"O'Neill," Jack greeted as he answered his phone.

"Agent Bauer made a phone call upon leaving her interrogation. She is now traveling to a place on the other side of the city."

"Great." Jack said, soberly. "I'll have a team track your GPS, and hopefully, we'll have this all finished by the end of the hour."

"Indeed."

Jack hung up the phone, thinking about how nice it would be to get home after all of this. He was turning into such a softie. At one time in his life, it wouldn't have been unusual for him to be away from his family for several weeks or months at a time. Now, however, he'd been gone from his family for eighteen hours, and he could hardly wait to get back.

That's the privilege of retirement, I suppose, he thought to himself as he dialed his wife's cell phone number.

The phone rang three times, but she didn't answer. He felt worry tug at his heart. With all that seemed to have been going on at home and with all the intrigue they'd been forced to deal with, it was only prudent, he supposed. But it still made him feel like he was a bit paranoid. Finally, he heard someone answer the phone. "Just a minute, Dad."

"Charlie!" Jack said, recognizing his son's voice. "Where's Sam?"

"I'm looking for her," Charlie said as Jack heard the sounds of the household in the background. "Oh...it looks like she fell asleep while she and Daniel were looking at some of the files she got from that friend of hers..."

"Good," Jack murmured, softly. "I was just going to tell her that I think we've finished up the case."

"Finished the case?" He asked, surprised. "That was quick."

"Well, I'll be done," he said, casually. "My friends at the CIA will have to worry about all the warrants and working with the prosecution if it gets to trial."

"Is there any doubt it will?"

"The problem with going after government corruption is that even if you can find a person brave enough to prosecute, they're powerful enough that they can get it dismissed pretty easily."

"That's got to be frustrating."

"It can be," Jack said, noncommittally, and Charlie wondered for a moment if his father was thinking of taking matters into his own hands if something kept these criminals from facing justice.

That thought should have surprised him more than it really had, he thought to himself.

"Be careful, Dad," Charlie said after a moment of thought.

"I will be," he said, almost surprised to hear his son's worry. "Tell Sam to call me when she's awake.

"Will do."

Cassandra knocked gently on Grace's bedroom door. "Grace?" She murmured as she opened the door, slowly.

The teenager poked her head out from under her covers with a grimace. "Yeah?"

"You mind if I come in for a minute? I just want to see how you are." She said, soberly.

"Okay," Grace murmured, wincing at the brightness of the light.

Cassandra eyed her sister-in-law with a clinical eye. Photosensitivity, exhaustion, erratic sleeping patterns. All could be signs of clinical depression.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, closing the door as she walked over to sit on the girl's bed. "I know what it's like to go to your first therapy appointment. It can be very draining."

"Yeah, well, I'm fine." She murmured. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

Cassandra pressed her hand to Grace's forehead, feeling the temperature of her forehead before she let her go. "Sorry." She said with an amused, but apologetic, tone as Grace looked at her strangely. "I'm in super-maternal mode. It happens when you're pregnant."

"Look, I'm fine." Grace assured her.

"Sometimes it can be helpful to talk about your session with someone," Cassandra said, softly. "I don't know everything about what it's like to be you, but I do know what it's like to be different. I know what it's like to think that people don't understand."

"Look, I get that you're an alien, and all that, but..." Grace began. "But you don't know what it's like."

"When I was fifteen, I got sick," Cassandra said, soberly. "It got so that after a while, I could move magnetic chess pieces with my mind."

"Really?" She asked, surprised.

"Don't get excited. I can't do it anymore, and to be honest, I'm glad." Cassandra said after a moment.

"I'll bet," Grace murmured to herself.

"I wanted to let my body change into whatever it was becoming. My mother wanted me to fight it." Cassandra swallowed. "Your mother came in for our regular chess game. I showed her what I could do. I was sure she'd get scared like my mom was scared about what I was changing into. When she didn't, I asked her what she saw, and she looked me in the eye and said "I see you. And until your head starts spinning around, and probably even then, I will always see you." Cassandra looked Grace with a soft smile. "Right then, I knew that whatever happened to me – whatever I became – your mom would always love me. And I wasn't even her daughter."

Grace swallowed as tears welled up in her eyes. "But you went back to being normal. What if I never become normal? What if I always have dreams about people getting hurt and never get them in time to actually help anyone?"

"If your mother could love a literal ticking time bomb like me," Cassandra said, tears moistening her own eyes. "Then, she could never stop loving someone like you."

Teal'c sat in a dark sedan across the street from where Bauer waited at an alley. Suddenly, a dark figured appeared in the shadow, and she followed him. Teal'c slipped out of the car and crossed the street.

"...I don't know what Kerry said to O'Neill before he left the office yesterday, but I think he suspects." A female voice, belonging to Bauer, said somewhat fearfully.

"Part of your interview was compromised by an strange energy signature. What was it?" A male voice asked, ignoring her fear.

"I don't know. There was a weird...green...light that came into the room. I thought maybe they were scanning it for some sort of surveillance, but then they let me go. No questions asked."

Teal'c reached for his phone and quickly put together a text message: Agent Bauer is meeting with a contact. I am unsure of his identity. - T

In a moment, he'd sent it to O'Neill, and returned his attention to the conversation he was overhearing.

"They didn't ask me about the bugs, so I doubt they found them yet. But I have to admit...this whole thing feels a little more risky than I thought it was supposed to be."

"Do you want out?"

"No, no, of course not." She said, obvious fear in her voice. "I'm just saying that maybe we out to be more careful...you know, about our plans for the kids."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow at the mention of "the kids".

"Measures are being taken to assure that everything goes according to plan."

"You don't understand. Five minutes after I showed up on their doorstep with a team, the rest of SG-1 showed up. Not even a day after that, they'd completely taken over. Even O'Neill's in charge of looking into Johnson's death."

They were definitely discussing the O'Neill children.

"You sound nervous."

"I am nervous! And you should be too!"

"Nervous people aren't any use to the Senator." The male voice said as Teal'c heard the soft sound of a silenced gunshot.

Teal'c reached for his gun as he headed into the alley only a moment later. There on the ground in a growing pool of her own blood was Agent Cynthia Bauer.

There was no sign of anyone else in the alley.

"How is this possible?" Jack asked, incredulously, as he met Teal'c at the hospital.

"Perhaps this group has access to beaming technology."

Jack pressed his hand against his forehead in an effort to clear his mind. "How is she?"

"The doctors have been unwilling to offer any projections related to Agent Bauer's condition."

Jack groaned before he reached for a passing doctor. "I need to talk to the doctor in charge of Agent Cynthia Bauer."

The doctor pointed to another man walking down the corridor, and Jack walked over. "My name is General Jack O'Neill, United States Air Force. I need to talk to you about Cynthia Bauer."

"Doctor Andrew Nguyen." The doctor said, soberly. "Unfortunately, Ms. Bauer is still in surgery. It's a miracle that she's still alive since the bullet was shot so close to her."

"Maybe it's our lucky day." Jack said with a monocle of grim humor.

"Well, lucky day or not, we can't tell you anything about her prognosis until after she gets out of surgery. And even then, it will be hours, if not days, before she's going to be well enough to talk to you."

Jack cursed beneath his breath, and Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "So much for having this case wrapped up by the end of the night." Jack supplied.

Teal'c nodded with understanding.

"I'll let you know the minute she's ready for questioning," Dr. Nguyen offered.

"Thanks."

The doctor walked away, and Jack sighed. "I think it's time to go chat with Malcolm Barrett. Clearly, Bauer was involved in something big."

Teal'c nodded.

"And I have a hard time believing that he didn't even suspect."

Teal'c nodded again.

"General O'Neill." Barrett said, surprised when the Air Force general appeared in his hospital room. "I haven't heard from Sam. Are the files helping at all?"

"As far as I know, she and Danny are getting a lot of use out of them," Jack said, amicably.

"Something wrong?"

"Cynthia Bauer. What do you know about her?"

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"She was shot in an alley earlier today after she was brought in for questioning about Kerry Johnson's murder. Now, I don't believe in coincidences. Especially when two women who knew each other end up shot in an alley within twenty-four hours of each other." Jack folded his arms across his chest. "So talk."

"Sam told you what I had in the files about her?"

"That she was the one who presented evidence that shut down all of your working theories about the Trust's operations and that she had a brother who was killed by Anubis."

"That's all I know." Barrett said, soberly. "I was about to start an investigation into her when I got orders from my superiors to let it go."

"And you did?"

Barrett sighed. "I lost two agents about six hours later, and I received a threat to your wife's life two days after that."

"And...ended up in the hospital when you tried to warn her." Jack finished.

"I can usually convince my superiors to let me look into something, but sometimes I have to give them time to adjust to my request. I thought this was one of those times."

"How far up the chain of command did the order originate?"

"Director of National Intelligence, as far as I know."

"No," Jack said, shaking his head. "Frank isn't in this. If he was, he wouldn't have let me take over this investigation."

"Maybe he was doing a favor for someone."

"Like?"

"I don't know...Senator Hamilton, maybe."

Jack shook his head. "What I've read of Kerry's files has indicated that Hamilton's not the real threat."

"Not the real threat?" Barrett asked, incredulously.

"There's something else out there. Something that wants to get Hamilton buried with threats of corruption." Jack sighed. "Hamilton's not the kind of guy that does the dirty work, or even orders the dirty work. No, he likes to keep his hands clean so he can play the "holier than thou" card."

"So what?"

"Maybe it's more political. Maybe someone on the senate appropriations committee knows about the Stargate Program and wants Hamilton's place as chairman."

"You mean someone who's in bed with the Trust."

"That's a logical assumption, isn't it?"

Barrett sighed before nodding.

"Any ideas?"

"If there is someone, General," Barrett said, soberly. "They're buried pretty deeply." He swallowed. "I haven't even heard that any of the other senators know what the Stargate program is."

"That's where we come in." Jack said, looking at Teal'c. "Maybe we can identify the Senator by talking to the aides who work for senators on the Appropriations committee."

Even Teal'c seemed somewhat skeptical.

"Look, Barrett, we've got to go," Jack said, just then.

"I understand." He said, nodding.

"Take care, okay?"

"Will do."

Teal'c followed as Jack left the room.

"T, we're calling the offices of the senators in DC." Jack said, soberly.

"For what reason?"

"To hopefully identify the voice that you heard in the alley." He said, soberly. "No senator does his own legwork."

Teal'c nodded with sudden understanding.

"Senator Guymon's office."

Teal'c nodded to Jack as he listened on the extension. "This is Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill. I'd like to speak with the Senator about the latest bill on military spending."

"The Senator is not in the office at the moment, General. I'm his aide, Edward Williams. If you tell me what you'd like to discuss, perhaps I can bring it up and have him call you back."

"No, it's okay." Jack said, shaking his head. "Maybe I'll catch Senator Guymon the next time he's at the Pentagon."

"All right," the aide said, somewhat puzzled.

"Have a nice day." Jack added as he hung up. "What about this one, T?"

"His voice was remarkably like that of the assailant in the alley."

"Bingo." Jack said with a self-satisfied smile.