The Games Reloaded

by Sam I Am the gate fan

SG-1 step through the gate, but Jack steps back onto the metal ramp alone, not knowing what happened between him leaving Earth and arriving back again, but is everything, as it seems!

3. The Games Reloaded Part Three

The Games, Reloaded

By Sam I Am –

Rating: PG-13 (can't honestly be any more than that)

Warnings: Sam/Jack (that's a warning for anyone who don't like that!)

Category: Sam/Jack Romance, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, probably AU fic as it couldn't happen in the series, friendship and a little bit of SG-1 Humour thrown in for good measure. (If there's anything I missed out someone tell me!)

Spoilers: 'The Gamekeeper' and any other of the usuals(you know what they are!)

Time frame: Sometime during Season 4, after 'Divide and Conquer' (I think!)

Summary: SG-1 step through the gate, but Jack steps back onto the metal ramp alone, not knowing what happened between him leaving Earth and arriving back again, but is everything, as it seems!

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime / Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. No copyright infringement is intended. No money is being made. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. Not to be archived without permission. All songs are sung by Queen and the lyrics were used without permission (Sorry!) No Copyright intended, they just fit the story... and Queen are the coolest! In here there is also a few lines from the beginning of the novel 'The Wizard of Oz' by Frank L Baum. Again no copyright intended! If you want to archive my story TELL ME, or, to borrow a phrase from our beloved Colonel, I am SO gonna kick your ass!

Author's Notes: As most of you have guessed from the title, I couldn't help but notice that the Gamekeeper's machine is awfully similar to the Matrix, but without the whole robots trying to take over the world thing! So naturally I make a few comments in the story, not a lot, but I couldn't help but see the similarity.

Dedications: As always to my Best Pal/Editor. A fellow Queen fan and a good friend always encouraging me (even when I get 48% in the end of year Biology exam!) Thanks a lot, Baby! Also thank you to my friend, Cammy and her most insistent line 'Have you got anymore stories?' everyday for the past few months since I let her read one! And finally to all the S/J peeps out there. You rock! Thanks for reading and enjoy!

Everything that has a beginning has an end including... The Games, Reloaded!

Part Three

Too much Love will kill you if you can't make your mind,

Torn between the lover and the life you left behind,

And the pain will make you crazy,

You're the victim of your crime,

Too much Love will kill you every time.

Too much love will kill you

Janet

If I could only reach you, if I could make you smile,

If I could only reach you,

That would really be a breakthrough.

Breakthru

Janet picked up the telephone, already aware of the incoming traveller warning less than a minute ago.

"Medical team to the Gate room," Sgt. Davis said down the telephone. He'd barely finished when she slammed the phone down and helped the nurses around her to get the gear together. They pushed a gurney down the corridor, as they arrived in the embarkation room.

Janet gasped. Stood on the ramp holding an unconscious Major Carter in his arms was Colonel O'Neill. Teal'c and Dr. Jackson stood there as well.

The minute she stepped into the room, Jack nodded towards the gurney and she pushed it forward. He gently laid his 2IC on the bed. He turned to her as the other nurses began fussing over the unconscious woman, the Jaffa and the anxious archaeologist. He spoke in a whisper, "I'm gonna tell Hammond everything I know, but I'm warning you. Sam's been through hell. I don't think she's injured physically, but mentally..." He stared at her and sighed, "Just thought I better tell you."

She frowned confused as General Hammond spoke as he finally entered the room, "SG-1, welcome back!"

"General," Jack said quietly, and Janet could hear uncertainty in his voice.

"I want SG-1 to get checked out and cleaned up. Debriefing in an hour..."

"Sir, Would you mind if we had the debriefing later?"

Daniel, Teal'c and General Hammond turned to him in confusion as he murmured, "Personal request, Sir."

General Hammond looked at the man with curiosity. Janet looked at him also. Not physically injured. Jack O'Neill didn't cancel debriefings for nothing. There was something wrong and if Jack didn't think he could sit through a debriefing in an hour, then he couldn't. Maybe he hadn't just been talking about his Major when he'd spoke to her moments before...

General Hammond sighed, "OK. Debriefing at 0900 tomorrow morning."

Jack stared at his boots as he murmured, "Thank you, Sir."

"Dismissed..."

Before he'd even finished speaking, Colonel O'Neill had sped out of the door.

Janet decided after she'd dealt with the Major, she was going in search of the Colonel.

Janet glanced at the clock on her desk. It was midnight. Most of the nurses had gone home and had been replaced with the night shift.

Janet sighed and looked out her window at the woman lying in the bed. It had been over six hours since she'd come through the Gate. She'd shown signs of serious shock, which Janet had treated, but what Colonel O'Neill had said had worried her. That reminded her. She had to check on him before tomorrow's debriefing.

"No... please..."

Janet heard the whispered plea and her eyes darted back to the woman in the bed. She'd rolled onto her side and was clinging to a pillow in her arms, her eyes wide with their pupils dilated.

Janet jumped up and sped into the Infirmary. She halted and began to walk over slowly, Sam's fragile state didn't need aggravating. She moved slowly and deliberately, but Sam didn't even look up. She closed her eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks and she began to sob, "My children... Don't kill my children..."

Janet's eyebrows rose and she crouched in front of Sam's wide-open eyes, staring around terrified. She was hallucinating. She clung to the pillow even tighter and began to scream hoarsely, "Stop! Please! Don't kill them!"

Janet realised Sam thought she was someone else. That Sam either didn't recognise her as her friend or was imaging that Janet herself was the threat. Three nurses ran in and Janet murmured, "Let's sedate her. Not too much. Enough to knock her out for an hour."

The nurses nodded and came back with a syringe. Sam still lay their clinging to the squashed pillow as she cried through her tears, "Don't kill Daniel! Don't... Don't! Daniel!" On the man's name she let out a heart-breaking cry. She went back to pleading, "Please! Don't kill my children! Apophis, stop! No... Josh! Amy! Lizzie!" She screamed in horror and began to sob, "No! Teal'c, please don't kill them!"

Janet took the syringe and poked it into the tube leading to Sam's pale arm. Sam rolled over onto her back staring at the ceiling. She gave her the dose and watched as her eyelids drooped. Just as she fell asleep, Janet heard her murmur, a solitary tear running down her pale cheek, "Jack... No! Don't leave me here on my own. Please. Don't die... Don't... die..."

Janet wandered the corridors. She knew Colonel O'Neill wasn't asleep. Wherever he was he wasn't asleep. She had a sixth sense about things like that and at the moment she was on Red Alert. She had to find him...

She turned a corner and bumped straight into Dr. Jackson.

"Oh sorry, Janet," he grabbed her before she fell over.

She stood back up, as she spoke sternly, "Daniel, it's one in the morning! What are you doing?"

"Janet, it's one in the morning. What are you doing?" He said with a small smile. He gained a withering look from the small doctor and sighed, "I'm searching for Jack. I thought he might need someone to talk to. I know I wouldn't mind talking to him myself."

Janet looked him up and down worried. The man seemed a little far off. Nowhere near as disconcerting as Sam or even the Colonel, but enough to make her edgy. She sighed, realising she was the one who was supposed to speak, "I'm looking for the Colonel for precisely the same reason." She gave a stern little frown, "And you should be getting some rest. You have a debriefing tomorrow morning."

"But..."

"No buts! I'll deal with the Colonel and if I find out you didn't go straight back to bed after this there will be hell to pay!"

Daniel gulped and saluted, "Yes Ma'am." He then ran off with a little grin and Janet smiled relieved by his slightly jovial behaviour. God, he was SO cute!

She'd been searching for at least an hour when she finally found him.

Colonel O'Neill sat in a Janitor's closet on Level 19. His arms were wrapped around his knees and his chin rested on top of them. He was frowning slightly.

Janet walked in cautiously and his eyes flicked up to see her. He didn't even move, or give an excuse, he just murmured, "Knew someone would come find me sooner or later."

Janet sunk down beside him, "How long have you been here?"

Jack showed her his wristwatch free wrists and murmured, "No idea."

"Have you been sat here since you sped out of the Gate room?"

"Yeah."

Janet sighed gently, "About Seven hours."

"Really?" Jack didn't look too surprised he just continued to stare at the floor.

"You wanna talk about what happened? You were gone for over two weeks." Jack continued to stare at the floor in silence. After a few minutes he turned his head and looked at her. She gave him a small reassuring smile, "I hear I'm better than McKenzie."

Jack snorted slightly and stared at the floor. He closed his eyes and began to speak, "The Gamekeeper."

"The alien that kept replaying the death of Dr. Jackson's parents? Wasn't he the one who kept his people locked up in his machines so they wouldn't ruin his garden?!?"

"Bingo," he sighed, "The first thing I remember was stepping through the Gate to K8W 721 and stepping back onto the ramp..."

Colonel O'Neill spoke fluently for ages, telling her everything. Feelings, thoughts, everything. Colonel O'Neill usually spoke with military precision and only mentioned things that were relevant to the mission. This was more how Daniel told mission reports. His mission reports were like novels!

He told her about everyone behaving strangely including herself and then about being led to his quarters. He told her about how he'd been MIA for 2 years and how everyone tried to cover up the fact he'd come back. He told her how Sam had been in his room and how Janet had gotten rid of her before Jack had been pulled out of the closet and locked in his room.

He paused. Janet looked at him, as he began speaking slower. He told her about the letter with great detail. He told her how there had been no chair and about how he'd climbed into the vents. The next part of the conversation, she heard his voice wavering. He told her about the conversation he'd overheard in her office, then about the conversation between Sam, Daniel and Teal'c. She looked at him as he murmured, "She had a year to live, a year and a half at the most. She was wheelchair bound."

Janet stared at the floor in shock. She knew how much he cared about his 2IC and seeing her like that was killing him. She could almost see the pain in his eyes as he recounted the incident.

He continued speaking for the next hour. Telling her about the time they'd met again, his invitation to the lake, about the time that he and Sam had spent together...

He stopped for a few moments and then told her about when Sam had turned into the Gamekeeper before his eyes.

"It was then I realised that it had all been the Gamekeeper messing with my head. I got in the truck, realised it was all my imagination and imagined myself back in the Gate room. I ran through the Gate and appeared in the room we saw in the MALP footage."

"Are you saying that all of you had different realities?"

"Yeah," Jack said quietly. He sighed, "I don't know much about Daniel and Teal'c's realities. Teal'c's was an ice planet in a blizzard where Daniel, Sam and me were freezing to death and Daniel's was in a Goa'uld fortress where Sam was seriously wounded, I looked dead, although I'm not entirely sure if I was or not, and Teal'c was nowhere to be seen..."

"And Major Carter's?"

The minute Janet said the words, she watched as Jack's face fell. He spoke softly, "I know slightly more about that one."

"And?" Janet prompted softly, as she fixed him with a 'You-don't-have-to-tell-me-if-you-don't--want-to' look.

He shook his head and whispered, "I wanna get it off my chest." He looked around the closet as Janet saw him attempting to hide the pain and disgust in his eyes.

"OK," he said quietly, "We came through the Gate and shot the three Jaffa who were guarding the room. Me, Daniel and Teal'c hopped into the serpent guard suits and left the room. Almost the second we left the room, we saw Sam and Daniel being dragged along the corridor. There were three kids with them. There were twins, a boy and girl, and a toddler, another girl. She couldn't have been older than four. The twins looked about eight or nine..."

Janet gave him a look asking him to carry on and he continued with the story, "Teal'c said something in Jaffa and we sorta just tagged along. We were led to the Pel'tac. The Goa'uld turned around. It was Teal'c."

Janet gave a small choke and Jack cleared his throat slightly, "He was host to Apophis. From what I gathered from the 'Oh-so-pleasant' conversation that ensued, SG-1 destroyed his fleet of ships at some point and almost killed him. He took Teal'c as a host later."

Janet began to realise what Sam's nightmare had been about, "Oh God!"

"Yeah," Jack said staring at the floor, "Anyway, we stood there as the Jaffa threw them to the floor. Daniel was quite rude to him. He was kicked hard. Sam then hissed at Daniel to stop and she was kicked across the face." He closed his eyes temporarily, "I won't forget the look on her face, as the little toddler screamed at Teal'c and went to attack him. Sam screamed, 'Lizzie NO!' and flung herself across the floor. She grabbed the little girl and pulled her into her chest shielding her from the Jaffa."

"Is that it? Did they hurt Sam?"

"No. Not then and not in that way," Jack sighed again, "Teal'c began to laugh like... you know! The way all evil guys laugh! He said, 'She has spirit, just like her father.' By that time Sam was close to tears as she stared at him. I mean not many people see one of their buddies turn into their worst enemy!"

Jack cleared his throat again and Janet could now see the pain in his eyes again. Something was eating at him. It had been why he wasn't sleeping, why he was hidden in a janitor's closet at two in the morning, why he had postponed the briefing and why he was squeezing his eyes shut at this moment.

"Teal'c said, 'I know what you're thinking and you're wrong.' He was smirking and it was probably the only time I have ever felt like knocking the guy's lights out. Sam looked at him shocked and murmured, 'What?'"

Jack began to speak coldly, "Teal'c replied, 'whose ship was he on when he was killed? You didn't think I would leave him there to rot did you?'" He shook his head, "Teal'c was smirking so much that if I hadn't been concentrating so much on saving Sam I would've shot him."

Jack took in a shuddery breath, "The moment he said that, Sam's face..." Jack frowned and pushed his fists into his eyeballs, "Teal'c said to some of the Jaffa, 'Send him in!'"

"Who, Colonel?"

Jack didn't answer and continued, "The boy twin spoke. He called her 'Mommy.' Sam was their Mom. I don't know why I didn't see it before. The twins looked a lot like her. Same hair, same eyes, but Lizzie. She was different. She didn't look anything like Sam."

"They were sending in the kid's Dad?"

Jack nodded, "Sam whispered to the little boy to be quiet. His name was Josh and I don't know what was wrong with him, but he was puffing and wheezing..."

"Probably asthmatic," Janet said and, catching the look from Jack, murmured, "Sorry. Carry on."

"Daniel then spoke. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost, or in this case probably heard that said ghost was actually alive. He murmured, 'It can't be!' Teal'c put on his evil smirk again and said, 'Oh, but it is, Dr. Jackson. It is.'

"The next thing I knew the Jaffa that had left dragged in a man..."

"And?"

Jack glanced at her and then she saw the look in his eyes as he whispered, "Me."

Janet's eyes widened considerably. Jack coughed again, failing to clear his husky throat as he said, "I didn't really hear what Teal'c said. I was still slightly shocked by seeing my clone being dragged in. My other self looked up at them and said their names one by one. The twin girl was called Amy. He didn't name Lizzie, but there was a look in his... my... HIS eyes that said he knew her."

The Colonel glanced at her again nervously and continued, "That was when I found out how Teal'c became Apophis. My other self told Apophis that they'd done nothing to deserve this and Teal'c told them that they'd destroyed his former host and his fortress. I then argued about the children..." Janet looked at him in confusion and he shook his head, "Not me, other me!"

"What did he say to that?"

"He said that it didn't matter if he killed the children because their parents were slaves. I watched as my other self stood up and fought to get to him. He said something like 'You dare and you're a dead man!' Teal'c then did his whole 'Jaffa, kree!' thing..."

Jack gritted his teeth and forced the quivering out of his voice as he said, "He lined them all up, except Sam, kneeling before him. Teal'c aimed a staff at Daniel. Two Jaffa were holding Sam as she cried to Teal'c, pleading with him not to do it. Daniel closed his eyes and whispered something before Teal'c shot him. I saw the fake Daniel just slump to the floor inches away from me and if the real one hadn't been beside me, stopping me from grabbing the Zat and shooting the fake Teal'c, I would of."

Janet stared at him as he pulled his knees tighter to him, "Sam was so shocked, I could see it then. She whispered 'No!' and Teal'c aimed the staff at the little boy, Josh. Sam began to yell and two more Jaffa moved over and began holding back as she fought to get to him. She was screaming, 'Not my children! Don't kill my children!' It was... awful not being able to do anything. I just stood and watched as Teal'c shot that little boy. He fell to the floor dead. His eyes were still... open and he looked terrified..."

Janet whispered, "I'm sorry."

Jack grabbed the material of his jacket, pulling his knees even closer, hugging them to him, "The other me was... crying and yelling at Teal'c angrily, trying to get to him, threatening to kill him. Sam was sobbing as Teal'c turned to Josh's twin, Amy. Sam began to beg him. She was pleading with him to stop. Teal'c didn't. The last thing the little girl said was that she loved us, loved her parents."

Janet watched Jack anxiously. He had fistfuls of jacket in his hands and his knuckles were turning white. He growled angrily, "The bastard shot her in the head!" Jack let out a choke and Janet had the feeling he wasn't talking to her anymore, "And I let him! I just stood there and watched! I never EVER want to see Sam in that much pain again and just have to stand there! For God's sake, they were my kids!"

Janet calmed him slightly, "It wasn't your fault. They weren't real. If you'd saved them, they probably would have tried to prevent your escape later and you would still be trapped in those horrible nightmares."

Jack didn't comment and just continued, "Sam screamed in absolute agony and dropped to her knees. She was weeping hard and she watched as Teal'c moved the staff along to Lizzie. She was terrified and was trembling and howling as Teal'c watched her. He said he wasn't going to kill her, but he was going to use her for a host to his daughter. The kid said 'No!' She was so terrified, but she said 'no'. Sam couldn't believe it. One of the Jaffa stepped over to the little girl and grabbed her around the mouth, holding her up. Teal'c began to order him to get his daughter when Lizzie bit the Jaffa's hand."

Jack snorted slightly, "I've never heard a Jaffa yowl so loud. He dropped her and the other me caught her. He shoved the fake Teal'c over as we all crowded around him. The other me grabbed Sam's hand and they ran and slid under the door."

Janet nodded, "What then?"

"I don't know where they hid, but all the Jaffa stood in a line waiting for them to make a run for it. When they came around the corner, the Jaffa shot the other me and Lizzie. He was carrying her and they both fell to the floor dead. Sam was talking to him before he died, but I didn't catch what she was saying. She then turned to the Jaffa, crying and scared out of her mind. Me, Daniel and Teal'c began to run the other way away from the Jaffa hoping to cut her off. I heard her yell, 'There's one O'Neill you're not going to murder... and that's me!'"

"She really thought... she thought it was real?" Janet asked shocked.

"Yeah," Jack said sadly, "We cut her off later. Daniel and Teal'c went to observe the Gate room, while I waited for her. I heard her coming and grabbed her. I pulled her behind some tablet things and held my hand across her mouth. After the Jaffa left, she turned to me and I said something like, 'We're getting you outta here!' She looked at me in shock and whispered my name. At the time I was so relieved that she was real, that she was safe and that it really had all been my imagination. She tried to pull away from me, but I told her to trust me. Teal'c and Daniel arrived and told me we had to go. That's when she totally phased out from shock. I told Teal'c to carry her. We got to the Gate room and she imagined there were no Jaffa and that when we stepped through the Gate, we'd wake up from the dream. I woke up and pulled myself out of the machine. I saw Daniel and Teal'c were out, but Sam was still stood there trembling. She was murmuring things like, 'My children,' and 'Don't hurt my babies.' She then collapsed and we got ourselves off the planet."

Janet stared at him. He was shivering. She guessed it must be past two in the morning now. She put a hand on his arm and murmured, "Do you want me to tell the General?"

"Doesn't sound like a bad idea, but I think I should. He'll need me to."

She stood up stiffly. She stared at him still clutching his knees to him tightly, "You need some rest, Colonel. You've got a debriefing tomorrow."

Jack stood up and Janet knew from the way he winced that his old injuries were aching. He limped slowly to the door, he was about to walk out, when he turned.

"Doc, how's Sam?"

Janet sighed and put on a false smile, "She'll be fine."

Jack looked at his boots and then back up with a sad look on his face, "I hope you're not lying, Doc. Somehow this is going to kill her. Maybe not physically, but she watched her whole family get slaughtered," he paused for a second then murmured, "I lost my son and a part of me died with him. Sam's lost a lot more, even if they weren't real, to her they were."

With that Jack O'Neill left hobbling out of the door leaving Janet standing there trying to imagine what mental anguish each member of SG-1 had been through...

She couldn't.

Janet glanced at her watch. It was 10:00am. They should be finishing the debriefing soon. She sat besides the sleeping form of Major Carter.

She wondered if the Colonel was coping with the moment he'd obviously been dreading. She stared at the clock wondering what Daniel and Teal'c had suffered on that planet. She wondered if General Hammond would order McKenzie for evaluations. Janet didn't think Jack could cope, she didn't know about Daniel or Teal'c, and Sam... well, Sam had spent more time unconscious and having nightmares than awake. Judging by what she said during her frightening dreams and from what she'd been told by the Colonel; Sam was totally screwed up mentally. Janet hoped not.

She looked back and almost fell out of the chair in shock. Sam lay completely still, but for the slight rise and fall of her chest. Her eyes were open and staring directly in front of her. She blinked and Janet watched as her eyes looked around slowly.

Janet sat completely still as the heartbreaking, blue eyes fixed on her. She just stared at her silently. Except for her eyes, her face looked as if it were made from ice. Her eyes were so full of sadness, shock and guilt that Janet felt herself give a small gasp.

Janet spoke and made herself smile, "Morning."

Sam didn't reply and just looked at her left hand that lay on the blanket. She stared at it for a few minutes and then her eyes rose again and Janet saw a tear roll down her cheek.

"Sam?"

Sam turned her head to face Janet slowly again. Janet fixed her with a gaze, "You want to talk?" She held Sam with her glance knowing if she even blinked Sam would have won her silence.

Suddenly, movement behind Sam made Janet look up. Colonel O'Neill stood in the doorway. When he saw Sam he went to get away, but Sam followed Janet's gaze.

Janet watched as the woman followed her gaze and saw him. She let out a soft gasp as she pulled her fingers over her eyes as if she thought she was seeing things. When she realised she wasn't her eyes widened and her bottom lip began trembling with utter disbelief.

Jack, realising there was no way to escape now, stepped into the room a little way and murmured gently, "Hey Carter."

She didn't even blink and sat there in a trance, her body quivering, her face contorted in an expression of complete heartbreak and pain. Janet spoke softly, "Sam? Honey, can you talk to me?"

Sam didn't take her eyes off Jack. Janet nodded to him, telling him to try and awaken her from her trance. He stared back at her, "Carter, say something."

As his voice reached her, her eyes slid shut slowly and another silvery tear rolled down her pale cheeks. She opened her eyes again and just shook her head mutely, as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

He took a few steps forward and stopped when he stood at the end of her bed. He spoke his voice seeming to shake slightly as he whispered, "Sam?"

Long seconds passed and everything seemed to stop existing except the three of them. Suddenly, in a blur of pale skin, golden hair and Infirmary pyjamas, Sam had sprung out of bed, clambering off the end and stood before him. She stretched out a vigorously shaking hand tentatively, trying as hard as she could to support it with her other hand around her wrist. Her fingers trembled as they reached out and gently brushed his jacket. She almost jumped about a mile with a loud gasp escaping her lips. She began shaking even harder as she stared at him tears trickling slowly down her cheeks.

Without warning, she threw her arms around his neck, clinging to him, daring anyone to remove her, and began sobbing into his chest. Jack's face was full of shock as he slowly pulled his arms around her too. He began to stroke her hair and rub her back gently. Janet felt tears of her own threatening to come, as Jack whispered, "It's OK. Sam, it wasn't real. It was all just a really horrible nightmare. Everything's gonna be alright."

Sam's back shuddered violently as she howled into his shoulder clutching to him so tightly, Janet was surprised he could breathe. She could see the distress in his face. The guilt, the self-hatred, the sadness and the anger were so vivid; Janet knew the only thing stopping him from falling to pieces was Sam.

Janet didn't know how long they stood there, Jack whispering comfortingly and Sam sobbing out her anguish, but it had seemed like an eternity. Suddenly, Sam fell silent and Jack's eyes widened with shock. Sam's body hung limply in his arms. After a second Jack whispered, "She's out cold."

He helped Janet to put her back into the bed. Janet could feel her hands shaking slightly. Sam's sobs still filled her mind and rung in her ears painfully. The pain in those cries was like nothing she had ever heard. Almost unnatural. If Janet hadn't have known better they could have been the cries of an extraterrestrial...

Sam's mind had been thrown into mental turmoil. She'd seen her kids, best friend and husband die. Her other friend was the one who'd killed them. Then all of a sudden her dead best friend, other best friend/murderer and husband save her from the place and she wakes up in the Infirmary, which, apparently, no longer existed, with her dead husband stood in the doorway very much alive.

Janet looked up at the Colonel. He just stared at Sam. He let out a soft sigh as he continued to stare at her. She spoke softly, "Colonel?" He didn't look up. Janet tried again, "Colonel?" He looked up, as she continued, "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine," he lied, as his eyes lowered back to her. He ripped his eyes away from the pale and unconscious woman lying in the bed, as if he couldn't bear to look at her tear-streaked cheeks, dishevelled hair and limp body.

"Don't mean to sound rude, Sir, but why are you here?"

Jack sighed and a look of anger hit his face, "Call McKenzie. He has three more patients... and probably four when Sam's conscious for more than an hour."

Janet nodded understandingly, "OK, Sir. Do you want to stay here?"

"What'll happen to Sam if I stay?" He glanced at her and then at his boots, "When she saw me she was so shocked... maybe it's not doing her any help."

"Colonel, if we tell her anything else she'll be more confused than ever. She has to know it was the Gamekeeper, or she'll crack." Jack nodded slowly as Janet smiled gently, "Besides she'll want you here."

A small smile touched Jack's anxious expression, "Yeah. I'll stay a while."

Jack grabbed a chair and pulled it up besides Sam's bed. Janet gave a small nod and went into her office to finish some work and phone Dr. McKenzie. Every few minutes she glanced up at the Colonel, who sat there unmoving as he stared at the inert woman lying beneath the blankets. After five minutes, Janet glanced up again to see the Colonel as he slowly reached out and took her hand, gently clasping it in his.

'Let them be OK,' Janet prayed, 'Let them get through this.'

Sam

My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies,

Fairy Tales of yesterday grow and never die.

I can fly, my friend.

The Show must go on

Sam lay with her eyes closed listening to their voices. She didn't dare open her eyes. So she just listened and preyed that somehow everything was all right and that they were all safe. She wished upon wish that Josh, Amy and Lizzie were alright, that it had all been a horrible nightmare, just like Jack had said, and that she wasn't just imagining her friends' voices at this moment.

"How long she been out like that?" Daniel's voice whispered out his anxious question.

"At least five hours," Jack spoke distantly.

Daniel spoke again with concern, "You been here that long?"

"Yes."

"Has she woken up at all?"

Jack's silence was worrying and Sam could've cut the tension in the room with a knife...

"She woke up, didn't she? What happened?"

Jack spoke quietly, "She saw me. She didn't move at first and then she threw herself at me. She was seriously sobbing her heart out and all of a sudden she just fainted in my arms."

"O'Neill, are you feeling in good health?"

When she heard Teal'c's voice, Sam's eyes shot open. She stared at him fearfully. She looked at Daniel and Jack. Both of them had sad and surprised expressions on their faces. Her worst fear had finally been confirmed. Her children... were dead...

Jack spoke softly, "Sam?"

She gave a shuddery sob and closed her eyes again. They were dead. She'd pretended it had all been a bad dream and that she'd wake up on her hard straw mattress, cuddling Lizzie close and then she'd stroke her daughter's thick brown hair and think 'it was just a nightmare', but now fact had dealt her a blow that she couldn't defend.

She felt her face crack as tears began to create silvery streams down her cheeks. Her eyes fell on her hand again. Her wedding rings were gone. There was nothing left of her family except Jack.

Her eyes rose to the men sat around her. She fixed her gaze on the man stood on her right. Images flickered through her mind. The shot hitting Amy in the head, sending the 7 year old flying across the room, blood gushing from her head, Josh gasping for breath as he retaliated against his captors and then the shot hitting him in the chest, his eyes wide with shock and finally Lizzie looking up at her body for a second and then her head rolling to the side...

Sam saw red. He'd shot them! He'd stood there with the staff in his clenched fists and smirked as he shot her children. He'd ignored her pleas and her sobs. He'd shot them!

Sam threw herself on him. They toppled to the floor and she began to hit him as hard as she could. She heard Jack and Daniel yelling at her in shock, as Janet joined the shouting and Sam continued to thump Teal'c with all the strength she could muster.

She felt hands grabbing her, but she continued to thrash out at the Jaffa. Daniel was saying, "Sam! Stop!"

Sam broke free and continued to punch the Jaffa that lay before her. He simply said, "Leave her, Daniel Jackson. She must dispose of it from her structure."

His calmness just infuriated her more. She felt herself screaming at him, "You bastard! You murdered them! I'm going to kill you!"

"You are most welcome to attempt it," Teal'c said tranquilly.

Sam continued to pummel him as a steady flow of tears ran from her eyes. Sam felt herself running out of energy, but she didn't care. She continued to hit the man as hard as she could.

She heard someone else enter the Infirmary, as a voice boomed, "Major Carter! What the HELL do you think you are doing?"

Sam felt hands again trying to remove her from him, but she struggled as hard as she could. They pulled her away and she looked up to see Jack holding her firmly, a look of absolute sympathy shining in his eyes.

She felt more tears come and she couldn't stop them. Jack still held her tightly as she continued to thrash although she could barely move anymore from being restrained by Jack and her own fatigue.

Sobs racked her body, as she finally gave up and stopped thrashing. Jack let her arms go as Hammond moved in for the kill.

"Major Carter!"

She looked up at him in shock and confusion. General Hammond? What was he doing here? Daniel had said he was probably dead after the conquest of the Goa'uld. She was so confused. She was still trying to understand why Daniel and Jack were still alive... and speaking to that... that Monster!

She looked at Teal'c. He stood up with ease and didn't even look slightly fazed by the attack. He fixed her with a sad sympathetic gaze.

Sam sobs increased. She'd failed the twins. She'd failed Lizzie. She'd failed Daniel. She'd failed herself. She'd failed Jack...

She twisted around so she faced him. His hands gripped her arms again gently, trying to calm her, but also be prepared to stop her from hurting herself if she began thrashing around again. He licked his bottom lip nervously and murmured anxiously, "You OK?"

She didn't answer, shook her head gently and then pulled him into a tight hug. She clung to him as she murmured, "I'm sorry, Jack. I'm so sorry."

"What for?" He murmured back, holding her tighter.

"I didn't kill him. I had the chance and I didn't kill him."

"Sam..."

"NO," Sam said fiercely pulling back, "Don't you dare! How can you stand there so calmly? HE

KILLED THEM! HE KILLED DANIEL! HE KILLED THE CHILDREN!" She yelled at him. The look on his face was such a mixture Sam couldn't discern any one feeling. She gave a gasping sob, "He killed them and I just let him! Daniel, Josh, Amy, Lizzie and you! He murdered my family and I'm not going to rest until that SON OF A BITCH IS WRITHING IN AGONY ON THE FLOOR!"

Hammond spoke angrily, "That's it! Restrain her and get McKenzie in here ASAP!"

"How did you feel?"

Sam exploded, "How the hell do you think I felt, you Quack!"

"Major Carter, please refrain yourself," McKenzie said quietly, "Now, how did you feel?"

"Like ripping off his head and sticking it on a pike! Similar to how I feel when I'm with you!"

The incorrigible McKenzie just smiled, "Now we're getting somewhere!"

Sam let out an angry sigh and stood up, walked to the door and thumped on it loudly. She shouted through the metal, "Lieutenant! I want this QUACK out of this cell RIGHT NOW!"

There was no reply and Sam kicked the metal door hard in frustration. She glared at him, pointing at the offending door, "I want you to leave!"

"It is about time for a break, I think," McKenzie acknowledged, picking up his clipboard.

"Damn right!"

He got up and stared at her coolly, "I'm warning you, Major. Everything you say in these meetings is put on a record. You'll never work again if you continue to act like a lunatic."

"Just GET OUT!" Sam screamed as the lieutenant opened the door for the Doctor and Sam shoved him out, slamming the door shut behind him.

She leant against the door and final let an angry sob wrench from her throat. She slid down the door very aware of the red L.E.D. of the camera watching her breakdown. She no longer cared. She'd spent the past weeks refusing to cry and hadn't since her fight with Apophis in the Infirmary.

She put her head in her hands and let out all her frustration, confusion and pain in a long loud scream.

It worked and the moment Sam had finished her cry, she took a shuddery gasp and stood up. She moved to the bed and grabbed her notebook and a blunt pencil from beneath her pillow. All she was allowed in her cell besides a table, two chairs and a bed, now lay in her lap.

She flicked open the notebook. She'd never been skilled at drawing. Her skills usually ended at stick people, but now she continued with the portrait. She could still see her face so clearly in her mind that it was no problem knowing exactly where to shade for shadows or place a freckle. Sam stared down at the smiling face. Sam was surprised how much the drawing looked liked Amy.

Sam gave a small snort; she had been working on it for the three weeks she'd been locked up in here. She'd heard from McKenzie that Daniel had finished within the week they'd returned from Apophis's ship. Jack, as usual, had been obstinate, but had finished yesterday.

And here she was...

She looked around the dreary cell. Her mind spun. For a start, why was she in the SGC? It was precisely how she remembered it, but Daniel had told her the SGC had been the first place to be destroyed by the Goa'uld and that after all the slaves had been transported off the planet, Earth had been turned into a Goa'uld rubbish tip. Nuclear, toxic and radioactive waste now covered the planet. It was nothing more than a dumping ground.

Secondly, she still didn't know why Daniel and Jack were alive. She'd seen both of them die. Maybe they'd been brought back to life by a sarcophagus, but then her children would have been as well.

"And they're not here..." Sam murmured. Why hadn't the sarcophagus worked on the children? Were they too young? Or was it something else?

Finally, why was Teal'c... no, not Teal'c, Apophis strolling around the SGC, a free, innocent man, when he'd slaughtered her family before her eyes and killed hundreds of thousands of people in the past?

She felt a tear on her cheek for the first time in what felt like years, or at least since that day she'd tried to kill him. This was hopeless and it made no sense! Sam felt herself realising again how she wished her pencil was sharp enough for her to jab into her jugular...

There was a soft tap on the door. Sam sniffed and spoke up, "I told you to go away, McKenzie!"

The door opened and Sam saw a friendly face peaking around the door. She stood up and hurriedly wiped the tear from her face, "I'm sorry, Janet. Come in."

Janet closed the door behind her as she murmured, "Still at each other's throats?"

Sam gave a small smile, "Thanks for thinking it's not just me."

Janet gave a small smile and sat on one of the chairs, "That's what best friends are for, Hon," Janet grinned her pixie grin as she said, "Besides, you're right... he is a Quack!"

Sam gave a small laugh and collapsed into the other chair as tears rushed to her eyes again, her situation dawning on her again.

"Sam, what's up with you? Even the Colonel has finished his sessions before you. That's nothing short of a world record!"

"Where are my rings?"

"Pardon?"

Sam sniffed and began to rub her ring finger gently, "I mean, I can understand you not wanting me to hurt myself, but please can I have them?"

The look on Janet's face was one of utter despair, "Don't you realise?"

"Realise what?" Sam said shocked, "You didn't destroy them or something did you? Jack wouldn't let you."

Janet gave a sad laugh, "Oh Sam. No, Honey, they've not been destroyed. What I'm trying to say is, the rings weren't real."

An angry frown came onto her face, "They were real, Janet!"

"No," Janet sighed, "None of it was real."

Sam frowned at the floor for a few minutes in the uncomfortable and troubling silence before she glanced up, "I want to speak to Jack."

"You can't."

Sam stood up and began pacing irately, "I have to talk to McKenzie every day and he's making me lose my mind! I want to talk to someone who knows how much I want to kill that Bastard!"

"Sam, Colonel O'Neill doesn't want to kill McKenzie..." Janet paused, "Well, not really!"

"I'm not talking about McKenzie!"

Janet gave a gasp of recognition at what her friend had really meant, "You know the Colonel would never want to kill Teal'c!"

"Janet, he's not Teal'c! He's Apophis! Scan his head!"

Janet just closed her eyes and stood up. She watched Sam as she deflated with a tearful sigh and collapsed onto her bed. Janet looked up as her eyes fell on the notepad on the table. It was open and the page showed the face of a little girl. She was smiling prettily. Janet knew Sam was no Van Gough, but the drawing held so much detail Janet realised how fixed on the other reality Sam was.

Janet nodded towards the notebook, "May I?"

"As long as you don't tell McKenzie," Sam said quietly, "He's probably watching anyway, but every time he comes in here he's always looking for it. He glances around for it. He knows he's not allowed to take it, but if I turn my back on it for a moment, he will," Sam fixed her with a sad, azure gaze, "It's all I have left of them."

Janet gently picked up the notebook and flicked through the pages. Pages and pages full of delicate pencil drawings of three faces. Janet knew who they were although she made no comments, just flicked from page to page.

Her eyes fell on one picture that captured her attention. It showed the little girl sat in the older girl's lap with the boy looking over her shoulder at a book. Janet could see the title of the book and the expressions on the children's faces. The small girl had her thumb in her mouth and was giggling. The older girl was smiling, but had a familiar looking frown between her eyebrows. The boy was grinning cheekily also in a familiar way.

Sam gave a small sniffle, "That was the day before Apophis came for us. I can't forget it. It's one of the only memories that I always have in my head besides what happened on that Pel'tac..."

Janet felt tears in her own eyes, but fought them back. The drawings were amazing. Janet murmured, "They're beautiful."

Sam gave a small smile, "Me and Jack did do alright, didn't we."

Janet glanced at the loving smile on the woman's face as she looked at her children in the sketch. Janet's tears were dangerously close as she gave her another small smile. She hadn't remembered that Sam would think she'd meant the kids. To Janet they were just exceedingly good drawings. She gave a small smile, "Yeah."

Sam's smile became wider and then faded, "Three beautiful children and I missed them growing up. I keep trying to remember those 9 years, but I get nothing. Vague images... the twins running in the garden... Jack sipping beer," she gave a small laugh, "Sometimes I imagine that Earth had never lost. That we were still living in Jack's house and he'd seen Lizzie when she was born, that the twins had more than just vague memories of their Dad, that they were still alive..." Sam gave a shuddering sob as she put a hand to her mouth holding back residual hiccoughs, "He loved them so much."

She flicked the page and Janet saw a new face. The picture was the most meticulous of them all. Colonel O'Neill's face, a look of absolute shock in his eyes as he looked out of the page.

"When was this?" Janet dared to ask as Sam gave a small sigh.

"When the Jaffa dragged him in," Sam gave a choked sob, "I couldn't believe it was him. He was so shocked when he saw us." Janet looked up into the woman's eyes as she whispered brokenly, "I could barely breathe, Janet. The pain in his eyes as he saw us... it made the breath catch in my lungs. He'd hadn't seen any of us for over three years. He hadn't seen his kids, the things he found the most precious in the entire universe, in three years." Sam gave a shuddery sigh, "And they were slaughtered before his very eyes."

"Oh Sam, I'm sorry."

Sam ignored the apology and continued, "And yet he was the one who pulled me off him that day in the Infirmary even though he should've been there, beating the crap out of him as well. I can't believe it. I don't understand what's going on." She gave a shuddery sigh, "I watched them die. All of them. Daniel, my children and then Jack. I just want to know what happened, but McKenzie is lying to me."

Janet just nodded gently and closed the notepad slowly. She passed it to Sam, as her blue eyes fixed her to the spot with a pleading stare.

"Please get me my rings. Also, can you find the twins' book? It was in the front right pocket of my slave attire," Janet went to speak, but Sam silenced her, "I know it's a lot to ask, Janet, but please. It's all I have left of my children. Everything else is back in the cave on H8R 524."

Janet just gave Sam a small smile, not wanting to nod or shake her head. Janet went to the door and went to open it.

"Janet?"

She turned to the woman perched on the bed now, "Yeah, Sam."

"Can you try and find some way for me to see Jack tomorrow?"

"I'm sorry, Sam, but I..."

Sam interrupted, "No, Janet, you don't understand. Tomorrow's 12th June..."

"Yes, but what's that got to do with the Col..."

"It's the twins' eighth birthday," Sam said quietly.

Janet's face fell as she murmured, "I'll try, Sam."

Sam's miserable expression lifted slightly and then turned into a wide smile. It was the first happy smile she'd seen Sam smile since they'd come back from that mission. Janet felt a smile of her own come to her face, although it was not a happy one.

She opened the door and stepped out of the room before she let a tear fall and immediately brushed it away. No matter how many times you tried to tell Sam it had all been an elaborate nightmare, she still clung stubbornly to the thought that her children were real, that she was married to her CO and that Teal'c was Apophis.

"Ma'am, are you alright?"

Janet glanced up at the girl stood by Sam's cell door. She couldn't have been much older than 25 and fixed her with an anxious gaze, "She's lost it, hasn't she?"

"Her mind? No. She hasn't lost her mind."

The woman gave a small snort, "Sounds like she has from out here! What's wrong with her?"

"She refuses to believe reality and is living in a world of imagination," Janet said bluntly.

The lieutenant spoke, "Doesn't sound too bad to me?"

"Well, if you were trapped in your dreams and nightmares you'd think differently," the girl gave her a funny look, as Janet wiped her eyes and blew her nose gentle on a tissue and then murmured, "Losing your whole family, watching them being executed by one of your most trusted friends and then being told again and again that it never happened, does that sound bad? Or maybe being visited every day by a shrink and not being allowed to speak to the guy you think you're married to, when in actual fact he's your CO, that sound bad?"

The woman was stunned. Janet spoke again, "Sam may be losing her mind, but it's not because she's insane. She can get through this, she just needs to open her eyes and finally see that it was all a nightmare or a dream... nothing more."

Janet gave the girl a small, but strained smile and walked down the corridor, praying to God that the General would let Jack visit Sam tomorrow.

She didn't know what Sam would do otherwise.

Sam sat in the cell her legs swinging off the side of her bed. She awaited her next confrontation with McKenzie knowing today she would crumble before him. Today would be the one day he could get any emotion other than anger from her.

There was a sharp and unpleasantly familiar rap on the door. Sam knew the confrontation had arrived.

Without even gaining her consent, the smarmy psychiatrist stepped into the room, notorious clipboard in hand. He fixed her with his usual sarcastic smile, "Good Morning, Major. How are you this morning?"

Sam didn't answer as usual. He immediately took one of the chairs and sat on it before her on the bed. He pulled the pen with 'Colorado Springs Hospital for the Mentally Infirmed' written on the side, out of his pocket, clicked it on and touched the tip on the paper.

"Right. I watched the security tapes from yesterday and your visit from the Doctor was quite an interesting highlight. I've already questioned her on the notebook, before you ask, and she was quite uh... fierce with her answer."

A satisfied smile came onto Sam's lips, "You hear the bit when she called you a Quack?"

The look of cold fury and embarrassment was hidden from his face in a split second as he said, "Yes." His smile became sickly sweet, "But isn't it me who should be asking the questions?"

Sam stayed silent and watched as his pen became poised to take notes. He fixed her with his penetrating gaze and began, "Where did we leave off...? Ah, yes... when you were 'abducted' from your 'cave'..."

"Home," Sam corrected icily, "From our Home."

"You were 'abducted' from your 'Home'. Then what happened?"

"We were ringed up to his ship and thrown in a cell," Sam was going to keep things as brief as possible.

"How did you feel when you were locked in a cell?"

Sam pursed her lips in a tight thin line and didn't reply. McKenzie repeated the question, but she didn't answer. He was growing impatient. She could tell by the way his legs were crossed and his right foot was tapping thin air. He asked the question again and Sam could hear an agitated tone in his voice, "Major Carter, when you were locked in the cell, how did you feel?"

Sam just fixed him with a 'like-I'm-going-to-tell-you' glare. She stared back at the floor, her silence prevailing.

"Major Carter, when TEAL'C locked you in that cell, how did you feel?"

Sam glared at him, suddenly feeling a swell of horrid emotion, "He is not Teal'c, he's APOPHIS! Scan his head and you'll see there's a snake in there! He is a murderer! He should be stopped before he tries to take over the base!"

McKenzie stood up swiftly, "It is clear, that you are not sane in mind, Major Carter. I shall tell General Hammond that you are not fit for active duty and that you are to be transported to the hospital immediately."

"I'm not crazy," Sam yelled at him as he fixed her with as look that said 'Wanna-bet?'

"We've already checked your claim that Teal'c has a Goa'uld attached to his brain and there is no sign there is or ever was."

Sam stared at the floor in shock, "There must be a mistake..."

"No, Major. No mistake."

Maybe she was losing her mind. Teal'c was Apophis. She knew he was. She'd heard him speak and seen his eyes glow on the Pel'tac. He'd put her family to death. The Teal'c she knew would never do that.

McKenzie interrupted her train of thought, "My recommendations will be made immediately and your transfer to the Mental institution will be made tomorrow morning. I've been trying to convince you for almost a month and your mind is still rejecting the facts. Unlike my other patients we have gotten nowhere. I don't think any matter of convincing would make you forsake your beliefs that you have children that don't even exist!"

Sam felt her eyes welling with salty tears, "How can you say that? They are real. I could touch them, smell them, hear them and see them. They are as real as that chair or that clipboard you have to take everywhere with you!"

"Then it looks as if this clipboard and that chair aren't real," he opened the door and gave her a pitying glance, "I can see them and touch them, but if you say your children are as real as that chair and this clipboard..." he paused and a sickening smile came to his face as he spoke nastily, "They're all in your head!"

And with that he left, shutting the door behind him and leaving Sam feeling extremely small and lonely. She sat on the bed and pulled her knees tightly up towards her. She felt cold all of a sudden and pulled the duvet around her as she shuddered.

She picked up her notebook and glanced at the pictures again as a withheld cry came out of her throat like a whimper. Hot tears touched her cheeks and sent shocks of electricity down her spine making her shiver more. She pulled her duvet over her head and rolled onto her side beneath the blanket, shielding herself from the world and hiding her from her own insanity. The darkness under the blanket calmed her slightly and Sam buried her face in the cool pillow and wept.

Jack

I've fallen in love; I've fallen in love for the first time,

And this time I know it's for real,

I've fallen in love.

God knows! God knows, I've fallen in love!

I Want to Break Free

After his last session with McKenzie on Thursday morning, Jack had been ordered off the base. Usually it wouldn't have taken much persuasion, if any, to have him take three days off, but this time it had been different.

Jack wanted to see Sam so desperately it hurt. He hadn't been allowed to see her for over three weeks. He'd only been having one hour sessions with McKenzie every morning and he'd been allowed to go around see who he pleased, do what he wanted and in general go where he wanted, but Sam... Sam had been locked in Isolation for three weeks. No one, but McKenzie and Dr. Fraiser had seen her in that three week period and that thought alone made Jack's blood boil.

He parked his truck and hopped out speedily. He'd waited out the three days he'd been made to stay at home and it was now Saturday. It was one minute to ten and at ten he would finally be allowed back into the facility where he could go bug General Hammond until he gained himself access to see Sam... or until he was ordered to take another three days off base!

His wristwatch began beeping. Ten o'clock. He walked up to the security guard and showed his badge. The man smiled slightly, "You're here promptly, Sir."

"Don't like to be late," Jack muttered as the man let him through. After having his hand scanned he walked to the elevator. He stepped inside, pushing his security card into the slot and watching the floor dial as the elevator began to descend. First, he'd stop off at the General's office to try to persuade him to let him see Sam and then he'd talk to Fraiser and ask her how Sam was and then hopefully he'd be able to see her. Actually now he thought about it he felt a sheer desperation to talk to Fraiser first. Fine, he'd talk to the Doc first then he had a bone to pick with Hammond.

He stepped out on the correct floor and sped off in the direction of the Infirmary. He nearly ran into the room and narrowly missed colliding with the flustered Doctor as she sped out of the door in the opposite direction.

She spoke with a small gasp, "Colonel!"

"Doc, are you OK?"

She shook her head hurriedly and grabbed his arm, "There's no time to talk, Colonel."

Jack frowned worriedly, "What's wrong?

"McKenzie just got the go ahead to have Sam moved to a mental institution..."

"WHAT?!?" Jack almost yelled as the Doctor calmed him slightly.

"The General had to make a tough decision. He's been getting pressure from certain 'old acquaintances' to have Sam locked away saying she's a security risk due to her 'obviously fully deteriorated mental health'."

"What? Who?"

Janet spoke reluctantly, obviously realising the connection between the Colonel's life and the reality created by the Gamekeeper, "Colonel Simmons, Sir."

Jack made a fist pummelling action as he said through gritted teeth, "I'll kill the bastard!" A thought suddenly struck him and he stared at the Doctor shocked, "When?"

"I heard McKenzie and him talking and... they're taking her. Now," Janet said hopelessly.

Before she'd even finished speaking Jack was sprinting back along the corridor to the elevator. He ran inside and hurriedly pressed buttons as the lift jolted into movement and began to take him upwards towards the surface. Jack began to pace and mutter, "Come on! Come on!" After a short journey that felt comparatively like days, the doors opened and Jack stepped out of the lift.

"Let go of me! Let me go!"

The cry of panic and fright drove a stake into Jack's heart as he knew precisely who it was who was frightened and panicking themselves into a frenzy.

Another voice spoke, but this time it was a voice Jack hated, "Keep her restrained! I want her sedated for the journey. She's too violent."

Jack's legs kicked back into action as he hurried into the car park, just witnessing General Hammond stood watching with a gritted jaw, as Sam was dragged by three men towards an ambulance with padded walls. They'd put her in a straight jacket and she was struggling to get out and fight off the men at the same time. It made Jack sick just watching it.

"Stop!" He yelled furiously as he ran closer.

Sam looked up and when she saw him he saw tears begin to build in her eyes as she sobbed and shrieked in equal amounts, still fighting against the men, "Jack! Don't let them take me! Please don't let them take me! I'm frightened, Jack!"

Jack felt a restraining arm on his and turned to look straight into the cool, although slightly angry eyes of General Hammond. The man spoke gently, "Let her go, Son."

Jack jerked his arm free, "Sam's not crazy, Sir!"

The General grabbed his arm again before he could speed off. He spoke softly, "I don't like this either, Colonel. In fact, I goddamn hate it, but we have no choice. Major Carter isn't fit to be an officer any longer, Colonel."

Jack spoke angrily, "She's fine!"

General Hammond shook his head slowly, "No, Jack. She's not. She still believes that Teal'c is Apophis, that the World is a toxic waste ground, that you two are married and have three children, that Teal'c slaughtered Daniel, you and these three children and that it's actually the year 2010! Until she gets it into her head that what she went through is a lie, I'm afraid she can't work here, Jack. There's nothing I can do to stop it."

Jack yanked his arm free as he said angrily, "You can't, but I can!"

He strode over to the men still struggling to get Sam into the van. He tapped one on the shoulder and when the man span around he pushed him out of the way, as the other two grabbing Sam let her go in surprise to help him. The woman finally broke free from the men and Jack pulled her close to him.

They collapsed to their knees as the woman began to cry softly, "Jack..."

"Shh. I'm here now," he rubbed her back gently as the men just stood and watched, obviously completely reluctant to put Sam in the vehicle.

McKenzie strolled over and began to yell at them, "What are you doing? Put her in the van!"

The guy Jack had shoved out of the way spoke quietly, "No."

"What do you mean 'no'?"

"Firstly, she's way too traumatised. If we sedate her it'll probably do more harm than good," the man said his voice defiant and sounding rather irritated with the psychiatrist, "Secondly, she's fighting like a wild cat and I don't think there is anyway to get her in there and thirdly, I think it's pretty obvious this guy's gonna shoot anyone who tries to!"

Jack looked up at the man gratefully as the furious McKenzie turned to Hammond, "General, order the Colonel to let go of her!"

General Hammond's eyes met Jack's. His 2IC was being most definitely insubordinate, but although he knew he should be punishing the man, he couldn't. His eyes fell to the terrified woman trembling in the man's arms, her upper body immobilised by the straight jacket. She'd looked so helpless and frightened as the men had been dragging her to the van. Now, as Jack held her to him tightly, daring anyone to take her from him, she looked different. She no longer looked as terrified, as if knowing Jack would never let any thing happen to her.

The General turned back to the irate McKenzie as he said with a small smile, "I think you need to see a psychiatrist, Dr."

The man was fuming, quite literally, but General Hammond ignored him and turned back to the forlorn couple kneeling on the floor. Sam spoke sadly, her eyes still squeezed shut and her face pressed against the man's shoulder, "Amy and Josh would've been 8 yesterday."

Jack looked at the woman shocked. She was still struggling against the jacket, trying to fight free, but her eyes fixed with his as she cried, "Jack, tell me. Have I lost my mind? Am I crazy?"

Jack pulled her back into a hug, "No. No, you're not crazy. You're a perfectly normal woman who was tortured with images of a life that didn't exist, just like me, Daniel and Teal'c. Thing was the Gamekeeper knew you were smart. He knew you were the most likely one to discover what he was doing, so he made your reality worse than anyone else's. He made it so you would believe it absolutely and wouldn't question it."

She spoke brokenly, "It was all a lie?"

He nodded into her shoulder, "Yes. I'm sorry, Sam."

She buried her face in his neck as she began to cry gently and then whispered, "It was so real..."

"I know. I know. Mine was the same, but he underestimated my intelligence!" Jack said trying to joke and gaining a soft chuckle, "He made way too many mistakes in mine. He probably thought I was so stupid I wouldn't notice."

Sam pulled back again as she mumbled, "Thank you."

"For what?"

Sam gave a small smile as tears continued to cascade down her cheeks, "I've wanted to see you for three weeks, and in all that time I've been so confused I couldn't tell the difference between my imagination and real life. Then I finally see you again and you set me straight in less than a minute." She pushed herself close to his chest again as she whimpered, "I didn't believe what I was hearing. You were the only one I could trust. Thank you."

Jack rubbed her back gently as he stared up at McKenzie and the General, "I've been trying to see you for just as long, but some people thought it would be a great idea for us never to see each other for the rest of our lives."

The General nodded apologetically as McKenzie had the good manners to look seriously embarrassed. Jack pulled away from her and helped her to her feet. He turned to the General, "I think it's safe to say she's cured. We're going back inside, if you don't have any objections."

The General smiled at the insubordinate tone as he murmured, "Not at all, Son."

"What! General! Major Carter..."

"...is perfectly sane, McKenzie. She has been the entire time. Don't think I haven't seen the security tapes! You've been winding her up and confusing her as much as possible since you first stepped into that room!" The General was pissed off, for use of any better words. Jack didn't think he'd seen the man as pissed off. He wasn't exactly fuming, his face turning an interesting shade of puce, but he was most definitely ticked off. The psychiatrist was literally shrivelling beneath the flaming, but also, icy eyes that glared at him. "Tell me, Dr, who's paying you to get her committed? She has made quite a few enemies, who would love to see her thrown in a mental asylum..."

"Simmons, Sir," Jack muttered from beside him, "Dr. Fraiser said something about Simmons pressuring you. She said she heard him talking to the Quack stood before us too."

General Hammond nodded then spoke, deadly quiet, "Now, Dr. You are going to leave my base and never return. I think I'll be getting a new Psychiatrist for the SGC. You're expertise are no longer needed."

McKenzie was speechless and gawped mutely, completely tongue-tied by anger and utter shock. General Hammond turned his back on him and looked at the couple stood beside him. Major Carter was shivering from built up emotion and the coolness of the underground parking lot, the Colonel's arm around her to try to warm her up, comfort her, support her and show everyone that no one would ever be able to remove her from his side for at least a few... years!

Hammond placed a hand on Jack's shoulder, "Let's get her inside, Son."

Jack smiled at him with extreme gratitude, "Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir."

They walked back into the building slowly, blocking out the shouting, cursing and spluttering of the furious psychiatrist.

How they'd ended up in Sam's quarters Jack couldn't quite remember. At the time Sam had been so distraught and tearful that Jack had just led her to the nearest place of comfort. He glanced down at the woman sat across him like a small child sleeping peacefully. Her arms held him tightly to her. They hadn't moved from him since he'd removed that disgusting straight jacket they'd imprisoned her in.

Jack felt anger rising and was just about ready to smash something, but a soft hiccough from the beautiful head nestled under his chin stopped him. He sighed softly and stared at the red marks beneath her eyes as she let out another little hiccough, no doubt a result from her sobbing.

Once they'd reached Sam's quarters Jack had led her in and immediately pulled that atrocity off her. The second he had she'd flung her arms around him, shaking softly with quiet sobs.

They stood in the middle of his room as he'd had visions of the time Sam's 'evil' twin had arrived through the Quantum mirror. They'd just stood there for a long time before she whispered, "I was so scared."

Her words made Jack's jaw grit before he gently placed a chaste kiss just in front of her ear murmuring into it, "It's OK. You're safe now. McKenzie is never coming within 100 miles of you again or else I'll personally skin him alive!"

She pulled back her sad eyes staring into his as she shook her head slowly, "No, Jack. That was scary, I'll admit." She sighed, a tremble shaking her lanky frame as she whispered, "I was terrified... when... when I was... The Gamekeeper... he... I was..." Her sentence was completely disjointed by soft sobs.

He pulled her tightly to him, rubbing her back gently, "It's alright, Sam. Tell me whenever you want."

She pulled back again and stared into his eyes as her fingers traced over his face as she whispered, "I thought you were dead." She shuddered at the memory, her arms snaking around him again as she mumbled, "I saw the kids die and I was sad... a lot more than sad... horrified..." She took a gasping breath, "I loved them. I loved them very much, but for some reason I felt empty." Her eyes met his transfixing him in her bewitching azure gaze, as a tear rolled down her cheek, "But... when you... died..." Her lips trembled as she squeezed her eyes shut and let out a shaky whine.

Jack instinctively led her over to her small single bunk, sitting himself propped up against the wall as Sam crawled into his lap in the same position as she was in now.

She shuddered with tears as she whispered, "Don't leave me, Jack. Never leave me. I never want to feel that again. Never!"

Jack caught her gaze trying to tell her with his eyes how much he loved her as he whispered, "I won't."

She had smiled slightly and before Jack could consider what he was doing he felt himself staring into her eyes and unable to move, transfixed by her eyes and the feeling growing within him. Her face had been inches from his and he'd felt her breath tickle his face as he slowly lifted a hand, his fingers curving around the back of her neck as he'd hesitantly let forward and kissed her.

She'd kissed back fervently and Jack loved knowing that this was the real Sam and that, unlike in his hellish vacation with the Gamekeeper and his Matrix, kissing her felt so right. It felt perfect.

He'd pulled back after a second realising the woman was crying again. He'd never seen her cry so much in his whole life and it terrified him. He knew Sam was completely overwhelmed by everything that had happened recently and that was the reason for her bitter, sad, horrified, frightened, happy and comforted tears.

She'd fallen asleep in his arms as they sat in Sam's quarters in a comfortable silence only broken by the occasional soft hiccough from Sam. She'd been through hell, in fact, they all had, but for Sam it had been worse. Him, Daniel and Teal'c had all been through very emotionally traumatising circumstances, but Sam's... Jack was lucky to have her in his arms right now. Very lucky. It had been a close shave.

Jack kissed her head softly and murmured, "I won't leave you again. This is forever."

When there was a reply Jack almost jumped out of his skin! Sam mumbled softly into his neck, "I know."

He looked down at her and met the eyes of an amazing woman. She smiled softly staring up at him with an expression Jack had dreamed to see on her face so many times, except increased ten fold if it was possible.

With a lopsided grin, Jack spoke feeling the need to speak in a Lover's whisper, "That's if you can put up with me. Forever's an awfully long time and you know how annoyi..."

"Shut up," Sam hissed at him as she kissed him again.

Between the butterfly kisses alighting his lips, Jack managed to mumble, "Yes, Ma'am," eliciting a soft giggle from Sam.

The kisses stopped in a surprised silence as he stared at her in shock. She stared back equally dumbfounded by the gentle giggle that had erupted from the grief stricken woman.

A true smile came to his face as he murmured, "You laughed." He stroked his fingers down the side of her silky face as her soft, loving smile returned. He spoke honestly, almost sadly, realising how much that one laugh had moved him, "Yesterday, I thought I'd never hear you laugh again. I wanted you to laugh so badly."

Tears made Sam's eyes shimmer as she spoke quietly, "I'd do anything for you, Jack."

He began to kiss her again passionately, his lips meandering along hers and then down her neck as he whispered, "You're back."

She cupped his face in her hands stared into his eyes and nodded, a fully fledged Sam Carter smile lighting her face, "I'm back!"

Sam laughed again as Jack began showering her with kisses and the listener's smile grew. Finally, they were happy. Sam was well on the way back to normal, Jack was absolutely thrilled by that and was also back to normal. He now had the one thing that had kept him from it for so many years and she was now by his side. Daniel and Teal'c had been informed about Sam's sudden recovery, and now they were happy too. And it seemed the whole SGC had suddenly become happy again.

General Hammond grinned removing his ear from the Major's door when he realised he really shouldn't be eavesdropping. He stood in the corridor for a moment realising the man and woman who he'd welcomed as his surrogate children were finally together. Both of them finally complete.

And in the End wasn't that really what mattered? What those two no-longer-lonely people had been fighting for all along? The chance to kill off the Goa'uld. The chance to let Earth live happily ever after. The chance for Good to conquer Evil so everyone on this whole, wide planet could be content in the knowledge that the ones they loved were safe.

George's grin dwindled to a knowing smile as he began walking along the corridor. He glanced at his wristwatch. 11:30am.

This was another complex and eventful day in the life of Major General George Hammond. And it was only just beginning...

Goodbye Everybody, I've got to go,

Gotta leave you all behind and face the Truth.

Bohemian Rhapsody

FINIS

Yet more Author's Notes: This is one of my favourite stories and IT'S FINALLY FINISHED!!! Yay! So if you have any comments you'd like to make email me, please! As it says in the lyrics above I've got to 'face the Truth'! I have no social life and the more you email me the happier I'll be. Thanks and keep on reading my stuff!

Copyright (c) 2004 Sam I Am