DISCLAIMER: Nope. Not mine. Not for lack of hoping however.

SUMMARY: A picnic begins at the SGC. Daniel has helped Sam start down the path toward healing. Sam and Jack have found out a lot about things Daniel has kept hidden from them.

SPOILERS: Up to "Affinity" Anything else may or may not be referenced here.

FEEDBACK: Please!!!!!!! Please. I love feedback and it really helps to fuel the muse.

A/N: To fanofsg1, I know about the entrapment. And if you continue reading you'll see how I deal with that and the characterization. Thanks for the feedback though.

Sam was not happy, to put it mildly. She had just had a phone call from the DA's office.

"I'm sorry, Colonel Carter. His admission is inadmissible in court. There isn't anything I can do about that one. The only thing right now that we have that could possibly stand up in a court of law is the sample from you and the bed. Of course, the defense will contend that, since you two were engaged, it was consensual sex and that you just cried rape after the fact because you wanted attention."

"What about the testimony of Cassandra?"

"She's a young woman who has been quite vocal in her dislike of Pete Shanahan from the start. It would be easy to consider this her way of getting him away from you. It's also documented that she had been adopted by Janet Frasier after her entire family died. Last year, Dr. Frasier died in a work-related accident and you assumed custody. You are currently the only family the young woman has. It would only be natural that she would feel the relationship with you threatened by your engagement to Detective Shanahan. I'm just trying to let you know that this trial is not going to be nice. It's going to be vicious and the defense is going to try to paint you as a woman who simply decided that it would be too restricting to be in such a relationship at this time."

"I'm sorry. No matter what, I'm going through with this. The man is not what he appears and I want to see him pay for what he did to me."

"Okay. Just remember. I warned you. I'll try to prepare you for what they'll try to say. It's not going to be easy. I've seen cases like this one before. Usually by the time it's over, the victim feels like they've been through the whole thing all over again."

"I'm ready for that. I need to do this."

"Okay." She could almost hear him shrugging on the other end of the line. "If you come into my office on Monday, I'll start trying to prepare you."

"What time?"

"How about 10 am? Would that be good?"

"Fine. I'll see you then."

The call ended and Sam sighed, putting her head in her hands. "You okay, Sam?"

"I'll be fine, Daniel. It's just frustrating. They can't use Pete's confession against him and they'll probably make it sound as if I just cried rape for attention."

"What about your broken finger?"

"They'll probably attribute that to a work injury or maybe even something I did to myself to make the claim more believable." She stopped for a second to scratch at her arm just below the cast. "As if I'd put myself through this annoyance on purpose. I have a lot of work to do and I can't even start on half of it because of this thing."

"You do have people that can help you right?"

"Daniel, you've been my friend for several years now. You know how independent I am."

"I know, Sam. But everybody needs help sometimes. Just accept the fact that you need help and go ahead."

"I think that might be a good idea, Colonel Carter." Teal'c appeared in the doorway. "It might give you something to focus on besides the impending court trial."

Sam sighed yet again. "You're right, Teal'c. I need to focus on something else before I do something crazy."

She headed down to her lab.

Three hours later, Jack walked into Sam's lab. He had seen all the assistants running to and from the place all this time and decided to do something about it. He had grabbed one person's arm and asked her what was going on in the lab.

"Colonel Carter's on a warpath. She hasn't quit barking orders since she walked in about three hours ago. Half of us are ready to run away and hide."

"Pass the word. That's exactly what I want you to do. I'll take care of Colonel Carter."

"How? She won't let anyone near her except when they're working on certain experiments."

"Don't worry about that, lieutenant. I'll deal with her."

"I hope so, sir. I like working with the colonel on a general basis. She's an amazing woman with an amazing mind. I don't like seeing her like this."

"Just get everyone else out of there and I'll talk to her."

"Lieutenant Harrimore!" Sam's voice echoed through the hall, scaring the poor young woman Jack had stopped. She looked up at Jack and ran for the lab.

Thankfully, Jack had already talked to Teal'c and Daniel and found out about the phone call from the DA's office. He understood what Sam was thinking. She was trying to bury herself in her work. That he understood and could work with. But, Sam being the dictator and working her people into a tizzy was not something he could deal with easily.

Suddenly, Jack heard the explosion from the lab. Sam had finally done it. She snapped completely. Each and every person who had been helping Sam ran from the room as she started screaming.

Jack walked to the door. He noticed that Sam stood next to the table with her hand clenched in a fist. He walked over to her, trying to stay as calm as possible, knowing that the only way she would calm down is if he stayed calm.

He flinched though when she slammed her fist down on the table. "Sam?"

"Jack, now's not really a good time to be around me. I just drove everyone that I work with away from me. No one wants to be around me right now."

"I do. Teal'c does. Daniel does. Daniel's just a little preoccupied right now. Teal'c, well he's just being Teal'c. No one thinks less of you for what you're feeling right now. They all understand. It's just that they don't know how to deal with you when you're like this."

He put one arm around her shoulders. She had slumped down onto a stool next to him. "I don't know how to deal with me like this." She looked up at him. "Why can't I just put this behind me? It's not going to be easy. It's not going to be fun. It's going to be just like having him do it to me all over again. But with witnesses. I just wish there was some way it could all be over, with him in jail."

He wrapped her in his arms for a moment before pushing her back from him. "Look, no matter what happens, your friends will always be there for you. You know that. At least, you should know it by now." She nodded. "It's not going to be easy. But would you rather go through this and make sure that he can't hurt anyone else, or risk him doing it to someone else. And the possibility exists that he would come back to do it to you again if he goes free."

"You wouldn't let that happen."

"Not let. But I can't be there 24/7 to protect you anymore than you can to protect Cassie. I understand that some of this happened because he made threats toward Cassie. That would be the one thing to keep you from telling anyone about this before this."

She nodded. He knew her too well. He knew that if Cassie hadn't been threatened, she would have kicked his ass several times over. Of course, the worst of the threats had been that he would see to it that she would never see Cassie again, whether that was by putting her in jail or killing Cassie he didn't care. It was that particular threat that kept her from talking to the others about this.

"I couldn't let him hurt her. In any way."

"I know, Sam. And he never will. Not after we're done with him. I promise."

Sam sat across from the DA in his office. The man had taken a personal interest in this case for some odd reason. He had decided to be the one to prosecute it himself.

"Colonel Carter, I know that some of this is going to get ugly. It's going to be rough and there's nothing I can do to make it easier on you."

"I can handle it. I have to, if I'm going to ever be able to put this whole thing behind me and get on with my life."

"I hope I can help."

"Mr. Jackman, I am a very strong woman. I have to be in my field. It's been predominantly male for so long. And, as you know, men don't usually take to women invading their fields very well."

"Unfortunately, that's true. I do hope, however, that you have a strong support system of friends in place to help out in this."

"Of course. My team would never let me stand alone during a time like this." She smiled sadly as she remembered what had happened in the past few days. Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c had been constantly there whenever she wanted to talk. They had all made a point to stay away from her unless she specifically told them otherwise. She had been amazed at the way they had been trying to help her out. They gave her plenty of room to work things out for herself.

"That's good. I have the feeling that you might need them at various points during the trial." He sighed. "Shall we get started?"

With Sam's nod, Anthony Jackman began the arduous task of preparing for the trial.