Carter hummed as she took the elevator down to her lab. She knew some people were surprised that she continued to be so happy at work, in the very place she had spent the most time with O'Neill. But here she was reminded of the most pleasant moments they had spent together, here she was free from the vague guilt she felt around Pete.

There were always things to be done in her lab, always new discoveries or experiments that needed running. Sometimes Daniel would drop by for a chat, or more often Teal'c would bring her a cup of blue jello and they would reminisce together over the gelatin, remind themselves of the man who had never really left them.

She was typing up her report for General Higgins-

-Jack's replacement--

--the new commander of the SGC when the klaxons began to blare. She sighed, hurriedly clicking on the save button before hurrying to the control room.

General Higgins was standing as Generals Hammond and O'Neill had before him, staring at the spinning circles of the Stargate in the middle of a dialing a sequence. As the last chevron engaged and locked Sergeant Davis spoke.

"Receiving Tok'ra IDC sir."

Carter felt her heart lift slightly. Perhaps it would be her father-

"Open the iris."

The shimmering blue of the event horizon was almost blinding as it was revealed from behind the iris, lighting the entire room rather than the back wall.

Carter blinked in the effulgent light. A figure was now standing on the metal ramp. She felt relief wash over her.

"Dad!"

"General Carter," General Higgins added, smiling slightly and nodding to the suddenly unusually fidgety Colonel. Sam Carter turned and positively ran down the spiral stairs to the 'gateroom. Unselfconsciously she allowed her father to embrace her. It was the first time they had seen each other since Jack O'Neill's funeral.

"How are you bearing up?" he murmured in her ear as they hugged. His daughter seemed thinner than he remembered, lines of care etched on her face he had not seen before.

"I'm fine," she said and he found himself smiling wryly; he had always been able to see through her lies, however simple.

He released her as General Higgins descended regally from the control room. "Good to see you Jacob." Higgins extended a large hand which Jacob shook warmly.

"It's been a while, Ian," Jacob returned, releasing the general's hand. "I was pleased when Sam told me you got command."

Higgins smiled slightly. "I think we both know who I'm keeping it warm for," he murmured and Carter shifted uncomfortably as her father's mouth twitched with a suppressed smile of pride.

You're keeping it warm for General O'Neill, she thought rebelliously, stupidly.

"What brings you back here, anyway?" Higgins asked after a beat of silence slightly too long for comfort.

Jacob Carter glanced sideline at his daughter, suddenly uneasy. "I think we had better go to your office, actually," he replied. Higgins looked momentarily perplexed, but held out his arm, gesturing for Jacob to head up the stairs to the traditional office of the commander of the SGC.

Jacob took two hesitant steps and then added, his face now very serious, "I think SG-1 should be there to hear what I have to say as well."

Carter felt her insides contract painfully, wondering now what grave news her father was bearing. She nodded, feeling her jaw clench with nervous tension.

General Higgins' office was really too small for the three members of SG-1, their commander and the Tok'ra operative, but Jacob did not seem to want his news broadcast in as potentially public a forum as the briefing room.

"I want you to know," he said, his face taut with seriousness, "That I'm telling you everything we know. We're not holding anything back. Our operatives are working to try and find out more... but there is a limit to how many spies the high council is willing to plow into this."

"Into what, Jacob?"

Carter's insides writhed with anxiety. Her father was taking a deep breath before speaking, never a good sign. She remembered this face he was wearing; it was the face he had worn when he had come home to his young daughter baking brownies, the face of the bearer of terrible bad news regarding her mother.

"Our operative working within the ranks of the system lord Bastet yesterday sent the following transmission to the high council... regarding the sale of captive Tau'ri Jack O'Neill..."

Blood roared in Carter's ears. She felt dizzy, the butterflies in her stomach replaced by a queasy sickness.

"Jack..?" Daniel breathed.

She thought she might faint. "He was dead. He was dead when I left him." The sound of her own voice surprised her, coming from far, far away. She felt a hand on her shoulder and the very core of her being, detached from current events was mildly surprised to realise it was Teal'c's hand, his grip almost painfully tight.

Jacob nodded, his face full of pity. For a moment he seemed unable to speak. He bowed his head and Sel'mac spoke instead. "He was captured by a low ranking Goa'uld, known only to us as Kev'nar. Kev'Nar has... appropriated a former base of Anubis. He has a few super-soldiers at his disposal and a supposedly impregnable fortress built on a planet without a Stargate. Apparently he also has access to a sarcophagus... and knew enough about the Tau'ri to realise that Jack O'Neill would be a valuable prisoner."

Carter could barely hear the symbiote talking through her father's mouth. "There were so many bodies there... how could they know to pick him?"

"What was this Kev'nar doing on the planet anyway?" Daniel added, "We were fighting soldiers of Ba'al."

Jacob shrugged, an over-brightness in his eyes the clue to the fact that he had once again resumed control of his body. "We don't know. We really don't know. I just thought the SGC should be informed, in case you wished to mount a rescue mission..."

Three pairs of eyes flicked to General Higgins' face. He swallowed. "I will contact my superiors," he said, his voice even but a fear palpable in his eyes. "I will inform them of General O'Neill's predicament... but..." His voice broke slightly, "You know... SG-1, you know it won't be likely that I am authorised to mount a rescue operation. To risk many lives for one man... that just doesn't make sense..."

Carter swallowed a choking sob threatening to burst from her throat. Instinctively she reached for Teal'c hand, a physical warning. For a moment she wondered if he would strike Higgins.

The former Jaffa's face was taut with fury. "If you will not allow a rescue to take place..." He seemed unable to finish the sentence, a personal liking for Higgins who was an extremely capable and just commander battling with his sense of outrage at the condemnation of the man he regarded as a brother to endless death, regeneration and torture beyond human endurance.

Higgins sighed, some of the inner turmoil escaping onto his face. "I am sorry Teal'c. I knew Jack... he was a good man."

"Is a good man!" Daniel burst out, "Is a good man!"

Carter closed her eyes, the memories of O'Neill's funeral, a funeral without a body playing on her eyelids.

She had stood with tears in her eye. "We all knew Jack O'Neill in some way..." She had read out the speech that Daniel and Teal'c had co-written, and coerced her to speak. Daniel had added a few words at the end but somehow, they both knew, goodbye had to said by Colonel Carter more so than anyone else: O'Neill's right arm and the woman he had loved with a fierce and protective intensity.

A tear ran from under her eyelashes, down her cheek, where it splashed to the carpeted floor of the office.