REALISATION

Sam went in search of Jack the following morning. Reaching his
quarters, she was surprised to find the room empty. Concerned,
Sam made her way down to the Infirmary; Janet was writing up reports.

"Have you seen O'Neill?" Sam asked the Doc.

Janet looked up, "No-one else in here, Sam. You're safe to call him
Jack and no, I haven't. Not since last night."

Sam looked worried. Noticing her expression, Janet added, "Why?"

"He's not in his quarters." Sam replied, "Oh well, he'll be around
somewhere."

------
CONTROL ROOM
------

"Sir?" asked Sam.

"Colonel O'Neill went home about 7am, Major." Hammond said.

"Was he OK?" Sam asked.

"He seemed to be, he said he thought he was due some personal time
and I agreed." Hammond said.

Before anything more could be said, the Klaxon wailed, "Unscheduled
Stargate Activation." They waited a moment as the Gate dialled up.
Then: "Receiving Tok'ra IDC."

"Open the iris," Hammond said.

Sam watched. She never knew if her father was to be the one to step
through, as she always hoped, or someone completely different.

It was the latter. Or one of them was.

Anise had come through the Gate with some other Tok'ra who looked
very young and very new. Anise wore her customary skimpy leather
uniform.

Sam closed her eyes briefly. She did not want to have to deal with
Anise, not with some of the memories she had. But it wasn't like she
had any choice. Daniel and Teal'c appeared in the Control Room;
Hammond began to make his way down to the Gate Room, and the three
members of SG-1 followed.

"So what do we owe this...er...pleasure?" Hammond asked, with more
than a slight hint of sarcasm.

Freya either did not catch it or pretended not to: "Greetings from
the Tok'ra, General." She turned to Sam: "Your father sends his
regards and assures you of his good health." They couldn't help but
notice the way she wasn't getting to the point.

"Thank you." Sam said coldly.

Freya closed her eyes and when she opened them, her symbiote spoke.

"We have received information that there is a Goa'uld who has
infiltrated the SGC." Anise said.

Hammond looked uneasy but not completely convinced. "Let us go to the
Briefing Room," he said.

---------
THE BRIEFING ROOM

---------

Sam regarded Anise with suspicion, "You say infiltrated...."

Anise nodded, "It has made contact with a member of your personnel."

"Who?" asked Daniel.

"Colonel O'Neill."

Sam glared at Anise, "How do you know?"

Anise looked slightly uncomfortable. "We have had a spy in the ranks
of this particular Goa'uld for some time."

"And you choose now to tell us?" Sam challenged.

"We had to be sure." Anise replied coolly.

Before Sam could respond, Teal'c said, "I believe I would have sensed
a Goa'uld had it been here at the SGC."

Anise nodded, "The Goa'uld in question did not enter the SGC."

"Then...how did he get here? And how did he come in contact with
Jack?" asked Daniel.

"You have a place of entertainment, O'Malley's?"

"KENDRICK!" Sam stood abruptly, "Colonel O'Neill was brought back
here by someone called Kendrick."

Hammond and Sam looked alarmed; the members of Tok'ra seemed less so,
but Sam hardly noticed.

"And?" Daniel asked, Sam looked annoyed at him for being so...dense.

"Something isn't right," Sam said, quieter now.

Jack struggled to focus on the road ahead of him.

His head throbbed and he felt sick.

"This is one hell of a hangover," he thought ruefully to himself. "I
can't take the pace anymore."

He laughed but then winced as the sound reverberated back into his
head with a sharp jolt of pain. Sounds, noises suddenly seemed louder
and lights seemed brighter.

"How can anyone drink as much as we did and not get drunk?" he said
aloud, his mind going back to Kendrick's seemingly unaffected head
for beer drinking, "Maybe he's been practising. I'm too old for all
this."

Jack didn't like to admit that perhaps he should slow down the
drinking. It was too embarrassing to see know that Kendrick had
escorted him back to base, while Jack even get that far alone.

Aware that he was talking to himself, Jack forced his focus back on
the road and was relieved to see the exit that would take him home.

It had been an almost two hour journey and all Jack O'Neill wanted to
do was get home and sleep it off.

Finally arriving home, Jack tried to get the truck parked straight,
but found his judgement impaired. He felt too ill to care. Almost falling out of the SUV, he stumbled into the house.

Jack staggered to the kitchen, his throat dry with thirst. He pulled
open the fridge, leaned heavily on the door, but couldn't face the
thought of another beer.

He abandoned the fridge, attempting to make his way to the sink, but
the room swayed violently. He reached out to steady himself, but
knocked off the glass that lay on the work surface before collapsing
on the floor.

Barely conscious, Jack fought back waves of nausea. He was not aware
of the broken glass that was beside him; in an effort to roll onto
his side, he suddenly felt the glass crunch beneath him and the
jagged edges dig into the side of his face and body.

Doubled over in pain, he wished he'd never told Hammond not to let
anyone know where he was, and then he could handle the pain no more.
He closed his eyes and slipped into the cold black of his
unconsciousness.

Back at the SGC, Sam bristled with chilling realisation. Jack's return to base with Kendrick's accompaniment wasn't the end of a friendly drinking session.

Anise's revelation that the SGC had been compromised by a cloaked
Goa'uld brought home Sam's fear from the night before. Her innocent
concern for her CO had now taken on a previously unthought-of fear.
Kendrick had used his association with O'Neill to infiltrate a
Command Unit assigned to remove the threat to Earth from the very
malevolent being that Kendrick himself had become.

Now, Jack O'Neill was in danger and Sam had to accept Anise's
guidance, despite how much it riled her to do so.

Sam turned to Hammond; "Janet mentioned that Jack had been brought
back to the SGC from O'Malley's by someone called Kendrick. Jack was
drunk. Janet was called down to the Security Point to bring him in.
Oh my God ! Kendrick...I think he may be our link." she said, not caring that she was not using Jack's proper rank; suddenly she remembered where she was, and continued: "The Colonel and Kendrick were friends. There would be no way for O'Neill to think anything other than drinking a few beers with a friend."

Hammond looked alarmed, "Major?"

Sam stood abruptly, "We have to get to Jack's house. God! It's my fault he went to O'Malley's. Something is wrong, very wrong. We need Janet here, now."

Hammond ordered an SF; "Get Dr Fraiser, immediately." The SF nodded and quickly left the room.

Sam glanced at Daniel and Teal'c, "We don't have much time to waste," she said to Hammond, "Permission to go to Colonel's O'Neill's home, Sir."

"Do you not think you are being a little hasty?" Hammond asked.

"No." Sam said, sharply. She got up.

Seconds later Janet Fraiser hurried in and saw Anise then Sam, with her face etched with concern. She turned to Hammond for an explanation....

An hour later, with Dr Fraiser at the SGC with a Medical team on standby, Sam, Daniel and Teal'c were in a leased truck heading towards Jack O'Neill's home.

Sam wore a look of determination as she kept barely within the speed limit. Daniel watched the road streak by and he glanced at Sam not daring to challenge her. Teal'c however, was not as submissive, "Would it not be wise to slow down Major Carter?" he said.

"No it would not be wise to slow down," Sam replied icily. The big man raised an eyebrow but did not say another word.

Half and hour later, Daniel plucked up enough courage to mention the
speed to Sam. "Sam, you'll be no use to Jack if you're wrapped around a tree," he said. That seemed to strike a nerve, Sam's face softened and she dropped the speed, but only slightly.

The three continued on in silence until they neared Jack's property.
Sam was startled to find Jack's truck parked haphazardly close to the
house. Jack was usually pretty meticulous when it came to his truck.

Killing the engine, Sam got out of the leased vehicle before even
Daniel and Teal'c had unbuckled their seatbelts.

Sam went to the front door and hammered on it, calling Jack's name.

Daniel and Teal'c joined her.

Between them, they looked like Government Agents. Sam wore her long
black leather duster coat, with black leather pants and a white
shirt, sunglasses covering her eyes.

Daniel and Teal'c wore dark pants and roll neck sweaters. Teal'c wore
a dark woollen hat to cover his Jaffa mark. Jack's neighbourhood was quiet so there was no danger of drawing attention to themselves.

With no answer to her repeated knocking, Sam became exasperated, "I'll try the back," she said, wishing that they were at the cabin and that once round the back she'd find Jack blissfully fishing.

Sam sighed and resumed her lookout. She reached the kitchen window and the backdoor next to it. The kitchen window had closed blinds across it but the backdoor gave some visual access. Sam peered into the kitchen and for a moment saw nothing. Until she turned slightly to the left and caught sight of Jack's crumpled form on the floor beside the worktop island.

"DANIEL! TEAL'C! HE'S IN THE KITCHEN!" Sam hollered as she sprinted back to the front of the house.

Sam ran for all she was worth to the front of the house. She tried the door - almost fell into the house because she hadn't expected it to be unlocked. Daniel and Teal'c followed as she rushed into the kitchen.

She dropped to her knees beside Jack and immediately checked for a
pulse. It was weak and thready and the Colonel was having difficulty
breathing.

"Jack," she said frantically, "Jack!" Jack mumbled something incoherent.

Sam leaned closer to make out the words but understood none. Jack was shaking while sweat beaded his forehead.

"We need an ambulance!" Sam yelled, and then muttered, "Dammit, I wish Janet was here." She heard Daniel get his cell phone out and dial 911; Sam turned her attention back to her fallen CO.

Just as Daniel was dialling he stopped, "How do we explain this at a
hospital?" he said, "Surely getting him back to the SGC is the
safest course of action."

Sam closed her eyes, Daniel was right, "Fine, call Janet and just tell her to hurry."

She turned to Teal'c, "Find me blankets, anything!"

Teal'c promptly turned and left the room.

Sam grabbed a damp cloth from beside the sink and laid it across
Jack's forehead.

Daniel moved away from the kitchen as Janet Fraiser asked him
questions to establish Jack's condition.

"Jack," said Sam, "Jack, speak to me, please."

"Hangover," Jack mumbled.

"Jack, no, this isn't a hangover," Sam replied, fighting back tears
that stung her eyes and threatened to fall, "It was Kendrick, Jack,
it was a Goa'uld."

"Kendrick..." Jack mumbled, "He..."

"Janet's on her way," Daniel reported, returning to the room, "She
wants to talk to you." Sam rolled her eyes and reluctantly stood up, taking the phone from Daniel.

"Sam?" asked Janet from the other end of the line.

"Janet." Sam replied, trying to keep her emotions in check.

"Sam, the General ordered a background check on this Kendrick," Janet
said.

"He was in Special Ops with Jack." Sam answered, "That's all I know.
Jack mentioned him a few times."

"Yes," replied Janet. "Although most of his past is classified, we
know Captain Kendrick served under Colonel O'Neill a number of times."

"They were friends," Sam said, choking back a sob.

"There's something else, Sam, Kendrick--" The line went dead.

"Dammit!" Sam said sharply, almost prepared to slam the phone down
onto the counter until she remembered it was Daniel's cell. Daniel hastily took it and tucked it into his pocket.

"Janet said they'd found something on Kendrick." Sam said.

"What?" asked Daniel as Teal'c returned with some cushions and a
blanket.

"I dunno, the signal died." Sam replied, returning to her position by
Jack's side. She was afraid to move him.

Sam felt like crying.

Jack's condition did not change whilst they waited with him. He slipped in and out of consciousness; when he was conscious, however, it was barely. Each time he opened his eyes Sam felt a leap of hope, only to be dashed down again when he spoke incomprehensibly.

It was a long two hours before Daniel called out that he could see an unmarked van pull into the driveway. Sam looked up but did not move. There was banging at the door and Daniel hurried to answer it.

Janet Fraiser had arrived with a medical team. Even as a doctor she was shocked to see Jack. He looked so ill, his face cut from the broken glass. As anxious as she was to examine Jack, Janet first took the time to gently move Sam away.

Janet forced herself to see Jack in a professional capacity, move her personal feelings aside. It was difficult, but it was something she was used to doing.

Watching Janet work on Jack, Sam finally broke down in tears. Daniel gently slipped his arm around her.

Eventually, Janet had Jack ready for moving. Sam requested that she travel with Jack in the unmarked ambulance. Daniel and Teal'c were to secure Jack's house and drive back to the SGC.