Okay, sorry this one took so, long. but there's this annoying algebra thing...never mind. Anyway, here's the next chapter, and I hope you all enjoy it! Please review and let me know what you think! Please:) Must have reviews to keep going, must have more reviews...

Chapter 20

As soon as Daniel opened his eyes that morning he knew something was wrong. He could sense the tension that radiated from near him, and when he looked up and back behind his head, he wasn't surprised to see Samantha Carter sitting there stiffly, looking intensely worried about something.

"Sam?" he asked in concern. He was surprised at how much his voice croaked; that it came out barely above a whisper. As Carter turned to look at him he quickly took stock and realized that he already felt much worse than he had before he'd finally fallen asleep. Again trying to test just how bad the damage inflicted the previous night was, Daniel tried to sit up, but the pain from his chest drove him back down again before he'd even lifted his body more than an inch, and the sharp breath of air he sucked in before he could think about it didn't help any either.

Sam's eyes widened as Daniel broke into a fit of coughing, and grabbed his shoulders as he curled into a fetal position, fighting to bring his breathing back under control as the agony rippled through his shaking body.

"Daniel!" Carter cried in alarm. After a few more seconds Jackson's coughing stopped and he slumped, gulping in deep, slow, shaky breaths of air. He'd barely been awake for a minute and already he was sweating. "Daniel, are you all right?"

He nodded, but his eyes were still clenched shut. "Yeah…" he gasped."Sorry….didn't mean to…scare you like that…" A moment later, when he had his breathing more under control, he opened his watering eyes and looked weakly up at her. "So…what's going on? Why did you…did you look so tense when I woke up?"

Sam frowned. "Well, if I was tense then, I'm even more freaked out now. You scared me half to death, Daniel! Are you sure you're okay?" she answered hotly, dodging his question. For a moment she feigned anger, but behind it was only concern.

Daniel frowned. "I said I was sorry..." he answered. "And yes, I'll be…okay. I'll survive, anyway…." He trailed off as he tried to shift his position, which had grown uncomfortable over the hours of the night. But as he moved, there where sharp stabs of pain as he felt the broken ribs shift inside his chest, and he couldn't stop the long, low moan that escaped.

All traces of the mask of anger Sam had shoved on fell away immediately as worry took over when she heard the heartbreaking sound. She blanched. "Daniel, is it just me or have you gotten worse since last night?" she asked hesitantly.

"Oooohhhh, I wish it were just you," Daniel groaned. Carter swallowed hard as she took in the sight of her friend from the future: black BDUs and hair disheveled, glasses missing, skin pale, beaten and bruised, forehead burned from the ribbon device, struggling to breath with one arm around his broken mid-section. Danny, her Daniel, from this time, had looked much better the last time she'd seen him, but before the Goa'uld had put him in the sarcophagus he'd been in worse condition than this; he'd been dying, and now if they tried to do anything else to this Daniel he was likely to die, too.

Sam closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again there were tears gathering in them. "We have to get out of here soon," she said quietly. "If we don't, I don't know if either of you will make it."

Daniel looked at her sympathetically for a moment, and then something occurred to him. "Both of us? What…do you mean? He uh…my other self…he seemed fine…"

Carter nodded. "I know, but he's the one I was worrying about when you woke up." She gulped, "They must have taken him again….He wasn't here when I woke up a few minutes ago." Sam pounded a fist on the wall beside her. "How could I have slept through that? I should have woken up! I should have…"

"Should have what?" Daniel said softly. "You couldn't have stopped them, Sam; you know that, I know that, and…he knows that…I knew that…"

Sam looked away for a moment, but turned to Daniel when she heard a muffled sob from his direction. When she looked back at him again he wasn't crying, but was obviously upset. "Daniel, what's wrong?"

It took a few moments, but finally he answered. "She's going to do it again, Sam. She probably won't due much to him physically, but she'll do what she did to me just before they brought me back." Now tears did start to sting his eyes as he remembered Sha're's screams, and when he continued his voice began to crack. "She's-she's going to do it again, Sam, she's going to hurt Sha're…"

The same thought echoed in Danny's head at that very moment as he sank down the wall of the interrogation room to the floor, nursing his freshly bruised stomach as the jaffa backed off. Jackson landed unceremoniously on the floor and let his head thump back against the wall while he gasped for air. He swiped a jacket sleeve gently across his cracked lips, and when it came away with the blood he'd known was there he winced anyway. Amaunet watched, still passive as ever, from a few feet away.

She was toying with him again, and again he knew it. Danny knew her central plan of action now was to employ the tactic she had recently used on his older counterpart, that this was just the opening act. That was why she hadn't allowed her jaffa to get overly brutal this time, why nothing was cracked or broken, why this beating hadn't lasted very long. But what could he do?

He tossed a glare in the direction of the Goa'uld even as he was still concentrating on bringing oxygen into his starved lungs. She smiled back at him, and advanced in his direction.

"As suspected, you still resist as well," she began. "It seems my change of approach with your counterpart was indeed called for. Of course it did not succeed the first time, but he seemed a good deal more shaken than before. I will have what I want from him soon. Now for you…"

Danny's face went slack; his scowl faded to reveal the terror that suddenly gripped him. "Leave Sha're…out of this," he hissed at her. He would have spoken louder, but was still short of breath.

Amaunet smirked. "Stupid human; it's already too late. I have not left her alone since she made the mistake of speaking to both you and your older self yesterday."

"Leave her alone!" Jackson growled.

"I'm afraid I can't do that--not until I get what I want." Danny watched helplessly in horror as Amaunet withdrew again, pushing Sha're to the foreground. A sharp gasp echoed, and then her legs had buckled.

Ignoring the bruises, Jackson jumped forward and caught his exhausted wife as she fell. Trembling, she sank into him while she groaned in pain. Gasping, she looked up at his face as he folded her into his arms. "D-Dan'iel?"

"It's me, Sha're, I'm right here," he said, holding her tighter, as if it would help. Danny felt tears welling in his eyes again. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…" he gulped, not knowing what else to say, or to do. From what his older self had said, it didn't seem that Amaunet could hear him when not in control, or refused to answer, so he knew begging the Goa'uld to stop would be useless. All he could do was be there for her. He'd tried to prepare himself for the possibility that this might happen, but nothing could have. At least she wasn't screaming this time. Maybe…maybe that meant Amaunet wasn't being as harsh now…or maybe her host was just too exhausted to shout anymore.

"D-do not…blame yourself for…for this, Dan'iel…" Sha're gasped, startling him with her words. They should have comforted him, and did to some extent, but the way she could sound so trusting and loving while at the same time her voice was tortured with pain only caused the hold Danny had to his tears to dissipate.

"Hold on, Sha're," he sobbed after a moment. "Just hold on, it'll be all right…"

"W-what…?"

Gulping back his tears for a moment, he looked at her. "You can fight her, Sha're; I know you can. You've done it before. Doing this to you…it has to do something to her, too, weaken her in some way…" He started to speak rapidly now, knowing Amaunet wouldn't want Sha're to hear what he had to say and might take control again now to keep him from saying it. "I'm sure she can't keep it up forever, and then if you can just get control for a few minutes, anything….You have to helps us. If you can get control and helps us escape, then you can come with us. We'll get you out of here and get that snake out of you. I can't let you stay like this anymore, trapped in your own body, where she can hurt you like this. I won't-" His voice broke and the tears started to fall again.

Sha're gripped the fabric of Danny's jacket more tightly between her fingers as the pain surged. "I will try, Dan'iel," she whispered as she sought comfort in her husband's embrace. She couldn't suppress the tortured groan that came next, and then felt him kiss her now damp forehead.

"Just hold on, Sha're. I've got you," he whispered again in return as he rocked back and forth while he held her. She knew that with the fresh bruises the movement must have been painful for him, but it was comforting to her, and even though she tried to open her mouth to ask him to stop if it was hurting him she suddenly found that she couldn't. She knew why.

Amaunet was taking control again, shoving her backwards. Sha're tried to fight to keep her body, but she was weak, and she only had time to release a muffled cry of pain and surprise before she was locked in the darkness once again, trapped in darkness but still aware of what was happening around her.

"Sha're!" Danny shouted when she cried out, but then Amaunet was pushing away from him and quickly standing.

"Enough," she said. "You understand now. She will suffer until you give the information I desire."

Jackson looked up at her through tear-blurred eyes. "Do all Goa'uld's always sound like broken records?" he said angrily.

Amaunet kicked him in the gut and he shouted and doubled over. When the jaffa pulled him to his feet he was still gasping, but Danny cast one last weary glance over his shoulder at his wife before the serpent guards led him from the room.

Daniel had fallen asleep again soon after waking up, or lost consciousness again even, maybe. Carter couldn't quite tell, but she hoped that he was resting well; he certainly needed it.

Chewing on her bottom lip, Sam waited another few minutes where she was, until finally the door slid open and two jaffa shoved Danny back in. The younger Jackson stumbled and fell to his knees with a grunt. The major winced and made her way over to him. As she got closer she saw his bleeding lip, the fresh bruises on his face, and the way he bent forward, and she frowned.

"Hey, Danny, you okay?" she asked in concern as she knelt beside him.

He nodded miserably, his eyes still on the floor. "I'll be fine," he said quietly. Then he gulped, "But Sha're's not…"

Sam's eyebrows went up as she realized that Daniel's assessment of what Amaunet would do this time had been right, that she knew what had happened.

"She's still hurting Sha're, Sam. She won't-" his voice caught. "She won't leave her alone…"

Sam saw him fighting tears again, and leaned forward and hugged her friend gently, rubbing his back. "It's okay, Danny. It'll be all right…" she said, and after a moment Jackson returned the embrace.

"How can you be sure?" he asked when she pulled away.

"I'm sure she can't keep that up forever. She's probably not doing it nearly as much as you think she is. Sha're will be fine," Carter smiled, trying to reassure him.

"You really think so?" he asked, sincerely hoping she was right.

Sam nodded. "I don't see any reason why that wouldn't be true. I mean, whatever she's doing has to have some effect on her no matter what she says. I doubt she could do it continuously for very long." She sighed, "You should stop beating yourself up over it--both of you."

Danny smiled weakly. "You're probably right--I hope you are."

Carter smiled back. "Yeah, I hope so to."

Then Jackson grimaced, and Sam's face became concerned again. "What is it?"

"Nothing…just a little bruised up; that's all," he winced.

"You sure? Nothing cracked this time?"

He nodded. "I'm sure, Sam. Could you just…help me up? Please?"

Carter sighed again. "All right," she agreed, moving closer to allow him to slip an arm around her shoulders. Putting her arm around him as well, she gently pulled him to his feet. Danny gasped once on the way up and grunted a few times as she helped him over to the bench opposite his counterpart, but for the most part seemed to be in considerably less pain than before. When he didn't cry out from being set down, Sam finally let herself feel relief that he wasn't hurt too badly. Then, however, her worry returned to the older Daniel.

"Thanks," Danny said as he sat back against the wall, and when she didn't answer him he looked up to see her looking worriedly across the room. Jackson frowned as a bit of worry of his own started to take root. "How's he doing?" he asked quietly.

Sam shook her head. "Not good. He woke up for a few minutes, but he was hurting pretty badly…couldn't even move. I wish I knew how bad the injuries were, but he wouldn't let me touch him last night."

"And we barely got him off the floor; I know," Danny nodded, and then looked pointedly at her. "You think it's really bad, don't you?"

"I don't know," Carter said, shaking her head. "That's the problem. All I know is that it seems bad--and that we have to keep them from taking him again. I mean, yes, Amaunet is using new…method…now, but she's nowhere close to abandoning the old ones yet, and I honestly don't know if he could survive that again."

Danny's eyebrows almost disappeared beneath his now much shorter bangs Carter was still getting used to, and she flinched. "Now don't get me wrong," she added quickly. "His life isn't in immediate danger right now; but there's no telling what she'll do next time, and I don't think his body can take a whole lot more."

Jackson's head banged against the wall behind him and he let it rest there as the heels of his hands came up to press against his eyes. "Ohhh, I didn't need to hear that," he moaned.

"What?" Sam asked quickly, suddenly worried.

Danny sighed and turned to look at her, still frowning. "You do realize that's almost as bad as you telling me I'm in that condition, don't you?" he gulped.

Carter paled as she realized what he meant. "Oh! Omigosh, Danny, I'm sorry. I knew that, I just…I wasn't thinking…" She put her own head in her hands for a moment, embarrassed. "I'm sorry…I guess being a prisoner for two or three days straight can dull the brain."

"It's all right," Danny assured her, grimacing from soreness again before looking for a second time across the room at his older self--which was getting weird. "I guess you're right; he doesn't look so good."

Sam nodded wearily and pulled her legs up onto the bench, hugging her knees to her chest and resting her head on top of them. How hard could it be to get two Daniel Jackson out of here and home safely? It was at least possible, wasn't it? She certainly hoped so.

"Jacob! Welcome back," Jack smiled, warmly greeting Samantha Carter's father as he came up the stairs into the conference room; O'Neill was in a much better mood this time, now that he knew almost for sure where his friends were.

Jacob nodded and greeted O'Neill in return as he sat down at the long table once again, joining the colonel, Teal'c, Dr. Fraiser, and General Hammond.

"I was happy to hear that you've found something," Carter said eagerly.

"Oh, we found something all right." O'Neill said enthusiastically.

Hammond nodded, and then turned to his friend. "Jacob, do the Tok'ra have any more information on P5R-322?"

Jacob nodded slowly. "Some…All we know is that Apophis has an outpost there--mostly underground. Most of the time it's abandoned or very sparsely occupied, but there has been a lot of unusual activity there the past few days."

"What kind of unusual activity?" Janet asked.

"Numerous matter streams leaving and returning through the rings, there are three ships in orbit; that sort thing. There was even a short-lived attack on the location by Heru-er's forces yesterday, but they were driven back." Jacob frowned. "If that's really where Sam and Daniel are, I don't like the odds we have of getting them out."

"Why not?" Jack questioned.

Jacob sighed. "The only two ways in or out of that compound is through the Stargate or the ring transporter. Both are in the same chamber, so it really doesn't make a difference which one we used. They would know we were there the second we arrived. That means our only option is to Gate there--a frontal assault; fight our way in, get Sam and Daniel;, and fight our way out again."

Now O'Neill frowned. "Oh. Well, you didn't say that before."

Fraiser had paled a bit. "How many jaffa do you think there are? What are our chances? If they had enough to beat back an attacking army…"

Carter's head shook. "Actually, we believe there to be as many as you might think. The force Heru-er spared to assault the outpost was rather small--only one hu'tack class vessel, and it didn't even seem to have a full crew, or so our intelligence says. Whichever Goa'uld is using that base now wouldn't have needed too many jaffa. On top of that, our surveillance before and after the attack hasn't shown any signs of large numbers of jaffa. That doesn't mean it'll be easy to get them out, but at least we have a chance."

"Well, we never expected it to be easy," Jack replied.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "Indeed. I do believe that Jacob carter is correct. We stand a fair chance of retrieving our friends safely. We should leave as quickly as possible" Then he looked toward Hammond. "If you agree, General Hammond."

The General seemed to hesitate for a moment.

"General?" Janet asked.

"Do we have the go-ahead, sir?" O'Neill added. He waited nervously for his superior's response, wanting nothing more than to get on with the rescue mission. He wanted his team back; he wanted his friends back. Goodness only knew what the Goa'uld holding them could be doing to them. He suppressed a shudder and forced himself not to think about it. Hammond would agree, they would find carter and Daniel, and both of them would be fine. They had to be.

Finally Hammond sighed. "I'm not entirely comfortable with allowing you to go straight in like that, colonel, but if we have no other choice…" After another moment he nodded. "All right, Jack, you have a go-"

"YES!"

"-but all of you do me a favor."

"Sir?" Fraiser asked as O'Neill calmed himself and turned back to the General as well.

"Don't get yourselves killed, and bring our people back safely."

O'Neill grinned, "Will do, sir!"

Jacob Carter smiled as well. "Thank you, George. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to ask permission to accompany them."

Hammond nodded. "Go right ahead, Jacob. And colonel, you'd better take SG-3 with you, as well. I'd send SG-5 too, but they're off-world."

"That's all right, sir; I think one extra team should do it. When can we leave, General?"

"How soon can you be ready, Jack?"