AN Told you I wouldn't make you wait long. Anyway, I hope I get all the tension and excitement across in this chapter but I won't if I don't get on with it so...

Chapter 10 – My Dead and Rotting Corpse

Unfortunately for Daniel, he didn't have anything like the coordination required to fire the weapons, the marshals had provided. Jack helped him to pull the vest over his head as gently as he could. Jostling the man would not help, however, he needed to keep the extent of his friend's condition hidden from the wardens. He propped Daniel against the padded wall, making sure he could stand before releasing his grip on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry Daniel." Jack looked his long-time friend in the eye. This man had pulled him back from the brink of suicide and out of one hell of a depression and now here Jack was shooting him. Ironic, that shooting him was Daniel's best chance at staying alive.

Jack stepped back, took careful aim, cursed Hyden again and pressed the button beneath his thumb. The energy wave hit Daniel squarely in the chest and the man was knocked off his feet; hitting the wall and slumping down onto the crash mat, utterly still and silent.

Jack stayed perfectly still for a second, his heart in his mouth. He saw Sam and Teal'c in the periphery of his vision, both as immobilised as he was. Identical patterns of fear on their faces. Daniel coughed and all three relaxed again, the relief passing between them, like a drum beat, it was so resounding.

Rushing to his side Jack couldn't help the crack in his voice as he spoke to the dazed man. "Goddammit Danny - cough straight away next time will ya! I don't think our nerves will take much more if you keep us in suspense like that." There was a flicker of amusement in his friend's face, which was a relief for the rest of the team to see, until he broke into coughing again.

"Sorry Jack, I'll try to remember that." Jack pulled the man to his feet, deliberately keeping a light mood, while Daniel shook slightly. Daniel tried to hide his unstable state. He understood Jack's dilemma: wanting to help Daniel as much as possible but trying to minimise his illness.

Daniel stood almost straight but a shooting pain across his ribs caused him to reflexively stoop a couple of inches to relieve the tension. Each breath stabbed as he shuffled back toward the wall, with Jack's help. He tried to keep his breathing deep, slow and even, though his lips were barely parted. As he moved the few steps he worked to find the balance between standing as straight as he could and staying hunched enough to relieve some of the pain. His throat felt like he'd been gargling with tacks. What he wouldn't give for a cup of black coffee.

Leaning heavily against the wall again, Daniel's vision started to spin like coloured water in a bottle and he locked his knees against the delicious pull a gravity coaxing him toward the mat beneath him. Sam watched as Daniel tried to give jack a reassuring smile, succeeding only in grimacing at a spot a foot to the left of his face and felt her heart clench.

Jack didn't want to leave Daniel having to stand for too long but took the time to hurl his darkest, cruelest thoughts at the slimy bastard who put them in here, before pressing the button again.

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Four hours later, Jack set down his weapon, a hot knife of guilt twisting his insides. He'd rather shoot himself. Unfortunately that wasn't an option. He caught Sam's movement from the corner of his eye as she made to put down her own weapon without having taken her last shot at the waiting Teal'c. Her horrified face was fixed on Daniel's still; slightly wheezing form.

"Carter!" Her head snapped in his direction."Leave him. Please." He saw her nod and she turned her focus back to Teal'c before any of the marshals watching from the viewing gallery behind noticed her distraction. It was not difficult to hit the big man's broad, vest covered chest and as she took aim her mind wandered.

All this time, the colonel had not been able to find a way out of here and all this time she had had one. Hyden. She had never brought up what had happened before she arrived in the institute, other than to tell them that she had no more information than they had received and beyond that, none her three friends had questioned her.

She had been convinced, that she would never take Hyden up on his offer but now it seemed that she had no other choice. If only to see if, in a position of some power and freedom, she could help Daniel. She couldn't believe how selfish she had been. All this time, her CO had struggled for a solution and she had never mentioned to him the escape that had been offered to her at the start of this ordeal. At the time she had known that that was they way SG-1 worked; they stuck together. It was all or none. But now with Daniel in the state he was in they had to explore other options.

With the resolution in her mind to speak with Colonel O'Neill, regarding Hyden's offer, as soon as they were in a relatively secure location she focused her attention on Teal'cs massive form, avoiding looking him in the eye and pressed the button.

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Once the Door was slammed shut on the hall full of testers, Jack and Teal'c loosened their grip on Daniel, allowing him to sink to the floor and lean on the wall. Sam knelt down and pushed his hair aside, checking his forehead, her face in anguish as she heard the faint panting breaths; felt the sweat on his brow and saw her beloved friend's face contorted in pain and shining with perspiration.

"How is he?" Jack's voice was quiet in her ear, though she didn't see the point in continuing to hide Daniel's illness from the other tester's. They had given little indication that they cared and surely if one of them were to give them away, they would have done so already. "Teal'c thinks the marshal's are listening. They probably know some thing's up." Sam nodded. She had long ago stopped trying to work out how Jack could know what she was thinking even as she was thinking it.

"He's bad. And he's only going to get worse. I'm scared for him." The admission surprised Jack, but he was grateful for her openness. He laid a hand on her shoulder, relieved to feel her relax ever so slightly and take a deep breath.

"We're getting out of here ASAP. As soon as we figure out a way. One thing's for sure though, we aren't going through another day of testing. " A loud grating sound announced the descent of the ladders."C'mon, we gotta get him up." Teal'c arrived beside them and lifted the now unconscious Daniel over his shoulder. " T? You sure you can climb like that?"

Teal'c nodded silently. When the ladders arrived, Sam went ahead so that she could drag Daniel into a pipe at the top, allowing Teal'c full use of his arms to maneuver himself into the next one. Jack brought up the rear and hauled himself groaning into his own. There was a cracker and water waiting for him. Taking a tiny sip from the water he passed the rest to Carter who was shuffling around in Daniel's pipe trying to get the man comfortable. She poured some onto her hand and used it to cool his face before accepting the majority of Teal'cs bottle when he passed it across to her. She proceeded to coax Daniel into drinking as much as he could before spluttering a lot more over himself and Sam when he coughed.

Finally kissing his cheek and leaving him to sleep. Sam climbed into her own pipe and shoved the cracker down her throat, absently watching the crackle of blue sparks between the wall tiles. Jack was glad to see her eating properly but realised that it was probably due to his shouting at her that morning.

Once Jack had finished eating, Teal'c had already laid down and was silent, not that that was unusual, and Daniel's pitiful breathing had evened out enough that Jack could only assume he was sleeping. He was about to lay down himself when her caught sight of a pair of familiar blue eyes regarding him seriously. He sighed. " OK Carter, out with it."

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"Over my dead and rotting corpse Carter!" Jack struggled to keep his voice down as the shock at what she had told him and what she was suggesting hit him. Turn herself over! Was she crazy!? How the hell was he supposed to do anything rational or helpful if he knew that she was at the mercy of that long haired hack rag!?

"Sir--"

"No Carter!"

"But... Daniel--" She begged him with her eyes. She could not sit around and do nothing when she knew that she was the one person who did have a choice about being here.

Jack's resolve was shaken by the look of desperation in her eyes but he stood firm in his position "Not gonna happen Carter. We are all getting outa here or we are all gonna die trying." Sam couldn't help the pointed, half-amused look at his use of a classic cliché. "Ah!" He cut off her comment with a sarcastic expression and a raised finger and she felt reassured by the old banter. But how was she supposed to back away from her chance and allow Daniel to die? She couldn't do it.

"Sir, maybe I can persuade Hyden around to an agreement..."

"Yeah, or maybe he'll just be happy to leave the rest of us in here to rot while he has his wicked way with you--" He stopped at her hurt expression. " I'm sorry Carter, I--" He rubbed his face tiredly. Just the thought of letting Sam go to this guy, crushed him. "That was crass I, I just meant to say that he's unpredictable and powerful and once he's got you there's no reason for him to let us out or help Danny and very little chance that you could escape. I can't let you put yourself in danger like that. Daniel wouldn't want you to if he had his say. "

He stopped and looked her in the eye across the small distance between them as they sat in his pipe. He could tell that she felt useless. She wanted to do something--anything to help. He knew the feeling quite well himself. Deciding that in the interests of morale he could push the invisible boundaries just a tad; he reached over and took hold of her hand. "This is the way we have to do it Carter. We stick together and I promise you we will get out of here. Soon. I'm working on it. I just need you to rest now and be ready when the time comes." He cringed at his ever increasing use of the dreaded cliches.

Sam nodded mutely, staring at his warm hand in hers, unable to meet his eyes before she broke the contact and moved lithely back to her own pipe keeping her gaze away from his face as she settled down for the night.

"Goodnight Sir."

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Jack woke to a frightening sight. It was almost silent in the hall, well before the alarms were due to go off, but Teal'c was laying on the roof of Jack's pipe, staring at him closely. The jaffa's face was way too close for comfort.

"Aaggh! Teal'c!" Jack hissed, sitting up and moving away form Teal'c who, on closer inspection looked distinctly worried. That was not good. "T, what's goin on?"

Teal'c took a moment to compose himself before answering. Definitely not good.

"O'Neill, Major Carter is gone."

AN. COOL! Quite chuffed with how well (and how long!) this chapter turned out. My back aches and i've lost circulation in my right foot but it was worth it. I liked the Sam/Jack element in this even though i hadn't intended to have much if any in but the plot asked for it soo... Anyway, reviews LOVED. I know it's a cliffhanger but I won't update again until i've updated University. Til then, adieu!

AN2. Any Brits who watch Torchwood on BBC3 and love it like i do, I would love to see some fics around for it if the mood takes you...?

prometheus246