Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate or any of the characters you recognize. I'm just borrowing them for entertainment. There is no monetary gain and no copyright infringement intended.

The lines of dialog you recognize are from the show, the rest you don't recognize are from me.

AN: Thank you to everyone that is reading and thank you to all of you that were kind enough to leave me what you thought of it so far. Thank you Gategirl7!

Previously:

Fire exploded in Sam's chest, cutting off her breathing and threatening to send her body into shock. Her heart felt like it was exploding. Sam couldn't take a breath, couldn't force her lungs to work. She suddenly realized though the pain that she was in control of her body once more. Jolinar's memories assailed her. It was like a dump of too much information. It was as if the Tok'ra had lost control of all that she was in those last final moments. Her essence flowed through Sam just before she lost consciousness.

Chapter 7

"Colonel, the prisoner and two guards are dead." Jack O'Neill's heart stopped as the passing guard's words hit him. It couldn't be. Sam could not be lost to him, to them all, he corrected himself automatically even as he fell to his knees next to Sam's body and checked for signs of life. Thank God, he felt a weak pulse, very thready, but it was there. "Sam, Sam!" She didn't answer him, didn't regain consciousness. "Teal'c," he called over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off of Sam. "Get a medical team down here right away." Don't take her away, he begged silently. He'd just begun to feel again after losing Charlie. His team was becoming his family, giving him a reason to want to stay alive. He refused to think beyond that or examine the feelings that swirled in his gut at the thought of losing the woman lying so pale and quiet before him. "Come on, Sam," he whispered to her urgently.

"Oh God," Frasier's voice was full of pain and disbelief as she rounded the door and caught sight of the bodies on the floor, but the Doctor was steady and rock solid as Jack stepped aside and watched her medical team work on Carter. He could feel Teal'c's steady, comforting presence at his side, but Sam looked bad and there was nothing either of them could do. He felt helpless as he watched the Doc try to stabilize her enough to be able to get her moved. Several times they lost her heartbeat. Jack's own heart stopped in his chest as the little doctor slammed her fist into his Captain's chest and climbed onto the gurney straddling Sam's still body. The medical team fought to resuscitate her even as they rushed to the infirmary, the two SG1 members in tow.

"Have you ever seen anyone survive the death of their snake before Teal'c?" Maybe he shouldn't have asked, but Jack needed to know if there was any hope.

"I have not, O'Neill," Teal'c's voice held regret. He didn't offer any platitudes, just his silent support as they followed behind Sam and the medical team. As the two men stepped into the infirmary, being careful to stay out of the way, the scene was controlled chaos. Jack held back as much as possible before the curiosity and worry made him step forward to get a better look at the monitors. He'd been at the bedside of enough friends and coworkers to know that things didn't look good.

"Doc?" he questioned.

"I don't know, I've never dealt with this type of situation before. The Goa'uld looks like it's dying and taking Carter with it." Doctor Frasier's words cut through him. Jack exchanged a look with Teal'c. The big warrior's solemn look did nothing to reassure him.

"Security alert, intruder in the embarkation room, code red!" the speaker overhead blared. Jack didn't consider leaving the infirmary. "Teal'c" he ordered, watching for a moment as the Jaffa nodded his acceptance and raced off. Jack had every faith that whatever the situation was, his teammate would handle it. Right now Jack's place was here, offering whatever silent support he could to Sam.

"She's out of de-fib," one of the nurses Jack didn't recognize suddenly shouted.

"She's got a pulse!" Janet exclaimed, surprise and relief coloring her voice. Jack released the breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding. He couldn't hold himself back when the medics stepped back from Sam and Jack saw that her eyes were open. She struggled to look around. He was at her bedside before he was aware he'd moved. Laying a hand on her shoulder, he leaned down into her line of vision. "You did it, Sam," he told her proudly. "You won." He wasn't sure how, but she'd won when all evidence said she shouldn't have been able to. His young Captain was an amazingly strong woman.

Sam licked her lips. When she met his eyes Jack was shocked to see the depth of sadness in them. "It wasn't me." Her words made no sense to him.

"Oh yes it was. You hung in there, you beat it," he assured her, slightly amazed. Kawalsky hadn't managed to survive and not only was he older and more experienced than the captain. He had been one of the strongest men Jack knew. He wasn't sure how Carter had managed to stay alive, but somehow she had. Maybe it was something to do the changes he'd seen in her. Jack didn't like that implication and put the thought away for later examination.

"The Goa'uld gave its life for me. It saved me." No snake, Goa'uld, or whatever it wanted to call itself this time, saved a host at its own expense. Jack simply refused to believe that, but he didn't want to upset Sam so he didn't reply. She was fighting to stay awake. She was losing focus and having trouble keeping her eyes from drifting shut. He'd noticed Frasier inject something into the IV tube running into his Captain's arm. Something to help her sleep was the best thing he could imagine right now. Jack didn't move out of her line of sight. She was focused on him in between fighting to keep her eyes open.

"Get some sleep, Carter," he instructed. "There will be plenty of time to figure this all out." The drugs were taking her over. Her eyelids fluttered one last time and gently shut. He dropped his hand to her arm and squeezed, offering the only comfort he could as she drifted off. "You saved yourself, Sam," he whispered again, thinking she was asleep. "Thank you." He'd thought he'd lost her. Relief was just starting to kick in.

"I'm sorry, Jack," Her eyes were glazed when she forced them open. She must not know where she was. She'd never used his given name before. She'd never been that informal. Did she think of him by his given name and not his rank? "It's my fault Thor's weapon doesn't work on her. I let her use me. I taught Fifth betrayal."

"God, Sam," Jack stated, trying to understand and figure out a way to help her. "You couldn't do anything to stop the Goa'uld once she was in your head. There's nothing you could have done." He wasn't sure what to say to help her. "It wasn't your fault we had to destroy Thor's Hammer. Teal'c was trapped. There was no other choice. That was on me, not you." She was thinking that they could have gone back to Cimmeria and used Thor's Hammer to drive the parasite out of Sam if they hadn't had to break the anti-Goa'uld weapon to save Teal'c. Jack wasn't sure why she blamed herself or what the fifth one she meant was.

Sam looked at him confused for a moment before the drugs won out and she slipped fully into unconsciousness. "How is she?" Daniel asked from behind him. He hadn't been there a minute ago. "Was she asking about Cimmeria and Thor's Hammer?" Jack stepped back from the bed but didn't go far.

"Yeah, she must have been thinking about how we could have used it if it was working." Jack speculated. "That's Carter, trapped by a snake in her own body and apologizing to us because she couldn't figure a way to fix it."

"What is Captain Carter's condition?" Teal'c asked as he came in the door.

"Physically, she's going to be fine," Janet answered from the other side of the room, just as General Hammond entered. "Mentally, I am not sure yet. What she went through is something none of us can imagine." The doctor was right, Jack thought, looking down at the woman sleeping peacefully.

"We will give the Captain whatever support she needs to recover from this." The General's voice was sure, but Jack could see the worry in his eyes. He was sure the older man was as concerned as he was.

"I've sedated her," Janet informed them. "Right now I think we need to take this one day at a time. We don't know what the effects are going to be. This is like nothing any of us have ever had to deal with. I'm going to keep her sedated for the next 8 hours."

Jack looked down at Sam again. She looked peaceful. The pain that had been on her face moments ago had smoothed out, drugs were wonderful things when it came to sleep after you'd been through something like she just had. Now the trick was going to be for her to learn to sleep when she wasn't sedated. Jack didn't voice his thoughts. He hoped Sam didn't remember too much of her time as a host, but somehow he didn't think they were going to get that lucky. She was a strong young woman and they'd be there for her, just like the General said.

"We'll get her through this, General" Daniel stated, echoing Jack's thoughts.

"I know you will, son," Hammond's voice was reassuring. "Keep me informed, Doctor. Good work, people."

~.


~.

Sam watched as Janet and Daniel finished putting groceries in Sam's refrigerator. She was glad to be out of the infirmary, glad to have the reprieve from feeling like she needed to launch into her impossible story every time Jack walked into the room. When Janet released her and Daniel offered to drive her home, Sam had jumped on the offer. Teal'c riding along had been an added bonus. So much had happened. She just needed a little bit of downtime before she stepped off another cliff.

"Jack said to tell you that he will be by later," Daniel informed her, handing her a glass of tea he had just made and dropping into the chair opposite of her position on the couch. "He was stuck with some meetings."

"Thanks everyone," Sam said sincerely. These people meant the world to her. It didn't matter if she had more knowledge of them at this point then they did of her, they were her family. Unless they lock me up and throw away the key on me for being crazy when I tell everyone my story. Sam tried to think more positive thoughts, but she couldn't shake the memory of Daniel in the mental ward, diagnosed with schizophrenia caused by gate travel when he'd been infected with Ma'chello's Goa'uld killing organism. In these early days none of them were quite so open minded about the possibilities for weird scenarios.

It was Friday afternoon. The team was on downtime for a week to give her time to recover. Sam tried to relax. No one was pushing her for anything right now, not even Jack. They were all walking on eggshells with her. She'd been quiet and withdrawn the first time she'd been take over by the Tok'ra because she hadn't known how to deal with anything that had happened to her.

Her team, General Hammond, the whole SGC had supported her, and given her the time to sort things out on her own. She remembered that time vividly. Now, Sam didn't need to process an event she'd lived with for years, but she did need time to process the destruction of the SGC in her time and the prospect of reliving her own past. She needed a minute to breathe.

Sam sighed and listened to the light conversation as Janet fixed them all something to eat. Daniel helped and Teal'c hovered over her. She'd forgotten how stiff and unsure in social settings he was in the beginning. "You don't need to hover, Teal'c," she told him, smiling at the eyebrow that shot up. "Don't look at me like that, you're hovering," she said, too tired emotionally to pretend not to know him. She'd be telling them soon anyway. "Thank you for being worried about me, Teal'c. Maybe you could sit down here and keep me company while we wait for lunch?" She patted the couch next to her, more Daniel's place than Teal'c's when they hung out in her time, but she wanted the comfort.

Sam could see the skepticism on his face. She wasn't sure he'd take her up on her offer. After a moment, he seemed to come to a decision. Inclining his head in a small bow, Teal'c gave in and moved to sit on the couch. He did not look comfortable. Sam noticed a copy of a Tabloid magazine sitting on her coffee table. She couldn't remember where it had come from or who'd brought it into the house, but she knew Teal'c liked them, would like them, she corrected herself. She reached forward and picked it up.

"Ever read one of these Teal'c?" she asked, handing over the colorful print proclaiming on the outside that 'Aliens are living among us'. The memory of where the magazine had come from hit her. Cassie had been scared by it and had brought it to Sam. The poor kid had thought she'd been about to be hunted down.

"Is this one of your newspapers that O'Neill has told me about, Captain Carter?" Teal'c was examining the index.

"Sort of," she smiled as she started to explain about them. Teal'c was thoroughly intrigued. He began to leaf though until he found a story on Jell-O wresting. Sam rolled her eyes and chuckled as the big Jaffa got sucked into what he was reading and became lost to them all. He could not be distracted by enemy fire, certain death, or a nearly fatal wound, but give him women dressed in next to nothing in a vat of Jell-O and his attention was gone. At least he looked more relaxed. Sam curled her legs under her and leaned her head back against the couch.

"Hey, campers," Jack's voice from the front foyer made her heart speed up and brought a smile to her face. Sam was glad he was there. He might not know what was up with her or how much they were going to feel toward each other sometime down the line, but his presence calmed her. She had to trust that she could make him believe that her story was true. But what then, she considered. Did she go another seven years fighting at his side without being able to be with him in the way she was hungry for?

When he'd kissed her, right before he'd gone to blow up the gate room and give her time to set the self destruct and get out, the damn on her feelings had burst. She wasn't sure if she could hide the way she felt anymore. Problem was, she wasn't sure she wanted to. They broke regulations to save the planet, they'd all died, would die, to save the planet. Seems like fate owes us one, she decided, hearing Jack's words to her a few times over.

He hadn't meant those words for this situation, but she was beginning to wonder if all these years, Jack had been protecting her. Had it been her that had kept them apart? They'd blamed it on regulations, but especially after the Za'tarc incident she'd been the one to decide they'd leave their feelings in that room.

"How you doing, Carter?" Jack asked, coming to stand in front of the couch. He was dressed in jeans and a pull over long sleeve shirt. He looked so good to her. His hair was barely going grey. The grey had looked amazing on him, but having him the same age as she was, well on the inside anyway, was novel. She was nearly as experienced an officer as he was at this moment. The thought stunned her.

"Captain?" he asked again more gently, question in his voice. She'd gotten distracted thinking what it would be like to be on a more even footing with him. He'd always been her mentor, even after she fell in love with him she recognized there was still an inequality in their relationship that would be hard to bridge.

"I'm doing OK, Sir," she told him, unable to hide the speculation going on in her mind. At his inquisitive look, she jumped to a safer topic. "What did you bring?" She indicated the plastic store bag in his hand.

"I thought we'd introduce Teal'c to Star Wars." Oh God! Sam fought not to cringe. If she saw that movie one more time she would have every word memorized. Jolinar was necessary, but enduring any movie, even one as good as Star Wars, over and over was more than the universe had a right to ask of her.

"What'ch you reading, T?" asked Jack, noticing for the first time that his Jaffa buddy was not saying anything but was completely engrossed in what he was reading.

"Captain Carter has made me aware of your woman warriors who do battle in arenas of Jell-O." At her friend's words, Sam felt her face flame hot. Jack's speculative look raked up and down her for a split second, making the blush turn to heat.

"Really, Jell-O wresting, Carter," Jack put the video store bag on her table and sat down on the couch in the space between her and Teal'c. He wasted no time leaning over his friend to get a look at what the big Jaffa was reading. "Sweet," he said looking at the picture of two sticky women in various states of exposure.

Teal'c glanced at Jack's face then moved the publication between the two men and together they began commenting on pictures. Teal'c comments and questions were blunt, but ingenuous. Sam had never learned to read her friend well enough when he was doing that to tell how much he really didn't understand and how much he found amusing and was using to joke at their expense.

Either way, Sam wanted to crawl in a hole and hide but she found herself frozen. Jack's answers and comments were not innocent. Mostly they were thinly disguised attempts to poke her with a stick and it was working. She felt her body warming and starting to react to his purely male comments. It wasn't often that her CO's professional mask slid enough for him to show her his very healthy masculine side. His hip pressed against the bottom of her bare feet from where he'd sat next to her wasn't helping her stay unaffected either.

"So, Carter," Jack started, turning his attention to her. She noticed Teal'c watching her as well. "Is this interest just as a spectator or do you have something you'd like to share with the class? Perhaps a match coming up?" His look was careful innocence over wicked eyes. She opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out. What was it about this man that could make shut her brain off?

A quick glance at the picture of a nearly naked woman with her arm around an equally unclad opponent's neck, arching back, locked in Jell-O combat and back to her CO's face made her stomach flip and butterflies chase up her spine. Was he picturing her sticky and nearly naked? If she was reading his look right he was. Suddenly Sam could picture Jack behind her with his naked, Jell-O slick arm around her, arching her back against him. Oh God, where had that come from?

"I'm hungry," she declared suddenly, unsure what else to say. "I think I am going to see if Daniel and Janet found everything they needed to make lunch." In her haste to unfold her legs and escape the two men's scrutiny, Sam caught her foot on the afghan she kept on the couch. Jack reached out and caught her elbow, steadying her. Fire flashed up her skin from his touch.

"Thank you, Colonel," she tried to keep her voice steady, but wasn't sure if she'd managed it very well. Teal'c's face was unusually blank, even for him, and Jack's face was positively smug as released his hold on her and went back to the magazine.

As Sam escaped to the kitchen she couldn't keep back the smile that spread across her face. Jack O'Neill was flirting with her. That light, fun flirting that they'd done for years until the Za'tarc test made them realize how deep each other's feelings were. After that they'd begun to be awkward and careful with each other. From that moment on, even as they'd continued to forge an even stronger bond of respect and caring, there had been a distance between them that neither had tried to breach until years later.

Glancing at the pile of sandwiches being assembled in her kitchen, Sam realized that Janet and Daniel had everything well in hand. Offering help anyway, she wasn't surprised when the two of them wouldn't let her do anything. As they started setting out the canned soup they'd heated and grilled cheese sandwiches they'd made, Sam leaned on the counter and looked back at the couch. Teal'c and Jack were thumbing through the tabloid. Teal'c would make a comment or ask a question and Jack would leap in with a slightly off explanation of what they were looking at.

It wasn't fair. The universe expected her to save the world, several actually, again and put aside her feelings to do it. She'd had to relive Jolinar, the feeling of being invaded hadn't gotten better with time, she'd watched these friends die, some more permanently than others, but death still the same. Now she was going to have to do it all over again. Jack would have said that they were owed one. Suddenly Sam knew she intended to collect. This time around she wasn't going to just convince Jack to believe she was from the future, she was going to convince him that nothing should be left in a room unattended for long. She'd tried this whole thing once as a good, regulation fearing Air Force Officer and look at what it had cost her. Their first real words of devotion and love had been spoken moments before they both expected to die. How poetically messed up that was! It was a snapshot of their whole lives. This time around Sam Carter was not wasting time she promised herself, snagging a grilled cheese as Daniel carried the tray into the living room.