Emma's heart was racing as she approached Osiris's throne room. Only the strong hands gripping her biceps kept her upright. Emma Collier was a brave woman in many things. She was Daniel's protector and knight-errant, and compared to the shy, bookish young man, she was almost extroverted. Her temper was slow to kindle, but formidable and frightening in its intensity. It had gotten her into serious trouble on more than one occasion.
Without the bracing strength of her fury though, Emma preferred to avoid confrontation and she rarely fought on her own behalf. When involved in a personal disagreement with someone, she usually preferred to excuse herself and wash her hands of the whole mess. She loved arguing with her friends, and would often provoke them into long, drawn out debates.
Serious arguments were completely different. She avoided those whenever she could, not wanting to risk waking her 'Jeckyl and Hyde'-like temper. Only her concern for her team-mates could have brought her to this point. She could feel herself shaking miserably and she reached for her anger, something to see her through the next… next god only knew what.
"My lord." The First Prime stepped forward, dragging Emma behind. "This Tau'ri says that you know her, and that she has information on the location of Daniel Jackson."
Osiris dropped Joe Moresby in a heap. "Doc." Joe croaked. "What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm trying to protect you, Joe. It's all I can do."
Moresby was hurt, but not as badly as Sanchez. Osiris was just getting started. He'd been thrown around a couple of times, and punched a few times, but that was all so far.
Osiris, tired of being ignored, grabbed the woman by the chin and forced her head up. He spoke through Sarah's throat in the hollow tones of his kind. "I do not know you."
Emma found her anger boiling up. "Hey… Sarah." She sneered. "Can't say I'm loving the new you." Osiris frowned, and Sarah's free hand crept up and grabbed Emma's short hair, yanking her head back. Emma's face twitched but she made no sound as Sarah's eyes looked deep into hers.
"Golden eyes. Unusual in the Tau'ri."
"More common in the Unas, I hear." Emma's tone was now conversational, as she tried to ignore the bruises that the Goa'uld's fingertips were surely leaving in her jaw. "Who knows where my family got them from… If you ask my uncle Horace…"
Osiris cut her off, squeezing her jaw with almost enough pressure to break skin. Emma closed her eyes, but still managed not to vocalise the pain. Finally, Osiris cocked his head and smiled. "Emma Collier. My host seems to believe that you have much to answer for. I think we shall both enjoy questioning you." Osiris looked over at the Jaffa. "Take that one away." It imperiously dismissed Moresby.
"No!" The powerful man struggled, breaking free of one Jaffa. "Don't you hurt her." He looked from Osiris to his intended victim. "Emma!"
Emma kept her eyes focused on the Goa'uld, ignoring Moresby. Still protesting, he was dragged away. Osiris watched him go, smiling Sarah's narrow smile and then his eyes returned to Emma. The scientist was released and staggered back a few steps, rubbing her jaw. Alone in the room with Osiris, she paced slowly, keeping out of reach.
"You told my Jaffa that you know the location of Daniel Jackson." Osiris started, looking at Emma with a sly little smile.
"I do." Emma replied shortly, not giving anything up easily.
"Tell me… where is Daniel Jackson?"
Osiris padded softly toward Emma, backing the smaller woman into a corner. Emma ducked her head, eyes darting from Osiris to the cell walls, to the door and back to Osiris. She shoved her hands in her pockets, thought better of that and wrapped them around her chest instead. "No."
"Insolence." Osiris hissed, but with no real anger. Something like a gleeful hunger lit up the creature's eyes. "Where is Daniel Jackson?"
Emma met the Goa'uld's gaze for a moment before her own slipped down, looking somewhere around Osiris's shoulder. She hesitated briefly. "I'm… uh. I'm not going to tell you that." She tightened her lips until they disappeared into a thin line and waited for the blow, head tucked into her hunched shoulders.
It came not as a blow, but as a fist clenched around her collar, and Emma was hurled bodily across the room, coming to a stop as her back hit the far wall, knocking the breath from her. She curled up and attempted to breathe, hands crossed over her chest like the Egyptian deity Osiris claimed to be.
"What do you want?" She gasped harshly. "This is a little extreme just to find Daniel."
Osiris strode sinuously toward her like a great hunting beast. He reached down and pulled Emma upright by one arm, putting his hands around Emma's throat and pinning her on her tip-toes against the wall. His face was almost pressed against the woman's. "Emma Collier… if you could only hear the things my host is telling me about you."
Emma twitched uncomfortably, Osiris's knuckle digging into her windpipe. "Sarah." She tried. It came out as a hoarse gasp. She paused and tried again. "Sarah. I thought we were past the talking about people behind their backs phase. You got something to say, say it to my face. Don't whine to your pet snake, you damn coward." Emma's expression turned dark at that, frowning up at the ceiling, unable to see the Goa'uld attempting to press her head right through the wall.
The word 'coward' hit home, and Osiris once again hurled Emma across the room, leaving her to roll and tumble bonelessly across the floor until she met the wall with her hip. Despite her intentions to remain quiet, the impact wrung a sharp cry from her lips and she punched the floor with a fist.
She looked up and tried to see where the Goa'uld had gone. Emma's head was spinning, and she had to close her eyes briefly to subdue the nausea. Her golden eyes opened wide as a pair of sharp-toed shoes found her ribs. Osiris had his hands on the wall, supporting him as he rained kicks down upon the helpless civilian trying futilely to curl up into a ball.
"I am in control here!" Osiris roared in his two-tone voice. "You will speak to me with respect… the respect due your lord and your god!"
Emma wheezed, one arm wrapped around her waist, the other dragging her into the corner of the room. She coughed and wiped blood from her chin. "Sarah… you were a snivelling little bitch when you were human. I thought that was as bad as it could get." She coughed again and spat blood at the outraged Goa'uld. "I was wrong." She defied the storms raging in the creature's eyes. "You're even worse with a slug up your butt." She laughed and made a little dismissive wave of her hand.
Curled up to protect her wounded stomach, Emma was unprepared when a sharp-toed shoe struck the side of her head. She was thrown against the other wall and was unconscious before Osiris could lower his foot. The Goa'uld hauled her upright, intending to continue the beating but stopped with a visible effort.
"No… Emma Collier. I need your pretty face intact." He chuckled as he walked gracefully away, and then looked over his shoulder. "For now." Emma lay crumpled in a heap on the floor, oblivious.
- - - - -
Nobody slept well in the SGC. Jack found himself in Daniel's office. It had been six months since Daniel had… ascended… elevated… done whatever he had done. So far, nobody had the heart to start taking things apart. They'd done that too many times before… packed everything up just to have him reappear. Jack picked up a rock… artifact, and looked at it, running his fingers over it like a blind man.
He smiled to himself. Perhaps they ought to pack up everything. That seemed to be the trigger that brought Daniel back every other time. When all hope was gone, when everyone had finally accepted the fact that Daniel was not coming back, they would pack up his belongings and twenty-four hours later, he was back. Yeah… maybe they ought to…
Jack put the artifact down and pressed a palm to his temple. Maybe it would bring Danny-boy home… or maybe it would prove that this time he wasn't coming home, that the hopeful period was over. Maybe it would signal that everyone was just getting on with their lives, and he just wasn't sure he was ready for them to do that yet. He sighed loudly, gave a frustrated growl and looked up until the black mood receded.
When he was back in control, he picked up another rock… artifact… no… He squinted at it. Not rock, limestone. One of Emma's little souvenirs. He'd broken it in half when they had their screaming match in this very office only three months earlier.
He dropped to the couch. The geomorphologist had found herself a new team with SG6. The team was army, not air force, but Jack liked them nonetheless. Emma had picked up a big protector in the form of one Major Patrick Sanchez… not that Emma particularly needed it. As he'd gotten to know the woman better, he realised that she was pretty self-reliant. Sure, she shared Daniel's tendency to touch before thinking, talk before thinking, act before thinking. God, the pair of them were human super-computers, yet their brains were inevitably the last things engaged in perilous circumstances. She also shared Daniel's penchant for all-nighters, excessive coffee and candy, and a crash and burn work ethic.
Sanchez and O'Neill had become better friends, griping about their respective civilians. Jack enjoyed the chance to tell Daniel stories, while Patrick updated the Colonel on Emma's latest escapades. He shook his head. On their third mission out, the team had been pinned down by about twenty Jaffa. With only a quick 'Cover me', Emma had darted out of their shelter and snagged a staff weapon from a fallen Jaffa and scrambled back to her team. As Patrick gave her twenty shades of hell for scaring them half to death, she put her finger to her lips and looked away. He'd just about gone apoplectic at that, but watched as she cocked her head and muttered to herself, eyes on the rock wall over the Jaffa.
Another quick 'Cover me', and she had stood, firing off three quick shots at the wall with the staff weapon as the Jaffa rained thunder down around the team. Emma had dropped back to the ground breathing heavily as the rock wall collapsed and buried all but three of the enemy Jaffa. When they had recovered from their shock, Dimitri, Joe and Patrick had finished off the stragglers and turned back to their civilian…
A civilian that lay unconscious on the ground, staff wounds searing her arm and side. She'd given Patrick a few grey hairs on that one, the CO ruefully muttered. It turned out that the wounds were as non-serious as they could get without being trivial, and Emma had driven them all crazy within two days, demanding books, work, coffee… or just free her, dammit! Frasier had looked annoyed, Patrick told Jack, and then got this sad expression on her face for a moment. Then, she smiled fondly, smoothing back Emma's hair and giving the confused scientist a fond look.
Jack put his hands to his head as he slumped down, lying on the couch. He turned his thoughts to the planet, P8T-119. What had they missed? He replayed the mission in his head, but fell asleep just after they walked out of the Stargate.
- - - - -
Dimitri's head shot up as the sound of boots reverberated through the halls. Patrick struggled up on his elbows grimacing and squinting. "Emma?" He grated… but there was only Jaffa. "Where's Emma?" He rasped at the guards. They made no response as they dropped the force shield and grabbed Dimitri. Patrick struggled upright and tried to grab a guard, but was thrown back against the cell wall for his trouble. Moresby backed off when the powered up end of a staff weapon warmed the skin of his cheek.
"Sergeant, be strong!" Patrick said, breaking off as he started to cough. The young scientist looked over his shoulder and smiled. He was young, and relatively inexperienced, but he was tough. You had to be to get into the SGC. Patrick felt a lump rise in his throat but he nodded briefly, showing the young man that he believed in him.
Dimitri held his head up and walked with the Jaffa, even shaking them off and pacing evenly to his destination. The only sign of his nervousness was a slight trickle of sweat, and his frequent swallows. The Jaffa walked him into a large empty room, not much more than a cell and pushed him forward, turning around and walking out. Dimitri looked up at the ceiling and around, his eyes coming to rest on a bundle in the corner.
Not a bundle… a person. Dimitri's heart crawled up and lodged in his throat. He took two long steps and slid on his knees. "Em?" She was out, gone. He pulled her into his lap, cradling her against his chest. Nothing visible on her face, small bruises were lifting up along her jaw line, blood drying at the corner of her mouth. Dimitri dropped his hands down. "Sorry, Em… but I need to check." He tugged her t-shirt out of her pants and pulled it up, exposing her ribs and belly.
He sucked in a breath at the red and blue patches blossoming across her skin. He dropped his head to her side, listening to her breath hitch and catch in her chest. "Dammit, Em… how did this help?"
"It did not." A Goa'uld voice spoke behind him. Dimitri's head spun around, and he held Emma tightly. Osiris stood, hands on hips, smiling at the young man.
Dimitri's face hardened. "What the hell is this? God! What do you think this is going to get you?"
Osiris sashayed over to him. For a male symbiote, it had adapted well to a female body. "I want answers. You will give them to me."
Dimitri swallowed heavily, gently propping Emma up against the wall and turning back to the creature. "What… what do you want to know?" He asked.
"Where is Daniel Jackson?"
Dimitri frowned. "He's dead. He-" He did not get a chance to finish as Osiris backhanded him across the face, sending his crashing into an oblivious Emma Collier. Sputtering, he felt a hard hand grab his collar and he was suddenly airborne. The breath rushed out of his body as his back hit the wall. He scrambled up, prepared to defend himself, surprise crossing his face as he found Osiris still standing across the room.
"Enough of your lies. Tell me where he is."
"God!" Dimitri burst out again. "What do you want to hear? Doctor Jackson is dead! Gone! He died…"
"Lies!" Osiris burst out reaching down and grabbing Emma by the hair. He dragged the scientist out to the middle of the floor and dumped her on the ground. "Lies!" The tip of his shoe found Emma's ribs again, starting the scientist awake with a muffled scream.
Emma tried to curl up futilely into a ball and Dimitri's hands came up to his head. He gripped his hair tightly, making it stick up in short, black spikes. "Stop it!" He cried. "Just stop. Okay… fine, he's alive. He's… with SG1… somewhere. I don't know where, God, I don't know."
Osiris's shoe nudged Emma's ribs again, flipping her over on to her back. The woman coughed bloody droplets onto Osiris's crisp white skirt. The Goa'uld's face twisted in disgust. "You will give me the codes for your gate. The codes which identify your team to the military."
"No." Emma rasped, shaking her head. "I won't tell you." The woman was unaware of Dimitri's presence, still thinking that Osiris was questioning her instead. Dimitri squared his shoulders. He would remain silent as well.
Osiris put his foot on Emma's bruised stomach and pressed down. Emma made a small whining noise and her hands grasped Osiris's ankle. Dimitri clenched his fists, digging his nails into his palms, but he refused to cry out.
"Tell me." Osiris spoke with a low and menacing tone.
Emma gave a bloody barking laugh and then reared up, grabbing Osiris's leg. Before the startled Goa'uld could react, Emma wrapped her arms around his calf and sunk her teeth into the soft skin behind his knee. Osiris screamed, infuriated. Seeing his chance, Dimitri ran forward, thinking to tackle the fiend to the ground.
As Jaffa burst into the room, summoned by the sound of their lord's yell, Dimitri found himself hurled against the wall again, this time by the Goa'uld hand-device. Osiris snarled at Emma then, unleashing the concussive power of the hand-device on her next, slamming her onto the floor hard enough to make Dimitri wince. The Jaffa took him by the arms, and held him as Osiris crouched over Emma and held his hand up. This time, it was not the explosive power of the hand device striking the prone scientist, it was the pure yellow beam of the ribbon device.
Almost instinctively, Emma's hands came up and grabbed Osiris's wrist, her mouth opened either to scream or draw in a heaving breath, but nothing happened. Osiris smiled evilly and pressed the beam closer, almost touching Emma's skin.
Dimitri writhed like a mad thing, trying to get loose and help Emma. He swore helplessly at the Goa'uld killing his team-mate before his eyes.
The monster ignored him, ribbon device touching Emma's forehead. The woman's body was shivering and convulsing. One hand loosened, and then dropped to the floor then the other went slack. Dimitri screamed, kicking a Jaffa in the leg as Patrick had done. His attack earned him only a stinging blow to the head, slumping him in their strong arms. Shaking his head and silent, he watched Emma release Osiris. Even her involuntary movement finally stopped, and Emma lay still. Osiris laughed and stood, blood staining his leg. It spoke in Goa'uld to the Jaffa, who roughly dropped Dimitri.
The young Sergeant scrambled forward and was by Emma's side in a flash. He felt at her throat for a pulse, then dropped his head to her chest, listening for anything. She was perfectly still. Her golden eyes stared up at the ceiling, empty of their familiar sparkle, and blood spilled a small trail down her cheek from her nose. Dimitri got up on his knees to start compressions, only to have the Jaffa grab him again and drag him away.
"No!" He yelled to Osiris, angry now. He tried again to shake off the Jaffa, with as much success as the first time. They pulled him away, leaving Osiris smiling over the body of his team-mate and friend.
- - - - -
Sam Carter paced around her office. The MALP tapes from the exploratory mission of P8T-119 ran in the background on one screen, the latest UAV on another. She still could not figure out what they had missed. Their only hope was to get back to the planet now, find something out.
It was the middle of the night, she should be getting some sleep, but instead, she was wearing a groove in the tile floor. She walked with her hands in her pockets, head down, mind a million miles away. Specifically, her mind was on P8T-119.
She played over possible scenarios in her head. One… someone was waiting for them on the other side. SG1's initial survey showed no hostiles… indeed, no life at all. Oh, there were the requisite trees and grasses, but the Stargate was on top of a mountain, more or less. It was not above the treeline, but more on the fringes. The gate stood in an alpine meadow, low brush and plants underfoot. About two hundred feet from the gate, a sparse forest sprung up.
Sam moved over to the UAV footage and rewound it to the beginning. Low brush and trees. Someone crouching or lying down could hide in it and ambush an unwary team. She felt a pang at that. SG6 should not have been taken by surprise. It was starting to feel like a personal failure to the conscientious Major.
Lord knows how many times they had walked into an ambush on their jumps through the gate. MALP showed nothing, and then they walk into a nest of Jaffa, or angry locals, or monsters or god alone knew what. It happened, they all knew the risks. She couldn't shake a sense of personal responsibility for this one though. It was their job to make sure it was safe for the next SG team to go through.
She scratched the back of her head and sighed. SG1 was a first contact team. They made the initial searches, the contacts, the sweeps and surveys. P8T-119 was one of their least challenging missions. Trees, mountains and rocks. The Colonel had been bored out of his skull fifteen minutes after their arrival.
Fifteen minutes… long enough for something to make SG6 completely disappear from the exact same spot. Her mind returned to possible scenarios. Scenario two would be someone gating in on top of SG6, right after their mission started. If that were the case, they should not have been taken by surprise. They would have been ready for incoming hostiles. There should be some sign of a struggle or a chase. Sam may feel responsible for them, but they were far from helpless. Sanchez and Moresby were both experienced soldiers and war veterans. They'd both had to deal with close combat before. Sam had spoken at great length with Moresby and Vale. Vale was definitely the least combat ready of the three soldiers, but even he was competent and not prone to panic. Everyone had vouched for him.
For crying out loud, this wasn't SG6's first combat mission either. They had been ambushed on two other occasions. They'd also gone on rescue missions, even taking along their civilian. Emma, according to Joe, preferred zats, but he had seen her handle P90s, handguns and staff weapons with equal ease. She did not share Daniel's disdain for the military arts and its associated weaponry. She didn't like them, but she appreciated their necessity. She and Patrick spent hours on the firing range, practicing until she could handle any of the SGC's routine weaponry.
Sam shook her head. Option three… something unseen had gotten them. Some invisible enemy that had completely eluded SG1 when they had visited earlier. Most of their invisible options were… not nice. Invisible assassins, cloaked Goa'uld… maybe the Asgard had beamed SG6 away. Well… assassins were probably out. They would have killed SG6, not made them vanish. They would have had no need for subtlety.
Goa'uld? Possibly. SG1 had seen no signs of Goa'uld activity, ancient or recent. No artifacts, no signs of any human or Goa'uld civilisation. It would be a huge coincidence for the Goa'uld to arrive on this new world at the exact same time as an SG team. They could probably rule out Goa'uld. Perhaps that was wishful thinking, but Sam would be much happier with that option off the list.
Asgard? Well, they had a 'don't call us, we'll call you' kind of relationship with the little grey aliens, especially now that Thor was in a coma. Possibly though. If anyone could simply pluck a team up from the middle of their tasks without so much as disturbing a blade of grass, it would probably be the Asgard.
Sam picked up her tools, intending to get some work done… more options scratched at the back of her mind. Something like the Nox? They had the ability to travel unseen. Maybe they had some black sheep cousins somewhere with a grudge against SG teams.
Here was the guilt again. Sam wondered for the hundredth time if they possibly said or did something that would have annoyed a local populace enough to take their revenge on the next SG team to wander through the gate. What could they have done? What did they miss? The questions chased themselves around in her head as she worked.
- - - - -
Dimitri stumbled to his knees, Joe and Patrick steadying him the moment they could. Patrick was sitting upright, skin grey under his natural copper. Joe's face was starting to swell, one eye almost completely shut. They held the young man still as he struggled vainly, shocky and not quite with them.
"Dimitri!" Joe whispered. "Calm down. You're with us now."
Blue eyes opened wide and Dimitri looked from one man to the other before nodding his head.
"You okay, Sergeant?" Patrick grated, eyes raking over the man, checking for blood or any injuries.
"Fine, sir." He replied shortly, curling his knees up to his chest. "It… he only hit me a couple of times.
"Emma?" Joe asked softly, hand on Dimitri's arm. The young man's head dropped and his words were lost, muffled by his forearms. Joe tugged at his arms, exposing his head. "Dimitri… did you see Emma?"
Dimitri looked up, blue eyes swimming in unshed tears. "He killed her, sir. Right in front of me." Patrick's face grew grim, thunderous. Dimitri flinched away, misinterpreting the cause of Patrick's anger. "Sir, I'm sorry. I tried to stop them. They wanted the GDO codes. I couldn't tell them…" He stopped as Patrick's strong hand gripped the back of his neck lightly.
"Don't blame yourself. The only one to blame is Osiris." Patrick's voice was harsh. "And we will kill that miserable son of a bitch in Emma's name." Patrick punched the floor. "Bastard!"
Joe's face was equally grim, and he looked to his team-mates. "I think we can safely say that Osiris just did the one thing that would guarantee that none of us will ever say a word." All three looked up, grim resolution in their eyes. "If Osiris thought this would break us…"
Dimitri nodded, tears gone. "He's got another thing coming."
Patrick nodded, proud of his team. "Oh… believe me. He'll get what's coming to him."
- - - - -
Teal'c sat cross-legged on the floor, eyes closed. He was trying for a state of Kel-no-reem, but kept being interrupted by worried thoughts for SG6.
Daniel Jackson had asked him to look after Emma Collier, the anthropologist's oldest friend. Teal'c had taken that request to heart. It was not often in their long acquaintance that Daniel had ever asked the Jaffa for anything, and rarely anything so personal.
Even had he not asked, Teal'c would still have looked after the young professor. He had liked her from the first moment they had met, as she fished her sunhat out of a tree. She reminded him, almost painfully, of his first years with Daniel Jackson. As he got to know her, he discovered that there were hidden depths to her. Like her friend, she bore great scars on her heart, but hid them under a sunny disposition and a brilliant smile.
When not on duty, he had taken to haunting her lab, following her around as she played with beakers and sieves. SG6 had started to joke about her bewitching him, because who would willingly spend eight hours weighing sieve pans if they had a choice? He usually responded with some serious remark about it being an honour to serve and learn while Emma made horrible faces at her CO, sticking her tongue out and waggling her fingers next to her ears. It never failed to amuse Major Sanchez and Emma, although Teal'c rarely did more than lift an eyebrow at their childish antics.
His attempt at Kel-no-reem was again broken as a slight smile quirked the corner of his mouth, remembering Emma squealing as Dimitri sprayed her with a distilled water bottle. He knew Emma had gotten her revenge, although she refused to say how, and Dimitri had been polite and quiet for a full week.
Most SG teams retained a professional detachment in their daily duties. SG6 was the only team he knew with such obvious affection for one another. Of course, they were all business during briefings and in front of the General, but left to their own devices, they quickly degraded into cat-calls and pranks. Teal'c attributed this to the effect of Emma Collier on the group. The other three were serious soldiers, and well disciplined, but Emma loved her 'civilian' tag and frequently used it to cause trouble.
They had been a team for only four months, but had spent almost every day of those months together. They were frequently in the field, logging more hours offworld than any other team in that time period. Of course, this included their month long stint on P2R-183 and the loads of gold they brought back with them. Most of their missions lasted only four or five days with a day between to get cleaned up and repacked for the next mission. When not in the field, they were ensconced in their respective labs, running tests on the materials they had brought back with them, and on the samples given to them by the other teams.
It was during these times that Teal'c and Emma talked. Most of the time, she talked, and he listened silently, but he enjoyed it nonetheless. He once asked her about her childhood and the death of her parents, only to have her shrug without apparent concern.
"I have no memory of them." She said simply.
"You were ten years old, were you not, Emma Collier?" He had asked. Daniel Jackson's parents had died when the man was eight years old and he certainly had painful memories of it.
Emma had looked up at him for a moment, and then understood what he was asking. "Ah. Well… you see… my first memory is waking up in the hospital. My parents' car had been hit by a drunk driver. They died in the car. I was in the back seat." She picked up a small bottle labelled 'HCl, 10%' and a small beige stone. She dripped a couple of drops from the bottle and watched bubbles form on the surface of the rock. As she talked, she kept dropping acid on the rock, watching the reaction absently. "From what I was told, I probably watched my parents die. The firefighters found me almost unharmed, awake and covered in their blood. My only injuries were some abdominal bruising from the seat belt and a small cut on my head."
She picked the rock up and washed it under the tap, capping the acid bottle and wiping her hands on her apron. Unlike most of her colleagues, Emma did not wear a lab coat. She wore a long blue and white butcher's apron in the lab. She claimed that it protected better, it wasn't as hot and it had better pockets. Nobody argued much with her about it.
Finished delaying, she looked up at Teal'c. "The doctors diagnosed me with remote psychogenic retrograde amnesia." She rattled off the words and then shrugged. "Basically, my mind decided that what I witnessed was so horrible that it shut down all my memories. I didn't know anything about myself. Not my name, not my address. I didn't recognise my aunt and uncle, my house… nothing. I woke up in the hospital a blank slate."
Teal'c nodded. "I have seen this in battle. Some warriors exhibit these symptoms following bloody campaigns. Sometimes, with the help of their families, they can regain their memories."
"Yeah, well… my parents were dead. My aunt gave me a couple of days, but decided she couldn't deal with a 'brain damaged' child, and put me up for adoption. A week after that, I was in a foster home."
"This is where you met Daniel Jackson."
Emma smiled. "My first friend… as far as I know. At that point, all I owned was some clothing and a little ring that my mother had given me. I had a few other little trinkets and photos. My aunt explained what they were to me before she gave me away. I guess she hoped it would help, but nothing did. Eventually I got used to it and built my life up again."
He had shaken his head, surprised that a family member could give up a child in need. Emma had explained that perhaps they thought it was for the best. They could not afford the special doctors that could possibly help get her memories back, so she was just a painful stranger to have around. She did not blame them.
Teal'c smiled. How like Daniel Jackson she was. He could not blame his grandfather for giving him up either. He had accepted this hurt, taken it into his heart and moved on.
He allowed himself to concentrate on his memories of Emma, lulling himself deeper and deeper into a trance state until he finally reached Kel-no-reem.
- - - - -
Emma awoke with a heaving breath. It felt like it was the first one she had taken in days. She was on the floor on her side. She rolled over, wincing in expectation of pain. Pain that did not come. She frowned, touching her face, her neck and then her stomach. Nothing.
She craned her neck, looking at the walls. She was alone, but still obviously in a Goa'uld cell. So, whatever had gone on in the last however many hours was not a dream. Fine. She crawled upright until she was sitting up. Blood, both hers and Patrick's, stained her clothing. Right. So that wasn't a dream either.
She closed her eyes and shook her head. She most likely then had just had her first encounter with a sarcophagus. She wondered how bad it had gotten. She closed her eyes. She remembered Osiris yelling at her… oh God… she actually bit the Goa'uld. Talk about low-tech warfare. Then… someone yelling? Dimitri? Her brow wrinkled, but she could not be sure. Then pain in her head. A searing, rending pain that threatened to pull her apart… then nothing.
She looked around. Like her earlier cell, she found a sink and toilet. Good to know. She scrubbed her face and put a wet hand to the back of her neck. A headache had sprung up. She let the water run through her short hair and then stood up, rolling her head on her stiff neck and looking around. A zapped fingertip later, she had found the force field barrier.
Sucking on the offended digit, she found the corner of the cell and sat down, curling her knees up to her chest. This did not bode well. She only hoped the boys were alright.
- - - - -
TBC