With thanks to Emry, Mel, Sandy and Kat!

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"Carter? Carter? Where the hell are you?"

She heard his footsteps approach the door and he knocked on it forcefully. That was quick, she thought vaguely. They must have run right after her the moment she left the scene.

"Jack, calm down, for God's sake. Sam? Are you all right?"

She looked up from her study of her knee caps and stared at the door. "I'm okay."

"What the hell happened?"

"I...." Sam sighed. "I threw up."

"What? Are you sick or something?"

It was funny how Colonel O'Neill could sound both concerned and irritated at the same time.

She sniffed pathetically and pulled herself up by way of the sink. "No." Grabbing some toilet paper, she attempted to clean up her face, staring at her revolting appearance in the mirror. "We can't interview Daniel Frakes."

"What? Why not?"

"Because he's a Goa'uld." The urge to throw up snuck back up on her and she leaned heavily on the sink, taking deep breaths, the mascara-stained tissue crumpled in her hand.

"Jesus Christ," she heard Daniel mutter.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Completely." She pushed open the door and stumbled out, going straight through the two of them to the window. She wrenched it open as far as she could and sucked in the cold, cleansing air. "God. It was such a shock."

"I can imagine." Daniel touched the small of her back gently, rubbing in circles. "Do you want anything? A glass of water?"

"That would be nice."

"Jack, get her a glass of water."

The Colonel said something under his breath but a moment later the sound of the faucet being turned on filled the silence of the apartment. He walked over and passed her the glass and she sipped at it slowly, staring down into the dark street.

"What time is it?"

"Nearly half past six." The Colonel's hand brushed the edges of her hair, then moved away. "Do you need to get to work?"

"She can't. If he's a Goa'uld, presumably Mut knows him. If he contacts her, the Goa'uld will tell her that he met someone whom the host recognized. He can trace you, Sam. It may sound like only a slight chance, but the Goa'uld knows everything the host does. And Daniel Frakes knows you. While the Goa'uld can sense that you were once blended with Jolinar. It seems like a huge risk to me, Sam."

Putting the glass down abruptly, Sam started breathing deeply again. "Super."

"He's a new Goa'uld, Carter?"

Her head shot up and she glanced over her shoulder at him. "By that do you mean did I sleep with him when he was already a host, *sir*?"

Colonel O'Neill held her gaze coolly. "Could you have?"

A bitter taste sprung up in the back of her throat. "There's no way in hell. You can't miss a Goa'uld, sir. It's an overwhelming feeling."

"Even..." He paused and she could tell he was trying to be gentle. "Even the way you were feeling?"

She frowned at him. "No, sir. Trust me on this one, okay? He wasn't a Goa'uld when I first met him."

"Do you think he was the last time you saw him?"

Sighing, she went to sit on the sofa, with Daniel trailing protectively after her. "I don't know. I was too far away. How did this happen?"

"It's got to be Mut," Daniel said. "It's the only explanation I can think of."

"How did she do it? Did Maybourne lie to us? Was there another Goa'uld symbiote out there?" Sam asked, looking at them both.

"Or she could be another Goa'uld Queen, like Hathor."

Daniel winced. "I'm not sure, Jack. The young larvae we've come across couldn't hold on to their hosts. Presumably Mut would want to incubate the larvae for as long as possible until they were mature."

The Colonel nodded. "Whatever it is, this is too big now. That's two Goa'uld on the loose. We need backup and we need to get things moving. We can't have them running around like this. Frakes is a celebrity, for God's sake. God knows what contacts he has."

"We need to speak to Maybourne," Sam said slowly, wincing at the idea. She knew he wasn't going to take this suggestion well.

"No, we don't."

She understood his reticence - in fact she even partially agreed with it - but she'd made a deal. "Sir..."

"Look, Carter, I know you have some kind of bizarre loyalty for him..."

"Not really."

"He did knock some sense into her, Jack. Sorry, Sam."

Since she agreed with Daniel too, it was easy to forgive him. "It's okay."

The Colonel ignored the two of them. "I want to get a containment team down here, I want to get some backup and I don't want him fucking it up."

"With respect, Sir, this was a two way deal," she explained, willing him to understand. "He helped me, I helped him."

"Read my lips, Carter: I don't care. Hammond already knows. You're back in. We can screw Maybourne all we like. God knows this is his mess in the first place. And, besides," he said, a little more calmly, "we don't know how to contact him."

"He's bound to turn up sooner or later," Sam said, searching her CO's face for any sign of weakness. She couldn't betray Maybourne and she didn't want to bring in the SGC on this. She'd made a deal with Maybourne, even if he was a traitor.

She grimaced again at that last thought. Maybe the Colonel was right. Perhaps she was being easy on Maybourne. It was just, it seemed hypocritical to condemn Maybourne when she'd, maybe not betrayed her country, but certainly let it down. And Maybourne, no doubt purely because he was using her, had helped her out in a big way. He had knocked some sense into her in a bizarre way, he had shown her what she should be doing, that there was a bigger picture - damn, now she was even thinking in clichés - and that she was needed.

"Look, let's get our reasoning straight for the time being. Jack, sit down," Daniel said, nodding at Colonel O'Neill to take the bed. "There are now two Goa'uld on Earth that we know of - Mut and one other. We don't know who the other Goa'uld is. But it seems a pretty big coincidence that both are in Denver and both can be traced back to Luxor. For all we know, Daniel Frakes was a human right up until the night you last saw him, Sam."

"Which means she snaked him," the Colonel stated grimly.

"Presumably at Luxor. Presumably it has something to do with this VIP room. Maybe that's a cover. Maybe... maybe she's been searching for the perfect host." Daniel's mouth twisted at that bitterly. "Movie star good looks and wealth was obviously the way to go."

The idea that all this had been going on right under her nose was horrifying. "We have to get in there," she said softly. "We have to put a stop to all this."

"That's the attitude."

"If... if he doesn't contact us by tomorrow night, sir, we'll go on without him," Sam said, hoping this would satisfy him. "It'll take us at least until then to work out a suitable plan."

"I'm with Sam on this one," Daniel put in.

"You're always with Sam," Jack muttered, dropping back onto the bed and pushing his hands against his face. "Shit. New plan, campers. Let's start brainstorming."

*

"Go fish."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Fine." He picked up another card to add to the numerous cards in his hands. Talk about colossal bad luck.

"Teal'c, ace?" Sam asked, looking at the Jaffa who had decided to sit on a chair rather than on the infirmary bed with Sam and Daniel.

"Indeed." He handed the card over to Sam who happily made another pair. She was left with just three cards and was winning. Was it sad to be pleased she was winning at Go Fish?

"DanielJackson, I require an eight." He held out his hand expectantly.

"Well, you can have it." He handed it over and looked over at Sam. "Do you have a king?"

"Nope," Sam said, grinning. "Go fish."

Daniel narrowed his eyes at Teal'c and Sam alternately. "Okay, that's not fair. Someone's cheating."

Sam opened her mouth to point out it would be ridiculous to cheat at Go Fish when she heard a noise. Since they'd left the infirmary door open for just that reason, all three of them froze. Well, Sam and Daniel froze and Teal'c remained his usual still self.

The footsteps came closer and paused outside the infirmary. The lights were on very low so that the patients - Daniel and Sam - could continue their beneficial rest. Daniel and Sam had other ideas. It was Christmas Eve and they were stuck inside the SGC 'recovering', as Janet put it. There was no way in hell they were going to lie in bed and count the ceiling tiles any longer.

The footsteps came in. Heavy footsteps. Sam mouthed 'a man' at Daniel and he nodded as they stared at the infirmary curtain that separated both Sam and Daniel's beds.

They grinned at each other. If they got caught, probably the most that would happen is that they'd be shouted at, ordered to their beds and that would be the end of the matter.

It was still fun though.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow at them both and they hurriedly, but unsuccessfully, smothered their grins.

The footsteps came closer, paused just a few feet away. Sam bit her bottom lip, face scrunched up in anticipation. Daniel closed his eyes and lowered his head so his grin wasn't quite so inane.

The curtain suddenly swooshed open and both Daniel and Sam yelped.

Then Daniel fell off the bed.

Colonel O'Neill blinked. Teal'c leaned a little forward. Sam stared down at the ground where her friend was now lying, legs in the air.

"A little help..." he said, weakly, raising a hand.

Sam giggled helplessly.

"Oh, shut up."

She giggled all the more and lay down on her bed, face down, shoulders shaking.

"Glad to see you're all following the doctor's orders," the Colonel muttered sarcastically, coming around to hoist Daniel to standing since Sam didn't appear to be of any help. "Carter, get into bed, at least. Daniel... Teal'c! Teal'c, buddy, you're supposed to be the grown up! How could you lead them astray like this?"

"Jack, we're not children," Daniel protested, limping around the bed. Seeing this, Sam broke out into new giggles. "Sam, stop laughing at me. God, she's worse than having a sister. If I had a sister. Damn."

"Major, I hope this is the painkillers talking," Colonel O'Neill said warningly.

"Me too, sir," she laughed.

*

"I'll need to you to take your shirt off."

She blinked at him, glanced at her CO, who nodded minutely, and then she started undoing her buttons.

Daniel cleared his throat and very obviously went to wash the dishes in the sink. He gave the Colonel a very pointed look, which Sam's CO chose to ignore, and then started clinking plates together under running water.

Making a face, Colonel O'Neill's mysterious electronics expert squatted slightly and stared between Sam's breasts, carefully feeding a black wire down the center of her bra. Feeling faintly hysterical, Sam tried to fix her eyes on the wall between the windows aware that Colonel O'Neill was watching her without qualms. She was really glad of the Colonel's foresight in closing the curtains on her windows to prevent the people in the opposite apartment block getting an eyeful. God knows what the other people in the building thought about her tiny apartment and all the men she... entertained.

It was really a good thing she hadn't got to know any of her neighbors.

"So, Carter, let's run through this again..."

She couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Sir..."

"Again, Major?" His decidedly commanding tone of voice made Sam straighten slightly. "Humor me, Carter, I'm an old man."

Since the look he was now aiming at her was distinctly and deliberately lascivious, Sam smiled at him. "I go to work. Wired... hey!"

"Jerry," the Colonel said warningly.

Jerry held his hands up in the air. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, the wire slipped - could you be wearing a more lacy bra?" He demanded, looking up at Sam.

Sam threw her own hands up into the air. "I'm sorry my underwear doesn't meet to your specifications. I would have dressed appropriately if I'd only known," she said with heavy sarcasm.

Jerry began to blush and he rubbed at his ear nervously. "Sorry, sorry. It's just... I'm not used to... fiddling with women's breasts like this."

Over by the sink, Daniel coughed loudly. "Sorry," he explained weakly, patting his chest. "Soap bubble went down my throat."

Gritting her teeth, Sam tried not to notice the way the guy had his fingers where they had no right to be. She bit her bottom lip and took a deep breath.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't do that! Jesus, you could crush it. This is a very fine piece of technology, Major."

Sam nearly growled at him.

"Turn around please," Jerry continued, his bushy eyebrows drawing to the center of his forehead as he concentrated.

Sam turned and winced as the battery pack was stuck to the small of her back, where her shirt would be lose enough to conceal it.

"Put the shirt on."

She shrugged her arms into the shirt and deftly did up the buttons, turning around for an inspection. Both Colonel O'Neill and his friend walked around Sam, tugging and pulling at the shirt, running their hands over her. She decided the Colonel was doing it to be irritating but Jerry was only doing his job. As such, she glared at the Colonel when he was satisfied and returned to the bed to sit.

"Perfect. Now, don't spill anything down your front, for God's sake. Don't shout into it or we'll get massive feedback. Don't cover it with anything." He reached forward and flicked another top button undone. "Leave that button undone so we'll get better sound."

She looked down. "Is that necessary?"

"Unless you have a better push-up bra, yes."

She narrowed her eyes and refrained, just, from punching him.

"Carter? The plan?" the Colonel prompted, ignoring their bickering.

Then someone knocked on the door.

Slapping his hands to his face, the Colonel groaned. "Fifty bucks says that's Maybourne."

Jerry stood up abruptly. "Maybourne? Harry Maybourne?" he hissed. Glancing around like a startled rabbit, he pointed to the bathroom. "I'll be in there. Knock on the door when he's gone."

"Sure. Daniel, get the door, would ya?"