Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Stargate......at all.

Tirzah had never been to Earth before. She dearly wished her trip there could have been under better circumstances. It seemed that none of her trips anywhere have been under suitable circumstances. There's a rather dry joke among their community that the Tok'ra never get vacations, only more or less engaging assignments, and that usually held true for Tirzah and her symbiote. Unfortunately, it was the life she had chosen upon the moment she had blended with Tamar.

She stepped tentatively onto the 'Gate platform at Stargate Command, suddenly aware of the jarring thud her boots made upon the grated ramp. As softly as she could, she made her way down the ramp as the Stargate disengaged behind her with a whoosh. She shook off the chills in her arms that accompanied her ventures through the Stargate and stood quietly behind on of her Tok'ra comrades.

"We are here to see Selmak and Jacob Carter," he said to one of the attending soldiers. The soldier nodded and proceeded to escort them to the infirmary.

Tirzah let her eyes wander as she passed through the gray-colored corridors of the base. Each passageway was marked with a brightly-colored numerical rune. Some corridors were wide and arch-shaped, while others were narrow and rectangular. Personally speaking, though, she didn't find them aesthetically pleasing, but the military didn't have a particular need for such considerations, she reasoned. The base was efficient and functional, and that's all that mattered.

She quietly waited outside Jacob's observation room while one of her companions had his last few words with him. They spoke quietly with each other, exchanging formalities and civilities, but Tirzah could tell that her companion was at a loss for what to say. Their conversation quickly ended, and the white-haired Tok'ra left the observation room in fluster of suppressed emotion.

Tirzah, poised to enter, braced herself against the cold steel doorframe as Tamar had a riot inside her. She tried to calm her down, but the Tok'ra only squirmed more—and painfully at that. Tirzah set the back of her hand against her forehead and pleaded with Tamar to be still.

"Tirzah?" Jacob asked quietly.

Staunchly ignoring Tamar's protests, Tirzah went to Jacob's bedside and gently grabbed his hand. It was cold and clammy, but she held it anyway. "Hello Jacob," she said with a small smile.

"Are you okay?" he asked; his eyebrows knitted together, forming wrinkles in his forehead. His voice was strained just above a whisper, as if it pained him to speak.

"I should be asking that of you," Tirzah replied. He was always looking out for her. "I am well, but I can't say the same for Tamar. She is inconsolable."

"I would let Selmak talk to her," Jacob said. "But he's in a coma at the moment. I don't think he'll be up for it." A low groan of laughter came from his throat, but he was too weak to let it out of his mouth. He closed his eyes and took in a few breaths to calm his throat.

"There's no need to speak any more," Tirzah said and stroked the back of his hand with her thumb. Lying in that bed, connected to beeping heart monitors and other contraptions, he was so pale, so fragile. Tirzah feared that he might shatter in her arms before she could say anything. She pulled a nearby stool to Jacob's bedside and sat on it, leaning closer so he could hear her better. "I came to tell you something, Jacob." She paused as her heart jumped into her throat, forcing her to swallow hard. The words stuck fast inside her mouth, hiding right underneath her tongue. The walls of her confidence weakened considerably, like someone was punching gaping holes in their bases with heavy hammers.

"I know," Jacob said with a small smile. His eyes glistened—with tears or with his coming departure, Tirzah didn't know. "You don't need to worry about it anymore."

Tirzah, with her last shred of composure, held his icy hand to her face and kissed it. Jacob closed his eyes as his head rolled to one side. Her time with him had come to an end. The others needed to say goodbye as well. Tirzah called her other two companions into the room, bowed respectfully to them, and removed herself to the doorway, but she couldn't bring herself to step beyond it. So she resigned herself to simply watch and wait.

Jacob could hardly speak to tell his friends goodbye. Not a few minutes later, he asked for his daughter. From just a fleeting glance between them when Samantha entered the room, Tirzah saw the intense affection Samantha Carter held for her father, and how it strengthened her to accept her grief instead of fighting it. Tirzah bowed her head respectfully to her as she passed. The Carters only had a few precious moments together. Jacob told Samantha that he loved her.

Tamar, who had become unresponsive when Tirzah had touched Jacob, began to squirm again. In order to avoid a scene, Tirzah braced her arms against the doorframe and forced herself out of that room. She tried to find her way back to the 'Gate room, but only made it a few yards down the corridor before Tamar screamed inside her mind. The sudden deluge of emotion and pain coming from the symbiote was so violent that Tirzah lost all strength in her legs and collapsed on the floor. She began to weep uncontrollably.

Jacob's heart monitor had stopped beeping.

"She's been asking for you, Colonel," Dr. Carmichael said as he made some indiscriminate notes on his clipboard.

Sam glanced over at the sleeping Tok'ra in question and slipped her hands in her pockets. She had long straight dark brown hair that fanned out over the white pillow and a fair complexion on her diamond-shaped face. Her brown uniform dress, which lay neatly folded on her bedside table, had been exchanged for a set of blue scrubs. "What happened?"

"The airman who brought her in said that she just collapsed in the corridor," the doctor replied. "And that she was crying—a lot."

"Is she okay?"

"Physically, yes. Both she and the symbiote are perfectly healthy, but preliminary tests indicate that both of them suffered severe emotional distress when she collapsed."

"Thank you, Doctor," Sam said and went to the Tok'ra's bedside, waiting for her to wake up. She had to wait only a few moments before the woman gradually opened her eyes and looked Sam in the eye. "Hi," Sam said and smiled wanly.

"Hello, Colonel Carter," the woman answered with a stifled yawn. "My name is Tirzah. It is a pleasure to finally meet you." She smiled in return, a smile that reached her hazel eyes despite the dark circles underneath them. She looked utterly exhausted. "Jacob spoke often of you, and highly, if I may add." There was a glint in her eye at the mention of her father's name.

"Were you close with my dad?" Sam sat on the closest bed and braced her arms against the mattress. Talking about him in the past tense made Sam's heart twist around its arteries, but she kept her face stoic.

"In some ways, yes," she replied. "The Tok'ra I carry is Tamar," she paused, as if hesitant—or even restrained from continuing her sentence. "Selmak's mate."

Sam had no idea what kind of face she made, but it drew an anxious frown from Tirzah.

"My apologies, Colonel," she said. "Did I upset you?"

"Uh, no," Sam replied, slightly flustered. "I just—I had no idea Selmak had a mate. He never mentioned it. Neither of them did." A strange seed of suspicion began to grow in the pit of Sam's stomach. How involved had her dad been with this woman? She looked to be around Sam's age. Sam cringed. That's disturbing on so many levels.

"Selmak was never one to brag about such things," Tirzah said, seemingly unaware of Sam's uneasiness. "And I'm sure Jacob didn't want to make things awkward for you."

"With all due respect, I don't think that my dad would have kept something like this from me."

Tirzah closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. When she opened them again, they were no longer gentle, but sharp and simmering with suppressed pain. It was Tamar. "Jacob and Tirzah were never involved on a romantic level, Colonel. I assure you that there has been no disgrace between them. Selmak and I made certain of that." Tamar's eyes glowed briefly before Tirzah had control again.

"I apologize again, Colonel Carter," she said with a frustrated sigh. "Tamar can be very impassioned and seem rather terse, but she means no disrespect. In fact, I take it as a good sign that she even spoke to you; she has not spoken with anyone since we learned of Jacob and Selmak's condition."

Sam's upper lip curled into a subdued smirk. "Still, it's probably safer to stay on her good side."

"Indeed," Tirzah replied. "Do you believe me now?"

"Honestly," Sam answered as she stood up from the bed. "I don't know. A lot has happened over the past few days, and I'm still trying to deal with it all. Please understand that I'll need some time."

"Of course, Colonel," Tirzah said with a respectful nod. "I do not expect anything from you that you cannot give."

"Okay," Sam replied with a smile—a genuine one this time. She went to the door of the infirmary and then looked back over her shoulder. "You can call me Sam."

A/N: I've always been a fan of Jacob Carter, and was sad to see his character go, so I wanted to write something in his honor. I also got to thinking, though; it may or may not be common practice for the Tok'Ra to take mates, but since Lantash and Jolinar were mates, couldn't Selmak have had a mate as well? If so, how would Selmak's mate have reacted to his death? How would the host have interacted with Jacob Carter? This fan fiction explores those questions. It's currently a work-in-progress (could have multiple chapters) as well as my first Stargate SG-1 fic, but I've been wanting to write something like this for a while, so I figure that now is as good a time as any. Please read and review at your leisure.

BTW: Tirzah was the seat of power in Israel at one time (1 Kings 16:6-23). Tamar was the daughter of King David (2 Samuel 13:1).