A/N – Ok, I went back and did some MAJOR revising on this chapter, because I felt I'd copped out a bit. However I will warn you, the ending is perhaps one of the most random cliffhangers I've ever done…

Chapter 10

On the other side of the gate it was hot and windy, but Jack barely noticed the sand being blown in his face over the churning of his stomach. Seconds after stepping out of the Stargate he collapsed to his knees, just barely keeping down what little food was in his stomach. Sam knelt beside him, gently rubbing his back and offering what support she could. Moments later he sat back, breathing deeply but no longer feeling ready to throw up.

"Is this where Charlie is?" Jack asked, taking a long swing from the canteen Sam offered him and then slowly getting to his feet.

Jacob Carter, who was standing nearby, shook his head. "No, he's on Baal's mother ship. This is just where we've got a cargo ship standing ready to take us out to Baal. It shouldn't take more than an hour or so."

"Good." Jack stared around at the alien landscape. It wasn't that different from the deserts he'd been in on Earth, and certainly wasn't nearly as disconcerting as he'd expected it to be. "Uhm…where the hell are we, exactly?"

" PY7 – 0596," Sam replied as they began walking in a straight line from the gate. "About two thousand light years away from Earth."

"Son of a bitch…"

Jacob stopped seemingly in the middle of nowhere and the others clustered around him. Jack watched with curiosity as Jacob took out a small device and pressed a button on it. The air before them shimmered, then solidified into a small ship that was vaguely pyramidal shaped. Jack stared, but one glance from Sam told him it would take too long to explain. The group quickly hurried on board.

Everyone seemed to know their positions well. Jacob immediately took the pilot's seat and Teal'c the co-pilots; Sam and Kowalski headed towards the back to make sure the engines were up and running; Daniel went to the cargo bay to make sure the supplies were all intact. Jack stood in the corner feeling like a fifth wheel for a moment before walking over to Daniel.

"So how big is this mother ship exactly?" Jack crouched down next to Daniel who was closing up his pack.

Daniel gestured around at the ship. "A thousand times bigger than this thing, maybe more. You know the pyramids in Egypt?"

"Yeah…"

"It's like those."

"Crap…and we'll seriously be able to find Charlie in that?"

"We will," Daniel gave him a reassuring look. "I know it sounds crazy but we've pulled people out of worse situations than this. We'll get your son back; don't worry. And knowing Sam and Kowalski, they won't rest until we find him."

Jack nodded and looked down at the floor, cracking his knuckles in an agitated sort of way. "I just want to know that he's ok."

"I know." Daniel reached out and lightly touched his arm. "But if it's any consolation, Baal isn't stupid. If he's hoping to use Charlie to bargain with us he won't hurt him. But I know it's hard. My wife was taken by the goa'uld and…" his voice trailed off and he shook his head. "Never mind. But like I said, we'll get him back."

The ship sprang to life then and began to move. Everyone gathered in the cockpit and for a moment Jack was captivated by the sight of the ground rushing farther and farther away and then the sudden change as they burst through the atmosphere and into the darkness of space. Stars filled the front window, and it wasn't until after they'd made the spectacular jump to hyperspace that Jack realized Sam was at his side.

He turned to her and she stared up at him, eyes wide. "Jack…I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," he shook his head.

"No, Jack, it is. It's my fault you and Charlie were ever exposed to this sort of danger! I was so selfish…"

Jack put his hands on her arms. "Sam…I can't talk about whose fault it is right now. I just want to concentrate on getting Charlie back, and then we can have this discussion, ok?"

She nodded, giving him a brief, sad hug before going to sit along one wall.

The overwhelming size of the mother ship had Jack once again standing by the front window, staring out, slightly slack jawed as Jacob's symbiote Selmak gave the proper identification codes to get them through the shields. Daniel had been right; it was like one of the great pyramids, albeit one that could fly through space.

"The cargo bays on the lower levels of the ship are very rarely used," Selmak explained as he piloted their small vessel closer to the huge form that now filled the front window. "They usually only have a couple of Jaffa guarding them so we should be able to sneak in through one of them."

Everyone fell silent as Jacob navigated their way in through the open bay doors. They spotted three Jaffa standing guard by the door that led into the interior of the ship, and Daniel, Teal'c and Kowalski had them taken care of before the others even got a chance to disembark.

"Ok, where to now?" Jack asked as they huddled in a dark corner of a nearby hallway.

Kowalski turned to him. "Charlie's probably either being kept in the holding cells, or Baal's got him in the throne room. I'm suggesting we split up. Danny, Jacob and Teal'c, you go check out the holding cells. Radio if you find anything. Me, Carter and Jack will head up to the throne room."

They all nodded, silently accepting their positions. Jack watched as Daniel, Teal'c and Jacob headed off down a side hall, then he turned and began following Kowalski with Sam bringing up the rear.

The halls of the lower levels were fairly deserted but as they got higher and higher they began to run into more Jaffa. If Kowalski could help it he'd pull Jack and Sam into a niche or cross hall to avoid the guards, but once or twice they were forced to engage.

"I won't be surprised if it turns out old Baal already knows we're here," Kowalski grumbled after the third time that happened. "We're being pretty noisy."

Jack, who was impatient to get up to the throne room, just gave Kowalski a look. "It's a big ship. Maybe we'll get lucky."

"Oh yes, we always get lucky…"

It was a wonder to Jack how Sam and Kowalski seemed to know their way around the twisting maze of halls. He himself had no idea how many left turns they'd taken or how many floors they'd gone up, but his two companions seemed to know exactly what they were doing.

Suddenly Kowalski motioned for them to stop, and they pressed against the wall, weapons raised. "See?" he whispered. "What'd I tell you? Lucky."

Jack peered around Kowalski and down the hall. Walking towards them he could see two armored Jaffa, holding between them a small struggling form that was unmistakably Charlie.

"Jack, wait a minute!" Kowalski had to grab Jack by the arm. "The less shooting we can do the better our chances of getting the kid out of here alive. Now, those guys are gonna come right past us. We'll keep our heads down, then jump out and zat them. Assuming they don't have back up right behind we should be good."

Much as he wanted to leap out and plug the bastards who had his kid full of lead, Jack nodded solemnly, remembering Hammond's orders. Kowalski pushed them further back from the main hall, tucking them into the shadow of a small niche that kept them out of sight. There they waited with baited breath until the Jaffa passed, then the three of them leapt out and Kowalski and Sam hit the two Jaffa with blasts from their Zats before the guards even had a chance to react.

For a moment Charlie stood there trembling, then with a cry he threw himself at Jack. "DAD!"

"Charlie!" Jack dropped to his knees, wrapping his arms around his son while Kowalski radioed the others. "Shit, Charlie, are you ok? Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine I'm fine dad I justwannagohome!" Charlie sobbed, clinging to Jack and trembling.

"Guys, there's going to be time for that later," Kowalski said, a worried frown crossing his face. They could hear hurried footsteps coming from behind the closed door at the end of the hall. "We've gotta move it now!"

Half leading, half dragging Charlie, they began rushing back the way it came. It proved more difficult going than coming, however. They'd barely made it halfway back when a loud alarm blared throughout the ship and suddenly they turned the corner to find themselves face to face with a group of Jaffa.

"Charlie get down!" Sam shouted, reacting even faster then Jack as she threw herself between Charlie and the Jaffa, blindly opening fire with her P90.

Jack pushed Charlie to the floor and down into a corner as all hell broke loose. Over all of the firing and the explosions, however, the only sound he seemed to be able to hear were the terrified cries of his son. The second the smoke cleared they were running again, just ahead of, it seemed, another group of Jaffa.

The others were waiting by the ship when they finally made it back to the hanger, and Daniel quickly ushered them aboard.

"We already had to deal with a few Jaffa," the archaeologist said as the doors closed behind him. "I'm sure Baal's going to send more down here once he realizes this is where we are."

Jacob and Teal'c were already in the pilots' seats, preparing to take off. Jack was crouching on the floor of the cockpit near Charlie, making sure he was, in fact, unharmed. He was vaguely aware of Sam standing nearby, then her leaving as the ship pulled away from the mother ship, cloaking itself to defend against the weapons that were now powering up.

Once he was certain that Charlie was ok, Jack straightened up, turning to Daniel. "Where'd Sam go?"

"Back there." Daniel nodded towards the back room. He watched Jack for a moment expectantly, then tilted his head to one side when Jack didn't move. "Shouldn't you go talk to her, she looked a little upset."

"I don't know." Jack shrugged and sighed, leaning back against the wall. "If she's anything like me she'll want to have a little alone time right now."

Daniel nodded, then moved off to go help Kowalski with something.

Three hours later they were back inside the hustle and bustle of the SGC, and Jack found himself sitting in the hall outside the infirmary while Janet ran some tests on Charlie. She'd assured Jack that there was probably nothing wrong with the boy, but that it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Jack?"

He looked up and saw Sam walking over, a worried look on her face. "Hey," Jack slowly got to his feet.

"How's Charlie?" She looked up at him, wide eyed.

"Fraiser said he's probably going to be fine."

"That's good." Sam looked down at the floor for a moment, shuffling her feet before speaking again. "Jack…I'm so sorry…"

"It wasn't your fault."

Her head snapped up and she gazed at him with a furious, sad expression. "No, Jack, it is my fault! If I wasn't so selfish I wouldn't have held onto you for so long and Charlie wouldn't have been put into such danger!"

"What do you mean 'held onto me for so long'?" Jack stared at her, hardly daring to believe what he was hearing, mainly because it was exactly the thing that he himself had been unable to work up the nerve to say.

"I think for Charlie's sake we should end this." She was barely controlling her voice, and still it wavered a little as she spoke.

Jack's heart thudded painfully against the inside of his ribs. He had heard that before, could see the scene perfectly, him and Sarah standing in their living room after one of their big fights. Only this was different. He didn't want to lose Sam and somehow deep down he knew that ultimately it wouldn't change anything. "But can you ever stop caring about us?"

"Of course not." She was on the brink of tears now.

"Then that guy, that Baal, knows that he can still get to you by hurting us. Can't you see that, Sam? It's too late to protect us now." He narrowed his eyes. "So just stop acting like goddamn Spiderman and just accept the fact that I lo - "

"Don't say that!" Sam snapped, taking a step backwards. "Jack, nearly every man that I've loved has ended up dead! I don't want that to happen to you…or Charlie…I would never live with myself."

Biting back his own raging emotions, Jack stepped forwards and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Then protect us."

"What if I can't?!" Tears were forming in her eyes and a few splashed down her cheeks. "I couldn't protect Charlie this time what if I can't the next time? What if something worse happens?"

"But you saved him, Sam. You rescued him, and he's come out less harmed than if he'd been in a car crash and something tells me that a car crash would be far more likely to happen."

Sam sniffed loudly. "I'm not a superhero, Jack. It isn't fair to Charlie to put his life in danger just because we…" her voice trailed off.

"Because we love each other?" Jack said quietly.

Sam bit her lip and nodded, seeming unable to say it.

"Then let's ask Charlie."

"Fine."

They went back into the infirmary to find Janet finished with her tests and a slightly calmer looking Charlie sitting up in bed. He smiled sleepily at them as they walked over and took seats next to him.

"Hey, kiddo, how're you feeling?" Jack asked, ruffling Charlie's hair.

"Good." Charlie looked at the two. "What's wrong?"

"Look, sport, we've got to talk to you about something."

Charlie's eyes widened and for a moment he seemed to shrink back down into the pillows. "No…"

"It's not right for you to be put into this much danger because of me," Sam said, her voice calm.

"But…but what if you leave and then he comes after me again? Baal? What if he tries to get me again and you're not there to rescue me?!" Charlie was shooting horrified looks back and forth between the two adults. "What, do you two not like each other anymore?"

Jack and Sam exchanged a long look and Jack sighed heavily, reaching out to touch Charlie's shoulder. "Look…"

"NO!" Charlie shouted, pushing Jack's hand away roughly, his eyes blazing. "NO, you know what?! Fuck you both!"

"Charles Tyler O'Neill!" Jack roared, leaping to his feet. "I will not be spoken to like that!"

"Yeah, well you lied to me, Dad!" Charlie was halfway between screaming and sobbing now and across the room Janet had paused in what she was doing and glanced over. Charlie grabbed one of the pillows from behind him and threw it childishly at Jack. "You told me that we were going to be a family again! You and me and Sam! She's not Mom but she's probably as close as we'll ever get and I love her and now you're telling me that I can have that!"

Jack opened his mouth, closed it, forced himself to take a few deep breaths. "Charlie, you need to calm down. You've just been through a horribly stressful situation and I probably shouldn't have asked you about this."

"If you want me to calm down then tell me you're not breaking up with Sam!" Charlie narrowed his eyes accusingly. "You told Mom that you love Sam, now why don't you tell Sam that!"

Jack looked up and across the bed to where Sam stood. She had her eyes closed, but when she opened them, he could see that they were glistening with tears.