SLEEPING BEAUTY.

by LetitiaRichards

Previously:

He straightened up, climbing stiffly to his feet as the pain in his back made itself known again. He bit back a whimper of discomfort, not wanting to broadcast his distress. He had a job to and he was determined to get them out of this place, wherever it was.

Chapter 7

Jack walked over to the control panel, the one that was responsible for puttingCarter to sleep. Without turning round to face her, because he was afraid he wouldn't be able to control his emotions, he called her over.

"Any chance you can get a better idea of what this thing does?"

Sam stood, casting her eyes down so that she could avoid looking at him, knowing her own emotional limitations. If she looked, she would want to touch, but she couldn't allow him or herself to be distracted from their objectives.

Whatever the machine did, it was obviously affecting their ability to think clearly whilst in proximity to each other. Their senses were heightened; attuned to one another more so than usual and it took all their willpower to resist giving into the heat stirring in their loins.

Sam hesitated.

"Uh Sir!"

Jack took the hint and moved away quickly, and Sam was able to approach the console without fear of giving in to the temptation of falling into his arms and worse.

Jack wouldn't stand too far away from her lest the machine would zap her again, but this time he heard, rather than saw her touching the keypad without a problem.

"This is fascinating sir," she began, getting into technobabble territory, her brilliant mind focussing on the array of dials and switches before her.

Jack couldn't resist the smile that creased his lips. Trust Carter to forget their somewhat embarrassing problem when faced with some alien doohickey.

"Sir. This is..." she left off when he interrupted her.

"Ack! Carter...don't!" he ordered. "Will it get us out of here?" he asked impatiently, bringing her detailed explanation to a halt before it got started.

"Yes sir. If only I could only figure out how to create a feedback loop..."

"Carter!" he yelled, fighting against his instincts to take her into his arms and ravish her. "Just...do it!" he finished with a deflated sigh.

"Yes sir!" She closed her eyes against the images flitting through her mind of having him cover her body, his hands... 'No!' she shouted inwardly. 'Concentrate! You have to concentrate!'

Sam worked hard, turning her mind to the task at hand. Once she was pressing buttons and flicking switches it wasn't so hard to lose herself in the logistics of the complicated equipment.

"I think I have it sir!" she called as she pressed the enter key.

Everything happened at once.

The walls around them flickered and faded.

Then they were falling.

OoOoOoOoO

"Oh god! My head hurts!"

"Daniel Jackson, are you hurt in any way?" Teal'c's voice rumbled and echoed round the empty chamber.

"Teal'c?" Daniel asked, still unsure if his head was attached or not.

"It is I Daniel Jackson."

"Jack? Sam?"

"They are not here."

"Damn! What happened?"

"I am unsure. I woke to find myself in this cell. I believe we are prisoners."

"What? I don't remember a thing," Daniel sighed unhappily.

"Neither do I."

It took a few more minutes before Daniel could think straight, and for the headache and nausea to fade.

"I was going to study the inscriptions on the wall!" Daniel said, now recalling the moments prior to... "I fell asleep!" he gasped incredulously.

"I also felt unusually weary and I am ashamed to admit that I too fell asleep," Teal'c confessed a little embarrassed about failing to protect the archaeologist. Now they were captives by a person or persons unknown.

"That's not your fault Teal'c. There must be a perfectly valid explanation for all of this. Someone had to have arranged for this to happen."

"You are correct Dr. Daniel Jackson."

The strange voice echoed from the barred doorway, bringing them both to their feet and closer to the door.

"You are my prisoners now."

"Who are you and why have you locked us up here?"

"Where are Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter?"

"Questions, questions. So full of questions. Does no-one ever bother to say 'Hello' these days?" the man sighed with sadness.

"You expect us to just ignore the fact that we're being held against our will and just say 'Hi' to you? Daniel cried incredulously.

"Why not?"

"Duh! Because we're your prisoners!" Daniel gaped. Was this guy for real?

"Yes!" he pouted. "Just because you're my prisoners, doesn't mean to say that you can be rude and not say 'Hello', does it?"

Daniel couldn't believe his ears. He turned round to face the wall, his hand across his mouth in disbelief.

'This guy had to be the craziest captor alive. He wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not.The man acted like he was a kid.' Daniel mused over the problem, hoping that Jack and Sam were okay. He spun back to the man.

"We can't say 'Hi' to you, because you haven't told us your name yet!" Daniel was determined to fight fire with fire; to treat him like he wasa few fries short of a happy meal or something. "You obviously know who we are!"

"Of course I do. Everyone knows about SG-1. And my name is Balazah, so now will you say 'Hello'?"

"Hello Balazah!" Daniel said with infinite patience.

Teal'c merely looked at his fellow warrior and raised his eyebrow at him, wondering what he was thinking of. He decided to repeat his earlier question.

"What have you done with Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter?"

"They've been very naughty," he said, shaking his head in disgust.

"Balazah...what have you done with our friends?" Daniel asked, worried that the madman had punished them for some reason he couldn't fathom because they had been 'naughty'.

"They broke my toy!"

"Where are they?" Daniel was growing concerned now, at least more so than he was earlier.

Balazah pouted angrily, looking for all like a two year old who'd just had his favourite toy confiscated for bad behaviour.

"Not telling you!" he cried and turned on his heel, scurrying away.

"Balazah!" Daniel called after him, needing to know what he was planning on doing to his friends. "Balazah!"

The man never reappeared and Daniel slumped onto the floor, sliding down the wall. He glanced up at Teal'c who looked just as miserable as he felt.

"Well," Daniel sighed with regret, "that went well!"

"Indeed!"

TBC