Note: Glad to see people still want to hear how this story ends. It certainly helps encourage me to fill in the remaining blanks and get it posted as quickly as I can. Thank you all.

Ch 11

Jack and Sam finished sending a second message to Thor, and Walter slid over at his console automatically, before Sam could boot him out of his seat again. "Good catch on finding the cat," Sam said quietly as she sat back down and got back to work.

"Thanks. How's it going here?"

"It's not," she responded tersely. Jack knew she was frustrated with the situation more than anything else, but wanted to try to be sure she wasn't blaming herself for her lack of progress finding any clues that might or might not have been buried within the millions of lines of code from the gate.

"Um, Sam? I was thinking… if the cat was in space, wasn't Jordan probably taken straight from the house, not through the gate?"

"Probably," Sam agreed. "But there's a team working on all the stuff the cat can tell you already. So as long as we still have a suspect in custody who went through the gate, I'm going to keep sorting through all of this. The longer she's gone…" she took a deep breath and tried to keep it together. "… I just think every second might count here."

"You won't eat something, then? I could bring it here so you wouldn't have to…"

"I'm not hungry."

"Okay." He squeezed her shoulder briefly and was alarmed at how tense the muscles were. He rubbed harder with his thumb, but she shot him a look that plainly said, 'back off.' "Um, I'm going to go see if there's anything I can do with Teal'c and your dad." He watched the back of her head till she nodded, then nodded himself and turned to go.

Daniel was lurking near the base of the staircase, with that, "I'm about to butt in and Jack's not going to like it" look on his face.

Jack sighed, glanced back at Sam, and waved Daniel to follow him.

Daniel waited until they got into Jack's office before starting. "I'm worried about Sam," he said. Actually, he was worried about both of them. The only times he'd seen them talk to each other since arriving at the base were to exchange brief updates on their separate progress. It wasn't like them under any circumstances, and considering the horrible circumstances they were facing now, he would have expected them to be… presenting a more united front… or at least doing a halfway decent job at comforting each other, or something.

"She's fine, Daniel. You know Carter, she could stay up four days straight and still pass the Mensa test with flying colors..."

"That's not what I'm talking about, Jack. I just think she's working way too hard to keep her mind off of Jordan. She's hardly left that chair in the control room since you guys got here."

"She likes to work. She's got to keep her mind busy. That's hard to do with a mind like hers. And if you think any amount of work is going to get either of our minds off the fact that our daughter is missing for even a second you're nuts."

"Yes, I understand that, Jack. But there's a limit to how much work is healthy for anybody. Even Sam. You know that."

"Quit sounding like the doc. What do you expect me to do about it? Order her out of the control room?"

"You used to do it all the time... before..." Jack gave him a warning look. "All I'm saying is, if you're truly trying to keep your professional relationship the same, which I know has always been really important to both of you, despite the fact that nobody else cares about that anymore one way or the other… but if that's what you're both set on doing, I just mean you can't start cutting her slack because you're afraid she'll get mad at you."

"I'm not afraid, Daniel," he said firmly. "I'm just... respecting her method of dealing with stress."

"Well, if she doesn't start calming down on her own, sooner or later Janet's going to order her into the infirmary, and then nobody will be happy. Think about it, Jack. You would never have left her alone this long before you were married..."

"All right, all right, I get your point. I'll... figure something out. It's just… it's hard. Jordan's out there somewhere going through god knows what… at the very least she's probably scared to death… and we're stuck here trying to figure out what happened based on hair balls and…" He was starting to get carried away himself, and he had been trying to keep a firm grip on his emotions, afraid he'd be as utterly useless as he felt if he didn't. "It's just hard."

Daniel nodded sympathetically.

"I'll… figure something out, Daniel. Go help Teal'c. Please."

"Okay." Daniel started to go, then stopped in the door. "Jack if you want to talk… well, I mean, I think you should talk to Sam. But if you don't want to or can't or… whatever… but if you still want to talk… I'll be here."

Both of them knew he wouldn't be taking Daniel up on the offer. But it was still a little bit reassuring to hear. "Thanks, Daniel."

Once alone in his office, Jack looked around quickly. He wasn't really sure what he was looking for, but he was doing everything quickly and urgently for the time being anyway. His eyes settled on the picture on his desk, by the red phone. Daniel had taken it, after dinner on Jack's last birthday.

He was sitting in his chair at the dining room table, with Jordan perched on one knee - because she wanted to be sure she got first dibs at licking the icing off the candles, Jack remembered with a fond smile. Jordan loved cake even more than he did, if that was possible. Sam was leaning over the back of the chair, arms draped over his shoulders from behind.

Their heads were very close together. It had started off as a posed picture, but after he clicked the first one, Jack had tickled Jordan, and she had leaned back in his arm, laughing. Daniel had continued to snap pictures, and the one that Jack had liked best was this one, because it looked so real and happy. They were all laughing, but Jordan was giggling uncontrollably, leaning back against one of his arms, looking up at both of them, pointing, and Sam was just about to grab her finger.

He smiled every time he saw that picture, but this time, he had to take a deep breath and several minutes of blinking back the tears that were clouding his eyes. "You damn well better be okay, Jo, or it's going to kill all of us."

Finally, he shook his head and picked up the phone to call the forensics lab for an update.

xxxxx

Jordan woke up and wondered if she'd just taken a nap, or slept for a whole night. She had no way of knowing, since her Tinkerbell watch was in the back of her Dad's truck and not on her wrist when she had been taken.

It wasn't long before Jormungand came to get her. "Are you rested?"

"Yes."

"Good. We are about to enter orbit around the planet which is to be our first stop."

"Do I get to go down there too?" she asked hopefully. She was used to spending plenty of time outside, and was getting more than a little sick of the smooth, sparse interior of the ship for more reasons than the simple fact that she was being held captive.

"Yes. However, our stop will be very brief."

"I have to go to the bathroom first," Jordan said suddenly.

"Very well. You know the way. You may go. Come to the bridge when you are finished."

She nodded, wondering why he was being so nice to her now - relatively speaking, of course. She took herself to the "bathroom." She did have to go, but it was mainly an excuse to think some.

Her parents were looking for her. She knew that without a doubt. They probably had a whole bunch of people helping them too, besides the SGC. Grandpa Jacob would be trying to help, she knew for sure. And Thor too, if he wasn't too busy being the Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet. Maybe she could leave them some sort of sign that she had been there, in case they went to the same planet looking for her later.

She didn't really have very much to leave behind though. She was only wearing her nightgown, and she was afraid if she tore it to leave a piece behind, Jormungand would notice and punish her again. Probably make her stay in her room with the lights off forever. Or worse.

Maybe if there was something on the planet she could use - sand or branches or leaves, or something. But she doubted Jormungand would let her out of his sight for long, if at all. And what if they got down there and there wasn't anything she could use to leave them a sign with? She thought about maybe trying to pull out some of her hair, but besides hurting, it would probably just blow away and they'd never find it. Even if it didn't blow away, her hair was very light. They probably wouldn't see it.

She wrinkled her nose as she thought. She remembered that she still had the whole blue rectangle left, and part of the circle from her "meal" before. They were still in her room if Jormungand hadn't gotten rid of them. She hurried back to the room and quickly found the pieces. Scrunching her nose up at the bitter taste, she quickly nibbled away at two sides of the rectangle. She made it into a T and held up the crescent bit of the circle that was left next to it so that it looked like a "J."

Her parents would see that and know it was her - the blocks were very bright. As long as she could leave them somewhere her parents would find them, but Jormungand would not. That was going to be the hard part. Also hiding them until they got down there. She tucked the pieces into the waistband of her underpants - it was the only place she could think of to hide them.

Then she hurried to the bridge, where Jormungand was ready with a really old zat gun that looked rusty and another black plastic stone thingy. "You went back to your room. You were told to come to the bridge directly."

"Sorry. I forgot."

She blinked at him innocently until Jormungand either bought it or just didn't care. He nudged her over to the area in front of the "window" and used the stone-thing to beam them down to the planet.

When they rematerialized, they were standing in front of a Stargate. She was glad about that - it would make it way easier for her parents to get there when they came looking for her. Plus they would definitely go to the Stargate. It was the perfect place to leave her breadcrumbs - just like Hansel and Gretel. Only she wished she wasn't by herself. Having a Hansel around would be way less scary.

She thought about her best friend Alex, just for a second, then felt bad for wishing that somebody else be going through this very scary thing with her just so she wouldn't be lonely. "We must walk," Jormungand said gruffly, prodding her shoulder with the zat to get her moving.

She walked briskly at first, glad to be able to stretch her legs and breathe fresh air. The planet was lots of trees. It reminded her of her favorite part of 'Star Wars: Return of the Jedi,' where they raced around the Ewok planet on speeders. The ground wasn't soft enough to leave good footprints, but she knew her Uncle Teal'c was the best at following tracks in the universe - everybody said so.

So she shuffled her feet along the ground whenever they were walking through leaves and stuff, trying not to let Jormungand figure out what she was doing. She even bent some sticks and branches the direction they were going when she could.

She soon started to tire on the walk, however, and her feet were starting to hurt and get scratched from walking through the forest barefoot. She stubbed her toe once because she was shuffling her feet too much and hit a hidden rock. "How much farther?" she asked.

"Not far."

Two minutes later she was getting very grumpy. Why couldn't he have beamed them down closer to where they were going? Still… it was good that he had taken them to the Stargate first. "Are we there yet?"

"No."

She waited another minute, then: "How much longer?" He didn't bother answering this time, so she quickly added, "How about now?"

"Perhaps we would move faster if I rendered you unconscious with this weapon and dragged you the rest of the way."

She quieted. "Uh, no. I don't think that would be faster."

"Then I suggest you stop repeating questions that you already know the answer to."

"I don't know the answer! I asked how far and you just said not far - that doesn't tell me how far…"

He pointed the zat at her and unlocked it.

She swallowed hard, her eyes wide, zipped her lips, and threw away the key. They continued walking.

xxxxx

Jack nudged Sam's shoulder with a coffee mug. Startled, she looked at it and then up at him with a grateful, quick smile. "Thanks. I needed a refill and the filter in the pot over there disintegrated after the last one." She took a sip from the cup and coughed. "What is that - water?"

"Yeah. I figured it was better than letting the doc stick you with an IV to keep you hydrated. Come with me."

"I'm almost to a stopping point here…"

"You're at a stopping point, Colonel. Come on." He offered her a hand up. "It'll only take a few minutes," he promised, as a quasi-apology for pulling rank.

She followed the order, getting to her feet quickly. Way too quickly. She got dizzy and threw up, nearly falling down in the process. She stopped herself by latching onto the nearest thing - her husband.

Jack stood perfectly still, then looked down at his shirt slowly. For the second time in two days, he had been thrown up on. At least this time it was by someone he loved.

"Sorry," Sam apologized, wiping her mouth with the back of her sleeve.

"I haven't had this much puke on me since Jordan was a baby," he said. "Come on, let's go get cleaned up. Then we're going to see how the kitten and the doc are getting along."

"What - no, she'll keep me there forever, Jack, I'm fine," Sam insisted.

"Sam," Jack said evenly, lowering his voice and leaning in closer, noticing that Walter had that eavesdroppy look about him. "Could we possibly continue this conversation when we're not covered in vomit?"

She nodded apologetically. "You're right. I really am sorry about that."

"Ah, relax. It's not like you could help it… although maybe drinking three times as much coffee as Daniel and the doc combined, on an empty stomach, wasn't one of your more brilliant ideas."

She nodded, grabbing his arm for support as she tried to start walking. "Wow. We better get to the locker room fast." He grabbed her elbow and wrapped an arm around her and they hurried it up.

xxxxx

They eventually came to a small rectangular building with some columns outside that Uncle Daniel would really have liked. They had writing on them, kind of like a barcode. Jormungand grabbed her wrist and pressed her hand firmly against a spot on one of the walls. The wall changed when he did it - it… opened. A big circular hole opened up on it.

"What's that?" Jordan asked nervously. If there was one rule she knew never to disobey, it was not to touch anything alien that an adult hadn't given her permission to touch.

"That is the ticket to both our salvations, Miss O'Neill."

xxxxx

After getting cleaned up in the locker room - for the second time, for Jack - both Jack and Sam entered the infirmary, Sam feeling much better already and trying to figure out how to get through with all this as quickly as possible.

"Hey, you two," Janet greeted, getting up from her desk and approaching them with the kitten in her arms. "Any news… Sam, you look terrible. Sit down." She passed the kitten to a passing nurse and switched over to doctor mode instantly, and was already pressing a hand to Sam's forehead and shining a penlight in her eyes by the time Sam had reluctantly got onto the nearest gurney.

"I'm fine, Jan, I just had too much coffee," Sam insisted.

"All right. Well, I'm going to do some bloodwork, just in case your diagnosis is wrong. And while you're here, I want you to rest, drink some water if you can, and if you feel up to it, get something bland in your stomach. I'll have someone bring you a tray. Both of you. I'm guessing you haven't eaten either, have you, General?"

Jack shrugged and sat down on the side of the bed. Neither he nor Sam said anything else while Janet took enough blood to run her tests. She left them alone to go put a rush on the tests. Jack scratched the back of his neck as he tried to figure out how to do this. There were so many potential problems here. Normally at work there was absolutely no problem. When the occasion called for it, he gave orders and she followed them. And when she knew something sciencey that nobody else did, she was basically in charge - she told them what she wanted to do and she or General Hammond gave her the okay… just like it had always been. Now though, it was personal. On a whole new level. And he was worried that if he pulled rank too much, the ramifications at home would be bad. Catastrophic if… if anything happened to Jordan.

"Jack. What's wrong?"

"I'm just worried about Jordan. And you."

"I'm fine. Well, I will be when we have something to go on. Speaking of which, what did you want me to look at, anyway?"

"The geek squad that examined the kitten confirmed that it was in our solar system briefly. Something about the trace radiation. So…"

"…the Asgard are monitoring all hyperspace activity in our solar system and we haven't detected any ships…"

"Which is why I was coming to ask you how a ship could have snuck in."

"It would take years and years, at a bare minimum, to get here without using hyperspace travel. Unless somebody knew the point at which the Asgard began monitoring hyperspace activity and exited just outside the range, then finished traveling here at just under light speed… but even that would take a very long time."

"How long?"

"I need to do a few calculations to be sure but… probably about five years or so."

"Jordan's five," Jack said quietly.

"And a half… you think whoever took her has been planning this since she was born?"

Jack shrugged. "They planned everything else pretty carefully, I wouldn't put it past them."

xxxxx

"Look inside the device."

Jordan crossed her arms firmly. "No."

"Must I shoot you?"

"You can't look in it yourself or you wouldn't have brought me. So you won't hurt me, cuz I won't help you if you do," she said. She had been thinking it for a while, but this outing confirmed her suspicion.

"I can zat you once, causing you immense pain, and wait until you have recovered sufficiently before doing it again and again until you finally agree. Do you not wish to go home?"

"Yes!"

"Then I suggest you do as I ask."

She stuck out her chin defiantly as she tried to tell if he was serious or not. He seemed serious. And she did want to go home, more than anything. So far he had not really hurt her, only scared her, because she had been cooperating…

"Is it going to hurt me?" she asked.

"No."

She didn't really believe him but she didn't think she had much of a choice. She stood up on her tiptoes and tried to peer into the hole in the wall, but she was too short. "I can't reach it," she said, looking up at him.

He twisted the back of her nightgown in his free hand, lifting her up to the proper level. He was way stronger than he looked. That wasn't exactly comforting. He pressed her into the wall and said, "Look."

She grabbed the sides of the thing and peered inside. She saw a bunch of lights bouncing around for a few moments, and then nothing, only black.

xxxxx