"That was back at the gate." Daniel said.

Reynolds nodded. "Okay, two by two; stay down and close and let's see what the commotion is about." They made their way back in time the see the gate close. They looked and saw several dead Jaffa lying next to the one that met them. They also noticed several wounded. Reynolds and Teal'c exchanged a look. They slowly moved closer as one of the wounded Jaffa made it to the DHD and dialed. When the gate opened, he went through.

"Colonel Reynolds, the chances are high that he will in fact bring reinforcements. I suggest we either obtain our own reinforcements or retreat."

Reynolds looked around. "Grenading a bunch of Jaffa standing around looks like O'Neill's work."

"I concur; however, we know that is unlikely." Teal'c intoned.

"I agree, so Lt Col Carter must be near."

Teal'c did not say anything.

"We saw the vortex close when we approached, correct?"

"That is correct, Colonel Reynolds." Teal'c looked at him, eyebrow slightly raised.

"So it could be said, that was a sign that Lt Col Carter used grenades to be able to access the gate, then fled, correct?" He asked.

Teal'c was confused, but his face was impassive. "That is a possibility." He did not mention it unlikely Samantha Carter would abandon her search.

"And since we were too far away to note the symbols, then we have no idea where she could have gone, correct? She could have gone anywhere." Reynolds persisted.

Understanding appeared in Teal's eyes. "That is correct."

Reynolds nodded. He turned. He noticed his team had moved up to eavesdrop on the conversation. He looked at each member and received slight nods from each of them. "Okay, since we have no idea where Carter went and we are pretty sure more Jaffa are on the way, we are leaving. Agreed?" And then when he looked back at each member, "And we agree that there are just too many possible destinations she could have picked to make continued searching worthwhile?" Receiving nods he turned back and said "Move out"

As they approached the gate, Teal'c pulled his Zat out and used it on the wounded Jaffa. The then watched as the gate dialed up. He noticed Colonel Reynolds hung in the back by the DHD. Reynolds quickly pulled two grenades out of his pocked and dropped them. He looked at Teal'c and nodded as they made their way to the gate.

Sam watched them leave. She scrambled over to the DHD and picked up what she had seen Reynolds drop. Two grenades. One had a small note stuck under the spoon. She looked at the note as she put the grenades in her pouch, replacing the two she had just used. "Good luck"

She smiled and turned and jogged to the direction of the ship. She pulled out her scanner and turned it on. Nothing. She carefully walked to the landmarks her father gave her. She moved near some rocky outcroppings. Her scanner beeped and flashed green. She turned and backed up. The then used the scanner to follow a trail. It left to the rocky outcroppings. She got closer. She realized the only reason Jack would stop was if he was too injured to make it to the ship and felt he needed to rest. She looked around. Sneaking up on him injured would most likely not be a good idea. She backed up slowly and crouched. Then she noticed. A spot in the trail that looked disturbed. She crawled up and studied the area. She finally noticed the almost invisible strand across the trail. She looked to the right and saw it was tied off to the bottom of a bush; she looked to the left and saw the hidden grenade. She was on the right track. She searched her pockets and found some twine. She carefully took some out and wrapped it around the grenade, tying the spoon down. She then disconnected it from the line across the trail.

She crawled forward some more. She found the second trip wire. She could not tell what it went to though. She studied it for at least ten minutes. She decided the safest thing was to bypass it; however, she was sure Jack would have been prepared for that as well. Damn. She was dealing with a master. She remembered back to when they had gone to get him from P7S-441. When he was trapped with the fake Lt Tyler, he had managed to booby trap the entire landscape and decimate the Jaffa tracking them. I cannot compete with that. She made her way back and made a wide path around. After about an hour and a half, she made her way back to the general path she had been following. She used the scanner as she studied the landscape. The scanner glowed green with an arrow. Have not seen the arrow before. She carefully moved, watching intently for traps. At the foot of the rocks, she looked. She almost missed it. A small darkened area about ten feet up. A cave? She slowly began to make her way toward it, and then stopped. She again crouched and began to crawl. She found the tripwire about five more feet in front of her. This one to a claymore. As she disarmed it, she wondered just how much armament Jack had carried with him.

She edged to the cave entrance and looked in. At first she could not see anything, and then her eyes adjusted. She gasped; lying in the cave, on his back was Jack. She could see his uniform was shredded and covered in blood. She moved in. "Jack?"

The flash of steel came so quick she almost did not have time to react, as it was she felt a searing pain across her arm as she tried to back away. "Jack, it's me" she cried as she gripped her arm in pain.

Jack's eyes focused. "Carter? What the hell are you doing here?"

She noticed his voice sounded extremely weak.

"Oh God, did I hurt you?" he sounded concerned.

She heard him shuffle as she realized he was moving to check on her.

She quickly moved back towards him. "I will be okay Jack." She saw him reach out to her arm. She knew he would not be satisfied until he saw. She took out her first aid kit and began to wrap her arm.

"Why are you here Colonel?" She noticed that though weak, his voice had a steely edge to it.

As she wrapped her arm, she looked at him. "I came to find you, sir. No one left behind, remember?"

"Dammit, I left orders, no one to follow. When the hell are you finally going to learn to listen to what you are ordered to do?"

The rebuke stung her to the core, but she knew better than to say anything.

He looked as if he was going to say more, then fell backward. She rushed over to him. She looked down and carefully pulled the knife from his hands and put it aside. She felt for a pulse. Weak, but steady. He just passed out. She began to assess his wounds. He had more deep cuts and minor abrasions than she could count. She found several he had stitched on his own. He had been hit at least once with a staff blast and been grazed a couple of more times. She could hardly believe he made it this far. She treated and bandaged what she could with what she had. She decided that she would have to find the ship and bring it back. He would never make the trip. She knew she could not get him to the gate. If she could get him to the ship, she could fly to the gate though and check and see if it was open enough to use. She pulled out a thermal blanket and wrapped him in it.

After about four hours, he stirred. "Sam" he muttered. He then got quiet. An hour later he stirred again. "S…Carter, you really here?"

"Yes, sir, right here" She answered.

He sighed. "Why the hell didn't you listen to orders and stay put?"

"You know I can't do that. We don't leave people behind, sir. You taught us that." She replied.

"That was SG1 Colonel. Your team. I am not SG1. I am not your…" He stopped. "anything" he added weakly.

Sam felt the tears well up in her eyes. "That is not true. You will always be part of SG1. And you will always be important to me."

"Colonel, go. Go to the gate, or go find the ship. You need to go home. I can't make it right now. Just go and be safe."

She looked at him. "You cannot seriously think I would leave you here?"

"Sam, I knew what I was getting into."

"Yeah, well so did I when I came looking for you." She shot back.

"Colonel, please, go. I will rest up, and make my way back. You need to go. Go and be safe and be happy." He pleaded.

She looked at him. She could see sadness in his eyes. Regret. Darkness. There was none of the warmth for her that used to always be there. The warmth that he had for her. She could not begin to describe how bad it hurt her that he continually tried to use her rank instead of her name.

"I am not leaving you." She said with conviction.

"Colonel, it will be days before I can try and get out of here. I am sure you have important stuff to see and do. This was a write off mission. I came knowing that. Arrangements are already being made to accommodate the personnel change."

"Personnel change? Is that what it is? Is that what you consider it when a member of the SGC dies?"

"You know better than that."

She could see he was deeply hurt by that and immediately felt sorry.

"Colonel, just go. Go back to your life. Take care of Cassie. She really could use you right now. Go see your boyfriend. Just go. If I can make it back I will. Just leave." She saw his eyes were hard. He was determined to make her leave.

She didn't say anything. She was too hurt. After everything she went through to get here. All they had been through together, how could he expect her to just walk away.

As if reading her mind, he gently said. "Colonel, it is okay to go. I understand. They need you at home. Cassie needs you. And God knows that Daniel needs you to watch out for him. He is just itching to touch something he shouldn't. I made my peace. And you finally found someone…you deserve." He sagged back to the ground. He was so tired. His eyes closed.

She moved over to him and checked his pulse again. Still weak, but steady. She looked at her watch. She walked to edge of the cave to judge the daylight remaining. She turned and walked back and kneeled beside him. She noticed his was perspiring. She felt his forehead. He was extremely hot to the touch. He has a bad fever, she thought. She had not even realized that he had a fever on top of everything else.

At his touch he muttered. "Go, be safe, and be happy. I...used to…alone. Die…alone"

She felt the tears flow at his words. You are not alone. Can't you see that? She got up and walked to entrance. She took a look back at him, and walked out of the cave.