Trigger warning: very brief mention of suicide attempt.

Chapter 29

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Jack screamed the most blood curdling scream. He attempted to sit up but instantly saw that his arms and legs were restrained somehow. Gulping for air, he tried to recall where he was, or even who he was. By all accounts, he should be dead, he had the dumb idea that a bullet to his brain would solve the world's problem.

Or if not dead, he should at least be in the hospital being miraculously saved by his teammates. But looking around the strangely cold, lit room, there was not the typical hospital that he had been accustomed to. There was nothing hanging on the walls aside from what looked like metal lanterns jutting out in equal distance around the room.

The air was circulating keeping a constant flow. The only similarity he could actually draw to a hospital. But this was definitely not Earth. Taking a quick assessment now that he was becoming more aware that things weren't what they seemed, he did all that he could do with no use of his limbs.

Nothing.

His mind drifted to Grace, wondering and praying that she was safe. Leave it to him to fail at a second suicide attempt. Now he's probably going to be poked and prodded by little green men. Or some other nefarious alien. With more time to contemplate what he attempted to do, he felt a swell of regret and relief. Suicide was a temporary solution for a permanent problem. He had come to truly believe that after Abydos. Thanks to Daniel ironically enough. But it seemed to be a lesson he needed to learn twice. Grace would of course thrive with Daniel, Teal's and others guidance but she would still yearn for her parents. She still deserved to have as much connection as possible. By trying to take the easy way out, Jack essentially would have robbed her of that opportunity. The chance to know her mother through him.

Whoever he had been abducted by, he owed them for stopping a monumental mistake. Whether that was their intent or not is questionable.

The door slid open and the room was flooded with white lights, completely illuminating the space. Two figures, one appearing man and the other female, wordlessly entered and stopped on each side of his bed. They looked fairly human from Jack's blunted view. They looked at each other for a moment before turning their eyes back to Jack.

"Hello. We are Vanir and Meili of the Karsgaal. We are what your kind would refer to as...distant cousins of the Asgaard. You have been with us for some time, and have taught us a great deal about the universe and your world. We are forever grateful to you." the one Jack believed to be "Meili" finished his speech. Clearly feeling as though he explained more than he actually did.

"Um, so 2 or 5 gagillion questions. Main one though, let me the hell out of here!" Jack jerked against the restraints.

"We will let you go and try and answer your questions, so long as you agree to be calm and not participate in the violence that your kind is accustomed to." the time it was the female, Vanir who spoke.

As soon as she finished talking, Jack felt a weird sense of calm wash over him. Something that did not entirely feel natural considering the circumstance. It had to have been something that they were pumping into the air ventilation system he strategized. Weighing his options, he realized that he still didn't have many.

"I'm calm. A little parched too." Jack's voice was raspy as he broke his silence for the first time.

Meili and Vanir glanced one more time at each other, exchanging another silent conversation. Meili reached down below the table and pushed a button. The restraints around Jack's arms and legs instantly retracted and freed him. The two aliens stepped back, giving their captive some space.

Jack cautiously sat up and swung his legs down. He attempted to stand up, but his legs felt a little stronger than unset jello. The strange aliens made moves to try and help him to which Jack quickly waived off before leaning against the table's edge.

"I'm fine. I'm good. So I'm calm, I did my part. Your guys' turn."

At this point, both aliens were standing in front of Jack. Their hands clasped in front of them, resting on the long, grey robes that seem to be the customary alien uniform.

"First off, tell me if my daughter and teammates are ok? Cause I swear…" Jack felt his hand involuntarily ball up into a fist.

"I assure you Jack, everyone you know has not been harmed. Now, we have a lot of things to explain about your time with us but I believe it would be more useful to you if we played the events for you. If you follow us to our viewing room, your companion is waiting as well." Vanir turned, not giving Jack time to question anymore. Meili gestured for Jack to follow behind.

Curiosity got the best of him, he didn't really care if tactically he was being unwise. So anxiously, he followed along with their wishes. The hallways outside of the room took on the same dull, unimaginative tone of the room he had been trapped in for who knows how long. They appeared to go on for a bit of time, though their trip ended at the next room.

The door slid open only this time there was no flood of light, only the dim flashing of a tv like tool and the same lanterns hung around the room. His heartbeat thudded loudly, somehow each second that passed, he felt as though his nerves were set on fire. The aliens paused on either side of the door, waiting for Jack to enter first.

"We feel you will be most relieved upon entering this room. Please, after you." Vanir spoke.

Not one for cryptic speech, that was more Daniel's realm, Jack huffed and walked in. What he saw, could have knocked him off his feet. He looked at the person sitting in front of the "tv" and looked back at the aliens.

"Sam?" he dared to ask, as if speaking her name would make the vision disappear as quickly as it came.

She turned her head, eyes lighting up as they landed on him. She jumped up and closed the distance between them. "Jack, I can't believe you're here too." tears began to fill her eyes.

"Me? I can't believe you are here. How?" Jack asked incredulously. He didn't give her a chance to respond as he gathered her in his arms, afraid to let go in case she wasn't actually real. She held him just as tightly, frightened of the same thing.

"I don't know, Vanir and Meili were just about to show me something. I think they have been running some kind of experiment with us. Though I can't tell what, it seems that we are unharmed." Sam paused, having caught herself from trying to analyze something out of nothing she could even start to understand. Gasping, her hand shot down to her flat stomach, "The baby? Is she ok?"

"I'm not sure, before I...woke up here, Daniel and Teal'c were at the house with her. These guys claim she is ok."

The aliens shuffled around the room, making some kind of noise in an attempt to break up the reunion between their case studies. "Excuse us, but before you become confused further, we really must insist on viewing the study you have participated in." the pair interrupted, clearly knowing more than them.

"Participated sounds so pleasant, why do I feel so...forced?" Jack asked annoyed. He had let Sam out of his bear hug but still held onto her hand.

"Safe to say we feel the same way Sir, but let's just look at what they have. I think that's the best way to figure out what's going on." Sam frowned as she heard herself referring to Jack as 'Sir.'

"Um, sir?"

"Sorry Jack, my head feels all jumbled up, must have slipped out." Sam smiled slightly obviously nervous.

"Please, sit." Meili pointed to the two chairs that had been situated in front of the tv. Pushing another button, the screen began to play, showing images of the team on the planet that Sam had originally been kidnapped from years ago.

"So sorry I forgot to pack the jeep Danny!"

Laughter spills freely, the team enjoying the camaraderie that was easily procured over the years. Daniel and Teal'c are walking up ahead a little bit with the Colonel and Sam covering their six. It was pretty out on PX5983, hearing all the birds chirping and feeling the slight warm breeze across Sam's skin. She steals a glance at Colonel O'Neill and catches him slightly grinning at her, face turning a faint shade of red upon seeing that he was caught.

"How is that social life working out Carter?"

By the time the screen blacked out, it felt like a lifetime had passed. Jack and Sam sat there in silence, eyes glazed over in attempts at processing all the images and events that took place. Words were hard to come by. Sam was the first to find them.

"We were being recorded?" Sam's voice wavered, unable to decide what emotion she was feeling. Whether or not she was upset at being watched, or upset that these beings were watching her being attacked and violated and did nothing. Almost a year had passed since Kuk, but with that instant replay, the memories and feelings came flooding back like a broken dam. Her breathing rapidly quickened and the room felt like it was starting to spin.

A gentle squeeze of her hand brought her back down, instinctively she started to jerk it away before the pressure increased. Blinking, she concentrated on the rough calloused fingers that she knew so well. "It's ok, you're ok. You're not back there."

Jack broke into Sam's darkness, trying to share it and pull her out of it. It was enough as Sam looked into his eyes and nodded slightly offering a weak smile that she did not feel connected to.

"Going back to your question Samantha, no you were not being recorded. In essence, every thing that was displayed to you moments ago, was simply a simulation."

"A simulation?" Jack glared at them, suddenly feeling less than calm.

"Not based in reality. We teleported you to our ship from the planet that you believed Samantha to have been kidnapped from. You have been with us this entire time and we took the opportunity to study human limitations and capabilities." Vanir explained nonchalantly.

"So Kuk wasn't real? Me working at the Academy? The baby?" Sam whispered.

"No, we implanted your experience with Kuk and let the rest of the events carry out as organically as possible. Once O'Neill had shot himself, we had reasoned that the experiment would yield no more useful information." Meili was just as cold and unbothered as his female counterpart.

"How long have we been here?" Jack's voice was eerily quiet.

"Though the events spanned approximately 6 of your years, we sped up the experiment to fill one Earth month."

"Experiment over, are we still captive?"

"You are free to go at your will."

"Great! Sam, let's get out of here before someone dies!" Jack barked out, and stormed out of the room. He wasn't sure what direction he was going, but he had to get out. Sam was in a very similar state of mind, and quickly followed not so much as glancing at their "hosts."

They didn't get far before they were swallowed up in a light and ended up teleported back on a lush, green planet. Completely disoriented, not for the first time that day, Jack stopped and looked to make sure Sam was still with him.

Sam caught up to him, and they stood lost at where to go next. "So maybe we should have asked for a better drop off point?"

"I don't care, I needed to get out of there. Trust me it was better for us all." Jack huffed. They suddenly had their backpacks firmly resting on their backs again, geared up like they had never left PX5983.

"Valid point. You know, I think we are actually back on that planet. Or uh...still on the planet I guess." Sam slipped back into soldier mode almost seamlessly. Like riding a bike, it had become second nature after years.

"And if we have actually only been gone from our mission for a month, we may still be able to find the gate and still have good iris codes. Let's see if we can get lucky and find the gate." Jack started back walking the way he began, it being as good a direction as any.

The walk was done in silence for the most part. Both Jack and Sam had so much they wanted to say, yet nothing at the same time. It was all so much to process and wrap their heads around. They still weren't completely sold on the aliens' story but if they were able to get back home, that would help clear things up greatly.

Luck was finally on their side, and just in the nick of time as the sun was starting to set. They picked the right direction, the stargate could be seen up ahead of the pair. When they had finally reached it, the DHD in front of them, they looked at each other imploringly.

"I know we uh, we probably have a lot to talk about but it might not be for awhile with them wanting to go through all the usual tests and stuff. But I want you to know that whatever happened back there, even if it wasn't really real, it was real. For me. My feelings I mean." Jack stumbled around his words, trying to throw out a lifeline before they would inevitably have to step back into their designated military roles.

"Me too. I can't forget that. And I don't want to." Sam spoke in agreement. It would be awhile before she could separate fact from fiction. But she knew the emotions behind her forming a relationship with Jack, those were genuine and all she had.

With one final look as Sam and Jack, they entered the codes and awaited for the signal to turn green before they left the planet and returned to earth as Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill.

A/N: One more chapter I think before this story ends. Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!