"We are truly appreciative of what you did, Colonel O'Neill," High Councilor Garshaw told him. "Tal'rek is a valued Tok'ra, as well as a personal friend. Of course, we mourn Man'our, but are grateful that we did not lose both of them."
"Yeah, well, you're welcome," Jack said, feeling uncomfortable and rather embarrassed. He heard Tal'rek laugh at him and told him silently to "shut up". "Uh what I need to know is how long until you can find a host. It's not that I wasn't glad to be of service but having a Tok'ra symbiote wasn't really in my plans."
Garshaw frowned, as did other members of the High Council. "You do not wish to remain blended?"
"No – I'm sorry but – uh no." At a silent nudge from Tal'rek he gave the Tok'ra control.
"I made a promise to O'Neill that this would be temporary," Tal'rek explained. "He was kind to save my life, but we must not ask him to stay blended."
"This is difficult," replied Garshaw. "Unfortunately, we have no one who has agreed to be a host at this time."
"It is an honor to be a host, Colonel O'Neill" High Councilor Sto'rel told Jack arrogantly. "But obviously you hold us in contempt."
"He does not," Tal'rek defended strongly. "And with all due respect, Councilor Sto'rel, it is not fair of any of us to condemn him. He saved my life, at great personal cost. And I gave him my word, and that of the Tok'ra, that this would be temporary."
"And we will do all we can to honor that word," appeased Garshaw. "Sadly, I know of no one who would be willing to take his place right now."
"Maybe Jacob or Sel'mak might know someone," Jack replied, after regaining control of his voice. He was extremely worried and was afraid that the Tok'ra wouldn't try to actually find anyone.
"You do not need to worry, O'Neill," Tal'rek assured him. "Even if my brethren wish us to remain blended, I will not force you to remain as host."
"Yeah – thanks," Jack replied, feeling somewhat comforted. The good thing was he was pretty sure that Tal'rek wouldn't – couldn't – lie to him.
"Jacob/Sel'mak are not here at present, although I will attempt to recall them as quickly as possible. In the meantime, I would suggest you return to Earth. It will probably be easier for you to find a host there, than it will be for us," Garshaw told them.
Oh great, thought Jack. Just what he needed – to try and find someone who would want a life-long passenger!
"But you could let them know how charming I am, O'Neill," Tal'rek told him.
"Right," drawled Jack. "Charm is one way of putting it!"
"And the other …. Aah – you think I'm irritating."
"It's not that youare irritating – it's having a little voice in my head that's irritating. I already have one of those and believe me, one is enough!"
Tal'rek laughed and then once more took control. "High Councilor, we shall return to Earth and will try and find someone as my host. I beg you, however, to also look as hard as you can to find someone. We want to honor our promises to the Tauri – and to Colonel O'Neill, who has proven to be a good friend and ally."
Garshaw nodded. "We shall try as hard as we can, Tal'rek, don't worry. You have my word on it. Colonel O'Neill, again we offer our thanks and hopefully will find an alternate host as soon as possible. When we have heard from Jacob/Sel'mak, we will send him to Earth."
"Uh – thanks," Jack nodded at Garshaw and then gave a curt nod to the other Councilors. He was glad that she was their spokesperson as she was one of the few Tok'ra that he liked, other than Jacob and Sel'mak.
"Along with me, of course," Tal'rek reminded him.
Jack didn't deign to reply, but gave a mental smirk.
He stood in front of the gate and took a deep breath. He really, really didn't want to return to Earth with a symbiote.
"Why are you embarrassed, O'Neill?" Tal'rek asked him. "You did a good thing."
"Everyone knows how I feel about having a – symbiote. And I don't know how this will affect my career."
"It did not harm Jacob Carter," Tal'rek pointed out.
"It ended his career in the US military," Jack replied. "He came to work for the Tok'ra – and, with all due respect, that's not an option for me."
"No, I agree. You would probably do what the Goa'uld have been unable to do – and that is wipe out all of us."
"You think I'd harm the Tok'ra?" Jack asked indignantly.
"I think you would not have the patience to live among us and might – explode."
"Yeah, probably," Jack agreed. "We don't exactly see "eye to eye".
"I understand. So, that means we must find an alternate host."
"Yeah, easier said than done," Jack sighed. "I don't know if the powers that be will even let me ask anyone."
"You believe they will prohibit someone else from blending with me?" Tal'rek asked, for the first time sounding rather worried.
"You never know. There are a lot of idiots on Earth too."
"You call my brethren idiots?"
Jack paused, suddenly feeling guilty for letting his feelings show so strongly. At a laugh from Tal'rek he rolled his eyes. "So do you!" he suddenly exclaimed.
"Yes, we have some of those. Do not worry Jack – we will figure this out. In the meantime, shouldn't we dial the gate?"
"Yeah," Jack sighed once more and began to dial. "And remember – you can't tell anyone any of my secrets," he muttered, just as the gate whooshed open.
It was as he stepped through the event horizon that he heard Tal'rek's evil laugh.
"Colonel O'Neill, welcome back!" General Hammond greeted him from the gate room.
Jack gave a half-hearted salute. "General – I need to speak with you."
"Of course, Colonel," Hammond frowned. "See me after your medical."
"Uh Sir – I think this is something you need to hear now," Jack responded. George frowned, but gave a brief nod. "I'll accompany you to the Infirmary and you can tell me on the way."
Jack nodded and waited for the General to come down the stairs into the gate room.
"Do you believe he will be upset?" Tal'rek asked him.
"Probably. But he's a fair man – one of the best commanding officers I've ever had."
"That is good," Tal'rek told him.
"So, Colonel, what is it?" General Hammond asked as he stepped beside his 2IC on the way to the Infirmary. "Is everything okay?"
"Well, yes and no, Sir," Jack responded. "Uh – there was a bit of an accident."
"Accident?" frowned the General.
"Yes, well – we were exploring the planet – I'll tell you about that in a minute – when there was a rockslide."
"Was anyone hurt?"
"Yes." Jack stopped and turned to the General. "Man'our – the host – was killed."
"I'm sorry Jack – but what about the symbiote – Tal'rek, wasn't it?"
Jack grimaced and then closed his eyes and bowed his head. A moment later his head lifted and his eyes flashed.
"Yes, that is correct, General Hammond," Tal'rek responded to a startled General. "Colonel O'Neill was generous enough to save my life by allowing himself to be blended."
"What the hell!" Hammond replied, stunned. "Are you – do you mean to tell me that Colonel O'Neill agreed to this?"
Once more Jack's head bowed, and then he was responding to Hammond. "Yes Sir – I did. It was either that or Tal'rek would have died too. Believe me when I say I didn't plan for this – or want it – but I couldn't let him die."
Hammond took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "No – of course not. But – what are you going to do?" he frowned, obviously still thrown by the whole thing.
"The Tok'ra are looking for another host but they said they don't know of anyone. I thought – if I could find someone here?"
"Here on Earth?" Hammond asked skeptically.
"Yes. I mean, there must be people who are in a similar position as Jacob was – someone whose life would be saved by having a symbiote."
"But Jack, the Pentagon isn't going to let just anyone blend with a Tok'ra. It's a huge security risk."
"There must be someone like Jacob – someone in the military or who works for the government that would be glad to get a symbiote."
"I wouldn't even know how to go about finding someone," George told him. "I can't exactly put out a message to anyone who is dying and ask if they want to become a Tok'ra!"
"I am sorry, General Hammond," Tal'rek suddenly interjected. "Colonel O'Neill sacrificed himself for me. Surely there is someone who would be willing to take his place. It would mean another person with ties to Earth and would only strengthen our alliance."
Hammond sighed and rubbed his head. "I'll see what I can do Jack – Tal'rek but I can't promise a quick resolution." At that moment they arrived at the Infirmary. "Let me just explain things to Dr. Frasier, so she doesn't think you're a Goa'uld."
Jack agreed, although he wasn't looking forward to the next little while. On the best of days, he didn't like having to do a physical.
"Just a few more minutes, Colonel – and uh – Tal'rek," Janet told them. "Everything looks good, but I want to get a few more readings."
"What else could you possibly check, Janet," Jack whined. "I'm in good health."
"Yes, you are – Tal'rek has even taken care of your knees," she told him calmly. "But I want to get some base readings in case anything happens to you."
Jack sighed.
"Thank you, Dr. Frasier," Tal'rek took over. "I appreciate your thoroughness. The Tauri are fortunate to have a skilled medic such as you."
"Brown noser!" Jack told him. Silently.
"It is always wise to stay on the good side of those who wield needles, O'Neill," Tal'rek told him calmly. "And I want her to like me better than you!"
"Suck eggs!"
"Pardon me, Colonel!" Janet exclaimed.
"Not you, Doc – Tal'rek!"
"He seems very nice," she defended the Tok'ra.
Jack snorted. "He's just trying to suck up to you!"
"Well, it's nice to have someone appreciate my work, Colonel," she told him as she wrote in her chart.
"I appreciate you, Janet – I just don't like you sticking me full of holes!"
"It's our enemies who do that, Colonel. I try to fix them."
"Yes, you do," he told her. Suddenly he felt tired and depressed. Life had taken a bizarre turn and he felt completely off kilter. The conversations with the Tok'ra and with Hammond and Frasier had distracted him, but the reality of his situation was just starting to kick in.
"We'll find someone, Sir," Janet said gently, seeming to realize how he was feeling. "You did a good thing," she patted his arm. "Why don't you go and see the General again. We're all done here."
"Thanks Janet," he said, jumping down off the exam table. His eyebrows went up briefly when he realized the Doc was right – his knees felt better than they had in years.
"Thank you, Dr. Frasier," Tal'rek told her. "I will watch out for him, do not worry."
"And I know he'll watch out for you, Tal'rek," Frasier told the Tok'ra. "You couldn't have done better for even a temporary host than Colonel O'Neill."
Jack felt embarrassed – and then got even more embarrassed when he realized that Tal'rek would know how he was feeling.
"You do not do well with compliments, do you?" the Tok'ra commented, as they walked to Hammond's office. "She respects you greatly."
"Yeah – well – she's great. She's saved my life, and the lives of dozens of others, many times. I couldn't ask for a better doctor, or person."
"Who is Cassie?" Tal'rek asked suddenly.
"That's Janet's daughter. She was an orphan. Her entire planet was destroyed by Nirti and we found her and rescued her."
"You love her."
"Who? Cassie? Yes – she's a sweetheart. Almost like a daughter to me, really."
"I look forward to meeting her."
Jack's reaction was swift and instantly regretted. He didn't want anyone close to him to know about Tal'rek – other than those who had to know. When he sensed Tal'rek retreat in hurt, he felt terrible, but it was too lake to do anything about it.
"I'm sorry," he said, stopping in the hall. "It's not you – it's – the situation," he tried to explain. "Also, I don't know how Cassie would react."
"Does she not know of Jacob Carter and Sel'mak?"
"Yes, but that's different. She didn't know Jacob before he blended so for her they've always been a pair. For me, it's different."
"That is fine, O'Neill," Tal'rek said quietly. "I understand."
Jack let out a loud mental sigh. "No, it isn't. I really am sorry. I didn't mean to insult you, and I know I did. I'm still trying to deal with this whole situation, and I'm afraid I'm not doing a very good job of it. Please know that I think you're a great – uh – symbiote and this really isn't to do with you. It's me that's having trouble with this."
"I really do understand, O'Neill, and I will take your lead. I will also attempt not to be insulted but to recognize that you are trying your best."
With some semblance of understanding between them, Jack continued on to Hammond's office.