Sam's POV

I didn't know how long we sat there on the couch, with Jessie huddled on my lap. Even though it seemed to be over, she was so terrified.

"Mama?" she whispered hesitantly. She was still trying to get over her fear of retribution for talking out loud.

"Hmm?"

"Is it over?"

"I think so. SG-3 is taking care of those two morons," said Jack.

"What're they gonna do to them?" she asked.

He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I don't know, baby. But, whatever it is, they deserve it…and more."

She shivered and I tucked the blanket around her. She was thirteen years old, but was only the size of a normal ten year old. From what we'd been told and what we'd remembered, she was born almost three months early. But, thanks to the Asgard, she'd survived. But, because she was taken away from us, she'd been abused for so long and that seriously stunted her growth.

I held her close and hummed to her as my mom did for me when I was scared. She slowly relaxed and fell asleep. I looked at Jack and saw the same fear in his eyes. We both hoped that this episode hadn't set us back any. She'd finally begun speaking again and hopefully, she'd continue when she woke up.

We sat there for a while longer until my legs began to fall asleep. Jack stood and gently took her from me. She wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder. He smiled and kissed her forehead softly before heading upstairs. I made sure the doors and windows were locked.

When I got to Jessie's room, I realized she wasn't in there. I went back to our room and noticed that Jack had laid her in our bed. He looked up when I came in.

"She sleeps with us tonight," was all he said.

I let out a sigh of relief. After everything that had happened in that week, I was surprised I was still standing. Hell, I was surprised Jessie was still sane. I shed my robe and crawled into bed with Jack behind me and Jessie in front of me. I pulled Jessie into my arms and buried my head in her long blonde hair.

I felt my tears begin to fall as we lay there in silence. I guess Jack felt it because he pulled me closer to him.

"What's wrong, Sam?" he whispered.

I shook my head, unable for the moment to speak. I took a shuddering breath and slowly let it out. "I guess this week has finally caught up with me," I whispered.

He nuzzled the back of my neck and placed a soft kiss at the bump of my spine. "She's gonna be fine. We're gonna be fine."

"I know. It's just…" I trailed off, not knowing how to voice my pain.

"I know, baby. I know," he said softly.

Jessie moaned in her sleep. "No. Don't take her!" She jerked in her sleep. "Mama!" she screamed out as she jerked upright.

We both sat up and I took her fiercely trembling body in my arms. I rocked her back and forth as Jack wrapped his arms around both of us. If she kept sobbing like this, she was going to make herself sick.

"Shh, Jessie. You're safe. It's ok," I whispered, trying to calm her down. It didn't seem to be working. She was sobbing and shaking uncontrollably.

Minutes later, she pushed herself away from us and ran into the bathroom. Doubling over the toilet, she threw up everything she'd eaten that day. She automatically put her shield up and wouldn't let us in.

"Jessie, come on. Lower your shield and let us in," said Jack.

"No! Don't take her! Please don't take her! Mama!" she screamed.

"Jack, she's still asleep," I said.

She was. Whatever she was dreaming about had her extremely terrified. I took a deep breath and walked through her shield. As soon as I had, she slumped over and her shield fell. I picked her up and cleaned her face off.

"Honey, open your eyes," I whispered. I was still kneeling on the floor with her in my arms, stroking her hair gently.

She opened her blue eyes and looked at me with such fear. "Mama?"

"Shh. You're ok," I said softly, rocking her still trembling body slowly.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Here, Sunshine. Rinse your mouth out," said Jack handing her a glass of water.

She did and spit it into the toilet. "What happened?" she asked again.

"You were dreaming," said Jack. He helped us get off the floor and I carried her back into the bedroom. We laid down, one on each side of her.

"Was it a memory dream?" I asked.

She nodded as her tears began to fall again. "About what?" asked Jack. "You were screaming 'don't take her'. Does something happen to your mom?"

She nodded again. "What happens, honey?" I asked.

She took a deep shuddering breath. "We were on a ship and someone took you. I tried to stop them, but I couldn't. Simmons was there." She started crying again.

"When does this happen?" asked Jack, stroking her back as he pulled her close to him.

She buried her head in his chest and sobbed. "I…I…I don't know."

She cried uncontrollably for about ten minutes before passing out. I looked at Jack. He had fear in his eyes also. I knew it was reflected in my own.

"Sam, I don't want you two going anywhere without me or Daniel or Teal'c for a while," he whispered.

I agreed. I knew I could take care of myself. He knew I could take care of myself. Hmm. I didn't know what we were going to do. I didn't know when it would happen or how it would happen.

The two of us fell into an uneasy sleep thinking about what was to come.

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My POV

Dad refused to let me and mom go anywhere without an escort for the next few months. When we went to the gym, we would take Daniel or Teal'c, if he wasn't with us. As time went on, we gradually forgot about that particular memory dream. Then Cassie got sick on her birthday. Dad was at the base and it was me, mom, and Aunt Janet. Cassie was acting kind of strange. Mom said she was rebelling against Aunt Janet. I didn't care. I just wanted a piece of that birthday cake.

Cassie went out on the porch to tell her new boyfriend that we wanted him to come inside. I'm not sure what happened between her and Caleb. But, Caleb was with some girl named Taini now and Cassie was with Dominic. Oh well. Nobody ever tells me anything. Neither one of them will tell me what happened. But, I know for a fact that they were fine until Dominic came along. Then our little group kind split up. I was still friends with all three of them, but I was still closer to Cassie than anyone else.

Anyway, enough rambling. Cassie went outside and collapsed. Because Dominic was there, I couldn't try to heal her. Once we got to the infirmary, I tried, but it didn't work. Mom and dad wouldn't let me try again. They were worried that I'd make myself sick again. I did it anyway and ended up sick because I was exhausted. Aunt Janet refused to let me leave my quarters for three days. For those three days, Cassie was getting worse. Dad and mom took turns with me, so one of them would be with Cassie too.

I walked into the infirmary and saw mom and Cassie playing chess. "Hi mama," I said.

"Hi, honey," she said standing and giving me a hug and a kiss on the top of my head. "How're you feeling?"

"Better," I said returning her hug. I looked up at Cassie. "Hi, Cass."

"Hey Jessie," she said with a cough.

"You hungry, honey?" asked mom.

"A little," I said. "Why?"

"Well, your dad and I are going to the commissary for lunch and thought we'd take you too."

"Nah, I'm just gonna stay here and talk to Cassie. But, you can bring me some jello – red, not blue, this time," I said.

"Jessie…" growled mom.

"I'm not gonna try anything," I said. "I promise."

"You'd better not. You're not too old for me to bust your butt," she said with a smile.

I froze. I knew she was only joking, but for a second, I remembered him. The smile left my face and, for a split second, was replaced with fear.

"Jessie?" asked mom.

"I'm ok," I said, extremely softly. I was starting to shake and tears were beginning to fall.

"God, Jessie. I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry, baby," she said, reaching for me. I backed up against the wall. I couldn't breathe from the pain in my chest. I knew in my heart that she was joking, but my head thought different.

"Sam? What's going on?" asked dad as he walked in the room.

Mom dropped her hand and said, "I made a stupid remark about her not being too old to bust her butt." I could hear the sadness in her voice.

"It's not your fault, mama," I whispered through my tears. "I should be over this. It's not your fault that I'm still scared after all this time."

I let her wrap her arms around me, even though everything in me was screaming for me to run. I knew my parents wouldn't hurt me. My heart knew that. But, like I said, my head thought different. After a few moments of standing stiffly in mom's arms, I relaxed and wrapped my arms around her waist, sobbing with an intensity I didn't know existed.

"Shh, honey. I'm so sorry," she whispered as she stroked the back of my head. I felt dad wrap his arms around us from behind. I felt him kiss the top of my head.

"It's ok, Jessie. Let it out," he whispered. "Let it all out, baby."

I did. I couldn't stop crying. After two years of trying to keep everything inside, I was finally letting go of all the pain I'd kept inside.

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Sam's POV

She cried as though her heart was breaking. But, in this case, her heart was healing. She was finally letting go of all the pain that she'd kept bottled up inside for years. We held her tightly, whispering words of love and comfort over and over again.

Jack turned the three of us to where he was sitting on another bed, taking all of our weight on himself. Suddenly, Cassie whispered, "No! Look out!"

She was looking at the observation window. I moved Jessie out of the way, leaving Jack's hands free. An SF went down as Jack fired his zat at something. A figure became visible.

"Mama?"

"It's ok, honey," I said, holding her trembling body close to mine. I sat down on the bed and pulled her beside me as Jack removed the covering from the Goa'uld's face. It was Nirrti.

Jessie was terrified of her. Her eyes were widened with fear and she looked like she was trying to scream, but nothing would come out.

"Jessie?"

"She wants me," she whispered.

"What?"

"Easy. We need her alive," said Jack as two SF's took the unconscious Goa'uld out of the room. He reached out and took Jessie by the hand and gave her a comforting squeeze.

"She wants me as her new host. I sensed it."

"Sam, take Jessie back to our quarters and stay with her," said Jack.

"Dad, don't go," begged Jessie.

"It's ok, honey. I'm just gonna go talk to Grandpa George about this situation," he said, kissing her forehead gently. He pushed her bangs out of her eyes and kissed her again. Then, reluctantly letting go of her hand, he walked out of the infirmary.

I wrapped my arms around her and lifted her from the bed. "Come on, honey. Let's get you something to eat."

She allowed me to take her to our quarters and I got her a hot pocket. She ate in silence and then took a bath and changed into shorts and a t-shirt. I was waiting on the bed when she came out looking way too fragile.

She sat down beside me and I wrapped my arms around her. "I'm scared, mama," she whispered. "That thing scares me."

"I know baby. But, we're not going to let her take you or Cassandra," I said laying my head on top of hers.

We sat that way for a few minutes and then she laid down and put her head in my lap. I gently stroked her hair, lulling her to sleep. About half an hour later, Jack came in looking tired himself. He leaned down and kissed Jessie's cheek, stroking it gently. Then he kissed me softly.

"Well?" I whispered.

"We had to let her go," he said.

"Why?"

"It was the only way she would heal Cassie," he said softly, sitting beside me. He slid his arm around me as I leaned into him, careful not to disturb Jessie. "And Jessie was right."

"About what?"

"Nerdy does want Jessie for her new host."

"Over my dead body," I whispered vehemently.

"That's roughly what I said," he said. "I told her we were letting her go, but if she came back to earth, I would kill her."

Jessie opened her eyes and sat up. "Dad?"

"It's ok, Sunshine. She's gone."

"She'll be back," whispered Jessie.

"No. She knows that we would kill her on sight," I said.

"She wants me," said Jessie. "She won't stop until she gets me."

"I'll kill her first," I said.

"No," whispered Jessie. "I don't want anyone dying because of me."

"Jessie. If she tries to take you away from us, she will die," said Jack.

"Dad…"

Jack held up his finger. "Ah! I mean it Jessie. I will do whatever it takes to protect you and your mom. I will do anything." He stood up and walked around me to Jessie. He wrapped his arms around her and said softly, "I can't lose you, Jessie. After Charlie died, I never thought I'd love another child. I never thought I'd have another chance to love a child. But, then your mom came into my life and I immediately knew she was the one I'd spend the rest of my life with. Then you were born. I can honestly say that was the happiest day of my life."

Jessie laid her head on Jack's shoulder and I picked up the story. "You were so tiny. I swear you could fit in the palm of my hand."

Jack chuckled. "You did fit in the palm of my hand." He kissed the top of her head.

"Anyway, you were so early that we were afraid of losing you. But, Thor immediately put you in a stasis pod for a while, making sure everything was perfectly formed. My guess is that's when you were given your powers. But, the first time I held you, I knew then that if anything were to happen to you, I would die. You were this little person, created by me and Jack – dependent on me and Jack. I knew I could never give you up."

"The day they chose to send us back, we fought so hard. But, they'd given us some kind of drug to knock us out. We both fought it, but they ripped you from my arms and forced us into an escape pod." I started crying as I remembered that day. I'd hated the Asgard at that moment. I knew it was all Heimdahl and her/his group, but a part of me blamed them all.

"When we found you again and everything was returned to us, we both swore we would never let you go again," said Jack as he pulled me towards them. I wrapped my arms around Jessie also and snuggled up to my daughter. "Since then, we've come too damned close, too many damned times, to losing you again. I swear to God, I'll kill anyone who tries to take you away from us again."

I knew he meant it. I knew that I would do the same. I couldn't lose her. I couldn't lose my daughter for any reason. If it meant I had to kill someone, so be it.

"By the way, I found out what happened to the two idiots that zatted you last night," I said, trying to lighten the mood.

"What?" asked Jessie.

"Well, Pete was thrown through the gate as the wormhole was established." I would've loved to have seen that. Hell, I would've been the one to push him through. That honor went to Daniel and Teal'c.

"And Simmons?"

"Unfortunately, General Hammond stopped SG-3 from doing the same thing to him. He'll be in prison for a very long time."

"He'll get out," said Jessie.

"No, baby. He won't," said Jack, rubbing her back gently.

"Yes, dad. He will. He's part of the memory dream. He's there when mama's taken. Him and a Goa'uld," she said as she started to tremble again. I was seriously considering asking Thor to block that particular power. It was slowly killing her inside.

Jack pulled her onto his lap and began to rock her slowly. When she'd stopped crying and trembling, he laid her down on our bed and lay down behind her. She looked at me with fear and sadness in her eyes. I knew then that one way or another, Simmons was going to die.