A/N: Oh my god… I never imagined I'd get so many reviews! It's like a drug! I need more! But then I have to write more… which of course I love doing because it means I get more reviews! Oh sweetness…

You'll notice I've changed the genre of this to "Angst/Romance" after realising that there's bugger all action or adventure really in it… made sense.

Anyhoo… thank you one and all. Glad I'm so far avoiding cheese, it's not going to get easier though. I've only just actually figured out kind of how this is going to end, but at least I know.

And yes, Togar is evil/mean/whatever… but hey – he's the baddie!

Hope y'all like…

Jack felt himself land on the bed in the mock SGC guest quarters with a small thud as, yet again, Togar cut him off mid sentence. He unconsciously punched the mattress in frustration before looking up to find that Sam was nowhere to be seen. Dread filled his stomach as he realised that Togar had probably transferred her out of their unique holding cell. This time he punched the mattress with all his force, only partially grateful for the fact that it was soft – a small parted him wanted to inflict pain, to take all the annoyance out on himself.

"What did the poor bed do to you?" A familiar voice filled the room from behind him, sounding rather amused.

Jack whirled around to see Carter standing in the doorway that led to the bathroom. He was startled to realise the extent of relief that washed over him once he had taken in the fact that she was there, and not on some torture chair in one of Togar's labs.

"Don't scare me like that!" He blathered, scandalised that he'd been subjected to those twenty seconds of anguish.

Sam tried to contain her amusement seeing him look so relieved. "Sorry sir, but sometimes a girl's gotta go."

"Yeah well," Jack grumbled, now embarrassed at his reaction. "What with all this freak of nature has been throwing at us…" he motioned to the ceiling, indicating Togar, "… you never know, ya know?"

"I can take care of myself." Sam sat at the head of the bed, leaning comfortably against a carefully constructed pile of pillows.

Jack stayed where he was at the other end of the bed, trying to come up with a suitable retort to her last comment when he noticed that she'd wrapped a fair amount of toilet paper over her left hand. He edged up the bed to where she was and took hold of her hand, his eyes demanding to know what had happened.

"Ah… that…" It was Sam's turn to look embarrassed. "I thought I saw a weak point in one of the walls and decided to investigate. I think I probably picked the right spot -where some sort of control panel is – because it shocked me…" She saw the concerned look on his face and found herself becoming quite annoyed. "It's fine, it's just a small burn." Seeing he still hadn't softened his expression, she continued. "What, d'you want us to stay trapped here or d'you want me to find a way out?"

Jack let Sam have her hand back and lay down on the bed next to her contemplating the boring concrete ceiling. He felt her relax next to him, but knew her brain would still be going sixteen to the dozen. Looking up he saw he was right, the familiar expression of concentration painting her face.

"Whatcha thinking?" he asked playfully.

Sam looked down at the mischievous expression on Jack's face and couldn't suppress a smile. "Just trying to figure out what this Togar really wants from us…" she gazed into the middle distance straight ahead of her. "I don't believe for a minute we're here so he can 'investigate' human relations with each other." She paused, unsure whether she should continue. "I mean, we're hardly a textbook case of how people interact are we? He'd be better off probing Daniel's thoughts about Sha're, or Teal'c's even." Her voice dropped to little more than a murmur. "At least they've had love-lives recently." She kept her eyes directed straight ahead of her, avoiding whatever reaction Jack would have to that comment. In the absence of a response, she moved on, her voice returning to normal. "So where have you been?"

Jack hadn't failed to notice the implications of what Sam had said, but was merely too unsure of what to say before she had apparently changed the subject. He stretched his arms out in front of him before resting his hands behind his head on the bed.

"Back in those damned immobilising chairs. I saw Daniel though – he's fine," he added in response to Sam's questioning look. "I think Togar's been showing him what's going on with us though… it seems Daniel's been helping him."

"What!" Sam sat up, shocked to her the words coming out of Jack's mouth.

"Well, not exactly willingly." Jack sat up to look Sam in the eye. "If you think about it, it makes sense. Danny-boy's the expert among all of us at understanding different cultures. He's kind of Togar's equivalent, albeit a non-machiavellian one."

"Well I guess we can thank him later for the fact that there have been none of those creepy flashbacks recently." Sam looked down at the bed, deep in thought, before snapping her head back up to look at Jack. "Togar didn't… do… anything to you when you were there, did he?" The concern showed through her expression.

"No." Jack answered simply. "Seems he just wanted to find out why I was so angry at being psychologically tortured – apparently he doesn't understand." He snorted angrily. Dropping his head slightly, he continued. "I think you were right about his plan though, I don't know what's taking him so long to bombard us with another bout of torture…" He looked up, resigned to his fate. "I really don't know how to fight this."

Sam swallowed slowly, taking in what she'd just heard. Fiddling with her fingernails again, she collected her thoughts. "I don't think we can fight it. If we do, it could just get worse."

"But how do we know it's going to get any better?" Jack snapped angrily. "This guy's got complete power over us! We can't even touch a wall without being electrocuted!" He motioned to Sam's hand. "He's worse than those goons in the NID."

At this last comment, he was stunned to see Sam's face perk up, apparently in some sort of epiphany. He could see the familiar wheels turning in her mind as she drew her legs closer to her, apparently running something over in her head.

"Eureka?" he asked cautiously.

"Hmmm…" Sam was still deep in thought. "Not exactly… but I may have an idea."

Before she could finish her thought, however, both of them were suddenly wrenched from their comfortable positions into agonising contortions as Togar subjected them to yet another onslaught of torturous memories.

The now familiar rapid slideshow of images flashed across Sam's mind before settling. She was struggling to escape the grasp of two airmen restraining her at the entrance to the holding cell as she saw Jack leaving to effectively sacrifice himself for her. He glanced at her as he was propelled towards what would probably be a fatal experiment at the hands of the za'tarc detector but kept walking. Again and again, she strained, she saw him walking to what would probably be his death. He couldn't do this, he couldn't leave her. Either they both lived or they both died. He couldn't leave her alone… The nightmare refused to end as the images repeated in her mind. She was no longer aware of reality as her consciousness was completely consumed by the feelings of anger, despair and complete helplessness in the face of seeing the man she loved walking towards an almost certain death – for her.

Jack felt nauseous as the images flashed across his mind. He tried in vain to retain a sense of reality as the images slowed to a stop. He saw the murderous look on Sam's face as the entity spoke through the creepy voice synthesiser. He saw 'Sam' run through the hall and stop to face him. He had to shoot. He killed her. Again, and again, and again. Sam was lying motionless on the gurney in the infirmary. Braindead. He'd killed her. She was gone. They had to turn the life-support off. She was gone… he'd killed her… he'd done this… it was his fault. Screaming out in agony and frustration he killed her, over and over… he saw her essentially void body lying there as his heart ripped to pieces, General Hammond speaking somewhat redundantly about 'difficult decisions'… He'd killed her, he'd destroyed the only woman who had been able to make him feel alive in recent years… he'd killed the woman he loved.

"Stop it!" Daniel was screaming at Togar, unable to contain his distress. "You're killing them!"

Togar looked away from the screen, surprised at the words he heard. "Killing them? But surely memories cannot actually terminate life?" He looked to the screen again, as both Jack and Sam continued to writhe around on the bed.

"You don't GET IT!" Daniel was still shouting, speaking as fast as he could and still remain comprehensible. "People can die from grief! They can be so consumed by trauma that they lose all will to live! Stop this or you WILL kill them!" Daniel's heart was in his throat as he ineffectively tried to move against the invisible restraints on the chair. "Just tell me what you want explained! I'll tell you anything!"

"I know you will." Togar stated simply, unmoved by the man's agony. "That is not my objective."

"Well what the HELL is!" Daniel felt tears of frustration welling in his eyes, completely unable to help or do anything. "Tell me what you want! This whole farce of understanding our feelings is making less and less sense! STOP IT and tell me what you WANT!"

The memory programme automatically disengaged and Daniel saw Sam and Jack collapse back onto the bed, unconscious. With an exhausted sigh of relief he unclenched all the muscles in his face and neck that had been contorting with rage and let his head flop backwards onto the back of the chair. "Thank you." He breathed, despite being almost sure that nothing he had said made Togar stop.

Togar was absorbed by the readings on the display in front of him for several minutes before addressing Daniel again. Finally turning to the exhausted archaeologist, he said ten simple words before Daniel was again engulfed in a white light. "You have just told me what I needed to know."

Jack struggled to navigate through the clouded pain engulfing his consciousness. He was aware of a certain emptiness… a blackness… but he didn't know what that meant. Was he dead? Was it over? More importantly, where was Sam? Slowly he sensed light on the other side of his eyelids. The throbbing pain in his head screamed at him not to open his eyes, but with a mammoth effort he managed to let a sliver of light through. Repressing the urge to throw up, he kept his eyes open as tiny slits, enough to try and understand where he was. Before he could try to move his head, the pain and anguish hit him again. He had killed Sam, she was lying dead on the gurney because of him. Thrusting his arms out in complete despair his right hand struck an unmoving body next to him. His heart leapt to his throat as he grabbed onto the arm lying next to him, as if for dear life. With a superhuman effort, he pulled himself onto his side and saw Sam, unconscious, lying next to him. With such a massive wave of relief that he cried out, Jack pulled her listless body onto his and clung to her, listening to her breathe, feeling her chest rise and fall with every breath. Exhausted by his effort, Jack felt everything go black again as he passed out.

He had no idea how long he had been out when he heard the voice. "Oh god no! Please don't! Jack!" Sam's body was rigid with terror she saw Jack walking away to his death.

Trying to ignore the still constant throbbing in his head Jack struggled to speak, his mouth acrid and dry. "I'm sorry." He croaked. "I had no choice…" Still consumed by his experience, he saw Sam, lifeless on the gurney.

Both of them stopped, hitching their breath in a moment of uncertainty.

"Sam?"

"Jack?"

"Ye-es…" they both responded to each other's tentative appeal.

Opening their eyes simultaneously each grabbed hold of the other as sobs of relief racked their bodies.

Togar watched intently as his test subjects slowly recovered from their ordeal. Urgo was making horrified squealing noises from behind him but knew better than to utter a word.

"So it can be done." Togar spoke to no-one in particular. "Despite your tiresome whinings, you have done me a great service in sharing your insights of these humans. Our people can be more sure than ever of their security."

Urgo was almost hopping around on one foot behind Togar's menacing frame. "Oh please tell me that's enough! You don't actually want them dead, do you?"

"I see no reason to keep them alive." Togar responded coldly. "Although it's probably not necessary for them to expire, it would be valuable to have a concrete case where this method has worked effectively."

Urgo looked aghast at this possibility, and started wringing his hands together while continuing to whine. "And the Jaffa? He's different… what about him?"

"Ah." Togar appeared to reconsider. "He is definitely stronger than the others. We will have to try something different with his kind."

Urgo was suddenly looking devious as his mind worked ahead of time. "So there's no harm if you leave the others be while you experiment on him? Can I play while you're busy? Pleeeaaaaaaaase?"

Togar clicked his tongue with impatience. "Not for the moment. I need to monitor them. If you cease to interfere with my work I may consider it later."

Urgo immediately stopped speaking and pulled an imaginary zip closed over his mouth. An impish grin spread across his face as he began planning.

TBC

A/N: Ok, I know… this one was a difficult chapter for Sam and Jack. I promise all will be revealed next time. Both as to Togar's plans for Teal'c, Urgo's plans for whatever the hell it is he's doing (for me to know and you to find out!)… and last but not least… there will be (drumroll) THE TALK…

On that note, I have to warn you I'm working 8 hour shifts the next five days straight and am obliged going out for dinner with different people for the next four nights (with my parents in England, all their friends are demanding that me and my brothers visit for "a good meal"). I will try to post asap but if there's a bit of a delay, you'll understand why!

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase review! I need it… I'm getting strung out…