Hi everyone - I'm sorry for the delay. This lurgy turned into sinusitis (ugh) and I'm only starting to feel like myself again now. Plus school holidays mean my writing time is curtailed!

SGC

It was the morning after, and Jack's brain scans still showed improvement. He hadn't Instantly woken up (much to Vala's disappointment) but the doctors working on his case were hopeful that he would and hopeful that any brain damage sustained would, in fact, be minimal. This was a huge improvement on their initial assessments, and Sam, after getting her first good night of sleep in over two weeks, felt revitalised and rejuvenated this morning. So much so that she had surprised Daniel in his lab some hours ago, carrying two cups of freshly brewed coffee, and asked to be included in the investigation.

Daniel, after a moment's hesitation, had asked her if she was sure she was ready to jump back into it, and, on seeing her impatient nod, had scooted over and made room for her. That had been nearly five hours ago.

There was silence in the lab. But it was a companionable silence, the sort broken by the occasional "Ha!" or alleviated by the odd bar of music hummed almost under the breath. Sam and Daniel sat on chairs at opposite sides of the long workbench, cups of coffee piling up around them, some empty, some half full, some long forgotten. They'd been at it since the early hours, and it was now nearly lunchtime.

Daniel broke the silence with a definitive grunt, and slammed his pen down a little too hard on the desk top. The noise and vibrations startled Sam, who jerked up from the microscope she was working on, with a surprised "What?"

"Nothing. That's what." Daniel rooted amongst the coffee cups around him, picked a likely candidate for last-poured and drained it, setting the cup down and scrubbing his hands through his hair and over his face.

"Not a single reference to a "blue planet" in any of the works, or in anything from the quadrant of space we were in. My eyes are crossing and the letters are jumping."

He looked so forlorn that Sam pushed aside her equipment and reached over the worktop to grasp his hand, briefly.

"Don't beat yourself up." She glanced back at her microscope, and sighed.

"I'm having no real luck either. SG's 3 and 8 have been visiting planets in that vicinity and bringing back soil and rock and water samples, and I can't find anything blue in them either. I was hoping for a high concentration of something like Azurite which might at least indicate we were on the right track, but... nothing."

She didn't look too cut up about it though, and Daniel was glad. After the trauma of the last two weeks, Sam had been walking about since yesterday with a quiet glow. Despite the fact that Jack was still in a coma, she was now convinced it was just a matter of time, and was prepared give him that. He was, she insisted, on his way back to her.

"So. Lunch?" When in doubt, eat. "Cafeteria should be relatively quiet still."

"Yeah, good idea." Sam stood up decisively, and brushed herself off. For the first time she appeared to notice how empty the room was. "Where's Vala? I would have thought she would have been in here this morning."

Daniel ushered her out the room, pulling the door shut behind him. Hands in his pockets, and rocking slightly on his heels, he replied, not looking at her.

"She's training with Teal'c. Four hours every morning, and then she's often back there in the evening too." He sighed, and met Sam's eyes. His own were sad.

"She's determined to be able to avoid any repeats of the Colfrinchan incident. She's furious with herself that she was overpowered 'so easily' " His voice was suddenly angry, and Sam glanced at him, worried.

"There were eight men there, and she blames herself for being weak! Eight, Sam! No-one should have to be so prepared that they can take on eight men by themselves."

They walked on in silence for a while. Then,

"You did." Sam's voice was quiet. Daniel glanced down at her.

"Well, yes. But I was furious, I had rage on my side. And anyway, it's different."

"Is it?" Her brow was furrowed. " Despite the obvious difference in size and possibly strength, I think any woman facing rape has anger and fear spurring her on. And if she has the skills and the training, perhaps she can make enough of a difference to the situation to prevent it, well, you know, getting totally out of hand." She shrugged, obviously a bit uncomfortable with the topic, but forged on anyway.

"I'm not saying it would have altered the outcome, Daniel, but it sounds like being able to put up more of a fight would have made Vala feel better about herself."

They walked in silence for a bit. Sam, looking out from under her eyelashes, watched the struggle he was having playing out over Daniel's face. She often wondered if he realised how expressive his features were, how his internal musings could be read so easily by those watching him. Or perhaps it was just that she knew him so well; perhaps it wasn't everyone. Just them. Just the SG-1 family.

"I should have taken better care of her." He said it flatly, glumly, and Sam shook her head.

"You should have listened to her, Daniel, but you need to trust her too, to do whatever she needs to do to feel safe again." Sam laid a hand on his arm, and squeezed gently.

"After all, there are times you won't be there to look after her, and she'll have to rely on her strength and wits."

Daniel was having trouble with this. He burst out with "Hang on a minute! That's her old life - she's part of us now. She shouldn't have to think like that, dammit."

Sam, looking sideways at him, with a slight grin on her face, wondered if she should point out how like a protective partner he sounded... but then decided against it. If that relationship was meant to be, it would happen naturally, on its own. Still, she wondered if he had any idea what his actual feelings towards Vala were. After her conversation with Teal'c, she'd found herself speculating on all sorts of possibilities, which may or may not have played out in those lost 50 years. She'd had to bite her tongue a couple of times not to bring it up again.

Her musings were disrupted by their arrival at the door of the commissary. Daniel, hands firmly pushed into his jeans pockets, would have gone straight past if she hadn't nudged him. His mind was still on their conversation.

"So you think it's a good thing, then? Vala training with Teal'c all the time?"

"I do." Sam spoke firmly. "She needs to get her self confidence back, and to feel safe in her own skin again, Daniel." She looked up at him, grinning wryly. "Believe me, I know how devastating the loss of control is. After you've been... in that position, it's vital to get that self esteem back."

Daniel sighed, and reached over to give her a quick hug. "Jonas Hansen was a first class ass, Sam. It was definitely third time lucky with regards to your engagements." He grinned down at her peal of laughter, and together they strolled over to the counter.

************

In the gym, Vala was in fact working out with both Teal'c and Cameron. Like Daniel and Sam, they had been at it now for some hours, and Vala's muscles were shaking with the effort. Regretfully she thought it was probably time to stop, so held up her hand for time out. Cam, with lightning fast reflexes, halted the stick he'd been swinging at her and leaned on it instead, panting.

"You are doing much better, Vala Mal Doran."

While Cam and Vala were breathless and stretching aching muscles, Teal'c had only a slight sheen of sweat to show for the exertion he had undertaken. He swung a white towel around his neck, and passed water bottles to his team mates.

"I think your levels of fitness are fast approaching what they once were." He drank deeply, then smiled at her. " You can be proud of your hard work."

Vala, her breathing now easing, returned the smile.

"Thanks Muscles. I can feel the difference." The smile faltered slightly. "I can't believe I let myself get so out of shape!"

"Hardly out of shape, Princess." Cam, gallant as ever, was rubbing his head. Emerging from under the towel, his face was grim. "Still, we might all be needing to be in peak fitness sooner rather than later. As soon as our tame geniuses work out where this 'blue planet' is, we'll be going in."

"Bra'tac has promised a force of Jaffa, should they be needed." Teal'c, now also frowning, finished gathering their stuff together. SG-9 were outside the door, awaiting their turn."He is very eager that this matter should be resolved as soon as possible"

"Me too, big guy." Cam opened the gym door. "Me too."

*************

It wasn't until they were eating dessert that the idea hit Sam. Daniel was having pie, but she'd picked up her usual, the blue jello. Between spoons four and five the figurative little light bulb on top of her head lit up and she paused, eyes widening. Daniel noticed, frowned, and then spoke thickly through a mouthful of apple and ice-cream.

"What? What is it?" He swallowed and tried again. "Your expression..Sam?"

"Um, I'll be right back." She was getting to her feet, jello forgotten, eyes narrowed in calculation. "See you in a bit," and she was gone, hurrying out of the room. Daniel, mouth open and pie forgotten, was trying to work out what had set her off, when the rest of the team arrived, and sat down beside him. Vala, noticing he was distracted, promptly pinched his pie.

"Where's Sam off to?" Cameron had a plate of pasta, balanced precariously on top of a large bowl of fruit salad, which he attacked enthusiastically. "She didn't even say hi on her way out."

"I don't know." Daniel was frowning. "She was eating her jello, and suddenly came over all 'Eureka-ish!'." He waved his hands a bit helplessly, trying to indicate what he meant.

"That's my Daniel." Vala was arch. "Ever the linguist."

Cam snorted with laughter at this, and Daniel gave her a disgusted look, but Teal'c was silent. He was staring at Sam's leftover jello, his head cocked to one side and his expression thoughtful. The others quietened down.

"Teal'c?" That was Cam. "What're you thinking?"

"Samantha Carter as eating this jello when she left." Teal'c spoke slowly. Daniel nodded.

"This blue jello," Teal'c reiterated, pointedly. Daniel's mouth suddenly formed a perfect 0 of comprehension.

"Something to do with the planet - must be!" He grabbed up his coffee, then, remembering all the cups in his lab, grimaced and set it down again. "Must go." And he was off too, at speed.

"Genius burns," remarked Cam, through a mouthful of pasta. He gave his team mates a smug look. "Told you they'd figure it out."

***************

"It just suddenly struck me." They were crowded into the lab, watching as Sam illustrated what she'd found on the laptop computer.

"I had been going about it all wrong." She indicated the samples piled up next to her microscope. "All these soil and water samples, useless." She turned back to them, face alight.

"It's the atmosphere. Light travels though it in such a way that, looking at the planet from a vantage point of some light years away, you can see it has a halo, surrounding it." She beamed.

"A blue halo," Daniel breathed, looking at the screen. "And this is, of course, visible from the entire quadrant, so calling it the "blue planet" makes sense." He turned a delighted face to Sam. "You've cracked it! Well done!"

"Soooo," Cam drew out the word. "Time to let General Landry in on this, people. And then, time to go."

There were nods all round the table, and Sam got up, shutting her laptop.

"I'll take this up to the General. I have to pop in and check on Jack too."

She looked around at them all. "And, by the way, guys, I'm coming along this time." She held up a hand as a chorus of protests rose. "No arguments. You've been fighting this battle for me for weeks now - it's time I did my share."

Cam and Daniel opened their mouths to argue further, but Teal'c lifted a hand to still them.

"If Colonel Carter-O'Neill feels well enough to join us," he said slowly, his eyes holding Sam's, "then I, for one, will welcome her experience and expertise on this mission." A smile softened his stern face, and Sam, relieved, smiled softly back.

"Thank you, Teal'c," then, breaking the moment and looking round, "I'll let you all know what General Landry has to say."

Then she was gone, and SG-1 broke up to get ready for the next step in this campaign. Daniel, left alone in his lab, swept the books to one side and into a rough pile, and, with a sigh, began gathering up the discarded coffee cups.