Again, thanks for the feedback. Warning, I almost cried typing this stuff and I knew what was going to happen.

Italic represents the present. Bold Italics represent Sam's thought's in the present. Everything else is a flashback. Please review!

Last chapter:

Sam ran...

The Colonel exploded with grief and rage. "You stupid bastard! I will kill you! I will kill -" With that the Jaffe pulled out his Zat gun and silenced O'Neill. He then turned his Zat onto Sam and her world fell into darkness once more.

Sam awoke with a start. She was on her back in a cage. She turned her head and saw Teal'c's body, his lifeless eyes staring at her. Panic started to rise in her chest and her breathing came faster and faster when a hand touched her arm.

"Easy Carter," O'Neill spoke when Sam jumped. "We're alone."

Sam and O'Neill were locked in a cage in the throne room. There was not much space but they were indeed alone.

"Sir? Oh, god, sir – we -" Sam was unable to finish her thought. Her mind was too crowded with images and sorrow. She thought about Daniel's struggle and Teal'c's heroism. She knew that now was not the time to mourn her friends but she was not sure if she could hold off her grief much longer.

"Carter. Sam…I know." O'Neill took her by the shoulders as she sat up. "I need you to hold it together. There are things we have to do."

"I know. I'm sorry sir." Sam pulled away, trying to maintain her composure. "What's the plan?"

The Colonel took a long breath in. "I need you to get back to the SGC. By - taking – Daniel - " Sam could see her superior struggle to get the words out, "- by choosing him, Apophis just gained a whole lotta' knowledge about us."

"Okay, so we have to get back to the Gate. Well, first we have to get out of here. I think I can figure out where we are in this castle from the MALP's initial images. And once we are out of here…" Sam's voice trailed off when she noticed the Colonel was looking at her strangely.

"Sam, I said you have to get back to the SGC. There is something I have to do here."

"What? Do you think," Sam's eyes strayed over to where Teal'c's body lay, "Do you think we can get Daniel back?"

O'Neill looked seriously at his 2IC. "No Carter. Daniel is dead. I need you to accept that. It's important. Daniel is not coming back."

"But sir! Maybe we can get the symbiote out of him. I survived Jolinar, you survived Hathor! Maybe with the Tok'ra's help-"

"This is Apophis! It's different. I can't just leave him like this."

Sam did not want to ask, but she knew there was something…"Sir, what don't I know?"

O'Neill stared at Teal'c's shattered body. The smell of death was thick in the air. "A few months ago, after Sha're died, Daniel talked to me…about what I was to do…if he was ever taken by a Goa'uld. It was kind of like his living will." O'Neill's control was beginning to crack. "He made me promise that if he was taken, I was to make sure that he was freed, whatever it took."

Sam's widened in horror as she figured out what he meant, "You're going to kill him?"

"The Goa'uld killed Daniel, Carter. I am just going to make sure they can't keep killing him. Teal'c – Teal'c was at least given a warrior's death. It is what he would have wanted. To die while fighting for a friend. But Daniel – they have a sarcophagus! Didn't you hear Apophis say that some part of him would know what was happening? They will destroy him but they won't let him die! Daniel deserves better. The Goa'uld have taken so much from him. I won't let them take his soul as well." The raging emotion in O'Neill's voice silenced Carter. This was a long speech for her commanding officer.

Daniel had never opened up to her about losing Shar'e. Her own short-lived experience of being a prisoner in her mind was something she did not like to think about. And at least it brought the Tok'ra to the SGC. Sam remembered Kawalsky and the pain and madness he suffered. Daniel fought so hard, he resisted but Apophis wanted to hurt him and Apophis won.

But Sam had already lost so much on this mission. She did not want to lose the Colonel as well.

"So we'll escape. We can both make it back to the Gate. And then we will get a team and come back here and take out this whole castle. And then we'll get Dan- Apophis in the battle."

O'Neill was shaking his head. "No Carter. You go alone. You get back to SGC as fast as you can. When Apophis took Daniel he got all of Daniel's knowledge. He could start planning an attack as soon as he is out of that damn coffin. Earth needs to be warned. And I have a promise to keep to a friend. I have to make sure that Apophis is dead and can't come back."

"But…" Sam stopped herself, but her mind went on. I'll stay, she thought. You go, you live.

O'Neill gave a ghost of a smile. "Sam, you and your mind are just more valuable than I am. You are a treasure. And you're a faster runner than me." At that Sam burst into tears. O'Neill held her. She could hear what the Colonel was not saying. He was not sure if any of them would make it. He did not want her to see him kill the monster that wore Daniel's face. He wanted to spare her something. He allowed them both a few brief moments of comfort and then pulled back. "I have a job to do Carter and you are ordered to run. I need to know that you will fulfill you mission."

When Sam hesitated, O'Neill gripped her shoulders, "Major Carter, I am ordering you. The first chance you get you will run to the Gate. Is that clear?"

Major Samantha Carter straightened her shoulders, "Yes, sir. I'll run."

Sam continued her frantic run through the forest. She was so close, she knew she was close. Now her hopes centered on the MALP. She needed the radio or all of the sacrifices would be for nothing.

TBC