A/N: For those of you who've read my other stories, you might remember that the author's note for Reap's epilogue talked about my descent into "holiday hell." Well, I'm afraid I fell into it again this year, hence the rather lengthy delay in posting this chapter. I won't discuss the other horrifically long list of graduate school requirements I've finally finished this month, but will rather just say that whoever decided to place those deadlines in the same two-week span as my husband's birthday, the twins' birthday, mid-quarter progress reports, and CHRISTMAS deserves to be shot. About the best thing I can say about December is that it's over. Thank GOD.
One more thing… I hope no one minds that I described the SGC's conference table as "oak." For all I know, it could be mahogany… hard to tell by just looking at it. Sorry to any wood-workers out there if I got it wrong! (Good grief. I'm really starting to sound a bit obsessive, yes?)
Anyway, on with the show.
Chapter 12
"You're kidding, right?" Daniel's expression contained a mixture of disbelief and amusement. "Have you discussed this with Sam?"
Jack, sitting across from Daniel at one of the tables in the mess hall, winced slightly at the question. "Not exactly," he mumbled.
Daniel laughed outright at the quiet admission. "Well, let me know when you're going to tell her. I'd like to be close enough to watch the show."
Glaring at his friend, Jack just shrugged. "It's the only idea that anyone has had for three weeks. If you can come up with something better, by all means, be my guest."
Just as Jack finished his grumblings, Teal'c placed a tray on the table beside Daniel's and took a seat. "Is there a problem?" the stoic Jaffa asked quietly.
Jack snorted. "T, when isn't there a problem around here?"
Completely ignoring the question, Daniel turned to Teal'c and filled him in. "Jack had an idea for helping Sha're."
One of the warrior's eyebrows lifted with interest. "Indeed?"
Daniel nodded, unable to suppress his smile as he continued. "Yeah, but I don't think he's going to get it past Sam."
Teal'c looked at Jack expectantly. "And what is this idea, O'Neill?"
Shooting another irritated glance at Daniel, Jack replied reluctantly. "I thought we could ask the Tok'ra for some guidance."
Teal'c inclined his head. "Why would Samantha object to this plan? I'm sure she would be glad to ask her father for his advice."
Daniel just chuckled. "That's just it. She already has asked Jacob. He's been so busy here, helping with the twins, that he hasn't been able to offer anything useful." Teal'c sat patiently, waiting for the punch line, so to speak. Not wanting to disappoint his audience, Daniel continued gleefully. "Of course, when we sent a message to the Tok'ra, they said they'd be happy to send someone over right away." He grinned. "And you'll never guess who they want to send…"
Teal'c's lips twitched in an unusual sign of amusement. "I believe Anise has had a good deal of experience with extracting hidden memories. Would she not be the obvious choice?"
"Oh, just shut up. Both of you." Jack looked at his companions with disgust. "I don't see what the big deal is. She might have had a little thing for me in the past, but I'm married now, for cryin' out loud!"
Daniel's smile didn't fade in the slightest. "True, but I've always known her to be, uh, persistent when she wanted something badly enough."
Jack continued to glare across the table. "Speaking of which, I wouldn't be quite so smug if I were in your shoes. One of the two people living in that body has the hots for you. And you're not married." After the briefest of pauses, Jack's brow wrinkled. "Or are you?"
The question, asked innocently enough, sent an arrow of emotion through Daniel's chest. "Beats the hell out of me," he said softly. Suddenly serious, he looked at Jack and shrugged. "I don't think there's any precedent for this particular set of circumstances."
Jack sighed, immediately remorseful. "Damn. I'm sorry, Daniel. I didn't mean to-"
Raising a hand, the archaeologist silenced his friend with a smile. "Don't worry, Jack. This whole situation is beyond bizarre. I know you meant well."
Taking a deep breath, Jack nodded. "Which, in spite of what Carter might think, is why we need all the help we can get."
"Did I just hear someone call me Carter?" The three had been so engrossed in their conversation that Sam seemed to materialize from out of nowhere. Settling down beside her husband, she leaned over and placed a quick kiss on his cheek. "And what, exactly, am I thinking that you seem to disagree with?" Looking from Jack to Daniel, she easily picked up on the tense atmosphere around the table.
Jack suppressed a groan. Seeing amusement return to the faces across from him, he wrinkled his nose briefly before continuing. "I had an idea," he said reluctantly. "It's a good idea, but Daniel seems to think you won't like it."
Sam's eyebrows shot up. "Oh really? And what, pray tell, is this idea?"
"He wants to ask Anise for help," Daniel supplied helpfully, smiling broadly at the evil glare Jack was shooting him.
At Daniel's words, Sam's wide blue eyes narrowed. "Oh really?" she asked with deceptive mildness, turning to stare her husband.
Jack threw up his hands defensively. "I wanted to ask the Tok'ra for help," he clarified quickly. "Sending Anise was entirely their idea, I swear."
Sam continued to gaze piercingly at him for a few more moments before relaxing. Then, with a sudden smile, she shrugged. "I know," she said cheerfully. "Dad already told me."
Jack's jaw dropped. "Then what was the dirty look for?" he exclaimed indignantly.
She chuckled. "Just having a little fun at your expense," she said with a wink. Then, looking deviously across the table, she smirked. "But, of course, being psychic, you probably already knew that, right?"
Jack didn't even flinch as his three lunch companions all broke out into peals of laughter. Popping a French fry into his mouth, he merely shrugged. "Sure, go ahead. Mock me." Turning to look at Sam, he leveled a sarcastic smile at her. "My psychic intuition tells me that if you keep making fun of your husband, he's going to start leaving dirty diapers under the front seat of your car. And that goes for all of you," he said menacingly, looking at the amused faces across the table.
Daniel just smiled. "Whatever you say, Jack." Then, focusing on the original topic of conversation, he glanced at Sam. "Did your dad say when Anise was planning on being here?"
Sam opened her mouth to answer him, but was interrupted by the loud alarm signifying an unscheduled offworld activation. Smiling, she pointed in the direction of the gate room. "My guess is that's her right now."
The conference room was unnaturally quiet as the coolly beautiful Tok'ra settled herself at the long, oak table. Following her example, the four members of SG-1 and Dr. Brightman also took their seats.
A long moment of silence reigned until Jack finally broke it by clearing his throat. "Ah, thanks for coming," he said haltingly, obviously unsure of what to say next.
Daniel saw his friend's awkward mannerisms and decided to help out. "I think Jacob explained our current situation to you," he said quietly, trying to meet Anise's cool gaze without flinching.
Looking detached, but not uninterested, the striking woman inclined her head. "He did, and I am happy to assist you." She nodded in the direction of the gateroom as she continued. "I have brought the zatarc apparatus with me, though I'm not sure how much help it will be in this situation."
At the mention of the alien lie-detecting equipment, both Sam and Jack winced visibly. The zatarc machine had played a painful role in their past, forcing confessions of deeply-buried emotions at an inopportune and uncomfortable point in their careers. The airing of those feelings had been necessary, but the circumstances surrounding the confessions were awkward and difficult.
Daniel noted his friends' discomfort, but continued anyway. "We're fairly certain that Sha're's condition is not the result of Goa'uld mind manipulation," he said firmly. Not unlike Sam and Jack, Daniel was also remembering their last encounter with the device. When hidden emotions caused the detector to give a false positive result, Jack had been scheduled for a mental cleansing procedure that could have left him brain damaged. Daniel did not want the Tok'ra's help if it could possibly put Sha're into that kind of danger.
For her part, Anise seemed to understand his anxiety. "Rest assured, Doctor Jackson, we will only use the diagnostic tools on the machine." She shrugged delicately. "In truth, because Sha're's condition is not a result of the Goa'uld, I am not certain I will be able to help at all. The zatarc detector was created for a very specific purpose."
Jack cleared his throat, not wanting to dwell on that specific purpose, nor its impact on his past. "So, how long before you can give us any results?" he asked directly.
Anise smiled in her customarily cool, professional manner. "I can start immediately, if you like."
Sha're sat in her quarters, idly brushing her dark hair, when a soft knock sounded at her door. "Come in," she called out in English, still amazed by her ability to speak the foreign language so well.
When the door swung open, she saw only Daniel and a smile began to form on her lips. Then, however, she noticed a tall, blond woman standing just behind him. All at once, her breath froze in her lungs. "Daniel," she gasped, reverting back to her native tongue, "that woman is a Goa'uld!" Terror clogged her throat, making her hoarse and breathless.
Daniel's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Then, seeing the absolute panic on her face, he quickly rushed over to her and took her hands in his. "No," he said calmly, looking steadily into her frenzied gaze, "she's a Tok'ra. She carries a symbiote, but she and her people are our allies against the Goa'uld."
Though Sha're's dark eyes continued to show alarm, Daniel's words calmed her somewhat. "I have never heard of such a thing," she said quietly. Then, blinking, she shook her head. "Or maybe I have," she mumbled, looking confused. Turning her eyes back to Daniel, she let his calm, blue eyes wash away her remaining fear. "I will trust you on this," she whispered.
From her position in the doorway, Anise also appeared somewhat unsettled. "How could you sense my symbiote?" she asked curiously. "I can feel no naquadah in your body, yet you obviously managed to sense it in mine."
Sha're pulled her eyes away from Daniel and regarded Anise warily. "I do not know," she said softly, in English.
Nodding faintly, Anise seemed to accept this answer. "Doctor Jackson has invited me here to see if I can discover some clues to your unexplained memories," she said calmly, getting to the business at hand.
Sha're glanced at Daniel. Seeing his reassuring nod, she took a deep breath. "What do you need me to do?"
Three hours later, Daniel returned to the conference room and heavily sank into an empty chair. The three other members of SG-1 were already assembled, as was Dr. Brightman. Jack was about to open his mouth and ask Daniel for a recounting of the zatarc testing when he was cut off by the entrance of Anise.
All eyes turned to the woman, who seemed completely unruffled by the attention. Deliberately taking a place at the table, she looked casually at the faces before her.
"So…" Jack asked expectantly, "what did you find?"
Anise paused a moment, collecting her thoughts. "Not much, I'm afraid," she said with a hint of apology in her voice. "Her thought patterns were…" she trailed off, as if trying to find the correct words. After a few seconds, she drew a deep breath and let it out. "They were completely unlike anything I've ever seen before. It is my belief that she has been affected by some piece of technology, though I cannot begin to guess what this technology might be, nor how it might be affecting her."
Daniel stared listlessly at the tabletop, clearly having heard this before. "In short, there's nothing she can do to help."
Hearing the obvious pain in Daniel's voice, the Tok'ra turned her eyes upon him. With uncharacteristic compassion, she smiled apologetically. "I do wish there was more I can do."
At this point, Dr. Brightman interjected. "Did you sense Sha're's condition to be static? Or do you think it will continue to progress?"
Anise considered the question. "I am fairly certain that you will see more changes in her as time goes by. I sensed the presence of some kind of blockage in her memory, though the detector was not able to discern anything specific beyond that."
The doctor scribbled some notes down on a legal pad in front of her and then tapped her pen to her lips, thinking. "In our somewhat limited medical experience, we often treat patients with memory loss by immersing them in things that might trigger remembrance." She looked to Anise as she continued. "Do you think this would be advisable in this situation?"
The blond woman shrugged. "I can think of no reason to advise against it. From your accounting, all of Sha're's current unexplained memories were, indeed, triggered by some sort of mental connection to events occurring around her."
Dr. Brightman nodded, "Yes, but do you think that these memories could be dangerous to her?"
At that, Anise sighed quietly. "I wish I could answer that with any degree of certainty, but I honestly do not know. It could be dangerous to keep the memories repressed, or it could be dangerous to bring them to the surface. There is no way to tell without understanding the technology that first put her in this condition."
All of the eyes around the table slowly turned to Daniel. Sensing their desire for his opinion, he just shrugged. "Don't ask me," he said quietly. "Ask Sha're. She's the one who will be at risk," he finished dismally, clearly unhappy with the possibility that his former wife could be in danger.
Jack saw the anxiety on his friend's face and felt a wave of sympathy wash over him. He understood all too well the frustration of watching a loved one being placed in grave peril. He'd watched Sam risk her life on countless occasions during their years together at the SGC. It never got easier. Once again clearing his throat, he addressed his remarks to the whole group, but looked directly at Daniel as he spoke. "I think asking Sha're for her opinion is the best course of action, so long as no one else can think of any objections to it." Glancing around the table, he carefully noted Sam's expression.
Feeling her husband's eyes upon her, Sam shrugged. "There's no point in worrying about preserving her timeline now," she said pragmatically. "She already knows enough to change the course of history back in her own dimension, so it doesn't seem particularly dangerous to let her remember more."
Nodding, Jack looked back at Daniel. "Why don't you go and ask her?" he suggested gently.
Daniel sighed heavily and rose from the table. Then, as an afterthought, he glanced at Anise. "Thank you," he said to her, still sounding grim. "I appreciate your willingness to help."
She nodded. "I only wish I could have done more."
By the concerned and demoralized looks around the table, Anise wasn't alone in her desire.
Later that evening, Jack sat at his desk, idly twirling a pencil between his fingers when the door to his office opened. Looking up, he was about to scold his visitor for not knocking when he saw his wife standing in the doorway, Daniel in tow behind her.
"Carter," he said teasingly, enjoying the annoyed spark in her eyes at his stubborn use of her maiden name.
"General," she replied formally, stressing the importance of his rank in retaliation, "we've come to talk about Sha're's decision."
Jack couldn't quite suppress the grin which flickered across his features, in spite of the importance of her words. He doubted he'd ever tire of this particular game. "Come on in," he said cheerfully.
The two stepped into his office, Daniel closing the door after himself. When they were both seated, Jack regarded them intently. "What's the verdict?" he asked.
Daniel smiled a little when he spoke. "She wants to try triggering memories," he said with a hint of pride. "She's scared of the consequences, but thinks that if she remembers more, she might find some clues to this whole mystery."
Jack nodded. "I thought that would probably be the case," he replied. "So, where does that leave us?"
Sam massaged the back of her neck and exhaled deeply. "Well," she said uncertainly, "there hasn't been much rhyme or reason to her leaps in memory, except that they seem to happen most often when Daniel is around." She shrugged. "I'd suggest we let her spend as much time with him as they're both comfortable with."
Jack darted a glance at the archaeologist, who seemed to look a bit numb at this point. "All right," he said slowly, directing his words to Sam, "but I can't risk sending her offworld."
Daniel nodded absently at Jack's words. Looking up slowly, he spoke with a kind of dazed acceptance. "I'll stay here for the foreseeable future. There's plenty of research I can do on Earth."
Sam smiled. "I'm sure there are a few dozen books you've been dying to read, right? The library is going to have its hands full with you around."
At that, Jack seemed to realize something. "If she's going to be spending all her time with Daniel, we're going to have to let her off the base."
Both Sam and Daniel looked up at that remark. "I hadn't thought of that," Daniel admitted sheepishly. "Do you think the powers-that-be will allow it?"
Jack waved a hand dismissively. "I can handle it," he said confidently. "I've got a few favors I can call in."
Sam rolled her eyes. "If nothing else, he'll use his psychic powers of persuasion to his advantage."
Daniel chuckled, shaking his head. "Let's hope it doesn't come down to that."
