Chapter Nine: Tempus Fugit

Author's Note:

Procrastination can be a deadly thing, eh? Sorry, I know it's been a long wait for this chapter. Real life's been a bit of a distraction recently. Anyway, please read on. Hope you like.

-S

***

'We were wrong to take Sam away from her world. Since she's come here, life has been difficult. Runihura's loyalty to his god has been wavering. His lust for the blue-eyed woman has gone too far and contrary to my actions, I don't want to see her hurt. Runihura is not the man he used to be. Maybe, just maybe by helping in this small way, by helping her friend's escape, perhaps things will go back to normal. Perhaps I will be able to live with myself again.'

***

Ouch!

Daniel regretted kicking the small stone almost immediately.

It was a hopeless situation. Sam and Jack were captured, perhaps even dead. He was stuck with Teal'c and a Tok'ra spy in the gardens of Abayomous. They were hanging around the Stargate with no DHD and no plan. In about thirty seconds, the entire planet would be awake because of a nasty bomb that they were responsible for in the first place. Not to mention that fairly soon someone would probably be coming to shoot at them…

"Daniel Jackson."

But Daniel had forgotten the one thing that got SG-1 out of most impossible situations.

They were damn lucky.

Daniel heard Teal'c say his name. The Jaffa's voice sounded a bit more frantic than usual. It didn't take the archaeologist too long to clue in on what had his friend so agitated. A small, stone podium was rising from the ground with a dramatic flourish. It was the missing DHD! Right where Lateef had said it should have been.

"The rock that I kicked… it must have been some sort of key, hiding the DHD," Daniel explained to his two companions, trying to rationalize their blind luck. It was a bad excuse, but it was all that Doctor Jackson could come up with on such short notice.

The three men quickly regained their senses and stopped gaping at the DHD. "Never look a gift horse in the mouth," Daniel told the others. And then the doctor set to work, dialing the familiar coordinates for Earth before Teal'c could ask about the point of looking in horses' mouths for gifts and Lateef could look at him strangely…

Okay, so maybe using clichés around aliens was a stupid idea. Daniel reigned his thoughts in, concentrating on DHD and on pushing the correct chevrons…

The ground shook slightly and Daniel almost lost his balance. The familiar sound of a bomb going off came to his ears. It was sickening how familiar it was. Even though he'd been expecting it, counting down the seconds, his body still snapped up from its hunched position over the DHD. The peaceful night was gone and in it's wake was chaos. Daniel couldn't help himself; he turned towards the massive building and was shocked at the change. The doctor swore that he could smell smoke, even though the fire was only a faint orange glow from this distance. Sam and Jack, his two best friends, were in there.

Were those screams he was hearing?

Daniel tore his eyes away from the destruction when Teal'c called out his name for a second time. Daniel spoke passionately to the Jaffa. "We have to get Sam and Jack. We have to go back…"

"We cannot, Daniel Jackson," he replied rationally, "We would be of no use to them if we were captured as well."

"I agree with the Jaffa," added Lateef. Daniel shot a quick glare at the Tok'ra; Lateef's opinion was definitely not appreciated.

"And what if we come back and they're dead? Or what if they've been taken to another planet? Teal'c, we have to do something now!"

But it seemed that fate had other ideas. Typical.

Teal'c turned his head sharply towards the building and Daniel let his eyes follow Teal'c's. About two dozen Jaffa were piling out of the Goa'uld fortress; they were only a hundred meters or so away. They could go back for Sam and Jack, but on the way they would most likely be killed or captured.

There were times when Daniel really hated it when Teal'c was right. Sufficed to say, this was one of those times. They would have to leave their friends, no, family, behind.

"Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter are cunning warriors, Daniel Jackson. They have come through worse situations. They will escape from Nephthys and we will come back to help them." Teal'c confidence in their friends was comforting. Daniel allowed himself to be swayed by the words. He finished the dialing sequence just as the first few energy bursts from the enemy Jaffa came dangerously close.

Lateef hurled himself into the Stargate without a second thought. Teal'c was laying down cover fire, his face set with grim determination, as he signaled Daniel to go through the gate.

Daniel ran towards the Stargate; the dirt sprayed his back, from badly aimed, deadly shots. He gave the alien planet a half-second look, all he had time to spare.

We'll come back for you, Daniel vowed.

He rolled into the wormhole, escaping the firefight. He had left the smoke, the fire and the twenty some-odd Jaffa trying to kill him. He had left his two best friends.

***

Jack woke inside of a cold, damp cell. His head was pounding and he felt like shit; he probably had a concussion. Well, this is déjà vu, thought Jack. How many times had he or one of his teammates, been captured and locked away? Too many times to count. Sam was a little ways away, collapsed on the floor like she'd been tossed aside like a forgotten doll. Jack crawled over next to her and took her pulse. Thank god, she was still alive, just knocked out. Jack gently brushed one of her bangs away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. His hand lingered. God, she's beautiful. The thought was quickly pushed aside. She was cool to the touch. The Colonel took off his jacket and placed it carefully over his second-in-command.

It was too easy to imagine that the last three months had never happened. To simply not think about it. Her funeral, his drinking, the emptiness…

Jack stared at Sam unabashedly. He didn't feel empty anymore. The shock of losing Sam and then suddenly getting her back… frankly, it scared him. The fact that he was so dependent on her. That he would rather…

***

"I'd have rather died myself than lose Carter." Jack O'Neill admitted honestly to the scantily-clad Tok'ra.

Anise pressed further, "Why?" she asked.

"Because I care about her. A lot more than I'm supposed to." It was a forced confession. Something that should have never had been said out loud.

Anise revealed her findings to the room. "You are not a za'tarc," she told the Colonel.

This was a memory best forgotten… Sam didn't want to remember this. She didn't want to know Colonel O'Neill's feelings. She didn't want to admit her own.

But this was the past. They couldn't take it back. Now she had to play her role in this fiasco.

"Now re-test me," Sam told Anise.

Samantha Carter relived a forgotten lifetime in her dreams, one memory at a time.

***

That he would rather…

Jack shook his head, as if physically reminding himself not to go there. 'Get a gripe, Old Man. So, we had a thing in a couple of alternate realities…'

'It was hardly a thing. You were engaged in one, married in the other!'

'She wasn't airforce in those. She also had weird hair…'

'It was still Samantha Carter.'

'And my Carter doesn't see me that way. I'm only a friend.'

'Bullshit, you know she loves you. You actually thought it was cute 'til you started *caring too much* for her.'

'It doesn't matter anyway. Nothing can happen. Nothing will happen.'

'Sure, Jack. You just keep telling yourself that.'

Jack groaned; internal arguments gave him a headache. Did they have to be so bitter and sarcastic? Okay, perhaps that was a stupid complaint. It wouldn't be him if it wasn't bitter and sarcastic.

'Maybe,' Jack thought, 'I've finally gone nuts and I can retire to the insane asylum?' Nah, that was too much to hope for --not that the current cell they were being held in was a bad second.

He did know one thing, if he was arguing with himself, he'd been thinking too much again… or he was high. Jack smiled at his own joke.

The Colonel fell into a light doze after the lull of Sam's breathing rocked him to sleep, not worrying about their fates and what was inevitably in store for them…

***

To say that Nephthys was furious would be a terrible understatement. He was a god, at least for the Abayomi, and as such, was prone to fits of anger when something displeased him. When he was angry (wrathful, irascible, boiling, fuming, raging, fierce, wild, mad with rage, full of fiery) people tended to die. All you could hope for was not to be within sight.

So it was easy to determine why Runihura's palms were sweating, his hands were shaking slightly, and there were small beads of sweat on his forehead as he walked into the ziggurat. He would very likely be dead if this meeting didn't go right.

"Runihura," the Goa'uld's eyes flashed and the high minister trembled slightly.

"Yes, Nephthys," Runihura replied, bowing to the "god".

"Tell me what has happened and why I should not kill you for it," Nephthys told him harshly.

"A group of Tauri came and rescued the Tok'ra. They planted a bomb, but we have managed to access the damage; it is nothing. We have managed to capture one of them and I have sent the Jaffa guards to apprehend the other two and the Tok'ra."

"I am aware of this." Of course he was. "What of your wife, High Minister?" Nephthys snarled, "She apparently helped the intruders! Why should I not kill you for the actions of your spouse?!"

"I was deceived, Nephthys." Runihura bowed so low that his face almost touched the marble floor, "She used me for her own means. I have locked her up as well… she is yours to do with as you wish."

"And you are willing to sacrifice her life?"

"Yes, Nephthys."

To his surprise, the Goa'uld let out a terrible laugh, "That is what I like about you, Runihura. You truly do not care for anyone but yourself."

Runihura didn't comment on the Goa'uld's assessment. Nephthys continued, "You will bring your wife and the Tauri to me. I will show them what happens when one displeases a god!"

Runihura rose to do his bidding, but Nephthys was not finished speaking. His eyes turned bright yellow and Runihura glanced downwards, avoiding his master's eyes. "Runihura, do not disappoint me a second time." It was a dismissal; Runihura nodded in understanding and left. The threat lingered on in his mind as he headed towards the prison cells to collect Sam Carter and Jack O'Neill.

***

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-S