Here's the next chaoter. Sorry it took so long. My computer has been screwing up the past few days and wouldn't let me upload. Anyway, it's cooperating now, so enjoy this new chapter and please review!

Chapter 10

Daniel Jackson woke with a start, crying out in pain when someone suddenly shook him. "Sam! What are you-" he yelped, but stopped when he saw that it was not Samantha Carter, but a serpent guard who stood over him, another right behind him. "W-what do you want?" he gulped, still wincing. He got his answer when the two jaffa grabbed his arms and pulled him to his feet.

"Ah! OW! Okay, okay, I'm up!" he shouted, the rough movement sending waves of terrible pain through Daniel's bruised body. Without answering, the two men dragged him towards the door. A moment later, he heard Carter's groggy, but quickly awakening voice behind them.

"Hey! What are you doing! It's the middle of the night!-" Daniel didn't catch much of what she said after that, her voice drowned out by distance and his own grunts and groans of pain. The jaffa didn't seem to care what condition he was in-not that he had ever expected them to. In three years, Teal'c and Bra'tac were still the only two jaffa he had come to trust, and he knew they were different from most. As for what time it was; he managed to verify that by catching a glance of his watch. It was, in fact, the middle of the night, or extremely early in the morning, depending on one's point of view. What did they want with him at this hour?

Moments later, after taking the route Daniel had become accustomed to and learned to fear, they arrived at the same room he had been taken to before. Again Amaunet was waiting, and yet again they dropped him at her feet-though this time it didn't take any persuading to get him down, and it caused him considerably more pain. After catching his breath-not an easy task-the confused scientist looked up at her, his breath still a bit heavy.

"What…What's going on? It's the middle of the night…I don't…I don't understand…"

His voice trailed off as Amaunet smirked. "It doesn't matter, for us. We don't need the sleep that you weak humans require to function. Night, day, it is all the same to us, though granted, some things are more easily done in daylight when planet-side."

"Then why won't you let us sleep?" Daniel asked heatedly. The Goa'uld's cockiness was getting to him easily, as tired as he was. "Any sane person would be asleep right now…Ah!" He yelped when she struck him, ducking downward and nearly cracking his forehead on the floor.

"Silence!" Amaunet shouted, her eyes glowing briefly.

Daniel gulped as he sat up again, painfully, rubbing his cheek where she'd hit him with the hand that was covered with the hand device again. "What do you want from me?" he pleaded quietly.

"Before, nothing. I was merely flexing my muscles in what I was doing to you. But now, there are things I want from you," Amaunet answered honestly-surprising for a Goa'uld.

Jackson's eyes narrowed. "What kinds of things?"

She smiled. "You must know that our intelligence on the Tau'ri has been lacking, as of late. I intend to change that." She leaned closer, "And you are going to help me do that. I'll make it easy for you…The code for the devices you have which open that iris of yours on the Earth Stargate would be a good start."

Daniel frowned. "Nice try. I may not be military, but I have just as much responsibility to protect my planet as anyone else. I don't care if you're in my wife's body or not; you won't get anything from me."

Amaunet frowned in return and straightened. "Very well. You should know by now that we have other methods of persuasion…" she said, extending her hand above his face. No, not that again…was Daniel's desperate thought before the orange energy beam of the ribbon device activated, trapping him in its clutches. The archaeologist cried out.

The energy pierced his skull, sending paralyzing waves of pain through his body. It began almost subtly, but grew over time as she asked him questions about Earth-about the Tau'ri, as they called the humans and their planet-and he refused to answer. Eventually, to his relief, she became tired of the endless questions being met with no answers, and shut of the hand device, withdrawing her arm. Daniel collapsed, groaning loudly both from the lingering pain of the hand device and from the pain of the impact of his bruised body with the ground.

"Why do you not answer?" she demanded. "You know I cannot let you live, but if you give me what I want I will consider making your death less painful."

Despite himself, Daniel laughed weakly from the floor. "Too late for that…" He immediately regretted it when pain flared in his chest from the sharp movement. He regretted it even more a moment later when Amaunet nodded to one of the jaffa, who gave him a swift kick in the ribs-the same ones that were cracked. Danielshrieked in agony and doubled over which, being on the ground, pulled him into a fetal position. Amaunet spoke again, and Daniel tried to listen even as he gasped painfully for the air that had been knocked out of him.

"So be it. If you will not tell me anything yet, then perhaps your friend will." With that, the Goa'uld motioned for two of the four jaffa in the room to follow her, and headed for the door.

"What!" Daniel cried in alarm, grimacing as he pushed himself up on one elbow, ignoring the pain for the moment. "Y-you can't do that!"

But Amaunet ignored him. She did, however, turn to the two remaining jaffa in the room before she left. "Continue to interrogate him. I will be questioning the other prisoner."

"No!" Daniel shouted after her as she left. "Leave Sam alone! Sha're!-" He had more to say, but he was forced to break off abruptly when he received another sharp kick from one of the serpent guards at the last word. That sent more pain just as sharp tearing through his torso, and he wasn't even given time to recover before they grabbed his arms and dragged him to the chains on the side wall, only making his mid-sectionhurt worse, and he groaned loudly.

But what was worse was that Daniel felt sick; now Amaunet was going to interrogate Sam. He knew she wouldn't say anything either, which meant that, more than likely, soon she, too, would be caught in the grip of the ribbon device, and he didn't want that. He tried not to think about what else the Goa'uld might do to her, as well. Please, he pleaded to no one in particular. Please, let Sam be okay, please…

Daniel was pulled rudely out of his thoughts when a sudden new pain was called to his attention. He quickly looked in that direction to see one of the jaffa taking hold of his arm and opening one of the chains with the intention of putting it around his wrist as they had done before. But by now both of his wrists were so raw and hurting that he knew it wouldn't feel very good at all for them to be chained again.

"Do you have to do that…?" he implored hopefully, but was cut off again when the man snapped the cuff roughly closed, eliciting a yelp from Daniel. The scientist winced, "Okay, I guess you do…Ah!" He cried out again when the other jaffa closed the other one. "You know, you could try being a little less brutal for a change…" Daniel tried, but was only rewarded with another harsh blow to the face. "Guess not…" he rasped.

Samantha Carter looked up when she heard footsteps in the corridor, hoping that whoever was there was bringing Daniel. It had been over an hour. It could be him…

A moment later Amaunet came into view, and two jaffa…but no Daniel. Carter stood once the door had opened and the they had entered. "What do you want? Where's Daniel?"

"Doctor Jackson is still being interrogated."

"Interrogated!" Sam cried in alarm. "You never said anything about wanting any information! What are you doing to him!"

Amaunet smiled. "That is none of your concern. You should be concerned for yourself. Your friend is not revealing any information, but things will be easier for both of you if you do."

Carter glared at her, standing her ground. "I don't think so."

The Goa'uld nodded to the two serpent guards with her. "Your mistake," she said simply. The jaffa moved forward and took firm hold on Carter's arms, holding her in place.

"Let me go!" the major demanded. She pulled and twisted, but it was no use. Amaunet closed the distance between them, and activated her hand device. The orange beam caught Carter's forehead, and she gasped, her head snapping backwards for a moment.

"This isn't going to help you any," Sam growled through clenched teeth despite the pain that now flooded her body.

Amaunet only smirked and increased the intensity of the beam, drawing a moan from Carter. "We shall see, Major Carter. We shall see."

By now, the only thing keeping Daniel Jackson conscious was the excruciating pain that permeated his body as he was dragged along the corridor, leaving a steady stream of moans, gasps, and cries in his wake. The two jaffa he was suspended between still didn't care how much pain their jostling caused him as they brought him back to the holding cell. At least, he thought tiredly, after what must have been another hour or more of interrogation, they had finally decided that it was enough for the moment.

There was something he should be remembering…something very important…but through the haze of pain that had settled over his mind, it was hard to think. What was it…? Daniel cried out again at a sudden bump, and his train of thought was derailed as he sank into the murky mist.

A few minutes later, Daniel was jarred to full consciousness again when he felt himself being dropped face down onto the floor of the holding cell. He shouted and rolled to his side, holding his injured ribs. But then he realized that his shout wasn't the only sound of pain in the room. Another sound of…moaning…was it feminine? His senses were still muted, his mind still murky. Gasping, he squinted as his vision slowly cleared-or cleared as much as it could without his glasses-and his ears slowly returned to normal. I think this is what I needed to remember…

After another few moments, the blurred sounds and hazy blobs of color he was seeing asserted themselves, and he found himself staring in horror at the scene before him. Amaunet had Carter on her knees, caught in the ribbon device, and from the brightness and thickness of the beam, the major's pained expressions, and the cries that were escaping, it was obvious that the Goa'uld was being rather aggressive with it. Daniel eyes widened. Sam!

"Stop it…" he whispered weakly, but knew immediately that it hadn't been loud enough. Clenching his teeth against the pain, he pushed himself up on one elbow, and gathered his strength. "Stop it!" Daniel yelled as loudly as he could.

That got her attention, but instead of stopping, she only turned to look at him.

"Please, don't," Daniel pleaded, still breathing heavily. "She's…she's not the one you…you wanted here. I am. Just…stop it, please…"

Amaunet smiled. "You're right; she isn't. I wanted you…and information. Give the information I desire, and I will stop."

Daniel stared at her, and looked at Sam, knew how much pain she was in. He could see streaks on her face where unbidden tears of pain had fallen, and almost considered it as he suddenly felt overwhelming anger at the Goa'uld for harming his friend.

"Daniel, don't-" Sam gasped, but was instantly cut off in a scream when Amaunet frowned and intensified the beam.

"No!" Daniel cried, pushing up farther. He looked at his wife desperately, hoping she was in there watching, somewhere, hoping she could help them. "I can't tell you anything now more than I could two hours ago, but please, just leave Sam alone! You can do what you want to me, but don't hurt her!"

"No Daniel!-AHH!" Carter screamed, trying again to dissuade him, but again only being rewarded with more pain.

Suddenly, Daniel could take no more of it. In an adrenaline rush that gave him more energy than he would have ever thought he had left, he leapt to his feet and lunged toward Amaunet. He didn't want to hurt Sha're, only knock her away from Sam, and get that hand device turned off…

But she re-directed the beam--snapping it away from Carter, widening it, and aiming it in his direction--faster than he'd have ever thought a Goa'uld was capable of. The energy wave slammed into Daniel's body and threw him backwards into the wall in a fashion remarkably reminiscent of his first encounter with Apophis--only this time, as injured as he already was, it hurt considerably more.

Carter collapsed, and Daniel howled in agony upon impact with the hard surface, then sank to the floor, gasping in heavy breaths that sounded almost like sobs. Amaunet only smirked, and strode from the cell, the door closing behind her. Once they were gone, Daniel pushed himself forward onto his hand and knees and crawled slowly toward his friend, unable to even think about standing again at the moment. He could barely move as it was without sharps knives of pain piercing his ribs, and if he hadn't been worried about Sam, he wouldn't have even been able to force himself to go that far.

Daniel suppressed another groan as he stopped in front of Carter. He took a moment to catch him breath--somewhat--before speaking, but it didn't help much. "Sam, you…you okay?" he asked with concern, grimacing as he help her sit up.

Carter nodded weakly, but her eyes were red-rimmed, and before she could stop them new tears began to fall. Crying softly, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and after a moment of hesitation Daniel put his arms around her in return, offering what comfort he could. Saying nothing at first, he held her gently, trying to ignore the uncomfortable nature of the situation--and the physical pain coming from most of his body--because he knew that Sam needed a friend right now. He did too, after something like this, so he let her cry, her tears falling on his shoulder, where her head rested. But that didn't mean he knew exactly what to do.

"It's okay, Sam…" he said clumsily.

After a moment or two, Carter's tears subsided, and she gave a weak laugh. "Daniel, you're really bad at this," she said, pulling back and looking at him as she swept an arm across her face to dry it with the sleeve of her long-sleeved black shirt.

Daniel smiled despite himself. "Yeah, I guess I am. Are you okay?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah…killer headache, but I'll be fine. And…thanks."

"For what? Being stupid?"

Carter laughed again, louder this time, and it made him feel better to know that she was feeling better. "No, Daniel, for what you did. And just…" she shrugged. "For being here."

"I knew it," Daniel complained good-naturedly. "You're better at this than I am."

Sam looked confused for a moment. "What?"

Daniel shook his head. "I…I haven't thanked you….You've been here the whole time…and…" But he stopped there, not knowing what else to say.

Carter smiled at him softly. "It's all right; I know. And don't worry about it. What are friends for, right?"

"Right…."

Daniel sighed, but that proved to be a mistake when fresh stabs of pain gripped his chest, doubling him over with a gasp--but the additional sharp intake of breath didn't help any, and he cried out.

"Daniel!" Carter yelped in alarm, catching him. He slumped in her arms, moaning; his strength was giving out, the extra energy expenditure of a few minutes before taking its toll, and the pain from his injuries was surging in full force.

"Hold on, Daniel," Carter soothed, gently lowering him to the ground. "Just lay down…" He was gasping in pain, and she winced in sympathy, wishing there were more she could do for him. "Just a minute…" With that, the major jumped up and grabbed Daniel's jacket from the far corner of the room, then knelt beside him again. "Here you go," she said quietly, lifting his head and placing the crumpled jacket under it. "You'll be all right." Daniel smiled at her through a grimace.

"Thanks Sam…" he gasped, and Carter put a hand on his shoulder.

"You're welcome. Now try to get some more sleep, okay?" He nodded weakly, not needing any more prompting to close his eyes.

Sighing, Carter pulled back, not sure where to sleep. Should she go back to where she had been sleeping earlier, or stay on the floor near Daniel? The latter would certainly be more considerate...

Making her decision, she snatched her own jacket from the bench beside her and stuffed in under her head as she lied down a few feet from her friend. Carter stayed awake until Daniel's moaning faded away, his breathing evened out, and she was sure he was asleep. At least that way he couldn't feel any pain--physical anyway. She wasn't sure about emotional, though, because even in sleep, she heard him muttering his wife's name.