DISCLAIMER: Mine? Yeah. Right. And you're spending how much on your shrink?

SUMMARY: Shey and Cassie are being held by Pete, who wants to get Sam alone. Jack knows that she's trying to save the girls and isn't happy about it.

SPOILERS: Up through "Affinity". Anything else that happens may or may not be addressed here.

When Pete opened the door to room 215 at the trashy little motel on the outskirts of town, Sam breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the two young women merely blindfolded and tied to chairs.

"Cassie. Shey. Are you alright?"

"Sam? Sam, is that you?" Cassie's voice sounded hopeful as she pulled against her bonds.

"Don't even try to break free," Pete warned, grabbing Sam's arm before she could rush to the girls.

"Let them go. You have me."

"That's not the way this works. They're going to stay right here while you and I step into the next room to talk."

"Pete, you have to let them go."

Both Cassie and Shey gasped as they heard Pete's hand cross Sam's face. "Sam!" Cassie screamed. Shey didn't say a word. She just started to cry. It was her nightmare all over again. But this time it was real.

"Jack, think about it. Why would she leave her phone behind?"

"I don't know, Daniel. She kept saying that she had to take care of this. She was afraid that, if Pete thought she was being followed, he'd hurt the girls."

"Ok. Do you remember Simarka?" The look Jack turned on him told Daniel the name didn't strike a chord. "The blue dress? 'Find me an anthropologist that dresses like this and I'll eat this headdress'?" Recognition flashed across Jack's face. "She handled that battle. And she couldn't have lasted this long without her skills improving."

Jack nodded. "That doesn't mean I don't worry about her."

"I know. Trust me. I know." He held Jack's gaze for a moment. "Besides, we'll find her. We've got the entire city looking for this sick, twisted bastard. How can he hide from a whole city?"

"By leaving it." With that, Jack turned away. But it was too late. Daniel had already seen the tears glistening in his friend's eyes.

Cassie and Shey were left in room 215 as Sam was forcefully escorted into the next room. Cassie was quietly crying. "He's going to hurt her. We have to stop him."

Shey was meanwhile praying to the Morrigan.'Morrigan, if ever you favored my people, I beg of you to grant me my sight. To save my friends I beg of you to set this wrong deed right.'

"Shey, what are you doing?"

"Praying. Praying for the Morrigan to restore my sight even if only for a short while. With my sight for a little while, I could get us out of here."

"Really? Do you think so?"

"I know so. When we are young, we are trained to escape from ties. It's easier with my sight but I might be able to do it without it."

Shey started pulling and twisting at her wrists. As she felt the ropes begin to loosen around her wrists, she spoke. "This may take a while, Cassandra."

Sam lay on the floor where Pete had knocked her the minute he had closed the door behind her. Pete didn't back off one little bit but continued to press the fight.

Something in Sam snapped. She was tired of this. Tired of being a punching bag. She crawled to her feet with a righteous fury burning in her eyes. She started attacking Pete, driving him back against the wall.

Daniel hadn't known just how right he was when he said that her hand-to-hand combat skills had to have improved over the years. Pete was taken by surprise by her attack. He fought back though. Fought until, in sheer desparation, he could grab her by the shoulders and shove her hard away from him. She fell across the bed and down behind it. As she went to stand back up, Pete pulled his gun and fired the minute he had a clear shot.

When Sam fell, Pete was struck by a sudden realization of what he had just done. He fell to his knees, his eyes wide with shock. "Oh my God! What have I done?"

Two officers had seen Pete's car at the hotel and called Jack. The three men showed up at the hotel not five minutes later.

Pete walked out of room 213 with a look of shock on his face. His gun hung limp from his hand.

Jack ran up to him and grabbed his shoulders. "Where's Sam?" Pete didn't say anything. "Where is she, you bastard?" Jack's voice was starting to raise.

Suddenly, Daniel heard two female voices screaming for Sam. He and Talorn burst into their room. Daniel stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the two girls tied and blindfolded in their chairs.

Talorn untied Shey first. As he was untying Cassie, Shey lifted her hands to remove her blindfold. Daniel was shocked as she blinked her eyes repeatedly as if the light hurt them.

Without giving him even one moment to react, Shey walked up to Daniel and looked him square in the eyes. She said nothing, simply reached up her hand and stroked his cheek.

Tears filled Daniel's eyes as he realized that Shey could see him. As the tears rolled down his face, Shey wiped them away with the pad of her thumb. "Do not cry, my love."

"You see me. How?"

Shey hadn't even had a chance to answer when Jack's voice was raised in an agonized scream. Everyone ran for the door.

Jack had finally had enough of trying to get Pete to answer him. He just walked into the room Pete had left.

The bloody streak down the wall didn't even register in Jack's mind. The only thing he saw was Sam's blonde hair peeking out from behind the bed. He didn't even recognize the anguished scream ringing in his ears as being his own.

At least not until he heard Shey's soft cry. He looked up from where he knelt beside Sam's still form to see Shey staring at the bloody spot on the wall, her eyes filled with shock and horro before slumping, unconcious, into Daniel's arms.

A/N: Will Pete survive this? Will Sam be okay? Give me a few ideas. I might just use them.