The Box

by

Jennaya O'Neill

Jack O'Neill sat straight up, she was not going home; that had to be what this was all about. Sam was not going back to Earth again. Grabbing his shirt and boots, he set out searching for Sam and Jacob. Jack had to find Sam, find out what she was hiding from him. If she wanted to live here among the Tok'ra, he could do that, in fact, the whole team would most likely stay, but she'd better have a damn good reason for springing it like this. Looking around the Tok'ra living quarters, most were empty then he heard familiar voices and headed for them.

"Geeessss! Daniel! You gotta get 'em to spring for some doors around here." O'Neill stepped back into the hallway taking his hand down from his eyes.

He had found Daniel and Ra'na, doing exactly what he thought they were up too. All rooms in the Tok'ra base are open and communal even the bedrooms.

"God, Jack what are you doing here?" Daniel was tucking his shirt in as he came out to the hall. Ra'na walk out behind him, gave him a sensual kiss as she left, telling them she needed to get back to work; she reminded Jack of Sha're, a lot.

Ra'na had been a Tok'ra host, but her symbiote died saving her life after being undercover in Anubis's service for nearly two years. When SG-1 met her three years ago, Daniel instantly fell in love. The team was delighted for him, Sha're had died four years prior, and no one had been in Daniel's life since. Only it took him a year to tell Ra'na how he felt, and the NID's attempt to kidnap her.

The attempt was an effort to extract her symbiote Oran's memory of the information stolen from Anubis. Ra'na was only able to access Oran's memory in pieces similar to how Sam could access Jolinar's memories. SG-1 feared if she came to live on Earth the NID would try again, so Daniel only got to see her a few times a year.

"It's Sam." Jack said.

"What's wrong with Sam?" Jack had Daniel's interest now as he finished tying his bootlaces.

"I think she's decided to move in with the Tok'ra, I gotta find her and find out why." He shouted back at Daniel, Jack was now searching through the remaining Tok'ra living quarters and Daniel was having a hard time catching up.

"What do you mean, Jack?"

"The bag she brought, I almost missed it. Where are they?" Jack knew about Sam and Jacob's safety plan; he had come up with the idea, after a strange dream a few years ago. His distress would only be obvious to his team.

"Wait, Jack, slow down, you're not making any sense. There has to be another explanation. We decided as a team that when we were ready to make the move, we would all do it together. Discuss it first, and then decide how and when to move in with the Tok'ra. Sam would never jeopardize that for all of us." Daniel's confusion was obvious so Jack stopped, waiting for the younger man to catch up.

"Then why in the hell did she bring this?" Jack held out the small wooden box Sam had placed into her backpack before she left the locker room.

"Oh!?" Daniel's head was spinning now; there was no way Sam would take that into the SGC, let alone carry it on a mission, unless she was not planning on returning to Earth. This little wooden box was the most cherished item she owned. Jack might be right, maybe Sam was planning on staying. Daniel could see the anguish in his friend's eyes when he gently asked; "Is this why she was so weird in the gateroom when we left?"

Daniel was shocked as he thought his friend was fighting back tears as Jack responded tightly and control. "I suppose it is."

"Jack, did you guys have a fight or something?" Daniel asked as delicately as he could.

"No, no fights, nothing; look I don't understand what's going on here, help me find her, 'please'."

Daniel stood still while Jack started to leave the living quarters, then yelling back at Daniel breaking him out of his thoughts Jack asked, "You coming?"

"Sure, sorry, just thinking about something." Daniel's thoughts had taken him back almost a year to a conversation on New Years Eve right after the midnight toast. A conversation, which would prove Hammond's fears were accurate and would cause him nightmares, if he were ever to find out.


"So, to Earth, one more year."

"To Earth."

Jack made the toast while Sam, Teal'c, and Daniel all chimed in.

"I don't know. Do we really want to do that, pledge for another whole year?"

"What do you mean Daniel?" Sam was putting her champagne glass down on the coffee table.

"Well, it seems to me that our loyalties are divided up now. Are we really sure, that we want to stay here on Earth for another year? You and Jack have been having problems at the base, and we're all have to keep Janet at arms length. Ra'na and I are getting more serious, and Teal'c you said that you've been missing Rya'c. I was thinking that maybe it's time we consider┘other options." Daniel reasoned.

"What else would we do Daniel Jackson? I have pledge to help defend the Tau'ri against the false gods." Teal'c replied.

"I know Teal'c but we've been doing that for nine years, and I don't know, don't sometimes you want more?"

"It is the way of the warrior." Teal'c said with a nod of his head.

"Yeah, but even Jaffa get to have families and we don't. Shouldn't we start thinking about that? Teal'c wouldn't you love to be with Rya'c all the time, teaching him what you know?"

"Master Bra'tac taught me all I know of being a warrior; he will do the same for Rya'c."

"Teal'c, I think he means other stuff, like family stuff, giving Rya'c a sense of a home life." Sam stated understanding where Daniel was going with this. "Exactly, none of us has a home life. You two have to hide from everyone not in this room. I get to see Ra'na every couple of months for a few days. How long are we going to keep it doing?"

"What are you proposing Daniel?" Jack stated as he refilled his glass with beer instead of champagne.

"I think that at some point, we have to consider leaving the SGC and well...move on - out there somewhere. Where we can continue fight the Goa'uld if want, and still have families, maybe even kids. Sam you want kids someday right?"

"Someday, I mean we've talked about it, but there are just way too many complications."

"That's what I mean, if we leave the SGC and move in with - say the Tok'ra; then complications are gone." Daniel said passionately.

"Move in with the Tok'ra? You've gotta be kidding me." Jack ignored Sam's glare.

"Jack there are dozens of worlds out there we could settle on, Valoura is only one. It's just nothing is going to change as long as we are living here."

"We're not ready to leave Daniel, but if you want to go be with Ra'na then I think we would all understand." Everyone shook their heads in agreement with Sam.

"I don't know Danny-boy's got a point, Sam. At some point, they are going to make me retire permanently, and you're going to get promoted. Hammond, if he's still around, will have no choice then but to break up SG-1." Daniel shot a glare at Jack; he hated it when Jack called him 'Danny-boy'.

"I would indeed like to spend more time with Rya'c raising him as his mother would have wanted." Teal'c admitted.

"Okay, let's make a plan for when we're ready or something comes up that would change things...unfavorable. How about this, we discuss it first, figure out the best way for us all to move-in with the Tok'ra or the rebel Jaffa, or wherever, and then we do it, but we keep it between the four of us."

The three men all nodded in agreement with Sam that would be their plan.


Jacob and Sam were inspecting areas to grow new tunnel/rooms for the meetings with the rebel Jaffa. It was the first chance they had been able to be alone since SG-1 arrived the day before.

"What's going on Sam? You brought a bag with you; am I to take it you want to stay here this time?"

"I can't go back to the SGC, dad. I have to find somewhere safe I can stay for a while."

"What happened?" Jacob asked with concerned spilling into his voice.

"It's a long story, and I'm not exactly sure where to begin. Do you think Garshaw would grant me sanctuary?" Sam was being vague on purpose; she wanted to tell Jack first, and that was proving to be harder than she expected.

"What did you do?" Jacob asked confusion and fear filling his voice; he could not image his daughter doing anything that would cause her to need to hide from the SGC. Turning back to his work, he added, "How about starting at the beginning?"

/"Jacob, I can feel her daggers in our back."

"Not to smooth, eh, Sel?"

"To say the least."/

"I didn't do anything dad, its time for me to make... a change in my life."

"I don't understand; you're going to have to explain this to me, Sam. Stand back let's test this spot." He put a test crystal in the wall watching it glow until it turned a dark umber.

"That doesn't look good."

"It's not; it needs to be golden to be a viable area to develop new rooms. Let's try down here." Jacob suggested as they walked a few more yards trying different areas then with no luck so then went to the adjacent corridor to try. "What does the rest of SG-1 think about you bailing out on them?"

"I'm not bailing on them, I need to make┘some changes for a while, that's all. Besides, I haven't had a chance to talk to any of them yet."

"I thought you and Jack went for a walk last night?" He inserted another crystal and got the color he wanted. They keep moving down the corridor marking spots as they went.

"You knew?" Sam was starting to blush.

"Uh-huh, what's the big deal? I saw you two going to the rings last night on my way to bed. Jack mentioned he was worried about you and was planning on talking with you alone, so I assumed you were going to talk. What did you go do, if you weren't talking about this? Sam, surely, you didn't go swimming in the dark, did you?" Jacob turned to look at his daughter. "Sam?"

Sam was blushing deeper than her father had ever seen her do before and even Selmak was speechless. Distracted and confused Jacob inserted the wrong crystal while watching Sam; suddenly the entire corridor fell in on them.