Chapter 10: Like Memories In The Dark

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who has stuck with me on this…interesting…journey! I hope this story has met each and every one of your expectations or, at the very least, provided you with some entertainment.

References to 'Solitudes,' 'Divide and Conquer,' 'Fire and Water,' 'Paradise Lost,' and 'Secrets.'

Enjoy!

Sam sat in the passenger seat of Jack's car, staring out the window as they left the city behind them. Jack had said that the address given to Hammond by the Trust was outside of a small town in Vail, up in the mountains. For the life of her, she couldn't remember why Hammond was important or who Teal'c was…besides maybe the guy who taught gym at the school. But why was he involved?

Something was tickling at the back of her mind, like a skeletal finger running its way up her spine and into her cerebral cortex. She could feel memories trying to push their way out and into her mind, but something was blocking them, preventing them from surfacing. Sam squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her forehead against the window, flinching when the cold glass hit her skin.

"Colonel!" Ice everywhere. Cold, freezing. "I'm coming down!" She slipped on the ice, slamming into the crags in the wall before spinning to a stop near the colonel.

Sam pressed a hand to her head swallowing a gasp. Words and faces flooded through her head, none lasting long enough to identify or categorize.

"It's my sidearm, I swear." A laugh in the darkness.

"I wouldn't leave because…I'd have rather died myself than lose Carter…because I care about her. A lot more than I'm supposed to." A blinking light and pounding heart.

"Sam!" Daniel's face, through fire. "Help me!"

Sam pushed herself against the back of her seat, hand reaching for the armrest. She tried to grab onto something real, something solid—anything that would bring her back to reality and away from this onslaught of memories.

"Are you all right, Major Carter?" Teal'c's concerned face grew clear for a moment. "Have you given up hope of finding O'Neill?"

"I have cancer, Sam." Her father, his expression blurred as tears filled her eyes.

"Carter!"

Sam's eyes snapped open. The car was no longer moving and her field of vision was partially obstructed by the concerned teenage face of Jack O'Neill. "Carter! Come on, snap out of it."

"Sir?" Her voice was tentative, halting; her eyes searching his face. "I—I think I remember."

"Remember what?" He tried to slow his heart rate, but after watching Carter have a near seizure for the last several minutes he wasn't sure his heart would ever return to normal.

"Everything. Or most of everything. You, me, my life, the Stargate program." She took a shaky breath and clenched her hands together. "Whoa, that was intense."

"I'll say. You gonna be okay?" Jack resisted the urge to touch her; if she remembered who she was, he no longer had any excuse for anything…inappropriate.

"Yes, sir." Sam licked her lips, wishing she were as confident as she sounded.

Jack watched her for another minute before starting the car and pulling back onto the road. They needed to be at the meet-point in less than twenty minutes.

They were running out of time.

….

"Look," Daniel said, rubbing his forehead. All the squinting he was doing was really starting to give him a headache. "If you would just tell us what you want maybe we could help you. You don't need to involve Sam and Jack."

"I don't think so, Dr. Jackson." His captor, a man who looked to be in his mid forties, stared hard at him. Bright green eyes watched him unblinkingly. "What we need relies heavily on the four of you being together."

"The four of us." Daniel repeated tonelessly. That didn't sound good. He couldn't even begin to imagine what the Trust wanted from them. This whole time he'd thought the Trust were hiding out, stealing technology and laying low…not planning to capture them.

"You are making a grave error." Teal'c's posture was tense as he knelt on the ground. He wanted nothing more than to stand and break the little man's neck; but the ropes that lashed his wrists to his ankles prevented him from doing anything.

"You know, I don't think we are." A young girl entered the small, half-buried bunker they were in. She didn't look older than sixteen or seventeen, but the two men knew better. Daniel recognized her as Sam's friend Marcy, from first period. He felt the smallest amount of surprise; Sam had seemed so convinced she had nothing to do with it.

"Doctor Jackson, Teal'c." She greeted, a small smile curving her lips. She reached under her shirt and pulled off her mimic device—something Daniel had discovered he was unable to do—her appearance wavering for a few seconds, before settling into a slightly heavier woman with the same curly red hair.

"That's us." Daniel frowned, eyes flicking around the small room for the hundredth time, as though he would suddenly be able to see. "The question is, who're you?"

"I'm hurt. You don't recognize us?" The woman smirked. "I'm former Lieutenant Lisa Schrader. But, it's just Lisa now, I was forcibly removed from SG-11 two years ago. That's former Lieutenant Lewis Marks, also removed from an SG team when the NID was first found out."

Daniel looked between the two, but didn't recognize either. He didn't like to admit it, but being on SG-1 put him in a rather elite position—he didn't have to know everyone on the other SG teams.

"What is your purpose here?" Teal'c's abrupt question seemed to catch Lisa off guard and she blinked several times before answering.

"Funny you should ask." She glanced at her watch. "And your timing's perfect. They should be here any second." As if in response the low rumble of an engine reached their ears. "Speak of the devils." Lisa jerked her head and Marks nodded once before walking to the door and stepping out into the sunlight.

Daniel glanced at Teal'c and saw the big man's jaw working, like he was fighting extremely hard not to say anything. Maybe he was going to yell out to Sam and Jack? Warn them? 'It's not like they don't know what they're walking into.' His second thought almost had him smiling with the irony. 'Though I don't even know what they're walking into and I'm already here.'

…..

Sam saw Marks first, her hand almost going to the gun hidden in her waistband. She felt Jack stiffen next to her and she knew he'd seen him too. "Hi there!" He called out, waving cheerily to the green eyed man. 'His eyes…' Sam recognized him after a moment—her brain was still trying to work through all the faces and names she knew. Memories kept popping up, but she was doing her damndest to keep herself focused. 'He's the guy from Bio. The guy who said something about my shirt.'

"Colonel O'Neill. Major Carter." The man didn't smile, not that they expected him to. "I'm glad to see you both follow directions like good little puppies."

"You son of a-," Sam started, but Jack laid a hand on her arm and shook his head minutely. Sam bit her lip, falling silent.

"Manners, major." Marks wagged his finger at her. "Both of you, turn around." When neither officer moved, Marks rolled his eyes and pulled out his zat, gesturing at them. "Now." Sam and Jack looked at each other before also rolling their eyes and turning with their hands raised. "Apparently, not as good as I hoped." He commented, a hard edge in his voice. "Guns? Like we weren't going to look for them?" He sighed in disgust, tossing both of their weapons far into the trees. "Now, let's go. Move."

Sam glanced at Jack and smiled slightly, the cold edge of her knife rubbing against her ankle. The colonel had been right—once the guns were found, the lackey had stopped looking. Jack grinned back and despite their situation Sam felt her heart flutter. 'Sg-1 one, Trust zero.'

TBC

QUESTION: I just rewatched 'Out of Mind' and 'Into the Fire' and did anyone else notice just how much Sam and Jack touch each other in these episodes? Or am I just looking for shippiness?