaves became larger and the flowers smaller. Then the vines tapered again and looped loosely together as they crept up between her breasts, separated, and tracked over the outer edges of her clavicle. Each shoulder wore leaves like cascading epaulettes before the vines twined down around her arms.

But it was her breasts that shocked Maddy the most. Each side was slightly different, but both were entirely covered by the most fantastic conception of a flower she had ever imagined. The artists had used her nipples as the eye of each flower and they very nearly disappeared amid the creation. They had matched the exact color of her skin to star outward in the heart of the bloom, then ringed it with shades of blue, green, and lavender. While the flower was the same yellows as the others, they had added subtle shading in blues, greens, pinks and lavenders that gave them a vivid 3D effect.

It was breathtaking.

She raised a hand to touch the flowers and her eyes were drawn to the artwork on them. She had studied the vines circling her wrists and the leaves on the backs of her hands, but to see them against the canvas of her entire body...

The women were moving.

Maddy fell into step, still twisting a gawking at herself in the walls.

'Damn, but Jack's gonna get a kick out of this,'she mused. 'I just hope I can get it off after he gets his fill of it.'Then she couldn't help grinning. 'If the hair removal is permanent, at least I won't have to shave my legs anymore!'

Chapter Forty Three

It didn't surprise Jack to find Vala Mal Doran seated at a table, surrounded by an assorted horde of intergalactic rabble. She was laughing, talking, gesturing, tossing back shots of a bright blue liquid; the center of attention, completely at home in the rough setting. He noticed that her eyes didn't miss a thing, that she never allowed anyone to get behind her. She spotted them immediately and rose. Her companions stilled and watched intently as she headed towards the trio in the doorway.

"General O'Neill," she greeted warmly. "It's so good to see you alive."

Jack smiled tightly. He was still hurting from not finding Maddy among the unas and in no mood for pleasantries.

"See anything, hear anything?" he asked brusquely.

She shook her head. "I've attended all the slave auctions. She hasn't shown up. But I have learned my way around..."

"Poor you," Daniel sniped.

She eyed Daniel happily as she finished. "...and I've managed to infiltrate the inner echelon of the local hierarchy. Hi, Sam!"

Carter's grin made Daniel do a double take. The colonel seemed to be pleased, almost proud of Vala's dubious accomplishment.

"Introduce me to your friends," Sam suggested, tipping her chin towards the group Vala had just left.

Vala's smile widened. She threw an arm across Sam's shoulders and led her away. Daniel stared after them.

"Close your mouth, Daniel," Jack murmured. "You look silly."

The doctor turned wide eyes on his friend. "What's Sam think she's doing?"

"Taking her vacation seriously. I'm headed to the Nautilus for a nap."

"You don't think it's safe to leave her here?"

Jack gave him a pitying smirk. "Daniel. Those two women spent three weeks gallivanting all over the galaxy with my wife, ship hunting. With an intergalactic fortune they made selling crystals from Nirrti's planet. They don't need us hovering for protection."

"I've never seen Sam like this," Daniel fretted as the blonde colonel settled easily among the group and knocked back a shot of the blue stuff.

"That's because you've never seen her on vacation before."

"But it's like she's a different person."

Jack eyed him wickedly. "Turn you on?"

Daniel glared at him, then thought about it and raised his eyebrows.

Jack patted him on the shoulder. "Atta boy."

"Join us," Vala called.

Jack waved her off as Daniel walked over to the table. He watched for a moment, his expression bland. Daniel, for all his insight and intelligence and savvy, hadn't yet realized what Maddy had taught Jack: The Stargate Program had changed them. Had tweaked something deep inside them all. Earth would force them to wear a facade of normalcy, pressure them to fit in. But that was no longer who they were, any of them, and Carter was discovering she was more at ease among aliens than she would be among Earthlings. She could let her hair down here, relax and enjoy herself in a way she couldn't back on Earth. She had too much experience, knew too much, had seen too much that she had to pretend didn't exist.

Earth was boring.

Daniel, of all people, should understand. He had developed a taste for alien women, primitive women, and had enjoyed his share. Maybe that was what had attracted him to Vala even though she drove him crazy. The only time Jack had ever seen Daniel become thoroughly out of sorts- other than with him- was when he was interacting with the alien vixen. The attraction bothered him, put the man he had become at odds with the man he thought he was. Perhaps that blindness was what had kept Daniel from pursuing Carter. He saw her as too structured, too 'grounded' as Maddy would say. Too military. Too Earth-like. ...Too dull. But he was seeing her in a different light now and the conflict confused him.

Confused him but amused Jack.

Jack grinned tightly as he turned away. It would be interesting to see which of the two women Daniel would ultimately be drawn to. Exposure to the SGC had tamed Vala just a bit while it had the opposite effect on Carter. Made each of them more of what Daniel didn't yet realize- or hadn't acknowledged- he craved.

Come to think of it, this was probably the reason Carter hadn't married Pete Shanahan. She was torn between having that singular connection of a mate and all that went with it, and... well, this. Probably had dreamed all her life of a house behind a white picket fence, a husband with a nine-to-five, two point five kids. Because society insisted she should. But once it had been handed to her in the form of an engagement ring and a down payment on that house, she had turned tail and run.

Straight to Jack. His scowl deepened.

As much as his ego still harbored a good deal of arrogance in that matter, he realized it was Carter's instinct and not her heart that had planted his visage in front of Pete. It hadn't so much been Jack O'Neill she wanted, but that he represented the type of mate it would take to satisfy the woman that the Stargate Program had forged. It was impossible for any of them to ignore the huge honkin' playground the stargate had opened up for them.

Maddy had never dreamed of that idyllic life behind a white picket fence. She had known her heart and shunned the monotony that society demanded of her. It hadn't taken a stargate-size attitude adjustment for Maddy's spirit to grow wings.

He wasn't so sure the stargate had given his spirit wings, but it sure as hell opened up a well of insight he hadn't asked for. This penchant for poetic musing was something he had buried deep along with his inner caveman. Had frantically thrown on more dirt when either of them threatened to rise to the surface. Maddy had dug them up, embraced them both, and showed him that he didn't need to scorn or fear either.

Teal'c should have warned him that depth would give him gas.

"Got our own friggin' soap opera going on," Jack muttered as he slipped on his sunglasses. "As The Galaxy Turns." Then, as he thought about Daniel ascending and coming back twice, "Nine Lives To Live." Or, he added with a pang, "All Our Alien Children." That thought made him remember the white envelope and he sighed. Daniel was beside himself with curiosity about the paternity of Laira's twins. Jack almost didn't want to know. He was deeply conflicted.

Whether the twins were his or not, how could he be a part of their lives now that he had killed their older brother? For a murder he hadn't committed- though Jack knew he would still have beat the living shit out of Garan for touching Maddy, regardless. His heart ached for Laira. The possible father of her twins had killed her first born.

He stepped into the Nautilus and sealed the hatch.

It wasn't the first time he had committed murder because of Maddy. He wondered what her reaction would be this time. Circumstances were vastly different; unlike the Lucians, Garan hadn't really been a threat to anybody. He had not only taken a son from his mother, he had taken a man from his wife and children. It was the most reprehensible act Jack had ever committed and he hated himself for it. Had Maddy actually been killed he might have justified it to some small extent. But learning she was alive had cast his rage in a different light. That he had been in a mindless fury, unable to think let alone reason, was no excuse. On any planet.

Could he forgive himself?

Exhausted as he was, Jack's troubled thoughts wouldn't let him rest. He woke himself shouting, sat bolt upright, sweating, trembling, panting. His throat felt as if it had closed, ached from having been strained. Unknown terrors still held him in their grip and he wasn't quite convinced he was safely aboard the Nautilus. Snippets of the nightmare passed through his mind; Ba'al, giant horned monsters charging him, half-mechanical spiders as big as a C-130, Maddy's rape, a flaming gas cloud about to incinerate them. Being held against the gateroom wall, impaled through the shoulder by an alien spear. Hearing the shot that heralded Charlie's death. Being trapped inside an unresponsive body. Over it all was the sickening sound of something impacting the iris. It seemed as if he had relived all the horrible parts of his life in one nightmare.

He scrubbed a hand over his face and it came away wet with sweat.

"Maddy." The single word contained all his pain, all his frustration and heartache and fear. The extent of his emptiness, his loneliness.

As the residual effects of the nightmare passed, a slow burning anger took its place. Jack recognized the signs- pressure in his chest, an icy ball in his stomach, singular thoughts and clouded reasoning, fast, deep breaths that didn't seem to give him air- and he fought it. A pounding set up in his head as if each heartbeat carried a hammer.

Nothing good ever came of this black fury and Maddy needed him to be thinking clearly, acting rationally.

Maddy. He would never have come to terms with losing her. How had one woman crawled so deeply inside him, come to mean so much, mean, literally, his life? He hadn't let it happen, he had been powerless in the face of her grace and charm and spirit. Her capacity to love, and to love him. He had to find her. The sense of urgency did nothing to quell the anger that was rapidly flaming into mindless rage. He wondered for a moment if the Lucian drugs had reawakened in his system, but discounted it immediately.

This heinous emotion had been deep inside him all his life; boiling, seething, on the verge of erupting when things went this out of control. He took several long, slow breaths and tried to calm himself. But the anger refused to be calmed, refused to be locked away and managed.

Chapter Forty Four

"There's a slave auction today," Carter announced.

Jack nodded, exhilaration bubbling through his system. "Try the radio, see if Teal'c's in range yet."

"You planning to ring her aboard? If she shows up?"

He nodded. "If not, I'll just bid on her."

"If she shows up," Carter repeated.

His eyes touched on hers briefly then raked the crowded gambling establishment. "Somebody here knows something," he said darkly.

"We're working on it," she assured him. "Vala has gotten the names of several slave traders, and Riker has been mentioned."

"What do they know?" he asked sharply. "Got a planet, a ship, an address?"

"Not yet," she frowned. "These people are... edgy. They won't tell us outright, and certainly not if we ask. We just have to wait for it to come up in a conversation."

"Point out a few, Carter, and I'll wring it out of them."

"If that would work we would have already done it," she assured him.

Jack swung around to study her more closely. Carter on vacation with a mission close to her heart was far different from Colonel Carter following orders. He knew in that instant that she had gone past ever being able to settle down to retirement and a mundane family life on Earth. Unless she met her equivalent to his Maddy. In Jack's opinion that was Daniel.

Maddy had done that to them- or for them. The SGC had laid the ground work: They had developed a taste for adventure, excitement, exploration not only of the universe but of themselves. Maddy had paved the road to ultimate happiness for them in accepting and loving Jack for the man the stargate had made him. Set an example of enlightenment it didn't take ascension to gain.

It wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

"I'm going to watch the slave pens. When it starts, tell Daniel and Vala to spread out, keep their eyes and ears open. If she shows up, I want you aboard the Nautilus. Cloak and move in close for a fast exit. Cover fire if we need it."

"Sir, there's enough in Maddy's strongbox to buy this entire planet- hell, probably the entire solar system."

His eyes went cold. "Doesn't matter, Carter. If she shows up I'm taking her if it means I have to blow up the entire solar system ."

"I've pinpointed the power source for the settlement and planted C4 on a remote detonator. In case we need a distraction."

Jack's grin was wolfish. "Enjoying your vacation, Carter?"

She gave him a feral grin of her own. "Yeahsureyoubetcha."

Chapter Forty Five

Jack was trying not to pace. He wandered along the holding pens trying to look as if he was an interested buyer. He found out from watching an unas get knocked on its ass that the iron bars were energized in some manner. He gazed in at a trio of winged creatures that almost looked liked horses and thought of Taco. He was going to make it a priority to find Maddy the horse of her dreams. He was mentally forming leading questions to ask her, anticipating her responses and countering them when he spied Daniel. He finished his tour through the central pens and met up with him near the unas.

"Any sign of her?" he asked.

Daniel shook his head. "A group of females were just beamed into that pen over there," he turned to point. "Green ones and blue ones, all tattooed. You oughtta see them, Jack. They're incredible."

Jack turned to look. "No kidding? Tattooed how?"

"If you've ever fantasized about screwing a flower fairy, there's your chance to buy one."

"I can spot you a few crystals if dipping your wick in a flower petal will cross a fantasy off your to-do list."

Daniel gave him a sour look, thought about it, then raised his eyebrows and glanced at the pen of exotic females. It was a long moment before he turned back.

"I'll pass. Not interested in becoming an example of how intergalactic venereal diseases affect Earthlings."

"Got a healing device," Jack offered gleefully. "I'm sure Carter and Vala would be more than happy to cure you."

Daniel actually blanched. He quickly changed the subject and Jack let him off the hook. But he filed it away for future tormenting.

"I asked around, tried to find out if Riker consigned them," Daniel told him. "Nobody seemed to know. Or would say."

"If Riker still has Maddy," Jack growled. "She was on that unas planet..." He trailed off when a guttural gasp sounded almost in his ear. He shot an uneasy glance over his shoulder.

"Maa-aaddy," one of the penned unas whispered.

Jack and Daniel both whirled.

"Maddy?" Daniel asked quickly.

"Boo-ooom booooom," another said reverently. "Chakkaaaa."

"You know Maddy?" Jack could see the wheels turning in Daniel's eyes. "You're from the unas planet where Maddy was!" He said a few unas words and Jack watched the pair try to communicate with him. Daniel finally turned to Jack, his face alight with excitement.

"I think I've got this right: I heard the unas concept of 'stolen' or 'taken'. Then they referred to the string of sounds that indicate, well, as close as I've been able to define it is 'walking spirit'. It's always used with a dark, or evil, connotation." Daniel was talking fast, thinking faster, and Jack could barely keep up. "Definitely has something to do with a frightening superstition. It could mean they were captured by an unseen force. I know the word for 'stargate' so they weren't taken off their planet by ship, but they used 'flight' and 'heavens' so I think they were brought here by ship. They used several variations of 'abused' and 'tortured'…" As Daniel paused for a breath his expression registered concern as he realized what he had just interpreted. He finished a bit more contritely, "Maddy was with them at first but she was taken away."

He turned back to the unas, speaking and gesturing rapidly.

"I don't think she was in the holding pen on the ship that brought them here, but they're saying a name that sounds like Orion."

"I didn't hear Orion," Jack said dubiously.

Daniel waved a hand to encompass the milling throng. "I keep hearing that name in snatches of conversation, usually in the same breath as 'Riker'. What they're saying sounds close enough not to be a coincidence." Daniel's eyes drifted past Jack's to settle on the unas. "I told them we'd buy their freedom and return them to their planet."

"I've got a better idea." Jack keyed his radio, his eyes searching the area for eavesdroppers. "Carter, any chance you can disengage the juice running through these pens?"

"You find her, Sir?" her voice sounded excited.

"Not yet, but we've got a lead. Can you do it?"

"Just that one pen, or all of them?"

Jack's eyes raked the holding pens. Unas, alien females, various types of animals. Pacing or huddled, desperate or resigned to their fate, none of it sat right with O'Neill.

"All of 'em."

"Working on it, Sir."

"The auction is starting," Vala's voice broke through.

Jack gave Daniel a stern look. "We'll get 'em outta here, but not until we know for sure if Maddy will show up. See what else you can find out from these... fellas. Were those other females on the ship with them? What type of ship brought them here, the name of the planet where they were held, a gate address..."

"I get it, Jack," Daniel said a bit impatiently. "As Maddy would say, 'This ain't my first rodeo'."

"No," Jack said, "But it's your first alien slave auction." He turned on his heel and started for the auction block, keying his radio as he went. "Any word from Teal'c?"

"Not yet, Sir. The soonest he could possibly be here is tomorrow."

Jack swore. "As soon as you get the energy field around those pens shut off, lift into orbit and take notes on what ships are up there. Don't dawdle. I'll radio you if Maddy shows up. Vala, check out the ships that have landed..."

"You want me to pick out the ones that are slave traders and get as much intel on them as I can."

"Right. We want somebody called 'Orion'."

"Orion, Sir?"

"Daniel talked to a pen of unas. Maddy was with them when they were captured. That name came up."

"Will you buy the unas?" Vala asked.

"That, or cover their escape through the stargate."

"No- will you buy me an unas?"

Jack grimaced impatiently and didn't bother to respond as he moved up to the rear of the crowd gathered around a platform. A seedy looking humanoid strode out to the edge and planted his hands on his hips.

"All transactions go through me!" he shouted. "No dealing behind my back..." his glittering eyes touched on a short, stout alien with huge ears. "...Tespaw!" The crowd snickered. "I get twenty-five percent of the sale price, and I get it before you take your property. I say who wins the bidding- any arguments will be held until after the sale. Admission price to watch the settling of arguments will depend on how many we have. I'm not responsible if you're too stupid duck laser fire. Pay with whatever currency you brought- I'll make exchanges at ten percent. All life forms are sold as they stand. You find out it's defective, you take it up with the seller. I don't get into those squabbles. We're ready to start."

He motioned and one of the winged creatures was herded onto the platform. It's wings were being clamped to its sides by a wide band. The creature rolled its eyes and mewed.

Jack methodically moved among the buyers and sellers, noting faces and listening for names. The sale was nearly finished and there was no sign of Maddy. He took a step backwards to scan the pens and bumped into something. Turning with an apology, he saw nothing. He turned a full circle. Nobody was within ten feet of him. He heard a definite thump, a muffled curse, saw a tiny spurt of dust off to his right.

"Sir... what was that?" Carter asked over the radio.

Jack scowled. "Where are you, Carter?"

"Off to your right, about twenty yards. I set the ship down in this open space to let the dust settle. Keep it from giving me away."

"Looks like something ran into you."

"Something as invisible as I am," she returned. "Looks like she's not showing up, Sir. I'm sorry."

Jack was still studying what looked like empty space. There! Another small spurt of dust. Then a blowing piece of trash whirled up off the ground and disappeared. It reappeared a moment later and fell to the ground, had moved into the breeze. He shook his head briefly. So much empty space that wasn't empty at all. A lot like his head...

"You see that, Sir?"

"Jack!" Daniel's voice broke in. He sounded excited.

Jack pivoted.

Maddy was standing on the platform.

"She and three others were just beamed down," Vala reported. "They're inside the building."

"Stick with those three," Jack said absently.

Maddy stood with her head down, her shoulders drooping. The man behind her was holding her by the arms, holding her up, Jack realized. She was dressed in brief, flowing yellow gauze, nearly see-through. There were yellow flowers in her hair, green and yellow tattoos all over her. Loud, blaring music started, almost flute like. The man holding her gave her a hard shake. Maddy started moving, slow, sluggish undulations that began to gain animation until she was doing an exotic, highly provocative dance. The man stepped back and beamed at the crowd.

"She looks like a wind-up doll," Daniel said. "Like that handler had to turn her key to make her go."

Jack felt as if he was spinning. He couldn't think for a moment, could feel, hear, his blood pounding through his veins, in his head. She was alive. Really alive. He felt renewed, reborn, revitalized.

"Look at her, Folks!" the auctioneer cried. "I'm assured this creature is worth ten times what you scum will end up paying for her. Painted by the finest Altrusian artists, trained by the exotic dancers of Rumara. She's young, healthy, disease-free and eager to please. Who will start the bidding...?"

As the amounts increased amid shouts and cat calls, Jack couldn't take his eyes off her.

"They've got her drugged."

Vala's voice over the radio startled Jack. He shouldered his way to the platform and stared up at her, trying to make eye contact. Her eyes were glazed, unseeing, her smile frozen in place.

Daniel appeared at his side, grasped his elbow in warning.

"Don't do anything stupid," he cautioned softly. "Just bid and we'll get her outta here."

"Maddy," Jack called softly.

There was no indication that she heard him or recognized his voice. He raised his hand to bid. The music changed, slowed, became almost coaxing. Maddy reached both hands to the back of her neck, hips undulating seductively, and the thin costume whispered to her feet. Jack's breath stuck in his chest. Naked, unashamed, unaware, his wife danced for the crowd of hooting, hollering, whistling aliens. It reminded him of the way she had danced for him aboard the cargo ship while changing colors.

"Oh my God," Carter breathed over the radio.

Jack raised his hand to bid again, his eyes glued to the tattoos that covered her body. Maddy, aw, Maddy, what's been done to you?

The auctioneer was calling for more bids, describing his wife's body in excruciating detail. Jack had no idea what he was bidding, only that at all costs he had to win. Apparently others had the same idea. The auction's proprietor was greedily rubbing his hands together. This commission was going to be astronomical!

"A rare opportunity to own an Earthling," he shouted. "A Tau'ri, folks! As exotic as they come! The first Tau'ri ever to be sold on Trygar Three! Might never have this opportunity again- don't let her get away!"

A light sheen of sweat made her body glisten, made the flowers appear to have grown dew drops. Jack couldn't suppress a ghost of a grin. He was going to have a field day with her when they got out of here.

"Sold! To the human drooling all over himself, right down front here!"

Jack vaulted onto the platform as she was jerked inside the building. Daniel was hot on his heels. He started after her but was stopped by two burly handlers.

"Pay first!"

"Jack, let's just pay for her and go," Daniel urged.

Jack crowded chest to chest with the handlers, barely hearing Daniel's words of caution. Maddy was inside, that's where Jack was going to be, too.

"Jack!" Daniel had his hands full getting Jack to turn and face him. "I'm gonna go see what we owe, then go get the money. Don't screw this up now. Vala, don't let her out of your sight!"

"She's in a pen with several others," Vala reported. "She won't respond to me."

Jack blinked once as the words registered. He wanted a piece of those two belligerent handlers, needed to ease the fury ignited by having her dragged out of his sight.

"Jack?" Daniel pleaded.

Without breaking eye contact with the biggest of the two aliens, Jack growled, "Five minutes, Daniel."

Daniel bolted towards the auction proprietor.

The yellow female sold and was being led back inside as a blue one was led out. As she passed Jack her long, forked tongue tickled the back of his neck. Jack didn't notice and she made a face at him. The crowd roared and the bidding commenced. The handler Jack was challenging edged closer and showed him a row of green teeth. Jack's hand barely moved as he slipped off the safety on his sidearm and caressed the grip with his thumb. Daniel reappeared at his side and held up what looked like a red poker chip.

"We'll collect our purchase now," he told the handlers. When neither of them budged, he pressed into Jack's line of sight. "We can go get her now. Jack. Come on."

Jack stepped forward into the alien and the alien stepped back. He wasn't happy about it, but he moved. Jack all but strode through him to get inside. Vala was hovering close to the pen where Maddy and the others were being held. She was calling to Maddy, trying to coax her to the gate.

Another hulking alien planted himself in front of Jack. Daniel pushed the token at him. The final female was led back inside and locked in the pen. The handler grabbed a green one by the arm and all but flung her at Jack.

"No, no, that's the wrong one," Daniel hurried to straighten it out before Jack came unglued. "The other one. The tattooed one. Maddy! Come over here!"

Maddy didn't move, didn't raise her head. Vala palmed the deactivation device off the handler's belt and opened the gate. She stepped inside and headed for Maddy.

A brilliant white flash blinded them all. And in that flash Maddy and the other females vanished. Vala took two more steps and whirled.

"Nnnnooo!" Jack roared. "That didn't just happen!" He spun and reached for the nearest handler. "Get her back here!" The alien vanished as Jack's hands closed on thin air.

Daniel was already on his radio, rapidly telling Carter what had happened. Vala darted outside. Jack keyed his radio.

"Open those damned pens! Get up into orbit and pinpoint that ship! Get Teal'c on the con! And blow that damned generator!"

"He's still out of range, Sir. The pens are deactivated."

There was an explosion that rocked the building. Several people stumbled. Excited shouts sounded all around them as bedlam and confusion surged through the crowd.

"Try him anyway, Carter!" Jack shot Daniel a look and the doctor raced for the exit to the outside pens.

A blinding, red rage enveloped Jack O'Neill. He reached for the nearest alien and put him down with a single, iron fist. He moved on to the next, and the next until he had cleared a path outside. He grabbed the auctioneer by the throat and the seat of the pants and heaved him into the crowd, then spun on the sale proprietor. The man swallowed dryly and backed away.

"I want my wife!" Jack bellowed.

"I... I'll refund..."

Jack slammed him into the building and slid him up the wall by his throat. "Now. I want her now!"

"Nothing... I... can... do..." the man gargled.

The crowd was in the process of scattering, fleeing the mad Earthling bent on destroying everything in his path.

Two more aliens advanced, the ones who had challenged him earlier. Jack heaved the sale owner over his head into the disbursing crowd then met the pair head on. He took a shot to his jaw, tasted blood, and grinned. He could have ended this quickly, could have resorted to his sidearm. But Jack needed the action, an outlet for the torrent of fury that engulfed him. He craved pain, physical pain that would override his inability to deal with emotional pain. He left himself open for a fist to his rib cage, savored its intensity, then unleashed the demon of rage he had been fighting all his life to subdue.

Daniel opened the gate to the unas pen then darted for the next. He cut the bands holding the wings of the strange creatures and shooed them out of the pen. They took half a dozen galloping steps and rose gracefully into the air. Vala was throwing open the gates to the other pens. All manner of alien life forms raced for freedom. The pair of unas Daniel had communicated with lumbered for the stargate.

Screams and shouts sounded from the sale platform. Vala met Daniel's gaze across the lot. They both raced for the front of the sale building.

Jack had cleaned out the sale area and was headed for the nearest building, a gambling establishment. Vala and Daniel ran toward him.

"Jack!" Daniel panted, "Calm down so we can figure out..."

"Got it figured out, Daniel," he snarled as he literally ripped the door off its hinges.

As Jack disappeared inside Vala gave Daniel a helpless shrug of her shoulders and followed.

Jack O'Neill methodically, meticulously, tore the trading settlement of Trygar Three apart. Flanked by Daniel, Vala, and a pair of unas to protect him from a rear assault, guarded from the air by a cloaked Nautilus, his rampage left the entire place splintered and smoking. Alien ships shot off into space. Traders, prostitutes, slaves, establishment owners, and assorted sundry of riffraff scrambled to board any available source of transportation that would take them out of the crazed human's reach. The stargate was dialed and life forms of all description poured through, uncaring of their destination as long as it got them off Trygar Three with their lives.

Chapter Forty Six

Daniel conveyed his thanks to the unas and watched until they had disappeared through the gate before turning to where Vala and Carter were standing in front of the Nautilus. The women were silently watching Jack O'Neill stare at the devastation he had wrought. The man's shoulders were heaving, either from the exertion or from the anger still boiling his blood.

Probably both.

"Well, there goes our best hope for leads," Vala mused unhappily. "If Maddy is caught up in the exotic slave market, she would certainly have showed up on Trygar Three again."

Carter shot her a rueful grimace. "There is no Trygar Three anymore. I just hope he stops short of blowing up the whole damned moon."

"This might have been for the best," Daniel suggested as he walked up to them. "Jack's been on an emotional roller coaster. Hopefully this will have taken the edge off him." He threw a glance over his shoulder. "Small loss. We should have shut this place down when we got off Trygar Nine."

Carter's expression slowly went from resignation to astonishment. "Do you realize... all those times when he was on the verge of losing it and Maddy 'took the edge off him'?"

Daniel studied her for a moment then turned again to survey the damage Jack's rage had caused. When he turned back his expression matched Carter's.

"She's a braver woman than me," Vala murmured. "Or she's insane. It's a wonder she survived."

"Actually, I always thought it was a wonder Jack survived," Daniel grimaced. "Maddy seemed to take everything he threw at her and beg for more."

"She loves him that much," Sam said softly.

Vala waved an arm to encompass the mass destruction around them. "He loves her that much."

They stared silently at O'Neill. Clothes in tatters, cut, bruised, and bleeding, he stood with his shoulders hunched and his head lowered as if ready to take on another entire settlement. As they watched, his fists opened and closed with all the telltale intensity of a bull pawing the ground before it charged.

"I'm hungry," Vala complained.

"Yeah, me too," Sam agreed. "I think there are MREs left..."

"I'm gonna gate to that unas planet," Daniel told them. "Maybe one of them can tell me something about this 'Orion'."

"Eat first," Sam advised. "Then I'll go with you. You shouldn't go alone."

"You're not leaving me here alone with him," Vala announced.

"Stay inside the Nautilus," Daniel shrugged. "Lift off if he gets crazy."

"Gets crazy?" Carter echoed with an arched look. "You two go- I'll stick around, keep an eye on him."

"After we eat," Daniel agreed. "Think it's safe to toss a couple MREs his direction? Then run?"

Sam grinned over her shoulder as she stepped inside Maddy's ship. Daniel and Vala were about to follow when a gust of dust swirled up around them. Daniel took off his glasses and wiped at his eyes.

"Colonel Carter," Teal'c's voice came across the ship's con. "What has transpired here?"

"Land the cargo ship, Teal'c, and join us for a meal," Sam responded. "I wouldn't advise approaching General O'Neill."

"Understood."

The cargo ship decloaked and gently settled into the dust beside the Nautilus. They greeted Teal'c and filled him in on what had happened.

"It would appear that GeneralO'Neill has misplaced his sense of humor," Teal'c observed as his stoic gaze took in the devastation.

Sam and Daniel traded smirks.

"I regret that I did not return in time to ring MadisonO'Neill aboard the cargo vessel before she could be taken away from GeneralO'Neill once again," he intoned sadly. "I will accompany DanielJackson to the planet of the unas."

A shadow passed over them and they all looked up. The trio of winged creatures were circling the ships.

"I probably shouldn't have turned them loose," Daniel muttered. "There's nothing on this planet for them to eat. Or drink."

"Perhaps we can recapture them and remove them to a more suitable habitat," Tea'c suggested.

"Just ring them aboard," Vala suggested. "Right out of the air."

Teal'c inclined his head at her.

"This Trygar System has hundreds of planets. We'll find one that looks safe and ring them down," Carter agreed as she read the label on a food packet.

They all whirled as the gate activated. A handful of refugees darted through the puddle. Another ship descended through the atmosphere. SG1 pivoted to watch as it hovered over a high water tank and began dispensing its load. The water more or less hit the open top and cascaded down both sides. Jack strode over and stood underneath the outer edge of the crushing flow and let the torrent drive him to his knees.

Chapter Forty Seven

"How much are you worth to that Earthling?" Orion demanded.

"Whatever you ask." Maddy's head was pounding and she still felt dizzy from the effects of the drug he had given her. She vaguely remembered being on a ship but nothing more.

"How do I contact him?"

"I'll give you Earth's gate address."

"I have no wish to engage the Tau'ri," Orion muttered as he paced restlessly. "And there's no gate on this moon. If I didn't think I could gain a substantial profit, I'd just kill you and avoid contact with them altogether. I have no desire to incite the race who conquered the Gou'ald." He stopped to peer at her. "It is rumored that the Asgard favor the Tau'ri. Is this true?"

Maddy nodded.

Orion grimaced and continued his pacing. "You'll bring me nothing but trouble. Perhaps if I killed you and delivered your body through the Portal the Tau'ri will stop searching before something leads them to me."

Maddy's head came up. "Kill me and Jack will never stop hunting you," she warned softly. "Just send me back and I'll convince him to leave you alone. Harm me and Jack won't rest until you're dead."

She hoped it was true. Jack was a long time finding her. Did he even know she was being held against her will? Did he care? Or had she caused him trouble one too many times?

"Cast the same spell over him as you did the unas, have you?" Orion sneered. "What is this magic you possess? An herb, a hex? Tell me and I'll send you back to the Tau'ri."

Visions of being thrust through the stargate and hitting the iris made Maddy cringe. "I have no powers or spells or herbs."

He stopped in front of her and jerked her chin up. "You will tell me. If I have to torture it out of you."

She met his eyes bravely. "If I had such powers, wouldn't I use them on you?"

His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "I haven't given you the opportunity."

"Haven't you?" she taunted.

He released her and stepped back. "I just need rid of you. Perhaps a trade with Riker..."

"Been there, done that," Maddy murmured under her breath. If Orion sold her back to Riker she'd have hell to pay. Visions of that barbed whip made her cringe. "Let me contact Earth. They'll set up a meeting... We can find a long bridge in a remote area. Lots of fog. Meet half way, make the exchange..." She was talking to herself, she knew. He wouldn't understand the movie cliche.

"I have no wish for them to even know of my existence."

As her head began to clear she realized the man was highly agitated. He had seen or heard something that was making him very nervous about having her in his possession.

"What's going on? Have you seen Jack?"

He grunted and shot her a forbidding look but didn't answer. She tried a different tactic.

"You've got that cloak that makes you invisible."

He glanced at her.

"We don't have to contact Earth through the stargate. If Jack's here, he's got a ship. Let me radio him."

"Radio?"

Maddy gestured impatiently, making her restraints rattle. "Ship to ship communications."

"Ahhh," he murmured thoughtfully. "I wonder if they are still on Trygar Three..."

"Trygar Three? They?" Maddy asked quickly.

"...though I should let his anger cool before I approach him."

"His anger?" Maddy asked. Was he talking about Jack? Was Jack mad at her? The thought made her face crimp pitifully for a moment but she smoothed it away and stared defiantly at her captor.

Orion gave her scowl and started pacing again.

"I waited until all my female slaves were paid for through the auction, then I transported them back aboard my ship."

"I was there? At the auction? On Trygar Three?" she interrupted.

"In the flesh. We gave you a little something to keep you from spouting off to the crowd. You danced very well. I was pleased. So, apparently, was a human of the Tau'ri. He paid a ridiculous price for you."

"Jack? Jack was at the auction? He saw me? Bid on me?" Her pulse began to pound with excitement.

Orion paused and pointed a finger at her.

"Rastlin, the greedy bastard, should have warned me that it was the same Tau'ri who killed Gon. Used his battle cruiser to turn the establishment into a crater."

Maddy's head started to spin again. Jack had been there, seen her, perhaps talked to her, and she didn't remember! What did she say to him? Something that would end his search for her?

"Had I known who I was dealing with I would have let the bastard have you. All I've done is bring his wrath- and his resources- upon my own head."

"Not good to piss Jack off," she agreed sweetly. "Drop me off on Trygar Three and we'll forget any of this ever happened."

Orion planted his hands on his hips and glared at her.

"Why does he want you back so badly? Are you a seer? Do you conjure wealth out of dust?" He snapped his fingers at her. "Ahh, there is a species of female whose sexual excretions are said to give a man unholy strength..."

Maddy laughed. She couldn't help herself. Orion didn't appreciate her sense of the absurd.

"From what I've heard of this O'Neill, I tend to believe you are such a species. What else could drive a mere mortal to the lengths he has gone to retrieve you?"

Maddy's grin faded. "What lengths?"

Orion began pacing again. "Trygar Three is no more."

"He blew it up?" That meant the Odyssey had been involved. The cargo ship wasn't capable of that much fire power. Certainly not the Nautilus.

"Destroyed the entire colony. With his bare hands," he informed her with a touch of envy. "It is said he felt no pain, was as tireless as he was ruthless in his insane rampage."

"He'll find you," Maddy taunted softly. "Let me go. I have no idea where I am- I couldn't lead him to you if I wanted to."

Orion turned to study her. "If I had what you've given him- superhuman strength, invincibility, immunity to pain..."

"I gave him nothing!" she insisted. "It's not me- that's pure Jack O'Neill. It's why I love him."

"Love?" he snorted incredulously. Then his eyes narrowed. "Perhaps you are not aware of your gift. Perhaps he discovered your magic and has learned to tap it without your knowledge." He began unlacing his trousers, licking his lips as he advanced on her. "Do not resist. Just give me a dose of what makes O'Neill so powerful, oblivious to pain, and I'll have you delivered to Trygar Three. Within his reach. Tell me what it is he desires from you the most. Does he drink deeply before he takes you, or is it your breasts that nourish him to such strength?"

Instantly furious, she raised her eyes to the advancing man. Greed, the lust for power glazed his hungry stare. She tested the length of her restraint, gauged the range of her reach, and slid further down the sloshing mattress. He hesitated when she moved, eyed her warily, so she lifted a foot to the mattress and shifted for him to have a good view of what he thought would make him invincible.

"I really don't know, Orion," she pleaded softly. "Please don't hurt me. Take what you want, but don't hurt me."

He licked his lips again. "You don't look any different than other humanoid females I've had. Don't fight me and I won't cause you pain. It's not my intention to punish you..."

He knelt down and reached for her hips.

Maddy looped the chain around his neck and pulled. She wrapped her legs around his arms and clamped them tightly to his body, bringing to bear all the strength that came from years of horseback riding.

"You want it, here it is!" she panted.

With her shackles choking the life out of him she buried her other hand in his hair and shoved his face hard between her thighs. She grimaced distastefully as he gasped against her for air but she hung on grimly until he stopped struggling.

"Feeling invincible yet?"

Afraid he was playing 'possum, she held him immobile until he was a dead weight in her grip. When she finally pushed him away he toppled lifelessly to the floor. His weight on the chain dragged her down with him. The chain brushed the arm band and a jolt of agonizing energy blasted through her. She jerked her arm and the pain stopped. She unwound the chain and groped for the arm that wore the control band. She hesitated, cringing at the though of activating the wrong control. Swallowing nervously, she gingerly tested the buttons and yelped in pain when she hit the wrong one. The next one opened the clamp around her wrist. Another freed her from the evil collar. She tore it off and looked around wildly.

There were no windows in the room, only one door. But Orion's cloak was draped over a bench. She snatched it up and looked it over to see how it worked. There was a tiny green light inside the front seam. She touched it and it changed to red. Nothing seemed to happen. She laid it back on the bench and stepped away.

The bench, cloak and all, disappeared.

She stepped forward again and reached out. Her hand contacted first the wood, then the cloth.

"Yes!" She whirled into the cloak and opened the door.

Orion was still laying on the floor. She hadn't bothered to check for a pulse.

Chapter Forty Eight

Jack canted a sidelong look at Teal'c. The Jaf'fa was gazing impassively at the smoking ruins of the Trygar Three trading post.

"I regret that I did not arrive in time to be of assistance, O'Neill," he rumbled quietly.

Jack didn't answer. His fury was still simmering, ready to boil over at the slightest provocation.

"You have once again made your presence felt on Trygar Three."

Jack grunted at that.

"What do you have planned now in your search for MadisonO'Neill?"

"I'll level the whole damned Trygar System if I have to," Jack seethed.

"It is said among the Jaf'fa that the hunter who boasts to his prey of his power and skill rarely sleeps with a full stomach."

Before Jack could respond Daniel called out to him. He shot Teal'c a sour look and walked over to where the two ships were parked.

"Jack, Sam thinks she can remove the device Loki installed on the Nautilus to scramble transportation signals. The one Maddy asked about when she wanted to keep Ba'al from beaming aboard."

"To keep Ba'al from beaming off," Jack corrected grimly. "What's she cooking up with that?"

"I want to gate back to the unas planet. Those two we set free might be able to tell us something about Orion..."

"What the hell's that got to do with the Nautilus's signal scrambler?"

"If you'd let me tell you..."

Jack started breathing in through his nostrils, and he didn't seem to be stopping. Carter judiciously elbowed Daniel out of O'Neill's reach.

"Sir, we want to give the unas something in exchange for the information. If I can adapt it to generically scramble random signals, it might be a defense against whatever cloaking device Orion is using when he kidnaps slaves."

"What makes you think he's using a cloaking device?" Jack demanded.

"The sketchy description the unas gave Daniel of how their numbers are taken. Then during the auction. Remember bumping into something but nothing was there? Then the dust and footprints when I heard that thump on the Nautilus's hull?"

"Come on, Carter," he said impatiently. He knew he was being cranky, unreasonable, but at the moment he didn't give a damn.

"It all points to some sort of personal cloaking device," she explained patiently.

"What are you going to test the device on?" Vala asked. "The Nautilus?"

Carter shook her head. "The Nautilus's cloaking ability isn't based on any kind of signal. It uses..."

"Carter!" Jack motioned with his hand for her to get back on topic.

"It's a long shot at best, Sir, but if it works, the unas will be protected. If it doesn't, all we're out is a signal scrambler."

"Just make sure Daniel explains that to them- in the excruciating detail he is so fond of," Vala muttered. "We don't want the unas mad at us along with the rest of the galaxy."

Jack rounded on her, ready to use that long breath he had taken. Teal'c firmly gripped his elbow.

"It will gain us nothing to argue among ourselves," he said gently. "What has transpired here today has surely angered many species. It has also sent a message to anyone foolish enough to hold MadisonO'Neill captive. Let us move forward in our endeavor to locate your wife, O'Neill."

Jack glared at him for a long moment, then jerked out of his grasp. "Do it." He turned and strode away.

The other four watched him for a moment. All but Teal'c let out a relieved sigh.

"For the moment we will have to do his thinking for him," Teal'c told them. "His anger is clouding his mind, interfering with his judgement."

"Alright," Sam said briskly. "Vala and I will work on the device. Daniel, we should contact Earth, see if Landry has any news. Teal'c, the Gou'ald cargo ship has a broader communications system than the Nautilus. There's bound to be ships, either coming or going. Would you mind lifting into orbit, see if you can listen in on any con traffic?"

Teal'c inclined his head in agreement.

"Should I travel to the unas planet with DanielJackson when the device has been adjusted?"

Daniel shook his head. "You can best handle Jack, and Sam will have to set up the device."

"You're not leaving me here with General O'Neill," Vala informed them. "I'd rather take my chances on a planet full of enraged unas!"

Chapter Forty Nine

Jack strode through the stargate and into a winter wonderland. It was night, but there was an odd glow that illuminated the falling snow. Giant, luminescent snowflakes that settled softly on his head and shoulders. The wormhole disengaged and he glanced at the gate. Then turned full around to stare. The gate itself was a gigantic holly wreath complete with a huge red velvet bow at the top.

The chevrons were shaped like candy canes.

Cheerfully blinkling red and white striped candy canes. Scowling, he strode past the DHD, then back pedaled to take a look at it, too. Each of the symbols were a brightly glowing piece of Christmas candy. The center was a snow globe with a miniature train circling a cheerful village and tiny twinkling snowflakes recirculating through the scene.

A double row of illuminated candy canes lit his path towards a cluster of buildings that looked like gingerbread houses. Golden light from each window enhanced the brilliant, diamond-like glitter of the snow.

He took a moment to wonder why he wasn't cold, why he couldn't see his breath. A gust of wind blew the glimmering snow in a whirl around him, but it felt warm instead of icy.

The gumdrop encrusted door was thrown open as he neared. Jack wasn't surprised to see a belled and tasseled elf beckoning to him. He could smell Maddy's white chocolate macadamia nut cookies and he picked up his pace. He could hear voices; laughing, singing, chattering. It sounded like a party in full swing.

Maddy was here. He knew it. This was the last ghost address dialed into the SGC, and there was no mistaking the delightful aroma of her cookies.

Was that her voice? Her laugh?

He peered over the head of the elf, trying to spot her.

The room was empty. Impossibly large for the size of the gingerbread house, but not a creature was stirring.

"Where is she? Maddy, my wife. I've been searching for her."

The elf shook his head and clicked his tongue in a chastising manner. "He's been expecting you."

The elf stood back and motioned Jack inside, then led him through the highly decorated but oddly vacant room. The party sounds had abruptly stopped and he could hear his own footfalls echoing in the great hall, each step sounding louder than the last.

"Where's Maddy?" he demanded.

The elf didn't answer. He pushed open a huge set of curved double doors then stood back for Jack to precede him. Angry now, Jack strode through the arched doorway.

This room looked like an office; cluttered, over-decorated, smelling of mint and chocolate and Maddy's perfume. A white bearded man with rosy cheeks and twinkling blue eyes looked up from an endless stream of ticker tape. When he saw Jack his eyes iced over and he ran his fingers through a thick mane of starkly white hair. The stare he laid on Jack was anything but friendly.

"You can't have her."

"I... what?" Jack stammered.

"Maddy. You can't have her."

Jack felt his blood pressure begin to climb. "Why the hell not? She's my wife!"

The man sorted through the piles of paper. "Ah, here it is." He looped the strip of paper into a tall, neat pile, found his spectacles, and began reading. As Jack shuffled impatiently the ageless man in the red suit shook his head and clucked sadly. "Oh... Oh, my. ...Goodness gracious!" He paused to peer at Jack over the rims of his glasses. "Naughty. You haven't been behaving. No, not at all."

"I want my wife."

The man raised his eyebrows. "So you can put her in more danger? Break her heart? Hurt her feelings? Lose her again?"

His reproving huff stirred a cloud of glitter. It fluttered and settled onto his white beard.

"Maddy is not a mitten to be carelessly lost, forgotten until you need to wear her, then frantically searched for. It is only acceptable for kittens to lose their mittens. Maddy's a woman and you must never forget where you put her!"

Jack opened his mouth to argue but a white gloved finger held him to silence. Literally.

"How long did you wait before you started looking for her?" he asked sternly. "Do you have any idea how frightened she is, what she's had to endure while you moped around and wallowed in self pity? She thinks you abandoned her. That you want rid of her. She spent weeks- terrified, enslaved, abused- thinking you had chosen Laira and the twins over her. That you believe she left Edora willingly and you decided to just let her go."

Jack tried to speak again and found his voice had been released. "Maddy doesn't play head games," he snapped. "I knew better..."

"And yet you didn't look for her until now."

"I thought she was dead!"

"But you didn't bother to look, just in case," he admonished heavily. "You let her be sold into slavery, let her be forced into all manner of vile services, let her be beaten and cold and hungry and frightened..."

"I thought she was dead!" Jack bellowed.

"You thought wrong. Carter and Daniel had more faith in her than you did. Sergeant Harriman had more faith in her than you did. They weren't so quick to accept it as fact without proof. They kept searching for another answer. They weren't so anxious to believe she was gone."

"I wasn't anxious..."

The gloved finger rose again and Jack's voice seemed to freeze in his throat.

"The fact remains that you can't have her back. You don't deserve her, O'Neill. She has loved you, indulged you, pampered and spoiled you, and what have you given her but heartache and pain and despair? Lost her with no more concern than a frayed mitten that could be easily replaced... by the woman who bore you twins. "

Jack tried to speak but could only choke.

"She's wondering right now if you've given up on her. You have the attention span of a two year old. The patience of an irritated cobra." He leaned forward and flattened the papers with his elbows. "Do you really think she wants you after what you've done? Killed that silly boy of Laira's, torched the entire village, and now you've leveled Trygar Three. Do you really think Maddy would want that? Can you ask her to forgive you again? How can you expect her to live with you now?"

Jack's fury grew. He wanted to argue, wanted to defend both himself and Maddy. But he had no voice.

"She has always been afraid of you," he went on relentlessly. "Your recent actions will only frighten her more."

He inched forward and studied Jack intently.

"How do you justify what you've been able to accomplish in your life span- most of it destructive, some not so bad- and yet lose a wife? It's not like she was trying to become lost. Have you ever misplaced your fishing pole? Your sidearm? Your truck? She stuck beside you faithfully and you still managed to lose her."

He sat back with a shake of his head and laced his fingers over his paunch.

"Since she doesn't have the good sense to stay away from you, and you don't have the brains or the guts to let her go for her own good, her own protection, here's what I've decided:"

Bells pealed and trumpets sounded. As they faded, a long drum roll reverberated like thunder in the distance. His voice took on a Gou'aldish sound; booming, hollow, stentorian.

"You will continue to search for Madison, but you will never find her. She will be kept just out of your grasp, kept one step ahead of you, for the rest of your natural life. You will catch her scent but when you turn she'll be gone. You'll get a glimpse of her as she steps through the stargate, or onto a ship, and you'll always be a moment too late. You'll reach for her, but she'll slip through your fingers. It is no less than you deserve. As for Madison- she certainly deserves to be kept safely out of your grasp."

Seeing everything through a red haze, Jack dove across the desk and wrapped his hands around the man's glittery, hairy throat.

He woke himself moaning, his throat tight and sore from straining, insanely angry, still trying to choke the life out of Santa Clause.

It did not put him in a good mood.

Teal'c was heating an MRE over the remains of burning hut. Still on his haunches, he pivoted as Jack neared.

"Shall I warm food for you, O'Neill?" he offered pleasantly.

"They leave the coffee pot?" Jack growled.

"Indeed." Teal'c indicated a box of supplies near the fire.

Jack flipped open the lid of the crate and began tossing items over his shoulder until he located the pot. Teal'c watched in silence as Jack impatiently rummaged for the instant coffee, emptied a bottle of water into the pot, then slammed it onto a rock in the middle of the coals. He squatted down and glared at it.

"Is it not said that an observed vessel never attains the desired temperature?"

Jack spat an oath, straightened, and began pacing. Teal'c raised an eyebrow as he removed his steaming breakfast from the coals and stirred it.

"I'm gonna call home, see if Landry's heard anything. Do you remember the name of Carter's contact on Trygar Prime? The one who tipped her to come here to Three?"

"I do not."

Jack grimaced and continued to pace in a circle around the fire. "Whoever that was, he had to be in cahoots with Gon. I might be able to wring Orion's home planet out of him."

"Trygar Prime is not the primitive settlement that Trygar Three was," Teal'c warned. "If it is your plan to wreak the havoc there that you have here, you will need assistance. Perhaps the entire Asgard fleet could decimate the planet from space."

Jack whirled to glare at his friend. The Jaf'fa's deadpan humor did not lighten his mood.

"Not nearly as satisfying as doing it with my own two hands," he snapped. "Especially when I didn't get to finish off Santa Clause."

"Santa Clause?" Teal'c echoed in confusion.

Jack flipped a hand at him and headed for the gate.

Landry had no news for him, and there had been no more ghost gate initiations. As soon as the wormhole disengaged he dialed the unas planet. Carter gave him the name he wanted then strongly suggested he wait for them to return so they could go to Trygar Prime with him.

"We'll be another day setting up the signal scrambler, Sir," she told him. "We ran into a problem converting the..."

"Just finish it, Carter," Jack interrupted. "The unas tell Daniel anything useful?"

"Only that, as far as they know, the planet Orion held them on didn't have a stargate. We're assuming they use a ship to get to a planet with a gate then come here to grab unas. They indicated they don't remember anything until they woke up in a cage."

"That explains why Maddy hasn't called home."

"No more ghost signals?"

"Nope. I'm headed to Trygar Prime. I wanna talk to this Lomar."

"Will Teal'c be going with you, Sir?" Jack thought it was more of a suggestion than a question. Her rank was showing.

"I don't want to leave two ships here unattended. They'd be gone when we get back."

"If they're cloaked..."

"Not taking the chance, Carter."

"Let me send Vala back..."

Jack heard Vala's strangled protest in the background. "Don't bother. O'Neill out." He cut the radio signal and in a moment the gate shut down.

When he informed Teal'c that he'd be staying on Trygar Three to guard the ships, the Jaf'fa's face registered concern.

"It would not be wise to confront Lomar alone, O'Neill. Should we not wait until ColonelCarter and DanielJackson return from the unas planet?"

"Probably." Teal'c watched as Jack reloaded his weapons. "You remember the gate address for Trygar Prime?"

At the Jaf'fa's silence he raised hard eyes to Teal'c's face.

"Don't," he warned softly.

Teal'c studied him for a moment then inclined his head in defeat.

Chapter Fifty

Maddy stole down the mirrored hallway, amazed that she made no reflection. Her only thought was to get out of this building, away from anyone connected with Orion. The stairway was empty when she started down, but two guards rounded a corner and started up when was she nearly halfway. Her first instinct was to bolt back up the steps but two servant women emerged from the community bathroom and headed for the stairs. Heart pounding, Maddy pressed herself hard against the rail and prayed they'd pass without brushing against her.

It wasn't going to happen. The guards were spaced too far apart, pacing the stairs abreast.

She took a deep, unsteady breath, moved to the center of the steps, and started down. When she reached the guards, she drew herself up as tall as she could and roughly shouldered between them. The guards immediately flattened their backs to the sides and bowed their heads.

"Apologies, Master Orion," one murmured.

"Can we be of service?" the other groveled.

Maddy fairly flew down the steps and glanced around the corner. It was a dining hall, with several more guards seated at a long table. She spun the other direction and started searching for an outside exit. The third hallway she turned down had a door at the end and she could see sunlight through its window. She raced for the door, prayed it would be unlocked, and felt a wave of relief as it opened for her. She darted outside, turned right without looking left, and started running.

Chapter Fifty One

Jack glared at Lomar. He could feel his pulse pounding in his temples, feel the icy fingers of rage closing around his stomach.

"Relinquish your weapons and come along peacefully, O'Neill," the angular, uniformed man demanded.

When Jack casually dropped the muzzle of the P90 so that it centered on Lomar's chest, the man stiffened. He was flanked by five guards who immediately raised their weapons.

"I repeat, you are to be detained for the destruction of Trygar Three, which is a sovereign colony of the Trygar System."

"You should thank me for ridding the Trygar System of that nest of thieves and murderers."

"Trygar Three's outpost served a useful purpose in our solar system, Earthling. You will be held accountable."

"Taking kickbacks for not harassing them?" Jack snarled.

The man's face clouded briefly. "Earth will be contacted and you will be afforded sufficient representation at your discernment. Please accompany us willingly. It would be a shame to have to dismember you in such a public setting."

His expression told Jack it wouldn't be a shame at all. He glanced around at the crowd that had gathered near the stargate. Mothers held children close to their sides and began backing away. Others held their ground, hoping for a spectacle.

"Relinquish your weapons," Lomar repeated.

"I'll come with, but I won't give you my weapons," Jack told him. He lowered the P90 and stepped forward. "No need for hostilities... yet. Lead the way."

Lomar locked glares with him. Jack had gained the upper hand by appearing reasonable in front of this growing crowd. His instincts told him Lomar wouldn't risk his reputation by pushing the issue. The look on the face of Trygar's chief security official confirmed Jack's suspicion.

"Elected position, huh?" Jack asked snidely as the two men turned to walk towards a tall, domed building.

Lomar motioned for three of the guards to stay at the gate. The other two flanked them along the sidewalk.

"Once I have you in a detention block it will not matter," Lomar warned darkly. "What happens behind closed doors rarely becomes public. I suggest you attempt to make your escape now, O'Neill."

"Don't need to escape anything," Jack returned lightly. "I've got two ships and I had to order SG1 to wait an hour before they came through the gate. They aren't happy with you for setting them up with Gon, Lomar. They don't find me sitting at a table sharing coffee and crumpets with the leaders of this world, what I did to Trygar Three will look like child's play when they get their hands on you."

Lomar blanched and glanced over his shoulder at the gate.

Jack didn't try to hide his grin. He didn't bother to explain that it wasn't two Odyssey class ships he had, and that it was only SG1 that was backing this play and not the entirety of Stargate Command. Lomar halted abruptly and turned to him.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

"A slave trader named Orion has my wife. I want all the intel on him you can give me. Home planet, gate address, description... home phone, cell, pager... Be helpful as hell if you'd just call him up and have her delivered here."

A flicker of something skidded across the man's face. He seemed to be weighing his options.

Jack glanced back and up at the high, golden dome of the Trygar Central Security Building. "I wonder how your superiors would react if they were to learn how you lured possible allies- very powerful and well connected allies- into Gon's death trap? For that matter, did you even know Gon was working for the Lucian Confederacy when he stuck SG1 on Trygar Nine to be hunted down like animals?"

At the mention of the Lucians Lomar's face turned slightly green.

"The... Lucians?" he asked carefully.

"The Lucians," Jack nodded happily. "Who, by the way, we took care of in short order." That wasn't quite accurate, but it served his purpose.

Lomar turned and instead of leading Jack inside the building, led him to an outdoor café across the street. He waved the two guards back and indicated a chair. Jack toed the seat out and sat down. The chair immediately conformed comfortably to his body. Lomar touched a control pad in the center of the small, round table.

"What beverage do you desire?"

"Don't suppose you folks have coffee?"

Lomar frowned. "You will have to take your chances with my choice." His fingers raced over the lighted pads and a moment later a cylinder rose from the center of the pedestal. A door hissed open showing two oddly shaped containers. Lomar withdrew them both and allowed Jack to take his pick.

"Synthesized Perudian sona. Not as good as freshly steeped, but I hope it is to your liking."

Jack chose a container and sniffed the steaming contents. It had a sweet, spicy smell. He raised an eyebrow and sat holding the container until Lomar had drank at least half of his.

"If Orion has your wife it will be difficult to retrieve her," Lomar told him. "My suggestion would be to attend slave auctions and simply buy her back."

"Tried that. The bastard beamed her away after I paid for her."

Lomar tried to hide his quick grin. "A ploy for which he is well known."

"How much of a kick back do you get every time he resells a slave?"

The man's eyes slid away. "I can only suggest you transport her away from Orion yourself. Before she is sold. Ah, but unfortunately you destroyed your best hope of seeing her at a slave auction when you destroyed Trygar Three."

"That can't be the only sleazy outpost in a system this size."

Lomar shrugged. "It was the only one that lined my pockets."

"You mean the others are honest?" Jack took a tentative sip of the cooling brew. It tasted a bit like Maddy's sassafras tea, maybe with a hint of something akin to ginger. He couldn't decide if he was more disturbed by the flavor, or the fact that he could identify it with a specific spice that he could actually name.

'And Maddy thought I didn't pay attention.'

Maddy. Where was she? What was she being forced to endure? Was she shivering, or wet, or hungry? In pain? Was she being raped? Beaten? It seemed as if she was staying one step ahead of him... was that on purpose? The SOS gate signals didn't support his worry that she was running from him, but still...

Overwhelming panic filled his chest. He experienced an emptiness, like he should be holding onto something but there was nothing there. His arms were empty, his chest was empty, his life was empty. If only he hadn't had Loki dampen her ability to transport herself...

"Where do I find Orion?" he asked roughly.

Lomar stared into his container. Jack was pretty sure he wasn't going to believe whatever the man said.

"He has several bases of operation," Lomar said at length. "A gambling establishment on Trygar Six, a domicile on a moon orbiting Ten, a colony on Eight where the unas are made usable. You will have to use a ship- Orion never establishes a base on a world with a Portal."

"How many portals are in this system?"

Lomar thought for a moment. "Prime, Three, Five, Eight, and Twelve. Forty-three and Fifty-seven have portals but the unas have taken them over. The outer reaches of the System are beyond the capability of our shuttles and cargo vessels. There may be a few portals beyond Trygar Sixty," he shrugged. "We see no profit in investing resources to explore deep space. "

"Tell me about Eight and Twelve."

Lomar shrugged. "Eight is an agricultural planet. A portal was moved there to expedite food distribution. Twelve is overgrown, settled, but used primarily for hunting and games."

"Games?"

"Its primitive overgrowth makes it a favorite of chukmat enthusiasts. Again, a portal was transplanted to Twelve for convenience."

Jack didn't give a shit what 'chukmat' was.

"How many ships does he have and how big? How well armed?"

Lomar sighed. "I know of three. Transport class, nothing bigger. Standard laser technology, which is all that is allowed on non-military ships in the Trygar System."

"How many slave auctions are in the system?"

Lomar narrowed his eyes and for a moment Jack thought he wouldn't answer.

"Slavery is banned on the civilized planets. Trygar Prime, Six, Seven... It is overlooked on Twelve, and necessary for production on Eight. Those two have auctions. A remote moon orbiting Nineteen is said to hold private slave trade, but I warn you, O'Neill, it is comprised of an element that makes the outpost on Trygar Three look tame. Murderers and thieves from all over the galaxy use that moon to consort and plot, to lay low, recover or die from wounds or disease."

"And you turn a blind eye."

"That," Lomar leaned forward with fire in his eyes, "Is an edict from the Prime Security Council itself. In return for not policing Nineteen's moon, the remainder of the Trygar System is off-limits for those who seek it's refuge. Your blackmail tactics may have earned you the desired information, O'Neill, and I am not shamed by my collusion with men such as Gon and Orion. It is true that I accept gratuities to turn a blind eye to certain activities, but it also keeps me inside the loop of this system's less desirable element. But make no mistake," he pounded a fist on the table, "If let off my leash I would gladly obliterate Nineteen's moon from its orbit!"

"How much worse could it be?" Jack demanded. "Slavery, drugs and prostitution, every manner of lawlessness..."

Lomar's face hardened. "A favorite sport of those who frequent Nineteen's moon is to defile children... then eat them."

Jack's stomach lurched and the overly sweet liquid crept into the back of his throat. He grimaced and swallowed it down again.

"And Trygar's Prime Security Council allows this to continue?"

"As I stated, they keep to their moon and leave the rest of the System alone. Their marauding- and their victims- come from other galaxies. If we were to disturb them, attempt to drive them out of our system, our own population would become fair game. It is not a pact in which we take pride, but it is the most efficient means of securing the safety of the citizens of the Trygar System."

Jack's face mirrored his disgust. "I need a navigational chart of the Trygar System, with gate addresses. Something that tells me what's on every populated rock in this quadrant." He pushed the container aside and leaned forward on his elbows, drilled Lomar with a steely look. "I will have my wife back, unharmed, or I'll work my way from one end of this solar system to the other, starting with Trygar Prime. You'll be begging for a ride to Nineteen's moon before I'm done."

Lomar didn't appreciate the threat. "You would take revenge on trillions of innocent people for something they..."

"You have knowledge of it, Lomar. You can contact Orion. You have the ability to protect your trillions of innocent people. So I'm laying it in your lap. What you have to decide is whether your cut of Orion's profits is worth the trillions of lives you're in charge of protecting. You get a message to Orion that I want my wife back. And she had better not have so much as a broken fingernail. In the meantime I'm going to keep looking for her. It would be better for you and Orion both if she was delivered to me instead of my having to track her down."

Apparently Lomar understood the implication. He pushed back his chair and stood. "Accompany me to Security Headquarters. I'll get the charts you require. It may take some time to make contact with Orion. By what means can I contact you?"

Jack stood as well. "Smoke signals," he growled ominously. "There's gonna be plenty of that in this system until I have Maddy back."

"Trygar's Prime Council will not tolerate your vigilantism. Continue on this path of destruction and you will be stopped."

Jack's lip curled smugly. Lomar's threat of charges against him had been a bluff. He'd be willing to bet the Prime Security Council didn't even know about Trygar Three. Or wouldn't care if they did. Lomar was manipulating his top level security position, utilizing selective justice to gain wealth and power. Normally Jack would figure it was none of his business- but now it was affecting Maddy. The bastard was holding out on him. He knew something, or suspected it.

"Fair enough. I'll have Earth contact Trygar's Prime Council with a detailed report on why I'm here and your part in it all. Earth's fleet of battleships will be in orbit within a week, but I imagine it'll take the Asgard fleet a bit longer to arrive. The Free Jaf'fa might even beat them here."

"The Asgard and Jaf'fa won't get involved in your personal problem, General," Lomar scoffed. "I have trouble believing even Earth's military will enter into this."

"It was my wife who found SG1 on Trygar Nine, Lomar," Jack said softly. "Saved all our asses. Earth's military is indebted to her for more than just that. She is an uncommon woman with a way of endearing herself to the damnedest people. They'll do this as a personal favor, and they'll start with you."

Lomar narrowed his eyes and called Jack's bluff. "One missing woman cannot be worth an intergalactic war. Not even if she were Earth's queen."

"And I know you had a hand in delivering SG1 to Gon so he could do Solan's dirty work. The Trygar System's Chief Security Officer being in collusion with the Lucian Confederacy is cause enough to piss off half a dozen species. Including the Lucian Alliance."

"The Lucian Alliance is at war with everybody. If they were to end up in orbit with the Tau'ri, the Asgard, and the Jaf'fa, they'd all end up shooting at each other."

"Probably. But that'll be after they're done shooting at you."

Lomar's expression froze. Jack was set to stare him down when Lomar held up a hand and canted his head. His eyes were carefully guarded as they touched on Jack again.

"Ask him to remain at the portal. I will have Genera O'Neill escorted there momentarily." He motioned for one of the guards to approach. The man came to attention. "Have Security's system-wide navigational chart and our most recently updated planetary statistical reports translated into the language of the Tau'ri and delivered to General O'Neill. Immediately." He motioned with his hand and the guard trotted toward the domed building. "Offer our guest refreshment and see that he is comfortable," he said into some unseen communications device. His eyes had never left O'Neill's. "I am familiar with the Jaf'fa, Teal'c, who is a member of SG1. Who is 'Master Bra'tac?"

Jack's grin was downright wolfish. "Ask him yourself."

Bra'tac greeted Jack with a solemn expression and a firm clasp of his elbow.

"Word of Madison's death spread quickly throughout the Free Jaf'fa," he told Jack quietly. "Word that she is still alive did not spread as fast and there are those among the New Colony who still mourn her loss and yours. Why did you not call upon your friends and allies to help in your search?"

"Didn't think it'd take this long to find her," Jack answered. "Teal'c contact you?"

"It was I who contacted General Landry in an effort to locate Teal'c," Bra'tac told him. "There is unrest for which I need Teal'c's assistance to gain stability. I traveled to Trygar Three and spoke with Teal'c. I regret that I must take him from your search for even a short time, but I pledge to your endeavor to find your wife the Jaf'fa and ships of three colonies as soon as war has been averted."

Jack darted a glance at the two eavesdropping guards. Bra'tac's words were being repeated, no doubt to Lomar. His arrival, and offer, couldn't have been timed any better. Somebody upstairs was on his side. Or, more likely, Maddy's.

"Hopefully I'll have her back before it comes to that," Jack answered.

A courier arrived with a yellow crystal and a silver metallic object that looked like one of Maddy's flower pots. He and one of the guards approached Jack and Bra'tac.

"Compliments of Lomar," he said as he handed the items over to Jack. "Will you require anything else before your departure?"

"How do I use these?"

The guard indicated the crystal. "Surely at least some of your ships utilize crystal technology?"

"The obsolete ones do," Jack said dryly. "Maybe the Asgard still have a ship that old."

Bra'tac didn't bother to hide his smirk. Jack shrugged at him.

"The crystal contains navigational charts. This," the courier waved a hand over the top of the upside down flower pot, "Is a data reservoir." A holographic screen appeared. On it was a table on contents. In English. Jack raised an eyebrow at Bra'tac.

"This is your language of preference, is it not?" the clerk asked worriedly. "Commander Lomar was very specific about which translation was to be downloaded."

"It's fine. Tell him these will be very useful, especially if I find it necessary to return to Trygar Prime."

The veiled threat was lost on the clerk. Jack decided Lomar was more rattled than he let on; it was a gross tactical error to hand a potential enemy the key to penetrating Trygar's defenses. They'd better get moving before Lomar realized his mistake.

"Have them dial Trygar Three."

Chapter Fifty Two

Teal'c was sitting with his back against one of the cloaked ships, his long legs crossed at the ankles. He looked quite ridiculous, lounging there propped against an invisible rest.

"Any word from Daniel and Carter?"

"Their application of the signal scrambler appears to have been successful. It cannot be tested until there is a standard against which the field can be tried, but ColonelCarter is confident the unas are now safe from cloaked intruders."

"Cool. Where are they?"

"ColonelCarter, DanielJackson, and ValaMalDoran have embarked on a mission," Teal'c informed him. "They have taken the cargo ship."

"What 'mission'?"

Teal'c unfolded his length and rose with a grace that belied his mass. "ColonelCarter and ValaMalDoran have devised a plan to portray themselves as slaves in an attempt to infiltrate the market and learn the whereabouts of Orion and MadisonO'Neill. DanielJackson is to offer them for sale at a slave auction."

"What slave auction?" Jack demanded. "Tell me the unas didn't send them off to Nineteen's moon!"

"They have no definite destination, O'Neill. Their plan is to scout the inhabited planets, listen to communications traffic, and hope in that manner they are able to locate another slave auction. ColonelCarter and ValaMalDoran are anticipating 'shopping' for suitable costumes in order to present themselves as slave dancers."

"Oh, for cryin'..." Jack stormed into the ship, slammed into the pilot's seat, and punched a control. "Carter!"

"This is the Argo, go ahead."

"The Argo?" Jack repeated. "What the hell is that?"

"Argo, Sir. Jason and the Argonauts' ship in..."

"That much I know, Carter. Since when does that Gou'ald cargo ship have a name?"

"Since about fifteen minutes ago."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Get your asses back here."

"We have a plan, Sir."

"I know. Teal'c filled me in. It's a bad plan, Carter."

There was a long silence.

"Carter!"

"My vacation. ...Sir."

Jack's head dropped forward. "Your sarcasm is dripping all over Maddy's console," he growled. "All I need is to lose you and Vala to the slave market, too. I've got a star chart and planet data. Location intel on Orion. We can do this in an organized manner."

"You and Teal'c go ahead, Sir," Carter replied. "We'll keep in touch, see who gets a lead first."

"Divide and conquer," Daniel added helpfully.

"Bet we win," Vala chimed in cheerfully.

"Bra'tac's here. He needs Teal'c to help avert a civil war among the Jaf'fa."

"Again?" Carter asked incredulously.

"Need one of us to hold your hand, Jack?" Daniel taunted.

"Come back here and say that," Jack barked. "I'm in no freakin' mood to play games with the three of you along with Orion, Lomar, and four or five trillion Try...garians!"

"You mentioned a star chart," Carter said, completely ignoring his demands. "Is it holographic or hard copy?"

Jack sighed. "It's on a yellow crystal."

"Open the access panel beside your right knee."

Jack leaned down and opened the panel. "Alright."

"There should be several empty slots three rows down. Insert the crystal anywhere between the red ones and the green ones."

Jack slid the crystal into place. "Now what?"

"You need to reset the system. Pull out the blue power crystal in the top left corner. Wait thirty seconds and push it back in. Um, by the way, Sir, we appropriated Maddy's currency chest. We left you an assortment of currency and crystals in an MRE box beside the copilot's seat."

"Gee, thanks, Carter. Planning on doing some shopping while you're on vacation?"

He heard what sounded like giggling. It irked him. Maddy was out there somewhere and the three of them were treating it like a lark.

"Bra'tac and I must depart," Teal'c said from behind him. "We will return at the earliest opportunity to aid in the search for MadisonO'Neill."

Jack spun the seat around and met his friend's worried look. "Do what you gotta do, T."

"Upon my return to Trygar Three I will endeavor to make radio contact. There is a large rock approximately ten meters from the DHD. In the event you need to leave a message, bury it at the base of that rock."

"Got it."

Teal'c hesitated. "It pains me greatly to leave, knowing your wife is in peril."

Jack took a deep breath and attempted to think rationally through his haze of anger and frustration. Maddy was his universe, not everybody else's. As important as she was to them, the fate of the Jaf'fa was once again in chaos and these were the two who could sort it out.

"It's alright, T. Go work your magic. With any luck I'll have Maddy home before you're finished."

"It is good indeed to have your blessing, O'Neill. Do not allow your anger to rule your judgment. MadisonO'Neill is depending upon you to rescue her."

"Sir? Have you powered up yet?"

Jack waved a hand at the two Jaf'fa and turned back to the power grid. He shoved the blue crystal back into position and heard a hum.

"Yeah, Carter, it's humming."

Daniel's voice cut into the conversation. "What's it humming? Anything you recognize?"

Jack glared at the console. Was this what he had put them through for so many years?

"Good," Carter replied. "Now bring up the navigational chart."

Jack touched the familiar controls and squinted at the holographic chart. "It's the same one as always."

"Yes, Sir. There should be a blinking light."

"Red, blue, green, yellow...?"

"They're all blinking?"

"No, I just wanna know what color I'm supposed to look for."

He could hear all three of them rolling their eyes.

"Touch whatever light is blinking, Sir," Carter said with exaggerated patience.

Jack grinned at her tone. Good. Their chipper moods had been getting on his last nerve. He reached for the light and his finger went right through the holographic image.

"Carter, how the hell am I supposed to touch a blinking light on a holographic screen?"

"On the console, Sir. The thing in front of you with all the controls on it?"

Teal'c was right. His emotions were clouding his thinking. Feeling like an ass didn't improve his mood. He touched the blinking red light and the screen changed. The entire Trygar System was displayed in vivid color and gentle animation.

"You really should see this, Carter. In person."

"I will in a moment, Sir. There's a bank of slide controls way up at the top, near the window. Move the two closest to the window all the way to the right. Then open the access panel and put the yellow crystal into the third slot from the left on the bottom row."

"Say that again, slowly, Carter."

Scowling, Jack did as instructed. The animation on the holographic chart froze. The blinking lights faded.

"Now what?"

"The communications array, where the ship to ship radio control is?"

"Yeaaah…?"

"Flip the little green lever to the right."

"The one that looks like a dog bone?"

"Yes, Sir."

Jack flipped it over. Two more lights began blinking.

"I'm blinking all over the place, Carter."

"Press and hold the white pad you use to open ship to ship communications. That will lock the signals between the Nautilus and the Argo. Then flip the green dog bone back to the left."

Jack did as he was told. "You're actually serious about 'Argo'?"

"We've got the chart, Sir. Wow, nice. You can move the yellow crystal back where it was. Your chart should come back online without resetting the system again."

"And that was where?"

"Three rows down, between the red and green ones."

"Got it. You have the chart, Carter, but I have the flower pot with all the really good stuff."

"The... flower pot... Sir?"

Jack swept a hand over the silver device sitting on the copilot's seat. A huge image of a page rose before him.

"Yep. Looks like an open book floating in the air. All You Ever Wanted To Know About The Trygar System But Were Afraid To Ask."

"Like a holographic encyclopedia?"

Jack tipped his head to the side. "That works, I guess."

"Look up slave trade."

"Or slave market," Daniel suggested.

"Slave boutique?" Vala had learned a new word.

Jack grimaced his own impatience. "How about you come back here and figure out how to look up anything?" he snapped. "It's not like I have an interactive touch screen, here."

"We're in orbit around Trygar Six. Daniel is going to stay on board and monitor ship communications while Vala and I transport down to the surface."

"If you must," Jack grumbled. "Lomar says Orion has a gambling joint there. I'm headed for Twelve. Whatever you do, Carter, stay away from Nineteen and it's moons. I'll explain when we meet up."

"Understood. Argo out."

Jack stabbed the communications control, closed the hatch, and laid in a course for Trygar Twelve.

Chapter Fifty Three

It delighted Maddy the way she could reach out and touch something without her hand being seen. She palmed a piece of fruit from an outside vendor and scurried away.

She was getting good at stealing food.

What she needed to steal was a ride to a planet with a stargate.

She had yet to see a grounded ship. There had been several swooping overhead but she hadn't been able to track their landings. A group of people were crowding the sidewalk so she moved into an alley to avoid contact. Through the thick plank walls she could hear the distant sounds of raucous partying.

A bar. What better place to lay low and listen for a pilot bragging about his ship?

She eased back into foot traffic and moved to the front of the establishment. It wasn't long before two swaggering brutes threw open the door and sauntered inside. Maddy slipped in behind them before the door closed. It was a large room, with another to the rear. It put her in mind of a old west saloon, with nudes on the walls, a pall of smoke, and scantily clad females soliciting more than drinks.

Except only half the nudes were humanoid and the smoke was red.

Prostitutes were the same, regardless of era or galaxy.

There was a wooden staircase leading into dark recesses above, and no traffic on it at the moment. That would be her safest bet. Here on the crowded floor someone was bound to bump into her and discover her ruse. She carefully worked her way to the stairs and perched about half way up where she had a decent vantage point over the entire room. She tried to ignore her fascination with antennae, mulitples of limbs and eyes, oozing excretions, and horrid odors so she could focus on voices. Bits and pieces of conversations reached her amid loud arguments, ribald jokes, and drunken laughter in various languages including English. Qua'sel's knowledge and Loki's memory implants helped her interpret a few phrases here and there. Meret's voice she firmly tamped down- the bitch was doing her damnedest to run interference. She concentrated on listening for words like 'ship', 'cargo' and 'orbit'.

Hours passed and Maddy heard nothing that led her to believe there was a pilot in the house. Her eyes kept drifting to the non-humanoid nudes on the walls. One had a row of nipples circling three enormous mammary glands that were in a single row down the center of her quite furry stomach. Another had six arms, all green, all touching various parts of her own body.

Man, if she had six hands could she drive Jack wild!

Maybe she could bring him back here to see this someday.

Why hadn't he found her? Was he alright? Had he gotten himself into trouble over that business on Trygar Three? Over her, again? The thought of his anger was enough to make her stomach muscles clench.

A pair of 'saloon girls' were coming down the steps. Maddy slid next to the wall and made herself as small as possible. There was no time to dart down out of their way. They were wearing nine inch spike heels that had three smaller spikes on the toe. Maddy was wondering how they could balance on them when one of the female's spiked toes caught the edge of Maddy's invisible cloak.

The female teetered, wobbled, grabbed wildly for her companion, then shrieked as they both tumbled down the steps. The entire bar exploded into hooting and cat calls as the two floozies landed in a heap of flying feathers, undulating material, and living lace. The blonde's elaborate wig twisted down over her face exposing a nearly bald head sporting fine strands of bright orange hair and a patch of tiny, waving, blue antennae. The other's costume hiked up around her waist exposing her as a 'him'. A 'him' with multiple sex organs all the size of a baby carrot and about the same color. It reminded Maddy of a cow's udder and she tried to choke back her laughter.

Chapter Fifty Four

Jack took the Nautilus into the atmosphere of Trygar Twelve and skimmed the tops of what seemed like an endless forest. He was fiddling with controls, trying to find the one that would give him life sign readings, when a strident metallic voice startled him.

"Halt forward progress immediately!"

Jack looked through the window. Nothing there. He half rose out of the seat for a better view. Still nothing.

"You have entered a restricted flight area! Halt immediately!"

Jack sank back into the seat and eased the Nautilus to a hover.

"This is a restricted flight area! You have entered the flight parameters of a chukmat challenge! Remove your ship from this area immediately!"

A trio of devices rose out of the tree tops and headed towards him. They looked like random sizes of metal bubbles, stacked haphazardly on top of each other. Multi-colored lights rotated and blinked all over them. Colored antennas stuck out at all angles. Jack's finger came to a rest on the button that would fire the small ship's bank of lasers as he waited to see what the contraptions would do.

Lomar had indicated that 'chukmat' was a game of some sort. Surely they wouldn't fire weapons to protect a chukmat field.

The trio zipped right up to the windscreen and hovered there, darting up and down, back and forth, all their blinking lights and antennas turning red. They reminded Jack of irate bumblebees.

"Leave this restricted flight zone immediately! You are in violation of Trygar Twelve's prime directive: 'No ship shall breach the chukmat zone during a challenge.' If you do not leave immediately you will be subjected to penalties under Chukmat Rule Number Two."

"I don't wanna play chukmat," Jack growled.

"Chukmat Rule Number Two states that anyone crossing the boundaries of a challenge will be considered a collaborator intent on causing unfair advantage. The gaming privileges of all parties involved will be suspended for a time to be determined by Chukmat Tribunal."

"Suspend away," Jack offered. "I'm not playing chukmat."

Not knowing which direction to go he lifted the Nautilus straight up. The devices moved with him.

"You have been warned to leave the chukmat flight zone. Another warning will result in having your ship tagged."

"So tag it already and go away!"

Apparently the restricted area had no ceiling. Swearing, Jack stopped upward lift and moved the ship forward.

"Warning! Warning! Your ship as been tagged as being in violation of Chukmat Rule Number Two! You are in violation of Chukmat Rule Number Two!"

"Oh, screw your chukmat rules!" He picked a heading, held to it, and muted the ship's com.

The three devices paced him, blinking, bobbing, and probably still yelling at him. On a hunch Jack cloaked the ship. The lights on the annoying devices began turning colors other than red. A moment later they made a downward beeline, parted to skirt the trees, then disappeared into the forest.

"Nana, nana, na-naaa! What good are you if a cloaking device can fool you?" Feeling pretty smart, Jack edged the ship lower and watched for some sign of civilization.

It came out of nowhere.

One moment there was nothing but clear flying ahead of him, the next moment there was a sickening thud and Jack was eyeball to eyeball with a stunned youth. The teenager was plastered against the windshield, frantically clutching for a hold on a ship he couldn't see.

"Damn it!" Jack set the ship down as quickly and carefully as he could. He opened the hatch and ran outside. The kid was still hanging on for dear life.

"Sorry about that," Jack said. "You okay?"

The boy twisted his neck to peer at Jack. An unruly lock of dark hair flipped forward over his eyes. He shook it back and stared at Jack. Apparently realizing he was out of danger, he dropped to the ground and advanced angrily.

"What in crilo do you think you're doing?" he shouted. "It's stupid enough to bring a ship into the game zone, but to cloak it...! Of all the..."

"Whoa, easy," Jack placated the shaken kid. "Never been here before. Cut me some slack."

The kid pulled up short and thought about that. "Cut me some slack," he mused. "Hey, I like that. Nuclear, Stranger." He stuck out his thumb.

Jack stuck out his thumb too.

"You really aren't from around here, are you? Like this." He caught Jack's thumb in a lock with his then used his fingers to pat Jack's wrist. "Which Trygar you from, Stranger?"

Jack fumbled the unusual handshake then drew back. "Not from the Trygar System," he explained. "I'm from... a galaxy far, far away."

"Cosmic! You here for the big challenge tomorrow? Scouting the terrain?"

"Uh, no, I'm looking for my wife."

The boy gave him a sly look. "Ah, the slave auction. Riker and Orion both bring their best dancers for the Challenge Auction. Sometimes Zebs lets my team sample the wares the night before the..."

His boast was interrupted by a pair of what looked like huge flying vacuum cleaners with saddles. Complete with hoses that had a funnel stuck in the end. They reminded Jack of the old greenish-blue Eureka vacuum Sara's aunt gave them when they first got married. Two more teens were riding them astride, one boy and one girl. The hose on the girl's machine had captured an orb about the size of a basketball. The orb was fazing through a spectrum of colors.

"Malo! What the crilo are you doing? You were supposed to slip out of bounds until I could get past their flank squad and pass..." The girl's tirade trailed off as she eyed Jack. "Who are you?"

"Jack. Who are you?"

She tilted her head to the side and gave him a dazzling smile. "I'm the best chukmat spelter on Twelve."

"Good for you," Jack murmured. "Does that mean you can point me in the direction of... whatever settlement is on this planet?"

"He's not from this galaxy," Malo announced. "He's from Farfaraway."

"Where the crilo is that?" she demanded. "And what's he doing in the middle of a chukmat zone?"

All three of them watched Jack for his answer.

"Looking for whatever settlement is on this planet," he repeated. "Which way?"

The girl raised her arm and pointed. "But it's too far to walk. I'd offer you a ride, but I got a match to win."

The two boys traded sour smirks. Then Malo turned to look where the cloaked ship was sitting.

"That was a cloaked ship I hit?"

Jack nodded. "Sorry about that."

"Didn't the perimeter beacons warn you?" the girl accused.

"Not if he was cloaked," the other boy countered before Jack could answer. "Their sensors wouldn't have picked him up."

"Cloaked!" the girl sputtered. "It's not just criminal to cloak in a chukmat quadrant, it's immoral!" Her dark eyes narrowed down on Jack. "You're roughing for La'zar's squad! What'd he pay you to take out my scout? You...!" She goosed her machine at Jack and the two boys quickly moved between them. She fingered a control and Malo gripped her forearm.

"Rista..." he warned gently. "Save the lash for the game. You've only got five left." He turned to Jack. "My glider wouldn't have survived the crash. I'm out of the set. Give me a ride back to Neutral Base and I'll show you the way."

"See Yar. He'll lend you a glider for the next set," the girl instructed. "Be at Faze Three by nightfall. We'll meet you there."

"No way will you make Faze Three by nightfall," Malo scoffed. "I'll be at Faze Two."

"Then you'll miss the moonslight rush for the canyon," she told him confidently.

"You can't be serious about rushing the canyon after dark!" the other boy yelped.

"Watch me!" She whipped her machine into a looping corkscrew back into the trees.

"Crilo!" the second teen bit out as he raced after her.

Malo turned to Jack. "Rista's good. Crazy, but good."

It made Jack think of Maddy. "She'll make the canyon," he said with a nod. "Let's get moving. What can you tell me about Orion..."

Neutral Base outpost looked more like a carnival than a town. Colorful tents with flying flags and blinking lights had been erected amid a cluster of permanent buildings. Vendors hawked their wares with gusto as throngs of people milled among them, some even working out of parked space craft. More of the bobbing, yelling contraptions hovered and darted, some issuing warnings, others programmed to do advertising.

Malo had Jack set the Nautilus down amid a cluster of other ships in an open area behind the stargate.

"The ships over on that side are to be sold. Don't park there or you'll end up without a ride. ...Awwwh, nuclear! A Third Issue Cosmic Runabout! Wonder what she'll sell for?"

Jack was led on a detour through the ship lot and nodded when required as Malo enthused over the Runabout and several others. He knew a pang of nostalgia at the thought of Maddy, Carter, and Vala doing the same in the hunt that ended up with Maddy buying the Nautilus. They walked past holding pens that were already filling up with all manner of live specimens to be sold at auction. Jack studied each pen carefully as Malo rattled on as only an excited teenager can. The putrid odor of the holding pens slowly gave way to smells of sweet, spicy, hot, dusty, and rancid.

"Who is Yar?" Jack interrupted a long explanation of how to execute a spiraling downroll in order to capture a chuk from an opponent's mat.

Malo never missed a beat. "Rista's brother. He's really good. Best player in the System. He builds custom gliders now, and only rides in the Supreme Glorification matches."

Jack pivoted to watch half a dozen teens buzz past on vacuum cleaners. They were laughing and wrangling with one another, making daring swoops and spins to show off. An irate, red blinking gizmo bobbed after them demanding they cease all reckless behavior.

"What's the age limit on this... chukmat?"

Malo canted him a strange look. "Age limit? You kidding? Everybody plays chukmat! It's nuclear, Jack! Nuclear!"

"What's the food like here? And if you say it's nuclear I'm eating out of my own rations."

The teen grabbed his elbow and hauled him inside the nearest building.

"Great idea! I'm starved!"

Jack allowed himself to be hauled to a large table surrounded by celebrating teens. He glanced around. Not a patron in the place was old enough to shave.

"Nuclear," he muttered under his breath. "Just friggin' nuclear."

He was introduced and didn't even try to keep up with the rapid list of names thrown at him. The conversation immediately returned to chukmat statistics and techniques. Malo regaled the group with his version of the accident with Jack's ship and Jack found himself on the receiving end of malicious stares. The up side was, Malo pushed a bunch of buttons in the center of the table and in a moment a robotic server brought a tray filled with food. Everyone dove in and Jack had to wait for the second round before he got to eat anything. What he managed to grab was a type of fruity pastry that wasn't half bad. It sure beat Thor's idea of lunch.

"Jack's looking for a wife," Malo announced.

"My wife," Jack corrected.

"He's here for the slave auction. Anyone seen Riker or Orion yet?"

There was a chorus of nos.

Jack stood. "Nice to meet you folks. I'm gonna go have a look around."

A couple bothered to acknowledge his exit. Malo called something but when Jack turned the boy was already distracted by an argument between three others. He stepped outside and took a moment to glance around. Deciding nothing here interested him, he headed back to the holding pens.

Chapter Fifty Five

Maddy was getting tired. Bored. And hungry. A little woozy from the smoke. She rubbed at her burning eyes and blinked away the moisture.

She had been perched on the steps of the saloon for over five hours and had gotten not a single hint that one of these men might be a starship pilot. She decided to go upstairs and see what was there.

Rooms. A long hallway of rooms. Some of them had glowing flags standing out above the doorframe, and from behind these came sounds of intense physical activity. Pursing her lips thoughtfully, Maddy pushed open a door that did not have a glowing flag. The room was empty. She stepped inside and closed the door. A panel on the wall showed a flag. She pressed it. The flag glowed red and Maddy and heard the door lock behind her. She pressed the panel again. The light went off and the door unlocked.

"Sweet."

She made a quick tour of the room and found a cubicle that passed for a bathroom that would need a cleaning before she used it, a bed, and a table filled with what could only be sex toys. Someone had left a ratty tunic hanging on a wall peg. The material was almost like canvas but softer. It wasn't what Maddy could call clean but it didn't smell badly and it was better than the wispy, see-through costume Orion had forced her to wear. She shook it out, looked it over, then tugged it over her head and wriggled it down over her hips. She would have preferred it to be a size or two larger- and a good foot longer to reach anywhere close to her knees- but without sleeves it was comfortable enough. She struggled back out of it and headed for the bathroom.

After a tepid wash inside a stall where scented steam gushed out of the ceiling, she double steamed the tunic and hung it over the nozzle that blew warm air in lieu of a towel and left it to dry. Then she slipped into the cloak and made sure it was activated before laying down for a much needed nap.

The saloon was packed when she stole down the staircase again. With such a throng milling elbow to tentacle she didn't dare try for the door. The smell of food made her stomach growl and when a steaming plate of something golden brown and crisp looking was plunked down on a table near the foot of the steps, Maddy licked her lips. Eyes on the prize, she edged down the steps. She was on the second from the bottom when a giant of a man with a female on each arm and one over his shoulder headed her direction. Maddy darted off the bottom step and pressed herself against the wall to let the foursome pass.

The plate was two steps and one long reach away.

The group around the table made a moving barricade of shoulders. A hulking alien covered in fine blonde hair and armor of some sort leaned his chair back on two legs as he listened intently to a long story of questionable repute. Maddy gauged the distance of the rapidly emptying plate, took two steps, and kicked the chair out from under the lounging alien. He crashed backwards with a loud shout and flailing arms. About half the room turned to look and laugh.

Maddy danced in, snatched a handful of the food, and darted back against the wall as the alien disentangled himself from the chair and picked himself up off the floor. She bit into the warm food. It had a strong, gamey taste but wasn't half bad. She was on her second piece when she felt a tug against her shoulders. Too late she realized the alien had planted the leg of his chair on a trailing corner of her cloak. Still chewing, she warily edged closer so the cloak wouldn't be pulled from her shoulders. The alien flopped his bulk into the chair but it tilted just a bit. He slid it forward. The cloak, pinned beneath the leg, moved with it. Maddy took another step and licked her fingers. She was watching the back of the alien's head so she had a moment's warning when he lifted his nose and sniffed. Maddy popped the last piece of food into her mouth and grabbed the cloak with both hands. One quick, hard jerk and it should pull free.

She glanced up the steps. Her path was clear.

She pulled.

The chair leg thumped to the floor.

Maddy turned and raced up the steps.

She was almost to the top when she felt the cloak being ripped off her back. Whirling, she stared up at the pale alien. He was holding the cloak in one hand, reaching for her with the other. Maddy dropped back on her butt and kicked out with both feet. The alien roared a laugh, caught her ankle, and turned to look down at the watching throng.

"I claim this female! Does anyone challenge my right to her?"

Maddy twisted and pulled, but he had her in an iron grip.

The alien's challenge was answered by a roar of approval. He started back down the steps, dragging Maddy along behind. Her rear end bumped down the steps with painful speed. About halfway down she grabbed onto one of the posts and yanked her leg back with all her strength. His grip didn't loosen, but he gave an answering jerk that slammed her head off the step. Everything went black.

Chapter Fifty Six

Jack dodged another group of zipping gliders. If Maddy was here, she'd surely have found a way to get her hands on one of those flying vacuums. A door hissed open on his right and he glanced inside. It looked like either a restaurant or a bar, with adult clientele. He stepped inside and was met by a squirrelly little man with his hand extended.

"What?" Jack asked.

"Entry fee."

Jack patted his pockets for the alien currency Carter had left for him. He pulled out a handful of tokens and offered four to the little man. From the way he licked his lips Jack figured he'd given the man more than what had been asked, but he didn't care. He realized he'd been bilked when the man scurried outside and disappeared into the crowded street. He decided he didn't care and found an empty table. This was not the comfortable seat he'd had on Trygar Prime but it was a place to sit. A hovering robot that looked like a smaller version of the chukmat referees paused beside his shoulder.

"Something cold to drink. And eat," he told it. "Wait. Cold to drink, hot to eat." He thought about that, wondered if he should try to clarify it again, then gave up with a fatalistic shrug. The way his luck was running, he'd be served the Trygarian version of habanero quiche.

Apparently it understood because it moved away. Jack sat back and studied the faces around him. Nobody gave him more than a passing glance and he decided this place must draw a wide range of species for the chukmat games. He tried to listen in on the closest conversations, some he understood and some he didn't. The A.I. brought him a tall clear glass of steaming, purple fluid and a plate of orange discs. When the items were placed on the table, it pivoted and held out the tray. Jack dropped a few tokens onto the tray and the A.I. moved away. Jack stared at the plate for a long moment before he picked up one of the flat discs and sniffed it.

It smelled like pumpkin.

He took a tentative nibble. It was crisp and salty, but beyond that it didn't have much taste. The glass was cold despite the curling steam and the liquid had a bite that was faintly fruity. He sipped at it then waited to see what effect it might have. His eyes made a round of the room again and paused on a table of males that were staring at him. One looked vaguely familiar, and when their gazes met the man looked startled.

It only took a moment for Jack to recognize the shady slave auction manager from Trygar Three. Pinning him with a steely look, Jack leaped out of his chair and started for him. The man got up so fast his chair flipped over backwards. He bolted for the door with Jack hot on his heels. Someone stood and tried to block Jack's path. He stiff-armed the man flat onto his back and kept going. The auction manager threw a table into Jack's path. Jack leaped over it and made a swipe for the man's shirt. He twisted free and dove through the door. Jack raced after him.

The man led him on a merry chase back toward the auction pens. A dozen gliders got between them and when they had passed the auction manager had disappeared. Jack slowed and studied his surroundings. There were any number of places he could have ducked into. Cursing, he slowed his pace and began a methodical search.

"Whatcha lookin' for, Handsome?"

Jack spun and came eye to eye with a green female who was pushing her breasts through the openings in the bars of her pen.

"Fat man," he answered tersely. "Bald, in brown clothes."

"Sego," she purred. "He owns this slave auction. Haven't seen him."

Jack started to walk away then turned back. "I'm looking for my wife. Maddy. Reddish hair, about this tall," he held out his hand. "Last time I saw her was at the auction on Trygar Three. She was tattooed all over with yellow flowers. A slave trader named Orion had her."

The female's eyes flickered. "Maybe I've seen her, maybe not. What's it worth to you?"

"What do you want? Your freedom?" He palmed the lock.

The green female laughed at him. "My freedom? What would I do with it?"

Jack gave her a blank look.

She rolled her eyes. "I am fed well, I enjoy dancing, enjoy servicing males, enjoy Orion's protection. I have no desire for freedom."

"Then what do you... desire?"

She wet her lips and ran her gaze down the length of him.

"Anything but that," Jack said dryly. "Does Orion still have Maddy?"

"No, but I wouldn't want to be her when he finds her again," she told him ominously.

Jack's spine stiffened. "Why?"

She looked shrewdly at the street lined with vendors. Jack followed her gaze.

"What do you want?"

"Sweet cloud."

"What the hell is sweet cloud?"

She nodded at two children who had their faces buried in what looked like cotton candy.

Jack headed back to the street. He located a vendor, bought three rods of the sweet cloud, and took it back. When she reached for it he stepped away.

"Where do I find Orion?"

"You won't. He's in orbit. Cloaked. He'll wait until we've been paid for then transport us back aboard."

"Why's he after Maddy?"

The female's eyes slitted. "She nearly killed him. Choked him with her restraints then stole his cloak of discretion and escaped."

"Where? What planet?"

She shook her head. "Not for the entire cart load of sweet cloud."

"Is there a stargate on his home world?"

She shook her head and reached through the bars for the treat. Jack let her snatch a handful then tried not to cringe when her forked tongue wrapped around the fine strands. Each side of her tongue seemed to work independently of the other and the sight made Jack's stomach lurch.

He thought he'd seen everything. Apparently not. Where was Maddy and was she alright? That familiar panic settled into his chest.

"How would she get off that planet?"

The creature shrugged tattooed shoulders. "If she did, it was by ship."

"Planet or moon?"

She studied him intently as she licked the last bits of sweet confection off her chin. "Planet," she said finally.

Jack gave her another taste. "Which Trygar?"

"One you don't want any part of," she hedged.

A blue female oozed up beside the first one. She watched her green companion lick her own face then eyed the candy.

"Trygar Nineteen," she said reaching for a rod.

Jack inched them away. "I want a description of Orion."

The blue didn't take her eyes off the candy. "Taller than you. Dark. Insidiously handsome."

"Nineteen doesn't have a gate?"

"No. It's fifth moon does, but not the planet. If your woman is there, forget about her."

"When is this auction going to be held?"

"As soon as this chukmat heat is over."

A rousing cheer began rolling across the grounds.

"Any time now," the green purred. "For the right price Orion will allow me to pleasure you before the sale." She held up a long finger and worked the two sides of her forked tongue around it suggestively.

"He couldn't pay me enough," Jack shuddered. "Give Orion a message. Tell him if he gets Maddy back to me unharmed, I won't kill him. Otherwise I'm hunting him down." He moved the rods toward the bars and they were all but ripped out of his hand.

Jack headed for the Nautilus.

Daniel answered his hail immediately.

"What's going on?" Jack asked.

"We found the slave auction on Six, but there aren't any dancers or exotics being sold. All draft laborers. We're coming into Twelve's orbit now."

"What, Carter and Vala don't wanna play that part?"

Daniel's voice was bone dry. "Not the way they're dressed."

"Getting into the role, are they?"

"Sam's... enjoying... her vacation."

"This auction is gonna start any minute. I've got a definite lead on Maddy, but I want to see if I can nail Orion here, first. In case I've been lied to."

"Okey dokey."

"Okey dokey?" Jack repeated incredulously.

"Hey, I'm on vacation too!" Daniel complained.

"That mean you've got the Hawaiian shirt and sandals to go with that okey dokey? Big klutzy camera hanging around your neck..."

"Jackson out."

Daniel cut the transmission and Jack sat back with a frown. It pissed him off that his friends were treating this so lightly. Maddy was lost, damn it! In danger. He was frantic and they were acting like wild college kids on spring break.

Then he thought about it.

No way could he imagine Daniel or Carter either one being a wild college kid on spring break. Probably kept their noses buried in books straight through. Well, damn it, this wasn't the time for them to finally let their hair down! He knew he should bring up the star chart and figure out how to plot a course to Trygar Nineteen, but he was too agitated to sit still. He needed to do something. So he stomped out of the ship, headed for the gate, and dialed Earth.

Chapter Fifty Seven

Maddy woke in darkness. The stench around her made her gag. Her body hurt all over and she knew she had been violated. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness she tried to move her limbs. Nothing seemed broken, but she was badly bruised. When she tried to sit up her head smacked into something. She peered into the blackness and reached out gingerly. Her fingers contacted steel bars. She was in a cage of sorts, too small to do more than curl into a fetal position. After a while she was able to make out more cages like hers stacked on top of each other. Pitiful moaning, gasping, rasping breaths, and sobs reached her ears. Something above her growled and wetness dripped on her hip. She grimaced and tried to move away from the smelly, annoying drops.

There was a loud, echoing bang and bright light flooded into the cage. Maddy blinked and squinted against the abrupt glare.

Then she gasped.

She was in the cargo hold of what must be an enormous ship. Her cage was stacked amid thousands of other similar cages, several stories high. Through the rows of cages in front of her she could look down at the tall hatch that had been opened. The five humanoids standing there looked quite small and distant. In the cages around her were all manner of creatures; winged, hairy, furry, scaly, big and little, alive and dead. Far to one side she spied another humanoid but couldn't tell if it was male or female. She inched her way around until she could look into the cages behind her.

And came face to face with a black feline face. Its golden eyes were locked on her, saliva dripping from enormous, ivory fangs. Wet black lips curled back to reveal a set of huge, glistening teeth and a soft, promising growl rumbled from the depths of a massive, muscled body. A giant paw reached through the bars and sank razor sharp claws into her hip.

Maddy screamed.

Chapter Fifty Eight

Jack tried to keep his expression bland as he watched Colonel Samantha Carter dance for the buyers.

Dressed in a filmy costume of pale blue, gossamer thin scarves, she undulated her hips and twirled to imaginary music. The faint smile on her face made Jack wonder if she were living out some secret, feminine fantasy. He tore his eyes away from her long enough to gauge Daniel's reaction. The doctor of archeology was mesmerized by the colonel's sensual movements, perhaps the seductive look in her eyes as she watched him watch her.

This was one vacation they'd never be able to tell their grand kids about.

'But I can,' Jack thought deviously.

"Sold!" the auctioneer cried as he pointed at someone in the crowd.

Carter was led off the auction block and the blue female Jack had bribed with sweet cloud appeared. Jack turned to Daniel.

"That wasn't Orion who bought her. Way off the description I got."

"I'm going to get The Argo and be in position to ring her aboard as soon as Vala goes through."

"The Argo, Daniel? Why can't we just call it the cargo ship?"

"You were the one who kept insisting they name the Prometheus 'Enterprise'. You guys named the Nautilus. The Air Force doesn't give a damn what we call it."

"It is our ship," Jack replied sullenly. "Maddy and I took it off Ba'al. Screw the Air Force- it's ours. We're officially a two-ship family. And no payments."

Daniel studied Jack's dour expression and understanding dawned.

"You're pissed because we named your ship! You wanted to name it! The Nautilus is basically Maddy's- you figured this one is yours and you didn't get to name it."

"Tell you what, Danny. You and Carter named my ship- I get to name your firstborn."

Daniel gave him an impatient look and shouldered through the crowd.

"Enterprise Jackson!" Jack called after him.

Daniel didn't turn around, but Jack knew he heard him by the way he saw the man's head bob back as if he had rolled his eyes to the heavens. It gave him a moment of gleeful distraction as he headed for the holding pens.

Carter made her way to the bars to meet him. Jack studied her flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes and shook his head.

"I haven't seen a dance like that since that sweet little drink made you strip naked and dance around the campfire on P3X- whatever it was," he taunted.

Her eyes shifted away then boldly met his. "What's your point, Sir?"

Jack canted an eyebrow at her. "Enjoying our vacation, are we?"

"Beats the hell out of fishing. I planted tracking devices on almost all of the females in here."

"Daniel went to get the ship," he told her quietly. "You okay?"

"Fine, Sir. I've been thinking. You should let Vala and I go with whoever bought us. Those tracking devices will work anywhere in this solar system. Let us go see what we can find out."

"According to that blue one, Maddy's on her own somewhere. Probably still on Nineteen. That's where we all need to go. Before she finds her way off it and we're back to square one."

"You check out Nineteen. Vala and I will go with the buyers and see where we end up, what we can learn. Daniel can track us."

Jack was forming a heated refusal when Vala was returned to the pen and came up to them.

"I brought five hundred drachmas," she boasted. "What did you bring?"

Jack and Carter both turned to stare at her.

"I have no idea," Sam said dryly.

Vala gave her a saucy grin. Sam turned back to Jack.

"Call Daniel. Tell him not to ring us aboard."

"We didn't go to the same buyer," Vala cautioned. "We'll be split up and make it harder for him to keep track of us."

"He can ring you up," Sam stated. "The two of you can track me."

Vala pouted. "Why do you get to have all the fun? I'll go and you help Daniel track me."

"Because I'm the colonel, that's why," Sam retorted.

"Not when you're on vacation," Vala shot back.

Jack cleared his throat. "It's a bad idea, Carter. Just stick to following these other..." his eyes toured the crowd of exotic females, "...dancers. Radio me if you locate Orion."

Sam stiffened. "Radio you, Sir?"

He nodded. "I'm headed to Nineteen. As soon as I know Daniel has the two of you safely aboard."

"Will you take the Nautilus or go through the gate?"

"The Nautilus."

As if on cue Jack's radio spoke.

"I'm in position," Daniel reported. "Can you move off by yourselves? I don't need to ring up a cargo hold full of exotic dancers. Stolen exotic dancers..."

Carter caught Jack's gaze. "Let me do this, Sir."

Jack shook his head as they moved to an unoccupied side of the pen. "One female lost in this solar system is enough, Carter. After we find Maddy, if you wanna go play..."

The blush that crept into her cheeks made Jack grin as the three of them were ringed aboard the ship.

Chapter Fifty Nine

The sides of the cargo hold opened, exposing the countless stacks of cages to the open air and sunshine. Maddy blinked then started sneezing. Occupants of the cages began to stir restlessly. Those small enough to pace their confines did so, others began looking upward.

Maddy curled around so she could look at the gash on her hip. It had stopped bleeding but still hurt like hell. She didn't touch it- her hands were filthy. All she needed now was an infection. If the animal's claw hadn't already left the seeds of infection deep inside the wound.

Something wet and sticky plopped onto her head. She grimaced and tried to shake it off. More fell. She glanced around. The occupants of the cages nearby were straining upward with open mouths. A colorless gruel was seeping down through the cages, running from one to another as it poured out of openings in the ceiling. What reached Maddy had already dripped through several layers of stacked cages. The creature whose cage was sitting atop hers was a small, white bear-like animal that kept passing rancid gas. Above that cage was a huge bird whose feathers and feces seemed to miss the bear and hit her.

"Yuck!"

Starved as she was, she didn't want the stuff to touch her let alone ingest it. She watched the cat-like animal vigorously lick the bars of its cage.

"You can have mine," she told it.

Sounds of licking and sucking and slurping were enough to turn her stomach. She closed her eyes and prayed for a quick death.

What was keeping Jack? She knew now that she was in the Trygar System, and that it was a big system. Huge. Too many planets and moons to contemplate. If she could stay in one place- beside a stargate- he'd eventually stumble across her. Or the SGC would answer her SOS. Riker and Orion had kept her under wraps, then she had kept herself out of sight. Literally.

Now this. A ship this size was no interplanetary transport. This was a galaxy class ship. Bigger than Thor's ship, bigger than the Turdokin ship that had taken Ba'al's cargo vessel into one of its holds. Way bigger than the Odyssey. Just finding her among the thousands of cages in the hold would be nearly as impossible as finding her among the vast number of planets and moons in the Trygar System.

Raw terror gripped her as she faced the stark truth for the first time: Jack was never going to find her.

She was headed out of Trygar System to God knew where. To be sold as a creature to some slaver or circus or... She shivered at the endless possibilities.

She had to figure out a way to get herself out of this. Quickly. Before this ship took off again.

She began praying. She prayed that Jack was safe and well. She prayed that her friends could forgive her the mean things Meret had led her to say. She prayed for a merciful end to this tormented existence. She prayed that Jack knew how much she loved him.

She prayed that he would be able to forgive himself for not finding her.

When the sounds of feeding tapered off Maddy got another rude surprise. Water. Nozzles imbedded in the roof of the cargo hold began spraying a tepid water over the cages. All manner refuge rained down over her. Maddy buried her head in her arms, squeezed her eyes and mouth closed, and tried not to think about what was washing over her body. The ragged tunic she had stolen did little to protect her skin. The shower seemed to go on forever. When the smell got a little better and chunks stopped hitting her, she peeked around. The water was clear now, having washed out the cages it was now running clean. Many of the creatures around her were lapping at it, or licking it from their fur. She looked at the gash in her hip and saw red running from it. She held out little hope of the water washing out more contaminates than it had washed in. A moment later her wound began to sting and burn. So were her eyes. The creatures around her had done their best to protect their faces so she did the same. A stringent odor assailed her nostrils. Apparently this was some sort of antiseptic used to keep the captives from dying of infection. She shifted so her hip would be open to the flow and bit back a cry at the intensity of its burn.

When that faze was finished, the entire hold was bombarded by a sustained blast of hot forced air.

"Oh great. First a shampoo, now a blow dry."

When the air stopped she raised up and peered through the stacks of cages to see what would happen next. The cage butted up against hers held a gigantic snake. It's massive, coiled body filled the entire space. The tapered tail was reaching up through the bars to harass the terrified monkey-like creature above it. A wedge-shaped head that would have filled a five gallon bucket was twisted around to stare malevolently at the screeching monkey that was fighting off its tail's attack. Maddy drew herself as far from that end of her cage as possible and did her best not to draw the snake's attention.

A mechanical whirring began, and she watched as the first tier of cages were lifted even higher then moved back and placed on the ground. When it was her tier's turn, Maddy grabbed onto the bars and felt her stomach drop. She was carried out over a sea of cages and placed on a grassy patch. The cat thing next to her didn't get its tail inside the cage soon enough and it yowled in pain. It's plaintive cry brought a pair of handlers to its rescue. The cage was lifted and the cat swiped angrily at the hands fisted around the bars.

"Watch it!" one of them warned a second too late as the wicked claws tore open the other man's knuckles.

The injured man swore as he sucked on his hand.

"Hey, there's another humanoid. Boss said to sort them out and keep them separate." He looked Maddy over without meeting her eyes. "She's got a wound- probably that damned salwah," he jerked his chin at the cat.

"We'll move her over with the others and get it treated," the second said. "The Wraith don't like to feed on humans with infection. Boss'll get less for her."

"It's deep, but we should be able to get it cleared up before we hit the Pegasus Galaxy. Boss said we'd be making a stop on Nineteen's fifth moon before we leave this solar system."

"You do business with the Wraith?" Maddy asked.

The two men paused to look at her.

"Good business, too," one answered as the other picked at his ripped hand. "Boss has an agreement with the queen of one of the hives. She tells him which planets they've culled in exchange for some choice humans. Then we raid the abandoned planets and rake in a haul to sell elsewhere."

"Oh, God, please don't take me to the Wraith!" Maddy begged. "I'll do anything..."

The two men traded smirks.

"Save your breath. We've heard it all. But look at the bright side; you'll be well cared for until we get there. That queen will accept only prime, healthy specimens."

They walked away leaving Maddy feeling horrified, petrified, and without a shred of hope.

Chapter Sixty

Jack stepped into the saloon on Trygar Nineteen and could almost hear the mysterious whistle followed by the 'wah wah, wahhh' they played when a gunslinger walked into a saloon in the old spaghetti westerns. The place was half empty, but everyone inside paused to gauge the stranger before returning to what they had been doing. Not one of them turned his back on Jack.

This place didn't have A.I. servers. Jack walked up to the bar. A grizzled bear of a human lifted his chin in query.

"Whatever you've got," he said. "In a dirty glass."

The barkeep's expression didn't change and Jack had to grin at his own joke. He tossed a few tokens on the counter top and glanced at the metal container of foul smelling fluid that was plunked down in front of him. It slopped over the rim and hissed when it touched the counter. Jack shuddered inwardly, turned his back and braced his elbows on the counter. He made a slow and detailed scan of the room, taking in the patrons as well as the decor and making note of the staircase leading to a second floor. His gaze lingered on the portrait of an alien nude; a green female with six arms in an extremely pornographic pose. If that was supposed to incite his libido to the point where he'd purchase what these other females were selling, it fell far short of the mark. Grotesque was not one of his turn-ons.

His gut told him this was no place to ask questions so he took his drink, found a corner, and sat down to listen.

Several hours and two plates of not half bad meat of some sort later, the place began to fill. Jack tried to pick up bits and pieces of conversations as the noise level grew. This place was as low-life and rough as Trygar Three had been, just a tad more sophisticated. Nobody fit the description of Orion, and his name wasn't mentioned. But from the looks he was getting, Jack knew he'd been identified as the man who had leveled Trygar Three.

He was given a wide berth and nobody would make eye contact with him.

The place seemed to still and Jack glanced at the door. A contingent of six humans came through the door and took a table next to Jack's. As they sat down amid a hail of welcoming calls, a seventh chair drew back all by itself then creaked and slid forward. Jack stared at the empty seat. A moment later a hulking, hairy, pale blonde humanoid appeared. He was wearing a long cloak.

Orion's invisibility cloak. Jack's heart leaped. But this was not Orion. Could there be more than one cloak? Or had this mean looking alien taken it off Maddy?

And killed her in the process?

Jack tried to quell the anger, the adrenalin, the hope that surged through him. He took a sip of the vile fluid and tried not to look obvious as he eavesdropped.

"...a drop on Nineteen's fifth moon before we head for Pegasus," the blonde was saying.

"Gonna pick up a few more humans for the Wraith?" one of them asked. "She always demands more than we have anyway."

The shaggy head bobbed. "I'm gonna offer her those three unas we have, too. Should make for a good feed, once she gets past the look of them."

"Lots of vital energy there," another agreed. "Be easier for us, too, if she'd develop a liking for unas." The speaker unwound a dirty bandage from his hand and flexed his torn knuckles. "Damned salwah got me good."

"Next time he gets his tail caught under the cage I'm gonna wack it off," another growled.

"No, you won't," the leader admonished. "We don't get paid for damaged goods."

"Lomar contact you yet?"

The blonde shook his head. "I'll make a hop over to Trygar Prime before we head for that moon. He should be ready to empty his holding cells. Last time I took some pretty sorry specimens off his hands- he'd better have them in better shape this time or I won't take them. Cuts too deep into the profits when I have to fatten them up on the trip to Pegasus."

Jack was studying the cloak. He couldn't be sure, but a dark stain near the bottom could be blood. Maddy's?

He fumbled in his pocket and palmed a tracking device. When he stood, he tipped his chair over and feigned a stumble. Weaving slightly, he started past the group he had been listening to. Pretending to wobble, he used the blonde alien's shoulder to steady himself.

"Shorry," he grinned widely. Shaking his head ruefully he patted the man's shoulder, appeared to gain is balance, then wobbled out of the saloon.

Once on the street Jack straightened and found a dark place to wait. He'd follow the bunch to their ship and have a look around. The tracking device he planted on the inside of the alien's armored vest would help him keep track of the ship. For damned sure he was going to make certain Maddy wasn't on that ship before it headed for the Pegasus Galaxy and the Wraith.

Chapter Sixty One

Jack eased closer to the clearing and raised the night-vision glasses.

That was the biggest damned ship he'd ever seen. Hell, he could park the Odyssey inside a single hold. The moaning, wailing, sobbing, growling, and snoring that was coming from the mountain of cages would drown out any sound he might make as he edged closer. There was no way to be certain Maddy was not among the thousands of species stacked in those cages. He watched awhile longer then headed back to the Nautilus.

It took him over an hour to raise Daniel on the radio.

"I've got bad news, Jack," his friend told him.

Jack's heart stopped.

"We can't find Sam."

Jack knew horrible guilt at the feeling of relief that flooded him. "Whaddya mean you can't find her?"

"We tracked those two exotics to a moon orbiting Eight. It's about as civilized as Twelve was, more populated. We pinpointed a building and split up to do some recon. Sam didn't show up where we were supposed to meet. She isn't answering her radio and we can't raise a blip from her tracking device."

"Could she have gone off on her own?"

"I don't see Sam doing that, Jack. Vala said a cloaked ship using a jamming device might mask the signal."

"Orion," Jack muttered. "Find him, Daniel. I need to talk to Lomar. There's a slave trader here with a ship the size of Detroit and there's a good possibility he's got Maddy. He was wearing a cloak like the one Maddy was supposed to have taken off Orion. This guy is gathering up humans to trade to the Wraith, and he's got a deal with Lomar to take their civilian criminals."

"The Prime Council can't be aware of that!" Daniel's voice was thick with disgust.

"I don't know if Lomar will play ball with me or not," Jack said roughly. "But if he won't get me access to that ship to search for Maddy, I'll squeal like a pig to the Prime Council. Get Lomar's ass sent to the Wraith."

"Go easy, Jack," Daniel warned. "You need this guy to cooperate."

"Carter might be on that ship too, Daniel."

There was a long silence before Daniel hissed an unprintable oath.

"I'll leave Vala here to watch for Sam and jump over to Twelve to contact Landry through their gate. He needs to be up to speed before all hell breaks loose."

"Have him alert Weir. If this ship gets away from us, maybe they can pick it up on that end."

"Is this slave trader a Wraith worshipper?"

"From what I overheard, they trade humans for the coordinates of planets that have been culled then raid the abandoned villages."

"And we thought the Gou'ald were the scourge of the universe. Can the Odyssey take that ship?"

"Not a chance in hell. If it's as well armed as it is big, it'll take the whole damned Asgard fleet."

"You need to make this work with Lomar," Daniel warned heavily. "Maddy- and maybe Sam- are going to be the losers if this gets into a universe-wide pissing contest."

"I know, Dan-iel. I'm headed for Prime now. I planted a tracking device on who I think is the boss of the outfit. If I don't get back to you within twenty four hours, find a way to keep that ship from leaving Nineteen."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" Daniel yelped.

"Fly the Argo up its ass if you have to. Or sic Vala on them. O'Neill out."

Chapter Sixty Two

Jack silently repeated Maddy's name over and over to keep from losing his temper.

"You say this slave trader mentioned me by name?" Lomar asked silkily.

"Come on, Lomar," Jack said through his teeth. "Just get my wife and Colonel Carter off that ship if he's got them and this will all go away."

"All of what will go away?"

Jack took a long, deep breath. "Does the Prime Council know you sell Trygarians to be given to the Wraith?"

"What are... Wraith?"

Jack swallowed his fury. Maddy's life might be at stake here. He couldn't let his temper get her killed.

"Okay, let's pretend I buy your innocent act. I'm reporting a slave trader in your solar system that is kidnapping humans to trade to an evil creature in the Pegasus Galaxy. The Wraith will, literally, suck the very life out of those people. It's an ugly, painful, terrifying death. As head honcho constable for the Trygar System, it's your job to make sure that ship doesn't leave with any human cargo aboard. That make it easier for you?"

"I'll have our scout ships patrol Nineteen, but as I told you before its fifth moon is off-limits for us."

"Convenient," Jack muttered under his breath. "You're not afraid of the element on that moon, you're in cahoots with them. Is Prime Council in on this too, or do you just talk a good story?"

Lomar smiled. In the next instant Jack felt as though he had bitten down on a live electric wire. His brain exploded in a white light that abruptly faded to black.

Chapter Sixty Three

Excruciating muscle cramps dragged Jack out of blissful unconsciousness. He started to groan but when his brain threatened to explode he stopped. When he lifted a hand to his head and it dragged along steel bars he knew he was confined in a cell of some sort. He tried to decide if he was lucky to have awakened at all; the way he felt at the moment it was a toss up. He eased one eye open a fraction. Everything was blurry. After blinking a few times he managed to focus on the bars above his head.

Very close above his head. He rolled his head to the side and squinted at the size of his cage.

"Bitch."

He shifted onto his hip which, with his knees drawn up was all the more room he had, and peered into the darkness. A light breeze and the damp ground beneath his ass told him he was outdoors.

But that big, honkin' ship told him a lot more.

Noises began to seep through his haze of pain; moaning, cursing, sobbing, growling, licking, panting, hissing, snoring. And smells. None of them good. Jack wrinkled his nose and grabbed the top bars of his cage to lever himself into a hunched-over half sitting position. If he braced his boots against the bars and scooted his ass down, he could lean his head back and straighten his upper spine. It popped a few times and felt a bit better.

For now.

Any length of time in this position and he was going to chew something off to make more room. This was way too similar to a cage he once found himself in long before joining the Stargate Program. He had no good memories of that time, and no wish to relive them.

"Lomar, I'm coming for you," he growled to himself. "You back-stabbing..."

"It does no good to complain," a voice said from beside him. "No one who has been taken by Keldak ever returns."

Jack rolled his head to the left again. A rather clean-cut young man rolled a blue eye at him then stared forward again. He was a small man and Jack envied him his extra room.

"How'd you end up here?" Jack asked.

The man sighed. "I had the dubious honor of being taken into Lomar's confidence. As his bookkeeper."

"And he's cleaning house," Jack surmised.

The man nodded briefly. "I know too much. He had to get rid of me. Because of you, I suppose, though I don't hold that against you. Someone had to expose him for what he is. For all the good it has done."

"It ain't over yet," Jack promised darkly.

The man grunted.

"Are we still on Nineteen?"

"Yes. I suspect we'll be moved to its fifth moon before the trip to the Pegasus Galaxy. Keldak usually makes a delivery there before leaving the galaxy. Do you know of these Wraith I've heard we're to be sold to?"

"More than I care to."

"Are they a primitive race, or can I hope to resume my profession as an accountant? As a slave, I realize, but nonetheless..."

Jack decided it would serve no good purpose to tell the man of his eventual fate. "Don't think the Wraith need accountants."

"Ah, well, I shall learn to do menial labor if that is to be my fate." He lifted his hands and stared at them. "And to think I took such pride in the softness of these. No calluses for the son of Trygar Prime's Chief Council Administrative Consultant."

Jack grimaced and looked to the other side.

Maddy sat there staring at him.

Jack froze. For a long moment he couldn't breathe. They just stared at each other. She was sitting cross-legged, hunched over, her eyes boring into his.

"Maddy...!" Jack tried to shift, smacked his head, bit his tongue, and swore. "God, Maddy!"

"What took you so long, Jack?" she asked softly.

His chest imploded as if it had been crushed. Something in her eyes, her expression, wounded him deeply. But it didn't soften the explosion of emotion he felt at seeing her alive. He had thought her dead for so long, mourned her so painfully, then was never quite sure he wasn't chasing a ghost. Here she was, alive, beautiful...

"I was saving us a ton of money by switching our spaceship insurance to Geico," he told her dryly. "They gave us a hell of a rate on collision coverage."

The side of her mouth lifted in a half smile. "I had pretty much decided you weren't going to bother looking for me."

His heart wrenched painfully. "You know better than that," he chided.

She lifted a tattooed shoulder and dropped her eyes. "I suppose I should thank Laira for letting you..."

"Damn it, Maddy! Damn it, just stop!" Anger did nothing to quell his chaotic emotions, but it did override them for a moment. "You have no idea what's happened since..."

"Since what, Jack? Since I disappeared and nobody bothered to track me down and see if I was okay? Not you, not Sam or Daniel or Teal'c..."

Jack closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the bars. "We thought you were dead, Maddy."

"The lack of a body didn't tip any of you off?"

"It was the lack of a zap. Harriman figured it out. That was after the funeral service for both of..."

"Lack of a zap?"

"No 'iris event'."

"Jack, what the hell are you talking about?"

Ah, his Maddy was alive and well and as full of fire as ever. "God, I love you."

"Do you? Really? Still?"

"I do. Really. Still." He rolled his head to stare at her. "I missed you so much. God, you can't know what I went through..."

"Well I beg your pardon, Dear, but it hasn't been a walk in the park for me, either." She held out her arms for him to see her tattoos.

"I know. I saw them."

"You... saw them?" she gasped. "When?"

"At the slave auction on Trygar Three. I bought you, paid for you, then Orion beamed you away before I could grab you."

"Orion said you were there but I wasn't sure I believed him. I don't remember any of it."

"I spoke to you," he said gently. "You were pretty out of it." He grinned wickedly. "I thought you only danced like that for me."

"He leveled the entire outpost," the accountant chimed in as Maddy made a face at Jack. "Destroyed every building, hut... as I heard it, there wasn't a stone left undisturbed or a piece of flammable material left unburned. The only thing still standing is the water tank. Refugees were flooding through the gate as if a demon was after them."

Jack shrugged at Maddy. "I was irked."

"You were?" she brightened.

He grinned at her. "We've been hunting for you, Babe. For a long time now. Months. I haven't exactly been in a cheery mood."

"Well I'm sorry to have put you out," she baited.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Oh, you're gonna put out, Gorgeous. As soon as you figure out how to get us outta here."

"Me?" she yelped. "You're supposed to be rescuing me, O'Neill!"

"Call me 'O'Neill' again and I'll rip the bars off both these cages to get at you," he promised.

"O'Neill," the accountant said. "O'Neill, O'Neill, O'Neill."

Jack rolled his eyes at Maddy. "That device in your head..."

"You want me to remember the door open?" she dead panned.

"The transportation device."

"The one you had Loki shut off? Thanks for that, by the way," she shot back sarcastically.

Jack grimaced. "I know. Listen to me. Loki didn't shut it off, he dampened it."

"I still can't use it. Believe me, I've tried until my brain caught fire."

"Not to transport, but there should still be some signal coming from it... right?"

Maddy shrugged. "I dunno. What are you getting at?"

Jack pointed at the door of the cage. "Have you seen how they unlock these? There's no physical padlock, so it has to be a remote signal of some sort."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Been spending time with Sam while I've been gone?"

Jack gave her a hard, silent stare. She held it for a moment then had the grace to look away.

"Wonder how close I have to be?" She started shifting.

Jack watched with great interest as his wife went through a myriad of contortions in the brief tunic to get herself turned around so that her head was at the end with the door. She ended up with her bare toes clinging to the bars, resting on her elbows so that the top of her head was touching the lock.

"At least you stayed limber."

"I'll say," the accountant breathed.

Jack shot him a dirty look. "In case you missed it, that's my wife."

"You've made it abundantly clear to the entirety of the Trygar System that she's your wife."

A loud crash made them all look around. One of the Trygarians had rocked his cage off the cargo hold platform. He was doing is best to rock it again, trying to roll a square cage from the inside. When he got himself upside down he was helpless to get another flip. Two guards moved in, laughing and taunting as they picked up the cage and put it back where he had started. They left him upside down and struggling. A loud hum preceded the sensation of being lifted.

"They're putting us back into the ship," Maddy explained. "You missed supper."

"Figures," Jack muttered. "Concentrate."

He wasn't sure there would be enough signal from her implant to jimmy the lock, or if the frequency was right, but it bought him time to come up with a more viable plan. And it gave Maddy something to do, something to take her mind off her fear.

As he watched her face emotion welled in his chest and he fought back tears. How could she think he wouldn't move Heaven and Hell to find her? It had been a long time, months, but it hurt that she had lost faith in him. How desperate she must have been, how afraid, how lonely to think none of them would bother to look for her. His wild child of nature, even after all the eventful years as his wife, all the years of friendship with SG1, still didn't trust her place in their lives.

"They aren't mine," he said quietly.

She opened her eyes and stared at him. She knew, understood he meant Laira's twins. After a moment she nodded once and closed her eyes again. That was it. Jack wasn't sure what reaction he had anticipated, but certainly not a simple nod. Joy, maybe? A few pertinent questions? Relief? Sympathy? The ache in his chest returned. She hadn't seemed overjoyed to see him. He had been so desperate, so frightened, so panicked. So completely lost and devastated. Now that they were together again her reaction was a let down.

"We have a houseboat."

She opened her eyes and stared at him.

"I sold my truck."

"Why would you put a houseboat on the lake?" she asked carefully.

"I went a little nuts."

"Nuts enough to think you could drive your houseboat to the grocery store?"

"It's in Sausalito. On the Bay."

"The truck or the houseboat?" she asked blandly.

Jack bared his teeth at her.

"Do you want me to do this, or do you wanna talk? 'Cause I can't do both at once, Dear."

"Yeah, definitely your wife," the accountant muttered.

Jack thought about that and it made him grin. He lay watching her through hooded eyes, drinking her in, absorbing her nearness, trying to catch her scent among the smells assaulting his nostrils. What had she been through, what had gone through her head, that he would get such a cool reception?

"I can't do it, Jack!" Her eyes were round, filled with fear and panic.

"Daniel knows where we are."

"Daniel?"

"Carter and Vala, too. Teal'c, Bra'tac, and half the Free Jaf'fa once they put the skids to another civil war."

She hadn't blinked in so long that Jack blinked for her.

"They're taking us to the Wraith. Of all times for you to show up..." She sighed and looked away for a moment. "I'd rather you never found me than have you..."

"We'll get outta this," he assured her. "Landry is alerting Atlantis to stop this ship at all costs. A vessel this size should make one hell of a blip."

"Hank? Atlantis?"

"We've all been searching, Babe. We'd have a planet full of unas helping if Daniel could figure out how to tell them you're in trouble. Good thinking, sending the SOS with the stargate, but remind me to show you the address for the Alpha Site."

"In case I'm ever lost in space again?" she asked archly.

"Knowing you..."

"That was freaky, being with those unas."

"Maddy phone home, boom boom," he teased.

"You taught me to survive, Jack. At all costs. But I was scared to death."

"Why would you think I wouldn't come?" He tried to keep the hurt out of his voice but wasn't successful.

Her eyes drifted away. "I'm always causing you trouble. SG1 is mad at me. Hank is mad at me. The Pentagon is after me. You had a chance to be a father again, a chance to rekindle something with Laira... Fish."

"So?"

She sighed. "I thought maybe when I turned up missing you figured I'd just... run away... and you let me go this time."

"She's run away from you before?" the accountant asked.

Jack ignored him. "Not a chance."

That brought a hint of a smile to her lips. "I wanna go home, Jack. Sit on the deck and fish. Make pottery. Cook."

"Make love?"

She flashed her eyes at him. "That too."

"Then relax, concentrate, and open these cages for us. There's plenty of time. No rush."

"Are you gonna shut up?"

"Eventually."

She closed her eyes again.

They were set atop a gigantic stack of cages and the sides of the ship began to close. Restless and agitated creatures from all over the universe were making sounds, smells, bemoaning their fate as they settled down for another long ride through the stars. The cages immediately surrounding them were filled with humans. Terrified, angry, horribly uncomfortable humans. Every one he managed to look at was staring at him with guarded hope in their eyes. He had to get Maddy out of here, she was his first priority, but he couldn't let these people become Wraith fodder. And Carter. Where was she, what had happened? Was she alright? Had he found Maddy only to have lost Carter? Could Daniel bring himself to stop searching for her long enough to waylay this ship before it left the Trygar System?

The weight of the world settled onto his shoulders.

At least now he understood part of Maddy's distant attitude. She was afraid for him. He still had a little trouble wrapping his brain around someone being that affected when he was in danger. That obligation usually fell to him and it was disconcerting that she felt responsible for him.

He needed to warn Hank and George that retirement was not all it was cracked up to be.

He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

"Jack."

Maddy's soft voice was like a warm, soothing blanket settling over him. He woke immediately, but didn't stir so she'd say his name again.

"Jack."

How he'd missed her voice. He opened his eyes and studied her expression. She pushed the door to her cage open a fraction.

Jack raised his eyebrows and used the toe of his boot to test the door of his cage. It shifted slightly and he stopped. By damn she'd done it! He really hadn't expected it to work.

"Wonder how many others..." she whispered.

Jack held up his hand to stop her. She nodded that she understood. They were still inside the ship, still at the top of the stack. They had to wait for the right moment or risk being found out and more drastic measures were taken to keep them locked inside.

"Get some sleep," he advised. "Gonna need it."

"I wish I could curl up beside you," she said softly.

"I guarantee you wouldn't get any sleep."

Her smile seemed to brighten the dimness of the hold. She was so sweet, so beautiful, so much a part of him. He had the uncontrollable need to feel himself inside her. It wasn't a sexual urge; had nothing to do with erotic desire or striving for exquisite release. Just fill her and know the peace that only came from being one with her. He'd crawl inside her soul if it was possible.

"I missed you so much, Jack. I was so afraid I'd lost you, pulled one too many stunts and..." The tears in her voice made his throat tight.

"Not possible. Get some sleep."

"You've got a plan?"

"I plan to keep you from sleeping the minute I get my hands on you."

"You think the healing device will remove these tattoos?"

"I kinda like them."

"Don't get attached," she said dryly.

"I can't wait to explore them," he went on dreamily. "With my fingers, my tongue, my..."

"Jack!" she hissed. "Sleep. Go. You. Now!"

He grinned and closed his eyes but continued his exploration in his mind.

A rough jolt woke him. Apparently it woke the rest of the hold because every species began complaining. The familiar hum told him the cargo hold was opening and he managed to get himself partway upright. Blinding shafts of sunlight streaked the dimness and a blast of icy cold air raised goose bumps along his arms. He glanced at Maddy. That thin, frayed tunic she was wearing wouldn't do much to keep her warm. As the doors lowered the scene that greeted Jack made his heart do a lateral into his boots.

All around them stark granite peaks rose sharply into a lead gray sky. Forbidding and dark, the shear sides held not a trace of growth. Deeply grooved, they looked as if they had been carved by downward strokes of chisel; unscalable, barren, and ominous. Outcrops and crests held layers of ice and snow. From his perch high atop the stack of cages Jack was able to peer down into what seemed to be an endless chasm.

They could make a run for it, but to where? Maddy was barefoot and barely dressed. She was already shivering, staring around them with awed dismay. When their eyes met she opened her mouth in a silent 'oh'.

The platform moved and they were lifted off the stack and set to one side. Jack watched as layer after layer of cages were placed on the ice-encrusted snow. He smelled smoke and twisted around.

Behind them was a small settlement, set at the base of another high peak. A river plunged off a jagged crest in the distance, raged past the cluster of buildings, then took another harsh plunge off the plateau. The drop was so deep he couldn't hear the falls. Huge chunks of ice drifted and spun in the wild torrent. Thick plumes of smoke lifted from crude chimneys and Jack wondered absently what they were using for fuel. There wasn't a tree or blade of grass in sight. A downward gust of wind brought with it an acrid cloud of smoke that bit sharply into his throat. Maddy bowed her head and squeezed her eyes shut.

Figures began emerging from the buildings. Huge human males dressed in thick, furry hides, shaggy headed and unshaven, came out to greet the slaver and his command. Jack studied the encampment. A few small ships were grounded in the shelter of a ledge. This couldn't be the main settlement where slave auctions were held. There was no stargate visible on the lofty plateau. They must be in a remote sector of the colony. Probably where the worst of the worst had gone to ground.

Maddy's eyes were on him, trusting, patient, asking what he required of her.

"Please let this not be the Wraith world," the accountant moaned. His teeth chattered as he huddled into himself.

Jack's eyes raked over the rest of the caged humans. Mostly male, all as miserably helpless as the accountant, the few he thought might assist in their escape he didn't figure he could trust.

The slaver barked out orders then he and three others followed the mangy group into one of the buildings. Four crewmen started carrying cages of animals into another building. When they were out of earshot Jack spoke.

"Listen up!" he called. "We're gonna get out of here. Anybody here a pilot?"

A wiry little man with shifty eyes answered, "I am."

"Anybody else?"

Two or three others responded.

"Alright. When the cages open you pilots head for those ships. We'll need cover fire until we can get the hold closed and this ship off the ground."

"You're gonna steal this ship?" someone laughed. "Good luck!"

Jack looked at Maddy. "Find the bridge. See what you can do."

"Where will you be?"

"Looking for weapons."

Maddy eyed the black cat that had swiped at her. "A lot of these creatures are pretty mean..."

Jack followed her gaze and nodded. "Can you open all the cages?"

"If I can, I wanna be locked inside before they get out."

"Do you know if this ship has beaming technology?"

"Haven't seen it used. They shift the cages by hand."

"Alright. Let's make a run for it."

Jack pushed open his cage and crawled out. Maddy rose beside him. As the rest of the captives realized they were free Jack jerked her close and laid a hot kiss on her mouth.

"Go," he ordered. "Quick, Maddy. Find the control to close this hatch."

Several of the escapees made a dash for the smaller crafts. The rest flooded into the interior of the ship. The man who had been left upside down in his cage made a crazed dash for the edge of the plateau and dove over it.

Jack heard the zing of laser fire followed by a shout. Three of the escapees were overpowering two of the handlers.

He bolted after Maddy.

Inside the ship two more of the escapees had overpowered a guard and were beating the life out of him.

"You have loosed the scourge of the Trygar System to wreak their havoc once again," the accountant panted beside him. "And they have armed themselves."

Jack glanced around. He hadn't realized the man was beside him.

"What's your point?" he snapped. He needed to find a weapon. The cargo bay doors began to close. He bent down and searched the dead guard. The body had been relieved of all weapons, but he found the device to unlock the cages.

"Did all the humans get out?" he asked the accountant.

"I believe so. Along with several other creatures."

Jack pointed the device towards the enormous stack of cages and pressed the button. The doors on the outer rows of cages opened. Creatures of all imaginable species began escaping. The more aggressive ones immediately pounced on the lesser species. Two wild, irate unas headed straight for the huts. Several of the smaller spacecraft lifted off the ground and Jack watched sardonically as they rose straight up into the atmosphere and vanished.

So much for cover fire.

He turned back into the ship as the huge hatch doors banged closed and the locks hissed. The accountant had disappeared.

The ship hummed to life and shuddered under his feet. They were lifting off.

He strode down the corridor looking for Maddy. He found her sorting through a weapons locker.

"They beat me to the bridge. Check this out," she grinned.

She was holding a metallic cylinder about a foot long. When she pressed a button it emitted flickering blue arc of energy. She flicked her wrist and the thin arc of energy whipped out to sere a ragged gouge in the wall, a good fifteen feet away.

"Cool. Got another one?"

She tossed hers to him and picked up another. Jack stepped up close and ran his hand over her head. Maddy. She was real, alive- cold- but soft and... alive. He felt her still under his touch, lean into him, and he couldn't stand it a moment longer. He folded himself around her. Face buried in her neck he squeezed her as hard as he could. Inhaling her scent, basking in her essence, breathing her in, he couldn't get enough of her. When she squirmed around and caught his lips with hers Jack started to shake. He devoured her mouth, frantic to feed his hunger, his need for her, before he dissolved into tissue and atoms around her feet. She felt so good, so right in his arms, filled all his emptiness, warmed away the chill he had lived with since returning to Edora to find her gone. He scooped her against him, tried to press her right into his flesh, reveled in the feel of every inch of this woman who meant the world to him. Firm and soft and solid, full of love and promises, her kiss was warping his brain. Her fingers in his hair, on his neck, felt so good, so welcoming, soothing and exciting all at once.

It wasn't enough. It had been a moment ago, but the remnants of his pain and fear, his guilt and heartache, bubbled to the surface and popped with excruciating need. He walked her back into the wall, buried both hands in her hair, and raped her mouth. For a moment Maddy matched his ardor but his emotion overpowered her. He felt her soft whimper cross his tongue, felt his strength overwhelm her, felt her fingers curl into his shoulders. The intensity of his mindless passion was still rising. He scraped her onto the floor, shaking, hot, and fitted himself the length of her.

Maddy! God, this is where he had needed to be for so long. Her legs came around his and clamped him tightly. Knowing his need, his fear, she dug her fingers into his back and held him as hard as she could. Bravely tried to match the fever of his kiss, tried to give him all the reassurance and verification he was seeking.

He felt her. Finally. This was Maddy, she was in his arms, not a dream, not a fantasy, not a wisp that would curl into thin air. His Maddy, real and breathing and finally getting warm. One of the worst thoughts that had haunted him when he thought she was dead was the idea of her being cold under his touch. He needed her warmth, lived for her warmth. This woman's warmth was vital to him and he soaked it up now. Had been without it for too long.

His panic ebbed, his kiss gentled, and he felt her tears on his face. His lips moved from her mouth to her cheek, her eyes, her temples, back to her lips, down to her neck, over her ear. He breathed her name helplessly, over and over, his hands clenching in her hair. He rocked his body into hers, pressed ever harder, and delighted in the way she cradled him willingly.

"I need you, Jack," she panted. "Take me. Take me now." She grasped his ears and dragged his head up to stare into his eyes. "Please!"

Her chest was rising into his with every frantic breath, her hips begging his to join their sensuous dance. There was nothing under the tunic she wore and he could feel her heat. In the back of his mind Jack understood that she was feeding his need more than hers but he didn't care. It was part of why he needed her so much, part of what she did for him that he couldn't live without. He rocked to the side and fumbled with his pants, loathe to leave her warmth and softness for even a moment. Maddy's hands on his face made him shiver and close his eyes. Soft, anxious kisses made his fingers stumbling and slow. He knew they should hunting for the bridge, knew this wasn't the time or the place. But this fever had more control over him than his anger had. Knowing they were losing valuable time only spurred his sense of urgency, did nothing to change his course of action.

He wanted to warn her, apologize in advance for the control he knew he had already lost.

"Come to me, Jack," she whispered. "I need you. Hard, deep. I need to feel you, know you're real. Please..." Her tears were dripping down his face in hot streaks, her breath sweet against his skin. She nipped at his lips then trailed hot kisses to his ear. When he carried her back to the floor she bit into his neck and held on. Her fingers were doing a nervous dance against his shoulders, digging in and releasing, telegraphing both need and anxiety. Wanting him desperately but awed by the thought of yielding to his strength and fervor. Sudden understanding gave Jack a rush like no other: As strong and wild as this woman was, all that she had been through and all that she was capable of, he was the one force in the universe that she succumbed to.

He wanted to see her face, her eyes. He grasped her hair and held her as he pulled back to stare at her. She rose to meet him, her eyes going wide, gasping as he took her in one powerful stroke. Her long breathy moan urged him deeper and Jack's brain imploded in an incredibly sweet meltdown. Trembling, he dropped his face into the hollow of her neck and took a moment to absorb the rapture of melding with her.

She sucked in a long, unsteady breath and held it.

Jack wanted to take this long and slow, draw out the sweet intensity, savor every nuance of being with her again. In his mind he was smiling into her eyes, teasing her, giving and taking the joy and pleasure both of then had been denied for so long. But what he wanted, what he planned, was overridden by sheer emotion. He took her hard, fast and deep, unable to control the ferocity that drove him. Her gasping, shuddering moans sharpened his hunger. He wanted to stroke her hair but his hands were on her shoulders, pulling her into each potent thrust. He wanted to kiss her, spar with her tongue, feel her lips soft against his. But his jaws were clamped shut, his nostrils struggling to draw enough air into his lungs to feed vigorous demands of his body. Every muscle was drawn tight and in the back of his mind he knew he was leaving marks on her shoulders. He needed to ease up, slow down, not hurt her.

Maddy's legs came up around his waist and locked there. Fingers digging into his arms she groaned helplessly under his onslaught. Jack gritted his teeth against the rising tension, the insane intensity of ultimate pleasure. His body took control as his mind shut down. Maddy cried out as release flashed a white starburst through his brain. His body spasmed and seized with all the glorious intensity of a zat blast that rocketed him into blissful darkness.

Jack came to with a hard jerk and the sensation of falling. Maddy was clinging to him, panting, her hold weak but determined.

"I've got you," she murmured. "It's alright. Relax, Babe, relax. There you go..."

Jack drew in a long, shuddering breath and concentrated on gathering the bits of his scattered brain. He squeezed just to make sure she was there. He felt himself drooling and dragged his mouth against his sleeve. Her fingers stroking his head were soothing, reassuring. Her chest rising into his substantiated her reality. Spent, relieved- but not yet content- he rested his forehead on her shoulder.

"Tell me I didn't hurt you," he rasped.

"You didn't hurt me."

"That's not how I planned..."

"It's how I planned it."

Jack grunted a short laugh. "God, Maddy, what you do to me!"

"It's about time."

He lifted his head to look at her. She smiled devilishly.

"You make me black out all the time. I've been trying for years to do the same for you."

Jack stared at her for a moment. "As incredible as that was, I think I prefer to stay conscious and enjoy every delightful, unbelievable moment of the pleasure you torture me with."

"Your brain must still be scrambled- you ended that sentence with a preposition."

Jack flashed a grin then sobered as he ran his thumbs over her temples. "I missed you so much."

She sighed, closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. Then she stiffened and her eyes flew open wide.

"We'd better find out what's going on, where this ship is headed!"

"What ship?" But her words dragged him back to cold reality and he reluctantly gained his feet. "We lifted off, didn't we?"

"I don't know about you, but I sure did."

He grinned at her. Couldn't seem to stop grinning. As he worked at righting his clothes he stared down at her. Frayed tunic twisted around her waist, tattooed legs that went on forever, hair a tangled nest of soft curls, lips red and puffy, he thought she never looked more enticing.

"Remember those state dinners you hated so much?" he asked quietly.

She frowned up at him, still too spent to try standing.

"Fancy gowns and chic hairdos and perfectly understated makeup?"

She tilted her head to the side, a half smile ghosting her swollen lips.

"I like you so much better like this," he finished.

Maddy raised up to look down at herself in surprise. "With my lower half naked?"

Jack snapped his fingers. "Damn! I knew I was missing something! Take that off so I can kiss my girls."

Maddy stretched up a hand and he helped her to her feet. She wobbled a moment and leaned into him. Jack lifted her chin and kissed her softly.

"I love you, Madison Elaine."

"Take me home and you can kiss the girls all you want."

He grasped a handful of hair and drew her head back. "I'll kiss those girls long before we ever reach Earth," he promised. His eyes searched hers. "I'm sorry I was so rough. It's not what I wanted..."

"It's what we both needed, Caveman," she said softly.

"As soon as we get off this ship..." He let the promise dangle between them.

"Tell me. Put it into words for me, Jack."

Her eyes bored into his, probed the depths of his soul, and for a moment Jack couldn't think. That look did more to calm and assure him than their frantic lovemaking had.

"If I start saying what I'm thinking, we may never get off this ship."

Her slow grin started his heart pounding again.

"Pull my tunic down for me," she purred. "I don't wanna take my hands off you long enough to do it myself."

Jack slowly slid his palms down over her curves, relishing her solid warmth, reminding himself of how he delighted in every inch of her. Her bare bottom was round and firm and he lingered there as he kissed her. Instead of pulling the tunic down, he worked it up over her head. Maddy clicked her tongue, but her eyes were daring him. The tunic dropped to the floor and he moved her back a step so he could look at her. He took in the intricate detail of the exotic flowers, the twining, trailing vines, the colors and lines that seemed to mesmerize him. Rosy nipples that were the heart of each blossom tantalized until he had to taste them. Maddy breathed a soft moan of delight into his ear as his tongue explored and teased.

"The girls missed you too," she sighed.

Jack took one last tug with his lips then raised his head and regretfully held the tunic for her to slip into.

She pouted at him. "You got to get off..."

He grimaced ruefully. "We need to find out where this ship is headed and get off it before we wind up God knows where."

"Always got an excuse..." she teased as she turned to pick up the laser lash.

She bent over and Jack changed his mind. When she straightened he caught her by the hips before she could turn around. She stilled, and he could feel her start to tremble as he slowly eased the tunic back up her body. His hands slid over her contours, tracing the winding vines, making her shiver. He pulled the tunic over her head and dropped it, his lips and tongue following the artwork from her shoulders to the small of her back. He straightened and turned her into his arms. His kiss was light, his passion deep, gentle, reverent.

God, she felt good! A warm, soft bundle of fathomless wonder. Had he forgotten how she felt, to experience her to this degree now? Every curve, every muscle, every fiber of her was newly familiar. The edge gone from his libido, panic and fear of losing her assuaged, his only desire now was to delight her. He needed brand into her soul the fact that he alone could take her to insurmountable heights of ecstasy. Remind her why she belonged to him, why she must always come back to him. Stamp her with his passion as surely as he had a few moments ago.

He eased his woman onto the floor and set out to prove just how much he worshiped her.

Chapter Sixty Four

Maddy and Jack found their way to the bridge. From the number of refugees gathered there, Jack surmised it was all of them. The accountant acknowledged them with a nod and smile. Many of the others, however, did not seemed as pleased to see them. A tall fellow standing behind the pair piloting the ship turned to them with a stern expression. Posture rigid, he wore his tattered rags as if they were a starched uniform. Warning bells went off in the back of Jack's mind.

"What's our course?" Jack asked.

"The Pegasus Galaxy," the man answered shortly.

Jack raised an eyebrow. A glance at the faces staring at him told him a unanimous agreement had been made and any attempt at changing it would be met with force. He felt Maddy shift the laser lash forward and subtly laid a restraining hand on her arm. A glance out the forward view screen told him they weren't yet in hyper space.

"You wanna let us off on Nineteen first?"

"We're not backtracking now."

"Seems the least you could do for us setting you folks free," Jack reasoned. "We don't want to go to the Pegasus Galaxy."

"The next inhabitable planet would do," Maddy suggested.

"Free to go where? Most of us earned our living on Trygar Three. You destroyed it. Drove us into the hands of Trygar Security. Imprisoned us first, put us in the very cages where you found us."

Jack held the man's stare. "You could have gated somewhere else."

"The first to the gate opened it. The rest of us had no choice but to flee to wherever that was. You are a formidable force, O'Neill, but vastly outnumbered upon this ship."

"You haven't met my wife," Jack warned.

"I say we shoot them out a vapor lock!" the squirrelly little man with shifty eyes piped up.

"They'll bring a good price with the Wraith," another argued.

"Do you folks have any idea what the Wraith are?" Jack asked evenly.

The self-imposed leader shrugged casually. "If that slaver traded with them, we will too. The coordinates are preset. The arrangements have probably already been made. We have only to show up and complete the transaction."

"With just the two of us?" Maddy countered. "Or will you cull the weakest outta this bunch to meet the Wraith's demands?"

The leader's eyes narrowed down on her and Jack decided she had guessed correctly.

"Listen to me," he barked. "The Wraith are evil, soul-sucking freaks. They literally eat you from the inside out, draining the very life out of your body just by laying a hand on you. It's how they survive. You can't reason with them, deal with them, trust them, or turn your back on them. We've been fighting the Wraith in the Pegasus Galaxy for..."

"Keldak obviously had an arrangement," the leader interrupted. "We'll take our chances. It's better than being hunted down in the Trygar System- thanks to you."

Several of the criminals edged towards Jack and Maddy. Several more closed ranks behind them, cutting off their escape. Jack met the accountant's gaze and the man looked away.

"A vessel this size must have scout ships," Maddy spoke up. "Give us a fighting chance. You owe me that much for getting the cages open."

"She was the one who freed us," the accountant spoke up timidly. He motioned around his head. "Something inside her brain with signal waves..."

The leader gave Maddy an appraising look. "Perhaps that would make her more valuable to the Wraith."

"It'll make her more valuable to Earth," someone else spoke up. "If the Tau'ri have established themselves in the Pegasus Galaxy, we will be no less hunted there for having them aboard."

"Maybe they can track that thing in her head," another reasoned. "Lead them right to us."

"Another good reason for shooting them out a vapor lock!"

"And have their deaths bring the Tau'ri down on us? It's best we let them go then get away from the Trygar System as fast as possible."

The leader was matching stares with Jack. Finally he nodded.

"We'll let them go..."

Jack felt Maddy sag against him in relief.

"...in escape pods. I won't waste a scout ship."

Jack's heart fell. Shot into space in escape pods wasn't much better than being shot out of vapor locks. He glanced at the navigation screen. They were still in the Trygar System, but he couldn't tell where. Nearing their sun as closely as he could tell, and there seemed to be a few planets and moons near their position. It would be a crap shoot whether or not the pods would enter a gravitational pull that would land them on solid ground. Before they ran out of air or starved to death. Or got sucked into their sun's corona.

"At least give us supplies and weapons."

"You can keep those," the leader indicated the laser lashes. "But we can't spare supplies." He jerked his chin at them then turned his back.

Jack's arms were grabbed and he saw Maddy begin to struggle.

"Babe," he said quietly. When she looked at him he gave a slight shake of his head. Her shoulders slumped and she allowed herself to be led away quietly.

Jack eyed the escape pods and fought down a rising swell of panic. He wanted to avoid Maddy's petrified stare. Her claustrophobia was already kicking in and he tried to appear confident for her benefit.

"Won't be for long, Babe," he encouraged. "We'll land on a planet and be out in no time."

"How do I open it?" she asked frantically. "Do I have to hold my breath?"

The accountant stepped towards a pod and experimented with several internal controls. "There's life support," he promised. "Plenty to get you wherever you land. Look here," he motioned her over. "This button opens the hatch- don't touch it until you're sure you've landed. You don't want to float off into space."

He wasn't helping to ease her panic.

"There's lots of room in there," he went on. "You can move your shoulders, shift your feet..."

Maddy whirled into Jack's arms. "Please! Don't let them do this!"

Jack held her tightly and searched his mind for an alternative. If they could stay aboard, maybe they could overpower...

Maddy was torn from his grasp and shoved into the pod.

"Jack...! NO! Please...!"

Her screams were drown out by the closing of the hatch. A hissing sound told him it had sealed. But he could hear her pounding her fists against the lid. Enraged, he exploded with fists and elbows. Two of his guards went down, a third slammed off a wall. The next man he attacked was armed and Jack went for the weapon. It was a handheld energy device that effectively neutralized everyone he aimed it at. Until white lights exploded in his brain and everything faded to black.

Jack thought he was awake, but nothing had changed so he wasn't sure. It was still totally black, he was still weightless, and the roaring was still filling his ears. He took a couple deep breathes and recognized the taste of recirculated oxygen. His elbow bumped into something solid, so did his knee. He cursed bitterly.

Maddy! God, how was she surviving this? Would they eventually land on a planet, and would it be before they ran out of air? Would the planet have breathable atmosphere? Be covered in lava or ice? Was she still conscious? Had she died of a heart attack? Or suffocation? In her panic, had she opened her pod and... Jack reined in his wild thoughts and kept them in a firm hold. Maddy was tough, strong, smart. After her initial terror, reason would return. She'd be fine. She'd gotten through worse, gotten him through worse. Her fear that he had abandoned her, didn't want her anymore, had been erased.

They had each other to live for again.

They'd land on a planet, find friendly people, there'd be a stargate and they would go home.

Daniel would be looking for them. He might already have pinpointed the slaver's ship and be tracking the pods.

He wasn't destined to die like this. He had just found Maddy and they had so much life to live yet. Dying like this would be too easy, too convenient for the Fates that bedeviled them. God wasn't through with Maddy yet, nor him vicariously through her. He might as well take advantage of this time to rest, gain strength, devise new ways to drive Maddy insane with erotic pleasure.

Because he sure as hell wasn't through with her yet, either.

Chapter Sixty Five

The jolt rattled his teeth. There was a sensation of skidding that vibrated through his body long after the pod came to an abrupt stop. A green light came on above his head casting an eerie glow through his coffin. A prolonged hiss, a metallic click, then blinding light seeped into the pod. Jack took a couple tentative breaths.

Fresh air.

Oh pure, sweet, clean, blessed fresh air!

He blinked into the light, let his eyes adjust, then pushed up on the lid.

Blue sky. The bracing smell of unpolluted air and grass and dirt. He gripped the sides of the pod and levered himself upright.

Grass. Long, green grass rolling gently with the breeze as far as he could see. He stepped out of the pod and peered around for Maddy. His pod had plowed a dark furrow through the lush green, Maddy's must have done the same. It shouldn't be hard to find. Should it?

Qua'sel's voice began spouting statistics on the aerodynamics of uncontrolled weightlessness and percentage ratios and theoretical calculations regarding two objects set adrift in the same area of space.

"La la la la la... I'm not listening to you!" Which direction should he head?

Recalling the way both Maddy and Teal'c picked up a trail, he moved out in a straight line until he could barely see the pod then began an ever widening circle.

The rolling, grassy plain seemed to go on forever. In an environment that should be rife with wildlife he saw not a single creature. Scowling, he increased his pace.

What if her pod hadn't drifted along with his? What if she was still out there? Or had landed on the other side of this planet, moon, whatever it was?

What if her pod had gone the other way- into deep space? The chances of her actually landing anywhere near him were astronomical.

He actually tripped over the furrow before he saw it in the tall grass. Stepping into it, he turned to gaze in both directions. There, a hundred yards away, lay a dark object. Jack took a moment to raise his eyes to the sky.

"You really are everywhere, aren't You?"

He started running.

He heard her voice quietly singing. "Boom boom, ain't it great to be cra-zy? Boom, boom..." Jack grinned and gave in to a moment of sheer relief.

"Maddy," he called, tapping on the lid of the pod.

"Boom, boom, ain't it great..."

The same refrain, over and over, in a dull monotone. Grimacing, Jack tore at the unsealed lid of the pod and pushed it aside. Maddy lay stiff as a board, her knuckles white from gripping the handholds inside the pod, her eyes tightly closed.

"Boom, boom..."

"Maddy!" His yell should have startled her. She didn't budge.

Jack reached in and tried to pry loose her death grip. As soon as he got one finger free it closed around the handle again. He shook her shoulder then patted her face.

"Boom, boom, ain't it great to be cra-zy? Boom, boom..."

"Maddy!"

No reaction. Swearing, Jack used both hands to pry her fingers free and transfer their instinctive grip to his arms. Her nails bit in like talons, the amount of strength in her fingers amazed him. He grabbed her arms and levered her out of the pod. They fell together into the grass, Maddy's body rigid, her muscles quivering under the strain. Her head didn't so much as bob on her neck. Jack gathered her close and rocked her.

"Maddy... Maddy," he crooned into her ear. "It's okay, Babe. You're safe. It's over. You can come back now. Relax, Sweetheart, I've got you..."

He needed water to douse her but had seen none. Come to think of it he didn't have the laser lash he had been promised, either.

"Please don't make me have to slap you, Babe," he coaxed. "Snap out of this."

"Boom, boom..." The monotone never ceased, never changed tempo or range. Her body was as stiff as iron.

He blew in her face, blew in her ear. He pulled her hair- something she hated with a passion. He tweaked her nipples. Kissed her. He couldn't bring himself to slap her. Finally, out of desperation, he clamped his hand over her mouth and nose until she was forced to fight for air. It took her so long to respond that he began to worry she'd simply let herself be suffocated. Then her eyes snapped open and her chest heaved. He let go and called to her.

Maddy came up fighting.

She didn't see him, didn't see her surroundings. In her mind she was still trapped inside the dark confines of the pod floating aimlessly, endlessly, through open space. The morbid monotone stopped but her mouth froze in an open, soundless scream of abject terror. Her eyes were void of everything but stark horror. That vacant, petrified stare spurred him to react.

He slapped her. Hard.

Maddy absorbed the blow without reaction.

Jack grabbed her shoulders and shook her until he was out of breath.

Still no response.

"Madison!" he bellowed.

Nothing.

On the verge of sobbing with frustration and panic, Jack wrapped her close and squeezed her with all his strength.

"Please, Maddy, don't leave me now...! God I need you! Don't do this!" He tried the only other thing that might penetrate her hysteria. "Maddy, you've gotta help me! Get me out of this. You're the only one who can save me, Maddy. Help me! Help me now! Help, Maddy! Don't let me die!"

A flicker of life sparked in her eyes.

"Help me, Maddy! Don't let me die. Don't let go of me...!" He shook her again, watched her eyes, called to her over and over, gave voice to all the panic that had welled up in his chest. "Don't let go of me! Don't let me fall. You have to wake up and help me!"

Her grip shifted, relaxed, then clutched at him anew. But it was different, not as spastic. Her breathing deepened, her eyelids opened and closed as if in slow motion.

"Maddy... Come back to me, Babe," he coaxed. "That's it, listen to me. Hear me. Feel me. Feel the ground, the air, the sunshine. You're safe, it's all over..."

Her eyes focused on his face. She closed her mouth and swallowed dryly. Jack pulled her face to his chest and rocked her.

"God, you scared me! Talk to me, Maddy, say something."

She didn't make a sound, but he could feel her muscles relenting by slow degrees. Their stiffened quivering eased into more of a tremble as her body softened against him. He drew her head back and looked into her eyes. Recognition flickered a moment before her eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted.

"Maddy!" Jack shouted his horror.

She sagged in his arms but her breaths were deep and steady. He felt her pulse and while it was elevated, it was strong and even. Jack groaned his relief into her hair and fell with her back onto the ground. He wrapped himself around her and lay holding her as darkness crept over them.

Maddy was shivering. Jack stirred, took a moment to remember where they were, and smoothed her hair back from her face. She was sleeping hard, but peacefully. There was a dampness in the air and the breeze had cooled. She was cold, might be in shock. He sat up, took off his shirt, and wrapped it around her before drawing her back against his chest and giving her all the warmth he could. He lay rubbing her arms and murmuring into her ear as dawn eased away the chill of night.

Maddy slept through most of the next day. Jack needed to find water but refused to leave her alone. He was afraid to wake her, afraid to face what the experience might have done to her.

Had they survived space in escape pods only to die in this grassy emptiness?

When she finally stirred he watched her closely. She opened her eyes, blinked, then her face crumpled into tears. Jack pulled her close and let her pour out her anxiety. Shoulders quaking and chest heaving, Maddy broke down in a way he had never seen before. Never wanted to see again. He stared into the sky and ached for her.

Finally the sobbing subsided into hiccups that sounded painful. He lifted her chin.

"Hey. Decide to join me yet?"

Her eyes were still troubled but she tried bravely to smile. "Where... where are we?"

"I dunno. Not in space so I'll take it. How do you feel?"

"I ache. All over. My guts hurt. Even my eyelashes ache."

He chuckled and kissed her on the forehead. "No wonder. You were in pretty rough shape when I pulled you out of that pod."

"I don't remember any of it. Just them closing me in..."

"Shhh. It's over. Think about how you're gonna get me off this rock now."

She gave him a short giggle then sniffed and snuggled against him. "Any sign of life? Smoke on the horizon? Ships passing overhead? Neon signs advertising food and drink?"

"Nada."

"Water?" she asked hopefully.

"We need to start looking."

She pulled back and stared at him worriedly. "Shouldn't we stick close to the pods? Won't they have locator beacons...?"

He gripped her shoulders. "If they do, there's a good chance only the mothership will be tuned to that specific frequency. And that shipload of cretins aren't about to come back for us. Besides, given a choice between finding food and water, and sticking around her to wait..."

She nodded and stood up, then groaned when her knees popped.

"Gettin' too old for this?" he taunted.

"Gettin' real tired of it."

He stood and took her hand. "Then let's get our asses home so you can cook me a decent meal while I prop up my feet and fish."

"If you didn't keep me chained to the stove I could teach you how to fish."

"I'm only gonna unchain you long enough to screw your eyes out."

"Tired of chasing me all over the universe?" she asked sweetly.

"If I was, those kinky tattoos would have me after you again."

She tugged on his hand and he turned to look at her.

"Carry me?" she asked hopefully.

"Ask again and I'll spank you."

"Oooh, promise?"

Jack grinned and squeezed her hand as they struck out across the endless, rolling plain.

"Boom, boom..."

Jack gave her hand a sharp tug. "Ahh! I don't think I ever wanna hear that song again!"

She canted him a wounded look.

"Just... come up with something else. Please."

She was quiet for a long while. Then he heard her sing softly, "...south side of the planet, the baddest part of Three, and if you go down there you better just beware of a man named Jack O'Neill..."

Jack threw his head back and laughed. When she got to the chorus he joined in.

What a sight they must make, he thought. Small and insignificant in this vast, desolate grassland of some distant planet in what he hoped was still the Trygar System, no food or water in sight, swinging their clasped hands and singing their hearts out as if they didn't have a care in the world.

Four days later neither of them had the strength to speak let alone sing.

Chapter Sixty Six

"Am I hallucinating," she asked in a low, raspy voice, "Or do I see trees?"

Jack nodded. "Blue haze might be mountains."

It had rained the night before. They had used Maddy's tunic stretched between them to catch enough water to wet their parched throats. But being exposed to the cold, blowing rain had given Maddy a chill and Jack spent the night trying to get her warm. Exhausted as they were, Jack had kept her moving. His wet shirt around her shoulders had been little help against the whipping wind. He had kept her walking in front of him, kept his arms around her, sheltered her with his body as much as he could. His own discomfort ignored, he had fretted over her like a mother hen.

And loved every moment of it.

Had been thankful he had been given the opportunity.

He much preferred that to sitting on a houseboat trying to drink the pain of losing her out of his heart.

"Can we make it?" she asked tiredly. "I'm outta steam."

"Want me to carry you now?" He'd find the strength somewhere.

"No fair. I don't have the energy to enjoy the spanking that would go with it."

"I don't have any oomph to put into a good spanking."

"If I had any energy, I bet I could prove you wrong."

"If I had the energy I'd take you up on that."

"Rain check?"

"Bite your tongue."

"I'd rather bite yours. ...If I had the energy."

Jack scooped a hand around the back of her neck and pulled her into a kiss. She sagged into him and they both staggered.

"Sorry," she murmured.

"I love you." Her smile invigorated him. "Race you to the trees."

"Ready, set... go!" she whispered hoarsely.

Neither of them moved.

"Are we there yet?" she asked.

"No, but I'm beating you."

"Jack... thank you," she said, her eyes searching his.

"For what?"

"For loving me the way you do. For being there for me to depend on, always."

Jack's heart swelled. He lowered his head, paused a breath away from her mouth, gave her a moment to anticipate his touch before he brushed his lips over hers. Her lips were dry, her mouth parched, but he fell into her kiss anyway. The magic she wove around him, the trust and love she radiated over him, were all he needed to forget his hunger and thirst, his exhaustion and soreness.

"You're best thing to happen to me since God invented the opposable thumb," he told her.

Maddy sputtered a laugh. "Thanks- I think. Ready to make that tree line?"

"Yeahsureyabetcha."

"Catch me if you can!" But she walked sedately beside him and he understood that she was trying not to lean against him.

"I catch you yet?" he teased.

"Nope. I'm way ahead with my tunic hiked up around my waist to tease you with my bouncing bare bum."

"Take it all the way off and run backwards."

"It's your fantasy, O'Neill. You can have whatever you want- inside your head."

"Then I want you to trip and fall so I can dive face-first into those awesome flowers."

"You really want me to stay tattooed?"

"For awhile."

"People are gonna stare."

"It'll distract them from watching me hump your leg."

She giggled at that. He drew her head to his shoulder, slipped an arm around her waist, and made her lean on him.

By the time they reached the trees they were leaning on each other.

Chapter Sixty Seven

Jack watched Maddy in the waterfall. The rushing water seemed to give the ornate flowers a life of their own, made them shimmy and ripple and wave. He'd eventually go to her, take her right there in the flowing water, but for the moment he was too transfixed by the sight of her to move.

They had stumbled into the copse of trees last night, gained renewed strength from the sound of water. Cautioning each other to pace their drinking, they had spent the night replenishing their dehydrated bodies. By moonlight they had unwisely gorged on alien berries that hadn't yet had any ill effects.

Maddy leaned her head back and raked her fingers through her hair. The motion raised her breasts, tightened her stomach and his groin. The stinging spray had her nipples standing at attention and Jack's tongue tingling with anticipation. He could taste her shoulders, feel the softness of her thighs against his legs. He'd have her moaning before he took her- the way she moaned so helplessly drove him crazy, heightened his desire. Not that it needed any help. The woman had him shaking again.

He had the insane urge to leap onto that big rock jutting out over the pool, beat on his chest, and yell like Tarzan.

What was it that made her so irresistible to him, absurdly erotic, so irrationally desirable in his eyes? Whatever her lure, it left him with an insatiable hunger that only grew as time passed. This feeling, this craving to be with her went beyond 'love', beyond the need for physical interaction. He fed on her essence the way the Wraith fed on humans, for much the same reason. Without her he was reduced to a hopeless, empty shell. Believing he had lost her forever had proved that. Nearly to the point of no return.

It had to have something to do with the Ancient enhancements, with whatever a blending with the Tok'ra had done to him. Every sense was enhanced, every feeling intensified. His emotions were broadened, deepened, given over to a broad spectrum of dimensions.

Or maybe Maddy had tweaked him like this. Maybe he felt no different from any other human male who had fallen in love with an angel.

His fingers literally itched to touch her. The ache that only she could ease was becoming unbearable.

And yet... simply watching her was incredibly satisfying on a level he never could understand.

To hell with it.

He leaped atop the massive rock, pounded on his chest, and let out a yell that would have intimidated Tarzan himself. It soared above the pounding of the waterfall and echoed through the mountains. As it faded into the distance he stared his intention down at Maddy.

Until his wild call was answered by a deafening, bone-rattling roar.

Jack whirled around, looking wildly for the source of that horrendous noise. Maddy froze in place, her eyes searching as frantically as Jack's. The rock under his feet began to vibrate and the ground started to tremble. Jack made a long dive into the pool and came up beside Maddy.

"What the hell was that?" she gasped.

The vibrations were heavy enough now to cause the churning pool to ripple outward.

"Back under the falls," Jack urged.

They struck for the plunging water and Jack gave Maddy a push as she crawled through the downpour. A ledge gave them a bit of footing and Jack held Maddy pressed to the cliff wall as he peered through the curtain of water.

The roar sounded again, this time right on top of them.

Maddy bit back a scream and rolled wide eyes at Jack as she sank her teeth into her fist. A rancid gust of air blew the falls inward, nearly exposing them. This time the roar threatened to burst their eardrums. Jack winced in pain and mirrored Maddy's attempt to plug her ears. The roaring continued until Jack wanted to scream with it. Gigantic rocks splashed into the pool and a tree fell into the falls, narrowly missing them with it's upper most branches. The vibrations began again, disrupting the flow of the water and leaving gaps that exposed their position. As one Jack and Maddy dove into the tree top. Jack pushed her deeper into the limbs and risked a glance over his shoulder.

It was as close to a T Rex as he ever wanted to see. The mammoth head was frozen in a listening posture, it's beady little eyes moving shrewdly.

"Freeze!" he hissed at Maddy.

The eyes darted in his direction and Jack forced himself not to make eye contact. A lifetime later the beast roared its frustration and swung its body around in the small clearing. Three spiked tails cut a swath through the trees like chainsaws through butter. It moved off a few steps then paused to listen again. Jack remained perfectly still until it had moved out of sight. But its steps were still rattling his teeth as he lowered himself down to where Maddy sat huddled under the tree's trunk.

"Did you see it?" he asked.

She nodded mutely.

"We gotta get outta here. Off this planet. Somehow."

She nodded again.

"Any ideas?"

"Up. We need to climb up out of its reach."

Jack leaned back and stared at the mountainside. It was steep, but afforded plenty of growth for hand holds and cover.

"I'm gonna go get our clothes. Start climbing."

"I'll wait on you."

"Maddy..." he began impatiently.

"I'm not gonna climb through that brush without some protection," she reasoned. "And we're not splitting up. But if it comes back, don't come towards me."

He gave her an arched look.

Maddy clicked her tongue. "Because, Dear, it'll smell me when I shit myself!"

Jack shot her a grin and made his way up through the branches. The ground tremors were subsiding and the pool had stilled. He slipped into the water and tried not to make too much of a ripple as he dog paddled to the bank. The creature left an awful stench in its wake and his nostrils curled as he gathered up their clothes. When he got back Maddy didn't complain about putting on the wet tunic.

"Wear my boots," Jack told her.

She frowned distastefully. "Besides being fourteen sizes too big I hate squishy insoles. You wear them."

"Put them on."

"They'll just make me clumsy. Slow me down."

"They'll protect your feet."

"They'll make me trip all over myself. ...The way they make you trip all over yourself."

He glared at her. "I do not trip all over myself!"

"Hey, I was blaming it on the boots," she shrugged as she turned away from him.

But he caught her glancing at him out of the corner of her eye and rewarded her by whipping the backs of his fingers down over her ass. She had enough presence of mind not to yelp but she grabbed her wickedly stinging rump and turned to him with a nasty gleam in her eye. Jack threw his socks at her.

"At least wear those."

She pivoted on the thick branch and sat down. Then, defiantly holding his gaze, pulled the socks on over her hands.

"Happy?" she asked innocently.

"Contrary bitch."

"I love you too. See if you can keep up without making too much noise, Tanglefoot." She climbed out of the tree and started up the face of the slope.

Jack was still chuckling at her audacity when he finished lacing his boots and started after her.

They were nearly a quarter of the way to the top by sunset. Maddy stopped and waited for him.

"Camp here for the night?"

"Let's work over to the river," Jack suggested. "I'm thirsty."

"I thought about that earlier," she told him pensively, "But I was afraid Mr. T might get thirsty, too. Or some of his cousins."

"I know, Babe, but we have to have water. You got supper cooked yet? Pick up chili dogs along the way? KFC?"

She snorted at him.

"Coconut shrimp?"

"The higher we go the less there is to sample," she fretted. "No more berry bushes."

"Watch for a pterodactyl nest," he suggested brightly. "You can make me eggs for breakfast."

"If you weren't such a damned wimp we could be gorging on T Rex T bones."

Jack laughed at her then sobered. "How are your feet holding up?"

"Fine."

It was too dark to prove her a liar but he intended to make her soak them at the river. He stood and offered her his hand.

"Ready?"

"I'm always ready for you, Big Boy."

"Ah-ah. None of that. They way you moan there's no telling what you'll call in."

She turned into his chest and caught his head in both hands. "I'll bite down on a stick." She laid a sizzling kiss on his mouth that left him reeling as she started off without him.

Damn, but he loved her!

Chapter Sixty Eight

Jack sat staring out over the broad expanse of forest where prehistoric creatures of every imaginable shape and color were browsing. Some browsed on tree tops, some browsed on each other. A few glided through the air like living 747s. Maddy came to stand by his side on the rocky outcrop. She ran her hand over his head and he tugged her down beside him. The sun was setting on the semi-tranquil scene, the beginnings of a thick mist starting to roll in and hide all but the tallest of the creatures.

"Figure out what it is yet?"

Jack raised his eyes to the distant mountain peak where a strange disturbance seemed to keep the atmosphere in constant turmoil.

"No. Last time I saw something even remotely like that was live frame-by-frame video of a black hole. But we'd feel the pull from here. And stuff would be getting sucked into it. That mountain, for starters. Sometimes it seems low enough to touch the snow caps."

"Maybe it's a temporal anomaly in the space-time continuum," she quipped.

He glanced at her. "Channeling Quasi... or Meret?"

"Data. Had to do with subspace rifts and spatial ruptures. Picard gave him the same look you're giving me."

He bumped her shoulder with his. "Then have Scotty beam you up and see what their sensors say it is."

"We could go get a closer look."

"You wanna cross that?" he indicated the scene below.

"We could work across the mountains."

"Take forever."

"You got anything better to do?"

"Be rough going."

"No rougher than staying here."

"What if it sucks us in?"

"We'll throw a rock first, see what happens."

He grunted then kissed her head. "Let me watch it awhile. We're safe here, for now."

A disturbance below drew their attention. T Rex exploded through the trees, snapping and grabbing at everything within reach. The other creatures bolted and began a thunderous stampede in every direction. The entire mountain seemed to shake. Maddy edged closer and Jack slipped an arm around her.

"What are you thinking?" she asked at length.

"What, you smell smoke?"

She laughed softly and bussed him on the cheek.

"I was thinking," he said as he absently stroked his beard, "That if I could get down there and back fast enough, Ole T Rex's leftovers might make a decent supper."

"Ewww."

"Since when did you get squeamish?"

"Since you said you wanna eat what falls out of a dinosaur's mouth."

"He doesn't waste any time picking up the small parts. What's small for him would feed us for a week."

"As far away as that is, it'd be rotten before we got it back up here."

"We could eat down there."

"All you can eat pre-masticated dinosaur buffet. With us as his dessert. Uh, I'll pass."

"He's just tenderizing it for us."

"Ewww, Jack!"

"Maybe we could set some sort of trap..."

"Nothing down there is smaller than a woolly mammoth!"

He shrugged. "We can't see what's beneath the tree canopy."

"Because anything smaller than a woolly mammoth gets eaten!"

"The cavemen did it."

"You just keep your inner caveman confined to the bedroom, O'Neill!"

Without warning he had her flat on her back and was mauling her mouth. Maddy squirmed and squealed under his onslaught. When he felt he had exacted sufficient punishment he raised up and stared at her.

"I'm getting tired of pine nuts, toad stools, and roots."

Maddy gasped and drew the back of her hand across her lips. After catching her breath she said, "Did you notice how there wasn't a rabbity-type animal in the whole of that grassy plain where we landed? Because something down there is eating everything."

"Or they haven't evolved yet..."

"Because they keep getting eaten," she insisted.

Jack hauled her back up into a sitting position and sat idly fiddling with her hair. "Maybe there's a restaurant over on that other mountain range."

"Or maybe we'll get sucked back into space. Without escape pods."

"I thought you wanted to go!" he complained.

"I did- until I saw that," she indicated the raging carnivore.

"If we stick to high ground we should be okay. So far we've seen nothing up here. The sides of this mountain must be too steep for them to climb."

"What if up here goes down there before it goes back up there?"

"Huh?"

"You heard me."

"All we can do is scout it out and see. If the two ranges aren't connected and you don't wanna go across, we can come back. Besides, you could use the exercise."

"You can't be insinuating that I'm gaining weight on this diet!"

"What did you just call me?" he demanded hotly.

She smacked him on the shoulder and he grinned.

"Am I getting fat?" she pouted.

"Now I didn't say that!" he defended. "I said you could use some exercise."

"Why?"

"You aren't as limber..."

"As what? I had my ankles locked around your neck not an hour ago! What more do you want?"

"I wanna see if you can tuck them behindyour own neck."

Her jaw sagged. He gently pushed her mouth closed.

"Go suck a lemon?" he asked.

She blinked at him. "My...own...neck?" She shook her head in wonder. "Jack O'Neill, you've done gone a bubble left of plumb."

"You've never heard of that before?"

"Not pertaining to me!" she warned. "Ouch."

He sighed with long-suffering patience. "Ah, well, it was just a suggestion..."

"If I thought I could do it without breaking something, I'd try just to call your bluff. ...Nice try, but why do you really think I need exercise? Am I putting on weight?"

"No, Dear."

"Don't lie to me just because we're stranded on a prehistoric planet!"

Jack sighed. After all this time, the many ways he'd proved his devotion to her, she still fretted that he'd lose interest if she gained an ounce. It irked him.

"You just can't let that go, can you?" he said a bit more sharply than he intended. "When will you get it through your head that I don't give a damn what you weigh! In fact, Maddy, I like you best with a little more meat on your bones. What Meret did to your body was no favor to me. But if it makes you feel better about yourself, then keep it that way. Keep your body however you need to, Maddy, and I'll still drill it every chance I get!"

She rocked back from him, blinking in surprise. He canted her a sidelong look.

"It was a joke, Maddy. Nothing more. No hidden criticism, no agenda. Hell, when have you ever known me to actually utilize subtleties?"

"About the time you started using words like 'utilize' and 'subtleties'," she murmured.

He grunted at her for that. They sat in strained silence until well after darkness swallowed the carnage still going on below. Maddy heaved a sigh.

"I'm sorry, Jack."

He thought about that. "Do you even know what you're apologizing for?"

He heard her sigh again. "You'd better tell me so we can get past this and on to the make-up sex."

Jack shook his head. "Maddy..." He stopped and composed himself. He didn't want to berate her, but this was one issue that really got under his skin. "I love you. I love your body. It really pisses me off when you obsess about your weight, how you think I think you look. Or should look. When is it gonna sink in that I'm so friggin' wrapped up in you that I don't even notice if you gain or lose?"

Her silence was deafening.

"God, Maddy, I was a wreck when I thought you were dead." The memory made him rake his fingers through his hair. "I couldn't stand the idea of not ever being with you again. Not once did it cross my mind to clarify that with a weight limit! Here I am, unable to function, literally unable to exist without you... and you think that's contingent on whether or not you put on a few pounds. How damned shallow do you think I am?"

He gnawed on the inside of his lip, angry and not wanting to be.

"Men are aesthetic creatures," she said slowly. "If a woman isn't physically pleasing to their particular eye, they just aren't interested. You can't deny it, Jack: Intellect and compassion and character don't inspire erections."

"When don't I have an erection? Doesn't that tell you something?"

"It tells me I'll do anything to keep it that way. The shape I was in when you opened that pod would be nothing compared to how I'd be if I ever saw rejection in your eyes."

It was his turn to sigh. "You don't have to work that hard, Maddy. Didn't Qua'sel tell you anything?"

"Yeah, actually he did."

He didn't like the tone of her voice and waited for the other shoe to drop. When she didn't elaborate he swore.

"What? What could he possibly have left with you that would reinforce such a ridiculous idea?"

"The memories are there, Jack. All I have to do is access them," she said quietly. "What you really think when you see a fat woman..."

"You aren't fat! You never were!"

"... and what you really think when you see women like Uma Thurman and Mary Steenburgen."

"That was a running gag between me and SG1, damn it! Carter and Daniel were so damned curious about me and I played the hell out of being the 'enigma'. I threw them a bone. A completely fictitious bone! I got one hell of a kick out of watching them gnaw over it like two starving puppies! I've told you that over and over and over..."

"A bone with plenty of meat, Jack. Qua'sel knew the truth."

"Like what?"

"Like how you felt when Margie Baker had a crush on you in high school."

Margie Baker. A face out of his distant past flashed into his mind. She had been pudgy- well, more than pudgy- but that hadn't been what disgusted him. She had greasy hair, buck teeth, dirty nails, an awful odor, and a reputation for putting out for an ice cream bar. And she had hounded him insistently. Followed him down the hallways, stared at him through lunch, sat beside him in study hall. All his friends had teased him mercilessly, even after Margie Baker had moved to a different school.

"Damn it, Maddy..."

"Or the thoughts that went through your mind after Sara had Charlie."

That sobered him. Sara had had a rough time losing her baby weight and it hadn't been attractive to him. He had also experienced a drop in sexual desire that came with knowing she was a mother. He had worked through both issues by himself, inside his own head, without letting Sara or anyone else know about his ambivalent feelings. Damn Qua'sel for giving them to Maddy- and her for using them to reinforce her own imaginary angst.

He threw both hands in the air. "Fine. There's no changing your mind, Maddy. No convincing you. Go ahead and obsess about your weight. I don't know what else to say." He stood and started to storm away.

"Jack?" The faint panic in her voice stopped him in his tracks but he didn't turn around. "Please don't go away mad and leave me alone here. I... I'm sorry I opened my mouth. Sorry I got my back up. I know you love me. I know you're a better man than..."

"Your ex?" he bit out harshly. He had a lot of her memories, too, and many of them were too painful for him to dwell in.

"I was going to say than 'that'. ...But him, too. Better than any man I've ever known. Please don't be mad at me." She paused for a moment. "I know this obsession is my problem. It's wrong of me to shove it off on you. You've done nothing to deserve that."

Jack's shoulders drooped. He exhaled loudly and turned to lean against a tree. "Those memory implants. They won't let you forget anything, will they?"

"No."

"Then think back, Maddy. Get into my memories and go back to when we first met."

"I don't want to."

"Why?" he asked roughly. "What's there that bothers you?"

"Nothing. I just hate invading your privacy. It seems so... wrong."

Jack's heart went out to her. All the reassurance she needed was right there inside her head, but she opted to protect him. Put him first. He moved off the tree, settled down behind her, and pulled her back against his chest.

"Your memories inside my head were all that kept me going," he said into her ear. "Tell you what. I'll access yours and you access mine. We'll both go back to the night we met."

He felt her stiffen. "Maybe that's not such a good idea."

"Why? Something there you don't want me to know?"

She shrugged. "I don't remember."

"Bullshit. Maddy, I've been there countless times. I love those first memories of us. Do this, for me."

She sighed and started to relax. "I hate opera."

"I know."

"It was raining."

"You thought I was going to hassle you. Try to take charge when you knew you could handle it. You were frustrated that you had to me to watch out for along with the horses."

"You... were so drawn to me," she said in wonder. "Right off the bat. Dark and all, you wanted me before you really got a good look at me."

"You've never touched on those memories before?" he asked skeptically.

Her hair tickled his nose when she shook her head. "It didn't seem... right."

"Nobody's that principled," he taunted. "Not inside their own head."

"I've never accessed them."

"Because you were afraid of what I thought. Afraid of being hurt." He tightened his grasp. "Trust me, Maddy." He slipped his fingers into the hair at her temples and massaged slow, tender circles. "Trust me. Do this for me. So you'll know."

She took a deep breath. Jack kissed her ear then dropped his hands to her breasts and took gentle liberties that he hoped would distract her enough to let her guard down.

"You knew you were in trouble when you looked into the back of my truck."

"Mmm hmm."

"You couldn't take your eyes off me." Then she giggled. "You really thought you were hiding those hard-ons you kept getting. Geeze, Jack, I could tell!"

He snorted softly. "Does that tell you anything?"

"That you were more naive than I was?"

"That I wanted you. I thought you were the most gorgeous creature I'd ever seen."

"You thought my shoulders would have made a linebacker jealous."

"But I loved them."

"You wanted to taste them?"

"They drove me crazy. So did your legs. And hair. And boobs."

"You couldn't get enough of my eyes..."

"I still can't."

"I'm sorry, Jack. It's all in my head. I know that."

"I know that, too," he said evenly. "I'm not nearly so principled and I have nowhere near your self control. You've been hurt, Maddy. All your life. But not by me. You need to let it go."

Her tears fell hot on his arms. "I've tried, Jack. It's just that I love you so much! You deserve perfection..."

"Stop that. Your idea of perfection and mine are miles apart."

She drew in a sobbing breath. "I love you so much I can't stand it sometimes."

"I know exactly what you mean."

"Do you really get weak in the knees?"

"When all the blood rushes to my..."

She stopped him with a giggling kiss. He dragged her down onto the ground turned it into a hot, seductive kiss.

The whirling, gyrating expanse of space above the second mountain peak abruptly shifted and expanded. It's shape was elliptical, not rounded. Jack had only seen one end. He hadn't fathomed the size of the rift, nor its scope. Nor had he anticipated its sweeping arc, pivoting as if the end Jack observed was an axis. The anomaly drifted in a lazy spiral around the peak, its path ever widening, touching only the upper reaches of the mountain range. Neither Maddy or Jack saw the ship that came in and out of view as the anomaly circled the mountain top.

Jack kissed Maddy on the cheek. Propped on one elbow, he watched her face in the moonlight. He loved to watch Maddy sleep. It gave him a chance to drink in her features, absorb some of her angelic aura without making her self conscious. It always gave him a sense of calm, of filling himself with something vital that he could only draw from her.

It hurt that she couldn't give him her deepest, most painful fear. Anger flared in his belly, anger that anyone could have scarred her so deeply, so irrevocably. She had such a good heart, such tender compassion, such depth of understanding. She understood him. And loved him anyway. Why was it so hard for her to accept that he could love her in the same way? Sometimes, like now, his love for her was a sweet, physical ache.

Unbidden came the question Maddy had raised earlier. Had he hurt Sara the way Tom had hurt Maddy? He had certainly never voiced his opinion the way Tom had, but women had an uncanny sense when it came to men having negative thoughts about their looks. He had been full of himself back then, fresh off black ops missions, pretty damned impressed with himself. In his arrogance he hadn't bothered to dig more deeply into his relationship with Sara other than he loved her and was devoted to the mother of his child. The very fact that he revered her as a mother had quelled his desire until he had worked past it.

Had he worked past it, or had her determination to get herself into shape after Charlie's birth been what had renewed his attraction?

To his credit he could honestly say he never stopped loving her. He just wasn't as anxious to have sex the way he had in the beginning of their relationship. Had been satisfied, comfortable. Complacent. As Maddy would say, the novelty had worn off. It was what Maddy feared the most- the normal, natural progression of a relationship as a marriage marched into time. He hadn't gotten bored with Sara, but had blindly traded spark for contentment.

Damn Qua'sel for saddling him with insight and depth.

He thought about it and decided that if he had hurt Sara, offended, or censured her early in their marriage, he was confident he had more than made up for it. Up until the time of Charlie's death they had been content, happy. At peace with each other and the world around them. Still, he couldn't shake the guilt of having done to Sara even a portion of what Tom had done to Maddy.

But his relationship with Sara had been over long before he received the Ancients' enhancements, before Qua'sel had healed every damn thing that was going wrong with him.

Before Maddy.

Before this angelic fireball had blown to hell all his preconceived notions of 'love'.

He lifted her hand and kissed each of her knuckles. Maddy slept on. That was so unlike her- Maddy was a very light sleeper. He imagined she hadn't had a really good, uninterrupted, peacefully protected sleep in a long time. She would have been on her guard, always vigilant, sleeping with one eye open in order to survive. It was a good feeling to know he could give her this, that she trusted him to watch over and protect her in this vulnerable state of deep sleep.

Then again, he had just given her a vigorous workout. The thought brought a wolfish smile to his face. God, how he loved to pleasure this woman! What she did for him was incredible, beyond description, at times defying all laws of probability. And yet his greatest satisfaction came from giving to her. Maddy was all heart, full of fire and passion, and she made love with an abandon that thrilled him. She had fretted that he would get bored with her, that the novelty would wear off- a legacy, no doubt, stamped on her by a first, failed marriage. A legacy he had lived once and hadn't even realized it. Her fears had been reinforced by articles in magazines and endless talk shows that warned and predicted and offered preventative advice. And yet, after all these years, he still couldn't get enough of her. He and Maddy, they defied all the laws, all the probabilities.

Jack nestled his scruffy cheek into her palm. He was putty in her hands. At an age where life and experience had made him cynical, skeptical, and hard, this woman had breezed in and claimed him heart, mind, and soul. Unbidden, the agony of having thought he lost her stabbed through him and he closed his eyes against remembered anguish.

"I love you so much," he whispered into her palm. "Don't ever leave me. I know now I won't survive without you."

He squeezed his eyes shut against their burn and shifted to lay down beside her. He needed her in his arms, needed to fill that aching emptiness that had been such torment. Maddy sighed in her sleep and curled into him. Moonlight made the flower tattoos stand out in vivid relief. Jack traced a wandering, twining vine across her thigh, up over her hip, and across her stomach. He couldn't resist the pink bud that was the heart of the flower encompassing her breast. Still puckered and tight, the hard nub responded to his touch, stood up and begged to be tasted. Jack knew he couldn't resist its lure for long, but he wanted Maddy to sleep. He let his hand wander down over her gently rounded belly and let it rest there, loving the feel of warm, soft skin. Maddy sighed again and shifted onto her side, nestled her rear tightly against him, and used his arm as a pillow. Jack kissed the yellow flower on her shoulder as his hand crept across her hip.

"I want you," he whispered into her ear. "Love me, Maddy."

He eased her leg back over his and lightly walked his fingers over the buttons that would fire her desire. She shivered in his arms and made a small sound of pleasure. He rocked his hips against her, showing her he was ready, warning her, taunting her. She shifted, took him between her thighs and whined softly.

Jack accessed her memories, searched for those painful interludes that had hurt her so deeply, sought to understand them so he could fix them for her. Do or say something that would peel the scars off her self image so that she could be as comfortable, as content, with herself as he was. Thoughts of Sara, of his arrogance in judging her if only for a short time, still nagged him. She never deserved to feel the brunt of his hubris.

He could do battle with alien forces, navigate spacecraft across the vast expanse of space, step through a stone ring and end up on another planet, match wits with aggressive alien species- but he couldn't escape basic human nature. How ironic that after everything he'd been through, survived, seen, done, and learned, the basic human fear of rejection was still an undefeated enemy.

The moonlight seemed to come alive. It danced swirling light over her tattoos, bringing them to life, drawing Jack's attention. He took her gently, settled in deep, shivered in delight as she closed around him. He nipped her shoulder blade and closed a hand over her breast before glancing up at the sky.

The moon seemed to shimmer and wave through an undulating curtain, not unlike heat rising from a chimney. Jack knew immediately that the anomaly had shifted, was going to swallow them. It was directly overhead, distorting the leaves on the lower branches not ten feet above them and was lowering fast.

He closed his eyes.

There was no time to escape, nowhere to run. Even a frantic roll would not carry them out of its path. The only possibility would be to throw themselves off the cliff- a hundred foot drop onto jagged rocks that could only end in death.

If this was to be the end, let Maddy die without fear and panic.

He eased her onto her stomach so she wouldn't see what was descending upon them. He kissed her ear and nuzzled her neck. He needed to give her the one peace within herself that she had been denied her all her life. He touched on the memories of what had hurt her so deeply and tried to find a way to ease those in what time there was left. There was no easy fix, no few words that would convince her. Why had he waited so long to try and right such a harsh wrong for her? How could he have blown it off so casually when it had affected her so deeply?

"I love you, Maddy. Forever and always." His voice caught in his throat. "You're my life, in this world and the next. Don't ever leave me..."

The swirling rift was right above them now, so close Jack could have reached up and touched it. There was no sensation, no sound, no warning as it swept them into its ethereal vortex.

Chapter Sixty Nine

Jack found himself behind the wheel of his truck.

He slammed on the brakes and sucked in a harsh breath, then sat there trying to clear his head.

He still had an erection, still felt the sensation of Maddy's body clenching him tightly. His brain was spinning and he was entirely off balance.

He was fully dressed in clothes that weren't unfamiliar. The radio was blaring his favorite opera. The windshield wipers were doing little to clear away the pounding downpour. It was night, an inky darkness stabbed-through by strobes of lightning. The hair on his arms stood up as static electricity swept over him. A hellacious crack drew his eyes to the rearview mirror in time to see a tree explode in a vivid shower of sparks and wood. The tree started to topple and Jack floored it. The tires spun in the mud, skewed the truck sideways. He eased off the accelerator, gained traction, then moved forward. The massive tree thundered across the road directly behind him, showering the truck with debris.

Jack stared ahead, worrying a strange sense of deja vu. The truck was making little forward progress so he stopped.

He could still smell Maddy's scent, feel her residual warmth on his skin. Where was she? Was she alright? Where had the anomaly sent them and why wasn't she with him? And where the hell was he?

He shouldered the door open against the gusting wind and stepped out into the driving rain.

"Maddy!" He walked back along the truck, holding on as he slipped and slid in the mud. "Maddy!"

Even if she were close by she'd never hear him. He made his way back to the cab. He sat there, staring through the rain swept windshield, trying to remember. This was familiar. His truck, the opera, the storm, that tree; it all seemed to fit... somewhere. He turned off the CD and turned on the radio.

The announcer was just giving an update on the storm. Jack gripped the wheel and divided his attention between the road and the radio. The headlights cut a fuzzy path across a sharp bend ahead. It hit him even before the announcer mentioned the town.

This was the road to his cabin in Minnesota.

Maddy was around that bend with a wrecked horse trailer and two frightened horses!

They'd been sent back in time? Had that actually been a temporal rift in the space-time continuum? Why did he still have all his memories? Would he meet himself up ahead, in an identical truck? Two Maddys?

"Fuck!"

He hit the gas and fish-tailed, swore again, then impatiently coaxed the truck forward. He knew what to expect now, knew what would happen.

Would he inadvertently change his own history? The implication knocked the air out of his chest. Could he make things play out exactly as they had so many years ago? Maddy would remember too, and they'd figure it out. She'd remember better than him, even without Loki's implants.

But when Jack rounded the bend there was no white truck, no horse trailer hanging over the bank by the hitch. Scowling, peering through the driving rain, Jack put the truck into park and sat thinking.

What was happening? Why wasn't Maddy here? Where was she, if not here where they were supposed to meet for the first time? Instead of his own past, was this an alternate time line, an alternate universe? A universe where he and Maddy never met?

"What the hell..."

There was an odd light against the trees, dim, angled upward. Jack's heart leaped into his throat as he jumped out of the truck. Slipping and nearly going down half a dozen times, Jack raced for the bank. A brilliant flash of lightning showed him the white truck and horse trailer, both on their sides, at the bottom of the ravine.

"Maddy...!"

Jack went over the edge in a headlong rush for the wreck. He stopped himself against the undercarriage of the truck and vaulted onto its side. Lashed by wind driven rain, he wrenched the door open.

There were two people inside. He couldn't tell if one of them was Maddy or not, but the one who had been driving was a man. The roof of the cab had folded around a tree and was dented in, but hadn't collapsed all the way in on the occupants.

"Hey!" Jack shouted. "Answer me if you're still alive!"

There was a moan but no movement. Then Bonnie clawed her way out from under the two people.

Jack crawled around to the hood. The windshield had shattered, covering the interior with pebbled glass. The driver groaned again and tried to move.

"Hang on," Jack told him. "How badly are you hurt?"

"Busted up," the man grunted. "Bonnie?"

Jack's heart stopped. "Can you sit up? Who's in there with you?"

A bloody hand felt along the dash then grabbed the steering wheel and the man levered himself upright.

"Maddy," he croaked. "Get my wife out."

His wife? Jack battled down a surge of panic and reached through the windshield to grope for his wife.

"Maybe we shouldn't move her..." the man said as he tried to lift the Boxer over the dash.

Jack gently drew the dog through the windshield and steadied her on the fender. Was this Tom? Maddy's first husband? Or some other man she had married in whatever friggin' universe this was?

"We can't leave her there and there's a big, honkin' tree across the road," Jack growled. "Can you help me lift her up some?"

Between them they got Maddy's limp body hoisted upright. The headlights were getting dimmer by the minute. The man shut them off and turned on the dome light.

Maddy had a gaping, bleeding gash across her face and blood was seeping from another above her ear. She was covered in glass and both her own blood and the man's. Her head lolled on her neck and Jack gently braced it against the back window. He felt for a pulse and it was strong.

"Maddy," he called. "Can you hear me?"

There was no response. The man began clamoring out through the windshield and Jack helped as best he could.

"Ouch! Arm's broken. Maybe my leg."

He managed to sprawl across the fender and was lowering himself to the ground as Jack levered Maddy through the window.

"She alive?" the man asked.

"Yes. Give me a hand here," Jack demanded.

"Only got one." The man lifted the dog off the fender then helped steady Maddy as Jack leaped down.

"I'll take her up to my truck," Jack told him. "Can you make it?"

"If I crawl. Leg's in bad shape. Listen, Buddy, you aren't gonna carry her up that hill. She ain't what you'd call 'petite'."

"Stay put. I'll come back for you."

"Don't even try it," Maddy's husband insisted. "Lay her here and get something to cover her with from the back of the truck. I'll stay with her while you go for help."

"What part of 'big honkin' tree across the road' did you miss?" Jack demanded. "We can call for help, but it's gonna be at least a day before that road is passable. No chopper is gonna fly in this storm."

The man swore. "If we can get the trailer unhooked, maybe we can use your truck to pull this one back onto its wheels. Then we can ride this out in the cap. She's got blankets and pillows back there, a first aid kit..."

"And I've got a cabin." Jack levered Maddy across his shoulders in a fireman's carry and started up the hill.

"You're a better man than I am," he heard the man mutter.

"Damn straight," Jack answered under his breath. He was glad the man couldn't follow. He wanted time alone with Maddy, wanted to see if he could revive her, wanted to see what she remembered.

Wanted her help figuring all this out.

"Come on, Bonnie," he coaxed the dog. "Come with your momma."

He watched the dog move and decided she hadn't been hurt too badly, if at all. That was a relief. From the looks of that trailer the horses hadn't been as lucky. They should be thrashing, fighting. There was no sound.

It was a hell of a lot harder going up the muddy slope with Maddy slung across his shoulders than it had been coming down. She was a good bit heavier than he remembered. He went down to his knees every few steps and the whipping rain nearly blinded him. He was gasping when he reached the truck and took a moment to catch his breath.

Maddy moaned and stirred, then screamed and clutched at him.

"Easy! I've got you!"

She was still fighting, still experiencing the accident. Maybe trying to figure out why she wasn't still making love to him on an alien planet. She was going to knock them both back down over the hill.

"Maddy! Be still!" he shouted.

She stilled. He felt her gasping, clinging to him.

"We'll get you into the truck and see how badly you're hurt."

"The horses! Tom! I've got to go back..."

Tom? Was this not his Maddy? Didn't she remember...? Jack groaned his frustration and disappointment. Maddy took it the wrong way.

"Set me down. I'm too heavy," she said sourly.

"Shut up," he said, matching her tone.

He got the door open and dumped her onto the seat as gently as he could. Bonnie scrambled past him and onto the seat to lean hard into Maddy. The interior lights showed him a lot of blood and no recognition in her eyes. She hugged the dog close and fought back tears.

"Thank you. For helping us."

He nodded as he examined her cuts. "Anything feel broken?"

She shook her head impatiently and tried to push past him. "Tom? The horses..."

"Maddy, Tom's out and standing. I... haven't heard any kicking from the trailer. It's not a good sign. Sit here. I'll go back and help Tom up the slope- after I check on the horses."

"I'm coming..."

"No you're not. Let me do this."

"There's a .30-.30 in the back of the truck if you need to..." Her voice caught and Jack's heart went out to her. Would that be Taco and Chimmy in the trailer? He couldn't imagine they had come through such a bad wreck unscathed. The lack of noise and movement was a strong indication that he wouldn't need a gun.

"I'll handle it," he told her. "Maddy, look at me."

She peered at him through her tears.

"You... don't recognize me?"

"Should I? I'm sorry..."

Jack shook his head. "Never mind. I'll be back as soon as I can." He grabbed a flashlight from the glove box and headed back to the wreck, thinking hard as he made his way down the slope.

This wasn't good. He needed to talk to Carter. And Daniel. Daniel had been through an alternate universe episode- he'd have an inkling of what they should do. Would he run into himself here? Would his body freak out the way AU Carter's had because of the real Carter?

Oh, God, please don't let Maddy be back on that planet alone!

First things first. He slid against the truck next to Tom and caught his breath.

"How you doing?" he asked.

"About drowned."

"I'm gonna check the horses. Then we'll go up."

"They gotta be dead. Is Bonnie okay?"

Jack didn't answer. It pissed him off that he asked about the dog and not his wife. He crawled onto the side of the trailer and shined the light through the broken window. It was a tangled mess of horseflesh. Both of them were dead. He recognized Taco's blazed face and cringed.

How was this going to change things, and what was his role in this alternate time line? Did he even have a role here? If he had to leave, where would he go? And how? Would that quantum mirror Daniel found get him back to Maddy, and could he do something, take something with him that would get them rescued? Damn it, there was no quantum mirror on that prehistoric planet. Son of a bitch.

His Maddy or not, she was going to take this hard.

He made his way back to Tom.

"They're dead. Let's go."

Tom leaned on him as they scrambled up the slope. At the truck the man went directly to Maddy.

And reached past her to pet the dog.

Jack fought down both anger and jealousy as Tom finally gripped Maddy's chin and turned her head side to side. He had been far more gentle with the dog.

"There's a lot of blood."

"Head wounds always bleed a lot. You okay?"

"Couple broken bones. Taco and Burrito are dead. Probably for the best, Mads. They aren't suffering."

She nodded bravely and touched his arm. He winced and pulled away.

"Ouch, damn it! I told you I'm busted up!"

She slid over. "Can you get in?"

"Gimme a hand- easy! I'm not one of your friggin' horses!"

He hauled himself into the truck and they both stared at Jack. Jack realized he should be getting them to the cabin and shook off his confusion. As he put the truck into gear Maddy gasped.

"The cell phone! We'll need it to call for help. Let me out- I'll go back down..."

"I've got a cell," Jack told her. He glanced over her head at Tom. Maddy's husband was sagged against the door, his head resting on the window. He saw Maddy reach towards him, saw him brush her hand away. She folded her hands in her lap and bent her head. Bonnie wiggled in between them and sat panting nervously.

"Thank you. For helping us," she said to Jack. "If you hadn't come along we might have been down there for days."

"No problem. We'll be to my cabin in a few minutes."

A lot faster than the last time he lived through this. Last time the truck hadn't gone over the embankment, she had rode Taco through the storm, and Jack had fallen in love.

With Maddy under his good shoulder, Tom limped into cabin. It irked Jack that the man would accept her help, lean so heavily on her, when she was hurt too. He had to remind himself that this wasn't his Maddy. She belonged to Tom. His Maddy had been long divorced from Tom, had still carried the scars of that relationship. Did this Tom hurt this Maddy the same way? He needed to stay out of it, needed to remember that this wasn't his life, his Maddy, his universe. He called to Bonnie and unlocked the door.

Jack helped Maddy get Tom into the bathroom and left them alone. He carried in the sacks of groceries that he knew would be in the back of his truck and busied himself making coffee and heating canned soup. He listened shamelessly to the pair arguing in the bathroom.

"...hurts, damn it! Let me do it!"

"I'm sorry," Maddy soothed. "Sit down and I'll get your boots off."

There was a thump and another string of low oaths. "Take it easy, damn it! I can feel the bone grating... Get your big ass outta my way!"

She said something muffled and Tom seemed to be groaning through clenched teeth. Bonnie padded up to him and Jack knelt down to check her over.

"This blood doesn't seem to be yours," he murmured. "You okay, Girl?"

She licked his hand.

Jack fondled her ears for a moment, his mind on the conversation in the bathroom.

"...all your fault, Maddy! I told you we shouldn't come here! All that money down the drain- and now the truck and trailer both are shot! How the hell are we gonna pay the bills if I can't drive? Huh? It's gonna cost a fortune to get that rig up outta there, and you'd better start thinking about how to dispose of those horses! That's gonna cost a bundle, too."

"My paycheck..."

"Your paycheck won't cover squat! Plan on selling those damned horses because we sure as hell can't afford them now. And this property you're so damned set on seeing- it goes, Maddy. It might bring enough to feed you- at least for a day."

"The insurance will cover the truck," she placated. "Can you lift your arm?"

"Ouch! And this time we're getting the truck I want. That piece of shit is the reason we wrecked."

"Tom, we'll sell the property. It should bring enough to almost pay off the rig."

"Which is what we should have done instead of dragging horses here to check it out in the first place!"

"Turn around."

"Ouch, damn it! I'll dry it. Go make sure Bonnie isn't hurt. If something happens to her, so help me, Maddy..."

The door closed. Jack rose and turned to stir the soup. Maddy bent down to run her hands over the dog.

"I checked her over," Jack said gently. "She seems to be alright." He turned and anger narrowed his eyes. She hadn't touched the blood, mud, or glass covering her from head to foot.

She caught his long look and blushed. "I'll go outside and shake off this glass..."

"Maddy!" Tom yelled.

She turned towards the bathroom instead.

"There's a spare bedroom across from the bathroom," Jack offered.

She threw a smile over her shoulder. "Thanks."

The man berated her in a low, angry voice all the way into the bedroom. Jack slammed the wooden spoon onto the stove and took a steadying breath. The alternate Maddy appeared a moment later.

"We smell coffee..." she grimaced apologetically.

"Help yourself." Jack got three mugs out of the cupboard. "Shouldn't you get cleaned up first? See how bad those cuts are?"

She touched her head. "It's stopped bleeding."

"No, it hasn't. Go get in the shower. I'll find you something to wear."

"Have you made that call yet? He's in a lot of pain. Those bones need be set."

"I'll do it now," Jack assured her. "What do you need?"

Her sigh spoke volumes and he could see she was losing another battle with tears. He couldn't help himself. He put his arms around her.

"I'm glad you're okay," he told her.

For just a moment she leaned into him. Then she quickly pulled away and poured a cup of coffee. He watched her carry it down the hall then fished out his cell phone.

"I don't need a pillow under it!" Tom barked. "Just leave it alone!"

Jack grimaced as he dialed 911.

Maddy had no sooner stepped into the shower when Tom called for her again. Jack walked down the hall and paused beside the bathroom door.

"Get cleaned up, Maddy," he instructed. "I'll see what he needs." He went on into the spare bedroom.

Tom was propped against the headboard, a sheet drawn across his thighs. His tattered clothes were in a wet, muddy pile on the floor. Jack managed a bland expression.

"What do you need?" he asked evenly.

"Isn't she outta there yet?"

"What can I do for you?" Jack repeated.

Tom shook his head. "She'll do it when she'd done." He raised his voice. "Sometime tonight!"

"She's hurt too," Jack reminded. "Cut her some slack."

Tom's eyes flared angrily. "Neither of us would be hurt, those two horses would still be alive, and we'd still have a truck and trailer if she hadn't wanted to blow her inheritance coming here!"

"What's your point?" Jack shot back. "Your wife is hurt. None of that matters right now."

"The hell it doesn't! She promised me if we used the money her mother left her to make this stupid trip, when we got back we'd sell the horse trailer and the ground up here to buy a new semi. That old rag I drive is nickel and diming me to death, pounding the shit out of my back, but no, she just had to come see her grandfather's camp. I took two weeks off work to bring her here, and now..."

"I told you I'd come alone," Maddy said from behind Jack. "I could have been here and back before you got in from California with that load you passed up to come with me. You insisted on coming, Tom. It wasn't necessary."

"Fuck you, Maddy. It's always all about you! You have to have all those useless horses we can't afford to feed! You wouldn't sell that damned trailer so we could have some money on hand!" He looked defiantly at Jack. "She lost a whole damned field of alfalfa because she didn't bother to take care of the damned tractor! I had all that hay sold!"

"Tom," she said firmly. "Our host isn't interested in our problems. What is it you need?"

"I need a friggin' doctor! Dry clothes! A wife with more sense and less ass!" He immediately regretted his outburst. "I shouldn't have said that," he muttered. "Get me another cup of coffee. Do you have any aspirin?"

"You probably shouldn't take aspirin until the doctors see you. It might interfere with whatever they need to give you, make any internal bleeding worse." It gave Jack immense pleasure to deny this jerk even small relief from pain.

Thank God this wasn't his Maddy. He felt for her from the bottom of his heart and wondered how much of this his Maddy had taken before Tom had mercifully left her. No wonder she hadn't wanted to get involved again.

Jack met Maddy in the kitchen. "I'll take that to him," he told her. "Sit down and let me have a look at your head."

"I should..."

"Sit. Down."

Wide-eyed she lowered herself into a chair. Bonnie pressed against her leg have gave Jack a reproving stare.

Tom was subdued when Jack handed him the coffee.

"I, uh, shouldn't have run my mouth earlier," he said brusquely. "It's the pain, the accident..." He flipped his hand helplessly.

"It's Maddy you should be saying this to."

The man's expression hardened. "I meant everything I said. I just shouldn't have said it in front of a stranger."

When so many different words crossed his tongue this way, Jack knew his best course of action was to not speak any of them. He turned on his heel and walked away. Maddy was wiping her eyes on the back of her muddy sleeve. It left a broad streak across her face. Jack smiled at her before he touched her head. She obediently tilted it to the side. The gaping gash was still bleeding, leaving a thin trail of blood down the inside of her collar.

"This is gonna need stitches," Jack announced. A loud crack of thunder made them both jump. "Lemme see the other side."

She shifted around and winced. Jack gently removed the clip holding her hair and carefully shook the glass out of it. The cut on this side was longer, but not as deep.

"This one too, but it's stopped bleeding." He lifted her chin to look at the gash on her face and shook his head sadly. "This has to hurt like hell. What about your arms, legs. Any pain in your stomach, your chest?"

"No, I'm fine. A stitch in my side, but it's alright."

"Can you wash your hair or do you want me to do it for you?"

She gave him a stunned look, blinked, and shook her head. "I can do it."

"You won't keel over in the shower?"

She snorted. "I should be so lucky. Come on, Bonnie. You're covered in mud, too."

"I'll bath her after you're done."

"She can get in with me." She took the dog with her and closed the bathroom door.

Jack ladled himself a mug of soup and went in to start a fire in the fireplace. He sat back and propped his feet on the coffee table, sipped the soup as he watched the fire take hold. His eyes touched on his socked feet. This was exactly how he was sitting as Maddy showered the first time. He needed to call Carter. Maybe she and Daniel should come up here. He didn't want to leave, didn't want to disrupt the time line any more than he already had.

Or something had.

Maybe his alter ego was already at the base. More likely still in Washington. Perhaps this O'Neill hadn't been offered the job as Civilian Oversight, wasn't contemplating a move back to Colorado Springs. Maybe Aris Boch wouldn't even show up- and if he did this Jack would be stranded on Nirrti's planet all alone. He made a mental note to pack more in the cooler this time.

He was getting a headache.

Where was his Maddy and was she alright? She didn't need this after being on the run for so long. Was she with an AU Jack somewhere, trying desperately to explain the unexplainable? How would he react to her, to her wild story? Would he fall for her the way...

Maddy appeared in the doorway and Jack looked up. She was wrapped in the same blanket as before, had the same effect on him as the first time.

Bonnie shook herself, turned several circles in front of the fireplace, and lay down. Maddy warmed herself as well. Jack decided this Maddy's face was a bit more hardened, more weathered. Far more stressed. His heart went out to her.

"Bleeding stop?"

She nodded. "Thank you so much for..."

He waved it off. "I'm just glad nobody was hurt worse than..." He stopped when he realized her horses had been killed. Taco meant so much to her. She was holding in her grief, being strong when she should be curled into her husband's arms sobbing her heart out. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

She winced and turned to the fire. Bonnie passed gas and Maddy cringed.

"Bonnie!" she chided gently. "I'm sorry..."

Exactly like last time. The similarities were spooky. In fact, the only difference was Tom. Jack stiffened as another thought came to him. If Maddy had been driving instead of Tom, they might not have wrecked. The horses would still be alive, she wouldn't injured so badly... No wait. This wasn't exactly as last time! Last time Maddy had giggled when Bonnie farted. Sputtered into her soup in a completely unaffected way. The difference was still Tom, he decided. Fifteen years longer with him than she was supposed to have spent had taken its toll. Worn her down, eroded her self confidence and sense of humor. Aged her.

"Sit down," Jack invited. "I'll get you a mug of soup."

"I should see if Tom wants one first." She swept out of the room before he could argue with her.

Jack noticed that she was holding her elbow clamped to her side. He moved into the kitchen so he could eavesdrop.

"...know what kind of soup it is. It's whatever he made, Tom."

"Find out."

Maddy returned, glanced in the pot, and left again. Jack sighed.

"Did he report the accident?" Tom asked.

"He said he was."

"What did they say?"

"I don't know, Tom. I was in the shower."

"You didn't ask? I'm in pain, here, Maddy! Think about something besides those damned horses for a change! Like how the hell you're gonna get us outta this mess!"

"Do you want soup?"

"I don't care."

Maddy came back out and filled a mug without meeting Jack's gaze. When she took it back in Tom started again.

"Get me some clothes to put on. You need some too. What are you thinking, running around in front of that guy in nothing but a blanket? Damn it, Maddy, that guy doesn't need to see your gut hanging out."

"You want me to sleep in wet, muddy clothes, Tom?"

"Ask him if he has a tent you can wear!"

"Keep your voice down," she hissed.

"Do something. Don't we have dry stuff in the back of the truck?"

"The one upside down at the bottom of a ravine?"

"That'd be the one. He'll drive you back down there."

Like hell, Jack thought. He went into his room and found a pair of old sweat pants and a T shirt. His suitcases were still in the truck. He retrieved them and gave Maddy one of his flannel shirts. That didn't please Tom either.

"Why didn't you just go get our stuff?"

"Maybe the man didn't want to go back out in the rain and chance getting stuck."

"You just didn't want to bother going back down that hill, damn it. You'll have to help me dress, Maddy. Go easy. That hurts like hell. ...Oww! Easy, Woman! Get that damned hair outta my face- I just got dried off."

Jack had about enough. The next time Maddy appeared he made her sit on the couch while he fussed over her wounds.

"You might have a concussion," he worried. "It'd be best if you didn't go to sleep."

She sighed tiredly. "Don't know if I can keep my eyes open."

"Hurt?"

She shrugged a shoulder. Jack knew the bulk of her pain was in her heart.

"I'm really sorry about your horses."

That brought on tears but she gamely swallowed them down. "Tom and I are alive, Bonnie made it. I should be thankful for that."

His cell phone rang. It was the emergency rescue team leader. Jack outlined the injuries and listened for a moment. When he hung up Maddy looked at him questioningly.

"They can't fly in until this storm abates, and they've got crews out all over clearing the roads. They think it was a micro burst. If he gets worse I can try to call in an Air Force chopper, but they won't be happy about flying in this weather, either."

She shook her head. "He's in pain but not in danger. I wouldn't want anyone risking their lives for a couple of broken bones. He's tough- he'll live."

"I'm more worried about you. You've got a couple nasty open gashes and a honkin' big goose egg. Is your side hurting?"

She nodded briefly. "I sorta put my head through the window."

He sat down and almost reached for her. He stopped himself in time.

"So talk to me. It'll keep you awake. Where are you from?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't get your name," she said.

Somehow it hurt that she didn't know. He understood, but still...

"O'Neill. Jack O'Neill. General. U.S. Air Force."

Her eyes widened. "That's impressive. O'Neill... Gran'pap used to fish with an O'Neill when he came up here."

"Probably my grandfather."

They talked long into the night, with Maddy getting up every so often to check on her husband. By the next morning when they cooked breakfast together, they were as easy with each other as old friends. Jack constantly had to stop himself from touching her, giving her a kiss in passing, saying something that would confuse her. This woman was so much like his Maddy that he was getting confused. Except for the man in the spare bedroom.

The only thing confusing about that was why she was still with him.

Crews cleared the road shortly before noon and Jack was beside himself when he had watch this alternate Maddy crawl into the ambulance with her husband and be driven out of his life. At least she had his cell phone number tucked in her pocket.

As soon as the ambulance left Jack put in a call to Carter. Two days later she and Daniel Jackson arrived at the cabin.

Chapter Seventy

"Good to see you, Sir," Carter greeted formally.

A bit coolly, Jack thought. She damn near came to attention and he wondered why. What had this O'Neill done to warrant that faint reproach in her eyes?

"Hey, Jack! Long time no see."

At least Daniel greeted him warmly. He watched as Daniel crouched down to meet Bonnie.

"When did you finally get a dog, Sir?"

When Maddy wrecked on his lane. In both universes.

"Long story."

"How's Mrs. O'Neill?" Daniel asked. "Is she here with you?"

Relief! They knew about Maddy! But why didn't she remember? Unless...

"Uh, let's go inside and talk," he said. Bile rose into the back of his throat and his ears started to ring.

Jack offered them coffee at the kitchen table. He sat down, stared into his cup for a long while, and tried to figure out where to begin. He had been thinking about this for two days and was still at a loss.

"I've got quite a tale to tell you," he began. "Carter, before you stop me half a dozen times, I know I shouldn't be telling you any of this. You have to hear it. I need your help."

Carter and Daniel exchanged frowns.

"What's up, Jack?"

Jack's cell phone rang. He answered it absently, his mind on how to begin his wild tale. When Sara's voice greeted him, shock froze his brain.

"Jack? Hello? Can you hear me, Honey?"

"Sara?" It sounded strangled.

"Uh, yeah. I told you I'd call when I got to Malibu... Jack, are you okay?"

He searched for his voice and found it cringing against the bottom of his stomach.

"Yeah, fine. Bad connection. Everything okay there?"

"It's great! Sue says there's a really nice place for sale just down the road from her. Gorgeous view of the ocean, huge pool, celebrity neighbors..."

She was coaxing. Jack's heart fell even further. Why was she there and he here? Why was she calling him, talking as if... as if they were still married...

When he didn't answer she sighed into the phone.

"I'm sorry, Honey. I promised myself I wouldn't push. Now I'm going to promise you; I won't beg or plead or list anymore of the wonderful reasons you should take the retirement and move me to Malibu instead of taking that new position and dragging me back to Colorado Springs."

Oh, God! Jack frantically studied Daniel's and Carter's faces for some trace of... anything that might help. A lifeline that would haul him out of this nightmare. Both of them studiously ignored his private conversation.

"Okay, Sara. Glad you arrived safely. Have fun."

"Jack?" There were so many questions in her tone. She had picked up on his confusion. "You've got two weeks. Take your time and make the right decision."

"Okay."

There was a long pause.

"There are a lot of bad memories in Colorado," she said softly.

"A lot of good ones, too," he winced.

She sighed again. "Love you."

Jack swallowed. He almost couldn't bring himself to say it.

"You too."

The line went dead. Jack dropped his hand to the table like a dead weight. Daniel, Carter, and Bonnie all started at the abrupt sound. Jack felt sweat beginning to pop out on his forehead.

"Everything okay?" Daniel asked slowly.

"No, Daniel, nothing is okay."

Jack began his tale from the prehistoric alien planet, back-tracked to why he and Maddy were there, then had to explain who Maddy was. And why he was no longer married to the woman who had just called him Honey.

The sweat along his spine abruptly turned icy.

"My son, Charlie... Is he..."

Carter and Daniel exchanged stricken glances. Daniel cleared his throat.

"Um, Jack, your son... died... a long time ago."

Jack closed his eyes and tried to decide how he felt about that. God, he'd give anything to have Charlie alive, but would this alternate universe cruelly rip him away again? That he couldn't go through. Not again. He took a deep breath and tried to pick up where he had left off.

To their credit, neither of his friends questioned the viability of his story. Or his sanity. They had all been through too much, seen too much, to doubt his sincerity.

Finally Carter offered her viewpoint. "Well, Sir, either you've traveled back in time or you're from an alternate universe."

"If I was from another universe, wouldn't there be another O'Neill here? Is there?"

She and Daniel looked at each other. "Not that we know of. You're on two weeks vacation from Washington and last General Landry mentioned anything, he said you were on your way to spend it here. General Hammond offered you a civilian oversight position at the SGC and you're trying to decide whether to take that or retirement."

"I didn't know about that," Daniel complained. "Why didn't anybody tell me about that?"

Carter glanced at him. "Need to know."

"Well I need to know if Jack's coming back to the SGC! Does Cam know?"

"No, Daniel, Cam doesn't know," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Now see," Jack said triumphantly, "That all tracks! Him and Mitchell bickering... You do have a Vala? And a Teal'c?"

Sam nodded. "So far, Sir, everything you've said about the past and present tracks. As for the future and Maddy..." She shrugged. "But what little experience we've had with AU, there always seems to be drastic changes. From what you said, the only thing different this time is Maddy still being married to Tom. And you still being married to Sara. The way thewreck happened. I'm leaning more towards the theory that you're in an alternate time line, not an alternate universe."

"What about his cell phone?" Daniel asked. "He has to be the right Jack- the only Jack- or he wouldn't have... our Jack's cell phone. The one Sara has the number for..."

Carter raised her eyebrows and nodded. "That makes sense. If you were a second General O'Neill from an alternate universe, you couldn't possibly have that exact cell phone. Mrs. O'Neill's call would have gone to the other General O'Neill. Good thinking, Daniel." She turned back to Jack. "Describe that anomaly again."

"Before I do... If I came backwards in time, where is my Maddy?"

"How do you know this woman isn't your Maddy?" Daniel reasoned. "Maybe when she came back with you, she did something to change her own past."

"Altered her own destiny," Carter nodded.

"No," Jack said firmly. "I remembered everything from the minute I found myself in my truck instead of in..." He stopped himself and felt red creeping into his neck. To cover his embarrassment he rose and started another pot of coffee.

Sam and Daniel smirked at each other.

"Anyway," Jack continued with his back to them. "Maddy would have remembered too. She had memory implants that would have made it far more likely..."

"Memory implants?" Carter echoed.

Jack puffed out his cheeks and blew a long breath. "Loki..."

By the time he had finished another long tale Sam was shaking her head. Daniel was staring at him as if he had grown two heads.

"You know," Daniel observed, "You might not be our Jack."

"Why?" Sam asked.

"This doesn't sound like the Jack we know. ...And love," he added quickly. "This Jack remembers details. Knows stuff that would go right over our Jack's head."

Jack gave him a sour look but it was Sam who responded.

"Apparently Maddy's influence on him has... changed him," she suggested.

"She's had- what did you say, twelve years?- to... um, influence him." He shot Carter a pained look. She glanced away and stifled a grin.

Jack gave them both a stern look. "Maddy could do that. She did do it. She's amazing. I could write an entire TV series on all the adventures she and I have been through. Like..."

"No!" Sam stopped him. "Don't, Sir! You've already told us too much."

"See, Carter? I knew youwere gonna say that!"

"Yes, Sir," she said patiently. "We need to bring General Landry in on this. Aside from the obvious security risk, I think we need to take the Odyssey to this Trygar System and see if we can track down that anomaly."

Jack nodded. "I'm coming with. If Maddy's still on that planet..."

"She won't be, Sir. She's wherever that anomaly sent you. The best we can hope for is finding out what that anomaly is and where... you are," she said with an apologetic frown. "Where this is for you," she tried to clarify. "In time. ...or the universe. What universe. ...or time line..."

"I get it, Carter."

"You do?" Daniel asked skeptically. Then he offered helpfully, "If nothing else, we can schedule a rescue mission for the future."

"Yeah, Daniel, more than twelve years in the future! I'm not waiting that long to find my wife!"

Daniel and Sam exchanged startled glances.

"There is still the possibility that this Maddy is the Maddy," Sam told them.

"And you're still married to Sara," Daniel reminded uselessly.

"Then why doesn't she remember?" Jack insisted. He stubbornly ignored Daniel's observation.

"Maybe it has something to do with the enhancements you got from downloading the Ancient database," Daniel offered.

Sam nodded. "Or when she changed her own destiny somehow, none of this ever happened for her."

"But if I ended up in my pickup on the way up here- just like the first time- and she ended up in her truck, too, with the horses and Bonnie..." Jack threw his hands up in frustration. "Wait a minute! What's the date? And the year?"

Sam told him. Jack grimaced.

"Yeah, I'm more than twelve years ahead of now."

"You look good for your age," Daniel quipped.

"Qua'sel had a lot to do..."

"Sir!" Carter warned.

"Alright, Carter. But I am gonna tell you this: Aris Boch will be in orbit sometime within the week. He's planning to kidnap me, dock and all."

"Aris Boch?"

Jack held up both index fingers to stem the questions and launched into a brief summary of what had happened to him and Maddy.

Sam shook her head and massaged her temples. "Remind me never to retire."

"I'm hungry," Jack announced. "Let's go into town and get something, then we need to head for Cheyenne Mountain and tell Landry a whale of a tale."

"Um, Sir, I think the best thing for you to do is stay right here. Until we figure out what's going on. You could change too much."

"How much damage could you do up here?" Daniel agreed.

"Don't tell Mrs. O'Neill anything," Sam cautioned.

"Well I'm going into town to eat, Carter."

"Just don't interact with anybody."

"I'm gonna stop at the hospital and check on this Maddy."

"I'd advise against it, Sir. You might change her future."

"It could only change for the better," Jack said darkly.

"Do you know the coordinates of this Trygar System?"

"Yeah, but I have no idea what planet our pods ended up on. Somewhere in the vicinity of Trygar Nineteen. The slave ship was on a course for the Pegasus Galaxy."

"We should be able to narrow it down from there."

"There are over sixty planets in that system, Carter, not to mention inhabited moons."

She raised an eyebrow. "We'll find it, Sir. Get us close and the sensors should pick up that anomaly."

"If it's there twelve years ago." Daniel scowled at his own strange sentence.

Chapter Seventy One

Jack paced the bridge of the Odyssey. He was frustrated, mad, and hungry. He missed Maddy's cooking. He missed Maddy.

He was worried sick about her.

Maybe his destiny wasn't being with her but fretting over her. Fighting for her. It was starting to look like his destiny was to screw up hers. And Sara's. God, what was he going to do about Sara?

"Figure it out yet, Carter?" he asked for the umteenth time.

"Working on it, Sir."

Bonnie climbed into the command chair and curled up comfortably. Jack patted her and grinned at the crew's range of reactions. The captain stepped onto the bridge, eyed the dog in his seat, then adopted a position behind the chair with his arms behind his back. Jack smothered a smirk and left Bonnie where she was.

Recon teams, warned of the prehistoric inhabitants of the planet, had searched the area for Maddy and found nothing. Jack, Mitchell, and Teal'c had taken 302s and looked for the pods. Still nothing. It was all Carter could do to keep from saying 'I told you so'.

Finally, a day later, Carter informed them that they were going to send a message in a bottle.

"Just a benign message, Sir. If it goes back in time, it'll change this time line and we'll have foreknowledge of this event."

"Risky, Carter."

"I know, Sir. It's the best we can come up with for the moment."

A message cylinder was dropped into the path of the anomaly from the cockpit of a 302. It fell right through the anomaly and landed on the ground. A dinosaur promptly stepped on it.

"That's strange," Sam mused. "Anything in its path should be transported... somewhere."

"Then why aren't dinosaurs showing up on Earth?" Vala asked. "Or disappearing from down there?"

They all turned to look at her.

"She's right," Sam exclaimed. "Nothing else seems to be affected by it. Not rocks, trees, indigenous species..."

"So what do humans have that rocks, trees, and dinosaurs don't?" Daniel asked. He slid his eyes to Jack. "Taking into consideration we're talking about Jack..."

"And Maddy," Jack growled.

Mitchell pulled a face at Daniel.

"Conscious thought!" Sam snapped her fingers.

"Jack?" Daniel insisted.

Jack made a move to grab him and Teal'c absently stepped between them.

"What if this isn't a naturally occurring phenomenon?"

"You think a race of aliens is conducting an experiment in alternate time lines?" Vala asked.

"It's a relatively isolated planet with no human inhabitants. The prehistoric habitat would be a pretty good deterrent to any species hoping to start a colony..."

"Hell of a kennel of watch dogs," Mitchell muttered.

"They could conduct experiments without much opportunity for mishap or intrusion," Carter finished.

"Except for Jack," Daniel persisted.

Jack passed a single glare around to everyone who dared to smirk at Daniel's comment.

"Check for other ships in orbit," Carter ordered. "And hyper space signatures. That'll tell us who's been here recently."

"You're just damned lucky whoever is conducting this experiment started it twelve years ago," Vala told Jack. "You might still be down there with no hope of rescue."

Jack glared at Daniel. "Somebody was supposed to be watching that ship!"

Daniel blinked at him in surprise.

"Careful, Sir," Carter warned as she spun her seat towards Vala. "We really don't know when they started it. Or in what universe."

"Colonel, we'll need specific signatures to scan for," the bridge tech stated.

Sam nodded. "We can't randomly pick up energy signatures. We have to scan for specifics."

Something clicked for Jack. "Try Asgard."

The entire bridge turned to stare at him.

"Loki! That little gray bastard! This smacks of that devious little runt!"

Carter raised her eyebrows. "It could all tie in. If Loki has been working on this, going back and forth in time- or between universes- himself, he'd know you and Maddy would eventually end up within range of his experiment. Maybe that's why he implanted her with memory devices in the first place."

"He implanted her because I threatened to pop is gray bubble of a head off his scrawny shoulders if one of us lost our memory one more time!" Jack raged.

Every eyebrow on the bridge was raised.

"There's a good chance that since it was Thor who rescued the two of you from that planet where Boch stranded you, Loki would have learned about Maddy then."

"Stop talking, both of you!" Carter yelped. "Too many lives, futures, pasts, are being affected by knowing any of this!" She motioned with her head at the bridge crew. "Just... save it for a secure environment."

"Contact the Asgard," Jack demanded. "I wanna talk to Thor."

Colonel Carter rolled her eyes and shrugged hopelessly.

"You could potentially alter the entire Asgard race," Daniel pointed out.

"That little gray bastard has screwed with my past, future, and present!" Jack seethed. "Call Thor!"

Chapter Seventy Two

Supreme Commander Thor blinked patiently through Jack's tirade.

"Your theory would explain Loki's perplexing disappearances," he nodded. "He has been known to conduct unsanctioned experiments, and has recently become obsessed with using the mind as a transportation device. I believe when Anubis interfaced my mind with the Ha'tak computer it inspired his peculiar genius."

"I know, Thor..."

"Sir, you can't," Carter insisted.

"I'm gonna tell him whatever I have to that'll get Maddy back!" He spun back to Thor. "Can this... anomaly... take me forward in time?"

"There is no guarantee your wife will still be on the planet, O'Neill. Any small change in her past will have altered her future. It is unwise to make the attempt."

"Where's Loki?"

"I will endeavor to locate him and extract the information you require. I am sorry for your inconvenience, O'Neill."

"Inconvenience!" Jack roared. "That no good little..."

Thor beamed away and left Jack ranting at thin air.

When they returned to Earth General Landry informed them that an alien ship had been detected in Earth's orbit. They made an attempt at contact but at the first sign of having been noticed it left orbit. Jack was certain it had been Aris Boch. The timing was too perfect to be a coincidence.

"Check behind Mars," he suggested.

Landry gave him an odd look.

"Sir..." Carter all but whined.

"Don't ask," Jack grumbled. "Just check behind Mars."

Colonel Carter insisted Jack return to the cabin in Minnesota as a precaution against him changing any more of the future, and Landry promised to have his air space closely monitored. Jack gave them the coordinates of Nirrti's planet just in case. Carter balked at taking them, but finally capitulated when Jack argued that the time line had already been compromised and he had no desire to be stranded on an abandoned planet for damn near a year. Without Maddy.

On top of everything else, when Sara called he had to maintain the pretense of being happily married to a woman he had divorced more than twenty years ago.

Chapter Seventy Three

Jack paced the cabin, uncharacteristically uncomfortable being there alone with nothing to do. At least he still had Bonnie with him.

He avoided the dock and pond in case Boch had escaped detection and was waiting for a ripe opportunity. He fretted over where his Maddy could be, if she was alright. Had that damned anomaly transported her into open space? He called Carter daily to see if she'd heard from Thor.

The sound of a powerful motor made him dash for the door. It wasn't Maddy- either one of them. A large tow truck was turning around in his drive. Jack grabbed his keys, gave Bonnie a reassuring pat, then headed down to where Tom had wrecked Maddy's truck and trailer. They were in the process of winching the trailer up out of the ravine. The truck was already on the road. He winced at how much damage had been done and breathed a prayer of thanks that this poor, bedraggled Maddy had survived. He turned away when he saw a hoof sticking out of the trailer window. One of the operators approached him.

"You know the folks who own this rig?" he asked.

"Sort of."

"You live around here, then? We need to dispose of that trailer first," he grimaced distastefully. "I need a place to put this truck until I can get back for it. I understand they're both in the hospital, and they aren't from around here."

"Last cabin up the lane. Your driver turned around in my drive. Bring it up."

"Thanks." The man shook his hand and walked away shouting instructions to the winch operator.

Jack got into his truck and eased past the work site. This Maddy was in the hospital, and if things tracked closely with his own Maddy, she had nobody to look after her. Nobody included Tom. It was clear to Jack that Tom would be looking after himself.

She was staring out the window when he walked into her room. He paused a moment to study her face. She looked haggard, worn. Worried and frightened. Her head was wrapped in bandages and an IV dripped fluid into her arm. He cleared his throat. Her head came around and she smiled.

So much like his Maddy!

"Hi. How are you feeling?"

"Hi. Okay, I guess."

"They decided to keep you, huh?" He pulled up a chair and sat down beside her bed.

"Nasty concussion. Ruptured spleen. Cracked a couple of ribs."

Her face was black and blue, her skin puckered with stitches. She had a black eye. Both eyes were red and sore looking from crying.

"Nice shiner!" he complimented. "Can I get you anything?"

She smiled and shook her head.

"Uh, listen, I came past the wreck. They're taking your truck to my cabin. It can stay there until you're able to do something with it. I know you have a lot of stuff in the back- it'll be safe at my place."

"Thank you," she said. "Seems like you keep coming to our rescue."

"How's Tom?"

Her eyes clouded. "He's scheduled for another surgery on his leg. His arm's in a cast."

"Too bad," Jack murmured because he had to.

"He's four rooms down on the right," she told him.

Jack nodded. He had no intention of visiting the bastard. If he said one wrong word about this Maddy, Jack would give him another cast to wear. On his neck.

"When will they let you outta here?"

She shrugged. "Another day or so, I think. I'll have to find a place to stay. Tom's gonna be here awhile."

"Stay with me," Jack offered immediately.

She blushed and her eyes slid away. "I couldn't impose."

"No imposition. I'd enjoy the company. Bonnie's moved right in."

"Thank you for that," she said earnestly. "We couldn't afford a kennel."

Good thing the dog couldn't talk, Jack thought.

"I hope she's not being a bother," she fretted.

"None at all. She's great." He hesitated. "Look, Maddy, if you can't afford a kennel you can't afford a motel for who knows how long. Your truck with all your stuff is there. I have a spare bedroom. It only makes sense." He sat back and spread his hands. "I'm an Air Force General. If you can't trust me, who can you trust?"

"Convince Tom he can trust me."

Ah, yes, Tom.

"So don't tell him."

She gave him an arched look. "I don't keep things from my husband, General. Thank you, your offer is incredibly kind and generous, but no."

"Well, think about it. Can I get you Jello? Cake?"

He watched her stare at him, watched her eyes become glassy with the welling of tears she was trying hard to fight down.

"What?" he asked softly.

She swallowed, and it looked to Jack as if it had hurt.

"Cake," she murmured on a rueful half smile. "Tom's mad enough at me…"

Jack frowned. "What's one got to do with the other?"

She shook her head and looked the other way, out the window, her brow crimping with her effort to hold tears at bay. When Jack didn't move, didn't let her off the hook, she sighed.

"I'm not allowed to eat cake." Then in a smaller voice she listed bitterly, "Donuts, cereal, pudding, hamburgers, ice cream, pie, brownies, pasta, bread, cheese…"

Jack was instantly angry. Again.

"He bitches at you for eating anything?"

She shrugged it off with a self-depreciating smirk. "I sneak a taste when I make them for him. All the time. Constantly make him stuff he asks for but I'm not allowed to touch…" She made a conscious effort to shrug it off and tried to smile. A bit too brightly. "It's for my own benefit. Goes straight to my thighs. …I'm allowed to smoke, though. Keeps me from eating," she said, trying to make it a joke.

Jack changed his mind and stood. "Four rooms down on the right you say?"

"Three-thirteen." She gave him an odd look that was part embarrassed, part hurt, and all mortified that she had spouted off at all.

"I'll stop back before I leave."

Jack walked into Tom's room without bothering to knock. Maddy's husband was flirting with a nurse and chewing on a candy bar. He looked up with a broad grin.

"General O'Neill."

"How's the leg? Arm?"

"Gotta have another surgery on my leg. Arm's a clean break- should be out of the cast in six weeks. This," he patted his elevated leg cast, "Will be a hell of a lot longer."

"You'll be in here awhile, then?"

Tom grunted an affirmative. "Maddy's gonna have to go home. We can't afford a motel and there's Bonnie... Will they let dogs on the bus, do you know?"

"I wouldn't know. Your car insurance should cover her getting home, if that's what you decide to do."

Tom shrugged. "It might. She'll have to check. Depends on what policy she bought. I told her to get the minimum coverage possible on that piece of crap truck she wanted." He made a disgusted face. "I told her to look for a Dodge..."

Jack arched an eyebrow at that. "She's welcome to stay with me."

Tom eyed him for a moment. "Why would you do that? Like 'em big, do you?"

"Because I've got a wife of my own," Jack shot back. "And I'd want somebody to take care of her in this situation." He needed get a hold on his temper. He'd never convince this guy to let his wife stay with him if he pissed him off.

Tom's eyebrows shot up. "You're married?"

Jack kept a straight face as he wondered if there was a law against alternate time line polygamy. And bigamy. At the same time.

"I'm not in the market for a fling with another man's wife."

Tom's reaction surprised him. "It's the ones who've been married awhile that are more likely to cheat. Looking for a little diversity, General? A taste of something different from what you'll be going home to? Maddy's sure as hell different..."

Jack decided the less he said the better.

"Look, everybody needs a hand from time to time. I'm hardly ever there- it's a vacation place and my two weeks are nearly up. She can leave the key under the mat when she leaves."

Tom was studying him intently.

"The truck is already there. I told Maddy to leave it as long as you need."

Tom nodded. "Thanks. I really appreciate it. We'll have to talk it over. She'll need to be home to pick me up at the airport when they release me."

"Won't she be flying home with you?" Jack asked slowly.

Tom grimaced. "I don't know yet how we're gonna afford for me to fly home, and I'm sure as hell not gonna ride in a car all that way like this. I knew this trip was a bad idea."

"Accidents happen."

"Not when Maddy's involved," he griped. "She could screw up a wrecking ball."

Jack winced. "Been married long?"

"Twenty six friggin' years," he muttered. "Not a dime ahead. Too damned many horses she never rides..." He stopped and shook his head. "Sorry. All this is getting to me. I drive truck for a living and I won't be doing that for awhile. It's gonna be rough."

Rougher for Maddy than for him, Jack surmised.

"Then let me help. She can stay there with Bonnie until you're ready to leave. I might even be able to arrange for all of you to fly home on a military transport."

Tom brightened. "That'd be great!"

"You talk it over and let me know. I can pick her up when she's discharged."

"General... Maddy's straight-laced. Stick-up-her-butt religious type. And she's tough. She'll knock you on your ass if you try anything. Not that you would..."

"Not that I would," Jack echoed. "I consider myself to be an officer and a gentleman."

Tom nodded. "Not that she's your type... not that she's anybody's type, but..."

"All us old married guys go for that young stuff?"

Tom grunted. "Maddy's too long in the tooth and broad across the beam to be considered 'young stuff'. She don't get off the farm, General. She's pretty damned clueless when it comes to the real world. I wouldn't want her to embarrass us both, you know?"

"No, I wouldn't know," Jack said stiffly.

"Not that Maddy's... well, she's a decent mechanic," he said uncomfortably. "Honest to a fault. A hard worker. Smart about useless stuff, but..."

"I'm confused," Jack interrupted. "Are you trying to sell her, or defend having married her?" It sounded to Jack like he was making excuses for not having done better for himself.

Tom's neck reddened. "I'm just saying. Maddy won't appreciate any advances."

"But you wouldn't care? If it paid the board?"

"Wait just a damned minute! Where do you get off..."

"No, you wait just a damned minute," Jack barked. "I stood there and listened to you berate her for every damned thing that happened and every damned thing she tried to do to help you. While she was bleeding from more than one head wound. With a ruptured spleen and cracked ribs. Here's a news flash, Tom; you were driving that damned truck. The road was miserable. It wasn't Maddy's fault you wrecked- get off her back. Have a little compassion for her grief in losing those horses. A little sympathy for the pain she's in. She's a wife, Tom, not a slave woman."

"What's she been telling you?"

"Not a damned thing. But I didn't earn my rank on my looks. I can read between the lines and I don't care for the story I'm getting."

"How I treat my wife is none of your business."

"No, it isn't. But nothing in this life is free, Pal. My charge for helping you two out is giving you my two cents' worth. Twenty six years is a long time. If it's still this rough between you, then you'd better start thinking about some changes."

Tom snorted. "She'd never be able to make it on her own. The real world would eat her alive. But thank you for the advice, Dr. Phil."

Jack digested that and wondered how a man could live with a woman for twenty six years and not know her any better than that. It told him a lot.

"I'll leave my number with Maddy. Let me know what you decide."

Chapter Seventy Four

Jack helped Maddy out of the truck but she refused his arm to walk to the door. Bonnie was ecstatic to see her again and Maddy's eyes filled with tears. She dropped to one knee and hugged the wiggling dog. When she looked up at Jack his heart twisted.

So much like his Maddy. Maybe he was wrong to stick his nose into their marriage, but if her background ran anywhere close to his Maddy's, staying with Tom would be awful for her. In the absence of his actual wife, the least he could do was help this alternate Maddy.

"I started a fire to take the chill off. Coffee?"

"Thanks. I can make it."

"You don't like my coffee?"

"Just want to earn my keep."

A surge through his nether regions suggested its own means of her earning her keep. Not this Maddy. He had to remind himself not to get caught up in her.

"Go sit."

He filled the pot and reached for a pre-measured packet of grounds. His hands were shaking. He frowned at them, then sprayed coffee all over the counter when he pulled too hard on the packet. Muttering an oath he opened another packet then cleaned up his mess. He had no business reacting to her this way. He turned on the pot and walked in to stand by the fire.

"Is it always this damp and chilly in the summer?" she asked.

"Not usually. We get plenty of rain, but it's been unseasonably cool. When you're up to it, I'll crawl into the back of your truck and fish out whatever you need."

"Oh, I can do it. Thanks."

"Bonnie's been sleeping with me. I suppose I'll lose my bed mate now."

She glanced at him then away.

"Now I didn't mean it like that!" he cajoled. "I'll make you the same promise I made Tom: I will be the model officer and gentleman. You don't have worry about reading something into every damned thing I say."

She dropped her eyes. "I'm sorry. Tom said you were married. It's just... this is a very awkward situation for me."

Not as awkward as being married to two women at once, and neither of them were the woman who was stirring his libido right this moment.

"I know. Just relax. What do you want for supper?"

"What do you want for supper and I'll cook."

"Now that's an offer I won't refuse."

He wanted to hear her laugh. He wanted her to take her hair down. He wanted to enjoy the rapier wit and easy conversation he knew was bubbling just below the surface. This Maddy's spirit had been severely bridled if not broken. No Maddy in any universe should be this subdued, have such burden showing in her eyes.

Was this what his Maddy had been running from when they met? True this Maddy had spent fifteen years too many with Tom, but was this a taste of what she had endured? Was this the life his Maddy would have led if Tom hadn't left her? The memories Qua'sel had given him were bad enough. He cringed at the thought of enduring twice that time and ached anew for every Maddy in all the alternate time lines.

Because Jack was certain this was an alternate time line. Maddy's situation aside, still being married to Sara proved that. Didn't it?

Was AU Jack O'Neill living his life somewhere, with his Maddy? Trying to figure out how to get back to Sara? It was comforting to know he was working on the problem from the other end, too.

'Who says you can't be in two places at once?'

Chapter Seventy Five

The helicopter settled into the gravel and slowly shut down. Jack walked out to meet Carter as she stepped from the craft. She was eyeing the mangled truck.

"That's ugly," she said. "Hello, Sir."

"Carter. You said you had news. Wanna come inside? I've got coffee on."

"Is she still here?"

"The other Maddy? Yeah. Tom's gonna be in the hospital awhile yet. You should meet her, Carter..."

"Uh, Sir, we'd better talk out here."

Something in her tone made his gut clench.

"What's up?"

"We heard from Thor. He found Loki and that is his experiment on Trygar Fifty One. The anomaly isn't occurring naturally. It's powered by an artificial source inside the mountain. Loki is actually very excited about the results." She canted her head and quirked an eyebrow. "An excited Asgard is quite a sight to see, Sir. He asked us as many questions as we asked him. Thor was not amused."

"Then he can get this straightened out? Where's Maddy?"

Carter's eyes drifted over the wrecked truck. "Loki's experiment deals with mental transportation- an off shoot of the device he planted in her brain. A forerunner, technically. It's been in operation on that planet for..."

"I don't need a history lesson, Carter. Where the hell is Maddy?"

"The technology doesn't deal with alternate universes or parallel time lines. It's strictly basic time travel."

Jack narrowed his eyes at her. He wasn't sure he liked what he was hearing.

"Basic time travel? Since when is any time travel basic?"

She made a face. "Since, apparently, Loki has been playing around with it for centuries. Behind Thor's back."

"For centuries. What did you find out?"

"You retained your memory because you didn't have memory devices implanted. Loki was in orbit when the two of you were ejected from the slave ship in the escape pods..."

"That wasn't by accident."

"No, Sir. He was as anxious to locate Maddy as you were. He didn't want to lose his only subject since Thor laid down the law and forbid him to do anymore similar experiments on humans."

"He was on her the whole time? And didn't contact us?" Jack demanded hotly.

"Observing, Sir. Taking notes on the efficiency of the memory implants, how she used them..."

Jack waved his hands and she stopped talking.

"Skip ahead to where Maddy is."

"Loki beamed your pods to the planet, Sir, let you land normally so you wouldn't suspect anything. If he hadn't..." She winced. "The pods were headed for deep space. The trajectory he reproduced for us would have taken you away from any possible hope of entering into a gravitational pull..."

Jack tried not to let her see how his breath caught in his throat.

"...Sir, he didn't have to save you. It was Maddy he was invested in."

That took a moment to register.

"So the little bastard thinks I owe him?" he asked incredulously.

"He suggested it might alter your attitude towards him."

As Jack shook his head Colonel Carter continued her report.

"Once you and Maddy were safely grounded, he went back in time to the opportune moment when he could implant Maddy with the memory devices."

"So everything that happened to us since she got those implants was actually changed from what it would have been?" He was getting a headache.

Carter shook her head helplessly. "At this point it's hard as hell to know what was changed. He's been dabbling in your lives so much..."

"Okay, we'll call him a meddling bastard and move on."

She took a breath. "Because you both traveled backwards in time, when she reached this stage of her life she didn't have the devices. They hadn't been implanted yet. But his theory is that because of them she didn't remember the way you did. When the devices disappeared, for some reason they took with them everything that had happened to her since their implantation... and everything associated with it. That was the crux of his experiment- to find out if his devices would enhance or erase memories during time travel, and what he needed to do to make them survive the transition. She would have no memory of events that hadn't yet transpired, so..."

"There should be a few years she retained. She didn't get the devices the day we met."

"Thor showed me the schematics of Loki's design. The devices were artificial, but the interfaces were organic. The leads to her brain actually grew out of tissue and retained..."

"I know all that."

"Well, Sir, when the devices disappeared during time transport, so did the organic leads- they were all connected, all alien to her brain. It would have taken a massive chunk of her memory with it... if not caused outright brain damage. You have to remember that the transportation device disappeared, too. And it had a lot more organic leads growing through her brain."

Jack shook his head to rattle his brain back into service. "That's why Loki couldn't remove them when I threatened him."

"Do you realize how lucky she is? Had she arrived even one day after the first implant, her brain would have been torn apart."

Jack closed his eyes and forced himself to breathe. It was too much. This wasn't happening.

"You retained all your Ancient enhancements because they aren't actual, physical devices that could be ripped out, and you already had them at this point in your life."

"I still don't understand how I can be me, now, and me then, at the same time... in a different time..." He threw his hands into the air helplessly.

"Sir, you are the General O'Neill you were right this minute twelve years ago. The only thing that's changed is you remember a future you haven't lived yet."

"You lost me way back there, Carter. Right around 'Hello, Sir'."

"Think of it as having read a book- your own biography. In your mind it already happened. In reality, it's still unfolding for you. Your entire history hasn't changed, you're just going to do it all over again with preconceived knowledge of what will transpire. Unless you change it- rewrite your own future."

"My life is fiction?"

"Look at the bright side- you're the author."

"Right up until Loki decides to do more editing. So why is Maddy's past- present- so different? Everything's been the same for me so far- except still being married to Sara..."

Carter gave him a pained look. "I'll get into that in a minute."

"So why wasn't Maddy driving that truck? Why is she still married to Tom?"

"That, Sir, is the other phase of Loki's experiment." She took a deep breath, leaned on the tailgate, and motioned with her hands as she talked. "He explained the theory of the transportation device he gave her..."

"Forced on her," Jack corrected. "But go on."

"Well, Sir, with that device, as I understand it, she could transport herself or others by thinking where she wanted them to end up."

"She had to have a visual reference before she could transport. She couldn't go to a place she'd never seen, or transport somebody she wasn't looking at."

Carter nodded. "That's the technology Loki was working to perfect with the artificial anomaly."

She took another breath and Jack could see her gauging his level of patience. Normally about now he'd be losing interest in her lengthy techno-babble. Gesturing with everything but his middle finger or simply walking away. She didn't realize this was Maddy they were discussing. He needed to figure out where she was, get their time lines back in the same groove, and hang onto her this time. No way could he- or would he- delegate this responsibility to someone else. Not even Carter. He was the one with memories of the future, knowledge that might be key. He was the one in a lather not to lose her again. The last wound was still fresh and it reopened with a vengeance; he was bleeding from an artery and only Maddy could make it stop.

Some of his thoughts, his panic, must have shown in his face because Carter was wearing a strangely tender, rather wounded expression of her own.

"Keep talking," he said intently.

She watched him closely as she explained, "Our concept of time travel is either setting a date in a machine, or crossing our fingers and going for it with no means determining precisely where- or exactly when- we'll end up. Like when we went back to 1969- the gate did it. Or a sling-shot maneuver around the sun in a ship. This is different. It's all tied to the brain and thought processes. The dinosaurs, the trees and rocks and mountains, don't get transported because there isn't enough conscious thought- brain power- to trigger the anomaly. Sir, you and Maddy were transported back to the time period that was most prevalent in your mind when the anomaly activated."

Jack felt his ears getting warm. What a blow to his ego to find out his wife was thinking about her ex husband while he was making love to her! Well, to be fair, Tom had been on his mind too, but for a whole different reason. He grimaced when he realized if Tom had been on her mind, Jack had been the one to bring him up. Insisted on it, actually. He mollified himself with the certainty that if comparisons had been made, he had come out on top. No brag, just fact. But Tom hadn't been the only other person on his mind: Sara. He groaned as the full brunt of the implication slammed into him.

The look Carter was giving him made him uneasy. He didn't need her reading those particular thoughts. He decided to side-track her speculation.

"So she might be anywhere?" he asked. "Wherever she was thinking about when we got zapped away? She might be back on that slave ship for all we know."

"Well, no Sir, not exactly. There's more."

"More? How can there be more, Carter?"

"It goes back to the memory implants. Since Maddy's essentially backfired on her, Loki said it gave the anomaly a blank reading during transport through time. At first he couldn't understand why the anomaly didn't spit her out, so to speak. Leave her where she was because it couldn't read a destination in her mind."

"So she might have still been on that planet? Maybe Daniel found her..."

Carter's cheeks went so deeply red that Jack frowned. Her eyes slid to her boots as she shook her head.

"No, she was transported. Loki's theory is that the two of you were, um... That the anomaly couldn't distinguish two separate entities. It read the two of you as... one... unit," she finished painfully.

"Yeah, it would have," he confirmed, delighting in her embarrassment. "Two people don't get any closer than we were."

She swallowed and looked everywhere but at him.

"Apparently you were on... Apparently the anomaly somehow connected with you first." She cleared her throat. "If it had connected with her first, under those..." she sucked in a breath, "...particular circumstances, it's possible that neither of you would have been transported." Past the worst part now, her words picked up momentum. "Sir, she wastransported with you. To whatever time frame you had been thinking about. You somehow changed her history. With whatever had been on your mind at the point of contact." She touched the outsides of her index fingers together. "Two bodies, one mind. You... carried her with you, Sir, to your destination."

Jack groaned.

"General," Carter said heavily, "The Maddy inside your cabin is your Maddy."

Jack sat down hard on the bumper.

"Are you sure about all this, Carter?"

"Thor's sure. Loki's sure. I'm not sure of anything anymore."

At her tone, Jack glanced up in time to see a pain filled frown cross her face. Ah, shit! She was in love with him, or thought she might be. He'd weathered this storm once and that had been enough.

"There's gotta be a way to go back," he growled. "Undo all this."

"I don't see how. And back to what? Lost on a primitive, prehistoric planet with little hope of escape or rescue? No supplies, no weapons..."

"That bastard Loki knew we were there! He put us there!"

"If he hadn't you'd still be adrift in the pods."

"So this is the price of him rescuing us?"

She shrugged. "Don't forget he was using you as lab rats. He'd just do it again. Or Thor will put a stop to it in this time line and you'll be without any means of escape. With Maddy in as much danger as you."

"What if we go back there now and I transport us to a different time, something not so far back? Or into our future?"

"With a woman who thinks she's married to someone else? Who has no knowledge of space travel and aliens and advanced technology? No recollection of your history together? And there's no way to guarantee you'd wind up in the same spot in the same time- she has no point of reference that intersects with yours. We're talking about abstract thought processes. The only guarantee I could make is that it'll go horribly wrong."

Jack swore. "What if I knock her out, put us in the same position...?"

Carter was shaking her head. "The memory implants caused a technical glitch. You can't reproduce that organically. She already has thoughts that would make it impossible to correlate... anything. Sir, you wouldn't be taking your Maddy back, you'd be taking this Maddy back. It's a recipe for disaster."

"So now what the hell do I do?"

"Was that rhetorical or were you asking my advice?"

Jack canted her a sour look. "Your advice, Carter. If you please."

Her eyes raked the forest beyond the cabin. "This is your life, Sir. You've lived through it once, but it's the only one you've got. You're not in an alternate universe, not in a parallel time line. You're where you're supposed to be- where you were- at this time in all potential scenarios. The only General O'Neill Earth's got. The only difference is you're twelve years older and you have advance knowledge of what might- or might not- transpire."

"What didn't transpire is my divorce from Sara!"

Carter slowly, helplessly, shook her head. "You've retained everything that's happened to you, both physically and mentally. Maddy's life- and Sara's- are the ones that have been drastically altered. Your future is what you make it. So is Earth's."

"You're giving me permission to alter the future?"

She lifted a shoulder. "The good news is, you didn't go into the distant past- before any of us were born, before the Stargate Program- where you could have drastically altered everything as we know it. You're in your own fairly recent past. It's always a gamble at bad odds when you alter history. But if you have knowledge of how we can defeat the Ori..."

"Hadn't yet where I was."

She scowled. "If it were me, Sir, I'd go on living my life. It's up to you what you change and what you make certain comes to pass. None of us have been affected. That we're aware of. Earth hasn't been affected. Yet. ...That we're aware of."

"Or it all has and I'm the only one who will know."

"We can't put you into stasis for twelve years. Too many lives, too many circumstances depend on you being involved. Taking you out of commission would cause more problems than it solves. What's done is done- or going to be done- and we'll just have to deal with it."

"Except for Maddy and Sara."

"Yes, Sir. You have the opportunity to right wrongs and stop us from making mistakes. You also have foreknowledge of deaths, relationships, events of major impact on everyone you know. That part I don't envy. It won't be easy."

"What about Maddy? Nothing is right for her."

"You can only go forward now, Sir, not back. Take a hard look at where you've been, what you want, and how it will affect the person she is now. She doesn't remember the twelve years you spent together. Sara doesn't remember leaving you."

"You telling me to let Maddy go?"

"I wouldn't presume to do that. Just carefully weigh what you remember against what is possible now. You can't ever have the Maddy you met back then. This Maddy will have had different experiences and those will have changed her."

"Because I screwed up her life again," he muttered.

She shot him a curious look. Jack shook his head.

"Way too much to get into." He took a deep breath and stood. "Any other Earth shattering news, brilliant deductions, or fascinating insights to offer me today?"

"Only that if it were me, I'd retire. Get away from all the pressure of trying to protect people from every stubbed toe, gunshot wound, and car crash you know about."

"You just said I have the ability to right wrongs..."

"On a major scale, Sir. Of catastrophic proportions. It's the little stuff that will have you drooling into your Fruit Loops."

"I gotta learn to pay closer attention to lottery numbers and football games."

"What will you do, Sir?"

"To borrow a quote from Miss Scarlet, 'I won't think about this now. I'll think about this tomorrow."

She finally smiled. "I see a change in you, Sir."

"For the better?"

"So far. She had a lot of impact on you, didn't she?"

"She's my life. Whatever I decide, she'll be a part of it."

"She's married, Sir. So are you."

"To each other."

"Not in this lifetime."

He gave her a long stare, really looked into her eyes. "I'm sorry, Sam."

She nodded and stepped back. "I really need to get back. Generals Landry and Hammond extend to you all the resources of the SGC. They are both anxious to speak with you at your convenience." She came to attention and gave him a smart salute.

He returned the gesture then asked, "What was that for?"

"To show my profound respect. Easier than putting it into words."

"Come here." He drew her into a warm embrace and felt her shoulders sag for just a moment. Then she stepped back.

"Come in for a minute. Meet her."

Carter's eyes flickered. She indicated the waiting chopper.

"I need to get back. I'll talk to you soon, then." She turned and headed back to the helicopter.

Jack watched it rise above the trees then turned to stare past the cabin at his fishless pond. Maddy was waiting inside for him. His Maddy. Who suddenly and beyond reason belonged to another man. An asshole at that. He had no knowledge of what the past fifteen years had been like for her, but he knew enough about the first eleven to hate the man with a passion that bordered on obsession.

And what about Sara? He had driven her away last time, knew the pain of being walked out on. How could he just up and demand a divorce? Especially if this relationship was solid enough to withstand losing Charlie and the effect that had on him?

Out of this whole friggin' mess there was one thing he knew for certain; there no way was he going to spend so much as a minute under the same roof as Sara. It would be too much like cheating on Maddy. He wouldn't do it. He couldn't do it.

He looked at the cabin again.

He couldn't go in there right now. Knowing she was his Maddy... He needed time to think this through. He grabbed a jacket out of his truck and headed up the track that led to the property Maddy had inherited. The property she and her husband had been headed to look at when they wrecked.

It was an invigorating uphill hike. The remnants of the old cabin were unchanged. There were no signs of a camp Maddy hadn't set up in this life. He took a seat on an old log and stared out over the valley, the same seat he had chosen when Maddy had left so abruptly in his other life. It struck him that this incident hadn't changed. However trivial, some things were simply destined to happen. It had been preordained that he would sit on this log and ponder his heartbreak over Maddy, one way or another.

So did that mean he and Maddy were destined to be together, regardless of the time line? Or had everything that had happened to them over more than twelve years indicate that destiny was determined to keep them apart?

Or was destiny what he made it? Maybe he was reading too much into all of this. Loki sure as hell didn't give a damn about 'destiny'.

"Too damned deep," he muttered to the wind. "Screw the whys and wherefores. I need a plan."

Because it never crossed Jack O'Neill's mind to simply give up and live without her.

Chapter Seventy Six

Jack knew he was making her uncomfortable. She flitted nervously around the kitchen, wiping counters and opening the oven and mashing potatoes, trying all the while not to glance at him.

Jack sat in the chair facing the kitchen, his feet up, hands folded across his stomach, and stared at Maddy through half lidded eyes.

He thought about removing Tom from her life the easy way- hell Mayborn still owed him and the rogue NID agent would be slick about it. But it wasn't in Jack's nature to contract murder. He could do it himself if the man pissed him off enough, but Maddy would never forgive that. It would drive her away permanently, make her loathe him. And simply removing Tom from her life wouldn't automatically guarantee that she'd be in his.

Hell, last time it took her fifteen years of being divorced, nearly a year on Nirrti's planet, then close to another year of Jack hounding her to make her consider another relationship.

Not that he didn't have the extra time, Jack mused darkly. They both had gained a twelve year reprieve on natural death.

Images and memories flooded his mind, things he vowed not to let happen, times that were so precious to him that the thought of living them again was irresistible. It was staggering to contemplate being given the opportunity to relive a large span of one's life over again. Blessing or curse?

It would be what he made it.

But would twenty six years in a loveless marriage to a man as self centered and emotionally cruel as Tom change her into a woman who couldn't fall in love with him? With anyone? Where was the spirit, the lust for adventure, the need to test herself against the elements that had been so much a part of Maddy? She would only discover that side of herself once Tom was out of her life.

Maddy would never leave her husband. Not even if she fell in love with Jack. She was far too principled, too loyal, too committed to her faith. Oh, he planned to make her fall for him, but to make it easier for her to turn to him once Tom left, not to entice her into asking for a divorce.

He could kidnap her. Take her away somewhere. Take her to Nirrti's planet. But he knew Maddy's capacity for guilt and that would never fly while she was still married.

Maybe Tom could be bought off, but he couldn't be trusted not to blab it to Maddy. She wouldn't appreciate being bought and sold like a prize heifer.

Tom had left her for another woman in the last time line. What changed that? Jack focused on Maddy's memories that Qua'sel had left with him, searched for a name, a face. Angela. Blonde. California. A bar, a night out while waiting to deliver a load of freight. In... in... The city escaped him. He needed to track down that woman and somehow throw her into Tom's path. It would come to him.

His cell phone rang. It was Sara. She was breathless, laughing, distracted.

"Jack. Hi, Honey. Any chance you'd come spend the rest of your vacation with me? I just know if you saw this house..."

"I can't." He didn't mean to sound short with her.

"What do you mean 'can't'. Of course you can. You just won't." She wasn't being argumentative, just pointing out the obvious. "Does this mean you still haven't decided?"

Oh, he'd decided, alright.

"I'm taking the position, Sara."

Maddy glanced at him when she heard Sara's name. Sara didn't answer for a long while.

"Can we talk about this?" she finally sighed. "I don't want to move back to Colorado Springs. I want to retire out here, Jack. We're both at the age when we should start enjoying life. I'm sick of sharing you with the Air Force."

Jack wondered just how much she knew about the Stargate Program, if anything. How he had explained long absences and mysterious illnesses and a multitude of strange injuries.

"I can't leave it, not right now. There's too much I need to do."

"You need to do? It's the Air Force, Jack! They've got a whole military of people who can do what needs to be done! Let the young ones take over. You've given them far more than..."

"Sara," he interrupted. "I've made my decision. Now you need to make yours."

"Mine?" she yelped. "What's that mean?"

"I'm moving to Colorado Springs," he said as gently as possible. "If you want to move to Malibu I'll buy you that house."

He could hear her breathing hard. "As in... You want us to... Jack, what are you saying? Tell me you have a pile of money stashed away somewhere and we can afford this as a vacation home. That's what you mean... isn't it?"

Not over the phone. This wasn't the right way to do this.

"We'll talk when... we get back home."

Where was home? He didn't even know where he lived! He needed to get his hands on a financial statement, too. In the last time line, by now he'd accrued quite a retirement fund, stocks, investments. Had he and Sara done the same? Could he afford to buy two houses- especially at what a place in Malibu would cost?

"Don't do this to me," she said curtly. "Ruin my vacation, get me all upset over what the hell you're talking about!"

Jack made a fast decision.

"I'll come out there. As soon as I book a flight I'll let you know. Can you pick me up at the airport?"

"Just rent a car, Jack," she said incredulously.

When he had no idea where in Malibu her sister lived?

"Can you pick me up?" he repeated firmly.

She sighed again. "Sure, Jack. Let me know."

The line went dead. Jack dropped his arm to his side and it was a moment before he cut the connection. He needed to call Hank. Or George. Hammond might be the better option.

Maddy moved across his line of sight. As he watched her his mind worked feverishly over his next few moves. But he couldn't concentrate. He needed her. She was his source of peace, comfort. He'd deal with Sara, investigate his finances, find out where the hell he was supposed to be living. In the meantime...

"Come sit down, Maddy," he urged. "Your head has to be splitting."

She threw him a nervous smile. "I'm not used to having nothing to do."

"Who's taking care of the farm?"

"Neighbors. I should get back there. I've got bills to pay, hay to put up..."

"I'll take you."

She turned to stare at him. "I couldn't ask you to do that."

"You didn't. I offered."

"I couldn't afford to..."

"I'll fly us."

Her eyes widened. "You're a pilot?"

"Air Force?" he reminded.

"Yeah, but..."

"Brigadier general? I've got a whole arsenal of strings to pull."

She lowered her lashes. "I can't let you do that. You've already done so much. And isn't your wife expecting you in California?" She motioned apologetically at the phone.

Jack had the biggest notion to say screw it all and whisk her off to Nirrti's planet. Permanently.

"No 'let' about it," he said firmly. "I'll take you to Ohio first... or do you have to get Tom's okay?"

Her head came up at that. "I don't need his permission if that's what you're asking. But if he needs me here..."

"What can you do that a whole hospital of nurses can't?"

She blew a strand of hair from her face. "Why would you do that? I mean take time away from your wife and vacation to..."

"Ah!" He held up a finger to stem her argument. "Ahh. Do you want to go check on the farm?"

She frowned. "I really should. The deer have been wreaking havoc with my fences and the horses love the neighbor's grass. It really is always greener..."

Jack chuckled. "How many do you have?"

"Two less," she murmured with a hitch in her breath. "Three."

"Three? From the way Tom went on I thought you had thirty."

She shrugged. "He's not into horses. Wanted cattle, we got them, and now I'm stuck trying to keep them in, too. I put my foot down about goats. I hate goats."

"That's a lot of work."

"I grew up on that farm. It's not work, it's my life. I'm going stir crazy without it."

Oh, he could think of ways to keep her occupied. Jack's face must have given away his thoughts because she blushed and turned away.

"Farm work must agree with you," he told her. "You're a gorgeous woman."

He enjoyed the way surprise stiffened her shoulders, the red that crept into her ears.

"Dinner is almost ready."

Jack rose and moved up behind her. Trapping her against the counter, he reached above her head and lifted down the plates. She stilled as if she was afraid to move.

"Smells good," he said softly. She could convince herself that he meant the meatloaf, but she'd know better.

He took the plates to the table and returned for silverware. He let his hand brush her hip as he opened the drawer. She stepped aside immediately but he saw the goose bumps on her arms. She opened the oven door and reached for the pan. Jack took the towel from her.

"Let me do that."

"I can lift a pan of meatloaf."

"So can I." He was curious to see if it tasted anything like the meatloaf the entire base enjoyed. "You said you grew up on the farm. Has it been in your family long?"

"My dad bought it when I was year old. Tom and I set up a mobile home there and sort of took over when he got down sick." She took a breath. "He died, mom got sick, and I count myself lucky to have been right there where I could take care of her and my brother."

Jack set the pan on the stove and draped the towel over her shoulder. "Your brother?"

"He was bedfast with spina bifida. I lost him a year before I lost Mom."

"I'm sorry," he said gently.

She gave him an upside down smile. "We had a lot of good years together. They were a joy to take care of. I miss them."

"They must have kept you from being lonely when Tom was on the road."

Her smile seemed to falter as she nodded. "Gravy on your meatloaf?"

"Sure."

They sat down to eat and Jack was surprised by a wave of nostalgia. It had been a long time since he'd had Maddy's meatloaf. It made it harder to remember that she wasn't his at the moment. He got her talking and learned that not a lot had changed from what he already knew. She had fewer horses, fewer dogs, and less hope of ever being happy. Hers was a grin-and-bear-it mind set as opposed to the explore-and-conquer attitude he knew to be her true nature.

After devouring a third helping he got up and started washing the dishes. Maddy hovered uncomfortably.

"I can do that," she pleaded.

"So can I." He shot her a grin and wiped soap suds on her nose. "Contrary to popular military belief, brigadier generals aren't completely helpless."

He got a wide eyed stare instead of the giggle he had been shooting for.

"Hey, I gotta keep the cook happy," he told her as he rinsed a plate. "I haven't eaten this good since... I've never eaten this good," he amended.

"I'm glad you like it. I love to cook." She picked up a towel and started drying.

Jack tugged the towel from her hands. "Let them air dry. Sit down and talk to me."

She perched on the edge of a chair and twisted her fingers together.

"Tom's a lucky man to have married a gorgeous cook."

Her soft snort brought his head around.

"He prefers drive thru."

"You've gotta be kidding!"

She shrugged. "I cooked for Mom and Tedd, but with them gone and Tom away so much..."

"Fast food? When you can cook like this? The man's a fool."

"He likes consistency. He says my food is good, but it's never the same twice in a row and that I should cook from a recipe."

Jack shook his head. "To each his own. Sara," he had almost said 'my ex', "...is a basic mac and cheese from a box and hot dogs cook. When I wanted a steak we went out for it. Or I grilled for her. Grilling and barbeque were beyond her scope of comprehension. Or interest." He winced when he realized he was speaking in the past tense. A glance over his shoulder told him Maddy hadn't noticed. She was distracted by her own distant thoughts.

"I love to grill."

"I thought grilling was a man's domain."

"I'll fight for the right to grill."

Jack laughed and emptied the dish pan. "Feel up to going through the truck? We'll sort everything out and pack up what you want to take home. We can fly it back with us. Saturday work for you?"

"Yeah, but... you really don't have to do this."

"I'd like to see the farm."

She glanced away. "I'll go get started."

Jack dried his hands and followed her outside. They had items spread all around the truck when Maddy's cell phone rang. It was Tom. Jack covertly watched her face as they talked. He got the impression Tom was riding her over something again. When she hung up she gave him an apologetic look.

"He needs babied. Could I trouble you for a ride into town?"

"Point out which pile is which then take my truck and go. I'll box this up while you're gone." He dug out his wallet and handed her several bills. "Pick us up steaks for later. I'll hose off the grill."

"Oh you don't have to..."

"You got me hungry for steak. I wanna see a master griller at work- or show you one."

He was pleasantly surprised when she planted a shy kiss on his cheek before hurrying away.

When the truck was out of sight, Jack fished out his cell phone and dialed George Hammond's office number. When the general came on the line he didn't waste time with pleasantries.

"George, where the hell do I live?"

Chapter Seventy Seven

Jack turned into the driveway Maddy indicated. The small farm in eastern Ohio was a peaceful, pretty place if a little run down. The grass needed mowed and a few weeds had cropped up where they shouldn't be, but Maddy's flower beds and rose gardens were in full, aromatic bloom. Bonnie bounded to the door ahead of them and sat anxiously waiting to be let in. Maddy pushed the door open without using a key.

"It's not locked?"

"We never lock a door around here. I don't even know where the key is."

The little brick farm house was typical Maddy. Stained glass lamps and figurines and colored glass everywhere. A lot of it Jack recognized and it gave him a pang of homesickness. Every inch of wall space was covered with something. Lush potted plants in every nook and cranny, bubbling, algae-encrusted aquariums tucked into corners, books jammed onto sagging shelves. Jack's gaze came to rest on her grandmother's yellow glass basket. The one he shattered in a mindless rage in another lifetime. It gave him a moment of pause. Maddy shuffled through a stack of mail that was hanging on the doorknob.

"Make yourself at home," she offered. "Bathroom's down the hall. I'll put on a pot of coffee." The phone rang and she sat down to answer it.

Jack wandered through the house that she had described to him in detail. The toilet didn't work half the time and the ceiling plaster was cracking through her mending efforts. The floors rolled and creaked under foot. A layer of dust attested to her long absence, but otherwise the place was clean. And Maddy's version of neat.

To Jack it felt like coming home and he wondered if the lodge was for sale yet. She loved this farm. Would she move to Colorado Springs with him or would she be happier staying here? It was going to break her heart of Tom made her sell it in the divorce. Maybe he should buy him out. If he had any capital left after the divorce. He could only imagine what the asking price was on the place Sara wanted in Malibu.

"Want to walk to the barn with me?"

Jack turned. "Sure."

The barn was a mismatched patchwork of salvaged wood he knew she helped her dad build. No wonder she had loved the barn at the lodge. Maddy whistled and in a moment three horses came galloping over the hilly pasture. One of them whinnied when it saw her and she got tears in her eyes.

"That's Taco's mom. She's old as the hills."

She got a bucket of grain from an old freezer and gave the horses a treat as she introduced them to Jack. He saw a small herd of red and white cattle lounging under the trees at the edge of a woodland.

"Where's Tom's rig?"

"At the garage. He wants me to pick it up and change the oil while I'm home."

"They didn't change the oil at the garage?"

"Cheaper if I do it. I've got a huge bill to pay as it is. Two months ago he had the engine bored out and bigger injectors put in. Make it go faster. So he can run with the big boys. This time he had a new air seat installed. Does everything but pee for him."

Jack grunted something unintelligible. "No more dogs?"

"I've always wanted to raise Aussies but Tom doesn't want a bunch of mutts running around. He says Bonnie's enough. We've got a barn full of cats though. Tom likes cats."

"And you don't?"

"Eh. They're animals and I love animals. But... they're cats."

Jack chuckled. He heard a vehicle and turned with Maddy as a blue pickup pulled into the drive. Maddy introduced him to Mike, from the next farm over. They shook hands then Mike turned to Maddy.

"I can't keep that west fence line up," he told her. "The deer are thick as fleas on a hound this year. Johnson is having a fit about your cows getting into his cornfield. That's why I moved them into the lower pasture."

"Thanks, Mike. I'm sorry for your trouble."

"No trouble, just so you know about it. You going to cut that alfalfa yet? It's almost past prime now."

"Tom's still in the hospital and I need to get back."

"How long does it take?" Jack asked.

"Few days."

"We have that long. I'll help."

Maddy eyed him thoughtfully. "We could use the money. I keep first cut and sell the rest. This is like cash on the stem."

"That you're gonna lose real quick, here," Mike added. "Mine's done so you can use the baler. Bill Cook offered to mow it for you."

Jack nodded at her.

"I appreciate it, Mike. I'll call Bill today."

"He's at an auction right now. The old Monroe place. Try him tonight."

"Monroe's?" she perked up. "They had on old sleigh I've had my eye on..."

"Can we go?" Jack asked. Maddy at an auction was a treat he'd sorely missed.

Her eyes danced for a moment then clouded. "I can't spend the money. No use going just to tease myself."

Mike asked a few questions about Tom then Maddy's cell phone rang.

"Speak of the devil," Jack quipped as she moved a short distance away.

"Devil is right," Mike muttered.

Jack raised an eyebrow at him.

"How well do you know them two?" the aging farmer asked.

"Well enough."

He shook his head and turned to spit. "Works the ass off that girl, just like her daddy did. We was all tickled when he decided to take her on that little vacation with the horses. She never gets away, never has the money to do nuthin'. He's always gone, bragging about the places he's stopped to see, eatin' steak every night in the truck stops... the women he's had on the road. Maddy don't know about that part. Nobody wants to see her hurt. Thinks it makes him a man to diddle tramps along the road or else brag he did... You know, that girl has always loved her horses. Since she was this high," he held the flat of his hand to his knee. "If tweren't her old man threatening to shoot 'em to keep her in line, it's her husband threatening to sell 'em to get his way..." His voice trailed off as Maddy walked back.

Her eyes were red but she had wiped away the tears.

"He's glad we're gonna make that hay. Can you run me down to the garage? He's fussing about the Peterbuilt." She turned to Mike. "I hate to impose, but Tom called a dealer and told him to come pick up the horses. Can I stash them at your place until I get him convinced otherwise?"

Jack was quite impressed by the vivid string of oaths the old farmer managed to put together.

"You bring 'em down right now, Madison. They can stay there for as long as you want. Hell, you can move in with 'em if you take a notion to."

Jack wasn't sure he didn't mean into the barn with them.

Her smile was tight and forced. "You're a Godsend, Mike. They're at the barn now- I'll go saddle up." She looked at Jack. "Do you ride?"

"Been known to fork a cayuse," he drawled comically.

Maddy managed a smile before she turned toward the barn. She spun around and walked backwards to call another thank you to Mike.

The old farmer spit again. "Don't know what your connection with them is, but whatever you can do for that girl will please the Big Man upstairs, General."

"He doesn't smack her around?" Jack asked. The old man seemed to be in the mood to gossip and Jack wanted to learn all he could.

Mike chuckled dryly. "It's the general consensus that he'd like to but don't have the guts. Ol' Maddy'd knock him clean into next week. She needs to do that anyhow, then leave before he finds his way back."

"If she hasn't left before now..."

"Before now she had her momma and brother to take care of. We all figured she was afraid she couldn't manage without him. Not that he ever lifted a finger. Always bragging about the wood he cut, the hay he made. But it's always Maddy covered in sawdust and hayseed, with grease under her nails. Lookin' bedraggled and half done in whilst he comes prancin' outta the trailer up there all slicked up to go have a few beers and trade lies with his trucker buddies."

"Maddy's tough. Independent. I can't imagine she puts up with that."

"She also had a lot of responsibilities. Caring for her family was a full time job- and pulling his weight for him too- wasn't no way she could get a job. Oh, she'd pick up work here and there, but she was needed at home. She needed his paycheck- what she got of it. She's working now, a midnight shift so she can handle the farm work by day. Independent? Yeah, she's that and then some. But she ain't stupid. He'd be paying the bills whether he lived here or elsewhere. She owns this place, free and clear of that bastard. Her momma left it to her with the stipulation his name didn't go on the deed. Didn't have no time for Tom. Threw her life away on a man what didn't deserve her and she hated that her daughter was doing the same. I've seen Maddy start to rear up on her hind feet since her momma passed. Look for her to drive him off any day now. It ain't like he's much more than a renter anyhow."

"Tom's gone a lot. It's a wonder she hasn't found herself somebody."

Mike squinted up at Jack. "Mister, you don't know Maddy by half. Good girl, she is. Wouldn't cheat on him for love nor money. It's probably too late for her, though. Not quite an old gray mare, but she ain't no filly anymore, either. And the fellers around here know damn well they couldn't handle her. Too smart for most of 'em, too strong for the rest. Fellers don't cotton to a woman who's a better man than they are."

Jack nearly choked. "She's gorgeous. Sweet. Hell of a cook. Who wouldn't want her?"

"Any feller with designs on growing a family," he said immediately. "Got real phobia about kids, she does. One of Tom's big bitches. He wants to saddle her with a yard full of diapers to change whilst he goes off cattin' around. That's one thing she's put her foot down about. Reckon it's why he sleeps at the trailer and she sleeps at the house."

"Who's punishing whom?" Jack asked innocently.

"Don't imagine either one is too anxious to get friendly with the other. Shame, woman like that not gettin' any." He rolled his eyes and whistled.

Jack laughed at him. "Not too old for you, I take it?"

"Me? Hell, my old horse has been out to pasture for longer than I care to remember. Never got the urge again after my woman died. Now there was a looker, General. Ella turned heads all her life. She could milk her way through a barnful of heifers slicker'n goose shit through a funnel..."

As he prattled on about his wife Jack watched Maddy lead two saddled horses from the barn. He moved forward to take the reins she offered to him.

"Rita will follow along. Mike, we're going up through the field. See you in a little bit."

The old man waved and got into his truck. Jack toed the stirrup and swung into the saddle. Maddy grinned at him as she stepped aboard. It was the first real smile he'd seen since that prehistoric planet.

The trek to Mike's farm was a pleasant experience for Jack, though it got steadily more painful as watching Maddy ride got him excited. Mike offered them a ride home after Maddy got the horses settled, but Jack suggested they walk back the way they came. He loved the serene countryside, the idea of walking with Maddy through the woods. And it would give them time to talk without Maddy being distracted. When they were out of sight of any prying eyes, he grabbed her hand.

Maddy's head whipped around and she tried to tug away.

"But I'm afraid of the woods, " he coaxed. "Some mean squirrel might attack me."

She laughed and let him have her hand, but he could see how uncomfortable it made her.

"Would he really sell the horses out from under you?"

"He's done it before."

Jack stopped and pulled her around.

"I got to the auction in time and no-saled them, brought them back home." Her eyes dropped. "We had a big fight. I had to sell my boats to keep the horses."

"Why?"

"It bugged Tom that I kept them after Dad died. He doesn't like to fish."

"So you can't like it either?"

She shrugged. "Never had time to go anyway. And it's no fun alone."

"Leave him."

"The farm is mine."

"So kick him out."

"He'll take everything to spite me."

"You have thought about it?"

She shrugged miserably.

"But you don't want to be alone?"

"I've been alone since mom died."

He stepped into her and hugged her. She pulled away.

"Don't. Please. I'm not desperate. And you have a wife."

"It was just a hug."

"So go hug your wife." She hunched her shoulders and started walking again. "Anymore, 'alone' is looking pretty damned good."

He caught up to her. "Do you love him, Maddy?"

"I used to. I think. Now it's more like habit. Getting to the point where I dread him coming home. I think he dreads it, too. Nothing here for him."

"Except for a cook, mechanic, housekeeper, accountant, and laundress. You deserve better."

"Do I? Maybe this is my calling in life."

"And what's his? Making you miserable?"

"Maybe. I'm earning jewels in my Heavenly crown."

"You're earning an ulcer, a bad back, and a heart attack."

She stopped and turned on him. "What is it that you and everybody else around her wants me to do? Kick him out, get a divorce, lose everything I've got, then work three times as hard to pay my own way through life? What kind of existence is that?"

"What kind do you have now?"

"I have my horses, my farm, my flower gardens. The house I grew up in with all Mom and Tedd's memories there. I have people I can call on for help, like Mike. I raise my own beef and vegetables, get to spend time outdoors. I'd shoot myself before I'd move into some tenth floor apartment."

"You'll meet somebody, find out what real love is all about."

"According to Tom, it's having a bunch of squalling kids. No thanks."

"Not always."

"You have kids, General?"

"I did. A son."

"You get along with him?"

"He... died."

Her face fell. "I'm sorry."

Jack touched her hair and knew the tenderness in his heart was showing in his eyes. "You're a beautiful, vibrant woman with many talents. The right man is waiting for you. That's a promise."

"Why is it you men insist on making promises you have no intention- and in this case, no hope in hell- of keeping?"

"Don't I?"

She blinked at him and pushed his hand away. "I suppose you want to set me up with somebody."

He pursed his lips. "You might say that."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm married, I don't cheat, and I'm not in the market." She started away again.

"If Tom were out of the picture?"

"Believe me, one turn in the barrel has been quite enough. Just... don't do me any favors, General. "

Jack decided to let it drop, let her think about it. He caught up and drew her into a conversation about beef cattle.

Chapter Seventy Eight

Jack and Maddy spent a little over a week at the farm. They made hay, mowed grass, fixed fence, ran off the horse dealer, ate home-grown beef, and talked. In the evenings they watched TV, played cards, and talked. Maddy insisted he sleep at the trailer so the neighbors wouldn't talk, but when he fell asleep on the couch she didn't wake him.

Sara called twice and Jack could tell she was irritated at being put off. He hated doing this to her. Sara didn't deserve to be on the receiving end of Loki's bullshit. She was surprised when he told her he had arranged for an open-ended leave before he took the position at the base. But Sara wouldn't question him or his motives. She had been a military wife for too long, accepted that there was much Jack couldn't tell her. How would she accept that he wanted a divorce? After all the years they had apparently shared? He cringed away from dealing with it, even in his mind.

Every night Tom called for a running list of the work Maddy had accomplished and the bills she had managed to get paid. Jack noticed she didn't mention that he was there with her and wondered how she rationalized that in her conscience.

He hated the thought of taking her back to Minnesota. She was becoming more comfortable with him, answering with frank openness when he plied her with questions. Jack kept a sharp watch for any sign she was remembering her future but saw none. All he saw was a Maddy subdued by a life she should never have led. He walked a fine line between letting her know he was interested in her without turning it into overt passes.

But it was all he could do to keep from kissing some life into her.

He was still getting the shakes. Maddy noticed but didn't comment.

When he flew her back to Minnesota she asked to stop by the hospital on the way to the cabin. She had Tom's clothes to drop off and a list of phone numbers he had told her to bring. Jack waited in the lobby. Maddy wasn't gone long, and when she stepped off the elevator her eyes were full of fire. Jack stepped forward to meet her.

"You okay?"

She was so mad she couldn't speak. She held his gaze as she stormed by and out to the truck. Jack lengthened his stride to catch up. They were half way to the cabin before he could coax it out of her.

"He wants me to sell off ten acres so he can buy a second rig!" she seethed. "One of his drinking buddies needs a job!" She sat breathing hard for a moment. "The only ten acres with road access is my horse pasture. I won't break up the farm, Jack. Not for that."

Jack rubbed her shoulder and waited. He could tell there was more. She sighed and looked out the window.

"We got into it because the dealer called to tell him I wouldn't give up the horses, and he's demanding to be paid for an empty trip. He says I have to pay him back for that. And..." she pressed her lips together and shook her head a moment, "...that any insurance money we get out of this mess is going into the rig. If I want to replace that truck- have something to drive- I have to sell the horses."

She was breathing hard now, fighting tears of anger. When Maddy was mad enough to cry, all hell was apt to break loose. Jack silently cheered her on.

"I work midnights so I can handle the farm during the day. He pays the utilities and the taxes, but every cent I make from my job or the farm he spends. I scrimped and saved to buy my own pickup because he keeps his in a garage in town. I sold two colts to buy that trailer. I have to fight to use my paycheck to buy horse feed but he's justified in blowing his money out on the road. Or drinking it. If it's not bars it's car races or concerts or whatever attracts his attention wherever he happens to be. 'He works hard, he deserves a break," she mimicked sarcastically. "Two months ago he called to tell me what a great time he was having at Disneyland, but I have to justify having more than one pair of barn boots."

Jack pulled over onto the berm and threw his arm across the back of the seat. He realized she was unloading because this was the first time she'd had somebody to unload to.

"I used to ask to go with him. Once mom and Tedd were gone..." She took a harsh breath. "I love driving that rig, being on the road, seeing the country. I keep renewing my CDL. But he's always got an excuse for me not to go."

He was nearly as furious as she was, but he kept his voice even.

"About the horses- tell him to go suck a lemon."

Her head whipped around in surprise. "I did. Those exact words."

"What can I do to help?"

Her expression softened. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have spouted off to you like that. This isn't your problem and there's nothing you can do. I'll figure it out."

"Kick him out. Let him move in with his drinking buddy."

She snorted as if he had made a joke. "He's just frustrated. Laid up with nothing to do but think. He'll settle down once he gets back on his feet."

"And back on the road?"

She nodded.

"Back to cheating on you every chance he gets?"

Her eyes widened briefly then narrowed. "Where'd you... Mike! He keeps insisting Tom's playing around on me."

"Is he getting it at home?" Jack asked evenly.

Her face went a dark red and she turned away from him. "I've never denied him. Not that he ever..." She snapped her mouth closed and her lips tightened into a white line. He watched her chin bob a couple of times before she managed to control it.

"Doesn't answer my question. Maddy, you're sleeping under separate roofs. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together. I guarantee you, if he's not asking for it at home he's getting it on the road."

"That what they teach you in the Air Force- how to kick a girl when she's down?"

"I'm trying to make you open your eyes."

"At the risk of sounding ungrateful for everything you've done, it's none of your damned business."

Jack stared through the back window. How far to go? Was it too soon?

"Okay, but think about it."

They were half way up the lane when she said softly, "I've done nothing but think about it."

Jack glanced at her.

"I'm not naive. I know what he's doing. Thing is... I don't care."

"It's alright for him but not for you?"

"I live the life I feel is right. I'm married so I'm not looking. What Tom does he'll have to answer for."

Jack turned into the drive and let Bonnie out of the truck. Maddy walked towards the forest and he let her go. He put away the meat they brought back with them and had the grill lit before she returned. Her eyes were red and the tear tracks she had tried to wipe away were smeared across her cheeks.

Maybe he should whisk her off to Nirrti's planet. Maybe he should seduce her, show her what life with him could be like- would be like. Will be like. What he did was offer her a cup of coffee and a gentle pat on the shoulder.

"I suppose I should have that truck hauled out of here."

"No rush."

"Did our steaks thaw?"

"Almost."

"Jack... I'm sorry I snapped at you. I know you're just trying to help. I'm not used to having a shoulder to cry on. Please don't let me wear out my welcome."

"I'm sorry you don't snap on Tom."

"I did today. Got the I'm-in-the-hospital-how-dare-you routine."

"Come live with me," he said out of the blue.

"What?"

He turned to trap her eyes. "Live with me. If you don't want to sleep with me, I'll deal with it. Let me start you on a decent life, Maddy."

She swallowed. "Your wife..."

Jack grimaced. "I haven't figured out how to tell her, and she doesn't deserve what has to happen. But I can't continue with this marriage."

"Oh. I'm so sorry. I didn't realize you were having problems."

"We aren't," Jack said heavily. "Sara's a good person and I love her- but not like I should."

Maddy frowned. "Maybe this is just a faze. Don't do anything rash, Jack. Don't throw away all those years and a good woman..."

He held up a hand to stop her and shook his head. "I can't get into it right now, but I know what I'm doing. What has to be done. That has no bearing on what I'm asking of you. Leave Tom. He doesn't deserve you and you don't deserve to be treated like that."

"The farm..."

"Sell it. We'll put all your memories into storage. Board the horses for now. Bring whatever you want."

"Here?" she asked.

"At..." Jack stopped. He didn't have the lodge yet, didn't even know if it was available this time around. "Here for now."

"I thought this was a vacation place. You only had two weeks- and that was up more than two weeks ago."

"That arsenal of strings I told you about? I pulled a few."

"Then what? Jump from security into limbo? Thanks, it's a very compassionate offer, but..."

"Think about it." He reached out to cup her cheek, stroked her face with his thumb. "That gash is healing up nicely. You might not even have a scar."

She dropped her lashes. "Tom's supposed to be released in another week. He wants me to ask if the offer for a flight home is still available."

"For you, anytime. I'm inclined to tell him to walk."

Maddy looked up at him then. "Don't hate him, Jack. Tom is who he is. He's not a bad person, he's just not on the same page as I am. That doesn't make him wrong... well, not all the time. He's pestered me to sell off ground before and I suppose I'm being selfish not to. It's his home too..."

"Oh for crying out loud!" Jack barked. "Stop being a martyr! You're not in love with each other, you're using each other to stay miserable because neither of you has the guts to stand on your own two feet! Your mom and Tedd are gone. There's absolutely nothing holding you in that relationship. You're young, gorgeous, intelligent- stop wasting yourself on a man who doesn't appreciate you!" He made a fast decision. "I'm leaving for a few days. I'll be back to fly you home with him if you don't come to your senses."

He grabbed his keys and headed for the door.

"Jack?" The panic in her voice stopped him. "Please... don't leave on my account. I'll... I'll get a motel. Or go back home. Just... I'm sorry."

Only two men in her life and they both yelled at her in the same day. Guilt made him feel like a heel. He turned.

"I have business to attend to. I'm not leaving because I'm mad at you. Will you be okay here alone for a few days?"

She nodded uncertainly.

"I'll have a rental car sent up for you to use. You still have my cell number?"

She nodded and sat wringing her hands. He couldn't stand it. He walked back and smoothed a hand over her head. He had to get this straightened out, get her back in his life. This was killing him. Her shoulders started to shake and she bent her head. Jack gently lifted her chin and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

"When I told you I could guarantee the right man was waiting for you, I meant me."

"You barely know me," she whispered in shock.

"I know you better than you know yourself."

"How could you?"

"I have deep, dark secrets. And you're one of them. I won't ask you to trust me because that would be your cue to turn tail and run. I won't make you promises because I know you think men make promises just to prove they can break them. And I won't stop until you belong to me." He almost said 'again'.

Her eyes widened in dismay. "You're not... leaving Sara for me...?"

"I'm leaving Sara because I have to. It should have happened long before I met you." That much, anyway, was the truth.

"You're not even out of one marriage and already you want to move another woman in with you? A married woman you've only known for a couple of weeks? General, I'm pretty sure you could afford to have your laundry done at the cleaners."

He brushed his fingers over her hair, followed them with his eyes. "You have no reason to trust me, but I'm asking you to. There's so much you don't know, don't remember, Maddy."

"Remember...?" She pulled back out of his reach and bit her lip. "I... I think I'd better..."

He shook his head, chided himself for letting too much slip too soon.

"Don't be afraid of me. It's spooky as hell, I know. I'll try to explain, try to..." He gestured in frustration. "Just... give me the benefit of the doubt. While I'm gone, make some phone calls. Ask about me, verify I am who I say I am. Don't ask if I'm wacko because they'll probably say yes... Start with the local police. Contact the Air Force. I guarantee you mentioning my name will have a parade of military officials traipsing through here- more to ask questions than answer them- but you'll find out I'm not a serial killer or a nut job. Mention Generals Landry and Hammond and watch how fast they snap to attention. Call the Pentagon, ask for Major Davis."

"Will I get into trouble?" she fretted.

She got into trouble the night they met, a lifetime ago.

"Not a bit. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Chapter Seventy Nine

The lodge was for sale.

It was in the same rundown, deplorable, filthy condition it had been the first time he saw it. He carried the same chair out onto the deck and once again pondered what to do about Maddy. Only this time the dossier he studied was all inside his head.

She'd never leave Tom. She hadn't left him the first time and she took vows made before God seriously. Maddy was loyal to a fault, even when that loyalty was unanswered and abused. He had to find out who it was Tom had left her for, find her, and make sure they met. In the meantime he'd buy the lodge and figure out how to deal with Sara. Should he show the lodge to Maddy? She had been so afraid of being left homeless with her horses and dogs. He needed to figure out a way to convince her this was hers, no strings attached. That she'd be safe here.

Until Loki or Aris Boch or Ba'al beamed her away.

Maybe the lodge wasn't such a good idea. He could look somewhere else. He still hadn't decided to take the oversight position with the SGC. How many times had he vowed, if he had it to do over, he'd take her far away from Cheyenne Mountain and the danger that lurked in its bowels? And here he was, set to make the same mistake again.

But she had been so happy here, so content. They both had.

A divorce was going to mean he'd need the money from the new position and then some, especially if he bought this place and the house in Malibu. He and Sara had been renting in Washington so there was no capital to be gained from a sale. And there would be alimony- a lot of it. His instinct was to retire and move Maddy far away, but what would he leave undone that could change things for the worse? There had to be a way to protect Maddy from everything she had been through before because of him, and still insure the beneficial progression of the Stargate Program.

Jack sighed and propped his feet on the rail. Just being his wife put her in danger. So much more than Sara because of the oversite position here in Colorado Springs. He could keep her from getting the job in the base commissary, for starters. Go on the hunt for Ba'al. Make it a prime directive of his position. Take the fight to him and drive him off Earth. Or kill him. And have a long talk with Thor about Loki. He needed to inform Landry about the stockpile of drones a mile away from the Ancient outpost in Antarctica. They needed to get busy and transfer those drones and the fresh ZPM to Atlantis before the Repli-Wraith made their move. That would keep Maddy out of the ice cavern... that she couldn't transport them out of because Loki would never implant the device.

He still thought he could buy her a divorce from Tom and wondered what the price of her freedom would be. Freedom from a man who didn't love her only to be bound to a man who loved her completely but would put her life in danger.

Carter could take Qua'sel this time. She'd put his vast knowledge to better use than he ever could. That would bypass a lot of trouble. And he needed to warn Carter that the dome on that planet contained nothing but mutated killer spiders. And the first contact with Trygar Prime. He needed to tell them not to go to Trygar Three, that Lomar and Gon were in bed with the Lucian Confederacy...

Maybe he should show Maddy the lodge before he made an offer. He might not be able to pry her off her farm, in which case he wouldn't take the oversight job. They could get rid of that trailer and remodel the house...

If Aris Boch didn't kidnap them, the Lucians would never have a means of using her for leverage. Jack shuddered at the memory of her brutal rape. He let the chair legs rock back to the deck.

What the hell was he doing here when Maddy was in Minnesota?

Chapter Eighty

It was the wee hours of the morning when Jack climbed the rutted lane to his cabin. Not wanting to wake Maddy, he shut off the lights and drifted just far enough off the road for the truck to be out of the way.

The door opened without his key and he shook his head. She'd never get used to locking doors- she never had. He heard music and recognized the CD that had been in her truck that night of their first meeting. The final haunting strains of 'The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald' gave him a deep, nostalgic feeling. She had left a fire burning. He could see the flickering light, smell the smoke. Bonnie padded into the kitchen and wiggled up to him. Gordon Lightfoot's 'Sundown' made him fight the urge to go crawl into bed with her. It was a melody they hadn't been able to resist dancing between the sheets to.

"Hi, Girlfriend," he whispered to Bonnie. "Miss me?"

He sat down and took off his hiking boots, playing getcha with the dog as he unlaced them.

"Come on, lets go to bed. Sleep with me tonight?"

He stepped around the corner and stopped.

Maddy was in front of the fireplace, wrapped in a blanket, swaying to the music. He leaned his shoulder against the wall and watched. Eyes closed, head back, she held the blanket out by the edges. Her naked body catching the firelight, the blanket trapping the heat, she moved with the sensual beat. Her hair swept around her hips and brushed the curve of her bottom. It was the first he'd seen it down since the wreck.

Jack inhaled deeply and held it a moment. The song ended and Maddy brought the blanket back around her shoulders. As Bob Segar began crooning "Turn The Page" she sang along softly as she danced. Moved the way she had danced with him; erotically, uninhibited, working shamelessly to arouse him.

"Who are you dancing with?" Jack asked quietly.

Maddy jumped and gave a little scream.

"Sorry," he told her. "Didn't mean to startle you."

She was still gaping at him, trying to catch her breath. He wished she'd been startled enough to drop the blanket.

"You really should lock the door when you're alone."

She nodded mutely.

"So... who were you dancing with? Tom?"

She shook her head. "Tom doesn't dance."

"I do." He moved forward and took her into his arms.

Maddy stiffened and tried to back away.

"Ah, no you don't," he breathed. "Dance with me, Gorgeous."

Maddy stared up at him, her lips slightly parted. Jack was proud of the way he resisted their lure. He slipped a hand to the small of her back, put the other around her shoulders. She kept her arms crossed to keep the blanket tightly closed. Jack brushed his cheek over her hair. It was still damp. She must have just gotten out of the shower.

"Put your arms around me," he coaxed.

"Can't. I'll drop the blanket."

"Okay," he said hopefully.

She laughed softly and rested her forehead on his shoulder. Jack made liberal use of his hands as he urged her to move with him. He nuzzled her ear then drew her hair back to kiss her neck. Maddy shivered. Jack grinned against her skin then nipped her. The soft squeal in her throat made him kiss the spot then nip it again.

"Don't you dare give me a sucker bite!" she warned.

Tom. Damn his existence. Or maybe not...

"I won't... if you drop the blanket."

She tried to pull away. He raised her head and kissed her. To Maddy's credit she tried to resist. Tried to deny his tongue access. But she didn't fight him. He drew back and stared into her eyes.

"It's just a dance."

"With your tongue?"

He grinned. "Two for the price of one?"

"I can't do this."

"You already are."

"I meant dancing."

"So did I."

"Not the way you just kissed me, you didn't."

His grin faded. "That wasn't a kiss. This is a kiss." He took her mouth so swiftly and so masterfully that she was powerless to react. He teased and taunted her tongue until it was sparring with his. He felt her hands clench in his shirt and he began slowly, idly working the blanket out of her grasp. When one side dropped she whimpered into his kiss. His hands contacted soft, warm flesh and his self control began to slip. He stepped into her, slipped his knee between hers, and pulled her bottom against his hardness. Maddy whimpered again and tried to move back but he tightened his grip. This was where she belonged and she felt so good in his arms. He broke the kiss and moved to maul her neck.

"Jack, please! I can't do this!"

He drew back and watched her eyes. "You said you couldn't dance, either, and look what that did to me."

The corner of her mouth twitched so he kissed it. She planted both hands on his chest and firmly held him at bay. He took advantage of the gap to catch a nipple between the backs of his knuckles. She gasped. He let go, stroked the offended bud, then stepped back a pace.

"If you say no I won't insist," he told her. "But I won't ever stop asking."

She stooped gracefully and drew the blanket around her. 'Turn The Page' ended and 'Shameless' began. Maddy closed her eyes and turned away.

"Dance with me. You know you want to. You love that song."

"How can you know that?"

"I see it in your face," he lied.

She turned to face him, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Jack held her gaze, felt her uncertainty, her confusion. Then her face hardened. She swept the blanket open and held it wide.

"Do you really want this?" she demanded sarcastically.

Jack let his eyes trail over her from head to foot and back up again. Tom was a fool.

"You're stunning, Maddy. You take my breath away." He twirled a finger and she glared at him a moment before she defiantly dropped the blanket and turned a full circle.

"Oh, yeah. Most definitely want that. Every delightful, gorgeous inch of it. Want. Much. Give?"

She frowned at his humor.

"Either cover that up or bring it over here. It's against the law to torture a brigadier general."

She wrapped her arms around herself and turned sideways to stare into the fire. He took heart in the fact that the blanket was still only covering her feet.

"Did you make the phone calls I suggested?" he asked, watching her profile.

Her eyebrow quirked. "Yes. Actually, I did."

"What'd you find out?"

It took her a moment to answer.

"That you're a highly respected, well connected, very important man."

"Who did you talk to?"

He knew. Landry, Hammond, and Davis had all called to tell him they had met with her.

"I don't remember their names- there was a slew of them."

"Do you trust me now?"

She snorted. "I might trust you less. I got the impression you're a dangerous man, General."

"But trustworthy."

She shook her head, but it wasn't a negative response. More an indication of respect.

"Dangerous turns you on," he taunted.

She shot him a startled, sideways glance but wouldn't hold his gaze.

"I know you need to feel like I seduced you, Maddy. It would be the only way to salve your conscience. But I'm not going to. I want you. I've wanted you since the night you wrecked that horse trailer. It's your decision and I need you to make it."

Her chin dipped towards her chest and he saw her begin to tremble. If she didn't make a move soon he was going to be all over her.

One way or the other he was going to be all over her.

But it would save him a lot of time and words and backtracking if she'd just make the choice herself.

"C'mere," he said quietly. Then, on a lighter note, "I've got candy in my pocket, Little Girl..."

Her eyes slid to his. She was breaking, he knew she was.

"Maddy, this isn't just for tonight. I fell in love with you the minute I laid eyes on you. I want to marry you, take care of you, love you for the rest of your life. I want to start tonight."

That might have been a tactical error because her face tightened nervously. He held out a tremoring hand.

"See this? Has nothing to do with alcohol. It started the night I met you."

"It's only been a couple weeks. How can you be so sure?"

"Because it's meant to be."

She shook her head and her eyes went back to the fire.

"Men like you... They like to think they're knights in shining armor, coming to the rescue of damsels in distress. It never lasts."

"Role-playing! Cool. Is that my cue to whip out my sword?"

She gave a short laugh and glanced at him.

"Let me prove to you how long it lasts." Let her take that any way she wanted.

"I can't do this. It's wrong, so very, very wrong. Not just for us, but for Tom and Sara."

"I know. Make love to me tonight and in the morning we'll contact a good divorce attorney. Make it right."

She shook her head. "I can't divorce him."

"If he's holding your favorite teddy bear hostage I'll send in a special ops team to rescue it."

She smirked at that then sobered. "I made a pledge before God, to God..."

"And the one legal way- in God's eyes- to become divorced is if he cheats on you. He has."

"You don't know that. I've never caught him."

"You think maybe God knows?"

She winced. "If I sleep with you tonight, He'll know that for sure."

"I imagine moaning His name over and over will get His attention," Jack agreed.

"Ever thought of counseling for that self-confidence problem you've got?"

Jack knew he'd lost this battle. The moment was gone. He hadn't pressed his advantage when he had it.

"Besides," she said, "If I'd cheat on him, I'd cheat on you. Bad woman to have."

"See, I wouldn't consider it cheating on him. I'd consider it a jump start on our lives together. If you go back to him for even a day I'll consider that cheating on me."

"Kinda putting the cart before the horse, aren't you?"

"Bring your cart over here and we'll see what I put where," he dared.

She surprised him by rolling her eyes instead of blushing. "I'm not walking away from everything I've worked for all my life..."

"I'm not asking you to. The only thing I'm asking you to walk away from or give up is Tom. After that, what's yours is yours, what's mine is yours, and anything else you want I'll get for you."

She turned to stare at him. "At what price?" she asked carefully.

Jack took a breath. "Fish with me. Cook for me once in a while. Laugh with me, tease me, dance with me- naked, of course. And throw away all your bras."

She was shaking her head again.

"You might have to yell at me sometimes. I'm terrible about leaving my underwear and wet towels on the floor. I fart in public, but you could break me of that if you tried."

She rolled her head back and stared at the ceiling.

"Loudly or quietly?" she asked.

Yes! His Maddy was coming back to him!

"They vary. Depends on what you feed me. Oh, and there's one more thing I should warn you about."

She straightened and looked at him. At least she was interested.

"I have an enormous sexual appetite. I'll hound you all hours of the day and night. In the kitchen, the barn, in the yard, the shower, the lake, outside in the rain, occasionally in a snow bank. Definitely in the waterfall..."

"What lake? Waterfall?"

Oops. He shifted nervously and shoved his hands into his pockets like a little boy. He even toed the rug.

"I wasn't gonna tell you until morning. I just came from looking at a piece of property. I told the realtor I was interested but I needed to show it to my wife before I made an offer."

"You what? I thought you were going to ask Sara for a divorce?"

He shrugged. "I meant you, but they didn't need to know the lurid details. ...I've known about this place, but until I met you I just sorta let it pass." He looked up at her. "Maddy, I've been offered a sweet position in Colorado Springs. I'd like to take it. I know what the farm means to you and if you can't bring yourself to leave it, I won't take the job."

"Simple as that?" she asked skeptically.

"Simple as that. But I'd like you to look at it first. You can bring everything from the farm and use it there. There's a waterfall in the back, a lake full of fish right off the livingroom, and a bank barn that'll knock your socks off..."

"And if I say no?"

"Then we'll live in Ohio. I've got a hell of a good retirement coming..."

"Jack! Stop and think about what you're saying!"

"I've thought of nothing but since I met you."

For her that was a couple of weeks. For him it was a lifetime.

She snatched up the blanket and backed away. "You're nuts."

He nodded. "Probably." He had moved too fast. He knew it was too soon. Now he had scared her off. "Go to bed, Maddy. And for God's sake, lock that door." He started for his bedroom.

Maddy stepped into his path.

He pulled up short and stared steadily into her eyes.

"Fish or cut bait," he warned softly, "But you don't wanna tease me."

"Does that go for the bedroom, or just out here?"

He had her so fast she yelped into his kiss. He tore the blanket away and dug his fingers into her back. After her initial shock Maddy slid her fingers into his hair and gave as good as she got.

When Jack finally drew back for a breath he said against her mouth, "Walk now, one way or the other. Make your decision." Then he backed away without kissing her again.

Maddy turned and walked into his bedroom.

Jack unbuttoned his shirt as he followed. She was standing beside the bed, her back to him, arms clamped around herself nervously. He pressed his chest into her back and reached around to cover her breasts with shaking hands. She let her head fall back on his shoulder.

"That feels so good," she whispered.

He turned her and lowered his head. Maddy raised her lips to his but he kept a breath away to torment her. As her gaze rose from his mouth to his eyes it drifted over his shoulder. She sucked in a sharp breath and screamed.

Chapter Eighty One

Jack whirled and threw Maddy behind him in one frantic motion.

Aris Boch stood in the bedroom doorway, a huge, imposing figure in his silver, intergalactic tough guy space suit. At least he had left the helmet in his ship. Jack raised his right hand and slowly put it behind him to feel for Maddy. As Boch was watching that hand, Jack deftly slipped the other into his pocket. It only took a second to press the button on the locator beacon.

"O'Neill!" Boch boomed jovially. "Nice to see you again."

"Where's the dog?"

"Thedog? What's thedog?"

"Little furry creature. Four legs, short nose, long ears, stubby tail. She would have raised holy hell when you came through the door."

"Oh, that creature. It's fine, just... sleeping." Boch motioned with his weapon. "I surprise you in your own bedroom and the first thing you say is 'where's thedog'? It must be valuable. Or you must be crazier than I've heard."

Jack shrugged. "What can I do for you, Aris? You kinda interrupted things here."

Maddy was digging her nails into his shoulder blades.

"I see that. Sorry. Well, I'm not, really. I need to borrow you for a while."

"Can it wait until morning?" Jack jerked his head towards where Maddy was cowering against his back and winked conspiratorially.

"Afraid not. Bring her with you, though. It's gonna be a long ride. You can pick up where you left off as long as you keep it to a dull roar. I need to get some sleep."

"Been working overtime?" Jack needed to stall him. If he got them aboard his ship...

"Earth's defenses are more advanced than I thought they'd be. Had to keep on my..."

A brilliant flash of light blinded Jack for an instant. When it was gone, so was Boch. He turned and put his arms around Maddy.

"You okay?"

She nodded mutely.

"Better get dressed. We're gonna have visitors in..."

There was a pounding on the door.

"...a minute. Grab something out of my dresser."

"O'Neill!" a deep, booming voice called out from the kitchen.

"Teal'c," Jack shouted. "I'm alright. Be there in a minute."

But Teal'c didn't wait. Before Maddy could move the big alien filled the doorway much the way Boch had a moment earlier. Familiar with Jack's cabin, he reached around and flicked the light switch.

Maddy yelped and dove under the covers. Teal'c gave Jack an approving smile.

"I wanted to assure myself of your safety, O'Neill."

"Consider yourself assured." Jack moved into the doorway and Teal'c backed out. He glanced over his shoulder at the bed. All he could see was the top of her head and her eyes. "Stay put. I'll be right back."

Colonel Mitchell and a special forces team were milling around his cabin.

"General O'Neill," Mitchell came to attention and saluted. "Boch is safely in custody aboard the Odyssey."

Jack returned his salute without coming to attention. "Well done, Colonel. Appreciate the save."

"I have a team scouring the area, Sir, just to be sure."

"Scouring?" Jack mimicked. "That's giving it the ole Air Force..." he finished by swinging his fist. He glanced down the hall at the darkly clad, heavily armed men moving through the rooms. "They gonna scour my tub, too?"

Mitchell grinned.

"O'Neill has a guest," Teal'c rumbled politely. "She is currently covering her nudity with his bedding."

Mitchell raised his eyebrows then grinned broadly. "Then we'll be on our way, Sir. Enjoy your... evening."

"If Boch didn't take all the," Jack swung his fist again, "Out of it."

"I'm sure you'll have things well in hand in no time, Sir." Mitchell dead-panned as the SF team filed out the door.

"Cabin and grounds are clear, Colonel," one of them reported.

Mitchell nodded at Jack and left.

"Are you certain you would not prefer for me to stay the night, O'Neill? I would be pleased to keep watch while you are otherwise engaged."

Jack patted him on the shoulder. "You run along, T. Thanks anyway."

Teal'c inclined his head. "As you wish."

Jack shut the door and stood pondering how he was going to explain this to Maddy. Then he remembered Bonnie. Glancing around frantically, he found her under the kitchen table. He hauled her out, carried her to the couch, and checked her pulse. She was, as Boch had said, just sleeping. He patted her apologetically then headed into the bedroom to do the same for Maddy.

Maddy was sitting up with the covers tucked around her. Her eyes were huge and round, her lips moist and parted. He sat down on the edge of the bed, puffed out his cheeks and popped them.

"What just happened?"

"Don't suppose you'd buy the burglar story?"

"Try again. That guy disappeared in a flash of light."

"Yeah, he did."

"Who were all those men? That huge guy- the second one..."

"Air Force Special Ops. We had intel that Boch might try to grab me."

"And you left me here alone for two days?" she asked indignantly.

"It was me he wanted. But when I tell you to lock the door..."

"Didn't do much good, did it? And he sure as hell didn't leave through the door."

Jack grimaced. "Can this wait until morning?"

"Need time to come up with a decent story?"

"Need time to come up with something you'll believe. The truth ain't gonna cut it."

"Try me."

He stroked her head and let his fingers trail down over her shoulder. "That's the plan."

Maddy got out of bed and tugged him to his feet. Her hands smoothed over his chest then up to sweep his shirt off his shoulders. She caught both his wrists and guided his hands to her breasts. Jack leaned down to kiss her as she started to work on his pants.

"Start talking, O'Neill," she commanded between soft kisses on his chest.

"Am I being interrogated?"

"Either that or I run screaming down the lane."

"Naked?"

"Yep."

Jack pretended to consider the options until she began working her mouth down his stomach. His pants were making a slow drop along with her mouth.

"The truth, O'Neill, and make it interesting."

Jack buried both hands in her hair and groaned. "That job I was offered... Deals with travel to other planets... ahh... and aliens... God, Maddy!"

When he stopped talking because he had to concentrate on breathing, Maddy rocked back to look up at him questioningly.

"Uh... Aris Boch is an alien. So is Teal'c."

She moved forward again and the sweet intensity of her tongue made him stumble over his words.

"T... good alien. Boch, bad alien. Ship in space, ours, beamed him away... Maddy..."

He scooped her around the shoulders and carried her onto the bed with him.

Chapter Eighty Two

Jack slipped out of bed, pulled on his pants, and took a long look at Maddy. She was fast asleep, exhausted from their night-long romp. The sheets were nearly as tangled as her hair, exposing one swollen, red nipple. He wanted to pull the cover over her but was afraid it would wake her. He needed time to clear his thoughts.

It was obvious to Jack that Tom had badly neglected his wife. She hadn't come to him because she was falling in love, or found him irresistible. She was starved for attention and craved more of what he had been showering on her. She hadn't been seduced by his masculine charm but by his kindness. Physical need would never have driven her into his bed but being treated with decency, respect, and admiration had broken her resolve.

Maddy had been sweet and generous, but had tried desperately to hold her own passion in check. She seemed to think it was all up to her and was actually embarrassed by Jack's efforts to pleasure her. She had become withdrawn and edgy when he coaxed her to slow down and enjoy what was happening for both of them. It was disconcerting to have to guide her through what they had shared so easily for so many years. When she had curled into his chest and wept it had broken his heart. Between what she had admitted to him the first time they were married and the memories Qua'sel had carried to him, Jack had a vivid picture of a woman methodically stripped of her confidence and any semblance of importance. In bed or out of it.

Eleven years with Tom had left its scars. After a taste of what double that time had done to her emotionally, Jack was ready to commit murder. Tom had obviously used her for his own pleasure and offered her none in return. Knowing his critical nature and impatient selfishness, twenty six years must have been awful for her. A wife, any wife, deserved better treatment. That his Maddy had been treated this way enraged him. Such a wild spirit and tender heart had to be handled with far more finesse than Tom was capable of. Jack understood her, and he wondered if he'd ever be able to revive the incredible passion that had been smothered and shunned. Scorned and discounted. Ignored as unworthy of recognition.

He made coffee and glanced at the clock. Three more hours before visiting hours at the hospital. His credentials would get him in.

Bonnie slipped off the couch and sat by the door.

"How do you feel this morning?" he asked. "Doggie headache?"

Bonnie bounced her forehead and scratched at the door.

"Okay, pee first, talk later. I think I'll follow your lead."

He left the door standing open for her and headed for the bathroom. When he returned Maddy was reaching down two mugs. She was clad only in his shirt and it hiked up nicely when she stretched for the cupboard. He studied her face a moment before putting his arms around her.

"How do you feel this morning?" he asked against her ear.

"Mmm. Good. Tired." She didn't lean into him. Her words were hollow, rehearsed.

He turned her around and cupped her face with both hands.

"One trauma at a time. Forget Boch for now. Talk to me. About last night. Do you regret making love to me?"

She couldn't hold his gaze. Jack drew her head to his chest.

"Aw, Maddy. Babe, don't feel guilty."

He felt her tears on his chest and tightened his hold.

"I love you, Maddy. I want to love you the rest of my life. I won't let you go."

She sniffed and squirmed away. "I'm so... confused."

"Confused wasn't your first choice. Tell me the truth."

She tried to hide behind her hair and he smoothed it back.

"Last night wasn't what you're used to, was it?"

She shook her head.

"Tonight will be even better."

She shot him a wild look. Like a trapped animal.

"You'd better let me help you with that divorce because I'm not letting you away from my side. You're going to sleep in my arms every night from now on."

"Is there room for me among the aliens?"

"You're first. Always. That was an impressive interrogation technique you used on me. I'll have to come up with another secret for you to pry loose."

She blushed furiously and tried to turn away.

"Uh-uh." He planted his hands on either side of her and trapped her against the counter. "Don't be embarrassed. You're incredible. Beautiful. Wonderful. Sexy. I want you again right now. By tonight I'll be out of my mind wanting more of you." He kissed her forehead, worked his way down over her eyebrows, tasted tears when he touched her eyelids. "I've been searching the galaxy for you, Maddy. Now that I've found you, everything I do, every breath I take, is centered on you. Nobody else, nothing else, matters." He kissed her lips then cradled her head in both hands. "You own me, Maddy. Heart and soul. All I am belongs to you."

She opened her eyes. "You're scaring me."

He nodded ruefully. "I promised myself I'd take this slowly. Give you time. But I can't. I need you with me."

"What if I don't fall in love with you?"

His heart skipped a beat. "Silly girl, you know you can't make love to a man you aren't at least a little bit in love with. That's why you aren't sleeping with Tom. Haven't been."

She stared at him. "How...?"

He hung his head. "You aren't ready, Babe. I'll tell you everything when you're ready. Right now, let's get you divorced so we can get on with our lives."

"This is... spooky. I want to go home, Jack. If you won't take me..."

He sighed. "You are home, Maddy. I sound like a crazed lunatic, but..." He spun away and raked his fingers through his hair.

Damn his impatience! He started pacing.

"What do you believe happened last night? With Boch? The truth."

"I... I'm not sure. He got zapped away on a flash of light..."

"The weapon he was holding. Describe it to me."

"It looked like something right out of Star Trek," she said slowly.

"Teal'c. The big guy with the gold emblem on his forehead. Did he look Earth-like to you?"

"Umm..."

Jack chewed on his inner cheek. "Do you know how the SF team got here so fast?" He pulled the locator beacon out of his pocket. "I used this to alert them. Colonel Mitchell moved the Odyssey- that's Earth's spaceship- into orbit over these coordinates and beamed Boch into a holding cell. He's being interrogated at Stargate Command this minute. ...Though not as efficiently as you interrogated me last night. I hope."

"You were expecting him?"

"Yes, Maddy, because..." He took a deep breath and plunged in feet first. "...I've lived this time line before. So have you. We've been married for over twelve years. Tom was your first husband, only in the original time line you were divorced after eleven years."

"I'll call a doctor. You'd better sit down."

He smirked at her. "I'll take you to see the stargate."

"What's that? Another ship?"

Jack pulled out a chair, turned it around, and sat on it backwards so he could lean on the back. "The stargate was discovered in Egypt in..."

An hour into his story Maddy had to sit down. He was still talking well into the afternoon as she heated up leftover stew. Late that evening, beside the cold fireplace, Jack finally wound down and took a breath.

"That's quite a tale," she said around the rim of her coffee cup.

"The night we met, you and Bonnie were alone in the truck. The trailer slid over the hill but the truck didn't. Taco and Chimmy were fine but we had a hell of a time getting them off the trailer..."

"Chimmy? That was Burrito on the trailer."

"I know. I rode Chimmy to Mike's with you. But in the first time line, she was in the trailer with Taco."

"Tom couldn't handle Chimmy. Burrito was quiet enough for him."

"You rode Taco here bareback- that's when I got the shakes, watching you ride that beast. He lived a long time, Maddy, at the lodge. You used to gallop across the ridge in the sunset and I'd get the shakes all over again."

"This is where the lake is that I parked my spaceship in?"

He nodded. "I know it all sounds fantastic..."

"It's too involved and detailed for you to have just made it up. And those men here last night... But it's still hard to believe. Especially the part about Tom leaving me eleven years into our marriage."

"Her name was Angela. I've been trying to remember her last name... Sobinski!" He snapped his fingers. "That's it!"

Maddy's face paled. "Angela Sobinski?"

"She was blonde. That always bugged you for some reason."

"She was killed in a car accident. Let's see... it would be about seventeen years ago. She worked for the Fresno office as a dispatcher." She frowned. "I thought Tom took that unusually hard."

"Two years before Tom should have left."

Maddy frowned. "Jack, all this... it's so much to absorb."

He reached for her hand. "I can prove it to you. Trust me?"

"No," she yelped.

He made a face at her and swiped the cell phone off the coffee table. Maddy glanced at the clock.

"It's two in the morning! Who are you gonna call at this hour?"

"Stargate Command." He dialed the number, went through two different operators, then said, "This is General O'Neill. Is the Odyssey still in orbit? ...Patch me through." He studied Maddy's face as he waited. "Captain Reynolds? O'Neill. I need to bring someone aboard. Can you..."

"Wait!" Maddy cried.

In the next instant they were standing on the bridge. Captain Reynolds stood and saluted.

"Good morning, General. What can I do for you?"

Jack looked at Maddy's expression. She was gaping at open space through the forward windshield. He couldn't suppress a grin at the fact that she had forgotten all about her state of undress. His shirt looked damn good on her, but she was going to be mortified when she realized that was all she had on.

"You've already done it, Captain. Permission to wander your bridge?"

The captain bowed slightly and swept an arm to encompass the area. Jack urged Maddy to a window and kept a hand on her back as she gazed down at Earth.

"There's Thor's ship," the captain pointed out. "And Boch's is right there."

Jack led Maddy to the opposite side of the bridge. She stared at the other ship for a long time. The crew exchanged curious glances.

"Beam us into the control room at the base. Then stand by to beam us back to the cabin. Thank you for your help, Captain."

"My pleasure, Sir."

"What's going on with Boch?"

"He didn't have much to say. General Landry is going to speak to you about him in the morning."

Jack nodded. "Beam away, Captain."

"Pleasure to meet you, Ma'am."

They found themselves standing in the control room overlooking the stargate. The tech sergeant stood quickly and came to attention.

"At ease," Jack told him. "Sorry to bust in on you unannounced."

"No problem, Sir. Getting used to it."

"Not too used to it, Sergeant."

"No, Sir. General Landry is still on base, Sir. Shall I wake him for you?"

"He needs his beauty rest."

Abrupt lights and sirens made Maddy jump.

"Incoming wormhole," the tech announced. "SG8 is scheduled back. ...And I've got their iris code."

"Open the iris."

Maddy was gaping at the massive stone ring. When the event horizon flushed outward she cringed back against Jack. He gripped her arms and said into her ear, "Watch."

The team came through and the wormhole disengaged.

"Contact the Odyssey," Jack instructed. "Tell Captain Reynolds we're ready."

The contact was made and they found themselves standing in the cabin again.

"What... just... happened?" she asked.

Jack walked her backwards into the bedroom, undoing buttons as they went. The shirt came off in the doorway.

"You were just beamed aboard Earth's intergalactic battle cruiser, the Odyssey. Then to Stargate Command's base of operations inside the Cheyenne Mountain Complex near Colorado Springs."

"Isn't that where NORAD is?"

He nodded. She was still stunned and made no move to stop him or help him as he undressed. He had to gently push her down onto the bed and urge her under the covers. He turned on his side and played with her hair.

"It's a lot to take in," he acknowledged. "Do I need to warn you not to tell anybody?"

She gave him a wide-eyed nod.

"You can't tell anybody."

She nodded again.

"Maddy?"

She kept nodding. Jack kissed her. After a moment she caught a breath.

"Was all that... real?"

"As real as this." He moved on top and nestled himself against her.

She gasped and shifted to give him access. But Jack waited.

"I broke about a thousand rules of protocol tonight. But I had to prove it to you, Maddy. I need you to believe me."

She nodded. Her fingers played over his shoulders nervously.

"Tell me you want me."

She nodded.

"Stop nodding and say something!"

"Make love to me."

"Convince me you mean it."

She tilted her head. "How was it between us... before?"

"Awesome."

She bent her knees and arched into him. Jack obliged her. Her eyes went wide for a moment.

"I love it when you do that." He coaxed her into a slow, gentle rhythm.

Her legs came around him and he subtly changed position until she gasped and shuddered. Her soft cry made him grin.

"Sweet spot?"

She nodded. He laughed at her.

"Hang on, Babe. You're in for the ride of your life."

He made love to her again in the morning then brought her coffee in bed. She sat up and thanked him shyly.

"You usually can't walk for awhile after I get you off that hard," he told her as he slipped into the sheets beside her without spilling his coffee. "You say your legs are all rubbery."

She swallowed and stared into the coffee.

"Was last night real?"

"The mind-blowing sex, or the spaceship and stargate?"

"You're an awesome man, General."

"I have an incredible muse."

She smiled at that. "So what's it all mean?"

"I means," he said on a heavy breath, "That you need to divorce Tom and marry me. For the fourth time."

"Fourth!"

"There was the first time, after we were stranded on Nirrti's planet. Then I was an ass and caused us trouble, so we got divorced and remarried. But I couldn't wait for the wedding SG1 was planning and you insisted I make an honest woman of you, so we slipped off and got married. Then a couple months later we went through the big shebang so everyone wouldn't be disappointed."

"It sounds like we had a rocky relationship."

"Nope. Exciting. Eventful. Adventurous. But never rocky."

"But we got divorced!"

"I told you- I was an ass."

"What did you do?"

He didn't want to tell her about all danger she'd been in, the awful things that had happened to her.

"I fell in love so hard it scared me. You own me, Maddy. It took awhile for me to come to terms with the fact that you had that much control over my every breath, every thought. I got scared and bolted." He decided that was the truth- if he pared it down and squinted a little.

"Sounds like you were obsessed."

"Still am."

"I can't handle being..."

"Smothered. I know. You warned me to never ride herd on you and I didn't. I was insanely jealous, but you set me straight on that, too. ...We were so good together, Maddy. We had the run of the galaxy."

"You want that again?"

He shook his head. "I've been given the once in a lifetime shot at a do-over. I'm keeping you out of the SGC this time, away from all the crap that misses me and hits you."

"Why do you remember all this and I don't?"

Jack hesitated. This was touchy territory again. He didn't want to tell her about the implants.

"The anomaly touched me first. I was... we were making love so it took us both, but it was my thoughts that set the time period." He sipped at the coffee. "I had been thinking about you and Tom, me and Sara. How I hated the way he treated you, the scars he left on your self image. And I was worrying that somehow I'd done that to Sara. You're so beautiful, Maddy, so... cool. Everyone was in love with you. But that's why it ended up like it did. As far as we can tell, anyway. It's alien technology and still in the experimental stage. And they're way more advanced than we are."

"Why us? In a universe full of... people, species... it's hard to believe we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I mean, why didn't this... Guardian... experiment on his own kind?"

"Asgard," he corrected. "And Loki picked us because the obnoxious little gray bastard is obsessed with me. It seems I have advanced DNA that they're quite impressed with, and they can't experiment on themselves."

"Why not?"

"Because their race is on the verge of becoming extinct. They don't reproduce- they replicate clone bodies and transfer their minds into them. The reason humans are taken for experiments is, they're searching for a means other than cloning to continue their own existence."

Her eyes widened. "Then all those people who claim they've been abducted by aliens..."

He nodded. "All true. Probably. Most of it, anyway. There are always a few nut jobs and wannabes."

She was quiet for a long while. Jack let her have all the time she needed.

"I can't picture myself doing half of what you say I did."

"The extra fifteen years with Tom has altered your personality."

"That's crazy."

"No, it isn't. You've been under his thumb, trying to survive a loveless marriage, and it's subdued you. Worn the wild edge off."

"I was never wild!"

"Oh, Babe, you had such a wild heart." He told her a few tales and she scoffed at him.

"Well, it doesn't matter now. We'll go from here and see what this time line brings."

"I don't know if I want to face all that."

"We can live at the farm then. I'll retire. But I would like for you to see the lodge first. Even if I retire, it's a sweet place."

"I'm tired, Jack."

"Come here. We'll snooze awhile longer. I love to watch you sleep, Maddy."

She held him at bay. "That's not how I meant it. I'm exhausted, worn out. I don't have the strength or energy to go through all the stuff you're telling me. I'm too tired to go through a divorce and all the drama and the fighting... I just don't want to rock the boat. And I don't wanna be experimented on."

He studied her eyes. There was a dullness to them that just never seemed to go away. Tom had crushed the spirit Jack thrived on.

"I mean... I don't know if I want to..."

The back of Jack's neck began to tingle. The way it did when a gun was pointed at him, even if he didn't see it.

"...be with you," she finished in a whisper.

Jack let that sink in and it made him ill.

"Give me a chance."

"I can't. I don't want to divorce Tom on an outside chance that we might have something better."

"Whether you fall in love with me or not, Maddy, whether you decide to be with me or not, you need to leave him."

"Twenty six years..."

"Has been twenty six years too long."

"It wouldn't be fair to him."

"What's fair about the way he treats you? What's fair to you? Or me?"

"I know how I'd feel to be left for another woman. It would be awful. I don't want to go through life knowing I was one of those."

"So it's better to be cheated on? Used? You've never played the fool, Maddy! And I really don't have anything to do with why you should leave him! You should have left him long before you met me!"

"I didn't leave him in the last... what did you call it? Time line?"

Jack dropped his head forward.

"I won't let you go," he warned. "I can't. You mean too much to me."

"Then you'll make us both miserable and piss Tom off. Which will make it harder on me."

"Then you'll come to your senses and divorce him," he said roughly.

Maddy drained her cup and started to get out of bed. Jack put his cup on the stand and hauled her back. He rolled on top of her and held her down.

"You'd walk away from this?" He kissed her, hard.

She squirmed. "Jack, stop. I wanted what you were offering. What Tom has never given me- the feeling of being wanted, sexy, desirable. It was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong! And I'll pay for it."

"Damn right you will."

He took her the way Maddy had always loved; dominating her, showing her his strength, not giving her options. Not holding back.

Chapter Eighty Three

Jack listened to the water rushing in the shower. He glanced at the clock. She'd been in there fifteen minutes and it seemed like an hour. He hadn't anticipated her reaction to his aggressiveness. She wouldn't look at him, responded with clipped, one word answers, had an angry set to her jaw. Jack smacked a palm on the counter. She was slipping away. He was losing his grip on her and he didn't know what to do about it.

He should try buying Tom off, but how to do that without tipping his hand that he and Maddy had slept together? It didn't matter to Jack if he knew, but it would matter to Maddy.

How could spending time with someone change a person so drastically? He would have never believed anything could permanently alter her core personality. All she'd been through and he'd always been able to rekindle her spirit, her zest for living. This Maddy didn't seem to have a spark to fan into full flame.

It didn't matter. He still wanted her, needed her. Refused to let her go. There had to be a way to get her away from Tom. Even if she hated him at first, she'd come around. She always did. She loved him that much. Though he doubted if she'd ever love him as fiercely as she had. This Maddy had no 'fierce' in her.

Maybe Nirrti's planet had been the key last time. Maybe it had been a mistake to capture Boch and change a major part of their past. Future. Whatever the flock it was. Jack braced his hands on the sink and stared out the window. What else was he going to screw up by trying to change it? Maddy? Instead of trying to find the woman he knew in her, he needed to accept the woman she had become. He raised his eyes to the sky.

"Is that what You're after? Why this happened? We've been battling over her and I've proved to You time and time again that I love her unconditionally. Is this another test to see if I'm worthy of having her?"

Jack's cell phone rang. He canted a look at the sky.

"A direct answer this time?" He turned to the table and picked up the cell. "O'Neill."

It was Tom. "Hello, General. Maddy's not answering her cell."

"She's in the shower."

"I've been trying for ten minutes!"

"She's enjoying her shower."

"Holler in and tell her to answer it."

"I'll tell her to call you when she's finished."

"That could be next week," Tom said sarcastically.

"What's the emergency?"

"I want to talk to my wife."

"You want me to barge in on her?"

"Yell through the door. Tell her to hurry up."

Jack held the phone away and glared at it before he said, "Have you been discharged? Need a ride?"

"Not for at least another week."

"I'll tell her you called."

"Make sure she gets back to me. Don't let her forget."

Jack cut the connection and skated the phone across the table. No wonder she's worn out. Twenty six years of putting up with that.

When Maddy padded out of the shower Jack let her have a cup of coffee before he relayed the message. She immediately retrieved her phone.

"He called six times," she said worriedly.

Jack bit his tongue.

"Hello, Tom?"

Jack watched her eyes, watched her face.

"What kind? ...What if I can't find banana? ...Yes, Dear, as soon as I get my shoes on." She closed the phone and stared at it. "Jack... how do I explain this?" She pointed to the angry purple welt on her neck.

"Tell him the truth."

She blanched.

"What can he do to you from a hospital bed?" Jack demanded a bit louder than he should have. "Tell him and walk out."

"He'll tell everyone I know that I cheated on him. While he was laid up in the hospital."

"Everyone who knows him will applaud."

She shook her head and began pacing. "I'll stop and buy some makeup- better yet, a turtle neck. Tell him it's been chilly in the cabin..."

"Maddy, just tell him the truth. You've found a man who appreciates you, adores you. Treats you like a woman instead of a drudge."

Her eyes darted to his then away.

"I'll go with you."

"No!"

"What did he want, anyway?"

"A banana milkshake."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Oh for cryin' out loud! All that fuss for a milkshake?"

She shrugged. He grabbed her shoulders.

"Maddy, you can't prefer that to what I'm offering you!"

She drew in a long, shuddering breath. "He's my husband. I owe him my loyalty."

"You don't owe him squat!"

"What do I owe you?"

He brought her chin up. "You don't owe me a damned thing." He gave her a long, tender kiss then pulled her close and held her tightly. She edged out of his arms.

"I really need to go."

"Oh yes. Go find your master a banana milkshake."

"Do you... should I return the rental car while I'm out?"

"Don't you want to keep it until he's released?"

"It has to be costing a fortune..."

"I didn't check prices, Maddy. You need it, I got it."

She blinked at him. "Must be nice to be able to do that."

"It is. I want to give you that. Come to me and I'll show you how nice it is."

She turned and walked out the door.

Chapter Eighty Four

Maddy walked through the dust and debris of the lodge, taking in everything. Jack watched her and knew she was looking past the surface crud and imagining what it could be like.

"We had a huge jacuzzi right in front of those glass doors," he told her. "A glass shelf with all your colored glass on it. It looked so pretty with the sun shining through it. Your gramma's yellow basket sat right about here," he pointed. "A plasma TV above the fireplace. We used to build a roaring fire, open the doors and watch it snow while we made love in the water."

She pushed open the french door and walked onto the deck. Jack followed her out.

"We had a grill over there, and a table with an umbrella. We'd sit here for hours, Maddy, fishing and talking. The waterfall is straight back there." He took her hand and led her down the deck. "You made raised beds here for your garden, and built a fountain with a falls that ran into the lake over there. You had climbing roses covering that rail fence. Yellow, pink, red, white... you kept trying to grow a blue rose but they wouldn't winter over. Every year you bought six of them and tried again. They'd bloom twice and you'd be so delighted, then in the spring they wouldn't come back." He turned her to him. "You love roses, Maddy. I brought you roses all the time. Red was your favorite, then yellow. But never orange. You don't like orange."

Her eyes widened. "It's scary, you knowing so much about me."

"Come on." He kept her hand and led her up the slope to the barn. "You bought a huge wreath to put in the peak, up there," he pointed above the barn doors. "Every Thanksgiving I held the ladder and you put it up. It was our way of kicking off the Christmas season."

The door creaked when it opened.

"You rebuilt the stalls, and put a kennel off this side."

"A kennel?"

"For the Aussies. Blue Moon and Scarlet Shadow. You found an awesome male and I wanted to keep all the puppies. You bought a Paint colt- Turn The Page- and planned to stand him at stud. You buried Taco right over there."

Tears sprang into her eyes and she turned away. He watched her drag her finger through the layer of dust on metal latch then stare out over the lake.

"It's beautiful," she murmured.

"We've made love on every inch of this place," he said into her ear. "Even on the roof of the garage."

He felt her shiver.

"We built onto the garage for your ceramics studio."

She whirled on him. "My what?"

"Ceramics studio. You had kilns and molds and all sorts of do-dads. We'd sit in there and paint stuff, but I liked molding clay on the potter's wheel the best."

She frowned and turned back to the lake. "I don't have any of that stuff. I wanted to take classes once, but Tom said we couldn't afford it. And I didn't have the time to waste."

Jack nosed into her hair. "We can build that life again. I'll be more help this time. We'll fill this barn with horses, get lots of dogs, fish to our heart's content. You always out-fished me, Maddy. You just have a knack for it. A knack and a can of WD-40."

She whirled to gape at him.

"We'd take your boat out on the lake... one of us always ended up throwing the other into the water. In the winter we'd ice skate, play hockey..."

She put her hands flat on his chest. "It all sounds so wonderful. It's hard to believe."

"You used to cook huge, fabulous dinners for SG1. You made Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter and Forth of July awesome for us. Hank came for dinner every Sunday. You had him wrapped right around your little finger."

"Hank?"

"General Landry."

"But he didn't remember me."

Jack shook his head. "Nobody but me remembers. They all believe me, though. Stuff like this tends to happen at Stargate Command. It's not our first brush with time travel. Or alternate universes. ...Or alternate time lines- which, they tell me, are two different things..."

Confusion was replaced by the stubbornness he had learned to dread.

"This isn't my life. That isn't my life."

"It's destined to be. You can't change destiny."

"Isn't that exactly what you're doing? You've changed things already."

He drew down one corner of his mouth. "I've been choiceless."

"So what's supposed to happen tomorrow? Do you remember?"

He shook his head. "In the last time line we were on Nirrti's planet right now. We have about a nine month gap to fill. Daniel and Carter wouldn't have bought the lodge for us until months from now."

"Is it bad to change so much?"

"Can't be helped. Unless you want me to strand us on Nirrti's planet..."

"You could do that?"

He bobbed his head. "Sure. Have the Odyssey drop us off..."

She shook her head quickly and widened her eyes. "No. Please, Jack, don't get it into your head to do that."

"It's been an option I've considered."

"No. You can't do that to me. To Tom. Or to Sara."

Jack stiffened and drew her hands away. "Why won't you change your life for the better, Maddy? This is your destiny, I'm your destiny. Not serving at the pleasure of a man who doesn't love you, doesn't appreciate you, and doesn't respect you."

"What if I don't fall in love with you?"

"Then I'll love you enough for both of us."

Her expression soured. "That doesn't work. Trust me, I've been there."

"You've given him twenty six years. Isn't that enough? Do you want to spend another twenty six years living like that?"

"How can I know this would be better? I might jump from the frying pan into the fire."

"You used to jump off the peak of the lodge into the lake!"

She snorted. "Not me. I'm terrified of water."

"And you worked past it. I taught you to scuba dive. Your claustrophobia would make you panic, but you stuck it out."

"How could you possibly know I'm claustrophobic? Tom doesn't even know!"

"I keep telling you..."

She sighed. "I don't want to believe you, but how can I not? The spaceship, the stargate, you know so much about me..."

"Then believe me when I tell you we're meant to be together."

"I can't just walk out of my life! The farm, Tom, my neighbors..."

Jack rested his forehead against hers. "Then I'll move to the farm with you. You don't have to walk out of your life, I'll walk into it."

"Be kinda crowded with Tom sleeping between us."

"Screw Tom! He's a big boy- more like a big baby- but he'll survive. Maybe even be happier."

"You love this place so much. You should buy it, live here."

"I love it because we shared it, Maddy. You were the heart and soul of this place. My heart and soul."

She kept shaking her head. "Then why don't I feel the same way? About you?"

As much as that hurt, Jack reasoned it out. "Because you aren't there yet. In the other time line you hadn't fallen in love with me yet. You will."

But would she? With Tom running interference, them not being thrust together on Nirrti's planet...

"Even if I had come back with no memory, we'd still have met that stormy night. Still fall in love, still mean the world to each other. Open your stubborn mind to the idea."

"Maybe you should stop pushing. If it's meant to happen- the destiny you keep harping about- then neither of us can force it or prevent it. It just will. In it's own time." She touched his face. "This isn't the time."

She was right. He shouldn't have told her, shouldn't have been so damned impatient.

"You're right." He smiled sadly. "But then, you're always right, Maddy. It's just that I can't stand a minute without you. I need you." He hesitated, knew better, but said it anyway. "Just before all this happened you had been lost in space. You were trying to get home and I was searching for you. Carter, Daniel, Teal'c, Vala, we were all searching for you..."

"You mean, lost on another planet?"

"Lost in another galaxy. You were planet hopping, trying to find a gate to dial home. We were a step behind you. Maddy, I was nuts. I leveled an entire settlement because you slipped through my fingers."

"Leveled it?"

"Tore it apart with my bare hands. Burned what I couldn't rip apart. I was out of control because you were in danger, because I couldn't take losing you."

Her eyes here boring into his. "Wow. You're... a very... dangerous man. Powerful."

"That always turned you on," he made a stab at teasing her.

"It did?" she asked skeptically.

"You loved to incite my inner caveman."

"He any relation to the guy who got pretty rough with me the other morning?"

Jack winced. He hadn't been rough, not Maddy's definition of rough, anyway. That had been nothing compared to what she used to drive him to. Beg him for.

"I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"Scared me was more like it."

"You love it when I dominate you."

"Is that what it was?"

"You tell me what it was."

If she said 'rape'...

"Manhandled, I guess. Forced."

"You were ready. I wouldn't have let it be painful for you."

Her blush told him what she wouldn't; she had been excited by the way he took her. But this Maddy wasn't ready to admit it. Not even to herself. This Maddy was uncomfortable even talking about it. His Maddy had been so open, so articulate. He had loved the way she could discuss sex with him.

"You and Tom don't discuss sex much, do you?"

Her eyelashes dropped. "It's not a subject good Christian girls talk about. Especially with strange men. I can't believe I even slept with you. I'll battle that for a long time."

"If you don't discuss sex with your husband, how can you ever expect to have a decent relationship?"

"Tom doesn't like to talk about it either, so it works for both of us. It just... happens. Naturally."

"How's that working out for you?" he asked bitterly.

"The way it's supposed to," she defended. "After awhile the excitement wears off, gets to be old news. It happens to everybody. That's why he... cheats on me once in a while." She dropped her lashes. "Why I cheated on him with you. I understand now. It's the newness, the fresh excitement. He needs that, I guess. Doesn't make it right, but he can't help it if he's not attracted to me."

"Damn it, Maddy, that never happened to us! Every time I made love to you was thrilling and satisfying and mind-blowing. Twelve years and you still gave me the shakes. When you kiss me, I can't think. There'd be times when my legs gave out and I'd sink right down to the ground!" He gave her a shake. "And all I had to do was walk into the room and you were ready for me. I'd surprise you, throw you down and take you without any warning, and you were always ready."

She twisted away and he could feel the heat rising in her body. Her ears were bright red. He kissed one for her.

"You used to tell me when I walked into a room, no matter where it was or who was there, you wanted to start taking off your clothes."

She snorted. "That Maddy must not have been raised in the church."

He made her turn around. "Yes, you were. Maddy, you had a faith that staggered me. You showed me God exists, made a believer out of me. It's not wrong to be open about sex with your husband. He designed us to be attracted to each other. He invented sex..."

"For procreation! I don't want kids so I don't deserve... I'm not entitled to that part of marriage."

"Tom tell you that?"

She shook her head. "We never discuss it. He gets pissy when I bring up religion. I try to live by example... Some example I've set with you," she muttered. "Maybe you're the temptation thrown in my path to test me. And I failed."

"Tom stopped having sex with you to punish you for not having his baby."

Her eyes flew to his.

"You know that's what it is, but you can't help thinking he doesn't like your body. That there's something wrong with you."

She swallowed hard.

"I've tried for years to convince you how beautiful you are, that the problem was in his head, not your body. He got what he needed from you then turned over and went to sleep. Left you frustrated and unsatisfied. How could I know that? Because you told me." He dropped his hands and stepped back. "Maddy, I don't know how to fix this. I'm trying, but..."

"Maybe you should stop trying. Maybe this time around it's supposed to be different."

"This isn't a new life with new people, Maddy! It's the same, we're the same, the people we know are the same- we're just living it over again! I'm too damned impatient, too damned much in love with you to wait for everything to happen the way it did the first time! I'm not gonna sit around twiddling my thumbs for nine more months. I don't want to waste a minute of my life being without you. Maddy," he cupped her head in both hands and stared hard into her eyes. "I've been given twelve more years to spend with you. We've been given twelve extra years to spend together. I'm ecstatic about that. Excited. Delighted! What would Tom's reaction to that be? Do you really want to spend even another year with him?"

"Maybe you're supposed to fall in love with somebody else. Maybe the first time was wrong and you're being given the chance to get it right- with the right person this time. Maybe that destiny you keep mentioning let this happen to you and not me so you'd be with Sara. Because she's your destiny." She gave him a half smile, patted his hands before she gently drew them away, then wandered out of the barn.

Jack leaned on the half gate and stared out over the lake. Had twelve years with Maddy been wrong? Had Carter been the one he was supposed to be with- was this happening to right a wrong after all? But he knew it wasn't Sara and he felt nothing for Carter compared to what he felt for Maddy. Sam still held a special place in his heart, but Maddy was his life. If he didn't end up with Maddy- Heaven forbid- he still wouldn't turn to Carter. He wouldn't turn to anybody. He'd never stop trying to win her, never give up hope.

If The Fates were serious about wanting them apart, he wouldn't have remembered being so in love with her. They were just tormenting him. Again. He lifted his eyes to the sky.

"You let this happen, You work it out."

Incredible, cold loneliness settled over him. He had nobody to talk to, nobody to turn to for ideas, advice. A little aiding and abetting. Carter and Daniel were too disconnected yet to be more than clinically objective. Or even overly interested. To them this was all conjecture. His feelings for Maddy could be just a passing whim or vivid dream. They hadn't lived it the way he had. He used to rely on Maddy to keep his head straight. He'd never felt this alone and adrift and helpless.

Yes he had. When he had believed she was dead.

"What the hell do You want from me? I thought we worked this out on Atlantis. Can't I have some peace? You've got plenty to hold against me, but what could You possibly have against Maddy? I'm getting pretty damned sick of the star-crossed lovers theme."

He dropped his eyes to the grassy slope where Maddy was picking wild flowers. A shadow passed over her and his gaze darted up to rake the sky. It was only a cloud.

"Loki, you stunted little gray runt bastard! Stay the hell out our lives!"

Chapter Eighty Five

Jack watched Tom lean heavily on his wife's shoulder. She pushed open the door and all but carried him to the couch.

"Coffee?" he asked.

She nodded and turned to Jack. "Sit down. I'll start the coffee then unload the car."

Jack went back out to the car and began carrying in bags.

"Sit down, General. Maddy'll do that. You've done enough. So what do you think of our place?"

Jack dropped the suitcases and nodded briefly. "Cozy." He went back to the car and turned to find Maddy beside him. She reached for the bags. There were dark circles under her eyes and lines etched in her face. He wondered how much of that Tom had caused, and how much was his fault.

"Let me do this for you," he said quietly.

"Maddy!"

She turned, sighed, and headed back inside.

Jack took a moment to stare up over the pasture behind the house. A pasture still empty of horses that she had to hide to keep Tom from selling them out from under her. He gathered up the last of the bags and carried them inside.

"You'll stay for supper?" Tom invited. "What are you cooking, Mads?"

She sighed. "I'll have to see what I've got."

"Stuffed cabbage? I've been hungry for stuffed cabbage. Wait until you taste Maddy's stuffed cabbages, General. With tomato sauce over mashed potatoes..."

"They take so long to make, Tom. I can get steaks out of the freezer..."

"I can't stay," Jack told them. "I need to get back."

Maddy locked stares with him. "You've got to be tired, Jack. Stay the night. Don't try to fly back..."

Jack shook his head. "You have my number if you need anything."

Maddy followed him to the car. "I have to cook something anyway. Please stay."

"Can't. I'll break his other leg for him." He opened the car door. "Call me when you're ready. I'll be waiting for you."

She shook her head sadly. "You'll take the job, then?"

"And buy the lodge. Gotta have something to do to fill the time. Nine friggin' month's worth, apparently."

She sighed impatiently. "Show the lodge to Sara. It might change her mind about Malibu."

"I can live off my retirement," he told her quietly. "Half the salary from this new position will probably have to go to alimony. The other half will be there for you to fix up the lodge and the barn however you want."

For a moment she couldn't seem to close her mouth. When she did it was on a frustrated huff.

"Don't wait for me, Jack. Don't waste your life."

"Like you're wasting yours?"

She closed her eyes and shook her head.

He got into the car and left without another word.

Chapter Eighty Six

The apartment in Washington D.C. wasn't what Jack had expected. He told himself that Sara's presence would make a difference, tried to steel himself for years of a marriage he hadn't lived.

It still hit him hard.

He had gotten the address from George Hammond, had to pick the lock to get inside. The first thing that hit him was the smell. Memories flooded him, memories of a happy home with childish laughter and the deep drone of Sara's father in the background, his aftershave and pipe tobacco. The clink of dominoes, the clatter of dishes, air that was unnaturally cleansed. The smell here, now, was all Sara. Just as it had been when she had been nesting at the lodge while Maddy was under Ba'al's control. Exactly the way their house in Colorado Springs had smelled before Charlie's death. For some reason it irked him. Here, as at the lodge, it felt as if Sara was trying to erase Maddy's essence and replace it with her own.

He stalked the rooms, frowning at the garish, abstract artwork, the ultra modern furnishings, the almost sterile neatness that was Sara's trademark. The complete opposite of Maddy. Chrome and clear glass as opposed to wood and colored glass. Pristine shine instead of warm coziness. Black and white compared to Maddy's full spectrum of color. Not a thing out of place, the few decorative items placed with measured precision instead of Maddy's eclectic and somewhat flamboyant clutter. A pang he identified as homesickness made him feel almost ill. He sat down on the edge of the bed and looked around.

He knew this wouldn't be the apartment he had left that first time, but his mind still pictured empty pizza boxes and dirty clothes flung in a corner. Last time he had packed up his Washington life his mind had been on returning to Colorado Springs, on the sweet position Hammond had tailored for him. On a blonde haired, blue eyed colonel with the hots for him. Little had he known that inside two days a fiery redhead would steal his heart. And his soul. And his sanity.

This time it was with the intention of delivering a devastating blow to a woman who had stood by him, loved him, taken care of him for more years than he cared to number. God, Sara didn't deserve this! She was going to be collateral damage of the worst kind and it was his fault. Just as Charlie's death had been his fault. And everything that had happened to Maddy was his fault.

Why hadn't Loki sent him back far enough to prevent it all from happening?

He flopped back on the bed and lay holding his head. How was he going to face Sara? What to say, how to explain that it really wasn't her- that hateful, irresponsible, evasive and hurtful cliche. The truth- as much of it as he could tell her; he had met someone else. She was going to be so hurt, feel so inadequate, so victimized. There she was house hunting in Malibu, anticipating his retirement, looking forward to not sharing him with the Air Force and he was about shatter a lifetime of hopes and dreams and patience.

It was too overwhelming to him so he turned his thoughts to Maddy. To a subject not so cut and dried, without such a horribly traumatic, inescapably devastating outcome.

Should he buy the lodge? Or, as he had promised himself so many times, should he take her far away from the SGC? She'd love Alaska. Hell, she loved it right where she was- he could buy a place nearby and hound her until Tom got pissed enough to leave.

But unlike last time, he held a wealth of knowledge in his head that could make a major difference to the SGC. To Earth. To Atlantis. Could he live with himself if he walked away? Every life lost, every injury sustained would nag his conscience. For that matter, would taking Maddy and walking away really insure her safety? Ba'al, Boch, Loki, the Lucians, the rogue NID, The Trust... The concept of retirement would be meaningless to those who still had him in their sights, kept him on their radar for future collateral.

'Sorry, Guys, no hard feelings but I'm not playing soldier anymore. All bets are off. Look, no gun. You can stop chasing me now.'

The resources of the SGC might be the only means of protecting her. Or saving her. Of treating injuries it would be impossible to explain to civilian doctors... or authorities. If one of his enemies got to her, access to the medical advancements, the Gou'ald healing device, the staff and technology the base could offer might be the only means of saving her life.

Because of him.

He could stay with the SGC and walk away from her. Knowing what he knew, given the opportunity to spare her so much pain and heartache and fear, if he really loved her he'd leave her alone. Sacrifice his life for her the way she had done for him when she went to Ba'al in exchange for healing him.

Jack sat up, scrubbed at his scalp, and made his decision.

"No way in hell," he muttered aloud. "Sorry, Maddy, but I'm not the person you are. Not the hero you think I am, and I'm not as smart as you want to believe. When it comes to you I'm a selfish bastard. Weak and defenseless and helpless as a kitten. I need you, damn it."

They'd just have to deal with whatever happened.

He got up and started packing.

Chapter Eighty Seven

Jack ducked as another cup skimmed his ear and smashed into the wall behind him.

"You son of a bitch!" Sara screamed. "All the years I waited! The sleepless nights, never knowing if you were alive or dead! Months on end with no word from you! How many times the military knocked on the door to tell me you were missing in action behind enemy lines- or dead! Bastard! The wounds, your head screwed up, your memory lost, the nightmares- I stuck by you through it all! It's finally over and you want a divorce?"

Jack shoved his hands into his pockets and watched her from under his brows. She was right. With all of it. He was a heel, the worst kind of bastard to do this to her. Damn Loki!

Sara stood with her hand on her hip, chest heaving, her fury beyond anything he could have imagined.

"Who is she? Colonel Carter? I always thought there was something between you two! How long, Jack? How long have you been cheating on me with her?"

"It's not Carter."

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, tears streaming down her face.

"This isn't happening," she whispered raggedly.

"For what it's worth- I'm sorry."

"Sorry? You're sorry?" her voice was starting to rise again.

She snatched up another cup and hurled it at him. Jack batted it away and pounced on her. Sara flailed at him with her fists but he clamped her against him tightly and held on until the fight drained out of her. She dropped her head onto his chest and sobbed. He rubbed her back and blinked back his own tears.

"I hate hurting you,"he said quietly. "I never wanted to hurt you. I do love you, Sara, but it has to be this way. I'm so sorry."

She reared back and gave him a watery stare. "Whatever it is, let's work through it. If I'm doing something wrong... I can change..."

He shook his head. "I promise, it's not you. Nothing you did or didn't do. There are things I can't tell you..."

She twisted away angrily. "All my life I've lived with 'I can't tell you'! Screw you, Jack! Screw your military secrets and long absences and mysterious missions! Damn you!"

Jack stepped back and let her rant. He deserved it.

"Special forces missions. Charlie. Then you went back when I didn't want you to. Years of worry and heartache and fear. I was always there for you, Jack. I held you through your nightmares, took care of your wounds, kept our home together for you. I dealt with the loneliness, the terror and worry, I went to your funeral three times, Jack! All so we could retire together and finally, finally, have some peace! How can you do this to me? What is it she has that you can't live without?"

She whirled away from him then whirled back.

"How old is she?"

Jack shook his head.

"Does she have kids? Is that it? I never gave you another baby?"

He stared at the floor, still shaking his head.

"Damn you! I gave you the best years of my life- I gave you all the years of my life! For what? To be left alone and heartbroken at my age?"

Jack ached for her. He searched his mind for words of comfort but none seemed adequate. He could think of nothing more awful than enduring this moment.

"I'll take care of you, Sara. Buy you that house down the street. See that you have health insurance, pay double whatever alimony..."

"Health insurance?" she repeated incredulously. "Well thank you so much! I don't want your money, asshole! I want a husband to grow old with, to take care of me- they way I took care of you for how many years?"

He nodded without looking up. "I know."

"You know? You've always been a bastard, O'Neill. I should have seen this coming! I should have expected no less from you!"

He kept nodding. She couldn't know how right she was. His mind turned to Maddy. What was he setting her up for this time?

"Sara, if there was any other way around this..."

She stilled and gaped at him. "Around this? Around what? You're choosing to leave me. Choosing, Jack! It's not a life or death mission- this is our life. What's happened to you? You used to be able to leave work at the base when you came home. You hated talking about any of it. You're doing it to me again you closed-mouthed bastard! Shelter the little woman. Military secrets. Black ops missions. Don't tell me the Air Force is making you divorce me now! Is there really another woman? I can't believe you'd cheat on me, Jack. You're a bastard from the boots up, but you're honest. What's this all about and why can't we just ride it out like all the other times?"

He grimaced at the floor. "We met by accident," he said gently. "I wasn't out looking. It was nothing you did, Sara."

"She's chasing you? Throwing herself at you?" She took a step forward, her expression pleading. "It'll pass, Jack. Just ride it out..."

He held her gaze and slowly shook his head. "She's married, Sara. She won't leave her husband."

"You're divorcing me so you can have an affair with a married woman?" she whispered, aghast.

"We're not having an affair. She doesn't want to cheat on him. She's not even in love with me."

Sara's mouth dropped open and she blinked her astonishment.

"So..." She shook her head and looked everywhere but at Jack as if searching for answers in the corners of the kitchen. "You're leaving me for a married woman who doesn't even want you?"

He quirked an eyebrow. "That's about the size of it. For now."

"You intend to break up that marriage, too?"

He raised a shoulder. "It's the way it has to be."

"You've gone insane," she breathed. "It's finally happened. You've finally snapped."

If thinking that would make this any easier on her, he'd roll with it.

"She's my destiny, Sara. I do love you. I always have. But I can't stay with you knowing how I feel about her. I'm trying to do right by you."

"So you're going to divorce me then hound this woman to leave her husband for you? Is she why you want to move back to Colorado Springs, take that position- so you'll be close to her?"

"She lives in Ohio."

Sara threw her arms in the air and spun to stare out the window. In the distance the Pacific Ocean was a deep blue expanse that seemed as endless, as bottomless, as Jack's heartache and shame. Sara laced her fingers together and pressed them to her lips. When she finally turned back to him there was a strange calmness in her expression.

"Go do what you have to do, Jack. If you're not lying to me about all of this, then I don't want to spent the rest of my life with a man who is that obsessed, that crazy. I was always afraid the Air Force was going to drive you over the edge- apparently it did."

"You could be right."

"Don't come back," she told him. "At first I thought I could take you back once you had your fill of her, got tired of her, came to your senses... Does she know you're married, that you're divorcing me to chase her?"

"Yep."

"Does she realize you're a bona fide mental case?"

Jack grunted. "Yeah, she knows that, too."

"Does she understand how dangerous you can be, Jack?"

"Yep."

Sara studied his face. Jack held steady under her scrutiny.

"Does she have sense enough to be afraid?"

He nodded once.

"Then I'm well rid of you. And I feel sorry for her."

"I'll have the divorce papers drawn up. Have an attorney look them over for you, make any changes you want."

"I won't walk away from this empty handed," she warned.

"I don't want you to. Take the bank account, Sara. I'll open a new one. I've already taken everything I want from the apartment in D.C.- the rest is yours."

"You already have a place in Colorado?"

He shook his head. "At the moment I'm homeless."

She shook her head in dismayed wonder. "Get help, Jack."

"You can always come to me," he told her. "If you need anything..."

"Goodbye, Jack."

He turned on his heel and left.

Sara got a sharp lawyer and took him for everything he had. Their savings, their investments, a large chunk of his retirement, a hefty alimony payment- which he doubled as promised- their car and his truck.

But Jack had a sharp lawyer of his own and time to prepare. Before going to California he had cashed out several choice stocks, set back the asking price for the lodge, and on advice of council- with Hammond's blessing- did not accept the oversite position until after the divorce was final. While Sara came out well ahead, he was by no means left a pauper. But he didn't have the resources he'd hoped to hand over to Maddy to renovate the lodge. They'd be fine, do well in fact, but it would take time to rebuild the lives they used to have.

He wondered if it would take twelve years.

George Hammond told him Sara had contacted him. She was worried about Jack's mental stability, genuinely concerned for him, and insisted Hammond take steps to have his competency investigated. George had played along, unable as Jack had been to tell her anything close to the truth. Jack was glad he had confided in both generals. It would smooth a lot of his way through the next twelve years.

And if Sara truly believed he had finally gone over the deep end, accepted that the Jack she knew no longer existed, she wouldn't push for a reconciliation. Sara was not a spiteful person, would entertain no ideas of vindication- and if an errant thought happened to run along those lines, fear of his dark side would keep her from acting on it. It didn't please Jack to know the women who dared to love him were also destined to fear him.

Jack moved into the lodge, cleaned what he needed to use- the bedroom and the bathroom- and lived around the rest for the time being.

He spent most of his time at the base, outlining the parameters of his job and ducking away from Daniel, Mitchell, Harriman, Vala, and Landry. Their curiosity about his past future was driving him nuts. Carter was more cautious and Teal'c wasn't overly interested. But he did like to amuse himself by being on hand for events before they took place. Like Landry spilling coffee on the Chief of Staff and Daniel falling face first into Carter's chest.

He figured he had about eight more months to kill. Then they would have been back from Nirrti's planet and could get on with things.

But without that time alone together, would Maddy still fall for him?

He waited a month then called her. She sounded surprised to hear his voice.

"General! Hi."

"How's Tom doing?"

"He gets the cast off next week. Some physical therapy and he'll be as good as new."

"How are you, Maddy?"

She was silent for a moment. "I'm fine, how are you?" she said a bit too brightly.

"Lonely. I miss you."

She didn't answer.

"I bought the lodge."

"Wonderful! Good for you. Got it all fixed up?"

"Nope. You're the handyman in the family. I can't drive a nail without bending it."

Silence.

"I haven't had a good night's sleep since you left, Maddy."

"Try sleeping pills."

"I need you."

"I'm so glad you called, General. I'll tell Tom you asked about him."

"Is he there?"

"I'm at the barn."

"Do you think about me?"

"How can I not? That was some pretty fantastic stuff you told me."

"Distance making you start to question it all?"

"Sometimes."

"It's real, Maddy. I want to see you."

"That's not a good idea. Let it go, Jack."

"Nope."

"You're not the first man to lust after a woman you can't have! Deal with it!" She hung up on him.

He called back, half expecting her not to answer. She did- on the first ring.

"Stop this!"

"My divorce is final. I'm all yours."

She hung up on him again, and this time she refused to answer when he tried back.

Jack stared at the phone. He had to get her away from Tom. Somehow. Mayborn's face flashed into his mind and he immediately discarded that option. He picked up the phone again and requested a staff sergeant be sent to his office. The man arrived and saluted.

"At ease. I have a personal request. Locate me the best damned private investigator you can find."

"Yes, Sir." He executed an about-face and left.

Jack sat back, propped his boots on the desk, and considered his options. He just didn't see a way to buy Tom off without him confronting Maddy over it. That would drive her even further away. Maybe the private investigator would come up with something that would give him an idea. Even presented with proof of his infidelity Jack didn't think Maddy would take the initiative to leave him.

Seven more months of this stalemate, of being without her, was unacceptable.

Tom was money-hungry. That had to be the key.

His phone rang. It was the staff sergeant. Jack jotted down the information and dialed the number.

Two more agonizing weeks dragged by. Jack resisted the urge to call Maddy. The P.I. was keeping him supplied with data, photos, and observations. When he knew Tom was headed west, he headed east.

Chapter Eighty Eight

Jack watched Maddy tinker with the fuel line on the tractor.

"What can I do?" he asked.

"Hand me that rag." She tightened the line onto the carburetor and wiped her hands before hitting the starter. The tractor roared to life, coughed, then sputtered. She adjusted a screw on the carburetor and the motor lined out. She beamed at Jack.

"I might get that hay in before it rains after all."

Neither of them heard the pickup until it was right beside them. Maddy shut the tractor down and gave the driver a forced smile.

"Paul."

"Your cows are in my corn again," he barked without preamble.

"They can't be! I just strung three hundred feet of six foot tall woven wire. They've been penned up in the feed lot for two weeks now, and last night was the first I've turned them out."

"All I know is they're over there now. Maddy, I've about had enough. This time I'll accept the price of an acre of corn, but next time I'm taking you to court. If you can't manage this place I'll sue it out from under you and farm it myself."

"Bill, I'm sorry the cows are out. But they didn't do that much damage overnight, just the five of them. The deer have been doing the same damage to your corn that they have to my fence."

"It's cows I see in there now. It was cows I saw in there a month ago. I'll expect that check within a week. You check the market price and make it fair."

He put the truck into reverse and backed onto the road. Maddy shook her head and started the tractor again.

"Hop on. I need to check that fence and get the cows home."

Jack stepped onto the drawbar and hung on as Maddy tramped down on a single wheel brake and whipped the machine into a tight spin.

When they gained the top of the hill she stopped, stared, then crossed her arms on the steering wheel and dropped her head on them.

An enormous oak had toppled onto the fence line and crushed a wide expanse of shiny new wire. Jack rubbed her back in sympathy.

"What do we need to do?" he asked.

"Get the cows home first. I've gotta get that hay in before I tackle fence again." She let out the clutch and drove to the fence line.

The cows weren't difficult to shoo home. As soon as they saw Maddy and Jack they made a running, bucking beeline for the downed fence. Jack watched them frolic their way to the barn. Half way back the tractor started to sputter. Maddy swore. It stalled and wouldn't start again.

"Hang on," she warned him grimly.

She pushed in the clutch, rode the brake, and let the tractor do a wild, bumpy downhill drift to the barnyard. Jack's feet left the drawbar several times but he managed to cling to the racing machine.

This was his Maddy, in full reckless form. There was hope for her yet.

"Would you mind getting some feed while I open the gate?" she asked when the tractor drifted to a stop. "In the big green freezer. Should be a bucket there."

Jack caught her arm as she started away. She turned back with a stressed look on her face. He kissed her. She pulled away impatiently. He watched her walk away shaking her head. That hadn't gone quite the way he had planned. He got the feed.

With the cows safely locked up, they headed back to the tractor.

"What's wrong with it?" Jack asked.

"It needs a new carburetor. I put a rebuild kit in it, but it's just plain worn out. I babied it all last summer and promised myself a new one this year. I asked for one for Christmas but it wasn't in the budget."

"What did you get?"

"A vacuum cleaner."

Jack grunted. "I'll go get you a carburetor."

She shook her head. "Please don't. Just... don't." She opened the tool box on the tractor and repeated the process he had watched earlier.

"Why not?"

"How would I explain that to Tom? Tell him you showed up the minute he left, and by golly you just happened to have a carburetor in your hip pocket? You might as well leave me with big, juicy hickey on my nose- that he wouldn't notice as fast."

Her cell phone rang before he could take her up on that offer. She wiped her hands and answered it.

"Hello. ...Working on the tractor. ...Yes, it's ready to bale. ...I know, Tom. The cows were out again. Tree came down on the fence I just put up. ...No, Tom, I didn't get it cut up. It's not going anywhere. I'll drag it down after I get hay in. And the fence fixed. And the laundry done. And the grass mowed. ...I packed you five pairs of jeans. ...I can't help that. ...Well, next time you're lounging around the truck stop waiting for a load, try putting quarters into the washing machine instead of video games!" She closed the phone, took two fast steps, and threw it as hard as she could.

Jack handed her his. "Call him back. Tell him not to bother coming home. That you're selling the farm and moving to Colorado."

She eyed him angrily. "This isn't Tom's fault, Jack! Stop blaming him for everything! I want the farm, it's my problem. If I didn't want to do this I'd move into an apartment somewhere. I married a truck driver knowing full well he'd be gone a lot. I can handle this- I always do. Just... stop interfering!"

"It's too much. Let me take you away from the problems and start over fresh."

"Leave this work to plant myself elbow deep in the mess that lodge is in? The barn needs repaired, the fences are in worse shape than mine..."

"You'll have me. To help, to pay for decent equipment, to love you through it all."

"Love?" she spat. "Love is a curse! Men are the bane of my existence!"

Jack watched her angry movements as she worked on the tractor. His instinct was to write a huge check and bail her out. Hire a crew of mechanics and fence builders and hay makers and house cleaners. But helping her through this would defeat the purpose. And it would drastically alter the course of events as they had played out in the original time line. Maddy had told him some of this part of her life. Qua'sel had given him a lot more. But standing here watching her struggle, seeing the loneliness and frustration in her eyes, the way her hands were chapped, the bruises and scratches on her arms, it was killing him.

He moved up close and nuzzled her ear. "I'll go start supper. How soon do you have to start baling?"

"Tomorrow, as soon as the dew's off. You'll have to get something out of the freezer."

"What do you suggest? I'm not much of a cook."

"I'll do it when I'm done here."

"I want to cook for you, not have you cook for me. Just give me some pointers."

"Find a roast. There's beef broth in the pantry. Salt and pepper, onion powder. Slice an onion and put it on top. Cover it and put it in the oven at two-fifty. There's a basket of new potatoes out back. Scrub them up, peel some carrots, and put them in when the roast has thawed. Dab some butter on top. Then turn the oven up to three-fifty."

"Got it." He didn't, but he'd figure it out. "Holler if you need a hand."

He started away then turned back as another truck pulled into the drive. This one was sitting down low under the weight of several logs. He walked with Maddy to the driver's side.

"Jim, hello!" she greeted. "This is General Jack O'Neill. Jack, Jim Spencer."

The men shook hands through the window.

"Can you have these cut before Wednesday?" Jim asked.

Maddy nodded, but Jack could sense her reluctance.

"I have to bale tomorrow, but I can do it Monday."

He handed over a slip of paper.

"This is what I need. Keep the slabs, Maddy, and call me when it's ready."

She scanned the list. "Okay. Go ahead up and unload them."

The truck pulled up the slope in front of the barn to where the sawmill sat. Maddy watched for a moment then turned back to the tractor.

"You run that sawmill yourself?" he asked quietly.

"Nobody else here to do it. Tom insists on running ads. I've got more than I can handle from word-of-mouth and repeat customers, but he doesn't think it's enough."

"You don't hire help?"

She snorted. "And cut into Tom's profits? Are you kidding?"

"That's pretty damned dangerous work to be doing alone!"

She shrugged.

"I don't know anything about it, but I'll do what I can," he offered.

She glanced around at him. "You'll still be here Monday?"

"I will be now."

He turned away and headed towards the house, angry, his mind whirling. Six and a half more months before he could hope for a change. And if he thought convincing her to take a chance on him last time was tough...

Jack located everything she listed and did his best to follow her instructions. He noticed a pile of laundry beside the washer, figured he couldn't screw up towels and sheets, so he threw them in to wash. On his way down to check her progress he spied the lawn mower. Changing direction, he climbed on and started mowing grass instead of pestering her. A half hour later he remembered the roast and drove to the house. He put in the vegetables and went out to finish the grass.

Maddy and the tractor were gone.

It was awhile later when he saw her climbing down off the tractor. The mammoth oak was hooked by a chain to the draw bar. He mowed up to her and shut off the engine.

"Where's your chainsaw?"

"I'll get it as soon as I move the tractor."

Jack loved doing this stuff with Maddy. She didn't remember, but this is the way they had worked together for years. Part of what he missed so much, what he craved. What the lodge had been all about. What it could be again if only Tom was out of the picture. He grabbed a limb and dragged it out of her way, then took the chainsaw off her.

"My turn. Rest your arms."

She gave him an odd look but relinquished her hold. When they had finished she sat down on a chunk of wood to rest. Swiping a dusty sleeve across her face she said, "You handle that saw pretty good for a fly boy."

"I was never as good with it as you. Not with the backhoe, either."

"Backhoe?"

He nodded. "And I decided you needed a tractor after you tore the transmission out of my truck pulling a stump."

She winced. "I should have known better."

He laughed. "You did. But you did it anyway."

"Bet you were pissed."

"Thought it was kinda cute. Got a lot of mileage out of bragging about it at the base."

She stared at him soberly. "Let's go check the roast. I'm starved."

The answering machine was blinking when they went inside. Maddy hit the button and listened as Tom left one ranting message after another. She hit 'erase' and headed for the kitchen. Jack stepped into her path and put his arms around her. He held her wordlessly until she relented and leaned into him. Then he kissed her.

"Shower with me tonight."

She widened her eyes at him. "You're staying here? The neighbors..."

"We'll turn on lights at the trailer, pull my car up beside it. What do you care anyway, Maddy?"

She swallowed but didn't answer. He nuzzled her ear.

"I wanna wash your hair. I want you to wash my back. I want to kiss you under the running water, feel you all soft and slippery..."

She wormed away and hurried to the stove. He leaned against the wall and watched her fuss over nothing.

"There's a garden tub at the lodge. We took a lot of bubble baths by candlelight. I used to blindfold you and feed you strawberries, dribble white wine over your breasts and lick it off..."

"Stop it!" she cried. "I appreciate your help, your concern, but you're not staying tonight. We're not showering together, we're not sleeping together, and I'm not leaving my husband for you! I'm not selling the farm to move to Colorado!"

"Can I have supper before I leave?"

Her shoulders sagged. "Of course. Thank you for mowing the grass. And helping with that tree."

"You could use a good massage..."

"Jack...!" she warned.

"Where's your dryer?"

She blinked at the abrupt change of topic. "I don't have one..."

"What do you do with wet clothes?"

"Clothesline. In the winter I take them to the laundromat."

Jack disappeared down the hall and came back a moment later with a basket of wet sheets and towels.

"That the line up on the bank?"

She stared at the basket. "You did my laundry?"

"Just this load. Didn't want to turn your underwear blue again."

"Again?" She bit her lip. "Maybe I could fall in love with a man who does laundry."

"I don't wash bras," he warned. "I throw them out. As fast as you buy them." He winked at her and carried the laundry outside.

Chapter Eight Nine

Jack's cell phone rang as he was in the middle of bawling out four new recruits. He didn't remember these four from the last time line, but he was still months away from when he should have taken over the trainee program. It didn't make him anymore patient or understanding. He bawled them all out- it was his trademark.

"Dismissed!" he barked. Pacing away, he flipped open the phone.

"What!"

"General, this is Rick Peters..."

The private investigator. Jack slowed his gait.

"...I thought you should know... I followed Tom home. Seems the old farmer next door passed on a few weeks ago. There's a big auction going on, Maddy and Tom are there. Nobody is at the farm, but a horse trailer just pulled in and loaded up Maddy's three horses. I'm tailing it now in case..."

"Find out where it goes and call me back." Jack smacked the phone closed and cursed. He'd bet his left nut Tom was doing this behind Maddy's back. He opened his truck door and grabbed a clip board off the seat. He was nearly through with the daily report when his phone rang again.

"Peters, again. The horses were unloaded at an auction barn about thirty miles away."

"Buy them, Rick. I don't care what it costs. I'll wire the money. Just make sure you get the right three. If you're not sure, I'd rather have a few extra than the wrong ones."

"What then?"

"Ask around the auction barn, find a transport. Have them shipped to Colorado Springs. I'll meet the driver and show him where to take them."

"Maddy's gonna go ballistic."

"Let's hope."

"You want me to slash his tires?"

Jack chuckled. "No, he'd blame it on Maddy."

"Can I shoot him?"

Jack was tempted. "If it comes to that I get to pull the trigger. But I wouldn't cry crocodile tears if he got mugged in a truck stop and they beat the crap out of him in the process. Keep an eye on Maddy. Let me know how she handles it when she finds out."

It was the next day before Jack got another call from the private investigator. He was laughing.

"General, you should see this. Actually, I'm video taping it for you from the bucket of a line truck. Maddy just found out what Tom did. She's in the trailer throwing his clothes through the window."

"No shit?"

"She's ranting and raving like a mad woman. Her face is all red, her hair flying all around... Damn, that woman's using words I can't begin to understand, but I'm pretty sure she's swearing. ...Yep, that one I understood. She's definitely swearing."

"Where's Tom?"

"Leaning against the semi, watching. Hasn't said a word... Uh ohh..."

"What 'uh-oh'?"

"Holy shit! She's got a shotgun! Tom's in the truck grinding gears like crazy trying to get it out of the driveway! There goes the windshield... I don't think he was hit. There's another blast, peppered the sleeper. Hit an air line. He's going through gears so fast that truck is bucking like a bronc. That shot took out a tire- an inside dual. He's still moving. She should be out of shells... Nope, must have taken out the plug. He's outta range anyway."

"Stay put, I'm on my way. He'll call the cops. Let me know what jail she's in."

Chapter Ninety

Jack walked into the county lockup, flashed his credentials, and asked to see Maddy. He was led to a cell and let inside. Maddy looked up and started to cry. Jack held out his arms and she flew into them. He let her cry herself out.

"He sold my horses, Jack! They're gone!"

"Shhh. Did you kill him?"

"I tried..."

"Don't say that too loud. You have a lawyer yet?"

She shook her head. "Can't afford it. They're gonna appoint one..."

"I'll take care of it. Maddy," he lifted her chin. "I've got your horses. I had a guy buy them out of the auction barn. They're in transit to the lodge right now. I'll take care of them until..."

She gaped at him then burst into tears again. "How...? Oh, my God, Jack! Thank you!"

He made her sit down with him. "I've had a private investigator on Tom for a couple of months now."

"Why?"

"I just did. I looked over the charges and to be honest, you might have to spend some time in jail. A sharp attorney might get you off with probation, but you did empty a twelve gauge at your husband with intent to do harm."

"If I wanted to hit him, I would have."

Jack chuckled. "I know. I've seen you shoot."

She wiped her eyes. "It was worth it. ...Jack, I'm ready to file for divorce."

He nodded and tried not to dwell on the fact that her horses could make her leave him when what he was offering her couldn't.

"You need to file first. It shifts things in your favor and might help with the criminal charges. We need to get a court order to keep him off the property. Are you sure it's only in your name?"

She nodded.

"What do you want me to get out of there in case he comes back?"

"Bonnie," she said immediately.

"I'll pick her up as soon as I leave here."

She clutched his shirt front. "Take her to Colorado with you. Just for awhile. He'll find a way to take her if you don't. She loves to ride in the truck- all he'd have to do is open the door and..."

"Done. What else? Your antique guns?"

She nodded. "Please don't let him trash the place."

"I won't. Do I have your permission to stay there?"

She nodded again. "Jack... Thank you. You really are a knight in shining armor."

"Now you say that. This is no place to whip out my sword."

She giggled nervously. But she giggled. It was music to Jack's ears.

"I'll be right here with you. Through all of this."

She leaned on his shoulder and he put his arm around her until the guard asked him to leave. He kissed her.

"I'm off to find an attorney. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"I'm okay. Go to the farm. He's gonna be mad enough to do something drastic."

But Tom didn't come back. Not even for his clothes. Jack had Rick Peters locate the best criminal attorney and the shrewdest divorce lawyer money and influence could buy. The two men consulted on Maddy's case and presented one hell of a defense. She got off with probation, a fine, and restitution for the damage to Tom's truck- which she promptly won back in the divorce. Maddy got to keep her farm and equipment, which had been her father's and not bought with Tom's money. All he walked away with were his rig and his personal belongings- which were okayed by Maddy with the county sheriff at her side and Jack hovering in the background.

The terms of Maddy's probation prohibited her from leaving the state. When the dust had settled, and with Rick Peters shadowing Tom's every move, Jack told Maddy he'd have to go back to the SGC for a while.

"Thank you for everything," she said dully.

"I wish I could stay..."

"I'll be okay. I need to figure out what I'm gonna do."

Jack narrowed his eyes at her. "What does that mean?"

"The farm. I can't afford to keep it. I lost my job because of this. Even if I get another- which won't be easy while I'm on probation- I can't hope to cover the taxes and utilities and upkeep. Feed. Gas..."

"You're coming to Colorado with me."

"Please don't start that now!"

"Start, hell! It's the only choice you've got! Put the place up for sale and start packing. As soon as I put some time in at the base I'll be back to help."

"Don't start riding herd on me, O'Neill."

Ah, there it was! She finally said it.

"I'm not riding herd. Your horses are already out there. I'm there, the lodge is waiting for you..."

"I just got out of a relationship- I'm not about to jump into another! I appreciate everything you've done, but stop hounding me to move in with you!"

"Fine. Struggle to pay the bills, lose the farm, and come to me in debt without two dimes to rub together. It's all the same to me. But it would make more sense to sell and have something to fall back on. I'll call you when I get home."

He kissed her goodbye and left.

Chapter Ninety One

Jack scribbled his signature and glanced at the calendar. Two months to go. Maddy was still fighting him, still struggling with the farm, still anguishing over what to do. He called her several times a day but carefully avoided upsetting her. He also refrained from offering her money. He flew back when he couldn't stand being away from her, but understood that leaving her alone for the time being would serve him better in the long run.

Carter and Daniel had become quite interested in his struggle to win Maddy, and he wondered if this was about the time they had gotten involved in the original time line. There wasn't much they could do other than to pitch in to help Jack clean and repair the lodge. Last time that very chore had been what Maddy had needed. This time it was the last thing she needed to have foisted on her.

Some things were tracking the original time line with uncanny precision. Others seemed to be just as perfectly opposite. Not much fell into a gray area between.

Jack massaged his temples and tried to focus on paperwork. Carter had been right- he was on the verge of drooling into his Fruit Loops. Trying to sort the present from a past which was actually his future was screwing up what mind he had left. And he had roughly eleven and a half years to go. Eleven and a half years to lay the groundwork for a normal progression of their lives.

Whatever the hell 'normal' was.

Divorcing Sara still troubled him deeply. It could be no other way, but the woman had stuck by him through thick and thin only to be dumped as she neared the late part of her middle age. She had invested so many years, endured so much emotional turmoil... She had remarried in the last time line and at least she was living in California instead of Chicago- where hopefully she wouldn't meet Ray Bellissimo. That had ended in disaster, and Maddy had been the one to bail her out. While Jack was stuck inside an unresponsive body. Sara was still a beautiful woman, still had a great body, owned a choice piece of real estate in the Malibu hills, and had a respectable portfolio. She'd find somebody, or fare quite well on her own. But that did little to ease the awful guilt and shame of how he had abused what was for her a lifetime of loyalty, devotion, and affection.

At least Maddy was showing some of her old fire. He had to chuckle when he thought of her chasing the semi down the driveway with a shotgun. Her three years probation stretched out in front of him longer than the eleven years. When she made the decision to come to him, he'd have the attorney petition the court to have her probation transferred to Colorado.

He refused to entertain the possibility that she never would.

Inspiration struck during a meeting with Landry, Hammond, and Davis. The latest batch of recruits he had cleared for active duty were slated to do a tour on Atlantis. The powers that be wanted Jack to accompany them for a few weeks to evaluate their suitability. Jack immediately booked a flight to Ohio.

Chapter Ninety Two

"Off what world? Ours? As in this one?" Maddy asked as Jack tried to explain his mission.

"Earth. I'm headed to the Pegasus Galaxy. Should be back in a month or so. I'd like you to stay at the lodge while I'm gone."

When she opened her mouth to protest he held up a finger.

"Ah! Let me finish. The horses and Bonnie need someone there. I can pull some strings and get your probation transferred. It'll all be legal. Consider it a well-deserved vacation, and a favor to me."

She was giving it serious consideration, he knew she was.

"Aside from your critters, you can keep the toilets flushed and the plants watered. Mow the grass. Stuff like that."

"I can hardly refuse when you put it that way. I owe you so much, and you've been taking care of my crew. How soon?"

"As soon as possible. Within three days if you can manage. I can stick around and help you get things sewed up here, pack and stuff, then you can fly back with me."

"I should drive out..."

"Why? My shiny new truck will be there- you'll have wheels. I'll give you a tour of Colorado Springs so you'll know your way around, introduce you to SG1..."

"I sold the cattle," she told him with a grimace. "Put one in the freezer. I've been meaning to ship you half."

"They getting out again?" he asked sympathetically.

She shook her head. "With all the trouble I got myself into, I didn't get the rest of second cut made. Had to sell that to pay the taxes. Not enough winter feed. The money from the cows I need to give you for feed..."

"No you don't. Put it in the bank, Maddy."

She ignored that. "So there're no critters here to be cared for... or worry about. I can be ready to go whenever you want."

He dropped a kiss on her cheek. "Can I pack your undies?"

She batted him on the shoulder. "You can mow the grass. Scalp it so I don't come home to another hayfield."

"Right after I raid your underwear drawer. So I can throw away your bras."

"Jack... is it dangerous?"

"You going braless is always dangerous," he leered.

She clicked her tongue at him. "Going that far in a spaceship. I mean, they can't keep a space shuttle in one piece, how did they..."

"Alien technology, Babe. If you're packed by the time I get done with the grass, I'll take you out to dinner." At her perplexed look he said, "It's perfectly safe. I've made the trip before. The most dangerous part is me getting bored and pushing buttons I shouldn't."

That didn't seem to reassure her. He patted her bottom, gave her a wink, and went out to mow grass.

Chapter Ninety Three

Jack felt a few of his madly scattered planets come into line as Maddy walked around the lodge. He dropped her suitcases on the floor and watched her.

"You've done a lot," she praised. "Jack, it's beautiful!"

"SG1 helped. They've got designs on a place for R&R."

She stooped to hug Bonnie. "Can I go see my horses?"

"You don't have to ask."

"Come with me?"

Jack bit back a suggestive retort and kissed her instead. She returned the kiss but her face registered worry.

"Jack... do you expect me to... sleep in your bed?"

His heart fell. "Only if you insist."

She blushed. "It's just that... I don't want to..."

"You don't have 'to' if you don't want to."

"It's not that. I've been backsliding..."

"Is it really a sin to shoot at somebody if you don't intend to hit them?" he teased.

"I meant you. And divorcing Tom. Anger. Spite. Greed. I need to ground myself. You're quite a temptation."

"Damn. I was all set to do the 'soldier going off to war' routine." That made her smile. "I'll behave. But all bets are off if you slip into my bed naked."

Or wearing a suit of armor.

"Thank you."

They started up the lane to the barn.

"Just to be clear; you're not talking about kissing, right?"

"Kissing you gives me lustful thoughts."

"Just to be clear; kissing isn't off limits, right?"

"As long as you aren't kissing me."

"But Bonnie has these long sharp teeth that keep poking into my lips. And her tongue is so long it..."

Maddy whirled and smacked him on the shoulder. "Gross, Jack! Eww!"

"In grade school when Peggy Spires kept hitting me, my mom said it was 'cause she liked me."

Maddy laughed and whistled for the horses. Their heads came up and two of them whinnied as they came up the hill at a hard gallop.

"They missed you."

"I missed them." She turned to him with tears in her eyes. "I can't ever thank you enough for saving them for me. You're my hero, Jack."

She ducked through the fence and made a fuss over the excited horses. Jack's heart swelled. Hopefully a month here alone would convince her to stay.

"I'm gonna get that meat into the freezer," he told her. "Pizza tonight?"

She beamed at him and his feet lifted six inches off the ground.

Jack couldn't keep from watching her as he carried coolers of meat into the garage. He had the shakes again, felt deliriously happy even though he would be leaving soon. Maddy was at the lodge. She was here. After a month of being here, how could she leave? His world was nearly complete again. Nearly because she wasn't yet his wife, at least in her eyes. Wasn't his to tease and tickle and touch, make love to at the drop of a hat. Discuss his problems with, plan their life together.

Wasn't yet the bubbly, daring, risk taker he knew her to be.

Did he really want to cultivate her wild side? She had driven him to distraction with her antics, kept him in an agony of worry over her, and yet now, with it absent from her character, he missed it.

And they said women were fickle!

When he opened the lid of the chest freezer the light came on. And that light seemed to flash inside his head. He dropped the box and gripped the side of the freezer. A vividly clear picture came to his mind: Sitting under the mammoth prehistoric tree, watching the dinosaurs browse as he accessed Quasi's verison of Maddy's memories. Her time as Tom's wife. He had purposely delved deeply into her feelings and emotions, wanted to experience what had hurt her so badly, scarred her so deeply, wanted to know so he could fix it for her. It all came flooding back to him; the responsibility she had shouldered. The loneliness and desperation and frustration of loving without being loved in return. The conviction that life had passed her by and she had experienced only the drudgery of it. The inexplicable fear of losing what she didn't have, yet worked so hard to earn- her husband's attention. Her ache for a mate who would be a friend, a lover, a partner instead of a coldly distant task master. The constant criticism, veiled barbs, dispassionate rejection. Always being judged and found lacking. Going the extra mile only to find it was short by more than she could muster. The ache of being denied the simple comfort of being held when she cried. How it felt to have her hand brushed from his arm, his face turned away from her kiss, not being allowed to touch him as they slept. Her pain seized his heart anew and he winced at it's intensity. These had been the thoughts Loki's anomaly had zeroed in on, the key to why this time line was so drastically different for her. He'd set her up for what she was living now.

Yeah, he'd fixed it for her, alright.

"God, Maddy, I made everything right for you the first time and I didn't even realize it. Give me the chance to do it again."

He needed to fix what he had screwed up by trying to fix it when he should have left well enough alone.

"It never felt like I was giving you enough, yet what I gave you was so much more than you ever expected."

Jack snorted at himself as he emptied the cooler, closed the lid, and stood there thinking. He had done it to her again. Innocently enough, but because of him her life had been altered and not for the better. Could he make this time line better for her, less riddled with pain and danger and fear? Would it even be possible to heal scars that ran deeper and further than before?

He walked out of the garage and looked up at the pasture. Maddy was astride Rita, laying along her mane with her arms wrapped around her neck. Warmth flooded him. Even if she didn't fall in love with him this time around, he could give her this. She deserved it. Not just because of the life Tom had robbed her of, but because Jack remembered the life she had given to him. He fished out his cell phone, ordered two pizzas, then got in the truck and drove up the lane.

Maddy looked up when he stopped. Her eyes were red and swollen but her smile nearly blinded him. His throat constricted. For a moment he could only look at her. She held his gaze, poured her profound emotion into his soul. He had to swallow a couple of time before he could speak.

"I ordered the pizza. You wanna come with or stay here?"

She slid down off the mare's back, trailed her fingers along Chimmy's side, and crawled through the fence. She took a moment to brush at the horse hair covering her thighs and belly.

"I'm covered in hair..."

"Truck don't care and I think it's sexy."

Her eyes rounded for a moment before she flashed him a smile. He tracked her as she came around the truck and slid onto the seat. She glanced at him and blushed under his intense look.

"What?"

"You're beautiful, Maddy. I can't wait to watch you ride."

She lowered her lashes and looked away. Jack put the truck into reverse and stopped at the lodge to get Bonnie before heading down the rutted lane.

"Trade her sides- she likes the window. If I leave you my checkbook, will you have this lane fixed while I'm gone?"

Surprise made her hesitate as she slid to the middle of the seat. "Uh, sure. Tell me how you want it done."

"You'd be better at that than me. I trust you."

"Did I do it last time?"

"I honestly don't remember. Doesn't matter."

He put the window down for Bonnie and grinned when her lips caught the wind.

"Be careful with this truck. It's got a shimmy at one-ten."

She laughed. "It does, does it?"

"You told me it does."

Her jaw dropped. "I told you?"

He nodded. "You were coming to the base to see me after a mission. I'd been wounded. You forgot your shoes."

He decided not to mention the wild, sideways drift she had put the truck into through the tunnel. If she didn't come up with that on her own, no harm done. That had been during the Lucian invasion... just before she had been brutally raped and tortured. Jack vowed to change that part of her history and made a mental note to talk to Landry.

His thoughtful silence made her eye him curiously and he shot her an apologetic grimace.

"Memories?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Care to share?"

"Not that one." He reached for her hand and brought it to his lips. It wasn't enough. The disturbing memory made him pull to the side of the road, put the truck into park, and fold himself around her. Face buried in her hair, he tried to quell the surge of anxiety that bordered on panic. He couldn't face her going through that again. He'd stop it, change it somehow. He realized he was crushing her and relaxed his frantic grip. But his kiss was desperate, filled with apology and driven by a promise she couldn't comprehend. He drew back and stared into her eyes.

"I love you so much, Maddy."

She couldn't look away. He held her gaze trapped with his, but she squirmed uncomfortably.

"I know it's confusing, unsettling, to have a complete stranger madly in love with you. I'm trying to take it slowly, be patient. But sometimes..." He smoothed her hair back from her face and held her head in both hands. "Just don't be afraid of me. You never have to be afraid of me."

"You're scaring me right now."

"I know. I'm sorry." He searched her eyes. "You always helped me through stuff like this. I miss being able to rely on you to steady me, distract me, calm me. I'm so alone in this, Maddy. I'm battling time and memories and fears... And I have no one I can discuss it with. Not the details, not the intimate moments between us that I refuse to lose." He dropped his face into the hollow of her neck. "I'm so afraid of screwing us up."

Her arms came around him and she held him tightly, rocked him ever so gently. Jack shuddered and fought down a flood of emotion, defied the hotness behind his eyelids. He crushed her against him and sucked in a harsh, stuttering breath. It was a long time before he trusted himself to move away from her. He trailed his fingers over her face.

"Thanks. I needed that."

She smiled into his eyes but there was concern, uncertainty in her gaze. He dropped a soft kiss on her lips then went back for another. On the third she kissed him back and he stayed for more. He needed to lighten the mood for both of them. He kissed her nose then the side of her mouth. He brushed his lips lightly across hers, teasing, tickling, until she grabbed his lower lip in her teeth.

Ah, Maddy!

He stared into her eyes, fuzzy and out of focus from being so close, and tilted his head as much as he could to make her eyes dance crazily for him. She giggled and drew his lip into her mouth. Her tongue smoothed across it and she closed her eyes. Her body relaxed in his arms and he pressed her into the seat. She released his lip and he kissed her deeply. The sharp wail of a siren made all three of them jump. Maddy gasped. Bonnie started barking. Jack looked up in time to see a police officer exit his cruiser. He looked down at Maddy.

"Caught! And it's not even dark. Good timing for a change. Another minute and I would have had your shirt open."

She flashed her eyes at him as the officer cleared his throat. Jack turned around and put both hands on the wheel.

"Officer," he greeted, making his voice husky for Maddy.

"Afternoon, Sir. License and registration, please."

Maddy tried to quiet Bonnie as Jack fished out his wallet and handed over the cards. The officer read them and handed them back. He leaned around Jack to peer at Maddy.

"Identification, Ma'am?"

She spread her hands wide then indicated the horse hair all over her. "He picked me up at the pasture. I don't have my purse."

He nodded. "What seems to be the problem here, General?"

"Clasp on her bra is stuck. You know those little wire things that get pushed down..." Jack demonstrated by tapping his finger and thumb together.

The officer's expression didn't change and Jack quirked an eyebrow.

"She swallowed a bee and I was fishing for it with my tongue? Gotta help a lady in distress, you know. Air Force directive."

"Take it off the road, General. Drive safely. And buckle up."

"Yes, Sir." Jack gave him a salute as he walked away. He reached around for his seat belt and shot Maddy a rueful grimace. She giggled at him and fastened her own belt.

"No sense of humor," Jack grumbled as he put the truck into drive.

Maddy was still giggling. It made Jack smile.

Chapter Ninety Four

As they started on the second pizza Jack got up for a trip to the fridge.

"Another cola?" he offered.

She had her mouth full so she shook her head.

"More ice?"

She raised her eyebrows and nodded.

He came back with a beer and a glass of ice. Maddy swallowed and thanked him. Jack took a slice and sat back on the couch to prop up his feet.

"My fishing gear is in the garage," he told her. "Help yourself while I'm gone. I left Landry's number on the fridge if you need anything."

No way was he gonna let Daniel anywhere near her until after they were married!

"You can sleep in my bed while I'm gone. The one in the spare bedroom isn't as comfortable." He snagged her hand brushed his lips over its back. "I don't have any cream, but you need to put something on your hands." He ran a thumb lightly over the dry, chapped backs. "This has to hurt. You can go into town and do some shopping. I never take my wallet off world- I'll leave it in the top dresser drawer. It's got cash and credit cards."

She wouldn't look at him. "I've got money."

"Okay. But if you run out use mine."

She was staring out at the lake.

Jack took a moment to study her. Her hair was as long as before, but it was dull and lifeless and she almost always kept it pinned up on her head. The scar from the accident had nearly faded, but her cheeks were dry, sallow, sunburned, and showed the onset of wrinkles. Her lashes swept her cheek and he longed to kiss them. She looked so worn and haggard that his heart ached.

Maybe he should blend with Quasi this time around after all. Transfer the Tok'ra and his regenerative powers to Maddy. He stiffened as the thought crossed his mind that Qua'sel might be on that icy planet even now. Qua'sel could help him with this time line stuff. How would it effect the Tok'ra, blending with a host that already had his memories? He needed to discuss that with Carter and Daniel. As loath as he was to share his body and brain with a snake again, Qua'sel might have all the answers Jack was struggling for.

Why did Maddy look so lost and forlorn? She was blinking a bit too fast and the side of her face was twitching. Jack tossed his half eaten slice into the box, grabbed her shoulders, and dragged her down onto the couch. She gasped and brought her hands up defensively as he shifted on top of her.

"Why the long face?" he asked.

She planted her hands on his chest and pushed. He pried them loose and pinned them above her head. Her eyes were huge with trepidation, maybe a little anger. He taunted that anger with light kisses.

"Let me up," she demanded, bracing a foot on the cushion and heaving with her hips.

The action brought them together in a snug, intimate fashion and Jack leered at her. Her face reddened and she stilled.

"Aw, that's all you got?" he complained.

Her chest was heaving into his and he kissed her for that, too. She jerked her mouth away.

"So this is how I have to pay for my supper?" she snapped.

He wasn't going to let her bait him. "I paid for supper. Buy you can buy me dessert."

She clicked her tongue at him.

He trailed wet kisses over her face. "Relax, Maddy. I'm not gonna rape you." He raised his head and pouted. "Just play wiff me. Pizza makes me p-wayful."

She tried to stay mad but in another minute she sputtered a laugh and shook her head at him.

"You're a goof!"

"You should see me after spaghetti." He mauled her neck until she squealed. He stuck his tongue in her ear and she squealed again. He raised up to stare at her.

"Wanna make me stop?"

"How?"

"You could promise to make a huge meatloaf before I leave. Big enough for me to take a cooler of sandwiches with me."

"Okay," she agreed readily.

He pretended to ponder her offer. "Nope, that didn't work." He dove for her neck again and raised a big, purple welt as she squirmed and fought.

"There goes your meatloaf!" she threatened.

He moved his mouth to her ear. "No meatloaf, no sleep for you tonight."

"That's not a deal- that's blackmail!"

"Yep. Tell you what. You sleep in my arms tonight, and I'll go ahead and let you make the meatloaf."

"Uh!" she grunted. "How's that fair?"

He raised up to give her a heated look. "I've got you right where I want you- except for the clothes- I'm horny as hell, and right now you look like a lollipop I really want to lick. All the way down to the soft, sweet center. You want fair? How about I let you return the favor?"

Her lips parted as she tried not to let him see her pant for breath. Her breasts were getting hard against his chest. He could feel her temperature rise along the length of his body. He had her eyes and wouldn't let them go.

She was actually considering it.

His Maddy would have had a sharp retort, a means of throwing cold water onto his flaming ardor. This Maddy was torn between her sense of morality and too many years of having been rejected, of an ache too long unfulfilled. She was starved for the attention he was so willing to give. Her hips shifted and he prepared himself to be thrown into the pizza boxes. Instead she hooked her leg over his and nestled him deeper against her warmth. His libido spiked and he drew her into a slow, hot kiss. He released her arms and groaned when her hands moved to clutch his head. Their tongues twisted and danced. Her fingers found his ears and she learned that was one of the buttons she'd enjoy pushing. He kissed his way down her chest and forced himself not to simply rip her T shirt in half. He located the hem and worked it up over her head, kissed her as he reached under to open the clasp of her bra. She wiggled out of it as he fell to her breasts with lips and tongue. Her whimper encouraged him and he redoubled his effort. He had been without his toys for too long and he took liberal advantage. But his mind was on taking her. The sweet anguish of anticipation, building heat, a singular hunger that had gone too long unfed. The promise of exquisite delight had him trembling. Her fingers were exploring again; his ears, his hair, the back of his neck. She urged his mouth back to hers and kissed him with all the intensity he remembered.

Maddy's kiss! The kiss that exploded his brain and left him a helpless puddle of ooze.

Bonnie's abrupt, sharp bark barely penetrated the sensual haze in his head. She set up a howling yodel that his inner caveman matched.

The knock on the door jolted him. Maddy gasped and pushed at him.

No! No no no this wasn't happening!

He groaned loud and long as he gathered his scattered wits and sat up. Maddy groped for her shirt and he helped get it over her head. He stood, wobbled, tightened his knees, and smirked as she swept her bra under the couch. The knock sounded again.

"Alright!" he shouted over Bonnie's protest.

He couldn't take his eyes off Maddy. Disheveled and embarrassed, her hair falling out of its clip, she stared up at him with acute chagrin. He wondered if it had to do with getting interrupted, or because of what she had been about to do. She was so beautiful. Tenderness eased in to take the edge off his ardor. Her T shirt was on inside out and backwards. It gave him an irrational sense of satisfaction: Whoever was at the door would notice, would know why, would realize what they had interrupted. And they would envy him this incredible woman. It was akin to the bragging he would never voice. He beat back his inner caveman before he answered the door pounding on his chest and bellowing.

Daniel and Mitchell were looking towards the pasture.

"...horses? And a dog... Oh, Jack. About time. We were starting to wonder if you were home."

"We saw your truck so we knew..."

"Whose horses are those?"

Mitchell stooped to play with Bonnie. "Cool dog. I always wanted a Boxer."

"We stopped by to see if you wanted to go out for a beer," Daniel told him. "You get anything more done in the kitchen?" He eased himself through the door and gave Jack's lowering expression an odd look. Then he pulled up short when he saw Maddy. She was just rising from the couch, the guilt on her face unmistakable. He took in the rumpled T shirt that did nothing to hide distended nipples, pants covered in horse hair, the dark flush in her cheeks, and turned to Jack.

"Are we interrupting something?"

"No," Maddy said hastily.

"Yes," Jack growled.

Daniel's eyes moved over the horse hair clinging to Jack trousers, moved to the matching hair on Maddy's jeans, and back to Jack with comical expression.

"Been riding?" he quipped.

Jack gave him a murderous glare as Mitchell moved past to take Maddy's hand.

"Cam Mitchell, Colonel. You must be Maddy."

"You'd better hope she's Maddy," Daniel muttered under his breath.

"We almost met at General O'Neill's cabin," Cam continued. "I've heard a lot about you."

Maddy raised her eyebrows and looked at Jack. He winked at her then went back to glaring at Daniel.

"So, you two wanna go out for a beer? Sam and Vala are gonna meet us at McGinty's. Teal'c is on Chulak. Landry might show up later..." Daniel's words trailed off as Jack's stare didn't alter. "Or maybe not."

"You here to see the general off on his... trip?" Mitchell caught himself, not knowing how much Jack had told her.

"I'm staying... here while..." Maddy eyed Jack's frantic motion to cut herself off.

Daniel turned back to Jack. "Did you give her our numbers? In case she needs anything?" He turned back to Maddy. "I'm Daniel." He took her hand with a smile. "He can be pretty dense about stuff like that."

"She has Landry's number," Jack said through gritted teeth.

"Are those your horses?" Cam asked. "Man, I'd love to ride with you. I had a horse when I was a kid. Loved it."

"What time were you meeting at McGinty's?" Jack asked.

"About seven."

Jack glanced at his watch. It was four-thirty. "Better get a move on- you'll be late."

Daniel looked at his watch then at Jack over the rims of his glasses. "If we were walking."

Mitchell was describing his childhood horse to Maddy in excruciating detail. "...gymkhanas to barrel race. Loved that. Still have my ribbons somewhere..."

Jack started to seethe. Maddy would eventually become close with both these men, but it was too soon. She wasn't his yet and could easily fall for either of them. Daniel was watching him with a smug expression. If his friend knew how close he was having that look wiped off his face for him, he'd be on his way out the door.

Maddy was offering Cam a slice of pizza, chattering with an ease she had yet to find with Jack.

Jack held his fingers up to his ear, pretending to hold a phone. "You need them both back at the base? Immediately? Emergency? I'll make sure they get the message," he finished pointedly.

Daniel rolled his eyes as Mitchell turned to eye him quizzically.

"I'm off Saturday," Cam said hopefully.

"I didn't bring saddles," she grimaced. Jack gave her a hard look. The familiar stubbornness he had learned to dread crept into her eyes. "But they're quiet. We can ride bareback."

"Cool. What time?"

Maddy was holding Jack's stare defiantly. "Name it. I'll get steaks out to grill."

Jack saw red. Daniel saw it, too.

"Uh, Cam... We'd better get going. We're gonna be late." He wrapped his fingers in Mitchell's sleeve and hauled him towards the door.

Jack and Maddy were still staring each other down. Mitchell jerked away from Daniel and shot him an impatient grimace. Daniel planted his hand between Cam's shoulder blades and shoved him out the door.

"I'll explain in the car," he hissed. "Go."

"Nice meeting you," Maddy called without breaking eye contact with Jack.

When the door closed Jack advanced on Maddy. She held her ground but he saw trepidation cross her features. He stopped when his breath touched her face and stared hard at her for an exaggerated moment. Then he stepped past, went onto the deck, and slammed into a chair.

He didn't trust himself at the moment. Not with her, not with anybody. But especially not with her. History was repeating itself, but too soon and with Mitchell instead of Daniel. At least not Daniel yet. She had been in love with him before Daniel stoked his jealousy to the point of aggressiveness. He couldn't react this time the way he had last time. She'd turn tail and run.

He hadn't told anybody but Landry that she was coming to Colorado Springs. He wanted her to himself. The friendship she would come to enjoy with SG1 was a distraction he needed to delay. Neither Daniel or Mitchell would step on his toes, move in on his territory on purpose, but Maddy was the wild card. Fresh out of a lonely, emotionally tormented relationship she had just proved to him that she was willing to test the waters of her freedom. He needed time, and Mitchell wasn't giving it to him.

Maybe he should send her back to Ohio. Out of the reach of men who could turn her head. Before she realized this element was where she would discover herself. Before self confidence and freedom to reinvent herself woke the hounds of hell that were still dormant within her true heart.

Jack was shaking. Not with desire but fury. Now was not the time to touch her, be near her. She didn't trust him yet, was still leery of his inexplicable attachment to her. But he knew one thing for certain; between now and the time he had to embark for Atlantis, he was going to brand himself so deep inside her she wouldn't give Daniel or Mitchell a second thought. He scrubbed a hand over his head and took a deep breath.

He really didn't think she'd sleep with either of them. At this point that wasn't his biggest concern. It was her heart he had to fight for. Maybe he could talk his way into taking her to Atlantis with him. He shook his head. Stargate Command hadn't come to know her yet. Short of forcing her aboard at gunpoint he knew of no argument that would gain approval. He needed to get Landry to ship Daniel and Mitchell off on a lengthy mission. That was it.

That problem solved, he turned his thoughts to the woman herself. She was proving less difficult to seduce than she had been in the original time line. She was more vulnerable, more needy, less determined to stand on her own two feet. But with that came less fire and self confidence, less stubbornness. Fifteen extra years with Tom had eroded her core being.

He sat there brooding until the sun went down. Maddy wasn't in the livingroom or kitchen. He glanced out the window and was relieved to see his truck still parked in the drive. His eyes drifted through his bedroom to the bathroom door. It was closed, the light was on. She was in the shower. He tried the knob and found it locked. A half grin on his face, he went through the walk-in closet and tried that door. It swung open. He stripped out of his clothes and walked in.

When he stepped into the shower Maddy shrieked. She swung a fist at him but he caught it and pinned it behind her back, then pinned her against the wall. She tried to claw at him with her free hand. He laced their fingers together and held it against the stall. When she brought her knee up he deflected it off his thigh then wedged his knee between hers.

"No! Leave me alone! Get outta here!" she yelled.

Jack planted his mouth over hers and didn't let up until she stopped fighting. Gasping for air she glared at him.

"Leave me alone!"

"Not until I give you something to compare Mitchell to," he rasped.

Her eyes widened. "What? You think I want to sleep with him?"

"I think I'm gonna make damned sure you throw stones at him if you do."

"You don't own me!"

"But you own me. Comes with a price."

"I didn't ask to 'own' you!"

He kissed her again, this time more gently. "I'm a jealous man, Maddy. It always did piss you off." He worked his way over her wet shoulder then back to her mouth. "Now where were we when they barged in?"

She bit him. Hard. On the lip. Then cringed back when he only grinned.

"You always did like to play rough. How rough do you want it, Maddy?" He nipped her jaw. "Hard and fast?" He moved to her neck and raised another welt. "Or hard and slow?" He let go of her hand and lifted her knee. He had her in a single thrust and she cried out. He used the arm pinned to the small of her back to steady her. "Bite me, Maddy. I love it when you bite me."

She was struggling for breath. He felt her body clamp around him, felt the tremor that raced through her.

"Do that again," he breathed raggedly. "Wring the life outta me." He took her mouth, thrust deeply with his tongue, felt her weaken against him. Her eyes were closed, her face tense, her chest heaving. "Look at me," he coaxed. "Open your eyes, Maddy." He moved with a gentle rocking motion that brought a ragged sigh from deep in her throat. "Maddy... Look at me."

She slowly opened her eyes. He recognized the dazed softness in them and he grinned. "Change your mind about getting it rough?"

Her answer was to grip him tightly and join his rhythm.

"I love you." His voice sounded hoarse and it made her shiver. "Come for me, Beautiful. I love it when you come first." He shifted his angle, timed his movements to their erotic dance. Her hand was digging into his haunch, the fingers laced with his clenching in time with their rhythm, in time with the exquisite muscle contractions that felt so incredible. Her eyes were boring into his and everything but Maddy slipped from his mind. The air burst from her lungs with stunned moan and her eyelids shivered closed. The reaction of her body told him he found the spot he had been seeking. Soft, helpless, shuddering moans nearly carried him over the top but he clung to the remnants of his control to prolong her pleasure. She was straining against him now, urgent, desperate, her moans turning into a low, raw wail. He refused her body's demands for increase, forced her to ride the wave of exquisite torture as long as possible. Her head came off the wall and she sank her teeth into his shoulder, ripping away all hope of control. He thrust deep, over and over, felt her dissolve in his arms, then groaned in his own shattering release.

Conscious thought came to him on a wave of dizziness. He sucked in a ragged breath and eased them both down into the tub. He pawed at the faucet, turned off the water, and lay holding her in a tangle of weak, slippery limbs. Chest heaving, weak as a kitten, he numbly stroked her head.

"God, Maddy," he croaked. "How do you do that to me?" He lifted her face from his stomach and peered into her eyes, wanting to tell her what she meant to him but unable to find the words.

She gently pulled out of his grasp and buried her face in his belly. He sank his fingers into her hair.

"Don't," he panted. "Don't be distant. I need you. Still. Again. I can't get enough of you. I never could."

Her head came up, her eyes wide. He managed a grin.

"Well, maybe not this instant," he chuckled. That brought a smile. "Good girl. Don't be embarrassed, Gorgeous. You're so incredible, so exquisite..." He stroked her hair and couldn't seem to stop grinning like a silly fool. "We used to bet on everything," he told her. "When you let me win I always demanded you spend an entire weekend naked."

That deepened the pink in her cheeks but he wouldn't let her look away.

"For the first half of the week I walked around in a daze. Well, more of a daze than usual. The second half of the week I walked around with hard on that wouldn't quit, just thinking about the next weekend."

Her eyes were searching his, her expression changing from embarrassment to wonder.

"When you look at me, I just want to melt at your feet. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I melt in the corridors at the base. Once in the elevator..."

She laughed at him and shook her head as she gingerly tried to disentangle herself and stand. Jack dragged her up his chest and kissed her.

"I'm gonna try real hard not be jealous of Mitchell and Daniel. But if you fall in love with one of them instead of me..."

Her face pinched in anger. "I have no intention of sleeping with either of them," she snapped.

"Sleeping with them isn't my worry."

She wrinkled her nose. "You just said..."

"It's your heart I'm terrified of losing. Maddy, you loved me so fiercely. We were bonded at the soul. That level of emotion had nothing to do with the incredible, mind-blowing, Earth shattering sex we couldn't get enough of."

"But I'm not her," she pleaded. "That was another woman, somebody else."

He gripped the sides of her head. "It was you! It is you. You just haven't reached that point yet. The experiences you've gone through are different. The woman you are now was a part of your life I never got to see. Except for it lasting way longer than it should have, it's much the same. I'm just too impatient to let you evolve before I step into your life."

"What's that got to do with me falling in love with somebody else?"

Jack cringed. He worked his tongue over his teeth and wondered how much to tell her. He decided on the truth.

"After Tom left, you dated a few times. Had a boyfriend for awhile. You had feelings for him but it didn't work out. I stepped in before that could happen for you. But it still might."

"Wouldn't it be the same guy?"

He shook his head. "I've changed your opportunities, but not your nature. Took you out of the environment you'd be in right now... which wasn't the same as your original time line... for all that to happen the same way."

"You think you're the one that didn't work out?"

Jack felt like he'd been smacked between the eyes. That possibility hadn't occurred to him and the concept rattled him.

She wiggled up to sit on the edge of the tub. "They say the first one after a break up usually isn't the one you end up staying with."

Jack straightened and kissed her thigh. "Well 'they're' wrong." He lifted her foot and sucked on her toes.

Maddy yelped and grabbed the door to keep from falling backwards. Jack's eyes were dancing as he watched her astounded expression. Her lips parted and her eyes widened in delight.

"God, Jack, that feels wonderful!" she breathed.

He put a sucker bite on her sole. Maddy was watching him with a fascinated look on her face. His eyes slipped to her breasts and he enjoyed the way her nipples were swelling. He gently lowered her foot, stood, and urged her out of the shower. When she reached for a towel he brushed it away and backed her slowly into the bedroom. Maddy swallowed dryly but didn't protest as his hands worked magic on her breasts.

"You can't be serious," she murmured. "What are you, Superman?"

"Not quite. But almost. You tell me in the morning."

The backs of her legs hit the bed and she sat down hard. Jack leaned over and forced her to lay back. Braced above her, he started a game of teasing kisses and taunting nips. She moved her palms over his chest, playing with his nipples, tickling his navel, tugging lightly on his chest hair to punish him for teasing her lips. She braced herself to move further onto the mattress but he stopped her.

"Uh uh," he grinned. "Got you right where I want you." His sensual game moved lower and he began tormenting her breasts. Maddy buried her hands in his hair and made soft sounds that he took as encouragement. He created a row of purple welts down across her belly then slipped to his knees on the floor. Maddy's legs quivered nervously and he had to kiss them into complying with staying where he wanted them to be. When his tongue attacked her she squirmed and gasped. It didn't take long for her hands to clench in the sheets and her hips to rise to his touch. He shifted her knees over his shoulders and had her heels drumming his back in no time.

Jack propped his head on his hand and watched Maddy sleep. Faint moonlight etched the lines on her face deeper, but he loved every one. She was sleeping soundly, her breath rasping softly from a throat that must still be strained. Jack smiled. He was awakening heights of passion for her that he was fairly certain she had never touched before. He brushed a finger over her nipple and watched it react. The one plus to being hurled into his past was Maddy once again had the body he cherished. The one she had before Meret hacked and sculpted it. He tasted her shoulder and went back for more. Her nipples rose to his tongue and her legs automatically drifted with his touch. He let his fingers play over her, barely touching, lightly stroking, gently flicking. She drew in a shaky breath and rolled her head. She wasn't quite awake when he slid over and filled her.

She came awake with a gasp, her head coming off the pillow, her eyes opening impossibly wide. She clutched at his shoulders and gasped again.

"Hi," he grinned.

She swallowed, batted the muzziness of sleep from her head, and shifted into him.

"Again?" she breathed in awe.

"Last time was all yours. My turn."

Chapter Ninety Five

Jack made a pot of coffee and carried a cup out onto the deck. Maddy was sound asleep and he grinned his pride in having completely worn her out.

It felt so good to be back home. The deck, the lake, the lodge. Maddy. Diamond wouldn't be born yet but that didn't mean he couldn't find another miniature horse to fill the gap until she arrived. The stud Maddy wanted but never got the first time. When he got back from Atlantis he'd surprise her with one. And the swans. He was anxious to rebuild the life in which he had found so much happiness and contentment. Surely, surrounded by so many things she loved, Maddy would agree to stay.

He needed to finagle a way to bring her colored rocks from Nirrti's planet. Maybe Teal'c could get him a cargo ship. He'd take Maddy, let her pick out what she wanted, introduce her to the wonder of space travel.

Throw her right back into what he wished like hell he'd never gotten her into in the first place.

The thought made him grimace. He flicked the last dregs of his coffee into the lake and decided to take a shower before he started breakfast for her.

Standing beside the bed with a towel draped around his shoulders, Jack ran his eyes the length of Maddy's body. She had flung the covers off, curled onto her side, clamped his pillow to her chest. He had missed a few places with the love bites and mentally placed a few more. Her skin was so soft, had a scent, a taste, that drove him wild. His tongue began to tingle. He tightened his grasp on the edges of the towel and leaned into it, flexed the muscles in his back and thighs against the tension in his groin.

The woman made him insatiable.

She must be exhausted, sore, tender in places that had never been tormented before. She needed breakfast, a rest, not another round of his ardor. He'd get steaks out to thaw. Grate a potato for hash browns. Try not to break the egg yolks or burn the toast. Yes, he was going to cook Maddy a hearty, delicious breakfast just the way she had taught him.

Right after he had gotten another medicinal dose of her to cure what was ailing him.

Jack left Maddy shower alone and went to rummage around in the freezer. He located a package marked '4 Strip Steaks'. Something tumbled against the back wall and drew his eye. Oysters. Maddy's shooters! Whatever they cooked for supper, those oyster shooters with vodka and hot sauce would make good appetizers. He grabbed the package and wondered if she had learned to make them yet. If not, he'd show her. Pleased with himself, he headed back to the kitchen.

The steaks were thawing in the microwave and he was grating potatoes when she padded barefoot into the kitchen. He looked up and grinned.

She was wearing a flannel shirt buttoned clear to the throat and jeans with two different lengths of shorts pulled on over top. But her hair was down and wet and it was enough to set Jack on fire.

"Okay, where's he hiding?" she asked suspiciously.

Jack frowned. "Who?"

"Your twin brother. No man alive can do that much in one night. You're switch-hitting with a twin! Or two."

Jack beamed. "Catch me when I'm not tired."

Her eyes widened, then narrowed abruptly as they fell on the package of oysters on the table.

"Whoaaa, no!" She snatched the pack off the table and threw them into the freezer compartment above the refrigerator.

When Jack threw his head back and laughed she opened the door again and buried them all the way in a back corner. Was it too soon to tell her about the Ancients' enhancements?

Yeah, it might be.

"Are there women on Atlantis?"

He shrugged. "Sure."

"The half that aren't anxious to see you coming are running to hide," she announced, reaching for the coffee.

Jack couldn't decide if he was more hurt or insulted. "Not hardly," he denied dryly.

She reached for an onion. "Don't try to tell those females aren't all over you."

How to explain his stature as a kind of icon and still retain a modicum of modesty?

"I'm a brigadier general, Maddy. Underlings in the military don't make eyes at the brass." He took the onion off her and began peeling it. "I'll do this. Your eyes get all swelled and teary and burn like hell."

She gaped at him. "That's just... weird."

"Romantic engagements between fellow soldiers is banned all across the board. Doubly so with officers and enlisted."

"No, I meant you knowing how onions affect my eyes."

"You love them. I'm surprised you haven't tried them on ice cream- them or garlic- but it's painful every time you cut into one. Never stopped you, though."

"Like I said; weird."

Jack started dicing the onion. "Nuke those potatoes, wouldja? What do you want to do today?"

She lifted a shoulder. "What is there to do?"

He bounced his eyebrows.

"Besides that," she amended hurriedly.

"I'm shipping out tomorrow afternoon. I wanna spend the day with you. We could fish, go riding..."

At her sour look he grinned widely.

"... go sight-seeing, do dinner and a movie..."

"There's a preseason game on at one. I'd kinda like to see the Patriots play."

He canted her a surprised look. "Not the Steelers in this time line?"

She shook her head in amazement. "Still the Steelers. But the Pats ended the year undefeated and I wanna see if we have a snowball's chance this year."

"The Vikings are going all the way to the Super Bowl," he announced confidently.

She choked. "You sure enough to bet on it?"

He grinned down at the onion and tried to decide what he wanted to lose. "Yeahsureyabetcha. What do you wanna bet?"

She pursed her lips. "Twenty bucks?"

He scoffed at her as he dumped the onions into a skillet. "Aw, no. This is the big leagues, Baby. If the Vikings win, you have to be my sex slave for an entire weekend. Tie ribbons in your hair and wear nothing but gold chains and gemstones and tiny little bells."

Her cheeks flamed a dark red but her eyes sparkled. "What about when they lose?"

"I'll be your sex slave? Forever? Oh wait- I already am."

She threw a dishtowel at him. "You send me a dozen roses every week for a month."

He scowled. "Send?"

"I'll be at home by the time the playoffs roll around."

Reality was like a dash of icy water. He turned away. "Roses it is. See if the steaks are thawed." There had to be a way to keep her from going back to Ohio. This was her home. "I need to wash some pants. You have anything you need thrown in?"

"Jeans?"

"The ones in the bathroom?"

She nodded.

He stalked into the bathroom, needing to shake off his steaming, brooding mood before he said something he shouldn't. He was already pushing too hard, had her on the verge of bolting. Mitchell had forced his hand and he had enjoyed every minute of it. But Maddy was skittish and if things ran true she'd pull a disappearing act about the time she realized she was in love with him. He needed her settled in here, needed her to feel safe with him before she panicked this time. He scooped up the clothes and stuffed them into the washer, then braced his hands on the sides and stared unseeing into the drum. Six weeks yet, before Thor would rescue them from Nirrti's planet. And he was wasting a month of that in the Pegasus Galaxy. Maybe retirement was the better option.

Why the hell did Loki invent an anomaly that could send them back into their own past, alter it according to their thoughts, and not give it a skip ahead function? If he could jump forward to the time when they were happily, contentedly cemented in their relationship, he'd sit back and enjoy the hell out of an extra twelve years with his Maddy.

He pulled the top pair of pants out of the washer and dug his cell phone out of the pocket. Then he dumped in the soap Maddy had always insisted on, dropped the lid, and started the machine. When he picked up the phone inspiration hit and he dialed the florist. In the midst of ordering roses, his eyes fell on the garden tub.

"Make that six dozen, all red," he told the clerk. "I'll pick them up."

He eyed the fireplace, an outline forming in his mind. Adding to his plans, he walked out to the kitchen and caught Maddy slipping out of the double layer of shorts.

"Getting hot?" he asked.

She nodded ruefully. "Flip the steaks, please?"

He got the tongs from a drawer. "I need to stop in at the base. You be okay here alone?" It was his way of letting her know she couldn't ride along.

"I'm gonna be here alone for a month."

"If I pick up the stuff, will you make us coconut shrimp for the game?"

"Sure."

He was so tickled with himself he could barely eat his breakfast. As soon as the dishes were tucked into the dishwasher he kissed her on the cheek.

"I'll be back as soon as I can."

It was nearly noon when he got back. Maddy was stretched out on the couch with Bonnie, sound asleep. He discovered that she had cleaned the kitchen, dried and folded the laundry, and made the bed. He managed to get everything carried into the bathroom and set up without waking her. He ran it right down to the wire but everything was ready a half hour before kickoff. He scooted Bonnie off the couch and sat down to run his hand up along her leg.

"Maddy," he called gently. "Wake up, Babe."

She sighed and blinked awake. A slow, sleepy smile warmed his heart.

"Hi. I fell asleep."

"No, really?"

"What time is it?"

"Half hour to kickoff. Enough to make the shrimp?"

She nodded and reached out for him to help her sit up.

"I put the stuff on the counter. Shrimp's already peeled and should be thawed."

"Thank you."

She went into the kitchen, Jack went into the bedroom. He stripped down and slipped into a robe, then turned on the water in the garden tub. Grabbing a shopping bag, he headed for the kitchen. Maddy was tossing battered shrimp in a plastic bag of coconut. He could hear the built-in deep fryer popping. He sat down to wait.

When the last shrimp had been added to the golden mound she paused to wash her hands. Jack pressed against her back, reached around and started unbuttoning the flannel shirt. She arched back and whined in the negative.

"Shhh. Go with it. Trust me, okay?"

"But Jack..."

"Uh-uh. I've got a surprise for you, but you have to play along."

"Not that last night's surprise wasn't awesome," she protested, "But I can barely walk as it is."

"Trust me." He slipped the shirt off and unhooked her bra. He couldn't resist weighing those incredible breasts and she sighed at him.

"Sorry. Couldn't help myself." He unfastened her jeans and slid them to the floor, taking her underpants with them.

"Jack..."

He nipped at the back of her thigh before he straightened. "We're just gonna be comfortable for the game. Let me do this before the shrimp get cold."

He reached into the bag and shook out an oriental silk robe in the delicate green she loved. It was embroidered in red roses and green vines. Maddy's eyes nearly popped out of her head just before they welled.

"Jack! That's gorgeous!"

He slipped it on her shoulders and she pushed her arms into the wide sleeves. Standing on tip toes, she gave him one of her incredible kisses.

"Thank you!"

It was a moment before he could open his eyes. He shook like a wet dog and growled.

"God, Woman, when you kiss me like that...!" He picked up the plate of shrimp and took her hand.

She walked along willingly until he started past the livingroom.

"I thought we were gonna watch the game...?"

"We are." He led her through the bedroom and stopped at the closed door of the bathroom.

"Close your eyes."

She did, a small smile playing over her lips. He pushed open the door and set the plate on the tray table beside the tub. When he went back for her, it was to walk her forward from behind.

"You can open them now."

Maddy opened her eyes and gasped in delight.

Bowls of red roses ringed a tub filled with lit floating candles. The shrimp sat beside a bottle of her favorite white wine, two delicate stemware glasses, and a bowl of strawberries and fresh pineapple. He turned her around to show her the fireplace. He had filled it with candles as well, and mounted a plasma TV above the mantle. He picked up the remote and turned on the game.

Her eyes were shining as she watched him slip off his robe. He reached for hers and she kissed him as it whispered to the floor. He stepped into the water and held her hand as she followed. He settled her down in his lap, turned up the volume, then fed her a shrimp.

"Jack O'Neill, are you always this romantic?" She teased his lips with a strawberry.

"Don't tell anybody. You'll ruin my reputation." He kissed her neck. "Patriots by ten."

She snuggled into his arms so she could see the TV. "Seventeen."

"What's the bet?"

"Name it."

He kissed her ear and poured them some wine. "Feeling brave, are we?"

"Overwhelmed."

"You win, I'll give you a head to toe massage."

"Mmmm. I'll enjoy that."

"I win and you don't sleep a wink until I have leave tomorrow."

He felt the shiver that ran the length of her body.

"Won't you be awful tired for work?"

"I can sleep all the way to Atlantis. And you can sleep until I get home."

She reached over her shoulder to shake his hand. "It's bet." Then, "Touchdown!" she cried triumphantly. She bounced her shoulders back and forth across his chest. "Patriots are ahe-ead," she sang.

By the end of the first half the Patriots were ahead seventeen-three, the shrimp was gone, the wine half gone, and the fruit was dwindling fast. Maddy was drooped across his legs, idly caressing whatever she could reach. Jack was teasing her nipple with a strawberry.

"So how do we spend half-time?" he asked.

A slow, devilish smile twisted her lips. She drew in a long, deep breath and ducked under the surface. Jack let his head fall back with a groan as bubbles tickled the length of him.

By the time they kicked off the second half Maddy was imbedded on his lap, moaning into his ear, and the game was forgotten.

Chapter Ninety Six

Jack ran his hand over her head and stared at her regretfully. He should have left an hour ago but he couldn't tear himself away. Thinking he had lost her, then hunting for her all across the Trygar System, wondering if he'd find her dead, was too fresh in his mind. His cell phone rang again and this time he ignored it.

"I love you," he told her again.

Maddy leaned into his touch and smiled. "Be careful, okay?"

"There was a time when you threatened to spray me with Bluecoat when I was going away. If it was worn off, you'd know you needed to hunt up a rusty knife."

"Didn't I trust you?"

"You didn't trust all the women you were sure wanted me as much as you do."

"I've never been the jealous type."

"You've never had a man like me to be jealous of."

She laughed. "That ego come with it's own safety valve?"

"Yeah- you." He kissed her again and slipped the robe off her shoulders so he could kiss them, too.

"I'll clean up the bathroom when I get home," he promised.

"It's the least I can do. Thank you for a fantastic night."

He cupped her face in both hands and stared hard into her eyes. "Do you understand that in God's eyes we're still married? He knows what happened to us, knows none of this is your fault, that you don't remember. Don't feel guilty the whole time I'm away."

"If that's true, then I was married to two men at once..."

"And He understands why," Jack insisted. "Please. Promise me you won't start regretting the last two nights the minute I walk out the door."

She dropped her eyes. "It's kinda hard to fathom..."

"Think of it this way- did you sleep with Tom, even once, since we met?"

Her eyes widened. "No..."

"Then you committed no adultery, no fornication, no sin. Okay? Sweetheart, I know you. This is gonna bother you and I don't want to leave until I know you're okay with it."

"I'll be alright. Don't worry, okay? Concentrate on staying safe."

He eased the robe all the way off and stood back to drink her in. "God, you're gorgeous. How about, instead of shipping off to Atlantis I resign and take you back to bed."

She mimicked a heart attack.

"I promise to..."

In the next instant he was standing on the bridge of the Odyssey.

"...get you off so hard you..."

"Glad you decided to join us, General," the captain interrupted dryly.

Jack glanced around then raised the green silk robe.

"You wanna exchange this for my war bag?"

The robe disappeared and his bag appeared at his feet.

Chapter Ninety Seven

This was the longest tour of duty Jack had ever done, and he'd only been on Atlantis for three days.

He brushed away an alien branch with alien leaves in an alien jungle on an alien planet and his mind was on Maddy.

It shouldn't be.

Because he was in an alien jungle on an alien planet.

Sheppard, Teyla, and Ronin were leading a crack team of Atlantis explorers. Jack had no responsibility other than to observe his three trainees in the field. Or jungle. He tore his mind from the feel of Maddy in his arms and concentrated on Pike, Castle, and Jordan. They were stalking through the undergrowth like young tigers; eager to prove themselves, anxious for the adventure, terrified of the taciturn general stalking them.

This was as it should be, Jack thought. The young ones fazing in, the old ones like himself fazing out. Not long ago- as time lines went- he had resented being shuffled to the rear. Or promoted as they so delicately put it to salve the amount of ego it took to do a job like this. Now he wished they'd pull the plug and muster him out. Force him to retire. Relieve him of the burden of conscience that kept him sticking his nose into intergalactic affairs.

They said they needed his experience. Relied on his decision-making ability. Trusted his instincts. Truth was nobody else with as much tenure wanted to traipse through an alien jungle on an alien planet in a distant galaxy.

They wanted to go home every night at five o'clock to their wives, grandchildren, a hot meal, and a comfortable sofa. Where they could fart without worrying it would draw enemy fire. Or get naked and yell like Tarzan without some alien dinosaur thinking it was a mating call.

Maddy was starting to feel the fire in her belly. She was making love with more abandon, less self conscious inhibition. She was discovering she could relax and enjoy what he could make her feel instead of nervously trying only to pleasure him. She was starting to slow down and savor the experience instead of treating it like a race he expected her to make him win. She was learning she didn't have to hide her body, that she wasn't going to see censure in his eyes or sense it in his touch.

A football game in a tub full of candles, surrounded by roses. Damn, he was good. It would be too cold by the time he got home to coax her into the waterfall, but by the time summer rolled around he'd have her willing to dance in it for him. Dance in it with him.

A twig snapped to his right and he paused. The three young tigers hadn't heard it. He sent a radio carrier and the team froze. Ronin faded into the dense greenery one direction, Teyla the other. Like a bird dog on point, Sheppard watched the front. Jack turned and saw the rear contingent fanned out in a semi circle around him.

Since when did he need a guard detail, anyway?

He snorted at himself. Since he couldn't drag his thoughts off Maddy, that's when. Only they didn't know that so he could still be miffed.

One of the guards slapped a hand to his neck. Damned alien mosquitoes were damn near as bad as Earth's. A moment later the guard went down like a rag doll. Jack put his back to a tree, dropped into a crouch, and tugged his collar up around his neck.

"Man down," he said into his radio.

The other two guards had crouched, one keeping watch as the other checked the downed man.

"Dart of some kind," he reported. "Banks is dead."

"Don't touch it!" Rodney McKay yelped across the radio. "The dart. Don't touch it. You can touch Banks. ...If you want to touch Banks since he's dead..."

The guard beside the body snorted softly and shook his head.

"Rodney, shut up," Sheppard drawled across the radio. "Ronin, Teyla?"

"Here, John," the woman's voice responded. "Small people. Everywhere. Beware the poisoned darts of their blowguns."

"Now you tell us," Rodney complained.

"Somebody shoot that man," Jack ordered.

"He pipes up again and we'll all take a turn shooting him," Sheppard soothed. "Ronin?"

"Here. I see the same as Teyla. They're trying to flank us. I'm forward of your position. If Teyla's clear, I suggest a hail of weapon's fire to drive them back."

"I am forward of John's position as well," Teyla responded.

"Alright people. Aim high. We just wanna let 'em know we play rough."

He fired the first volley and in a moment the jungle was being ripped to shreds by hot lead. Jack didn't join in the fun. He watched his trainees. They held steady, fired as directed, didn't lose their cool. Hell, maybe he could cut this tour short and catch the next space ride home. The gunfire stopped and in the distance he could hear high pitched yipping and ululating.

"Sounds like we stirred up a nest of them," Ronin commented.

"Yeah, this is getting rather unpleasant," Sheppard agreed. "Fan out in a tight circle and cover the scientists. Rodney, scrape your trees, collect your leaves, pull your weeds, and dig your roots so we can go home."

"But this isn't a prime location for..."

"Do it here, do it now, or forget it!" Sheppard snapped.

Jack grinned. Sheppard was a hell of a good leader. He had a good team to lead. Didn't make him want to join the Atlantis expedition, though. Let these kids handle it. All he wanted to handle was Maddy.

From his position he saw a limb shake, about half way up a tree.

"They're in the trees, eight o'clock," he radioed. The muzzle of his P90 came up and he sprayed the area with a short burst. There was a squeal like a pig, movement, then stillness.

"Pack it up, Rodney. Close ranks. Teyla, Ronin?"

"On your six."

Teyla didn't answer and Jack saw her appear beside Sheppard.

"Move out."

Jack rose and took point as the two guards picked up the body and brought it with them. He hadn't gone far when Teyla and Ronin passed him to scout ahead. Sheppard fell into step beside him.

"Feel good to be back in action, Sir?"

Action. Like he'd been sitting in a recliner with his feet up the past few years. If Sheppard only knew.

"Delightful," Jack muttered. "Love the babysitters."

"Just a formality, General. Sorry to hear about your divorce, Sir, but I hear you've got a girlfriend."

Jack slid him a sour look. "Intergalactic grapevine?"

"Sam told Rodney when she was here last month. Glad to hear you're still getting all the action, Sir."

Jack glared at him.

Sheppard was unfazed. "When I grow up, General, I wanna be just like you."

"Don't you have an expedition to lead?"

Sheppard grinned and moved ahead. Two rear guards moved up and Jack found himself walking with the science detail. His trainees had moved into position behind Sheppard.

Jack was surprised by Sheppard taking such a liberal tone with a superior officer, then he remembered he was no longer an Air Force officer. He was civilian oversite. The formal address was a sign of respect. Or simply habit. He decided he preferred it that way. O'Neill had never been one to stand on ceremony. But at the moment he was too cranky over having to be here instead of at home with Maddy to be generous.

"So, General, how's your love life?"

The hair on the back of Jack's neck stood up, but he was pretty sure it was Rodney and not alien dart-blowers.

"Better than yours," he shot back.

Rodney winced. "Well, actually there's this pretty little..."

"Stow it, Rodney!" Sheppard said across the radio. "General O'Neill isn't interested."

Rodney looked perplexed. "How could he know what I'm saying? He can't hear me all the way up there."

"I can read you like a book, Rodney. Put a sock in it or you'll give away our position."

"Like the nine of us traipsing through the jungle with weapons and equipment..."

"Rodney!"

The scientist clamped his mouth shut and glared at Sheppard's back.

"Pick it up, people," Sheppard radioed. "They're starting to swarm."

Gunfire erupted far ahead.

"Pike, Castle, Marks, and Cordero, you're with me. The rest of you, keep up!" Sheppard barked as he broke into a sprint.

Jack lengthened his stride, once again taking point as the scientists struggled to hurry with their cases, spades, satchels, and electronics banging all over the place.

Jack had always hated these details. Daniel had been bad enough. He just didn't have the patience for scientific exploration. He wanted action.

Apparently he was about to get it as Sheppard's contingent fell back. Jack raised his fist and stopped. He heard clanging and cursing as the scientists, having just got it into gear, tried to whoa it down in a hurry. Beside him Rodney fumbled with his sidearm. Jack bet himself a new fishing rod that he'd drop it before he fired it.

A lethal looking spear ka-chunked into a tree beside O'Neill's head. Jack ducked and darted sideways. Rodney's eyes snapped to the spear and the gun flipped from his fingers. Jack was peering back along the spear's trajectory hoping for a target when Rodney's sidearm hit the ground and discharged.

Something tugged at Jack's pant leg. He glanced down as the white hot pain seared through his left calf.

"Son of a bitch!" he roared at Rodney.

"General O'Neill is down," Teyla said across the radio.

Damn, that woman saw everything.

"No, no he's not down," Rodney told them nervously. "Really, really mad, but no, he's not down."

Jack bent and grasped his calf. There was blood, pain, but he was alright. He straightened and, balancing on his good leg, took up a position against a tree, covering the general direction of the spear-thrower. The scientists started to converge on him, clucking worriedly and arguing over who was in charge of the medical kit. Jack swung the muzzle of his gun in their direction to defend himself, then used it to indicate they should keep moving.

"Rodney!" Sheppard shouted over the radio. "Tell me you didn't shoot General O'Neill!"

"I... well, I can't. It was an accident. That tree goo is all over my hands and I tried... Well, he is shot, but... I didn't shoot him- the gun shot him. It wasn't even in my hand at the time."

"General, what's your status?" Sheppard asked.

Jack keyed his radio. "Pissed, Colonel! What the hell do you think my status is? McKay just shot me!"

"Well you don't have to sound so accusatory," Rodney said as he knelt to reach for Jack's leg. "Let me see if I can..."

"Just move! And stay the hell in front of me." Jack's eyes swept the area as he limped off in Sheppard's direction.

Maddy. He hadn't updated his will. If he got killed on this tour she'd be left with nothing; no claim on the lodge, his accounts, or his life insurance. It had always surprised him the number of soldiers who superstitiously refused to take out life insurance policies. They somehow thought their signature on a piece of paper would stack the deck against them. As soon as he got back...

"Are you alright, General O'Neill?" Teyla fell into step beside him.

"I've got a bullet hole in my leg, a bit of a headache, I could use a sandwich, maybe a cup of coffee, but other than that... How are you?" he answered laconically.

She shot him a smile then went back to watching their surroundings. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Keep McKay from finishing the job."

"I'm a quite certain Rodney did not mean to injure you."

Her words were geared to smooth his ruffled feathers but her expression told him she was embarrassed on behalf of all of Atlantis. Jack clamped his jaw shut and concentrated on forward movement.

They made it back to the jumper and Jack submitted himself to a cursory examination by one of the scientists. McKay sat across from him, fidgeting and fuming.

"It really was the goo on my hands," he told O'Neill. "I couldn't help it. It's not a bad wound. It could have hit a spleen or something, but it didn't. Just muscle. Bullet went all the way through. You never lost consciousness. You never even went down, Teyla."

"I've got a hole in my leg," Jack snarled.

"Yes, well, I'm sure it hurts and all."

Jack brushed the well meaning scientist away and propped his leg up on a crate of soil samples. Rodney was still attempting to make small talk.

"So, does this mean Sam is available?"

Jack glared at him. "What the hell does a hole in my leg have to do with Colonel Carter?"

Rodney shrugged as the others smirked. "It's just that rumor has it you have a girlfriend. Everyone knows you and... Well, everyone suspected... I mean, while you were married nothing was going... nobody thought you'd... Then you got divorced and found a different girlfriend. Different as in other than Sam. Everybody assumed that if... So that means..." He scowled at the looks he was getting. "I'm only trying to take his mind off the hole in his leg," he whined defensively. "That wasn't really my fault. That goo..."

"McKay!" Sheppard barked from the pilot's seat. "Get your ass up here before I shoot you!"

Jack let his head fall back against the bulkhead and closed his eyes.

Chapter Ninety Eight

Jack stood on an observation platform, leaning on the rail to take the weight off his leg, staring out over the ocean. What was Maddy doing right now? Probably still sleeping, he mused with a cocky smirk. It had felt so good, so right, to be there at the lodge with her again. They had both been longing to go home, been tired of planet hopping through half a dozen galaxies, been tired of little food and no luxuries. Not this time. He had the chance to change it all and he was damn well going to. Whatever it took to keep her happy, content, amused and entertained. He'd still teach her to fly, to scuba dive. He'd talk her into buying a barrel horse. Get her into breeding dogs and horses, showing them if that's what she wanted. Hell, he'd learn prance around a show ring with a dog on a leash if that's what would keep her out of harm's way. Keep her with him.

Whatever it took.

Because if Maddy wasn't happy, he wasn't happy.

How much of the original time line would track true? Would she run from him, run from her own feelings? If she didn't, would they slip into a normal life or would the changes bring unseen calamities?

Jack shook his head and shifted his aching leg. He needed a bowl of Fruit Loops to drool into; trying to sort all this out was giving him a headache. The best remedy for a headache was Fruit Loops. He headed for the commissary.

Half way there he was summoned to Control Central. He turned and limped back the way he had come.

"What's going on?"

Elizabeth Weir turned to give him a tight smile. "We've been contacted by the Manarians. Apparently they've had a falling out with the Genii and want to align themselves with Atlantis."

"To what end?"

"The Wraith have been culling their planet fairly frequently of late. The Genii either won't share their nuclear weaponry or it isn't ready yet. The Manarians believe the former, I'm leaning towards the latter. Rodney feels certain they haven't yet reached detonation capability."

"Why don't the Genii just tell the Mandarins that?"

Weir smiled patiently at O'Neill's term. "Who knows what's going through the Genii's heads? They have layer after layer of twisted reasoning for what they say. And you can usually count on them doing the exact opposite." She indicated the Stargate. "We're waiting for their response. They wanted to come here to discuss a treaty, but we insisted the meeting be held on a neutral planet." She turned full around to look up at him. "If this conference goes through, I'd like to assign the new trainees to the security detail."

Jack nodded.

"If you're not up to joining them..."

"I'm fine. Just a little slow."

Her quickly hidden smile told Jack she'd taken that in more ways than one. He kept a straight face and let her think it had gone over his head. She turned back beside him. After a while she began fidgeting, rocking onto her toes, crossing her arms. Jack wondered what was on her mind.

"So, General, rumor has it a wedding might be in the offing."

"That so? Who?"

She shot him a glance. "You?"

Jack snorted softly.

"I take that to mean the rumors got it wrong?"

"The rumors got it right, Dr. Weir. I just find it hard to believe that critical data can be lost in transit but news of my personal life seems to travel at the speed of light."

"I didn't mean to intrude," she said contritely.

"No offense taken," he assured her.

He sensed that she was going to explode if she didn't get more information. He let her stew.

"Her name's Maddy?" she finally asked.

"That's right."

"She has horses?"

The good Doctor was hitting her stride. Perversely, Jack found himself at odds between the desire to brag about Maddy and the covetous instinct to preserve her for himself.

"Horses, dog, cows, tractor, sawmill- an honest to goodness farm girl."

Elizabeth's dark eyebrows climbed her forehead. "Is that so?" She turned to study his face. "I would have pictured you with a willowy blonde; perfect makeup, lots of jewelry, spike heels, fancy nails..."

She trailed off as she realized she had blundered into an uncomfortable faux pas: He had recently divorced a woman whom she had never seen.

He kept his expression bland and watched her squirm.

"Well, they say love is fickle," she went on when it was apparent he wasn't going to respond. "I'm happy for you."

"Thanks."

There was another long, awkward silence.

"Big hair? Kinda red?"

The woman bounced back in a hurry. Her negotiating skills were peeking through.

"I can verify that she's a natural redhead," he retorted dryly.

Weir's cheeks darkened but she remained undaunted.

"So tell me about her."

Jack gnawed on his lower lip. He didn't want to discuss Maddy with Elizabeth Weir, Rodney McKay, John Sheppard, or anyone else. She was his.

"She's beautiful," he said at length. "Smart, down to earth. Hell of a cook. ...Likes football."

"Football, hmm?" She made an approving face and glanced up to see if he was going to elaborate. Then did a double take and smiled.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "What?"

"The look on your face," she told him. "You really are very much in love. You miss her."

Jack met her eyes for a long moment. "I'll be in the commissary. Notify me when you have the meeting set up."

Dr. Weir was smiling broadly as he limped away.

Chapter Ninety Nine

The hair on the back of his neck began to tingle. Jack glanced around. McKay was nowhere near so he took a long look at their surroundings.

The delegates were meeting on a previously culled planet. Now deserted, the remaining inhabitants had fled to another planet through the stargate. It was a shame, Jack thought, as the climate was perfect for growing crops. Lush fields, dense forests, ample water, and moderate temperatures made for a habitat teeming with a variety of both plant and animal life. It had become a common hunting ground for many cultures, and Dr. Weir was working on a multi-planet treaty that would fairly divide rights to cultivate the rich farmland.

Why couldn't he and Maddy have been stranded on a planet like this instead of the barren or prehistoric planets where they'd barely survived? Of course there was the Wraith threat, but if they'd found a place like this their current history might be far different. He and Maddy alone in Eden. It was a tempting thought.

The adobe type buildings were deserted, the one behind him echoing hollowly with the sounds of intense debate. Both races had posted perimeter guards, mostly to watch each other. Jack had taken up a position where he could observe two of his three charges who were on guard duty.

Sheppard had dispatched a jumper full of security personnel a day early- unbeknownst to the Manarians- with orders to land in deep cover, do some scouting, and be on standby. Weir had a bad feeling about this impromptu contact and the Manarians' covert connection to the Genii justified her suspicions. The niggling feeling wasn't going away so Jack decided a tour of the perimeter was in order. He tested his leg and decided he could deal with the pain.

Ronin appeared at his side. For a big man he moved like a cat. An invisible cat. Jack glanced at him.

"Something wrong, General?" Ronin rumbled softly.

"Just a feeling."

"Yeah, me too. Something's not right. John says they're talking in circles in there."

"Stalling. Something's in the wind," Jack agreed. "I'm gonna nose around."

"Mind if I join you?"

Jack suspected Ronin had drawn babysitting duty. He wondered when the hell he had become so old and decrepit. Or so celebrated. If they only knew the truth.

Ronin was no Teal'c, but Jack was impressed with him no less. He envied the primitive, almost savage ability to smell trouble and meet it head-on. Both men had a barbaric aura born of surviving in a less civilized culture and Jack was drawn to that. He respected them warrior to warrior, man to man.

Inner caveman to inner caveman.

Maybe that was Maddy's allure. Unaffected, unsophisticated, a child of nature. More at home on a prehistoric planet than she was at a state dinner. More attracted to his inner caveman than she was to a decorated general.

Ronin stopped abruptly and Jack brought his mind back to the present.

"Genii," Ronin murmured.

Jack spied a group of men skulking through the forest.

"Sheppard has a guard detail posted at the gate," Jack mused. "They came through before the meeting."

"Like we did."

Had they beaten Sheppared to the punch, been there even earlier to see the first jumper come through the gate?

"How many men guarding the jumper?" Jack asked.

"Three. But the Genii can't fly it. They don't have the gene."

"They're headed that direction," Jack mused. "Up to something." He keyed his radio. "Colonel, we've got company about to arrive unannounced where we expect them the least." He wasn't sure where Sheppard was or who might overhear.

"How many?"

"Unknown. ...Enough."

"Lieutenant Craven, do you copy?"

"Affirmative, Colonel. Hold our position?"

"Fall back for a flanking opportunity. General O'Neill, how many men do you need?"

Jack eyed Ronin's wolfish grin. "Just the one I've got. Standby."

He and Ronin headed for the jumper.

Lieutenant Craven got Jack's attention and held three fingers straight down. Eight Genii. He signaled for Craven to hold his position then crept forward to see what they were up to. Five Genii were in a loose circle around the jumper, standing watch as the other three pried at a panel on the ship's rear port.

"That's a drive pod," Ronin said as they got the panel open. "Rigging it to blow?"

But the Genii didn't load explosives into the drive pod, they removed a dormant drone. Ronin started forward. Jack put a hand on his arm.

"Let 'em have it." He signaled for Craven to stand pat.

Ronin grinned. "I plan to." He started forward again.

Jack hauled on his belt. Ronin glanced around.

"Let them take it," he clarified.

The big alien looked the at the jumper then back at Jack as if he'd lost his mind.

"They can't activate it. But I can. From the jumper. Anytime I want."

"Anywhere you want," Ronin said with an arched eyebrow. He grinned appreciatively. "I love it when McKay's wrong."

It was Jack's turn to look bewildered. "What?"

"McKay says you're too pretty to be a field commander."

"Good thing he didn't say I was too old. For that I would have shot him back."

"He's just jealous of the competition."

Jack shot him a confused look. Ronin's grin widened.

"He didn't have a chance with Colonel Carter until you found another girlfriend."

Jack decided he might shoot McKay anyway. He fell back a safe distance and briefed Sheppard on what had transpired.

"I'd love nothing more than to let them get that drone back to their laboratory then detonate the whole thing," Sheppard gloated. "I'll stay behind with a team to get the gate address when they leave. Watch how fast the Manarians wrap up talks now. Back-stabbing bastards."

Sheppard was right. The Manarian delegation abruptly walked away from the table in a snit and gated home. Since Sheppard kept one of Jack's trainees with him on the planet, Jack stayed too. They watched from cover as the Genii sprinted for the gate, dialed, then dragged the drone through. Sheppard darted for the DHD, stared at it for a moment, then dialed Atlantis and radioed orders. The gate shut down, reinitiated, and a jumper buzzed through.

"Damn," Pike breathed as the craft cleared the puddle.

Jack glanced away to hide his grin. This kid was gonna see a lot during his tour in Pegasus.

The jumper turned and settled beside the one already parked near the gate. Sheppard nodded to the pilot as the ramp lowered.

"Take that jumper back to Atlantis as soon as we're through. Have maintenance go over it with a fine toothed comb and replace the stolen drone."

He led the small party aboard the new craft and settled into the pilot's seat.

"Elizabeth doesn't want us to detonate the drone in their laboratory," he grumbled. "McKay says they've got enough nuclear material down there to decimate half the planet."

"So?" Ronin asked. "That's good, right?"

"You think that, I think that, but Elizabeth doesn't think that. What do you think, General?"

He thought he needed Maddy to take his mind off his pain, Jack mused as he propped the heel of his throbbing leg on an empty seat.

"I think we should pick a good target and teach them that stealing drones is a no-no."

"I've got an idea." Sheppard cloaked the jumper and shot through the Genii gate.

"What do you have in mind?" Ronin asked.

"It's always irked me that the elite hide in bunkers during a culling and let the poor folks on the surface fend for themselves."

"But if you destroy the bunkers, you risk detonating the uranium," Ronin said.

"Yeah, but if I target the generators..."

Ronin grinned. "No air, no lights. The elite will be forced to live on the surface until they can build new ones. I like it."

Sheppard brought the jumper around and hovered over a ramshackle barn. Jack watched him work his fingers in the jelly-like substance of the control pad then close his eyes.

"I won't be upset if you miss the generators and hit the lab by accident," Ronin suggested. "If McKay can shoot General O'Neill by accident and get away with it..."

A ghost of a smile crossed the colonel's face. They saw the barn shudder, then a plume of debris shot up through its roof. Sheppard banked the jumper away headed back towards the stargate. All along the route they watched Genii pouring out of concealed bunker access ports. As they neared the gate, Sheppard uncloaked the jumper.

"Just so they know it wasn't an accident," he muttered as the jumper cleared the puddle and came to an abrupt stop in Atlantis's gateroom.

Chapter One Hundred

Jack tried another bite of the commissary's idea of meatloaf just to confirm it was as bad as he thought. It was. Like trying to choke down oregano infused sawdust. He pushed the plate away and attacked the Jello. Not even Atlantis's crack culinary crew could screw up Jello. He'd been living on Jello, coffee, and a mashed green vegetable with black specks in it that was native to this galaxy. It looked like puke in the throes of gangrene but it didn't taste half bad.

Comparatively speaking.

He couldn't wait to get home to Maddy's cooking. Was Mitchell or Daniel or both enjoying her cooking as well as her delightful company? Her sparkling eyes and ready smile and quick wit?

Her luscious body?

He pushed his jealousy aside and got himself a cup of coffee. Did she miss him? Would absence make the heart grow fonder as the proverb promised? A wicked grin touched his mouth as he wondered if she could walk comfortably yet. A tremor danced through his body and he sloshed coffee onto the floor. Damn, but there was something about being buried inside the woman that affected him like nothing else ever had. He loved sex, and making love to Maddy was always a delightful experience. He couldn't keep his hands off her, loved to tease and torment and seduce her. She had an allure that kept him in a constant foreplay mind set. But that was just his nature and he counted himself lucky to have found a mate who was his equal in that department.

Jack shook a few drops of coffee off his fingers and resumed his seat at the table.

He had enjoyed a lot of women in his lifetime- well, in his previous lifetime- and he had nothing bad to say about any of them. But nothing had ever compared to the feeling he got from being with Maddy. Not the overall experience which in itself was euphoric, but all the other good stuff aside, when he took her it was indescribable. Like a mainline of morphine when he was in excruciating pain. A hit of heroine to an addict in an agony of withdrawal. A cigarette after three days without one.

He toed out another chair and propped his sore leg on it. He lifted the cup to take a sip but his hand was shaking too badly. He set it down before he ended up wearing it and scooted his ass forward in the chair. Head back, eyes closed, he let his glands rule his thoughts.

If he could never get off again, lost all ability and desire to enjoy sex, he'd still want to wear that woman like a permanent condom. Not any woman, not some woman, her. Thinking about it and not having it available made him want to dig his fingernails into the table top and rake furrows. He sat up abruptly and drained the cup of coffee. It took all his black ops training to force his mind in a different direction.

He hoped she didn't get hurt riding alone in those mountains. He should have made her promise she wouldn't ride further than the ridge. With any luck she was nesting, getting attached to the lodge, making plans to sell the farm in Ohio and move in with him. Was there any hope of them spending Thanksgiving without SG1? That tradition hadn't been started yet and he looked forward to helping her prepare the big meal. He had taken over the chores of peeling potatoes and squash, chopping the onions, and lifting the turkey out for her. The thought of Maddy's homemade pumpkin pie made his mouth water and his stomach growl. Tom hadn't furnished her with the appliances she had supplied for herself in the original time line and Jack intended to make that right for her.

Restless, he got another cup of coffee and carried it out onto an observation platform. He dragged a chair to the railing, braced his leg, and took mental inventory of his finances. He had wanted this salary to be her play money. To outfit the lodge as she saw fit, buy whatever her heart desired. Maddy had never had money to just blow and he had anticipated having to coax her to do it. Maddy had always been a penny-pincher and in this time line she'd probably be worse. He had wanted to take trips, cruises, go camping. Take her deep sea fishing, snorkeling, diving. Go to auctions and flea markets.

Divorcing Sara had put the skids to that. Maddy's play money was going into alimony payments. He couldn't resent Sara for that and it didn't come close to assuaging his guilt. It wasn't like Maddy would miss it, either. She didn't expect it. But still...

He wanted to buy her the tractor and backhoe, the truck and horse trailer, all the toys they'd enjoyed. A boat. It must have hurt to be forced to sell the one she and her dad had bought together.

It dawned on him then just how much Maddy had supplied for herself in the fifteen years after her divorce. That had to have lent a lot to her self confidence. His heart swelled with pride. She was so tough, so resilient. Had taken care of herself when there was nobody else to do it. He intended to change that. Maddy deserved anything and everything she ever wanted and he gladly accepted the privilege of providing it for her.

Except for a motorcycle.

Then again, the Maddy of this time line wasn't nearly so balls to the wall as she had been the first time around. Maybe it would be safe to buy her the bike.

He thought about the way she had cared for him after the plane crash. The way she had taken Sara under her wing despite her jealousy. Given herself to Ba'al to have him healed, to protect him. The times when only his life had given her the strength to fight. Would the Maddy of this time line love him that fiercely? Or had Tom sucked all the life out of her?

Tom the Wraith. Yeah, that fit.

He touched on the complete devastation he had felt, the blind rage and inconsolable grief at thinking he had lost her. The overwhelming panic, the desperation of knowing she was out there somewhere, trying to find her way home. What had happened to him that a woman could so completely dominate his life? Maddy had happened, that's what. No matter what changes this time line wrought, he vowed that he wouldn't ever be without her again. He looked up at the star studded sky.

"Hear that? Take it as a promise or a threat, but I mean it."

Voices drifted to him from below. He glanced over the rail and saw McKay and a woman strolling along the jumper pad. The woman moved to the rail and looked out over the ocean. McKay was headed back inside. Jack wet a finger and held it into the breeze. Satisfied, he reached out over the rail, adjusted his aim, and upended the coffee cup. The liquid streamed downward, caught a bit of an air draft, scattered, then sprayed over McKay.

"Heyyy!" Rodney shouted indignantly as he stepped back to look up. He was shaking his wet collar away from his neck. The woman's tinkling laugher floated along on the breeze.

"Accident," Jack muttered. "It slipped."

Three more excruciating weeks of being hungry, bored, lonely, and horny before he could go home to Maddy. This was the last off world mission he'd accept. Let the friggin' Ori and Gou'ald and Wraith conquer the universe. He and Maddy were staying out of it. If money got tight he'd bag groceries or sell used cars.

He needed to draft his resignation. Have it ready to hand to Landry the minute he beamed off the Odyssey. Three weeks should give him enough time to succinctly carve 'I quit' into a slab of stone.

Chapter One Hundred One

Jack leaned against the inside of the barn door and waited for Maddy and Colonel Mitchell to reach the barn. Arms crossed and head lowered, he tried to quell his jealousy before steam began curling out of his ears. It was nearly dusk, already dark inside the building, but the pair on horseback were silhouetted by the final, slanting rays of orange light. He watched for any sign of attachment between the two, but there was no holding of hands, no stolen kisses or brushing of their knees, no laughter. He could hear their voices but not make out what was being said. Jack didn't move, didn't shift off his still aching calf muscle. Irrational anger held him immobile.

He had burst into the lodge to find Daniel in Maddy's kitchen, wearing her apron, attempting to keep a pot roast from drying out. He had been sucking a burnt finger as Jack demanded where Maddy was.

"Oh, hi Jack! You're back. Have a good trip?"

"Where is she?"

"Out riding with Cam. She put this roast on and told me to keep an eye on it. It looks pretty dark on top..."

"Making yourselves at home?" Jack had asked sarcastically.

"Well she was up here alone," Daniel defended. "Doesn't know anybody..."

"Apparently she knows you and Mitchell."

"And Sam. Sam really likes her, Jack. You should see the pair of them giggle. Did you know Sam could giggle?"

Jack drilled him with an acid stare.

"What? Sam's needed a female friend since Janet was killed. This will be good for her."

"She's got Vala to giggle with."

Daniel dropped his head and gave Jack a look over the rims of his glasses. Jack shook a finger at him.

"We're gonna talk about this, Daniel." He had turned on his heel and stormed out.

He was still fuming. This wasn't gonna happen yet. SG1 was not going to smother them this time around. He wasn't ready to share her with them.

Cam stepped off his horse and opened the gate. Maddy rode through and groaned as she left the saddle.

"You sure you're okay?" Cam asked.

"Yeah. Slip the bridle and turn her into a stall, please? You can hold Chimmy while I look at her leg."

Jack ran his gaze over Maddy. She was wearing a bulky gray sweater and black spandex pants. What the hell was she doing riding in spandex? The material clung to her curves leaving nothing to the imagination and making her legs look a mile long. He had to grit his teeth against the need to run his hands the length of those legs, feel them wrap around him as he sank himself between them.

Cam closed the stall door and took Chimmy's reins. Maddy untied her jeans from the back of the saddle and tossed them onto a bale of hay.

Why the hell did she have her jeans off? Jack couldn't seem to catch his breath. His pulse was pounding in his ears.

Maddy reached for the switch and the barn was flooded with light. She turned, saw him, and cried out.

"Jack! You scared me!" she gasped.

"General," Mitchell called. "Welcome back! How long have you been standing there?"

"What the hell are you doing with your pants off?" Jack demanded.

Maddy was instantly as angry as he was. "Not that it's any of your business, O'Neill, but Chimmy took a fall with me in the creek. They were soaked and I was freezing." She moved up to the mare and ran her hand down a muddy back leg.

Jack felt like a fool. It was cold out; early fall at this altitude could be brisk. The spandex had been an added layer for warmth. He felt like a fool that was still pissed off to find Daniel and Mitchell had moved in on Maddy while he was gone.

"So how'd it go on Atlantis?" Mitchell asked to break the tension-filled silence.

"If I told you I'd have to kill you," Jack growled.

Mitchell raised his eyebrows and made no further attempt at conversation. Maddy dipped a bucket of water out of the outside trough and brought it back inside. Jack saw that she was limping.

"You okay?" he demanded.

"If I told you I'd have to kill you," she snapped.

Jack watched her trail the water over the mare's hip and scrub off the mud.

"She's got a cut but it isn't deep. She wasn't favoring it..."

"I think you got the worst of it," Mitchell sympathized. "I'll unsaddle them. Go get a shower, get warmed up and see how badly you're hurt."

Maddy stubbornly untacked the horse. Jack stepped forward and took the saddle from her. She twisted away.

"When did you get these?" he asked.

"I bought them." Mitchell spoke up as if defending Maddy.

Jack scowled and threw the saddle onto the rack. "Come on. Let's get you cleaned up." He touched her elbow and she jerked back.

"Why don't the two of you go see if Daniel burned supper?"

Both men attempted to help her with the horses but she silently went about her business with an angry set to her jaw. Not a word was exchanged during the walk to the lodge. Dinner was just as strained, with Daniel and Mitchell exchanging tell tale glances, Maddy staring at her plate and Jack staring at her. The simmering tension drove the two interlopers into making a quick exit as soon as dinner was over. Maddy went into the bathroom and slammed the door.

Jack went after her and stiff-armed the door open. She was just peeling out of the spandex. She gasped and whirled with one foot off the floor, lost her balance, and fell against the washer.

"Damn you, O'Neill!" She rubbed her elbow and glared at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Don't slam doors in my face. What the hell's been going on here?"

Her face was livid. "If I wasn't allowed to have friends over you should have mentioned it!"

"The three of you seemed pretty damned cozy for having just met!"

She spread her hands. "What do you want, Jack? I watered your plants, took care of my animals, flushed your toilets. Why are you so pissed off?"

"I gotta write you a letter? What are you so pissed off about?"

"I'm pissed because you're pissed! You can shove your attitude right up your ass, O'Neill. Whatever connection you claim to have with me from another time line is your problem- not mine!"

"We sure as hell connected before I left!"

"Past tense. Old history. Over and forgotten."

That stung. He stopped himself from giving her a reminder. He'd learned not to touch her when he was angry. He turned and stormed out of the bathroom. She slammed the door again. Jack stopped, his body tense. She was pushing him. She hadn't yet learned not to push him. Now wasn't the time to teach her. He was too close to losing her.

Again.

"Son of a bitch!"

He was sitting on the couch, brooding at the TV when she walked by. She went straight to the spare bedroom and slammed that door. Jack took a couple of deep breaths and stood. He paused beside the kitchen, stared down the hall, then changed direction and got a beer instead. He took it out onto the deck and sat there until he was too cold to be mad.

He was just making the turn from the living room to the bedroom when the refrigerator light came on. He headed for the kitchen.

Maddy was pouring herself a glass of orange juice.

"Pour me one, too?" he asked.

She started and spilled the juice. He heard her sigh impatiently.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

There was no response as she reached for another glass. He resigned himself to getting the silent treatment. She surprised him.

"I'm sorry, Jack," she said quietly. "You've been so good to me. I had no right to get in your face like that."

"You do when I'm being a prick."

He heard her soft snort.

"You need to understand where that came from," he pressed. "I know you aren't in love with me right now. If something happened between you and Daniel, you and Mitchell, I wouldn't like it, but..."

"I cheated on my husband with you so you figure I'll sleep with any man who pays attention to me?"

"No! I know you better. It's different for us. And I'm here to tell you once you get off that farm and out in the real world, men will be attracted to you."

"What's the farm have to do with..."

"Maddy, you just aren't out there. In the right place. Where you can be appreciated. That's what I was so pissed about. Once SG1 got to know you, we never had any time alone. Every damned time I tried to chase you around the couch somebody came through that door to interrupt! Mitchell caught us naked in the lake. Daniel caught us wrestling on the couch- after we overturned it. It got to the point where we had to hide to have any privacy! I'm just not ready for that part to start yet."

"Well, I've got a flight booked for tomorrow afternoon. You won't have to worry about it."

"Don't leave."

"I need to get home, Jack. I've been gone a month."

"Not yet. I just got home."

"And I was a real bitch to you. I'm sorry."

"Cancel the flight. I'll take you home when you're ready."

"I'm ready now. As soon as I come up with the money, I'll pay you for the horses and get them shipped home. Chimmy miscarried, probably from all the shuffling around when Tom pulled that stunt with them. Belle's due to foal in March. I hate to wait much longer. All that jostling, the long ride..."

"Leave them here."

"You... won't sell them back to me?"

"Don't make it sound like I'm holding them hostage. I don't want your money, Maddy. I want an excuse for you come back."

"Jack..."

"If you don't like the lodge, don't like Colorado..."

"I love the lodge, Jack. Your lodge, the property, the mountains... it's all incredible. But I live in Ohio. My life is there, my memories."

"We can bring the good memories here, leave the bad ones there. Or I can move there with you. We'll keep this place as a vacation home. Let SG1 use it."

"You keep saying 'we'."

"I can't think in any other terms."

"Jack... I love you as a friend. You've been so good to me and I appreciate it. I'll never be able to pay you back for everything. Including my self esteem. But I'm not in love with you."

"Yet."

"After the relationship I just got out of..."

"We're different. Haven't I showed you that? If you're not convinced, stick around."

She didn't respond.

"I'm not Tom. I cherish you, Maddy. I'm far from perfect, but you loved me. Fiercely. I trust your judgment so I can't be all that bad. One thing I've learned is that you're always right."

He listened for her laugh. It didn't come.

"I'm not thinking straight," she said at last. "Tom, the accident, losing Taco, my divorce, your divorce, being arrested... you. This isn't the time for me to be making a decision this huge. It didn't seem so bad at first with Tom, either. I'm gun shy."

"I know. You were last time, too, and that was fifteen years after your divorce."

"Then you understand that I need time."

"I'll be damned if I'm gonna give you fifteen years!"

"I'm not asking you to wait for me."

"You misunderstand. I'm not gonna give you fifteen years to get your head screwed on straight. We will be together. I'll buy the land across the road from you and build a house if I have to."

"Oh cut the melodrama," she sniped. "It would be crazy for you to waste all that money, quit your job..."

"Crazy I'll cop to. The job, the money, where I hang my hat- none of that matters. You matter. I bought this lodge for you."

"Until after a year or so. Then all that gets thrown up to me like it was my fault you're crazy enough to throw it all away."

"Maddy, I still feel this way after twelve years and being thrown backwards in time. If anything's changed, it's that I love you more. Respect you more. Admire you more. Appreciate you more. Need you more. Doesn't that tell you anything?"

"I'm just not ready to be in love, Jack. Not ready to live by someone's else's schedule. I've had enough of that for both of these lifetimes you keep harping about."

"I've learned I can't battle your stubbornness. Go back to Ohio. Struggle to keep the house warm and feed your horses and pay the taxes. And the whole time, you think about what you've got here waiting for you. This is all yours, Maddy. While you're at it, think about the way I make love to you. Cancel that flight- I'll take you. I won't let you stuff Bonnie into a crate to be shipped to Ohio in a cold, dark baggage compartment."

Chapter One Hundred Two

Jack threw another bale of hay over the fence, pulled off his glove, and reached out to pet Chimmy's nose. The mare left the feed to nuzzle his hand, her eyes on him deep and soft. He smiled.

"Wonder what your momma's doing right now? I'm hoping to coax her back for Thanksgiving. I hate it that I have to use SG1 as bait, but if I ask her to cook a big dinner for everyone do you think she'll refuse?"

He heard a vehicle and turned, his pulse racing. It was never Maddy, but he couldn't convince his heart of that. It always hoped she'd surprise him.

It was Carter's car and it didn't stop at the lodge. She drove right up beside him and crunched to a stop in the foot deep snow. Her face was red and puffy, her eyes bloodshot and full of tears.

"What's wrong?" He'd never seen Carter so distraught.

"It's Daniel. And Cam," she croaked. "It's bad. They're... Neither of them is going to make it."

"Move over, let me drive." He slid in behind the wheel and backed down the lane to turn around. As they raced for the base Jack took her hand and squeezed it.

"What happened?"

"They were in a village, waiting for a Prior to return. The Prior knew they were there. He made an example of them. Cam keeps having massive heart attacks. Dr. Lam doesn't know how much more his heart can take. They can't find a reason and they can't stop them. Daniel..." her voice caught, "Daniel was... The Prior levitated him into some sort of searing white light, then let him drop. He was... impaled... on a..." She stopped, composed herself, and continued. "He was impaled on a steel spike. The Prior let the team bring them home so Earth would get the message." Her voice was breaking and she had started to shake.

Jack grimaced and floored the accelerator.

Daniel wasn't conscious, but Jack sat with him anyway. Carter was asleep in a chair between Daniel and Mitchell, exhausted from powering the healing device. Teal'c and Vala were on the hunt for a Tok'ra.

Jack eyed the heavy bandages around Daniel's face and cringed at the reminder of the time he had died of radiation poisoning. His body was being kept alive with tubes and wires hooked to a multitude of machines. Poor guy had been through more than any human could be asked to endure, and now this. Maybe it was time to let him go. Maybe he'd ascend again. In the meantime he didn't deserve to suffer like this.

Jack knew where there was a Tok'ra. At least a couple years in the future he'd be there. Jack had explained the original time line to Landry, and Teal'c was headed back to Earth with a Gou'ald cargo ship. Was Qua'sel ready to come to the Tau'ri or would they have to convince him?

How had this happened? What the hell had he missed? This hadn't been a part of the original time line. He couldn't shake the awful feeling of guilt, that something in his memories should have red-flagged that mission.

He hadn't called Maddy. She didn't need to go through this. He'd call her with definite news, one way or the other. When he got back with Qua'sel he'd to go Ohio to tell her in person, bring her here himself. If she wanted to come. She'd only known the two men a month. Carter could use her shoulder, though. That was reason enough in Jack's mind. He should only be gone a little over a week. Landry was authorizing a piggy back ride to the distant solar system on the Odyssey. The bigger ship would wait and bring them back. But they needed the cloaked cargo ship to locate Qua'sel, ring him aboard, and convince him to come to Earth. The Odyssey's hyper drive would cut the trip in half.

It wasn't like Maddy would miss him. She hadn't bothered to call.

Carter stirred, threw the blanket aside, and slipped on the healing device. Jack knew it was useless to argue that she needed more rest so he watched silently as she struggled to power the device. The machines hooked to Daniel went wild as she moved the glowing device over his body. The duty nurse stuck her head in the door, saw what was happening, and went back to her tasks.

Ten minutes later when an alarm went off on Mitchell's machine, the nurse hurried back in.

"Code blue!" she said into the intercom. "Crash cart to bed two!"

Carter stared helplessly at Jack. The device had completely drained her vital energy and she could barely stand. She couldn't help Mitchell. Her head dropped forward and Jack saw tears dropping onto the sheets. He stood and gathered her in his arms. She turned into his chest and sobbed.

"They'll help him," he assured her.

But as he watched the doctors charge the paddles and shock the colonel over and over, he wasn't so sure.

Finally a nurse said, "We have sinus rhythm."

They worked on him for about fifteen minutes then Jack heard them call for an operating room to be prepped. He moved Carter back into her chair and braced his hands on the arms to stare her in the eye.

"I'll bring Qua'sel back in time to help Daniel. Rest, Carter, and when he's out of surgery you work on Mitchell. Between us we'll save them both."

Her blue eyes held his with a dull stare that told Jack she'd about reached her limit. Not just with this drama, but with all of it. When this was over, he was going to sit Landry down and convince him to force Carter into a long vacation. She could go spend time with her brother. Or he could send her and Maddy somewhere together. Maddy was what Carter needed.

What they all needed.

He patted Carter's wan cheek and headed to Landry's office.

Chapter One Hundred Three

Jack slept the nearly the entire trip back to Earth.

Qua'sel had been shocked then pleased by his untimely rescue. Once blended, he absorbed all of Jack's memories and was stunned by the events that had transpired. He woke Jack as the Odyssey entered Earth's orbit.

"Remarkable, O'Neill. You have endured quite an ordeal. It is a bit disconcerting to meet myself inside your mind, but informative nonetheless. I count myself privileged that considering our history you came for me. I am in your debt."

'Yeah, well, I'm one of the good guys.'

"You have a choice to make, my friend. Will you give me to Daniel to save his life, or to Madison to secure her in yours?"

'No choice about it,' Jack told him. 'Daniel's life is on the line.'

"From your knowledge of his condition, sadly that may not be the case. Will you then give me to Colonel Mitchell, or Madison?"

'One bridge at a time.'

He wouldn't deny Mitchell the Tok'ra's healing abilities, but he cringed at the vast amount of personal knowledge the symbiote would take with him into the colonel's mind. It was bad enough Daniel was going to know so much about him. He hoped that once Daniel was healed, Qua'sel could help Lam figure out how to undo whatever that Prior bastard had done to Mitchell.

"Our Madison has had quite an adventure. It is a rare occurrence indeed to relive one's own demise. I know of Meret; a she-devil of insidious selfishness and capable of ruthless spite. I cringe at the thought of her enslaving our Madison in such a fashion."

'You and me both.'

"But she did it for you. Her love for you was overwhelming, even to me. She will come to you, O'Neill. Have patience. A love that great cannot be denied. Not even by altering time."

'I hope you're right, Quasi.'

"I feel your pain and loneliness. I regret that I will not be with you long enough to regenerate your body. I must preserve my strength if I am to help Daniel at all."

'While we're on the subject... A little discretion, please, when Daniel gets to nosing through my memories? I'd like a little privacy in that department.'

Qua'sel chuckled deviously. "But not so much when it comes to Madison's love for you?"

'Take a nap, Quasi. I'll poke you when we get to the base.'

Chapter One Hundred Four

Jack bent over Daniel's face then drew back. Carter, Vala, Teal'c, Landry, and Dr. Lam were all watching.

'Isn't there a way to do this without kissing him?'

"I have no wish to burrow through layers of bandages and he cannot be moved. Just get me close to his mouth. You do not have to touch him."

'It's still gonna look like I'm giving him tongue!'

"You have the strangest phobias, O'Neill. Simply tell them I forced you to kiss him."

'The devil made me do it?' Jack leaned down again, pried Daniel's mouth open as much as the bandages would allow, and felt the Tok'ra leave his consciousness. His legs gave out and he sank to the floor.

Chapter One Hundred Five

Jack rapped on the door of the farmhouse. She wasn't answering but Bonnie was throwing a hissy fit at the inside of the door. He turned the knob and the door swung in. Bonnie, resplendent in a heavy and slightly twisted doggie sweater, all but jumped into his arms.

"Don't suppose I can expect the same welcome from your momma?"

He made a pot of coffee and stood looking out the window. She hadn't gotten the grass cut before it snowed and long tufts showed through the white crust. The house was cold so he went out to check the wood furnace. It was out. He built a fire and left the draft door open.

By the time Maddy came home the house was warm and Jack had a roast in the oven. She walked through the door looking tired and out of sorts.

"Hi," she greeted hesitantly.

"Bonnie let me in. Sorry to come unannounced but..."

She tossed her purse onto a chair and poured a cup of coffee. "Something smells good."

"Thank you," he grinned. "You smell good, too."

She grunted, apparently in no mood to be teased. "Jack, it's nice to see you but I have to leave for my second job in four hours. I'm sorry, but I really need a nap."

"Second job?"

She nodded. "Grocery stocking by day, waitress by night."

Jack winced. She tried to move away when he reached for her but he dragged her into his arms and held her. She stood there stiffly at first then slowly, by degrees, melted into him. Her head was heavy on his shoulder.

"No wonder you look so tired," he murmured. "Go lay down. I'll finish supper."

It seemed as if she was too tired to push away from him. Then she reached deep the way he had seen her do so many times and stepped back. She touched his face, let her fingers linger as her eyes searched his.

"You look as haggard as I feel. What's wrong?"

He didn't want to get into it when she was so exhausted. In truth, he was having second thoughts about adding to her burdens.

"I can stay a couple days," he told her. "When are you off?"

"I don't have a day off," she sighed.

"You're working two jobs, seven days a week?"

She grimaced. "Days off never coincide. It's not bad. I don't have the horses and cows to tend. Working like this I don't have time to cut wood so I buy it... which is kind of a vicious circle. But I'm keeping the bills paid and putting something back towards the taxes. I've leased the ground so I don't have to fuss with hay and equipment..."

"Two jobs, Maddy? Full eight hour jobs?"

"At the grocery store, yeah. The waitress job fluctuates- it's never eight hours. More like ten and twelve."

"How long do you think you can keep this up?"

She dropped her hand and turned away. "Don't start on me, Jack. I'm too damned tired."

He reached for her shoulders and massaged them. She groaned and leaned into him. He abruptly changed his mind about waiting. He needed to take her away from this killing pace before she collapsed. With nobody here to catch her when she fell.

"Before you lay down I have a favor to ask. A proposal."

Her shoulders stiffened again and she sighed. He guided her into the bedroom and she wrenched away impatiently. The look she gave him would have melted steel.

"Don't get your back up," he soothed. "I'm not after sex."

"What are you after?" she asked warily.

Jack took a breath. "I need your help. Daniel does."

"Daniel?"

"He's in bad shape, Maddy. Got pretty messed up on an off world mission. He's on life support... and blind."

She sat down hard, her face paling.

"For a while there we didn't think he'd make it. He's stable now, and improving. But it'll be a long recovery. In the next month or so they're hoping to move him out of the base infirmary and into extended care."

She shook her head sadly. "Poor Daniel."

"Maddy..." Jack shifted uneasily, searching for the right words, rationalizing a niggling feeling of guilt. "He would have died. I'm not sure how much to tell you, and it's such a long story... You're too tired to hear it all now. But circumstances surrounding his injuries and recovery... It's a security risk to put him in a public facility."

"How can he be dangerous if he's in such bad shape?"

"Not dangerous, but there are aspects of his... situation... that can't become public knowledge. I want to move him to the lodge. It's close to the base so the doctors there can monitor him."

Her head came up. "That's very generous, Jack. I'm proud of you."

He shook his head. "Hold that thought. I want you to come take care of him. I'm not much of a nursemaid and he'll need constant care, constant watching. I could hire a nurse from the base with enough security clearance, but... It would just be easier, better all the way around, if I could convince you to come do it."

"I don't have security clearance."

"I'll get you cleared. And tell you the details. If you decide to do this."

She dropped her head forward.

"I'll pay you, Maddy. Twice, three times whatever you're making by killing yourself this way."

She blew out a tired breath.

"Have you considered selling the farm?"

Her head came up but she didn't look at him. "I love this place. I grew up here. It's so hard to let go..."

"What kind of existence is this? What time or energy do you have to enjoy it? The house was cold when I came in. Laundry is piled up, you didn't have time to cut the grass, I washed a sink full of dishes..."

A flash of fire flared in her eyes. "Nobody asked you to clean my house, and I just got rid of one bastard who..."

"Whoa. Easy. I wasn't criticizing. I was pointing out that you're fighting a losing battle." He leaned against the dresser and watched her. "Think about this: Sell the farm and put the money into the bank. Sell off anything you can't replace. Box everything up and we'll put it into storage- I'll pay for it. Come to Colorado. Take care of Daniel, live at the lodge, put your salary into the bank. When he's on his feet and able to take care of himself, you'll have built a decent down payment for another place. Move wherever you want."

"I don't want to move, Jack. I want to live here."

"I can't bring Daniel to you."

"And you're hoping I'll just end up staying with you," she said bitterly.

"Yep."

Her eyes met his.

"But if you don't, you'll have the means to get back on your feet."

She shook her head. "I'll come help with Daniel, but I don't want to sell the farm."

"Rent it."

She grimaced. "There's so many little things... Like watching the well, and the septic system is about shot. The cellar floods. Breakers blow if you run the microwave and toaster at the..."

"Then close it up."

"I'll get robbed blind."

"Put everything into storage. Clean it out, leave it empty."

She threw her hands up in frustration.

"Bring everything you want with you. It's gonna be a long, uphill battle- you're gonna be there awhile. Bring your guns, your computer, your books... stuffed animals..." A wicked light made his eyes glint. "Your vibrators..."

Her eyes flew to his. He grinned openly as she tried to decide if he knew something from the past or was just guessing. She dropped her gaze.

"Let me think about this."

"Sleep on it. What time do you need up?"

She glanced at her watch. "My shift starts at nine. Eight will give me three hours sleep and time to eat. Thank you for supper, by the way. And for doing my dishes. And firing the furnace."

"Bonnie was shivering."

Her face fell. "I know. I put the sweater on her, but when it gets really cold... I don't know how I'll keep the pipes from freezing."

"Get some sleep. I'll call and check on Daniel, have news when you get up."

She kicked off her shoes and crawled into the blankets fully clothed. Jack tucked her in and gave her a lingering kiss. Her eyes held his for a long time.

"I wondered why you didn't call," she said softly. "Guess you were pretty busy."

"I was waiting for you to call me. I'm never too busy for you, Maddy. Did you miss me? At all?"

"You're a hard man to forget, O'Neill."

"Good." He dropped a kiss on her forehead. "Want another blanket?"

She shook her head and closed her eyes. Bonnie jumped onto the bed and she absently lifted the covers for her to crawl underneath. She turned onto her side, cuddled the dog close, and was asleep before Jack made it to the door. He paused and turned to stare at her. Deep lines bracketed her mouth and there were dark circles under her eyes. Her cheeks were sallow and her hair was dull, smelled of old fryer grease. She had dropped weight and there was a stoop to her shoulders. He could tell from the way she walked that her feet were hurting. How long would she struggle like this? In the last time line she had her mother and brother to care for years after Tom had left. Their income to help her pay the bills. What had moved her to sell that time, take two invalids, a bunch of horses, and half a dozen dogs to Wyoming? What effect would the lack of that experience have on her personality, her character?

Her stubbornness?

Would she fall in love with Daniel instead of him? He knew he was running that risk. Throwing the two of them into this situation was risky at best. But he could think of nobody better to care for Daniel and it was a means of getting her to the lodge. Would Qua'sel develop the obsession for her that he had last time, and where would his loyalty lie? The Tok'ra now knew Jack and Maddy's history, his own part in it, Jack's determination not to lose her.

But he didn't have her yet to lose.

This had to work. Appealing to her compassion might be underhanded but at this point he was desperate. He'd play the guilt card if he needed to.

Leaving the door open he went out into the kitchen and checked on the roast. He couldn't boil water in the original time line. Life with Maddy had taught him cooking basics among other things. How would that change their future? For that matter, why had Daniel and Mitchell fallen prey to that Prior when it hadn't happened last time? As he thought about it, he realized that in the last time line all of SG1 would be hunting for him and Maddy. Since they hadn't been kidnapped it was business as usual for SG1. Another change Jack couldn't hope to have foreseen, but he wasn't sure it didn't absolve him of blame. He scanned the cereal boxes on top of Maddy's refrigerator.

He needed a bowl of Fruit Loops to drool into.

Maddy didn't want to wake up. He kissed her ear and rubbed her shoulder. She turned and gazed up at him groggily.

"Another half hour? I'll skip a shower."

"Let me call you off."

She shook her head. "They're short handed. Won't find anybody to cover my shift." She groaned and kicked off the covers. "Supper smells good."

But she only picked at the food.

"I want to come help," she told him. "I just don't know how to do it."

"That's what I'm here for. Tell me what to do. We should clean out the freezers and we can drain the pipes..."

"Jack, you have no idea how hard it was to get these jobs. I'm on probation. For a violent crime. With a gun. They won't let me handle any money. I'll never get another job when I get back."

"We'll worry about that when the time comes. It's not like you've got high paying jobs, Maddy. You always did try to fix things before they broke."

She eyed him curiously. He shook his fork at her.

"Don't ask."

"So what's so risky about Daniel being in a public facility?"

"I won't tell you until you're neck deep in it."

"Afraid it'll scare me off?"

"Nothing scares you. It's a security thing. Need to know."

"It's gonna take a year to pack up this place." She seemed to shrink from the enormity of it all.

"We have time. Daniel's still in intensive care. I'm here to help."

Her eyes wandered around the room, touching on the multitude of knicknacks, stained glass lamps, books and pictures. He knew each one had a story, was near and dear to her heart, many had been passed down through the family. It was bad enough he was asking her to give up her family home.

"It'd cost a fortune to move all this stuff," she sighed. "Even more to store it. A lot of it would be ruined."

"The lodge is nearly empty. On purpose, Maddy. All this stuff has a place out there." He pointed to a scenic picture of a tractor and barn. "That hung on the wall behind the couch. Your mom's rooster collection goes on top of the cupboard in the kitchen. Her rose pattern dishes were in the left hand curio cabinet, your teapot collection in the right one. Your big aquarium sat in the corner of the livingroom, and we turned the second spare bedroom into a library."

She was watching him soberly.

"You built a set of glass shelves in the big window overlooking the lake, put all your glassware on it. Pounded square headed nails into the open beam ceiling to hang antiques. Fishing tackle, old bits, spurs, tools..."

Her eyes widened as she pictured his description.

"Be kinda dumb to do all that when I won't be staying permanently."

His heart fell. "Isn't it better than letting them get ruined in storage?"

"I'll feel funny about taking it all back down."

"Why? It's your stuff. You're moving in, you'll simply move out."

"Like a renter?"

"Like a live-in nurse."

"But it's your house! If I had one room..."

"You can have the whole house, Maddy. I just live there."

She grimaced and poked at a potato. "If I do this, I won't ever come back here, will I? Even if I keep the farm..."

"If you decide to move back here, we'll just do it all over again."

She threw down her fork and dropped her head into her hands. "Seems like a lot of extra work."

"So take the most important stuff. Leave the rest where it is or box it up and stack it in a corner. Empty the fish tanks so they don't freeze, bring your potted plants..."

"Yeah, pay through the nose to ship plants to Colorado!" she scoffed.

"First off, that rubber plant is fifty years old- you don't want to give it away. That little pine was your grandmother's. Your mom babied those ivies to the size they are now. It all means a lot to you, Maddy."

She blinked at him. "I'll never get used to you knowing so much about me."

"I'll take care of getting it shipped. Hell, we can stack everything in the yard and have Teal'c ring it aboard a cargo ship. He could set it right down in the drive way at the lodge. Won't even rattle the glass in your china cupboards."

"A spaceship?"

"Yep."

"Isn't that... like against the rules or something? Using military... um, ships... for personal..."

"First off, Earth doesn't 'own' the Jaf'fa cargo ships we make use of from time to time. Second, anybody with enough authority to bring those types of charges against me simply wouldn't. Maddy, with the exception of a handful close to the President and in the Pentagon, nobody in the government even knows the Stargate Program exists let alone that we have access to ships and beaming technology. And it's not like I'd be tying up the Odyssey and her crew."

"That is just..." She shook her head and glanced at her watch. "I need to get going."

"Put in your notice."

She grimaced.

"The sooner you quit, the sooner we can get this place packed up. Think about it tonight at work, figure out how you want to do this. If I go get boxes, can I start with the glassware?"

Her eyes wandered around the diningroom. "Use lots of bubble wrap," she sighed in defeat.

That Brigadier General Jack O'Neill, slayer of the Gou'ald, flyer of alien spacecraft, fearless explorer of distant planets, found himself carefully folding bubble wrap around glass baskets and china teapots attested to the depth of his devotion. Or perhaps to the extent of his desperation.

He gingerly settled another parcel into a pocket in the corner of a box and thought ruefully that taking a bullet for her would be more his style. Definitely more preferable. Anybody but Maddy and he would have hired this done. Cracked open a beer, walked away, and promptly forgot about it. But he knew Maddy wouldn't allow a careless stranger access to her treasures. He also knew she'd prefer to do it herself but his impatience won out over his distaste. If this was the only way to get her to Colorado, then by damn he'd do it.

But facing an overwhelming rush of Jaf'fa armed with staff weapons and zats would be welcomed if it got him out of doing this.

He reached for a collie figurine and paused to look at it. In the original time line she had helped him pack his place for the move to the lodge. They had been newly married, spent more time playing and making love than they had packing. She had teased him about looking like MacGyver and he had kept her in various states of undress. They had brokered deals about opera and computer games and geese and her bras. He had offered her a job as cook at the base instead of nursemaid to a badly injured Daniel.

It seemed that either way she was destined to be sucked into the SGC.

And he didn't have her to distract him as he worked.

By the time she dragged in at four AM Jack was stretched out on the couch with Bonnie, both of them snoring contentedly.

The smell of coffee and bacon woke him. He stretched a kink out of his back and kissed her neck on the way to the bathroom. When he returned she handed him a cup of coffee.

"You got a lot done," she praised.

"Did you tell them you're quitting?"

"Two weeks' notice," she nodded. But her face betrayed her uncertainty.

"What time do you have to leave?"

"I'm working nine to five today, nine to six tonight."

Jack shook his head. "How long did you think you could keep this up?"

"As long as I needed to. Toast?"

"You didn't have to cook breakfast."

"I'm hungry."

He whirled her into his arms and kissed her. "When aren't you hungry? Is it okay if I have Teal'c take a load to the lodge today? If he's available?"

She edged out of his grasp and turned to stare out the window.

"Having second thoughts?" he asked.

She raised a shoulder. "No, I have to do this. Daniel was a good friend to me while you were gone. He and Cam both. He doesn't have anybody, Jack. No wife, no family..."

"I know. You and him got pretty close the first time around. You'd go to him when I got on your nerves."

She turned and frowned. "I... cheated on you?"

"On this?" he spread his arms wide. "Hell no, Babe. Daniel can't hold a candle to me. But he does like to talk. And talk, and talk..."

She turned back around without the smile he had hoped for. "I just wondered if I made a habit of committing adultery. If it was my destiny."

He dropped his hands on her shoulders and began working out the tension he felt there. "Maddy, you can't look at it as cheating on Tom. You weren't supposed to be with him when we met. That whole scenario was wrong- not making love to me. And we are married- you just don't remember it."

She tossed him a look of consternation.

Divine inspiration struck. He almost thought he heard harps.

"Babe, God doesn't get tossed around in time. He knows we're married, what Loki has done to our lives, what you don't remember and why. He's not going to judge you for sleeping with me. It all comes down to whether or not you believe what I've been telling you."

She raised her head and stared out the window.

"Did I sleep with you after the accident? At the cabin?"

"Nope. And you held out the whole time we were on Nirrti's planet." He nosed her ear and lowered his voice an octave to make her shiver. "But you wanted me. My hands on your skin, by body pressing into yours. You wanted to taste my lips, feel my mouth on your breasts. You wanted me hard and deep..."

She shivered again and twisted away from him. "I suppose you expect me to sleep with you while I'm out there?"

"Kinda hard to sleep with me when you're back here."

Her look made him feel like a dirty old man. A dirty old man whose advances were distasteful and unwelcome. His stomach clenched, giving him a sick feeling.

"I don't expect anything from you," he said harshly. "Sleep in the spare room. Avoid me- if you can. But up front, Maddy, I want you. I'm not gonna kick you out if you refuse, I don't want you thinking you have to sleep with me to earn your keep. But I will hound you relentlessly."

"Let's see; I'm moving into a man's house, he wants me in his bed, and I'm getting paid to be there. What's the definition of that again...?"

Jack worked hard at not getting mad. Or at least not letting it show. He should have seen this coming; his Maddy was running true to form.

"I'm covering your income while you care for a mutual friend. I'm in love with you and intend to pursue the natural course of things. The two are completely unrelated. But if it's gonna bother you, Maddy, then marry me again. Problem solved."

She turned off the stove, grabbed her purse, and walked out the door.

Jack looked down at Bonnie. "I think she's coming around," he said sarcastically. "What do you think?"

Chapter One Hundred Six

Jack watched Maddy lift Daniel's head and help him drink. He tried not to let her soft murmur and gentle care bother him.

Qua'sel had worked miracle after miracle inside Daniel's body. Fresh and untapped, not having spent the extra years keeping an ancient, sick host alive, the Tok'ra had more strength and vital energy to heal Daniel than he had when trying to heal Jack's broken body. Base doctors checked him several times a day and a rotation of nurses handled the bulk of his care. It wasn't all on Maddy's shoulders the way it had been when Jack was bedfast after the plane crash. But Jack knew from experience just how much her tender and conscientious attention would mean to the helpless man in that bed.

He and Qua'sel had not talked. He had given the Tok'ra a long lecture before Daniel was moved to the lodge, before his friend was able to speak. Maddy was unaware of exactly who, or what, Qua'sel was. He had told her only that it was an alien parasite with healing abilities. He didn't want him interacting with her, scaring her, making her uncomfortable enough to leave.

Telling her things she wasn't ready to hear.

He listened to Maddy's voice as she read today's paper to Daniel. Did it effect his friend the way it did him? Like a warm, velvety blanket settling over him, honey-sweet and soothing, full of inflection and laughter and intimacy?

Jack turned into the kitchen and made himself a sandwich. Maddy's wedding soup simmered gently on the stove, filling the lodge with its wonderful aroma. The smell of baking bread made his mouth water.

The china cupboards on either side of the fireplace were still empty, the shelf above the cabinets bare of the roosters that used to peek down at him. He eyed the shelf, remembering exactly which figurine stood where. The collection that was packed away and stored in the upstairs of the barn. She had her laptop in her bedroom, a few changes of clothes, a single jewelry box that was mostly empty. Nothing more. Her houseplants and Bonnie were the only concession she made to stamping her presence on the lodge.

Jack sighed and tossed the sandwich back on the plate. Christmas was in two weeks and his plans for little romantic interludes were fast fading into a lonely ache.

She was pleasant enough, cheerful and polite, willing to chatter and laugh with him. But she kept a chaste distance, taking care not to let herself be caught without a means of escape. Jack let her think she was getting away with it. He didn't press, swallowed back the innuendo that was always on the tip of his tongue, pushed his hands into his pockets when the desire to touch her became overwhelming. The times when he neared the breaking point, ached to have her in his arms, craved the taste of her lips, he left the lodge.

Like now.

He got up, shrugged into his jacket, and picked his keys off the peg. Maddy's voice trailed off as she glanced up.

"I'm going into town. Need anything?" he asked.

"Cranberry juice."

A muffled groan came from behind the bandages. Maddy gave Jack a sheepish grin.

"Orange juice, too. And grated cheese for the soup."

"Make me a list."

She hurried into the kitchen for a pad and pen. He followed and nearly went through himself as she tapped the pen on her lower lip. He loved to nip at that lower lip, press it's softness between his, draw it into his mouth and worry it with his tongue ...

"Bonnie needs cookies. The little round ones that look like T bones."

"She wants to go with."

Maddy scowled. "It's awful cold for her to be sitting in the truck."

"I won't be long. I'll keep it warm for her."

Bonnie understood the conversation and began dancing around Jack's feet.

"Go to the door and wait for me," he told her.

Her toenails skidded on the floor as she rushed to obey. Maddy's laugh warmed him. They should be slipping into his bedroom, undressing each other, that laugh should be tickling his ear...

"Do you like cheesecake?"

He nodded dumbly.

"Cream cheese, eggs... Go into the bakery aisle and pick out what kind of topping you want. Just get pie filling. Cherry, blueberry..."

She was still talking but her voiced faded away as Jack's mind put his hands in her hair, his mouth on hers, his tongue halfway down her throat. He stepped forward and took the clip out of her hair.

"... of graham crackers. Plain, not cinnamon..." She stopped, froze, stared up at him uncertainly.

Jack dropped the clip into his pocket and shook out the tight roll of hair. God, her hair was so soft! It curled and twined around his fingers as if it had a life of its own. He stepped back before he could bury his face in it.

Maddy swallowed and caught her breath. "Better... get a... gallon of... milk..."

She'd be ready for him. He could see it in her face, taste it in her gaze. Hot, wet, slick... He snatched the list from her hand and bolted out the door.

When Jack dragged the enormous tree through the door Maddy jumped up to help. The smell of pine, the brisk, cold air mingling with freshly baked bread made Jack feel downright giddy.

"Holy cow is that gonna fit in here?" she laughed.

"We'll make room. We can always put the holder between Danny's feet..."

"Do you have a holder?"

"Tomorrow I'm taking you shopping. We'll get a holder, lights, decorations..."

"You don't have anything?"

He trapped her gaze. "It was all your stuff. Did you bring it?"

She looked away. "I shouldn't leave him..."

"The nurses will check in. You don't have to hold his hand twenty four-seven."

"Uuh-huhhh," came a muffled protest.

Maddy grinned at Jack. Daniel had just started trying to talk, trying to communicate with them.

"I got us eggnog," Jack told her. "If I spike it, will you forget which bed is yours?"

She narrowed her eyes and gave him a swat on the shoulder. But he caught her smiling as she turned away. In that instant Jack gave her until Christmas to kiss him. If she didn't, he was going to give her a Christmas Night she'd never forget. One that might just last until New Year's.

"Soup done?" he asked.

"I'll get you a bowl. The bread's ready, too."

Jack carried in the rest of the groceries and shrugged out of his coat. By the time he had his boots off she was setting a bowl of soup and a plate of warm, buttered bread on the coffee table. She brought in another bowl and sat down to spoon feed Daniel. How well he remembered her feeding him the same way. Sharing a cup of coffee with him. Giving him bites of warm cookie.

"Will you make me white chocolate macadamia nut cookies for Christmas?"

"Sure. You want ham or turkey for Christmas Day?"

"Ham," Daniel grunted.

"Lamb. On the grill. For Christmas Eve."

Daniel moaned in agreement.

Jack switched the TV channel and sat back to enjoy his snack. When Maddy came to sit on the opposite end of the couch he couldn't concentrate on the program. Finally he reached down and dragged her feet into his lap. Content to be touching her, he sat there massaging her feet as they laughed at the ridiculous sit com. But when it was over, when she had settled Daniel in for the night, when she had tidied the kitchen and turned out the lights, she went into her bedroom down the hall and firmly closed the door.

Chapter One Hundred Seven

Jack loved to shop with Maddy.

He hated shopping with a man's stereotypical impatience of a mundane chore. But Maddy hated it a tad more. Watching her face, observing the way her mind worked, was always a treat for him. She had a list, she knew her enemy, and she went on the attack the moment she walked through the doors. There was no window shopping, no browsing of enticing end caps, no ammunition wasted on aisles that weren't strategically advantageous to her agenda. She would hone in on a target, strike swiftly and efficiently, and move on to the next. The woman could read a label from ten paces and uncannily sniff out an ambush of percentage discounts.

She selected a hair clip off a peg and dropped it into the buggy. Jack waited until her back was turned then stuffed the clip into a gap between boxes of hair coloring.

He watched her stare at the overloaded shelves of Christmas decorations then turn to him at a loss.

"What colors do you like?" she asked. "What do you have in mind?"

"Taking you right here between Rudolph and the tinsel," he leered.

She blushed prettily. "Pick something out, Jack. I have boxes of this stuff somewhere. You're the one who needs it."

"Needing it more by the minute."

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Lights, Jack. Ornaments. Tinsel. Garland. Gimme something to work with."

"All you can handle."

"O'Neill!" she hissed. "Would you stop..."

Before she could finish the sentence he had her bent back over his arm and was kissing her breathless. Maddy squealed and clutched at his coat but before long it turned into a struggle for air.

As she gasped for breath, too stunned to react, he said, "My teachers called me O'Neill. My hockey coach called me O'Neill. My superior officers called me O'Neill. It's clinical and subjective, cold and distant. Well," he acquiesced, "Except when Teal'c uses it. You, however, will pay."

She blinked up at him. "I'm sorry?"

He grinned. "Oh, don't be sorry. I never am." He kissed her again then drew her upright and made a show of straightening her coat and smoothing her hair. She batted his hands away.

"Did we not come here to pick out decorations for your tree?"

His mood changed abruptly. "It's not my tree, damn it." He decided being irked was worth it when she touched his face.

"Okay. I promise not to be such a wet blanket. Point out something you like and we'll go from there."

They ended up with strings of teal, purple, and yellow lights, then chose a variety of ornaments and ropes of garland. Jack was satisfied with the effort when she began enthusing about decorating other parts of the lodge.

She stepped around the end cap to look at strings of bells and he swept most of a display of mistletoe into the cart.

Jack spent half the night tiptoeing around the lodge in the dark hanging sprigs of mistletoe. Every doorway, above the sink, on the shower head, above the couch, over the refrigerator, on the stove hood- every conceivable place Maddy might pause long enough for him to get his hands on her.

Daniel grunted as Jack was standing on the chair near the fireplace, trying to hook fishing line over an open beam in the ceiling.

"You awake?" he asked.

"What are... you... doing?" Daniel managed.

Jack looked up at the beam and grimaced. "Washing the windows on my airplane. You?"

"Grunting... all over... place? Maddy up?"

"Maddy's asleep and I want to leave it that way. If she hears you she'll come running."

"Doing?"

Jack sighed. He remembered all too well not being able to see. The total blackness had been a horror he pitied his friend enduring. He relented.

"Hanging mistletoe, Daniel."

"Me too?" he rasped hopefully.

He wanted mistletoe over his bed? Not on his life!

"It's not you I wanna kiss."

Daniel's croaking chuckle sounded painful. "Qua'sel says..."

"Screw Quasi. He lies."

Daniel fell quiet and Jack wondered what the Tok'ra was telling him. He flipped the fork tied to the fishing line over the beam and nearly hit himself in the head with it.

"Thank you."

Jack caught the fork and glanced at Daniel. He knew Daniel meant bringing Qua'sel to him. "Don't mention it."

"Took a... lot for you... to do that for... me."

"No- really don't mention it. Maddy doesn't know the whole story."

"Love her a lot."

Jack threw the fork again, looping the line around the beam. Who loved her a lot? Him or Daniel? Or Qua'sel?

"Quasi wasn't supposed to tell you stories," he griped. "I can suck that bastard outta you as easily as I coughed him into you."

Daniel made a sound might have been a chuckle. "It should... be that easy."

"He pisses me off enough and I'll sure as hell try."

"I like him."

"You would." Jack tied both ends of the line to a piece of mistletoe and stepped off the chair. "He getting you healed?"

"A lot. Inside. Can't see."

Jack winced. "Patience, Daniel."

"Coming from... you... funny."

"Can I get you anything?" Jack asked.

"Sit. Talk."

Jack moved Maddy's chair around so he could prop his feet on the rail of Daniel's hospital bed.

"What's on your mind?" he asked.

"Time line. All true."

"You doubted me?" Jack asked ironically.

"Sorta. ...Maddy. Love her a lot."

"Yep."

"Quas... So much. Hard to... absorb."

"Only believe half of what he says," Jack grunted. "If he tells you the other half I'll have to kill you all over again. Make more work for him."

"You took.... big risk... to save me."

Jack grimaced. "What, I should have let you ascend again? They might have kept you this time."

"You have... Maddy."

"Just because Quasi made me kiss you doesn't mean the two of you are interchangeable."

Daniel grunted. "Really bugs you."

Jack snorted. "And with half the base watching! Oy!"

Daniel laughed softly. "Thank you."

"You better mean thanks for Quasi. If you mean thanks for the kiss... listen, Daniel, I know I'm one hell of a kisser but..."

Daniel snuffled and groaned. "Stop making me... laugh. Hurts!"

"Go ahead," he boasted. "Tap into some of Maddy's thoughts about me. See who's laughing then."

"Have. Mind of... a child. Caveman. Ugh! Ough! ...ouch."

"Serves you right," Jack chortled. "I'm going to bed. Need anything?"

Daniel was still laughing and groaning in pain from it.

Jack woke up to the smell of Maddy's coffee and hot cakes. He jumped out of bed anxious to make use of his arsenal of mistletoe. But when he walked out of the bedroom he pulled up short. Each and every one of the mistletoe had a piece of masking tape across it with something written in black marker. He craned his neck to read the one above the chair beside the fireplace.

"Out Of Order."

Jack started to laugh. He headed for the kitchen.

Maddy was at the stove with her back to him. He reached past her and pulled the mistletoe off the exhaust hood. She turned to him with a smug grin. Jack tore off the tape and used it to stick the sprig to her forehead, then cupped her face and gave her a long kiss. It was a moment before she opened her eyes, then she blinked at him a few times.

"Can't you read?"

"I fixed it. Just a blown fuse. Needed to test it. Working just fine now. I'll have the rest repaired before breakfast."

"Suddenly you're a handyman? The toilet runs, the bathroom door sticks, this burner won't light, and there are five light bulbs..."

He kissed her again to shut her up.

"I'm a card-carrying member of the Love Maker's Union. If you want that other stuff done you'll have to file a petition to have it put in the charter. If you wanna bring it up at the next meeting, be in my bed by eleven tonight and we'll take a vote."

She tried to keep a straight face. When she couldn't hold it any longer she turned her back to him and giggled over the pancakes. Jack let her flip the cakes then turned her back for another kiss. She was laughing up at him, he could see the anticipation in her eyes, when he felt the familiar tingle of an Asgard transportation beam.

Thor blinked at him from behind the ship' s console.

"Greetings, O'Neill. We are unable to locate Loki. I need to access your memories with the hope that something in your previous time line will help us to..."

"Thor," Jack said with as much patience as he could muster, "I'll do whatever it is you want me to do. But you gotta beam me back down for a minute so I can explain all this to Maddy. She's gonna be freaked out."

"Freaked?" Thor echoed.

"And when I said 'minute', you know I don't mean that..."

He found himself staring into Maddy's wide eyes.

"...literally. Hi."

She caught a breath and did a double take. He reached out and kept her from falling back against the stove.

"I've only got a minute," he told her. "A buddy of mine needs to talk to me. He's gonna beam me back up to his ship. It's alright, I promise. Ask Daniel who Thor is. He'll tell you all about..."

Jack took an unsteady step and glanced impatiently at his watch.

"Was that sufficient time, O'Neill?"

"It'll have to be. What's this about Loki?"

"He has vanished. Sensors have picked up his ship's hyperspace signature in Earth's orbit. It is my belief that he has been here to examine your wife, O'Neill. He would be anxious to collect data on his experiment."

A chill swept Jack's spine. "How many times has he been here? When?"

"That I cannot tell you with any amount of accuracy. When you first summoned me to discuss the possibility that Loki had been involved in sending you back into your own past, I executed a sensor sweep of Earth's orbit and detected a signature. Before I left Earth I launched a signature probe. It has recorded at least five visits from an Asgard vessel from that time until now. Unfortunately the probe can only record signatures. It cannot alert me the moment a signature is detected due to the distance between..."

"So that little bastard has been popping in and out to check on Maddy?" Jack was instantly furious. And terrified. "Has he taken her aboard? Messed with her brain?"

"I have no way of answering your question, O'Neill, but that would be a reasonable assumption."

"She hasn't mentioned..."

"She may not be aware. Many humans have been taken and examined over the centuries without retaining any knowledge of the event. Have you found your wife to be missing for curious lengths of time?"

Jack grimaced. "It's complicated, Thor, but we've spent a lot of time apart. I'll question her about it. How do we catch the little bastard, put a stop to this bullshit?"

"I too am anxious to control these unsanctioned experiments."

There was something about the way Thor worded it that made Jack uneasy.

"Control?" He frowned as he mulled that over. Understanding dawned. "You want to sanction his time travel experiments?"

It was the first time Jack ever saw an Asgard actually sigh.

"There is vast potential in what Loki is attempting. He has a brilliant mind, O'Neill. If the memory implant technology can be perfected, made to survive the anomaly, the combination could indeed be the salvation of the Asgard race."

"You want to travel back and forth in time to defeat the Replicators."

Thor inclined his head. "Tactical errors can be corrected. Countered maneuvers can be anticipated and recalculated. Strategic efforts can be attempted repetitiously until the desired result is achieved. Fallen commanders can be consulted, informed, guided. Their wealth of experience as well as their miscalculations can be brought forward in time and contributed..."

"I get it," Jack interrupted. "But isn't it kinda dangerous to be diddling around in Asgard history like that?"

"We are on the verge of extinction, O'Neill. The High Council has reluctantly determined that survival of our race supersedes the potential for catastrophic revision of our history. Our numbers are dwindling. Many of our great minds have been lost to the Replicators. Loki's anomaly has the potential to offer us the opportunity of correcting flaws in our cloning technology. Perhaps give us the means of introducing much needed DNA from past Asgard specimens."

Jack was staggered by the enormity of it all. To think he and Maddy might be the key to the survival of a race as advanced as the Asgard almost made his irritation with Loki seem trivial. Almost.

"What do you need me to do?" he asked heavily.

"With your permission, O'Neill, I will download your memories from the past time line into the ship's data bank. Perhaps there is information in your future that will allow me to anticipate Loki's next objective."

Jack spread his hands wide. "It's too soon yet for him to snatch Maddy and implant the transportation device into her brain. That doesn't happen for another..."

Jack found himself laying in an Asgard stasis pod.

"Whoa! Why the..."

The lid sealed with a hiss and a mist began filtering around his face.

"...aww, crap."

A sudden lethargy made him feel as if he were swimming through Jello. His mind started to fog and a euphoric drowsiness dragged him into blissful unconsciousness.

Chapter One Ten

Jack blinked awake and stared up at the ceiling of Thor's ship. The pod hissed open and he sat up.

"Your cooperation is appreciated, O'Neill."

"You get what..." Jack finished the sentence for Maddy. From atop the kitchen table. He grimaced and worked the salt and pepper shakers out from under his thigh. His frown deepened as his fingers came away coated in butter. Maddy was gaping at him in astonishment.

"Pancakes done?" he quipped.

Her mouth was opening and closing soundlessly.

"I'm starved," he told her as he smeared butter across the table with his ass. "Let me go change and..."

"Jack," she said uncertainly, "You've been gone two days!"

"No pancakes?"

She touched his face with trembling fingers. "I was so worried. Daniel said you were okay, that this happens all the time, but..."

She worried about him! Jack wanted to jump up and kick his heels together.

"Yeah, well, when the Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet needs my help..." he said with absolutely no modesty at all.

"What did he need from you?"

"My memories. It seems we might be the key to the salvation of the entire Asgard race. Impressed?"

"Oh." She dropped her hand and searched his eyes. "We? As in humans in general... or you and I specifically?"

"You and me, Babe. Specifically. Think back. Do you remember losing time? Waking up an hour, or a day, later than you thought it should be? You were probably alone at the time."

Her expression told him everything he needed to know.

"A couple of times," she admitted. "Once I went to bed on a Tuesday and it was Friday when I woke up. I was really shocked, but I figured I was just exhausted." She scowled. "I wondered why I didn't pee the bed."

Jack grinned at that.

"Yeah, you laugh," she grumbled. "I lost my job over that. It wasn't easy getting another."

Jack sobered. "I'm sorry, Babe. Sorry for all of this." He raised her hand again and kissed her wrist, let his lips brush over her pulse as he held her gaze. She was leaning towards him, lips parted, her eyes soft and deep.

His cell phone rang.

It broke the spell. She drew back and blushed, dropped her lashes, turned and made busy work at the sink. Jack bit back an oath and answered the phone.

It was the delivery driver. Maddy's Christmas present was about to arrive. He shoved the phone into his pocket and grasped her shoulders.

"I need to go outside. I need you to promise you won't go near the garage." He kissed her neck then couldn't stop.

Maddy raised her shoulder and inched away. "The garage? You getting a spaceship or something? Top secret?"

"It is until Christmas. I'll be back in a minute. Stay away from the windows." He headed for the garage. "And the door!" he called over his shoulder. He turned abruptly and dashed back into the livingroom to turn the radio on. He cranked up the volume then paused beside Daniel's bed.

"Sorry, Danny. I'll turn it down when I get back."

"It's here?" he asked.

"Yep. Keep her occupied."

Jack watched with satisfaction as the bright red, fully restored, mint condition, antique Farmall M was backed into the garage. Maddy's favorite tractor. The one thing Jack had always meant to get for her but had never gotten around to. He had considered any number of gifts for her, had been anxious to rebuild their vast stock of motorized toys. He knew the exact pickup she'd want, her ideal model of horse trailer. The horsepower of the snowmobile she had talked him into, the size backhoe she wanted. But this, this would touch a special place in her heart. This was the tractor she grew up with, learned to drive on, treasured all her life. Fought with Tom to keep even when it would have cost a fortune to repair and rebuild. In the original time line this exact tractor had been lost to her. This time around he had leaped at the opportunity to preserve it for her. Had it shipped from the farm to a shop, and it almost hadn't been finished in time.

He paid the driver, closed the garage door, and walked around the tractor. It was still purring softy, the flapper on the stack fluttering lightly. It looked as if it had just rolled out of the factory, sounded as if it were calling to her. He shut it down and turned off the lights. Tickled with himself, grinning like a fool, he all but danced into the lodge.

Maddy kept giving him curious, doe-eyed glances. If she kept that up he wasn't going to be able to wait until Christmas Eve.

"You're gonna love it," he taunted. "Isn't she, Daniel?"

"If you... say so."

Jack smirked at him for Maddy's benefit. Maddy walked up and grabbed him by two hands full of shirt collar. He eyed her with all the delight of a mischievous boy.

"You can't make me tell," he taunted.

Oh please try! He ached to touch her, tickle her. He wanted to roll around on the floor with her, wrestle and play like they used to. Let her get the best of him and enjoy the way she...

She shook her head as she stood on tiptoe and gave him one of her special kisses. Jack's spine melted and his stomach did a triple flip. Before she had finished he sank into the chair. Maddy followed him down, her kiss still turning his brain inside out for him. He wasn't sure when she pulled back, was still floating, still scattered into a quivering mound of tingling sparkles. His eyelids didn't want to open.

"It's..."

Her finger touched his lips. He managed to open his eyes.

"Don't tell me."

"I thought..."

She shook her head. Her smile threatened to melt him again.

"That was a thank you, not an interrogation."

"You haven't seen it yet."

"I don't have to. Whatever it is, thank you. You're a wonderful man, Jack O'Neill."

His heart soared. It was already up there from that kiss, but he pictured it doing crazy flips through the clouds. He reached up and took the clip out of her hair. It cascaded around her shoulders and over his chest.

"So I'm like Sampson? All my allure is in my hair?"

He slowly shook his head. "I'd love you bald, Maddy. But since you're not..." He wound his hands in her hair and brought them to his face. "One rule in this house. No hair clips. No barrettes, bobby pins, rubber bands, scarves..."

"It's pretty damned hard to work with my hair all over the place. It gets in the way. In the food. In the dishwater..."

"I'll follow you around, hold it out of the way for you."

"I got it caught in a drill once. That hurt," she laughed as she tried to straighten.

He smushed both hands full of hair onto her head and used it to pull her down for another kiss. Daniel started to cough. Maddy pulled away and hurried to him. Jack watched from under a lowered brow. Had Daniel done that on purpose? Had Quasi?

He got up and stalked out of the room.

Irritation took him to the garage. He still had to prepare her gift and he needed something to do. He pulled a box out of his truck and started to unfurl the massive roll of twelve inch wide white satin ribbon.

Twenty minutes later Jack stood back and eyed his handiwork. The white ribbon went all the way around the tractor, then around its girth. The humongous white bow sat atop the gas tank. He decided the flapper on top of the exhaust needed a bow, too. Or better yet, tinsel cascading down around it. He was making another adjustment with the ribbon when an Asgard beam tore him away.

"Thor..." he started to complain but stopped short.

He was laying on an examination table of some sort, arms and legs firmly clamped. It was not Thor but Loki who was behind the control panel moving stones around the console. In the next instant Jack was unconscious.

Chapter One Eleven

Jack wondered why his bed felt so cold and hard. The furnace must have gone out and he wondered if Maddy was cold. He shivered and turned over, reached for the blanket and grabbed his head instead.

Pain. Right at the top of his head. A burning sensation. He sat up and forgot about his head.

Why was he sitting on the garage floor? Damn, it was cold! Shivering, he got up and stumbled when a wave of dizziness made his eyes roll. He blindly groped for the tractor and steadied himself. He must have fallen when he climbed up to put that damned tinsel on the exhaust pipe. He gingerly felt his head but his hand came away blood-free. No tenderness on his scalp, no gashes, no goose egg. The pain was inside, right on top. A fall like that onto cement should have cracked open even his hard head. He winced and let go of the bright red frame, then took a tentative step.

Maddy looked up from the paper she was reading to Daniel.

"Welcome back," she said calmly. "Thor have more questions for you?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jack winced at himself but didn't bother to apologize. Something was drastically wrong inside his skull. He fell onto the couch. "Check my head, wouldja? I think I smacked it on the garage floor."

At Maddy's startled look he scowled. "What? I fell. I think."

"Jack... Have you been in the garage all this time?" she gasped. "Oh my God I thought... We thought..."

She hurried around the back of the couch to poke through his hair.

"When you disappeared Daniel told me to call General Landry. He said Thor was in orbit so we just assumed..."

"Whaddya mean disappeared? I was only out there long enough to..."

"You've been gone two days. Just like last time."

He whirled around to stare at her. "Two... No, I just went out there to..."

"Jack, that was two days ago. I opened the door- I didn't look!- I opened the door and hollered for you. Then I checked the barn. General Landry said there was an Asgard ship in orbit and he spoke to Thor so we weren't worried. What happened? You were with Thor again, right?"

"No, damn it, I was laying on the friggin' cold garage floor!"

She dropped her arms around his neck and laid her head against his. The gesture eased his pain.

"I'm so sorry! Thor said you were with him so..."

"All I remember is when he beamed me up to question me... about Loki. Then going out to the... Son of a bitch!" He pulled her arms free and grabbed the phone. "Get me Landry!" he barked.

"Jack?" Daniel asked.

"I'm going to the base. If what I think... Hank, I'm headed to the base. Have Lam set up to scan my head. And check orbit for an Asgard ship. I think Loki's been up to his bullshit again."

He hung up and turned to Maddy. "You're coming with. Daniel, you'll be alright alone for a couple hours. If we're any longer, I'll send someone up."

"What...?"

"Ask Quasi." He grabbed Maddy's hand and barely let her snatch a coat off the hook. Then he remembered the tractor. "Wait here. I'll get the truck."

Dr. Lam tapped the computer screen. "You have a foreign object about the size of a BB right in the..."

"Son of a bitchin' little grey rat bastard!" Jack bolted from the exam room leaving Maddy, Landry, and Lam gaping at each other. Landry started for the door after him.

"Can I come too?" Maddy asked.

Landry hesitated then turned and scowled at her. "He's already shown you more than he should have, told you too much. Damage is done."

Maddy jumped up and hurried after him. They found Jack pacing the control room.

"Thor isn't answering!" he bellowed. He clamped his hand on the top of his head and started swearing.

"Jack, simmer down and tell me what the hell is going on," Landry demanded.

Jack glanced around then jerked his chin at the door. "Your office."

"Yes, Sir!" Landry barked, clicking his heels smartly.

Jack gave him a withering look as he stormed past.

Landry took his chair before Jack could claim it. "What the hell's going on?"

"You spoke to Thor? Directly?" Jack demanded.

"Yes. He wasn't in a talkative mood, but we had visual and audio."

"What did he say? Exactly?"

"I asked if you were aboard. He said 'yes'. Then he closed communications. I assumed the two of you were busy."

"Hank, can you tell Loki from Thor? Or any other Asgard for that matter?"

Landry gave him a disgusted smirk. "Can you? Why would I have any reason to think it wasn't Thor?"

"Because it wasn't! That gray runt bastard implanted me with the transportation device he put inside Maddy's head in the first time line!"

Maddy stared at him in shock.

Landry rocked back. "What transportation device?"

Jack took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. He related the entire story. "I wasn't on the look-out for him because it's too soon. But last time he admitted he'd been looking for me when he found Maddy. She has a lot of the same advanced DNA- and the Ancient gene- that I do. So when I wasn't available he took her instead. Apparently this time he found me first!" He pressed on the top of his head and winced. "Son of a bitch!"

"For an experiment?" Landry scowled. "In mental transportation? Carter tried to explain something about it in conjunction with the anomaly but..." He trailed off with a grimace and motioned with his hand over the top of his head.

Jack scrubbed his hands over his face, muffling his voice. "She could beam just about anything just about anywhere."

Maddy looked from one to the other, her mouth hanging open.

"Can we have it removed?" Landry asked.

"Nope. It's growing in there. Growing all these little tentacles that are wrapping themselves around my brain." The very thought made his scalp crawl and itch. "Integrating." He shuddered and vigorously scratched his head with both hands. "Ahhh! Ah!"

Maddy was staring at him with morbid curiosity. He dropped his hands and started to form an apology. Then a slow, evil grin spread across his face, lighting his eyes with a diabolical gleam that made Landry cringe.

"Oh, Baby, pay backs are a bitch!"

Maddy's eyes widened and she darted a glance at Landry. He spread his hands helplessly.

"Don't look at me. I only get to live through this once."

Chapter One Twelve

"She was changing the oil in the tractor when he took her in the last time line," Jack told Daniel. "Weird how a tractor was involved both times. I guess this is when he first started looking for me- and this time he found me."

"Qua'sel says... this will change a lot... of events."

Jack shrugged. "What choice do I have? The implant is growing into my brain. I eventually had Loki dampen its ability for Maddy's own protection, but he never was able to shut if off or remove it."

"What are you gonna do?"

"Drive Maddy as nuts with it as she did me. Have a lots and lots of fun."

Daniel snorted. "Qua'sel is giving... me your memories of..."

"Easy," Jack warned. "Just the basics, Quasi."

Daniel's voice changed into that of the Tok'ra symbiote. "You will have the means of protecting her from much, O'Neill. But she will have no means of protecting herself from you. Use caution, my friend. She is not the same woman you remember. This Madison has not yet tapped the courage and boldness we both treasured, not yet unleashed the wild spirit within her heart."

"Is it even there? Fifteen extra years with Tom has worn her down, smothered her."

"When first released from bondage, one's body cannot immediately function at full capacity. It is the same with the heart. There will be a period of adjustment, a slow awakening of the spirit. It has not yet dawned on her that she can unfurl the wings of her spirit and set free her wild nature. You have robbed her of the years necessary for her to learn of her true self. The time spent shouldering the responsibility and demands of her family by herself greatly influenced her self confidence and strength. Did you not often desire her to be more subdued, more cautious? This Madison should delight your need for peace and tranquility."

"I wanted her to be more careful. Not subdued. I loved her wild streak."

"Yet you fretted over her safety. Chafed at the idea that she didn't need you."

Jack stared at his feet, his thoughts running deep. "I love her just as much," he said softy. "If these changes will save her from going through... so much... I'll take it."

"I know you have sufficient patience within you, O'Neill. Take care, in your endeavor to win her heart, that you do not smother her spirit as her first husband did, her father before that. You risk much by pressing her so soon. It will be hard for her to climb out of the furrow when all her life she has bent into the yoke, kept her head down, and learned to expect nothing more from life."

"It was a mistake to keep Boch from stranding us on Nirrti's planet," Jack sighed.

"What is done is done," Qua'sel counseled. "You have the opportunity to mold and shape her as you wish. Decide how much of her spirit you wish to endure then act accordingly."

Jack glared at him, then realized Qua'sel couldn't see it any more than Daniel could.

"That would make me no better than the other men in her life! I want Maddy to be Maddy- not a Stepford Wife!"

"Daniel has explained the reference. I share your concern. But many of the events which shaped and influenced her have not transpired- many more will not ever happen because you will protect her. In sparing her, you will alter her character. You are the potter, she is clay in your hands. Use caution, O'Neill. It is a mistake for you to pressure her too quickly into the relationship you so desire. Many of the traumatic episodes you intend to spare her from were instrumental in her learning to trust you. Without those you will have to find other means of proving yourself worthy of her trust and confidence."

Jack thought about that, understood the Tok'ra's reasoning. But even a day without her was unacceptable. Maddy would evolve into whomever she became and he'd love her. If changes in her would keep him from nearly losing her time after time, keep him from chasing her all over the galaxy, keep her from being nearly raped to death and becoming a slave to Meret and Ba'al... No Nautilus this time. No job in the commissary. No man-eating spiders or dinosaurs or tattoos... well, he kinda liked the tattoos.

Jack shifted and scraped his teeth over his upper lip. He had the transportation ability now. There was so much he could do with it! He could transport himself out of the ice cavern after he saved Atlantis from the Repli-Wraith. Hell, he could transport the drones to the stargate and alert Atlantis to be on the alert. He could transport SG1 off Trygar Nine. He could kick Ba'al off Earth with just a thought. He could beam Maddy into his arms any time he wanted. Beam her into the waterfall when she was mad, or back to him when she stormed away.

He could keep her from leaving the lodge when Daniel was back on his feet.

He wondered if there was a way to beam her in love with him.

'Absolute power corrupts absolutely.'

Jack scowled at his own conscience as the full weight of his new capability settled onto his shoulders. The power it gave him was staggering. Was he man enough to keep himself in check? He had bitched and fussed and worried over Maddy having this same ability, this same degree of power, and only now did he fully appreciate her judgment and self control.

Maddy blew through the door on a blast of icy wind and shouldered it closed. Bonnie shook snow all over Jack then cuddled up to the fireplace.

"Phew! What a snowstorm! I couldn't see my own tracks coming back up the lane." She unwound the muffler and draped it over a hook. "The horses are all snug and cozy, munching away. I stacked the porch full of firewood and walked down to get the mail."

"I would have walked with you," Jack protested.

She was shaking snow off her coat. "You're all warm and toasty- I was already out. You'll need to order a load of wood, Jack. The pile's nearly gone."

"Come over here."

She rubbed her hands together and blew on them. "I need a hot cup of tea. Want one?"

"I want you. C'mere."

She started for the kitchen then turned with a devilish twinkle in her eye. Jack braced himself.

Maddy threw herself at him and worked her icy hands up under his shirt. He grunted and tried to jerk them away. She giggled and buried her cold face into his neck. Jack rolled her onto the floor and she moved her hands onto his back. He grabbed two fists full of hair and brought her mouth up to his. She slipped her hands into the back of his waistband. Jack growled at her and started tickling. She squirmed and squealed, then worked a viciously cold toe into his pants dug his fingers between her ribs until she was gasping for breath.

"Stop!" she pleaded. "Ohhh, stop it!"

Jack sat up, pinning her between his knees. He couldn't resist her when she fought him. But when she got his zipper down and snaked a hand inside he yelped and rolled out of her reach.

"I just wanted to warm my hands," she laughed.

"Not there you aren't!" He tugged the zipper up and reached for her again.

She crabbed away and gained her feet. He swiped for her ankle but she danced out of his reach and went into the kitchen. Bonnie rolled over and exposed her belly for him. He gave her a rub and headed for the kitchen. Maddy turned to him, her face serious.

"Jack... What's it all mean, that thing inside your head?"

He scooped her against him and gave her some of his body heat. "It means," he said between quick kisses, "That you can't get away from me. As soon as I learn how to use it, all I'll have to do is think you into my arms and you'll be there."

Her eyes shifted away. "What if I don't want to be... wherever you send me?"

"Tough." He felt her stiffen, felt the abrupt distance he saw in her eyes."Maddy, I need you to help me with this. Last time, you had this implant. You were so level headed and in control with it. I need you to help me keep my head screwed on straight."

"Me? How?"

"I trust your judgment, your common sense. I need you to ground me."

"You're grounded. Go to your room!"

"No nookie for a whole day?" he grinned.

She flashed her eyes at him. "I was thinking more along the lines of no supper."

"Okay- if I can have nookie."

She clicked her tongue and tried to move away. He pulled her back.

"Babe, when your implant first started working stuff kept appearing- and disappearing. You couldn't control it. Help me through that? Don't get spooked and run away, okay?"

"Are you gonna keep beaming me into your bed?"

"Not if you're already there."

She huffed and turned away. He watched her fiddle with the tea bag.

"Know what I want for Christmas?" he asked quietly.

Her head moved to the side and her shoulders slumped. "I suppose you want me to figure out how to wrap it. What color bow do you want?"

That hurt, and it made him angry. He spun her around and trapped her against the counter. Her eyes were dull, resigned as she looked up at him. He resented that he saw Tom's shadow in their depths.

"I want you. But damn it, when you come to me I want it to be because you want to. Not because you feel obligated."

"Then what was it you were going to ask for?"

"I want you to tell me you'll stay. That you'll start moving in your things, make this your home. That you won't leave when Daniel doesn't need you anymore."

"And the balance between living here and not paying the rent in your bed is where, exactly? Housework? Cook and clean for you, do your laundry..."

He smacked his palms on the counter and made her jump. "I don't need a friggin' maid! Marry me, Maddy. If you never fall in love with me, isn't the life I can give you better than struggling? Better than working two jobs, being exhausted and never quite meeting the bills? Better than being alone?"

She tried to swallow the tears that leaped into her eyes. "Living with a man who's on a first name basis with aliens? Never knowing when a spaceship is gonna land on the roof like Santa Clause? Having people I'm becoming friends with end up like Daniel and Cam on a regular basis? Do these aliens eat horses, Jack? Dogs? Will they take Bonnie and do some weird experiment on her? On me?"

His anger faded as quickly as it had flared and he smoothed a hand over her head.

"I know you're scared. This is all new to you, hard to grasp. But you loved it last time, loved me..."

She ducked under his arm and paced to the window. "I'm not her! I can't love anybody, Jack. I'm dead inside. I don't believe in 'love' and wouldn't want to go through it again if I did."

"I changed your mind last time you said that."

She whirled on him. "Will you stop that? I can't deny the things you know about me, can't tell myself I don't believe this crazy story of yours. But damn it, Jack, stop throwing this other woman up to me! I don't know her, I don't wanna be her for you, I don't care! This isn't my home, I'm not in love with you, and I don't want any part of aliens and space travel and friends who are constantly in danger!"

Jack studied the fire in her eyes, the stubborn set of her jaw, and he nodded. "Then I'm giving you fair warning. You're here to stay. If you try to leave I'll beam you back, have an SF team drag you back, or I'll have Thor bring you back. You're connected to me now, Maddy. You aren't safe anywhere and if I can't see you I can't protect you. Wrap your hard head around that. You can either move in and get comfortable or you can fight me every step of the way, but leaving here is not an option."

"What if you fall in love with somebody? Do I still get to be the maid?"

He ground his teeth together for a moment. "I'm already in love with somebody, Maddy. She's stubborn and principled and gun shy. She fought being in love with me the first time and it didn't do her a damn bit of good."

"And she wound up getting sent back in time, into her own past with no memory of any of it ever happening! Why the hell didn't you protect her from that? What the hell good will it do to keep me here when this is where it all started? I have a chance to change my future and I don't want any part of what you've been telling me!"

Jack tried to think past the sting of her words, past his panic at losing her. She was afraid. Overwhelmed. Alone. More than anything else he saw her incredible loneliness. Tom hadn't been good to her, or good for her. But she hadn't been alone. She'd had to battle him to hold together every minute part of herself. Not having that battle gave her nothing to fight for and she was looking past the time when Daniel needed her to when she'd be set adrift. No farm to fight to keep. His Maddy needed to fight, needed something pushing against her so she could keep pushing wasn't offering her respite, he was robbing her of any feeling of worth or ability or strength. In giving her the world he risked taking away her reason for living in it. And that reason wasn't him, not yet.

"What if I fall in love with somebody?" she asked at length.

"You don't believe in love."

She flipped her hand impatiently. "For the sake of argument."

"It'll kill me. Then you and him will have this place all to yourselves. For the sake of argument, of course."

She sighed at him and turned back to the window.

"The sooner you accept it, Madison Elaine, the sooner you'll settle down and be happy. This is the way it has to be."

"Because I loved you in another lifetime?" she snorted.

"Because you aren't safe anymore. The minute Tom wrecked that rig on my lane and we met, your course was set. There are people out there, human and otherwise, who will come after you because they can use you to get to me."

She turned slowly and stared at him. "Who are you?" she whispered.

"I used to be an island," he returned ironically. "You can marry me or not, fight this or not, be happy or not. Whatever you decide, you'll do it here."

"You aren't responsible for me."

"Sometimes, Maddy, it feels like I'm responsible for the whole friggin' universe. Your water's boiling."

Chapter One Thirteen

Jack watched Maddy lead Daniel out onto the deck. Brilliant sunshine offered his friend its warmth but not its light.

"Let me put your glasses on for you," Maddy urged.

Daniel snorted derisively. "What's that gonna do?"

"You're used to wearing them," she reasoned. "They'll give you confidence, keep you balanced." She tucked her arm through his and matched his pace as if they were strolling along a scenic boardwalk.

In a way, Jack thought, they were. A handsome couple out for a romantic stroll, Maddy both leading and leaning on Daniel.

She'd been leaning on him a lot since their heated discussion in the kitchen the day before Christmas. He vowed that next Christmas wouldn't be so strained, so lonely for either of them.

"I read a story once, about a horse that ran a grist mill all his life," Maddy was saying. "Wearing just a halter attached to the pole, he plodded in the same small circle, around and around, until one day they tore apart that old mill. They didn't need the horse anymore so they took off his halter and turned him out in the pasture. But the old horse found a tree he could walk around. He walked around and around, every day, made an identical path around that tree. There was no pole to move, no stone to grind grain, no halter keeping him there."

"So am I an old nag ready for pasture, or the rut he was plodding in?"

"You're a creature of habit- we all are. We learn things we never let go of and we need those things to help us feel anchored, feel right and steady. I get up every morning and pray. You got up every morning and put on your glasses. You didn't feel complete until you did."

Jack smiled and recast his line.

"I put them on so I could see." Daniel wasn't whining. But he was trying a little too hard to be a little too realistic. To Jack it seemed as if he was trying to be tough, macho, for Maddy.

"There are many kinds of sight, Grasshopper," she said with a really bad attempt at an accent. It sounded like she said 'glasshoppa'.

Daniel laughed softly, easily. "Where are they?"

Maddy guided his hand to the rail. "I'll be right back."

She went through the door and Jack heard the phone ring. He glanced at Daniel, narrowed his eyes at the small smile playing across his friend's face.

"Quasi say something funny?" he asked darkly. "Because I know that smile isn't on account of my wife."

"She's not your wife yet," Daniel retorted.

"Actually she is, regardless of the time line. I'd advise you to think of her as my wife too, Daniel."

"She doesn't think that way." Daniel turned his face in Jack's direction. "You've never been a patient man, Jack. How long are you gonna wait?"

"I'm not waiting on anything." Jack played aimlessly with the line so he didn't have to look at Daniel's sightless eyes. "Maddy's mine. She just hasn't accepted it yet."

"Qua'sel thinks you may have caused irreparable damage to the future. All of our futures. You should have dug a hole and crawled into it for twelve years."

"Yeah, leave two injured people bleeding in their wrecked truck. Next time I'll just drive by and pretend I don't notice."

"After that, Jack. When you realized you were reliving your own past. You should have laid low. Who knows what you've done? To any of us?"

"You blame your condition on me?"

"No... Not exactly. But Qua'sel gave me your past. I know that if Boch had kidnapped you and Maddy, Cam and I wouldn't have confronted that particular prior. Sam and I would have been searching for you, Cam would have been aboard the Odyssey in another quadrant..."

"If you know all that, then you know how I feel about Maddy. And how she feels about me."

"You might have ruined that, too," Daniel said gently. "I wonder, in the future you came from, if I ever found Sam?"

"You're giving me a headache," Jack grumbled. "Talk about something else."

"Maddy?"

"Only if you wanna plan our wedding."

"Your fourth?"

Jack grunted at that. "I'm beginning to think I need to put a preacher on retainer."

Maddy breezed back out onto the deck. "That was Sam. She's back from Atlantis and is coming for supper. Dr. Lam is going to let Cam come, too." She touched Daniel's face. "I'm right here." She gently slipped on his glasses.

He smiled at her. "Feel better?" he quipped.

"Much. The horses are right by the fence. Feel up to walking that far?"

"Sure. Maybe my magic glasses will let me see them."

Jack watched them walk, arm in arm, across the yard. It was bad enough Daniel was feeling so close to Maddy because she was taking care of him. Add Qua'sel's interest in Maddy into the mix...

"Damn it."

He reeled in his line and adjusted the spoon. He knew this lure wouldn't work. He didn't want to catch anything, just needed to keep busy. Daniel was right. He had meddled in all their futures. But his meddling had saved Daniel's life, maybe Qua'sel's, and there was no better nurse in the world than his Maddy. Daniel should be grateful to him.

Instead of trying to steal his wife!

A tug on the line surprised him. He sat forward and peered into the clear water. A huge trout was trying to swim away with his lure. Jack absently beamed the fish off the hook and sat back. His biggest desire at the moment was to beam Daniel into the lake. See if his magic glasses could make him swim.

Chapter One Fourteen

Maddy was bustling around the kitchen. Jack leaned against the refrigerator and watched. That bandana needed to come out of her hair. He knew she worried about getting hair in the food, but he didn't care.

"What're we having?" he asked.

She started and turned, gave him one of her dazzling smiles and stopped his heart. With the sunlight reflecting off the lake behind her, she glowed with the aura that always enthralled Jack. Filled him with a sense of awe.

"Orange pineapple chicken over fried rice."

"With cashews?"

She raised her eyebrows. "I've made it for you before?"

He nodded. "Don't tell Hank or we'll never be rid of him."

"Shall I make him eat blindfolded?"

"He's coming too?"

"And Vala and Teal'c. Would you mind moving the big picnic table onto the deck and setting up the umbrellas? The sun is gonna be right in our eyes."

"What time are they coming?"

"I told Sam about seven. Hank wants to wait for SG5 to get back."

It was starting. Jack felt an overwhelming sense of panic. Maddy was being sucked into the SGC- without him. He accessed the situation with an eye to turning an ambush into a rout.

"You have time to unpack your glass plates. And your stemware. I'll make a wine and beer run."

Maddy loved to throw a colorful, classy party. No paper plates and plastic silverware for her. She liked her friends to feel like she'd gone the extra mile- used the good china- in their honor. If it was only an informal cookout. It was part of how she pampered and spoiled all of them, let them know they were special to her.

"And my good table clothes." She clasped her hands excitedly. "And my stained glass candle holders..." Her expression froze and she stared hard at Jack.

He knew she understood the implication. This was the first step to unpacking everything and moving in. Permanently. He held her gaze patiently, watched the battle rage in her eyes. Stubbornness pushing against the life she had been settling into without realizing it. Jack wasn't sure which side he was rooting for. He wanted her here, but he wanted her to himself, apart from the SGC and SG1.

Apart from Daniel until after he had won her heart.

The alternative was losing her to the farm in Ohio, a life of struggle and loneliness, away from Daniel's boyish charm and helplessness. A life where she would be safe. Until Ba'al or Aris Boch or Loki or the Lucian Confederacy tracked her down and used her to get to him. Until he couldn't stand being apart from her and went after her himself.

"I need some things from the store," she finally murmured. "Will you...?"

"Make me a list. I'll move the table before I go. We'll need more than one. Your round glass one in the garage?"

She nodded. "Thank you. It probably needs hosed off."

When Jack returned from the store Maddy was just taking her glassware out of the dishwasher. He decided to play it cool, not let her see his elation. But when she gave him a shy glance from under her lashes he swept her into his arms and kissed her breathless. So much for plan A.

Jack watched Maddy entertain SG1. She had coaxed Daniel into eating with them, sat beside him and subtly guided him through the embarrassing moments. She wasn't quite comfortable with them yet, was just getting to know them, feeling her way as blindly as Daniel. When Cam's defribullator went off and sent him crashing over backwards in his chair, she didn't panic.

Later that night, with Daniel snoring softy in his hospital bed, Jack caught her wrist and tugged her down onto the couch. She dropped beside him with a tired sigh.

"You're amazing," he told her. When he put his arm around her, pulled her against his shoulder, she came willingly. He stroked her hair and planted a kiss on her forehead. "I love you."

"Still?"

He chuckled and shifted into a more comfortable position. "Always."

"You've been so good to me. To Daniel."

"Reward me?"

He felt her tense. "How?"

"Stay. Unpack your life, Maddy. Let the farm go."

She looked up at him. "Fall in love with you?"

"Just don't fall for Daniel."

Her brow wrinkled. He died a little inside.

"I thought you were my destiny."

"I am. I just don't want to have to kill Daniel in the process."

She started to laugh then sobered at his look. "You're... serious?"

He shrugged. "I won't let anything keep us apart. Not even him."

"He's your friend! Look at everything you've done for him..."

"You're my life. I'll do anything for you."

"Except let me go."

"Except that. Do you really want to go, Maddy? Is the life I want to give you worse than what you had? What you can provide for yourself?"

"You're an incredible man, Jack O'Neill. I thought it was all a front, a show to get me hooked. It's not, is it?"

"Am I someone you could fall in love with? This time around, anyway?"

She dropped her eyes. "I'm getting there."

Those three little words erased all his panic, his jealousy, and his angst. Patience was paying off. He lifted her chin and gave her a long, slow, deliberate kiss. But being Jack he couldn't let it go at that. He had to push.

"Don't you think it's time to give Daniel his own room?"

Her lips were still parted, her eyes still closed. It took a moment for his words to sink in. Her eyes flew open.

"He's gonna sleep with you?"

Jack grinned at her. "No, you are. So he can have that room."

"Give him yours and you sleep on the couch."

"There'd still be someone sleeping in the living room."

She worried her lower lip. It fascinated Jack and he couldn't take his eyes off it. He finally had to taste it.

"Jack... I'm just not ready to..."

"I promise not to pressure you," he told her. "I won't seduce you if you don't insist on a bundling board."

She laughed at him.

"Just sleep with me, Maddy. Curl up in my arms, snore in my ear, maybe scratch my back..."

"Do you sleep naked?"

"I will if you will."

She smirked at him. "You won't keep that promise."

"To sleep naked? I can hardly keep clothes on around you in public..."

"No, silly, the promise not to pressure me."

"I'll never pressure you, Maddy. Seduce you, yes. But never force or pressure you. I want you to love me, not just have sex."

She laid her head on his shoulder. "I guess I left my morals in Ohio, with the farm."

Was that a 'yes'?

"Babe, I keep telling you- we are married. In God's eyes, where it counts. We can do this backwards. Start out sleeping together like an old married couple who've lost interest in sex, have the wedding when you're ready, then spend the rest of our lives in a perpetual honeymoon."

She raised up and peered into his eyes. "Why are you so patient? I have the feeling that if I asked you to go jump in the lake right now, you'd do it."

"I would. You're my world, Maddy. My life." He gathered her close and sighed across the top of her head. "You don't know everything we've been through. You saved me, Babe. Rescued me from myself. I'd lived several lifetimes I didn't deserve, survived things I never should have, but nothing had any meaning until I met you. I have no goals, no agenda, no dreams that aren't center on you. However you need to do this, whatever time it takes is fine with me as long as you don't leave." He squeezed her tightly. "Don't ever leave me."

She kissed his jaw and worked her way to his lips. He caught a glimpse of her tears before her kiss turned him into mindless jelly.

Chapter One Fifteen

Jack concentrated on Carter's blonde head and beamed her out of the quicksand. She materialized beside him still trying to claw her way free. Jack grabbed her arms and gave her a shake.

"Carter! You're safe!"

Her eyes came into focus and she took a couple of deep, harsh breaths.

"General? Thank you, Sir," she panted. "That was a close one."

"Where's the rest of your team?"

They heard sporadic gunfire off to their left. Carter's weapons were coated in blue slime. Jack gave her his P90 then palmed his zat.

"Clean that weapon when you get back to base, Colonel. Hell of an example you're setting for your team."

Carter grinned at him as she set off in the direction of the gunfire. "Yes, Sir. But I've been a bit blue..."

Jack grinned at her blue slimed ass as she darted into the lead. They came up on Teal'c's flank. The big Jaf'fa whirled his staff weapon.

"Teal'c! It's us," Jack cautioned.

"It is good to see you, O'Neill."

Jack peered through the heavy brush. "What seems to be the problem here?"

"First contact, Sir," Carter answered. "They aren't friendly."

"Where's the rest of your team?"

"Captured," Teal'c intoned. "ValaMalDoran was the last to be taken."

Jack's mouth quirked. "Then pull up a stump and wait. They won't keep her for long."

Sam snickered. "They've got a stronghold just over the river."

"They have retracted the bridge," Teal'c told him. "We will need a ship to ring them aboard."

"Ah. Come on," Jack said as he plunged into the brush.

Carter and Teal'c traded skeptical glances as they followed.

The river was a raging torrent of muddy water.

"I don't see any way..." Carter's words trailed off as Jack disappeared.

He reappeared on the opposite bank and a moment later they were standing beside him.

"Impressive, O'Neill," Teal'c commented.

"Loki's implant?" Carter asked.

"No, Carter, I wiggled my nose. You know the lay of this place?" He looked back and up at the high stone turrets, gauging whether or not to attempt to beam on top of them.

"Not too well," Carter answered. "There's a gate on the far side. That's as much as I know."

Jack made a decision. "Get back to the gate and hold it. I'll get the team and meet you there."

"Sir? What..."

In the next moment Teal'c and Carter were standing on the other side of the river. She called something to him and he waved her off then started around the stronghold. When he came to the massive iron and wood gate he used the zat to knock politely. A partition in the inner door slid open and a watery blue eye peered at him.

"You've got some of my friends in there. I'd like them back."

The panel slammed closed. Jack whistled a lively tune as he waited. In a bit the door crashed open and a horde of armed and armored goliaths grabbed him by the arms and legs. He was carried bodily inside. When he was dumped on his ass in the dust he saw Vala and five team members on their knees, their heads and wrists locked in wooden stocks. Vala gave him a disgusted grimace and flipped a hand at him.

"This everybody?" he asked her.

A guard slammed the butt of a weapon into his temple for his trouble. Jack crumpled onto his side.

He woke with a raging headache, his neck clamped painfully between two rough hewn planks.

"General? Are you alright?" Vala called softly.

"A little gas," he snarled. "You?"

"A bit crampy."

Jack grimaced and didn't linger on whether she had meant 'cramped' or if she was telling him she actually had the cramps. He rolled his eyes to see how many of the team were with them.

"This everybody?" he asked.

"Colonel Carter and Teal'c didn't get captured. Rimes isn't here. They took him about an hour ago."

Jack debated. Should he beam the others to the gate now, or wait until they were all present and accounted for? Probably the lot of them disappearing would result in Rimes being tortured and him getting another rap on the head. He decided to wait and turned his thoughts to Maddy as a distraction from his discomfort.

She had moved into their bedroom, had been sleeping with him, had even made love to him, but she still seemed uncomfortable. He had the uneasy feeling she felt she was paying a debt. She spent a lot of time by herself, staring out over the lake, deep in thought. Jack knew she was praying. Guilt would ride her mercilessly. If she'd only agree to marry him- or accept that they were already married- they could get on with their lives.

Again.

Daniel was improving more every day. Qua'sel felt he could fully heal him and Jack wondered why he hadn't healed Daniel's sight. Wouldn't that be a priority? Unless the crafty Tok'ra had an ulterior motive- and that motive could only be Maddy. She wouldn't fuss over Daniel nearly as much if he was able to see. And Daniel wouldn't have such an ideal excuse to put his hands on her. What were they doing while he was rescuing Carter and her team? Was Qua'sel using Daniel to woo his wife?

Bently Rimes was dragged back into Jack's line of vision. The burly young man was unconscious, beaten to a pulp, and bleeding profusely. Vala was staring at him intently.

"That everybody?" he asked.

He got a wicked bash across the face for his effort. Stars exploded behind his eyes and a sharp pain shot through his head. He managed to look up at Vala.

She nodded at him.

Jack closed his eyes and, one by one, transported the team to the stargate. Vala was the only one left when a wave of dizziness nearly made him black out. Their captors were shouting and pointing. One began unlocking Vala's stocks. She gave Jack an imploring look. He could only imagine what these barbarians would do to a woman. He had to stay conscious long enough to get her to the gate. He clenched his teeth, concentrated, and Vala disappeared. Then everything went black.

Pain woke Jack. His head was fuzzy, his brain was burning, his body hurting in so many places he couldn't pinpoint them all. He was naked, cold and wet, chained by the wrists and ankles to a stone wall. It felt like the transportation device in his head was on fire. Movement caught his eye and he remained still, not wanting to instigate another round of torture by alerting them that he was awake. He needed to rest the implant before he could beam himself to the gate.

Another bucket of icy water was dashed over him. He couldn't stifle the gasp that was torn from his throat.

A behemoth of a man in spiked leather straps dropped the wooden bucket and began rattling among metal objects on a heavy plank table. Spiked leather straps crisscrossed a grotesque body covered in nothing else but scars and coarse red hair. Matted, clotted, vermin infested hair that covered everything except what Jack really didn't care to see. When he turned around it was obvious that the ogre was delighted to see Jack. Bulging, almost white eyes looked in opposite directions so that he had to tilt his head oddly to leer at him. He held up what looked like a pair of tongs with sharp spines on the inside- spines that were stained with blood. He tapped them together suggestively and grinned with his gums.

"What do you wanna know?" Jack asked in a reasonable tone. "I'll talk your ear off."

The freakish giant grinned stupidly and flipped the leather straps over so the spikes were pointed towards his skin. Then he hauled on the ends so the sharp points disappeared into the gross mat of hair and dug deeply into his hide. His delighted sigh washed over Jack's face in a fetid wave of putrefied flesh that had to be rolling right up out of his stomach.

Jack decided it wasn't up to him to point out who was supposed to be getting tortured here. It became clear, though, that the monster knew their respective roles when he reached for Jack's privates.

Jack closed his eyes and feverishly pictured himself at the stargate.

Nothing happened.

He felt the clamminess of the man's hand on him, the sharp prick of those spines where he wanted to feel them the least. His stomach tightened and he gritted his teeth. This time when he concentrated he fazed in and out but didn't transport.

His torturer stepped back in surprise, his deranged face frozen in shock. Jack took a long, deep breath, closed his eyes, and tried again.

He fell to a heap beside the DHD and lay there gasping as relief joined forces with the transportation device in an attempt to drive him into unconsciousness.

"...General. Hang on, Sir."

Carter. He felt her warm hand on his shoulder, heard the gate power up, then everything went black again.

Chapter One Sixteen

"General O'Neill. Can you hear me?"

Lam. Warmth. Light. He came awake with a start, sat bolt upright, and whipped the blankets aside. Everything was still intact and where it belonged. No blood, no pain, no shredded flesh, no bandages. He heard a snicker and fell back with a groan of relief. The blankets were drawn back up over him.

"General, can you speak to me?"

"Ugh."

"Are you in pain?" Lam asked.

"Oy."

"Are you getting warm?"

"Yeah."

"We've treated your wounds and have you on antibiotics. Do you want pain medication?"

"Sure." Why take a pass on morphine?

"Your head, Sir, the implant. How does it feel?"

"Like it's smoking."

"Headache?"

"If you had a fire inside your brain, Doctor, would you have a headache?"

"Morphine," she ordered. "It probably won't do much for the headache but it'll ease your overall pain and relax you- hopefully enough to relieve some of the stress induced by the implant."

"Oh, goodie."

"Sir, I didn't find any broken bones. You have multiple lacerations and contusions. With the amount of bruising on your chest I can't believe you don't have at least a cracked rib, but the X rays say otherwise. You'll be fine, General. When the morphine wears off you can get up whenever you feel like it."

"Maddy."

When the doctor didn't immediately respond Jack opened his eyes. She was looking towards the door. He followed her gaze and saw Landry approaching the bed. He didn't like the look on his friend's face.

"Jack, Maddy's missing."

Jack sat up. Lam pushed him back and he sat up again. The nurse was just injecting something into his IV. He reached for the needle in his hand but Landry covered it with his own hand before Jack could jerk it out.

"Hold on. Let me talk," Landry ordered.

Jack glared at him expectantly.

"We found Dr. Jackson in a semi-comatose state in his bed at the lodge. Maddy was nowhere around, all the vehicles are still there, all the horses are there. I've got a team posted to watch for her. We brought Dr. Jackson to the base and... Jack, a CT scan shows no sign of a symbiote. Qua'sel is gone too."

Jack started to cuss. He pulled free of Landry's grasp and swung his feet over the edge of the bed. About then the morphine kicked in and he drooped back to the pillow like a rag doll.

Chapter One Seventeen

Jack knew they were sedating him. He tried to fight the effects but he was still too sluggish to stand. He thought he was raging at them but in his own ears it sounded like he was shouting in slow motion. They finally weaned him off the medications and allowed him to do some walking. He walked straight to Landry's office.

"Jack. Good to see you up and about," Landry said with false cheerfulness.

"Cut the bullshit, Hank. What do have?" His tongue was thick and he scraped his teeth over it.

"Nothing." He sat back and spread his hands wide. "Not a damned clue. We've checked the farm in Ohio, run down her relatives, put out an APB, contacted the FBI, CIA, NID, and Thor. He collared Loki and is confident Loki isn't involved. I sent the Odyssey to that planet you gave us coordinates for- Nirrti's planet?- and there's nothing there. I've got SG teams scouring known haunts of Ba'al's both on Earth and through the stargate..." His eyes moved past Jack towards the door. "Caroline?"

"Dad, Dr. Jackson's awake. You need to hear this."

Jack bolted for the door. He literally picked the doctor up off her feet and set her out of his path. Landry grimaced an apology at her outraged expression and raced after O'Neill.

"Qua'sel got it into his head to go after Ba'al," Daniel said thickly. "I tried to talk him out of it. He took control. Forced me to kiss Maddy and he went into her. They spent a lot of time alone..."

"You kissed my wife?" Jack shouted.

Everyone stared at him. He didn't care.

"You kissed me!" Daniel shot back.

"Excuse me!" Landry barked. "Dr. Jackson, why did Qua'sel want to go after Ba'al?"

Daniel's eyes went to Jack. "He knew from your memories. About Meret."

"Who's Meret?" Landry asked.

Jack ignored him. "Meret wouldn't have happened this time. I have the transportation device- not Maddy! Ba'al would have no use for her."

"Except to use her for leverage," Daniel told him. "Qua'sel planned to use the plane crash to convince Maddy they could keep that from happening again. But his real reason was to protect her from Meret. And the Harcesis."

"What Harcesis?" Landry roared.

"The up side of this is, you'll have your Maddy 'sel will give her all your memories..."

"If she lives through this!" Jack yelled. "Where was he taking her?"

"He kept that from me."

"Why did you fall into a coma?" Dr. Lam asked. "Didn't the symbiote have you nearly healed? You have your sight back..."

Daniel held Jack's stormy gaze. "My sight was easy. He refused to heal my eyes to keep Maddy's sympathy."

"The bastard was gonna take control of you and go after her!"

Daniel nodded. "But then he got to worrying about Ba'al and decided her safety was more important. Especially once he realized that he and I combined could never take her off you, Jack. And he knew he couldn't win a battle with Meret for occupation of Maddy as a host."

"Dr. Jackson. The coma...?" Lam persisted.

"He released a mild toxin into my system. He knew I'd fight it off, be alright eventually, but he didn't want me telling you what I'm telling you. Not soon enough for you to do anything about it."

"Think, Daniel! Where, when, how? You have to have some idea!"

Daniel shook his head. "You know he'd keep anything from me that he didn't want me to know."

Jack felt himself losing it. That red haze creeping into his brain, his blood going into a rolling boil, the surge of pure adrenalin that made him feel as if his chest would explode. When he turned to Landry the look on his face, in his eyes, made the General move back a full step before he could catch himself.

"Jack," Daniel said in a quietly desperate voice, "Don't kill Qua'sel. I know you can beam him out, but don't. I need him. I can reason with him, keep him in check. Bring him back to me."

Jack whirled on his friend. "You can't be serious!"

Daniel held Jack's simmering gaze.

Jack cursed viciously.

"We know where to look now," Landry said briskly. "I'll send a team to Seattle."

Jack stared at his back as he left the room. Then he drilled a glare at the doctor until she beat a hasty retreat. When they were alone Daniel tried to reason with him.

"Don't blow their cover, Jack," he said urgently. "Ba'al doesn't know Maddy. He isn't aware of Qua'sel. They can do this if you don't go off half-cocked and ruin it."

"They can do this?" Jack raged. "He's gonna get her killed! Or worse, get her implanted with a Gou'ald Ba'al can control! I'm gonna beam his scaly ass outta my wife and wring the snake bastard until all four of his eyes pop out!"

"He's only trying to protect both you and Maddy. He's doing this for the two of you, Jack. Because he loves you both."

Jack's fury was an awesome sight to behold. He wrapped both hands around the bottom rail of Daniel's hospital bed, lifted the heavy frame two feet off the floor, then slammed it down so hard Daniel came up off the mattress. Daniel grunted and gaped at him.

"Loves us?" Jack roared hoarsely. "That bastard wants Maddy! He doesn't give a damn about me or you or anybody else! He isn't stupid enough to take Maddy after Ba'al- he told you that to cover his trail! He's gonna steal a ship and take Maddy off somewhere to have her to himself!"

"Or keep you from getting her killed."

Jack's head dropped forward and his shoulders hunched. He looked like an enraged bull about to charge.

"Listen to me, Jack. He tried to make Maddy fall in love with us. He's had control of me for a long time. He used all your memories and hers to do everything he could to win her. He couldn't do it. She's in love with you, Jack. When he realized it was a lost cause, he decided to do everything he could to protect you both so you could be happy this time around!"

"And personally delivering her to Ba'al is the way to do that?"

"Maddy knows everything we do now- you, me, Qua'sel, her own past, er, future... She can do this, Jack. Qua'sel will guide her, keep her strong, show her what to do and how to do it. Think about everything that won't happen in this time line. Everything that won't happen to Maddy: Meret. The Pentagon wanting to keep her in chains in a deep, dark cell at Area 51. The two of you on the run across the galaxy. Edora, the Trygar System, the slave trader and that prehistoric planet... tattoos," he finished with half of a grin.

"Or he's just moving it all forward by a decade," Jack seethed.

"He'll do this, Jack. Have a little faith."

"He abandoned you, Daniel. Left you half healed and in a coma! How can you defend that bastard?"

"He's coming back to me," Daniel said with smug confidence. "He plans to finish healing me, recover, then offer to heal Cam's heart condition. Then he's gonna stay with me."

"Stay with you?"

Daniel shrugged. "We get along. He can be an enormous help, Jack. Qua'sel might be the key to defeating the Ori."

"Or, with all of my memories, yours, and Mitchell's, take over the SGC then Earth! How do you know he's not taking Maddy as a peace offering when he pitches an alliance to Ba'al?"

"He wouldn't do that," Daniel said confidently. "He hates the Gou'ald, hates Ba'al. He adores Maddy. He won't let her get hurt."

"So he borrowed my wife like a car? For transportation?"

Daniel grinned at him. "I suppose."

Jack had all he could take. He needed to leave before he laid hands on Daniel.

"He'll take care of her," Daniel called after him. "Not a scratch. Won't even dent those curvy fenders..."

Jack pulled up short just outside the door. He almost went back in to drag Daniel out of that hospital bed and shake him senseless. Then he started walking again. Before Daniel could seal his own fate with an analogy about headlights.

Chapter One Eighteen

A month passed. Then two.

Maddy had been spotted once, coming out of Ba'al's headquarters in Seattle, but the team lost her almost immediately. Jack had to force himself not to camp out on Ba'al's doorstep. He didn't want to alert Ba'al that something was afoot. His presence would make Ba'al start to wonder, think, go on the hunt for whatever- whoever- Jack was after. He'd get Maddy killed- or worse, implanted. But this waiting was killing him. He fell into a brooding, seething mood that only darkened as time passed. Landry and Teal'c were the only ones who would approach him, attempt to talk to him, brave the explosive fury that would have to erupt at some point. There was no question of Jack going on missions. The SGC would have put him in a cell for everyone's protection if they thought it could hold him.

Loki's transportation device had given a dangerous man unprecedented power.

Hammond and Landry decided their safest course of action was to humor O'Neill, do their best to keep him calm and rational. It was a daunting task.

Jack knew he could bring Maddy home. All he had to do was see her to transport her wherever he wanted- which was why the Tok'ra was keeping her out of sight. Qua'sel knew Jack would beam him out of Maddy's body and into open space. But Jack didn't trust himself and he didn't trust Qua'sel. Maddy agreed to this. He could tell himself she didn't have a choice, that Qua'sel had control of her. He knew better. The moment Maddy had access to Jack's memories- and her own from past blendings- she'd be a willing participant in this foolish quest.

How were they hiding the symbiote's presence from Ba'al? Where had Qua'sel gotten Maddy's hands on the suppression drug? Ba'al's laboratory? The SGC? They hadn't gone through the gate, and surely Ba'al would notice if one of his ships turned up missing.

So many questions, so many things that could go so wrong.

"The Trust is crumbling," Landry told Jack one late summer evening. "Ba'al's liquidating assets in an attempt to shore up losses, but he's bleeding money. Clones are bailing off Earth by the ship load."

"How do you know they're clones and not the real Ba'al?"

"He wouldn't trust a clone to captain his sinking ship," Landry said confidently. "If he's gonna save his holdings on Earth, he'll have to do it himself."

Later that week Landry summoned Jack to his office.

"Close the door," he commanded briskly.

Jack shut the door and slumped into a chair. Landry handed him a cell phone.

"That's my private phone," he said. "Read the text message."

Jack glanced down. It read, 'Mole - Harriman'.

"Return number?"

"Unknown."

"Maddy?"

"She'd be the one in a position to figure it out."

"Harriman?" Jack mused. "Not Walter."

"Runs the gate, runs my office, practically runs this operation from a go-for's standpoint. All communications go through him, he's privy to damn near every mission that runs out of here, in and out of top security meetings with memos and messages..."

"Harriman?" Jack repeated. "He's always seemed so... gung-ho."

Landry rocked back, folded his hands, and tapped his thumbs together. "But he's also seen the worst that's happened here, knows first hand the danger that's out there, what Earth is facing. I'll buy that he doesn't think the Pentagon is doing enough to protect Earth. Incentive enough to aid and abet the rogue NID. In his own way I suppose he thinks he's helping."

"Then he knows the contact at the NID is reporting to someone in the Pentagon who is under Ba'al's thumb!"

Landry shrugged. "Apparently he's been convinced otherwise. I have a hard time believing he'd side with Ba'al. Unless he's got a snake in his head."

"And is using the suppression drug. Have him scanned."

Landry nodded. "It's in the works."

"You can't arrest him on this," Jack indicated the cell phone before he laid it on the desk.

"No, but we can watch him."

"What's his line of communication?"

"In his position, it wouldn't be hard to open two channels at once."

Jack nodded. "Have someone at the NID monitoring a specific channel. When he's ordered to initiate contact, he opens both channels. They can listen in on everything- even if it's scrambled."

"The good sergeant knows a little bit about a lot. Wouldn't be hard to put two and two together- even when it's top level security- and come up with one hell of an educated guess."

"Seems a shame to see him wrung up on treason charges."

Landry nodded. "We'll keep this between us for now, Jack. As soon as I can pull Colonel Carter back to base I'll fill her in and have her watch the technical side of it. If anybody can catch him playing with the communication systems, she can."

Jack agreed. "If The Trust goes down, Ba'al's spy in the rogue NID will be out in the cold. So will the Pentagon contact."

"It'll just take Ba'al out of the equation. We'll still have the rogue NID to contend with."

"Put Maddy on them next," Jack muttered darkly. "Hell, after that sic her on the Mob. Clean up the whole damned planet."

Landry chuckled. "Someday over a case of beer I want to hear about those twelve years I haven't lived yet. Sounds like she gave you quite a ride."

Jack tried to glare at him but a flood of memories made the corners of his mouth twitch.

"That she did, Hank. That she did."

"You know, Jack, we haven't formally sat down and discussed this Asgard gizmo in your brain. Any idea how you plan to utilize it?"

"The plan was to keep Maddy from doing exactly what the hell she's doing. And bug the hell outta her with it. They way she did me."

Landry shook his head. "I can only imagine."

"Oh, no, Hank, you can't," Jack promised.

"In what capacity do you feel you can best serve the SGC, now that you've got decent control of that device? Your oversight position gives you a lot of leeway. Assuming, of course, you still want to keep your ability on a need-to-know basis."

"I'll have to get back to you on that. If I get my wife back in one piece I may just chuck it all and say to hell with it."

"Retire? Again?" Landry rocked forward with a thump. "Waste such a valuable asset on playing slap-and-tickle with your wife?"

Jack shook a finger at him. "You don't understand. Now I can out-fish her!"

"Have you considered the lives you can save, missions you can insure?"

"Have you considered how many times the SGC has dragged me back from the brink of retirement?" Jack countered. "In this lifetime alone?"

Landry pulled in his horns a bit. "I don't deny the service you've already given your country, Jack, your planet..."

"Galaxy," Jack reminded. "Don't forget the galaxy."

Landry smirked. "But this device..."

"I can't be everywhere at once, Hank, and where I wanna be is with my wife. I won't ever say no to a rescue mission." He leaned his elbows on his knees. "I've been through this discussion with Maddy, when she had the implant. She wanted to save the world. I told her it would drive her nuts trying to pull every puppy out of a well or every person out of a burning building. Or every SG1 member out of a dangerous situation."

"Did it? Drive her nuts?"

"It drove me nuts."

"Just give me the twelve years you have to spare."

Jack grunted and dropped his head to stare between his feet.

"Dr. Jackson is planning to give Qua'sel a permanent home," Landry pressed. "Between them and your new ability we can..."

"Don't, Hank. ...Just... don't." He looked up, his eyes haunted. "If I get Maddy back, it's gonna be all about her. Our lives together. I'm gonna get it right this time. You don't know what she's been through. Because of me. All of it. You don't know how many times I promised myself that if given the chance to do it all over again, I'd do it differently. So far I've made the same mistakes, just in a different way."

"We've all sacrificed personal relationships for this job," Landry said stiffly.

"And the two I sacrificed early on more than paid my dues!" Jack said sharply.

They both understood that he meant his son and his first marriage.

Landry sighed. "Think about it. That's all I'm asking. This ability could give us the edge we need to defeat the Ori. And anybody else who gets in our way."

"In our way?" Jack echoed.

Landry grimaced. "Of protecting Earth. Of gaining technology and advancements that can forward that endeavor."

"Sure you're not on the NID's payroll?" Jack asked carefully.

Landry eyed him sourly. "This isn't just a job, Jack. We both know that."

"Not a job I can retire from?"

"Not a job any of us can retire from. We know what's out there, what Earth is facing, the door that stargate opened for us- or on us. How can you, in good conscience, just walk away?"

"Like this." He stood, opened the door, and walked out.

Chapter One Nineteen

Jack couldn't sleep. It was a cool night, with a clear sky and fall in the air. He turned onto his side, pulled Maddy's pillow to his chest, and sighed.

Where was she? Was she alright? Had Ba'al discovered that she was the one slowly, methodically, brick by brick tearing down his operation? From what they could tell, Ba'al had made a last ditch effort to stabilize his fiscal drain with a strategic takeover of a huge, financially invincible corporation. It had made the national news, along with reports that books had been cooked and the company had been on the brink of ruin. CEOs were going to jail, accountants were fleeing the country, and millions of dollars on paper had turned out to be just so much ink. And Ba'al's cover corporation had been left holding an empty bag. Creditors were scrambling to regain losses and mammoth antitrust lawsuits had been filed.

The mortal blow had come in the form of an 'anonymous source' who was instigating a feeding frenzy by the national media. Having his operation thrust into the open, with constant coverage, cameras dogging his every move, reporters vying to see who could uncover the biggest story on anything even remotely connected to The Trust, Ba'al was exposed on every front. Anyone so much as suspected of having a link to The Trust was hounded and followed and investigated, had their pictures and resumes plastered across newspapers and magazines and TV screens. Ba'al's face became as well recognized as the President's. He had tried to go to ground, but his vast supply of aliases had run out along with his funds.

The Trust headquarters in Seattle was being foreclosed upon from every quarter. Ba'al's private jet had been seized, his fleet of limos confiscated, his computers taken by federal warrant. Air Force surveillance teams reported seeing his posh penthouse apartment being emptied of every luxurious detail right down to its golden faucets. NORAD had reported tracking an alien ship in orbit. Landry had dispatched the Odyssey to investigate. The vessel eluded capture, but had been identified as a Ha'tak. It was generally accepted to have been Ba'al.

Jack turned onto his back again. Something wasn't right tonight. The back of his neck was tingling and his nerves were on edge. He got up, pulled on his pants, and had a look around. He started to reach for a beer then decided on coffee instead. Bonnie whined softly at his feet.

"I know, Girl. What is it?"

His cell phone rang. Jack glanced at his watch as he flipped open the phone, his heart racing. Three-fifteen AM.

"O'Neill."

"Jack! Meret's diner! Outside Ba'al's headquarters! Hurry!"

Maddy! Before he could respond the line went dead. She had been out of breath, whispering, panicked. He didn't take time to grab his sidearm. He closed his eyes and pictured the dumpster in the alley behind the diner.

It was raining in Seattle. The cold mist coated his bare shoulders as Jack moved around the back of the building. He barely felt the tiny stones scattered across the cement biting into his bare feet. Movement in the shadows made him slip into the cover of ornamental shrubs. Two Ba'als stalked past. Light from the diner windows glinted off zats.

Jack beamed them into a holding cell at the SGC. Two burly men came from the other direction, stopped to poke around the dark recess beside the restaurant's kitchen access. Jack beamed them to the base. There was a jolt inside his head, a wave of dizziness. He grimaced. The device was overheating. The way it had on Maddy when she used it too much. He decided to reserve the ability for a quick escape, and when another pair of thugs began a search of the shrubbery he took them out with his bare hands. Armed now, he crept around the building.

Where the hell was Maddy?

He glanced in a window. Only a handful of patrons, none of them Maddy. Maybe she was in the restroom. Or kitchen. He heard the report an instant before fire seared across his arm, caught the muzzle flash from the corner of his eye. He whirled and fired. A man screamed.

"Jack!"

He whirled again, searching for her. Another bullet screamed past the corner of the diner. Sirens pierced the city's slumber, echoing among buildings and growing louder, closer. He sent a bullet in the general direction of the shooter and ducked around the building. Blood made a warm trail through the cold moisture on his arm.

"Maddy! Where are you?"

"Up here!"

He found a dark spot between light from the windows, stepped into the open, and looked up. Something hit his chest. His first thought was a bullet, but there was no pain. He was pinged again. He pivoted in time to see the pale oval of her face as she pitched another roof pebble at him. He closed his eyes and beamed himself onto the roof as the window directly in front of him shattered.

Maddy threw herself at him, nearly knocking him down.

"Get us outta here!" she panted.

A set of transport rings materialized beside them.

He clamped her against him and beamed them into the conference room at the base.

Chapter One Twenty

General Hank Landry walked into the conference room in time to see Jack O'Neill tear off the blanket a pale nurse tried to drape across his shoulders. As he finished buckling his belt he glanced at Maddy huddled in a chair, at Jack pacing angrily, at the guard standing just inside the door,

"Coffee," he barked at everyone in general.

Dr. Warner breezed through the door with a medical kit. Landry waved him back from O'Neill despite the blood leaving a trail of drops on the floor.

"Somebody want to tell me what the hell is going on? How did I get a cell full of Ba'als? Maddy, are you alright?" He used his fingers to bring order to his sleep-disheveled hair.

"Get that bleeding stopped," she said quietly.

Jack spun to face her. "You don't issue orders!"

Maddy rolled her eyes at him. "You're getting blood all over the floor."

"Screw the floor!" He batted a chair and sent it flying.

Dr. Warner and the nurse backed towards the door. The guard's face registered uncertainty as he looked to Landry for instructions. It was clear to them all that he wanted no part of trying to subdue the irate general.

"Hell of a night to pull guard duty," Landry muttered to him.

They all froze as Maddy stood. Jack was pacing towards her and she met him bravely in the middle of the room, raised a hand to lay it on his chest. He locked stares with her and threw her hand away. She replaced it and stepped closer. Jack held his ground- body rigid, mouth tight, jaw set, his hands fisted into white knuckled, flexing balls- and stared her down. His neck was corded and a vein in his temple was standing out, throbbing.

Landry had never seen O'Neill so furious. But it went beyond anger. Something in his eyes gave Hank a glimpse into the dark and stormy maelstrom he had managed to keep hidden from them all. Maybe even from himself- until he had met Maddy. Gone was any semblance of domestication or sophistication and in that instant Landry understood that the Jack O'Neill he thought he knew was only a facade. The man before him was potently male; raw, wild, dangerous. He edged towards the guard.

"If he blows, just put him down. Don't shoot to kill," he murmured.

The guard swallowed. "Understood."

"Have a zat brought down."

"Yes, Sir."

Landry heard the guard click off his weapon's safety. He glanced at the pair hovering near the door. They must have sensed what he had. The nurse had backed clear into the hall. Dr. Warner had paled but was holding his position. Landry turned back to the volatile drama unfolding in the middle of his conference room.

Maddy ran her hand over Jack's head, gently outlined his ear with her thumb, then cupped the back of his neck.

This was not the same Maddy Hank had been getting to know. That Maddy would have had sense enough to haul her ass out of the room and find a hole to crawl into until he cooled off.

"Be mad at me," she said in a soft voice. "Rage at me. Hit me if you need to. Chain me to the stove. Divorce me. But first, Jack, just hold me. I missed you so much. I love you so much. I need you close to me."

She slipped both arms around him and laid her head on his chest.

The group by the door held a collective breath. Jack stared down at her, nostrils flared in anger, his lips thinned into a white line. Surely that stare was burning right through her head- they all felt its heat. His chest and shoulders were heaving and they could hear his teeth grinding. The man was on the balls of his feet, a lethal bomb ready to explode.

Maddy's hands smoothed over his back. She rubbed her cheek against his chest. And the tension slowly began to ebb from the big man's body. His lips parted and he took a shallow, shuddering breath. His shoulders relaxed, his fists flexed open. He drew in another breath, deeper than the last, and his forehead dropped onto the top of her head. He started to shake.

Landry traded looks with Warner. The doctor swallowed and raised his eyebrows.

Jack's arms came around her and his face disappeared into the hair at her neck. His biceps bulged with the force of his grip, his body leaned hard into her. She was murmuring into his ear, soft, wordless sounds that drained the last of the dangerous tension out of his frame.

Landry flicked his eyes from Dr. Warner to the nurse. "Leave the medical kit. Dismissed."

Warner set the kit on the floor and they fled.

He jerked his chin for the guard to stand outside the door then readied the coffee pot and turned it on.

Jack was really shaking now, clinging to her like a drowning man. Landry turned away again, not wanting to bear witness if the man broke down and cried. He never would have believed a mere woman could have such power over Jack O'Neill. What had twelve years with her done to him? Certainly not emasculated him, yet there was no denying her command of his emotions.

Landry pulled the pot out and caught a cup of the first strong drops.

What was it like to love like that? He thought he'd been in love, thought he'd experienced the height of emotion. But the scene he'd just witnessed, more intense for it's subtlety, proved him wrong. Jack O'Neill was a lethally dangerous man. What he didn't know of him from first hand experience he'd read in a crate load of top secret files. That O'Neill held himself in such control, maintained such an easy going demeanor and irrepressible sense of humor- that he retained any semblance of sanity- was a testament to his character in and of itself. How many human weapons of O'Neill's caliber had to be kept out of the public for it's own safety, be given internal jobs or kept under lock and key because of what it took for them to do the job they were trained to do? It was hard enough for the average soldier who had seen combat to reintegrate into society; men like O'Neill didn't just roll out of boot camp.

He took a sip of coffee, burned his lip, and murmured an oath.

What man- soldier or otherwise- could compare to O'Neill anyway? What other man had led expedition after expedition, starting with the very first, through the stargate? Never mind the lengthy, dark and chilling service he'd given prior to that. And yet this woman held him in the palm of her hand.

Landry turned and leaned against the counter. Maddy was nothing extraordinary on the surface. Pretty enough, definitely on the 'sturdy' side, pleasant and friendly from what he knew of her. Awesome cook. Incredible head of hair. Deep, steady eyes. But no raving beauty. She wouldn't turn heads on a busy street. Not the type he would have picked out of a line up as O'Neill's type.

Landry frowned and squinted at bit. Funny, in this light she seemed to have a glow about her. An aura that Jack appeared to bask in, absorb like an energy force necessary to his survival. Whatever it was, it was calming him. The general decided in that instant to have an intensive background check done on her. Not FBI. He'd call in a marker from an associate in the CIA. Jack O'Neill was a powerful man, made more so by the Asgard device now imbedded in his head. Pillow talk could wind up ambushing the SGC and this woman had the potential to get anything she wanted from O'Neill.

He wondered with a start what her effect had been on him in the past time line. How well had he come to know her, what had their relationship been? Jack had said she was head cook in the commissary. What had possessed him to authorize an outsider- O'Neill's wife no less- an inside position in a top secret base?

Perhaps he had wanted her in a position where he could keep tabs on her.

Keep your friends close, your enemies closer.

He needed to buy that case of beer and have that long talk with O'Neill.

If he could pry him away from Maddy long enough.

He watched as Jack grasped a handful of hair on either side of her head and drew it back.

"Damn it, Maddy?" she asked silkily.

"I'm gonna brain you." He was still angry, but emotion softened the ragged intensity of his words.

"Before or after I give Qua'sel back to Daniel?" she asked.

"Before and after!" he promised ominously.

"Since you're already pissed- I intend to enjoy that kiss."

Landry winced. What the hell was she doing, taunting him like that?

"Go ahead. I'll make you forget it."

"After kissing Daniel you'll throw stones at me," she pouted.

"You ever bring that up again and I'll..."

"Oh, Jack, I am so gonna beat you over the head with it!"

"So help me, Madison Elaine, I'm gonna tie your ass on a short tether that only reaches from the bedroom to the kitchen! You ever pull a stunt like..."

"Come on, Jack, it's me you're yelling at," she scoffed. "Quasi gave me back our past, er, future." She stroked his cheek. "First thing I wanna do is go find the Nautilus. We'll need crystals from Nirrit's planet to buy it, then we can..."

"No ship this time," he told her sternly.

Her face fell. "Aw, come on, Jack! You start playing those games and I'll forget everything I learned from the Jaf'fa women."

"No ship, no crystals, no gallivanting all over the universe!"

"No crystals? But they looked so awesome in the yard..."

"Move rocks off the ridge to decorate the yard."

She moved back a pace. "Don't you start riding herd on me, O'Neill."

He dragged her back against him and put his nose against hers. "I have the beaming device this time," he warned.

Landry choked on a swallow of coffee when Maddy grabbed O'Neill's crotch. "Yeah, but I still have this."

"You will in a minute." He looked over at Landry. "We'll debrief in the morning. Make that the afternoon."

Maddy stood on tiptoe and raked her teeth over his chin.

"Tomorrow afternoon."

In a flash of light they disappeared.

Landry stood frozen with the cup half way to his mouth. He blinked a couple of times, wondered if he was having a nightmare, then drained the cup. He turned off the coffee pot, turned out the light, and went back to bed.

The End... ish.

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