Author's Note: TAG to Avatar. Sam/Jack UST. Sam/Pete. Teal'c/Ishta. Team friendship. Discussion of religious fanaticism.

Avatar Recap: Teal'c has volunteered to help test a virtual training programme using the chairs from the planet in 'The Gamekeeper.' He finds the test too easy, succeeding quickly in destroying an invading Kull warrior. Bill Lee theorises that they could improve the game by having Teal'c play it more so it can learn from Teal'c and bring a more realistic edge to the play. There's no risk to Teal'c as the chair has been modified to only provide a low level of electrical shock if the user dies and besides, there is a failsafe where the user can get to the elevator and leave.

Teal'c begins to play the game but this time the game poses more of a challenge; it kills him several times, and includes new challenges such as first more Kull warriors, a cloaked warrior, the self-destruct sequence or an overloading generator (and solutions) – even when the game should have finished theoretically. During his play, Sam is concerned about the level of shocks Teal'c is receiving and calls Doctor Carmichael to the lab. The doctor warns them that Teal'c cannot play the game for much longer without risking a heart attack. Eventually realising that something is amiss, Teal'c heads for the elevator and the failsafe only for it to fail, leaving him trapped in the game.

Sam theorises that the game knows Teal'c would never quit in reality and so has put the failsafe option off the table. They know they have to find a way to help him or he will die or they will have to risk neurological damage by unhooking him from the chair. In the game, Teal'c has given up, he sits dejected in a corridor allowing the game to continually reset without his participation.

Sam realises from an imprint from their original chair experiences, Teal'c did not truly believe that the Goa'uld could be defeated. She hopes he still does not believe that. A plan is formed to send someone into the game to help Teal'c but by removing a synching interface the second player will have a 2 second advantage. They all volunteer but Daniel is selected.

Daniel convinces a despondent Teal'c that he is real and not just another part of the game. They work together to overcome the game's challenges. In a final denouement, all of SG1 are poised holding guns on each other while the generator starts to overload; in the end Teal'c trusts in SG1 and they kill the Goa'uld in the game; the game ends.

Always SG1

'I do not see why a stay in the infirmary is required,' Teal'c stated, careful to keep an even tone. A Jaffa, never mind a First Prime, would never allow the whine of complaint to enter their voice.

'Your heart stopped,' Doctor Carmichael said baldly. 'Overnight observation is warranted, Teal'c.'

Teal'c raised an eyebrow.

'We've given you an additional dose of tretonin, and if all looks fine in the morning,' Carmichael continued, 'I'll release you then.'

Teal'c inclined his head in silent agreement.

Carmichael nodded back briskly in acknowledgement. 'OK, so I'm going to go check on Doctor Jackson, if you need anything use the call button. I'll be check on you later.'

Teal'c watched as Carmichael swept out of the infirmary ward to whichever examination room Daniel Jackson was occupying. He let his head fall back against the pillow and allowed his body to fully relax into the bed.

As much as he would never admit such weakness out loud, he was grateful for the imposed rest. Despite the fact that his physical body had been sat in an alien chair and is efforts had all been virtual, he truly felt like his body had endured days of chasing down supersoldier warriors and defending the base; truly felt like he had died endlessly in such an endeavour.

Teal'c shuddered as he closed his eyes.

His initial arrogance that he would be able to defeat the chair's programming with ease had been thoroughly beaten out of him by the experience. He was only grateful that he had never experienced the alien chair at its fullest measure on P7J989. If he had not carried the infant Goa'uld symbiote in his belly at that time, he would have been subjected to his worst nightmare during that mission; the Goa'uld never being defeated.

Such an outcome stalked his every thought.

He knew the Goa'uld were not Gods. He knew that they could be defeated, had he not killed them with his own hands? Yet years of propaganda, of being told the Goa'uld were Gods had taken their toll. The fear that they and their tyranny would survive forever…

It was horrifying.

And not something Teal'c ever dragged into the light of the day to consider.

He was committed to the fight against the Goa'uld. He was committed to winning the Jaffa their freedom. He was committed to ensuring his son would live free.

And he needed SG1 to ensure that freedom.

Alone, Teal'c had been chained to his position as First Prime. He had learned from Bra'tac how to temper some of Apophis' atrocities, how to save those he could, how to work around Apophis to ensure the Goa'uld believed in his loyalty yet always slowly undermining the violence Apophis intended. It had only been the re-introduction of the Tau'ri which had de-stabilised the System Lords and provided Teal'c with a chance of success because they had killed Ra.

Teal'c had overheard the discussions between Apophis and others about Ra's defeat. They'd all taken credit in public, but in private the System Lords had acknowledged Ra had fallen to the one planet which had rebelled successfully against him.

When O'Neill had implored Teal'c to help him save everyone…Teal'c had known it was his one chance.

His relationship with O'Neill had been easy; they understood each other as warriors. Building bonds with Samantha Carter and Daniel Jackson had been more difficult and had followed in the wake of Teal'c being assigned to SG1. Teal'c had come to respect Samantha Carter as a warrior and a scholar; he had won the trust of Daniel Jackson after being responsible for the kidnapping of Sha're, for her becoming a host to a Goa'uld.

They had defeated Goa'uld, after Goa'uld. They had placed their trust in each other and they won.

Together, they would achieve Teal'c's desired freedom for his people. He had no doubt about that.

Indeed, Teal'c believed that utterly.

The Goa'uld were formidable but faced with SG1, they were not inevitable, unstoppable.

SG1 could defeat them, would defeat them.

As he allowed sleep to overtake him, Teal'c hoped the alien chair had learned the same.

o-O-o

'Damn it,' Daniel muttered under his breath, hurriedly scratching out the words he'd incorrectly translated.

In the infirmary bed beside his own, Teal'c stirred into wakefulness, making Daniel feel momentarily guilty for speaking out loud.

Teal'c blinked before his gaze landed on Daniel taking in the fact that he was occupying the second bed in the room.

'Hey,' Daniel said brightly, 'how are you feeling?'

'I am well,' Teal'c said. His gaze seemed to rake over Daniel in one sweep. 'And you, Daniel Jackson?'

'I'm fine,' Daniel grimaced and pushed his glasses up his nose, 'Carmichael wanted to keep me under observation as a precautionary measure since I had a few jolts from the chair.'

'He is cautious in medical matters,' Teal'c noted.

'Yeah,' Daniel said grumpily, 'he's already indicated that he's standing SG1 down for five days.'

'Did not Doctor Fraiser do the same after our experience on P7J989?' Teal'c pointed out.

Daniel sighed and knocked his head back against the pillow because she had. He'd used the time to flee to New York to remember his parents; Jack had found him and they'd ended up touring the city for a few days.

'It just feels like we never get off world these days,' Daniel complained. 'I mean, not all of us have the excuse of meeting with the rebel Jaffa…' he waggled his eyebrows expressively.

'Did you not spend six weeks off world on Tegalus, Daniel Jackson?' Teal'c asked dryly.

Daniel met Teal'c's amused gaze with one of his own. 'Not exactly what I meant.'

Teal'c hummed. 'I concur we have had less off world missions since O'Neill assumed control of the SGC.'

'Do you think it's deliberate?' Daniel asked, startled at the observation. It was true and Daniel was suddenly wondering if Jack was deliberately keeping them on Earth.

'I do not,' Teal'c said, 'rather I believe there is an increased number of teams capable of performing the missions we would typically undertake in previous years.'

Daniel moved his head side to side as he considered that. Teal'c was probably right. The President had authorised Jack to increase the number of SG teams and SG1 was primarily deployed for key first contact missions, or missions which required his, Sam's or Teal'c's specific expertise. If he hadn't argued to go back to Tegalus, SG9 would have handled everything after the initial first contact meetings.

'Don't get me wrong,' Daniel began, 'but I hope we get a chance to get off world soon. I mean, I'm enjoying the time to go through my work but I kind of miss it.'

Teal'c simply inclined his head.

'How do you feel now?' asked Daniel carefully.

'I am well, Daniel Jackson,' Teal'c assured him.

Daniel peered at Teal'c's usual stoicism with a frown. 'Things got a little…intense back there.'

'The chair revealed a concern that I did not know still lingered within me,' Teal'c said with blunt honesty.

'That you can't win against the Goa'uld,' Daniel spelled out.

'That I cannot win against the Goa'uld alone,' Teal'c replied. 'It also confirmed to me that my decision to join SG1 is the right path to seeing the end to all Goa'uld.'

Daniel's lips twitched at the satisfied tone. 'We make a good team.'

'Indeed,' Teal'c noted. He glanced about the room in a way that caught Daniel's attention.

'Uh, Sam said she'd stop by later, she's seeing to the chairs,' Daniel explained. He examined the translation again and gave up on it. 'I never thought I'd volunteer to get in those again.'

'Then I am doubly grateful for your assistance,' Teal'c said. 'I will look forward to Colonel Carter's visit,' he continued, 'I believed she had plans with Detective Shanahan.'

'Oh, she did,' Daniel confirmed, 'I think she cancelled them?'

'As she did when you were lost on Tegalus,' Teal'c said.

Daniel heard the note of satisfaction in his friend's voice. 'She's seeing a lot of Shanahan recently, huh?'

'Indeed.'

They both looked at each other in complete agreement in their view that Pete Shanahan wasn't worthy of Sam and that the increased dating was of concern – and not just because of how Jack was likely to view it.

'What about you and Ishta?' asked Daniel, changing the topic. 'Have you, uh, made up after the whole apartment argument?'

'Our break remains in place,' Teal'c stated, a hint of disgruntlement flickering across his face. 'She wishes to attack Moloc and will not follow either Bra'tac's or my advice in the matter.'

'I guess it has to be difficult for her to see the continued slaughter of the Jaffa girls under his rule,' Daniel commented. 'She can only save so many, right?'

'I understand her impatience, but if she acts alone in this matter…'

'You fear the Goa'uld will win and she won't have the benefit of a game reset,' Daniel concluded.

Teal'c inclined his head in Daniel's direction.

The rattle of a cart outside drew their attention briefly.

Teal'c stirred in his bed. 'I do not believe this infirmary stay is necessary.'

Daniel hummed his agreement. 'I guess you're not used to staying overnight at the base anymore.'

'I am not,' Teal'c said. 'My apartment is most comfortable.'

'I'm glad you're enjoying living off base,' Daniel said, inwardly preening since the whole thing had been his idea.

Teal'c looked over at Daniel as though he'd worked out Daniel's inner monologue. Daniel scrabbled anxiously for the papers strewn across the bed.

'Hey, can you help me with this translation? I think the form of Goa'uld is pretty archaic and I'm not sure I have the conjunctions right.'

Teal'c reached over and took the offered document. 'I will be most happy to assist you, Daniel Jackson.'

Daniel smiled at him. Briefly, his frustration at being confined to the infirmary disappeared. At least he was with Teal'c and they were there together.

o-O-o

Sam pushed the TV and DVD player into the infirmary room, placing it at just at the foot of the two infirmary beds, but spaced equally between them. She dismissed Siler with a nod and a murmur of thanks as she started to deal with plugging the devices into power and setting up the movie.

'Uh, Sam?' Daniel pointed at the apparatus with a pen. 'Something you want to tell us?'

'I thought as you were both stuck in here we could do movie night?' Sam said brightly.

Teal'c immediately set aside the papers he was holding, handing them back to Daniel with alacrity. 'That is an excellent idea, Colonel Carter.'

She plucked the box from the bottom shelf of the cart. 'I have Star Wars, Star Wars or Star Wars?'

Teal'c's eyes shone with fond warmth. It was his favourite movie and she figured he deserved it after the day he'd had.

'Star Wars?' questioned Daniel, shuffling his papers off his bed and onto the locker beside it. 'Really?'

Teal'c shot him a look.

Daniel sighed. 'Right. Star Wars it is.'

Sam appropriated a couple of chairs and placed them in the space between the two beds.

'Jack's joining us?' checked Daniel.

'As soon as he finishes up some paperwork,' Sam confirmed. He'd been enthusiastic about the idea of a movie night as soon as she had suggested it when she'd dropped off her report about the alien chair and training simulation test.

She felt a twinge of guilt about cancelling on Pete and was grateful he understood. He really put up with a lot, Sam considered fondly. It had been a good since she'd decided to make more of an effort in the relationship herself. She liked spending time with Pete. It wasn't a grand romance, but it was easy and comfortable. She still figured Pete deserved better, but she cared about him and it was good to have a life outside of the SGC. She was looking forward to the lunch date they'd arranged in the park for the weekend.

She cued up the movie and headed to the chair next to Teal'c.

'Did you get the chairs sorted?' Daniel asked.

'They're on their way back to Area 51,' Sam said. Bill Lee was bummed at having them out of the mountain again, but if the day had proven anything it was that they needed to do more work on understanding the chairs before we use them for any kind of training.

'I don't know why we're attempting to use them,' Daniel complained, huffily. 'They've never been exactly safe.'

Sam knew he'd the roughest experience of them all the first time they'd encountered the chairs. He'd been subjected to reliving his parents' deaths over and over. She got his point of view; she just didn't agree with it.

'If we can make them safe, they'll be a valuable training tool,' Sam argued.

'If,' stressed Daniel.

Sam acknowledged his point with a nod of her head. 'I've recommended that we investigate how the chair was able to override the failsafe.' It really wasn't safe if the chair's programming picked up on a 'never-quit' attitude and translated that into an endless virtual existence.

'A wise decision,' Teal'c murmured.

'I don't see how training simulations are going to be better than what we have in place now,' Daniel said. 'I mean, we still need to see how people react in reality.'

'You're only saying that because you enjoy fooling people when we hold the training days at the SGC,' Sam pointed out dryly.

Daniel loved playing the unexpected villain in their training scenarios. If she didn't know him, she'd be worried about it.

'Besides,' she continued, 'the training simulations will help us weed out candidates ahead of any real-life training scenario.'

One of the scientists at Area 51 had also suggested extrapolating the programme into an online game to help try and solve some of the scientific problems they were facing such as cracking the ninth chevron. It was a good idea and at least it didn't require anyone to be in the actual chair.

'Well, did we actually learn anything today apart from how dangerous the chairs are?' pressed Daniel.

'I learned that I should not underestimate my opponent,' Teal'c said before Sam could reply. 'The chair is a formidable enemy.'

Sam's lips twitched as she caught Teal'c's gaze which was filled with an irreverence people who didn't know him would never know he had.

Daniel smiled. 'But seriously? We didn't learn anything.'

'Didn't we?' Sam argued. 'The game extrapolated the supersoldiers finding an immunity to the weapon we have. The General just agreed with my recommendation to start working on a prototype to combat that scenario because of the simulation.'

'OK, but…' Daniel began.

'I would like to understand how to prevent the generator from overloading,' Teal'c cut in. 'In the last scenario, we should have zatted O'Neill and yourself, Colonel Carter. One of us should then have stopped the generator while the other covered them to prevent the Goa'uld from attacking.'

Both Sam and Daniel looked at Teal'c with surprise.

'I thought the game ended because you trusted in your team?' Daniel asked tentatively.

'Perhaps,' Teal'c agreed, 'the chair undoubtedly picked up on my deep belief in all of you.'

'But you can't rely on that in real life,' Sam mused out loud. 'I mean, we've already seen that ourselves when Anubis was haunting the base. The General ended up having to shoot Daniel; you zatted me. You couldn't trust anyone, no matter how much you wanted to trust them.'

Daniel shifted in his bed. 'I guess I could do with learning how to prevent the overload on a generator too.'

'It's a handy skill to have,' quipped Sam. She gave a firm nod. 'OK, lessons on the generator; we can do that.' She grimaced. 'It's not like we don't have downtime.'

'We should also review the override protocols for the self-destruct,' Teal'c suggested.

Sam shot a pointed look at Daniel.

'OK,' Daniel conceded, 'there might be some benefit to doing the simulations.'

A young Airman entered carrying a tray with bags of popcorn. 'Uh, ma'am, Chief Reyes asked me to deliver these?'

Sam took the tray eagerly. 'Thank you, Airman. Dismissed.'

She handed one bag to Daniel, two to Teal'c, placed one under the chair next to Daniel and settled back into her own chair. She checked the clock and bit her lip.

'The General said to start without him,' Sam threw out, gauging whether the others wanted to wait or not.

'Then we should begin,' Teal'c agreed.

Sam heard Daniel grumble something under his breath as she settled back, aimed the remote and pressed play. She hid her smile. Daniel and Teal'c were fine, Jack was on his way, the chairs were on the way back to Area 51, and it was team movie night.

All was right in her world.

o-O-o

Jack dropped the phone back into its cradle, closed his eyes and rubbed his hands furiously all over his face. He hated talking to Area 51.

Endless bureaucratic crap, Jack mused as he took in the stack of folders on his desk. He glanced at his watch and decided to call it a night. Nothing in the stack was urgent. He sprang to his feet with renewed energy.

'Uh, General,' Walter Harriman cleared his throat noisily from the doorway, 'Colonel Kendrick is expecting you to call.'

Kendrick. The OSI guy overseeing Teal'c living off base. The guy was a dick in all ways. Jack had been avoiding his calls since Carter had punted dealing with him back to Jack.

'I'm sure he can wait until tomorrow,' Jack said brightly to Walter. He was beginning to think the Sergeant didn't ever go home. 'I have somewhere else to be.'

'Yes, sir,' Walter said in a long-suffering tone which Jack figured he had never used on Hammond. 'Sir, have you given any more thought to getting a replacement administrative aide?'

His last administrative aide had actually been a spy for the President to check Jack wasn't an idiot and could actually run the SGC. Jack had appreciated Mark Gilmore when he'd been around, but he had gotten on top of the paperwork (stack of folders notwithstanding) and he didn't see the need to spend his limited budget on an aide. However, nobody missed Mark Gilmore more than Walter.

'I have,' Jack replied to Walter, belatedly realising he was expecting an answer, 'and I think we're doing OK.'

'Yes, sir,' Walter agreed.

'Now, if you'll excuse me,' Jack said cheerfully, 'I have somewhere I need to be.'

Walter nodded. 'They're in infirmary room Alpha-Six-Eight.'

Jack's eyebrows rose at the information and Walter slid away before Jack could confront him on whether he was secretly an alien with telepathic abilities. It wasn't completely outside the realms of possibility. Of course, the more likely answer was that Jack was just that predictable about his team.

His team.

It was one of the things he'd worried about when he'd taken on the SGC. He hadn't wanted to leave SG1. He'd done it before with promotions and it had always sucked.

It still sucked.

He was just lucky that SG1 hadn't been on rotation a lot for off world missions since he'd taken over. There were a lot of teams, Jack quietly justified as he switched everything off in his office and closed the door. And it wasn't as though Daniel and Carter didn't have on base responsibilities to take care of in addition to their position on SG1. Teal'c also split his time between the rebel Jaffa and Earth a lot so…so SG1 had a lot of balancing to do and it had just worked out that the balance had shifted to them spending a lot of time on Earth.

Jack appreciated that more than he could say. He knew he'd relied on them a lot when he'd taken over as General. He knew he still relied on them, although as SG1 had gotten back to off world missions, Jack had become more and more used to relying on the rest of the SGC for support in addition to his old team. And they still included him; still treated him as a member of the team – Carter hadn't even hesitated to include him in movie night.

But, Jack considered as he stepped into the elevator, the truth was though that he wasn't a part of the team in the same way.

He frowned, pushing his hands into the pockets of his BDU pants and rocking back on his heels.

The President had given him a warning about being too close to SG1. It had been a valid warning. Jack knew he was too close. SG1 was his family and Carter…Carter was in a league of her own.

He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck.

She was spending more time with Shanahan.

He knew that without explicitly being told. He knew it because it was only the guys when they went out for drinks. Or Cassie would drop by and complain briefly about Sam being unavailable.

It wasn't serious, Jack thought – and wondered who he was trying to convince. It had certainly lasted. For all Carter had made the case for Shanahan to know about the SGC and the programme when he'd busted in on their take-down of Osiris, in the aftermath, he'd noted a cooling off period between them. He had a vague memory of Carter coming to see him after the whole head-sucky thing…that had to mean something; that maybe he still meant something to her?

He shook his head.

It didn't matter because since things had settled after saving the Asgard from the Replicators again, and they'd gotten somewhat used to their new positions, Carter seemed to have settled into consistently dating the cop in a way that she hadn't since before Osiris.

No humming in the elevator, Jack told himself as the elevator slid to a halt. But Carter deserved to be happy and even if he hated her dating another man, he wanted that for her; happiness.

Besides, balancing his command and his love for Carter had been a problem for years. Becoming the General of the SGC hadn't changed that. Nope. The problem was much more centred on SG1 itself. On balancing his love for the team as a whole with the interests of the wider SGC and the programme.

Jack was self-aware enough to know that a part of him would happily raze the rest of the programme to the ground to save his team. Only his sense of duty prevented it and some days he wondered if that was even enough.

A problem for another day, Jack determined as he made his way down the corridor searching for the right room. He was doing OK; they were doing OK.

He found it because of the sound effects of a very familiar film drifting out of the open door and into the corridor. He strode in and shut the door, warm affection filling him to the brim as he took in the waiting chair and bag of popcorn.

Teal'c lifted the remote and paused the film. 'O'Neill. We have just begun.'

'How are you feeling, T?' Jack asked as he navigated moving past the TV cart to his seat.

'I am well, O'Neill,' Teal'c confirmed. There was a hint that he'd swallowed other words such as 'and I don't know what I'm doing in the infirmary' but Jack ignored that.

Jack nodded understandingly. 'Daniel?'

'I'm fine,' Daniel confirmed grumpily, more obvious at his dislike for being kept in overnight,

Jack sat down with a thump and Carter handed him the bag of popcorn. 'Sweet.'

Teal'c lifted the remote…

'Hey,' Daniel said, drawing Teal'c's unhidden ire at the interruption, 'whatever happened with the kid of your friend? Michaels? Wasn't he meant to go to the Academy?'

Jack wasn't surprised the chairs had evoked memories of the first mission when they'd encountered them. He was surprised that Daniel had remembered that in the wake of the mission they'd tracked down the widow of the friend Jack had seen die in the simulation.

'Scott Michaels?' Jack shrugged. 'He's at the beta site, learning to fly the F302.' He ate a piece of corn to encourage Daniel to move on.

'God, that makes me feel old,' Daniel murmured.

'That's because you are,' Jack retorted.

Teal'c lifted the remote purposefully again. 'Shall we begin from the beginning, O'Neill?'

Jack caught sight of Daniel's horror-stricken face and was tempted to say yes, but he waved a hand at the TV. 'I think I can catch-up since we've only watched this like, oh, a couple of hundred times.'

Carter's lips twitched into a smile and she shot Jack an amused look which made him inwardly proud.

It was always going to be Carter, Jack mused as his love for her bubbled up inside of him; always.

'Teal'c suggested Sam give us training on how to stop a generator overloading,' Daniel said hurriedly preventing Teal'c from pressing the remote.

Teal'c glared at Daniel.

Jack raised an eyebrow. 'Teal'c did, did he?'

'It was one of the many things I learned from the simulation, O'Neill,' Teal'c stated evenly.

'Yeah,' Jack tilted his head, 'what else did you learn?' Hopefully not to sit in alien chairs.

'That as long as I believe in SG1, I believe we will prevail in our fight against the Goa'uld,' Teal'c said.

Jack blinked and he could see his own stunned sense of awe and affection on Carter's face. He didn't need to look at Daniel to know it would also be mirrored there.

'That's so deep, Teal'c,' Daniel said seriously.

'It's a good thing to pass on in our training simulations,' Carter said, softly. 'Believe in your team.'

'I like it,' declared Jack.

Jack settled back as the movie resumed. He glanced around, taking in Daniel's pout as he slumped back against his pillows, and Teal'c's focus on the movie; they were OK. He caught Carter's knowing gaze as he shifted to check on her, but she didn't say anything just offered him an understanding smile – one SG1 leader to another.

Teal'c was right, Jack thought contentedly; he'd always have faith in their team, in their family; in SG1.

fin.