AUTHOR'S NOTES: Next instalment delivered on time! LOL. Hugs to suds and
jo and hoodat and sandy and Uly and kitty and ayesha.
And to my buds on aussiesj - the best place on earth!
Chapter Eight
Sam stretched languidly as she woke up, enjoying the way her muscles twinged slightly but relaxed as she slowly worked the kinks out of them.
"Feel better?" a voice next to her ear asked humorously.
"Colonel!" she greeted, her cheeks flaming slightly as she realised who it was lying next to her.
"Morning Carter."
She grinned again and wriggled away from him, feeling altogether too uncomfortable lying that close to him. As she slid across the bed, Sam realised something was strange. A quick glance down at herself confirmed it.
"Carter?"
"My clothes, Sir," she started out, her eyes widening as she suddenly fully realised what she was wearing.
"Your BDU's have had it."
"Sir?"
"A great big gaping hole right in the front. Pretty much like the one you've got now, only it wasn't trimmed nicely with gold," he smirked.
Her face flamed. So he'd seen what she was wearing then.
His face grew serious suddenly, his eyes studying her intently. "Are you okay, Carter?"
"Sir?"
"Yesterday. the bath."
The bath. Oh! If her cheeks had been red before they weren't a patch on the colour staining her entire body now. How embarrassing, having him *undress* and-
Sam frowned. "I. don't really remember much other than getting into the water," she admitted reluctantly.
He grinned again. "That's because you fell asleep."
"Oh." She shot him a careful look from beneath her lashes. "So how did I."
"Get dressed?"
She nodded mutely, the colour nowhere near fading in her cheeks.
"I didn't look. Promise," he swore seriously, studying her. "You fell asleep so I washed you and grabbed a towel and rolled you in it and."
She raised her eyebrows, curious.
He grinned somewhat embarrassedly. "I used to have to dress Charlie at the beach sometimes, and he was always shy," he explained hesitantly. "So I used the beach technique on you. With the help of a Jaffa priestess. No one saw anything, I swear!" he reiterated.
Feeling somewhat reassured, Sam sat up and looked around, careful to keep the sheets pulled up around herself. "So. how long have I been out?"
"I'm not sure. Since I've been aware of things it'd be about three or four days."
She nodded absently, looking around. "It's funny, you know, but I felt worse yesterday than I've ever felt in my life, and now I feel fine."
He grunted in response, getting out of the bed and wandering across to the doorway, his gown trailing along the floor behind him.
"Sir, what's going on?"
O'Neill turned to face her slowly, she could see confusion in his eyes.
"Everything is fuzzy, Sir. I can't make sense of anything at the moment."
A brief grin fluttered across his face at the confession. Sighing, the laughter fell from his face and he grew serious again. "I'm not sure, Carter. All I know is that this Goa'uld wants us to find another Goa'uld for her, and then she'll apparently let us go."
"She will?"
He snorted with ill-concealed bitterness. "Supposedly."
"How are we supposed to find this Goa'uld when we're on board a ship?"
He flinched. He literally flinched. She watched silently as he rubbed anxiously at his hair before walking back to the bed and sitting down next to her legs. "It's complicated, Sam."
Sam? "So you said, Sir."
"This. Did I mention that this particular Goa'uld is a Nox?"
"A Nox?" Sam repeated slowly.
"Yeah. A Nox. Short, white skin, weird hair. A Nox."
She was silent as she watched him.
"Remember when they healed Nefrayu?" he questioned, his eyes searching her face. "Remember how they lifted their hands up and he became alive again?"
She nodded, realization dawning over her. "She did that to me."
"To us," he agreed simply. "She healed me first, and then she used my 'life force' or something and healed you."
Sam narrowed her eyes. "What's that got to do with us finding the other Goa'uld?"
O'Neill sighed. "She'll let one of us off the ship while she holds the other hostage," he started out, "and because of this healing she did, the two of us share the same life force now. That's how the Jaffa explained it to me anyway."
She looked at him sceptically. "So you're saying.?"
"Apparently if I die, then you die. Or if you die then I die. And the further apart we get for longer periods in time the sicker we'll get until we eventually die."
"And you believe that?" Sam questioned disbelievingly.
He hesitated. "Yes."
"Why?"
"I was awake the second time, Carter. She did something. I felt it. And my chest hurt where you were injured. And I felt sick when you were sick. It all adds up."
"No it doesn't. Why didn't that happen to us when the Nox did it to us years ago?"
"Because she did it deliberately, Carter! She needs us to find Geb, and this is the perfect way to have a hold over us."
"Why? Why us? Why not two other people?"
"I don't know. Luck I guess."
"Luck?"
He stood up abruptly. "Look, all I know is that we have to find this Geb person. And until we do that she won't kill us."
"Why does she think we can find Geb?"
He smiled tightly. "She knows we killed Ra. And she knows who we are. She's not stupid, Carter. Far from it."
Sam sighed, running her hands through her hair. "So now what?"
"We're at the beck and call of a Goa'uld."
~o0o~
He was tired. So tired.
Yawning, Daniel pushed his chair away from the desk and leant back into it, stretching tiredly.
"It's late," a quiet voice commented from the doorway.
"Janet?" he questioned, turning to see the brunette leaning against the doorframe.
"I've told you a million times to get some rest, and you still ignore me," she chided gently.
He sighed, sitting upright and studying her for a second.
"You okay?" she asked carefully.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Are we okay?"
She looked surprised for a minute, before an intrigued smile crossed her lips. "Why wouldn't we be?"
"Because of what I said on the planet. I accused you of giving up, and I had no right to."
Janet placed her hands in her pockets and watched him. "No, you didn't have a right to do that, but it's okay," she said softly.
"It's not okay!" Daniel snapped, getting up and storming to he far side of the lab, frowning heavily.
"Daniel! You were tired - you still are I might add - injured and worried about the two of them. Of course you had a right!" Janet exclaimed.
Daniel sighed as he leant against the wall. "Did General Hammond tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"About the Goa'uld who we think has them."
Janet shook her head slightly.
"Her name is Nut, and she's a Nox."
A Nox. The word brought to mind a faded memory of a short woman activating a Stargate with a mere wave of her hand. "One of those telepathic."
Daniel nodded absently. "Not really telepathic, we don't think, but close. They definitely have some ability in that area."
Janet rubbed at her hair. "That's bad, isn't it?"
Daniel stood up straight. "Yes, it is. It means that if the powers that be decided Sam and Jack were worth attempting a rescue for - assuming they still are alive, we'd have to use brute force and a surprise attack. And that would only happen after we'd found her. Janet, an Ashrak couldn't find this Goa'uld."
"You're giving up now," Janet accused gently, her dark eyes pinning him to the wall.
"Everyone else has?"
"I haven't," Janet said heatedly.
"Janet, even Hammond won't authorise a rescue. The Tok'ra wouldn't because Sam and Jack aren't their people."
"What about General Carter?"
"He can't, he's a Tok'ra. Selmac wouldn't let him."
Janet straightened her back and stared at him. "I'm disappointed in you, Daniel. It's only been a week. There have been much longer time frames where you or other members of SG-1 have been missing, and you've always come back."
Daniel sighed heavily. "A Goa'uld might have them, Janet. There is a greater change that they're dead than anything else."
"So you're just giving up on them?"
"No, I'm not. I just don't see how we can get them back."
"I've got news for you Daniel, that's called giving up."
~o0o~
Anhur stared up at the clear heavens, watching as the stars shone down.
Somewhere in those dark spaces was his key to success.
Somewhere there was Nut.
He frowned. He had scoured the galaxy looking for her small ship, searching for her Jaffa. He'd travelled from world to world, always one or two steps behind the magical goddess, and he'd never caught her. Never even caught sight of her.
Perhaps the way to search for Nut was to let her search for him.
Anhur's eyes glowed.
Let Nut find him. Let Nut come to Anhur, and then Anhur would have his revenge. He would have his revenge before presenting her to his god.
The stars shone down coldly, the silver light pricking into his cold skin. Somewhere there was Nut, and she would buy his return to power.
~o0o~
The bed was hard and uncomfortable beneath Jacob, his mind unwilling to relent to the beckoning call of sleep.
Nut remains hidden, Jacob. None know of her whereabouts.
He turned angrily, trying to blot out Selmac's soothing voice. What would Selmac know anyway? She didn't have any kids.
I do have a child, Jacob. I have Samantha, through you. I care for her just as you do, you know this.
Yes, Jacob did know that. He just wasn't in the mood right now to be reminded of that, because right now the Tok'ra were preventing him from finding his daughter.
The High Council is not preventing you from finding Samantha, Jacob. They are preventing you from committing suicide. Nut capabilities ruin any chance of using deception as a means of defeat.
Jacob knew that already. Hadn't that been what the High Council had been ramming through his skull for the last twelve hours? Right now, he just didn't care.
I will help you, Jacob, when the time comes. But the time is not now, because we do not know where Nut is.
Jacob sat upright, annoyed with Selmac.
Do not be angered, my friend, I speak only the truth.
Jacob knew that. That's what made him so mad. "There have to be places where Nut goes regularly?" he spoke out loud, angrily.
In his mind he felt Selmac sigh, but it was a sigh of defeat. Both host and symbiote would not rest until Samantha was found, but both knew also that there was nothing either one could do until more information was brought forth.
With sorrowful hearts they climbed back into bed and let the oblivion of sleep ease their troubles for a short while.
~o0o~ I hope that you've been enjoying this, and I wanted to say thank you to everyone who had sent me feedback, reviews etc. It really does encourage a person!
sharim
And to my buds on aussiesj - the best place on earth!
Chapter Eight
Sam stretched languidly as she woke up, enjoying the way her muscles twinged slightly but relaxed as she slowly worked the kinks out of them.
"Feel better?" a voice next to her ear asked humorously.
"Colonel!" she greeted, her cheeks flaming slightly as she realised who it was lying next to her.
"Morning Carter."
She grinned again and wriggled away from him, feeling altogether too uncomfortable lying that close to him. As she slid across the bed, Sam realised something was strange. A quick glance down at herself confirmed it.
"Carter?"
"My clothes, Sir," she started out, her eyes widening as she suddenly fully realised what she was wearing.
"Your BDU's have had it."
"Sir?"
"A great big gaping hole right in the front. Pretty much like the one you've got now, only it wasn't trimmed nicely with gold," he smirked.
Her face flamed. So he'd seen what she was wearing then.
His face grew serious suddenly, his eyes studying her intently. "Are you okay, Carter?"
"Sir?"
"Yesterday. the bath."
The bath. Oh! If her cheeks had been red before they weren't a patch on the colour staining her entire body now. How embarrassing, having him *undress* and-
Sam frowned. "I. don't really remember much other than getting into the water," she admitted reluctantly.
He grinned again. "That's because you fell asleep."
"Oh." She shot him a careful look from beneath her lashes. "So how did I."
"Get dressed?"
She nodded mutely, the colour nowhere near fading in her cheeks.
"I didn't look. Promise," he swore seriously, studying her. "You fell asleep so I washed you and grabbed a towel and rolled you in it and."
She raised her eyebrows, curious.
He grinned somewhat embarrassedly. "I used to have to dress Charlie at the beach sometimes, and he was always shy," he explained hesitantly. "So I used the beach technique on you. With the help of a Jaffa priestess. No one saw anything, I swear!" he reiterated.
Feeling somewhat reassured, Sam sat up and looked around, careful to keep the sheets pulled up around herself. "So. how long have I been out?"
"I'm not sure. Since I've been aware of things it'd be about three or four days."
She nodded absently, looking around. "It's funny, you know, but I felt worse yesterday than I've ever felt in my life, and now I feel fine."
He grunted in response, getting out of the bed and wandering across to the doorway, his gown trailing along the floor behind him.
"Sir, what's going on?"
O'Neill turned to face her slowly, she could see confusion in his eyes.
"Everything is fuzzy, Sir. I can't make sense of anything at the moment."
A brief grin fluttered across his face at the confession. Sighing, the laughter fell from his face and he grew serious again. "I'm not sure, Carter. All I know is that this Goa'uld wants us to find another Goa'uld for her, and then she'll apparently let us go."
"She will?"
He snorted with ill-concealed bitterness. "Supposedly."
"How are we supposed to find this Goa'uld when we're on board a ship?"
He flinched. He literally flinched. She watched silently as he rubbed anxiously at his hair before walking back to the bed and sitting down next to her legs. "It's complicated, Sam."
Sam? "So you said, Sir."
"This. Did I mention that this particular Goa'uld is a Nox?"
"A Nox?" Sam repeated slowly.
"Yeah. A Nox. Short, white skin, weird hair. A Nox."
She was silent as she watched him.
"Remember when they healed Nefrayu?" he questioned, his eyes searching her face. "Remember how they lifted their hands up and he became alive again?"
She nodded, realization dawning over her. "She did that to me."
"To us," he agreed simply. "She healed me first, and then she used my 'life force' or something and healed you."
Sam narrowed her eyes. "What's that got to do with us finding the other Goa'uld?"
O'Neill sighed. "She'll let one of us off the ship while she holds the other hostage," he started out, "and because of this healing she did, the two of us share the same life force now. That's how the Jaffa explained it to me anyway."
She looked at him sceptically. "So you're saying.?"
"Apparently if I die, then you die. Or if you die then I die. And the further apart we get for longer periods in time the sicker we'll get until we eventually die."
"And you believe that?" Sam questioned disbelievingly.
He hesitated. "Yes."
"Why?"
"I was awake the second time, Carter. She did something. I felt it. And my chest hurt where you were injured. And I felt sick when you were sick. It all adds up."
"No it doesn't. Why didn't that happen to us when the Nox did it to us years ago?"
"Because she did it deliberately, Carter! She needs us to find Geb, and this is the perfect way to have a hold over us."
"Why? Why us? Why not two other people?"
"I don't know. Luck I guess."
"Luck?"
He stood up abruptly. "Look, all I know is that we have to find this Geb person. And until we do that she won't kill us."
"Why does she think we can find Geb?"
He smiled tightly. "She knows we killed Ra. And she knows who we are. She's not stupid, Carter. Far from it."
Sam sighed, running her hands through her hair. "So now what?"
"We're at the beck and call of a Goa'uld."
~o0o~
He was tired. So tired.
Yawning, Daniel pushed his chair away from the desk and leant back into it, stretching tiredly.
"It's late," a quiet voice commented from the doorway.
"Janet?" he questioned, turning to see the brunette leaning against the doorframe.
"I've told you a million times to get some rest, and you still ignore me," she chided gently.
He sighed, sitting upright and studying her for a second.
"You okay?" she asked carefully.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Are we okay?"
She looked surprised for a minute, before an intrigued smile crossed her lips. "Why wouldn't we be?"
"Because of what I said on the planet. I accused you of giving up, and I had no right to."
Janet placed her hands in her pockets and watched him. "No, you didn't have a right to do that, but it's okay," she said softly.
"It's not okay!" Daniel snapped, getting up and storming to he far side of the lab, frowning heavily.
"Daniel! You were tired - you still are I might add - injured and worried about the two of them. Of course you had a right!" Janet exclaimed.
Daniel sighed as he leant against the wall. "Did General Hammond tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"About the Goa'uld who we think has them."
Janet shook her head slightly.
"Her name is Nut, and she's a Nox."
A Nox. The word brought to mind a faded memory of a short woman activating a Stargate with a mere wave of her hand. "One of those telepathic."
Daniel nodded absently. "Not really telepathic, we don't think, but close. They definitely have some ability in that area."
Janet rubbed at her hair. "That's bad, isn't it?"
Daniel stood up straight. "Yes, it is. It means that if the powers that be decided Sam and Jack were worth attempting a rescue for - assuming they still are alive, we'd have to use brute force and a surprise attack. And that would only happen after we'd found her. Janet, an Ashrak couldn't find this Goa'uld."
"You're giving up now," Janet accused gently, her dark eyes pinning him to the wall.
"Everyone else has?"
"I haven't," Janet said heatedly.
"Janet, even Hammond won't authorise a rescue. The Tok'ra wouldn't because Sam and Jack aren't their people."
"What about General Carter?"
"He can't, he's a Tok'ra. Selmac wouldn't let him."
Janet straightened her back and stared at him. "I'm disappointed in you, Daniel. It's only been a week. There have been much longer time frames where you or other members of SG-1 have been missing, and you've always come back."
Daniel sighed heavily. "A Goa'uld might have them, Janet. There is a greater change that they're dead than anything else."
"So you're just giving up on them?"
"No, I'm not. I just don't see how we can get them back."
"I've got news for you Daniel, that's called giving up."
~o0o~
Anhur stared up at the clear heavens, watching as the stars shone down.
Somewhere in those dark spaces was his key to success.
Somewhere there was Nut.
He frowned. He had scoured the galaxy looking for her small ship, searching for her Jaffa. He'd travelled from world to world, always one or two steps behind the magical goddess, and he'd never caught her. Never even caught sight of her.
Perhaps the way to search for Nut was to let her search for him.
Anhur's eyes glowed.
Let Nut find him. Let Nut come to Anhur, and then Anhur would have his revenge. He would have his revenge before presenting her to his god.
The stars shone down coldly, the silver light pricking into his cold skin. Somewhere there was Nut, and she would buy his return to power.
~o0o~
The bed was hard and uncomfortable beneath Jacob, his mind unwilling to relent to the beckoning call of sleep.
Nut remains hidden, Jacob. None know of her whereabouts.
He turned angrily, trying to blot out Selmac's soothing voice. What would Selmac know anyway? She didn't have any kids.
I do have a child, Jacob. I have Samantha, through you. I care for her just as you do, you know this.
Yes, Jacob did know that. He just wasn't in the mood right now to be reminded of that, because right now the Tok'ra were preventing him from finding his daughter.
The High Council is not preventing you from finding Samantha, Jacob. They are preventing you from committing suicide. Nut capabilities ruin any chance of using deception as a means of defeat.
Jacob knew that already. Hadn't that been what the High Council had been ramming through his skull for the last twelve hours? Right now, he just didn't care.
I will help you, Jacob, when the time comes. But the time is not now, because we do not know where Nut is.
Jacob sat upright, annoyed with Selmac.
Do not be angered, my friend, I speak only the truth.
Jacob knew that. That's what made him so mad. "There have to be places where Nut goes regularly?" he spoke out loud, angrily.
In his mind he felt Selmac sigh, but it was a sigh of defeat. Both host and symbiote would not rest until Samantha was found, but both knew also that there was nothing either one could do until more information was brought forth.
With sorrowful hearts they climbed back into bed and let the oblivion of sleep ease their troubles for a short while.
~o0o~ I hope that you've been enjoying this, and I wanted to say thank you to everyone who had sent me feedback, reviews etc. It really does encourage a person!
sharim