Captured Hearts, Chosen Hearts Series S6

by HDorothy

Daniel's given one last glimpse of Jack and Sam’s past and witness’s the horrific atrocities his best friends were forced to endure at the hands of Nirrti.

Many thanks to the givers of generous feedback. Your encourgement keeps me humble and writing. - HailDorothy

Title: Captured Hearts - Chosen Hearts Series - S6 - 616

Author: HDorothy aka HailDorothy (same)

Category: Missing Episode, Romance/Humor/Friendship/Angst

Warnings: Strong sexual content/Violence

Pairing: Jack/Sam

Others: Oma, Daniel, Teal'c, Cassandra, Nirrti

Season: End of S6 before 622 Full Circle.

Spoilers: 101 CoTG, 106 Cold Lazarus, 114 Singularities, 303 Fair Game, 506 Rite of Passage, 606 Abyss, 616 Metamorphosis,

Rating: T

Story Summary: Before getting kicked out of the Ancient's realm, Daniel is given one last glimpse of Jack and Sam's past and witness's the horrific atrocities his best friends were forced to endure at the hands of Nirrti. A bittersweet experience that the couple no longer recalls, and yet will alter their future and that of someone who's already an intricate part of their lives.

File size: 184 KB

Archive: Jackfic, GateWorld, Heliopolis, SamandJack, FanFiction

Author's Notes: Read Wishes of the Heart and anything in Season 4, 5 and 6. With a few obvious exceptions, I remain true to canon.

Series Summary: This is an established storyline in which Jack and Sam fell in love during Jack's first retirement. When Jack is re-commissioned and Sam inadvertently assigned his subordinate, they pretend to be strangers and put their wannabe lovers relationship on hold. Little do they realize it will not be a matter of months, but years, before they can follow through on the desire of their 'Chosen Hearts.'

Song: Somewhere Over The Rainbow - Music - Harold Arlen, Lyrics - E.Y. Harburg © 1939 Where Do Broken Heart Go - Whitney Houston, Greatest Hits. Lyrics: F. Wildhorn, C. Jackson © 1987 – Time After Time – Cynde Lauper ©

Special thanks to my betas', Carol Sue and DinkyDow who possess the left brained logic I don't. You ladies, have patience beyond measure and aren't afraid to tell me when I've stepped out of character or crossed the sacred line of SG-1 canon.

Thanks to The Keeper of the Stars. You gave me the gift of the bards. I'm forever grateful!

Disclaimer: All publicity recognizable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret Productions. This series may include script excerpts from the TV Series 'Stargate SG-1.' This fan fiction was created for entertainment, not monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks are intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of said author, HailDorothy January 10, 2005 ©.

Feedback: Gosh, darn, don't make me beg! Pretty Please? Starvation of this writer's muse is no pleasant sight. All feedback is food for thought and well digested. "Feed me, Seymour!" (The Little Shop of Horrors)

PROLOGUE

The Crab Nebula

"Daniel?"

"Oma?"

"I have looked everywhere."

"And found me the last place you looked."

"You interfered again!"

"Whatever." He snorted.

"You sound more like Jack O'Neill everyday."

"Maybe coz I miss him and I don't know who I am anymore, Oma. Who is Daniel Jackson besides a ball of energy without purpose or cause? Without my friends at the SGC and most of all Jack, Sam, and Teal'c, my family, I'm nothing, Oma. I'm an outsider here. I don't belong, never did, never will. I've said it before, I want to go home to Kansas!"

"I am sorry, Daniel. I thought we were friends."

Daniel looked at the hurt expression on the Ancient's face. "We are. In fact, you're the only true friend I have here. I've also alienated you from the others and that's not good.

"Jack's right. Being Ancient sucks and even worse knowing there isn't anything spiritual happening here, just high-handed physics that has your race stuck on yourselves, present company excluded of course."

She smiled.

"And I can't believe you let Anubis descend, let alone continue to wreak havoc on the universe! Now he's determined to find the Eye of Ra. I'd like to know what happens if he were to get his hands on it."

"True we are responsible for his escape. However, we cannot interfere. As for the Eye of Ra, it remains in the temple on Abydos and it is Anubis' intent to claim it for the power source it holds. If he does possess it, it will change everything and not for the good of Tau'ri kind."

"You trying to tell me something?" Daniel eyeballed the pretty Ancient.

"You can read between the lines, Daniel."

"I do that pretty well, Oma. If Anubis is headed for Abydos that means Skaara's people are in danger. I need to visit Jack." He turned away.

"Wait! I strongly advise against such action, Daniel."

"Excuse me, you just shared vital information that could affect the entire universe and now you tell me, I can't interfere?"

"Daniel, the council will not allow you to continue your rebellious nature. They are in session as we speak."

"Screw the council! And why aren't you there?"

"Because I was as you'd say in Tau'ri language, your defense council. I have already spoken on your behalf."

"Without my presence! I just don't believe, you people! Especially as I've already requested to return to my previous Tau'ri form and you're still debating what to do with me?"

"Daniel, since that request you committed an atrocity in the Ancients' eyes. You interfered more than once. And your intervention with Colonel O'Neill's capture by Baal was, as you Tau'ri would say, the straw that broke the camel's back. The Committee indeed plans to transform you to your human form. The issue is whether it will be on Earth as you were before your ascension or on an inhabitable moon in a galaxy far, far away, with no chance of human contact. Much like we did to Orlin."

"But Orlin took human form after he'd followed Sam to Earth and then ascended again . . ."

"Only because the Committee allowed him after he'd died for others." Her gaze narrowed.

"Oh, right. I see." He gulped and finally looked at her. "So that's what you came to tell me?"

She nodded. "I also came to take you on one last time travel excursion regarding Jack and Samantha."

"Must we? I've seen way more than I have a right too. Besides you said I'd forget."

"I cannot force you to do anything, Daniel. You must come of your choosing. What will be revealed will affect everything you have been shown thus far. Moreover, if it is the will of the Keeper of the Stars that you regain your memory, this knowledge will help direct you in the issues that matter most. It will inspire you to make certain Jack and Sam have a future as Godsends, as the prophecies have proclaimed. It also includes someone else who is of significance to you and will one day be the priority in your life."

"A clue would be nice." He rubbed his aching temples, well that's if he had temples.

"If you come, all will be revealed at least enough for you to be enlightened."

He turned from her, brooding. On the other hand, if he got marooned on some freezing moon for eternity, this might be the last time he'd get to see his friends, even if in the past tense. And maybe if he were cooperative, Oma would help him challenge Anubis and protect Abydos. Not a bad game plan. Jack would be proud.

"Not sure I want anymore enlightenment, Oma," he said for good measure, not wanting to sound too eager.

"As you wish." She shrugged and flew off.

"Wait?" Daniel called out, hoping he wouldn't regret this. When Oma swept him back in time Daniel's last O'Neill sarcasm was, "I so own you!"

CHAPTER ONE

Somewhere over the rainbow. . .

1969 – Nirrti's ship orbiting Earth.

"Give her to me!"

"Screw you!"

"Oh, I look forward to it, Jonathan." Nirrti taunted the youth holding the object of her present desire. "I won't harm this one that your species calls Samantha Carter. I simply need to run a few more assessments on the child."

"Why?" He brushed his hand down the trembling back of the four-year old girl in his arms. "Hush," he soothed her as she nestled her face into his neck.

"To verify you and she are genetically compatible for future breeding." Nirrti curled her tattooed fingers around the child's waist.

"You are one sick broad!" Jack held tighter to the sobbing girl with whom he'd become emotionally attached. No way would this creature harm Samantha again.

"I am a procurer of genetics." She snorted. "Have you any idea how singular you are, Jonathon O'Neill? The thousands of years I've searched for one Tau'ri with your unique biological composition?"

"Don't give a rat's ass. Care even less about your techno babble. But if you let her go, you can do whatever you want to me."

"Yes I can." She snickered and with strength Jack had never encountered the woman plucked Samantha from his arms.

"Noooo!" Samantha wailed reaching for him. "Jonnie?"

Jack leapt to his feet and his clenched fist smashed into Nirrti's mouth with such force, he felt her front teeth crack beneath his bleeding knuckles.

And he scores!

Jack ten!

Bitch zero!

The pained expression on the diabolical creature's face made what Jack knew was coming worth it. A staff like weapon slammed him mid-back and cracked ribs as he buckled. Two jackal-faced guards seized him and as one held his arms back, the other smashed the weapon across his knees. The sickening sounds of shredding muscles and tendons and shattered cartridge melded with the horrific pain and his knees hyper-extended. Jack couldn't stay conscious long but before he could collapse the guards held him to face their false god. Bright colors swam before his eyes and his breakfast of Fruit Loops and stomach acid tossed a coin for possession of his throat and mouth. Jack bit his tongue to quell the urge to spew.

Nirrti handed Samantha to an assistant, dabbed her bloody lip and spit out a tooth. "Kree!" She spun around and directed her rage at Jack. "After all this time, you've yet to learn submission, young Tau'ri!" She aimed the hand device at his head. "Or that I am your god!"

"What—ever!"

Nirrti laughed at his comeback. "From now on I will use the memory eraser potion on you and the girl. I no longer want you to remember each other or who you are."

"Got a mind like a steel crapper," Jack gloated but winced when he exhaled.

Behind him Samantha's pleading voice branded itself on his battered heart, "Don't hurt him?"

"Too late. Your Prince Charming needs to be punished for defying his god."

"Take your best shot, witch!" Jack glared willing her to do just that. He'd survive. He always did. Besides, she needed him for her experiments. Jack hated scientists and doctors. From here on he'd avoid them at all costs. Most of all, he vowed that one day, he'd find a means to protect Samantha and seek revenge on Doctor Frankensteiner.

As Nirrti lifted the gold hand device Jack willed for Samantha's sake, not to cry out when the pulsing rays penetrated his forehead with a raging fire that made his knees feel that an annoying toothache. Maybe it was his youthful stupidity and stubbornness, but his defiant glint managed to engage that of his tormentor and he choked out, "So help me, bitch, . . .someday . . .I'll snap . . .your fricking . . .neck like a twig!"

It was just a twitch in the alien's ebony eyes, but Jack knew in that instant, this creature who called herself a god feared him. That knowledge gave him a confidence that no one, not even Nirrti, would ever control him or a little girl Samantha Jean Carter.

Time passes like the blink of an eye, while the heart yearns for what it has lost, it's way home . . .

1985 – Late night, O'Neill cabin, Minnesota

Jack spooned with his sleeping wife, Sara. His fingers subconsciously brushed her sandy blonde curls from her face and he nuzzled the soft curve of her neck where he would kiss and whisper how much he loved her. That warm juncture of her flesh where he escaped the black secrets of his chosen profession and where for a few moments his soul found peace.

The urge to pee and desire for fresh air dragged Jack from Sara's warm embrace. Buck naked, he exited the cabin and padded barefoot across the dew kissed grass to relieve himself. He'd no sooner finished when a flash of light and five metal rings descended around him. Jack vanished.

"What the—" He blinked, took in the gold-gilded walls and really weird dog-faced creatures approaching him with staff-like objects he assumed were weapons. This was one of those warped dreams where you find yourself nude, and everyone's staring at you. Trouble was, he couldn't wakeup! Jack so wasn't in Kansas!

0100 Hours: USAF Academy Library parking lot.

Yawning, Cadet Samantha Carter slipped her armful of books through the open window onto the passenger seat of her 1961 Volvo, and hurried around to open the driver's door. Before her hand reached the door's handle, a bright circular ring of light encased her. She vanished.

Fear is the armor of a lonely heart trying to find it's way home . . .

Samantha Carter was anything but fragile. Nor was she easily mentally or emotionally stressed. Although, clueless to her identity and location, she sensed she'd been doing something important before this, but that it no longer mattered. It didn't even matter that she was naked on a bed. No, a deeper seeded insecurity kept her paralyzed with fear.

Sam was alone!

She floated, swimming in a sea of violet lights. It was beautiful! He was beautiful. Tall, lean muscled, tanned and naked! He reached out to her and she willingly went to him, wanting him. Still, something told her this was wrong, she was not in control of her mind or body. She could feel the strength of his possessive arms. His caressing hands and lips touched her where no man ever had. Sam's fingers and lips stroked and explored him tentatively, wanting to pleasure him.

She sifted her fingers through his honey brown hair, her gaze locked with even darker eyes and she became lost in them. She saw her confusion and fear reflected in his coffee brown stare that was glazed with a powerful physical need to join with her. When they came together it was all she imagined and he placed an indelible stamp in her spirit that would haunt her the rest of her life.

Her lover was tender and commanding and when he took her virtue, she saw his shock, but also sensed the same for him. Conscious of no other lovers before this, they were each other's first. He held her and stilled within her, speaking comforting tender words of reassurance, until the discomfort eased. Sam sensed his emotional struggle to end their lovemaking, sensed his will power was stronger than her own, but she didn't want him to stop. Holding on they danced the dance old as time. He nuzzled the curve of her neck and shoulder and she felt his warm gentle kisses of encouragement as he took her with him to the highest pinnacle of ecstasy over and over again.

Jack jerked awake and opened his eyes. He hoped he was awake and not dreaming. It was difficult to tell what was real. The lavender mist encompassed him, but seemed lighter and the air he breathed into his lungs no longer had that sickening sweet smell. He was neither hot nor cold, but naked on a wall-to-wall bed or so it appeared. Confused and nameless, he couldn't remember anything but here and now. He heard a sob and peered through the clearing mist. A nude woman lay huddled in the middle of the coverless bed. The woman with whom he'd just made love. No, forced to copulate with. He didn't recall anything of significance, but sensed he wouldn't make love to someone with whom he wasn't emotionally involved, let alone knew.

Even now, he felt the embers of arousal that moments ago had ruled his mind and body and brought him to a mind-blowing climax more than once. From what he recalled the woman had not exactly been unwilling and had enjoyed herself. He'd seen to that. Or like him had she also been compelled to mate? His head ached as he tried to make sense of it all.

Concerned, he called out to her. "Hey, you okay?" his voice sounded hoarse and seemed to echo in the mist filled chamber.

The female shook her head no. Shit! Jack inched his way across the layers of soft cushions realizing it was a low gravity atmosphere and one move made him bounce. Weird. Closer to her now, he was within arms reach. Pulled into a fetal position, her slender naked back and attractive derrière faced him. Jack discerned the curve of her spine beneath the long pale blonde hair that fanned out around trembling shoulders.

"Geez. I'm sorry." He touched her shoulder expecting her to jerk away. She didn't.

"I know." She murmured through her tears. "So am I."

Jack took the chance and crawled closer, cupping her shoulder and urging her to look at him. "What's your name?" He hoped one of them knew who they were.

She turned her head and swiped at a tear. "Don't know and you?"

"Clueless."

"So where do you think we are?"

"Well this isn't Kansas. Looks like Oz." Jack scratched his jaw. Even, naked, Jack felt unashamed and comfortable with her as if they'd always been this way. He settled on his haunches, his right hand unconsciously covering his manhood. "Although, I don't see any munchkins."

"Oz." She sniffled and then turned her lovely face toward him. "I know that place."

"You do?" He grinned with relief, considering it was all he could remember. Maybe that's where they were from or was it Kansas? Sooner or later they'd remember, right?

"Yeah. But I don't think we're in the Emerald City." She turned completely, her arms loosely covering her firm breasts, her legs casually crossed over her sex. Jack gulped, when he realized he'd been doing more to her luscious body than just looking at it before. He could still taste and smell her feminine essence. It was intoxicating, but he no longer had the powerful need to join with her. He was actually exhausted. Feeling her gaze upon him, Jack sensed she wasn't anymore shy being naked around him than he was with her. It seemed natural and he no longer questioned it. In fact, he felt as if they'd always been together, except well, the lovemaking part.

But then he'd never ever made love to a woman until now, right? Did he mention he felt confused?

"Hail, Dorothy." Jack smiled warmly.

She tipped her pretty head. "So is that my name?"

"Must be if we're in Oz." He fingered her straight blonde hair, relishing its silky texture.

"Well, you aren't Tin Man or Lion . . .the Wiz nor the Good witch of the North," she counted off on her long slender fingers.

"Um, like the name Toto," he offered, not knowing why. He stretched out, braced his head on his hand and when his free hand found hers, their fingers intertwined. This felt right. Natural.

"Toto's a dog." She frowned as if remembering.

"Oh, yeah. Cute terrier." He gnawed his inside cheek and flexed his jaw, trying to remember something, anything but the here and now.

"You're no dog, you know." She caressed the dark hairs on his extended arm.

"Rolf, rolf." He teased. "I'll be whatever you want, Dorothy."

She laughed softly and then mimicked his posture. For a long while they stared into each other's eyes as if seeing each other for the first time and still feeling as if they'd always been. Jack couldn't reason much, but knew when they had made love it was more than a physical union. He felt an intense desire to love and protect her. He'd die for her, of that he was certain, more importantly he'd live for her.

"I sense you possess great courage and a passionate giving heart." She smiled warmly at him.

"I do?" He wondered and then taking personal inventory, nodded smugly. "Yeah sure yabetcha."

"And yet you desire—"

"A brain." He sighed out. "Coz, if I had one we wouldn't be here, wherever here is."

"Then you're Scarecrow." She concluded with beautiful smile that touched her eyes and caused Jack's heart to roll over.

"Ya think?" Jack scouted closer until their bodies touched and her lips were but a breath away. She didn't pull away and Jack dragged a hand across her forearm and captured her right hand, examining her long delicate fingers.

"I think it suits you." She smiled into his eyes.

"Well, there you go." He winked and cradled her face with his free hand.

Silence fell between them until Dorothy began humming. Her pretty voice trembled and he knew that like him, she was afraid. Not of him but what they couldn't see, what was watching. He looked her over more carefully. She was young. Though he hadn't a clue how old he was, he sensed he was older. Lot older. And yet here it didn't matter.

A sob escaped her trembling lips.

Jack let go and scooted over so his back was against the wall on the edge of the bed. One thing he realized was that he needed to face the danger he sensed would soon come from that direction.

"C'mere." He reached for her. She slid closer and he gestured for her to turn so her back was to his front. Instinctively, protectively Jack's arm went around her slender waist and drew her into him, until their bodies spooned as one. Oddly, he was not sexually aroused . . .yet. What he felt was the sheer need to comfort her and in the process find comfort. For somehow despite the pleasure and wonder of their lovemaking, he knew they were surrounded by evil.

The familiar tune Dorothy had been humming released soothing words in his head and Jack began to talk-sing softly, "Somewhere over the rainbow way up high There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true . . . " Hum, not bad. He'd no idea he could carry a note.

Dorothy curled against his chest. His breath hitched. She was beautiful and vulnerable, and all he knew or cared about. He realized this bed and this woman were his world, his universe. If there was someone else or more to his life, he couldn't fathom it.

"Please don't stop." She turned into him, nuzzled closer, her lips brushing his jaw, sending shivers of pleasure through him. He couldn't deny her.

"Um, sure. Someday I'll wish upon a star And wake up where the clouds are far behind me Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me . . .Somewhere over the rainbow Blue Birds fly Birds fly over the rainbow Why then, oh why can't I? If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow Why, oh, why can't I?"

Why? Jack glanced around them as exhaustion settled in. Why, can't we fly out of here or is here all there is?

Later:

Yep, they definitely weren't in Oz!

The gravity returned and when the farthest gold gilded wall slid open the flying monkeys arrived. Okay, so they weren't monkeys and they couldn't fly. However they appeared to be a menagerie of jackal and horse headed creatures that walked on two legs and sounded like Boris Karloff. There were four of them and Jack suspected he couldn't take them out on his own.

When Dorothy turned to face him, Jack tried to cover her buttocks with his free hand, and then glared at the weird creatures that continued to stare. As the lavender mist evaporated, the couple reluctantly got to their feet. Jack stepped in front of Dorothy to shield her nudity and his need to protect her took precedence.

"Kree leaa!" The tallest of the creatures ordered.

"What'd he say?" Dorothy whispered in Jack's ear as her arms wrapped around his waist.

"Um, maybe, yoo hoo, come here."

"I don't want to."

"Makes two of us." He straightened his shoulders and glowered at the formidable guards.

"Hey, how about some clothes for the lady here."

"Kree leaa!" The lead creature barked again and took a step forward.

When he didn't obey, the largest jackal stepped onto the floor level bed and aimed a staff like weapon.

"Ah, geez." Jack walked toward the creature with Dorothy plastered to his back. Any other time, he assumed the feel of her breasts poking him would get a rise out of him. Right now all he could think about was escape. "Hey, puppy breath, the triple X rated showing's over."

"Kree!" The creature turned directing them toward the door.

"Nope." He and Dorothy stood their ground. "Don't suppose we could talk about this over a cold brewsky? Personally, I prefer a Bud—"

"Kree!" the creature shouted and slammed Jack across the mouth with his staff weapon. Jack crumbled to his knees. His head spinning, gasping for air he realized he'd loosened a few teeth. Another barb left his bleeding lips. "So, maybe you're a milk and cookies guy?" he snorted.

The creature struck him in the ribs! He heard and felt one crack.

"Ow!" Holding his chest he toppled but stayed on his knees. Behind him, Dorothy let out a scream. Jack wiped blood from his mouth and ordered her, "No matter what, don't let them see your fear!"

"Scarecrow?"

"That's an order, Airman!" He'd no idea where his forceful tone of address came from, but it gave him confidence.

"Yes, sir! Huh?" Dorothy knelt at his side, looking confused by her own response.

"It's just a saying, right?"

She shrugged and examined his battered face as he clenched his cracked ribs. "You're badly injured."

"I'm just peachy. Help me up."

She nodded but as she hoisted him off the floor, the gray-blue fire in her eyes darkened to pitch black. Her kissable bow mouth pulled tight over her teeth as she turned a narrowed glint on the creature that had just harmed him.

Wow! Dorothy was pissed.

"Kree!" The baboon stalked forward and raised his staff as if to strike her.

"Okay, okay, we come in peace." Jack lifted a limp hand and motioned to walk with them.

"The hell we do!" Dorothy let go and delivered two powerful kicks to the creature's groin. He toppled like a paper bag before another guard fired a small weapon. Dorothy's limbs shuddered and she crumbled beside Jack, who'd got kicked in the head and then collapsed at her side. Before blacking out he checked her pulse. Thank God, she was alive.

"Hail Dorothy, you got balls!" He kissed her and passed out across her chest.

CHAPTER TWO

1991 Iraq: If you're lost you can look and you will find me Time after time If you fall I will catch you I'll be waiting Time after time . ..

It wasn't Jack's nature to imagine making love to anyone besides his wife Sara, at least not consciously, especially after being dumped in a stinking Iraqi prison with no means of escape the last four months. Sara was his lifeline! So why did he wake up night after night, in a cold sweat with a boner, and why couldn't he get those luminous passionate blue eyes out of his head? Especially since Sara's eyes were green.

One minute Jack was in a filthy-flea infested cell, the next he was making love to the beautiful, strange, young siren. Each occasion they were inside a bizarre chamber with strobe lighting like the movie, 'Saturday Night Fever,' only weightless. They could breathe, talk and feel. Boy could they feel. Yeah!

However, moments after that pleasure came sheer terror. A different woman, Jack appropriately called the Wicked Witch of the West, with black hair and lousy eye makeup, and a tiny blue diamond between those frigid dark eyes. She'd repeatedly use a weird gold hand gadget that covered her fingertips and glowed red, shooting pain through every nerve of Jack's body. She talked like she had a fricking bullfrog jammed down her throat. Jack wanted to jam something down her throat all right, like his entire fist!

Trouble was he was usually in irons and had his hands bound behind his back when in her company. That probably had to do with the fact that he'd tried to kill her before.

Despite his open hatred of her, she taunted him with words of seduction that more recently included a private strip tease and lap dance. Sure she was attractive in a sick perverted way. In fact some men might find her hot to trot. Not Jack, especially since he was head over heels in love with Dorothy.

So the fact he was not attracted to Nirrti annoyed her to the nth. Apparently she didn't take rejection well. Next time he'd buy her the book, "Handling Rejection for Dummies."

"I could please you beyond your wildest dreams, Tau'ri." She traced a sharp fingernail along his jaw, down his neck and lower. Jack watched the southward progression of her hand with open distain.

"Thanks, but no thanks, bitch. Got two hands that do that just fine." He snorted.

Nirrti slapped his face. He'd yet to understand how someone so petite could have such a strong backhand. "You anger me beyond comprehension! You'd deny me and yet die for that pathetic girl who knows little if anything about the pleasures of mating."

"Believe me, she knows enough." Jack winked. "Besides you drugged us with the purple mist."

At that retort, the witch smirked. "In the beginning, yes. But I haven't had to enhance your sexual desires for each other for a long time."

"That much we know, but that doesn't explain why you keep us prisoners and torture us."

"Because I am a god!"

"Geez, that's so cliché. You so aren't God. See, I know Him personally. He's better looking than you, doesn't have bad breath, loves Opera and—"

She aimed the hand device at his forehead. "Night, Dorothy," he moaned out as the induced head pain brought him to his knees and he prayed for release for the hundredth time. He wondered if God had paid His phone bill.

Amid his musings came the sober reality that Jack had no control over his situation. He coveted his self-control and hated when someone or something else called the shots, directed traffic, like the wicked witch. The bitch continued to mutter nonsense that he should bow before her.

Yeah right! Like that was so not happening.

That's probably why he got zapped a lot. Meanwhile, she called him the perfect male Tar-something-or-another species. He did catch the words 'genetically superior' and something about ancient genes. Sure, Jack wasn't twenty anymore, but he'd never thought of his genes as being ancient.

Sometimes you picture me I'm walking too far ahead You're calling to me, I can't hear What you've said Then you say go slow I fall behind The second hand unwinds Time after time . . .

The dream went from absolute horror and fear to overwhelming lust and pleasure and seeing the same blue eyes that expressed the terror and physical passion he felt. The first time Jack was shocked and angered that the female he'd comforted was much younger than him. A teenybopper. He was no cradle robber. Yet, the wicked witch was right. He wanted this young woman more than the air he breathed.

Her creamy soft skin was like white alabaster and her long blonde hair of fine-spun gold, while her eyes transformed from the palest blue to the deepest indigo. Like Jack, she was frightened and vulnerable and not here by choice. Each time they were brought together they had to reacquaint themselves, remembering this wasn't the first time they'd been in this situation together.

He'd hold her and speak soft reassurances that he wouldn't harm her and that he'd get them the hell out of Oz and back home. That's if he knew where home was, who she was, who he was.

So many times he tried to say his name, but couldn't. She couldn't recall hers or who she was either. However, they knew Oz and they became Dorothy and Scarecrow. Meanwhile their desire to make love clouded their judgment and desire to escape. In their minds nothing else existed except each other. Just this blue-eyed blonde who's full-bosomed body molded perfectly with his, whose arms and long slender legs wrapped around him and made him feel loved and needed like no one ever had. Well, the point was he didn't know any other woman intimately, did he?

Just like the first time he'd kissed this woman in his dreams, he knew he'd found that missing link of his soul that'd he been searching for so long. She made him complete and he named her Dorothy. Even better, he sensed Dorothy felt the same unshakeable bond with him. Wantonly, Jack cradled her delicate boned face with his hands and branded her lips with his kiss. A kiss that would never be forgotten and he would relive night after night the rest of his life.

1995: Time After Time. . . Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick, And think of you Caught up in circles confusion Is nothing new Flashback warm nights Almost left behind Suitcases of memories, Time after Time

Sam woke up in her bed alone, shivering from the afterglow of lovemaking. Tentatively slipping a trembling hand to her inner thighs, she brought her wet fingers to her nostrils and inhaled the familiar essence of their combined scents and his spilled seed. She'd put his scent of fresh autumn leaves to memory. She must never forget him, ever!

But like all the times before her memory grew hazy. She'd begun to forget! Sam fought the memory-rendering drug, to recall his face, his voice, wishing she knew his real name, besides the ones they'd created. She was Dorothy. He was Scarecrow. The wicked witch of the West was Nirrti.

Once again, they'd been brought together to copulate. This time it had been more emotionally painful than ever. This man had become her lifeline, his arms . . . her sanctuary and home.

"You cut your hair," he murmured against her cheek, his left hand skimmed her lower back, urging her closer.

"I did?" She nodded. "Don't remember. Was it longer before?"

"Think so." He smiled down at her. "But I like this," he fingered her short wispy hair, slipping it behind the shell of one ear and then nibbling an earlobe.

Sam smiled and leaned into his kiss, treasuring it. Today, Sam felt something profound was about to happen, not only a confession of true feelings but of an indefinite separation. And there was nothing she could do to prevent it. Strange melancholy lyrics coursed through her soul and heart and she spoke them softly to him with such intensity she wanted to cry.

"Where do broken hearts go Can they find their way home Back to the open arms Of a love that's waiting there And if somebody loves you Won't they always love you I look in your eyes And I know that you still care for me. . ." Sam finished and swore she saw tears mist his dark brown eyes.

"Ah . . .I assume we're the broken hearts?"

"I guess." She stretched into his lean muscled body, feeling his fingers creatively dance along her spine and ribs. "Those words haunt me, Scarecrow. I think they're meant for us. I fear we're going to be separated. And that we won't be able to find our way home to each other." Sam trembled.

"Hush." He caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. "First off, I'd never choose to be separated from you, Dorothy. I care too much to let that happen. Secondly, if we ever are separated, I swear by all that's sacred I will find you. Believe in me."

"I do believe in you." She sniffed and burrowed into his embrace, feeling the swift thud of his heart. "But why do you want me, Scarecrow?"

"Huh? I though we just established that. Besides I should be asking you that question." He pressed warm lips to her temple and his hands brushed along her breasts and flat belly. She felt his need press against her thighs and shivered with a longing urgency of her own.

Her breath hitching at the pleasure of his touch, Sam clutched his explorative fingers and brought them back to her face. "I'm serious. You obviously could have any woman, even Nirrti desires you."

"Hey, I'm serious. I need and want you. You are my world, the reason I live."

"Gosh, I'd no idea you could be so romantic." She teased, trailing a fingertip along the indent of his unshaven chin.

"Well, I'd prefer you don't advertise it. Got a reputation, you know."

"You do?" Sam snickered.

"Well, I'd like to think so. Since I don't know what happens to us after we are transported outa this flying saucer, I'm winging it here."

"Me too." She sighed. "About Nirrti. You've never said if she . . ." Sam blushed and looked away. Man, oh, man, she was jealous of the wicked witch having her way with Sam's scarecrow.

"Never!" He waggled his dark brown brows. "That witch's a royal bitch and even when she tried to seduce me with her sex drugs, Rock and Roll, it didn't work."

"You mean?"

"Yep, no southbound action, whatsoever." He grinned with manly pride.

"That's good to know. Strange you never have the problem with me." She intentionally caressed him and he groaned capturing her stray hand.

"Dor—othy?" Jack huskily growled. "One thing I do recall is I've never had that problem in my life."

"But you just said—"

"Ah, yes. Well, I think I was trained to resist torture in another life, including the sexual nature."

"She hates you for it, you know." Sam nuzzled his open mouth, tugging on his lower lip.

"Yeah, figure it'll bite me in the nether region one of these days."

"We haven't much time before she returns."

"Know that. Even though it ticks her off we could abstain again."

"And she'll torture us and then turn on the aphrodisiac mist."

"Yeah. And we won't walk straight for days afterward." He chuckled.

"But it's fun, the um, never-ending need to be joined as one."

"There's that. But I've never needed drugs to want you, Dorothy." He showed her, his kiss sweet and hungry as she caressed him to arousal.

Sam's lips parted and she didn't hesitate letting him know she desired him. An hour later, after repeatedly cresting the highest pinnacle of bliss, he held her and spoke from his heart.

"Um, do you believe in a higher power, Dorothy?"

"Think so," she acknowledged. "Someone greater than Nirrti, though."

"Oh, yeah, lots bigger. Sometimes when we're falling asleep I sense a divine presence and feel safe and at peace. It's as if an Almighty power stands between us and Nirrti, and protects us. I should know who or what the being is, but can't nail it down."

Sam nodded. "I feel it sometimes but I think it's you, Scarecrow. I feel safe and right with you, like we're . . ." She nibbled her lower lip and looked over his shoulder.

"What?" He cradled her chin and turned her face to his.

"That you and I are one in body, mind, and soul and nothing will ever change that. As if, this is how we are meant to be together always, you know."

Scarecrow shut his eyes and sighed out. Sam feared her openness might push him away. Instead, he drew her closer and nuzzled the bow of her neck near her collarbone with a sweet lingering kiss that made her shiver.

"I know," he whispered against her skin. "I feel the same way, in fact I lo—"

The witch drove them apart! The haughty creature Nirrti laughed and stated that they were mere lab rats and there was no time for their Tau'ri something-or-another sentiment.

Sam recalled her humiliation that the mad scientist had watched them make love. Subconsciously, she knew they'd always been watched and assumed by the way her lover held her and shielded her with his long lean body he'd tried to spare her that shame.

The witch left and they were alone again with their clothes at their feet.

They'd dressed in silence, knowing what would come next if they didn't escape. They'd been in the lab before, strapped down on those cold metal tables. The witch would take Sam first. Although, restrained by two jackal-faced guards, Scarecrow would be forced to watch Nirrti insert the long finger like probe through Sam's navel and extract fluid and tissue from her womb. Given nothing for the pain an agonizing scream would rip from Sam's lungs before she fell unconscious. The last time though, she'd kept her focus on her lover and just before she passed out, she saw tears track his lean angry face.

Now Scarecrow offered his hand and she trustingly took it. He was a good man, her lover. He was physically, mentally, and emotionally confident. She sensed his leadership qualities and like Sam, he hated being out of control. She'd watched him repeatedly mock the witch and her subordinates, watched him break free only to be captured and like previous times, beaten, sometimes to the brink of death. Sam was equally defiant, the last round she'd gotten broken ribs, a broken arm and nose when she'd kicked one of the masked guard's in the balls. It'd been worth it! Afterward, Nirrti placed Sam and Scarecrow in a coffin like machine she called a sarcophagi. When they awoke, their injuries were healed.

"This way." Scarecrow directed Sam and they slipped out into the gold-gilded maze of corridors and started to run. They'd tried several times before and gotten caught, but each time they got closer to their goal. Their fierce desires to be free never wavered. Perhaps this would be the time they escaped to the transport room with the five metal rings. Sam had watched the guard operate it and figured she could do the same.

Sam tripped! Scarecrow rushed back to help her up and an invisible vertical barrier shot between them. It was the same force field Nirrti used to keep them in visual range of each other, but unable to touch. Another means of the diabolical creature's sick mind.

"Shit!" Her lover beat his fists against the invisible wall that separated them.

"Go while you can!" Sam's foresight had come true!

"Not going to happen, Dorothy! I won't let the bride of Frankenstein hurt you again!"

He ripped at the wall's power panels, tore the casing off one and began slamming at it, over and over again, like a mad man.

The heavy footsteps of approaching guards echoed behind her. If he didn't escape, he'd be punished with the hand gadget and possibly even die. The witch Nirrti had made them watch another couple die to prove her point about defying her. She never did revive them.

Exhausted from his efforts, Scarecrow turned and faced her, sweat streaking his handsome rugged features.

"Please go!" She pleaded, tears warming her face.

"No!" His emotional brown eyes said what neither had yet to admit. They loved each other.

Sam inclined her head and gazed longingly at him. Never had a man looked at her this way. Never had she felt such unconditional love and bond as he revealed his heart to her in their intimate exchange. He wasn't leaving her. Ever!

"I love you, Dorothy. And I'd rather die myself than lose you." He reached out as if to caress her wet cheek.

Sam put her open hand against his, the barrier crackling blue sparks from the heat of their touch. "I love you," she rasped.

"I know." He smiled and a tear escaped his right eye.

"Rats!" Scarecrow glanced behind her and made a face. Sam looked over her shoulder and turned to meet her fate. The first and largest masked guard known as Jaffa halted a few feet from Sam, then spun and fired his staff-like weapon. The five guards toppled over dead. He then aimed another object at the force field and shut down the barrier. Sam stepped beside Scarecrow who quickly placed himself between her and this Jaffa. The alien released his Jackal mask.

Sam stared wide-eyed at a stern frightening face. His skin the shade of polished bronze, the bald man's full-lipped mouth was drawn into a permanent scowl and a gold tattoo adorned the center of his forehead. She'd seen that tattoo before, but where?

"Ow! Like that musta hurt!" Scarecrow pointed at the tattoo and winced.

"Kree!" he ordered them. "Follow me."

"Um, don't think so, big guy," Scarecrow stood his ground, while Sam leaned into him.

"You wish to be free of Nirrti and her breeding experiments?"

"Ya think?" Sam's lover rolled his brown eyes.

"Then I recommend you trust me, Colonel Jonathon O'Neill, but you favor to be addressed as Jack."

"Lieutenant Colonel Jack O'Neill?" Scarecrow flinched. "Is that my name?"

"Indeed."

"If you say so." He shrugged and looked at Sam. "So what's hers?"

"Lieutenant Samantha Carter. You are generally addressed as Sam." He tipped his head in acknowledgement.

Jack glanced at her.

Sam searched her mind but came up empty. "Sorry, nothing." She tapped her skull.

"You seem to know a lot about us, right down to nicknames." Jack crossed his arms and scowled.

"I do not understand the term nickname. However it is my duty to know of such matters."

"Ah, yeah, right." Jack snorted. "So why don't we remember?"

"Each time you are abducted you are injected with a mind-altering drug. Nirrti does not intend you to remember and it is perhaps wise you do not. Little time remains before my deception is discovered, I must depart." He marched off, leaving them to their own devices.

Jack looked at Sam and scrunched his face. "Guess we don't have a lot of options, Samantha Carter of Kansas."

"Guess not, Jonathon O'Neill of . . ?" She took his offered hand and they followed the intimidating man down the corridor.

"The windy city."

"What's that?"

"Heck if I know, just popped into my fron."

"That's Latin."

"What's Latin?"

"Don't know." She shrugged.

"Hey, Murray, wait up."

The Jaffa turned and scowled. "What is a Murray?"

"A name, I guess. Ya look like a Murray."

"Indeed." His lips curled slightly and he led them into the transport chamber where they always arrived and left in the circle of metal rings. He opened the door to find a guard inside. Before the dog-helmeted man could react their escort torched him.

"Cool!" O'Neill winked at Sam, but she noticed how his alert eyes rested on the smaller weapon in the dead man's grip.

Following the larger man inside, the door slid shut behind them.

"You must each digest this remedy." He presented two small flasks.

"Don't think so, blowfish."

Sam stifled a grin when Jack referred to the Jaffa's large lips.

Jack shoved his hands into his pant's pockets and rocked on his heels as if they had all the time in the world. Sam loved his mouthy arrogance. She also realized it got him hurt a lot.

"You would be wise not to insult me, Tau'ri."

"So sue me, Murray. Never said I was the sharpest pitchfork in the shed." He dared to take a step toward the larger man. Yep, Sam concluded he was either stupid or far smarter than he let on. She hoped for the latter.

"It's sharpest tool," She corrected, wondering why she knew that.

"Whatever." He shrugged.

"Is he always this intrinsically obdurate?" The Jaffa growled his frustration at her.

"Apparently." She shrugged brushing her fingers along her lover's arm.

"Huh?"

"Intrinsically means hopeless, uncorrectable and obdurate means stubborn." Sam felt pleased at her expanding vocabulary.

"Oh, yeah, well you can add ass kicker to that list too, coz I'm about kick his alien derriere!"

"You can do that?" She winced.

"Um, sure. I think so." He straightened to his impressive height. "I get flashes of martial arts in my head."

"What are martial arts?" Sam was confused.

"Don't know—"

"Kree!" the Jaffa bellowed. "If you do not consume this potion you will suffer the rest of your lives and the painful knowledge you possess will bring about your termination."

"Why?" Jack challenged.

"Because you will never forget your torture."

"Erm, excuse me, but if this is what the Nirrti bitch makes us drink, no thanks. I wanna remember exactly what happened." Jack glanced at Sam. "And I mean everything." He blushed beneath his tan.

Sam flushed when he linked his arm through hers and squeezed.

"I believe it paramount you do not remember anything that has transpired."

"Don't buy that crap!" Jack was annoyed.

"The mental and emotional stress can kill you."

"Yes. Well, we'd rather take our chances with a freaking shrink!"

"Oh." Sam spoke up. "In other words who's going to believe a, 'we were abducted by aliens and forced to make love all these years scenario?'"

"That is indeed correct, Samantha Carter. You would only become another statistic that your ignorant and primitive Tau'ri race would mock."

"Ignorant? Primitive?" With the agility of a cat, O'Neill snatched up the pistol like weapon from the dead guard and aimed.

The Jaffa reacted with equal speed and pointed his staff weapon at O'Neill.

"I'll show ya primitive, Tattoo head!" Jack pressed the handle and the weapon hissed then locked into place.

The Jaffa's staff weapon fired a warning spark. They were at a stand off.

"Frick!" Jack muttered.

Sam glanced from one man to the other and realized they were not only likeminded they were about to die and leave her to fend for herself. "You're both assholes!"

"Hey, hey. Whose side you on?" He shot her a confused look.

"Yours of course, but dying won't get us home."

"Well, there's that." He scrunched his handsome face.

"Your life mate is correct, Jack O'Neill."

Life mate! Sam balked seeing the reaction on Jack's face matched hers. He stole a glance at her and the bond already established between them deepened with the realization that they wanted to be with each other forever.

"Please, Jack, don't? We need him."

"Indeed." The tattooed man slanted his head, presented a scowl and the lift of his right brow. She wondered if he knew how to smile.

Sam put her hand on Jack's lean muscled forearm and held his angry glint with one of calm diplomacy. To her relief the rage in his brown eyes simmered and he slowly lowered the weapon and drew her against him.

The Jaffa righted his weapon and extended his hand for Jack's alien gun.

"Na ah! Think I'll hang onto this awhile."

"As you wish, O'Neill." The huge Jaffa nodded respectfully.

Sam liked him.

Jack remained untrusting. "Know all the black tape about Project Blue Book and Area Fifty-One, Murray. Course, I'll have to shoot you now." He sneered.

"Huh?" Sam looked at him.

"Oy!" Jack winced and shrugged. "Don't know where that came from or why."

"That's good, right?" Sam felt hopeful. At least one of them remembered something besides martial arts, Latin, and windy city.

"I do not know of what you speak, Tau'ri. I only know that those who returned to their worlds and remembered were never the same. I offer you the opportunity Nirrti would not. She considers both of you her greatest achievements. She is Goa'uld and has decided to take you to her home world to further her genetic experiments, which I assume will not be as pleasant as you have so far experienced."

"You mean she isn't sending us back this time?" Sam gaped.

"Is that not what I just explained?" He appeared annoyed.

"Peachy!" Jack dragged a hand through his brown hair.

"If you leave without drinking this potion, Nirrti will find you again. This potion will dissolve the Naquadah marker she has placed inside of your bodies that allows her to track you."

"Naquadah marker?" Sam's empty head processed the newest alien term causing an influx of loosely fitted terms to pass her lips. "I've never heard of that mineral substance. Is it hydroxide or carbonate of sodium or potassium based? Maybe none. And what about isotopes? Wait! In order for it to be absorbed by human tissue it has to be proteinaceous—"

"Time out!" Jack flagged her and scrunched his face as if her words were painful.

"It means composed of protein."

"And you'd know this, why?" He rolled his eyes.

"Don't know." She shrugged. "It's a scientific term . . .geology related."

"Geez, you aren't one of those geeks are you?"

"What's a geek?"

"Don't know, just know I don't like 'em. Ow! Feel like I got a nail in my head." He rubbed his brow.

"Me too." She winced.

"Jonathan O'Neill, Samantha Carter!"

"What?" they snapped in unison.

"Until you drink this potion, your confusion over such terminology will remain as it will in relation to all that once was familiar to you."

"Sorry. Sounds like a plan." Her lover smiled. "So why you doing this, Murray?" he challenged the alien. "What's in it for you? An early retirement plan, a condo on the beach?"

"It is the least I can do to atone for my continuing transgressions against the Tau'ri."

"Now see," Jack scrubbed a hand over his blue-shadowed jaw. "I don't get all this Tau'ri, Jaffa, Goa'uld, and Kree mumbo-jumbo."

"We refer to your species as the Tau'ri. Goa'uld infers to the parasite Nirrti that needs a host body to survive and Kree is a Jaffa command."

"Get all that, Samantha?"

"Yep." She nodded, realizing she was pretty smart.

"So, I assume you're telling us this coz we're going to forget soon as we drink the witch's brew?" Scarecrow addressed the Jaffa.

"Indeed." He glanced at the doorway. "Now consume the potion and I will return you to your previous lives. Nirrti will never find you. I must deliver you individually, so I suggest you bid each other farewell." He handed Jack the vials and respectfully turned away and faced the door holding his weapon to fire upon intruders.

Sam looked at Scarecrow, um . . .Jonathon, no Jack. Yeah, he looked like a Jack. She wanted to go home but not without him. Holy Hannah, she didn't even know where home was, because she didn't know who she was. As if sensing her anxiety, he drew her to him and gazed into her intrepid gaze.

"We must do this, Samantha. But you gotta believe no matter what, I'll find you again, I swear! Believe in me, okay?"

"I believe," her voice trembled. "We have to live and find our way home to each other."

"Yeah." She knew he wasn't a man of words, let alone sappy ones. Simple was his nature and she'd come to love that about him.

"Then we're okay?" He ran a blunt thumb across her quivering lips.

"Forever and for always."

"Sweet." He took the two vials from the Jaffa hand and offered one to her. "Bottoms up, Samantha." He drank the blue liquid down and shuddered. "Geez, tastes like cheap mouthwash!"

Sam followed his lead and afterward she looked up at him, trying to memorize every facet of his face, those dark chestnut eyes, the dimples that tucked deep on either side of his firm mouth, the small cleft in his dark whiskered jaw and stress line between his brows. When he trailed his hands across her face she knew he was sealing her in his memory as well.

"C'mere." Jack swept back her hair and nuzzled that soft spot in the crook of her neck, kissing her there, whispering his heart, "I love you."

"I love you more." She contested, sensing it was impossible to love anyone as much as she loved this man.

"Wanna arm wrestle?" He tried to lighten the mood.

"Only if I win the prize." She smiled against his ear. "And that's you."

"Oh, you won me long ago, Samantha."

She began to tremble and Jack lifted his head and gazed one last time into her eyes and then seriously asked, "So just what do you see in a loser like me, besides great sex?"

"Considering you're the only man I've ever had sex with, everything and then some," she answered softly. "You're all I need and want, Jonathon O'Neill."

"And you're all I need or want, Samantha Carter."

The Jaffa cleared his throat and glowere at them.

"Hey, hey, a little elbow room, willya?"

The Jaffa turned away muttering.

Cradling her face with his calloused hands, Jack dipped his mouth to Sam's, kissed her gently and then passionately. Their tongues clashed and their kiss became a desperate extension of their love. Jack's hand slid down her back and he urged her against him and then his strong arms enveloped her, selfishly. Sam memorized the taste and scent of her life mate, the way his lean muscled body molded to hers. She swore even if they met as strangers she'd know him, know his scent, his touch, his voice and his smile.

Emotionally stronger than Sam, Jack broke their fevered kiss and then reluctantly their embrace. In her heart she knew they were saying goodbye for a long time. He escorted her to the ring then stepped beside the man known as Jaffa. Sam held back her tears and kept her steady gaze on her lover. He didn't like when she cried, he said it made him feel helpless. Sam didn't shed a tear.

"Don't forget us!" she called out as the rings shot up from the floor separating them.

"Never." He approached the rings and put out his hand.

"You'll always be part of me!" Their fingers grazed just as the rings began to hum and he stepped back.

"Ditto. I'll find you! We okay here, Sam?"

"Forever okay!" The rings shot up from the floor separating them.

"Always, Dorothy!" Jack sniffed and swiped a maverick tear as she became a flash of light and vanished. Forever.

He stepped into the ring and faced the Jaffa. "So what's the odds I'll find her again?" he heard himself ask out loud. "And be honest."

The Jaffa's left brow hitched higher than Jack thought humanly possible, then again he was an alien, right? "According to Nirrti you and the female possess the blood of the Ancients. You are now bonded and therefore you will locate one another notwithstanding your recollection loss."

"Bonded?"

"Yes. To explain in Tau'ri terminology you are physically, mentally and emotionally sealed to each other for life."

"Cool!" Jack smiled for the first in awhile. "So, since I'm going to go absent minded in a few minutes what's your real name, Murray?"

The rings shot up around Jack and the Jaffa nodded and proudly pronounced, "I am the First Prime of Apophis. I am called Teal'c of Chulak."

"Nice." Jack vanished!

If you're lost I will find you Time after time . . .

Jack forgot.

Everything!

He sat in the backyard with Sara looking at Charlie's newest school pictures. "So where is he?" He nuzzled Sara's cheek. He'd never been happier. He had a beautiful loving wife, and of course their pride and joy, their son Charlie. What more could a man ask for, hey?

"He was just here playing . . ."

Gunshot exploded.

Jack's gut twisted!

"Charlie!" Sara screamed.

And Jack's perfect world crumbled at his feet.

Four months later: Abydos

Colonel O'Neill activated the nuclear warhead and then stepped back and leaned wearily against the pyramid's hot dusty walls. It was done. His mission. His marriage. His life. There was no reason to live. Long before Charlie's death, his marriage to Sara had become strained. She didn't like his Black Ops assignments, didn't like the military lifestyle, more often than not, she didn't like Jack, but even in spite of the sexual impotency that had haunted him since Iraq, she did love him. He'd tried, really he had, and because of Charlie, he'd wanted to make their marriage work. He'd failed that too, but then that seemed to be his whole life in general.

Too little too late!

Jack was a loser!

Right after Charlie died he'd retired, hoping it would bring Sara back to him. It didn't. Not like it was her fault. Jack was a real piece of work, a jackass through and through. He couldn't talk about Charlie, let alone cry with Sara over their loss. He was too dried up. His heart cold, empty, lifeless. And yet he knew there'd been a time when he'd felt just the opposite. He had assumed it had been because of Sara and then of course, Charlie.

Man, he missed his son!

Sara and Charlie. They'd been his sole purpose for living. Despite Sara's accusations, family was priority to Jack. The very reason he'd joined the Air Force was to defend his right to believe in God, country, and to protect those he loved. And yet it'd not been enough for either of them.

It got worse. The year before Charlie's death, Jack felt as if half his heart had been brutally ripped out of his chest, but didn't know why. He often thought it was post war traumatic stress syndrome from being a prisoner in Iraq. His behavior with Sara was odd at best even for him. There'd been a time when their sex life had been worth crowing about. And sometimes when they'd been sleeping he'd take her without asking, which wasn't his style. Nor was he even aware of it until they were way into the act. Not that Sara minded. Well not until the night he was in the throngs of an earth shattering climax and screamed out, "Dorothy!"

Yeah, that was the beginning of the end. Jack joked that she knew he liked the Wizard of Oz so he must have been dreaming about Judy Garland. Right? Sara sort of accepted it, but he knew for the first time ever, she doubted his fidelity. Trouble was, he began to doubt himself. Why couldn't he remember if he'd messed around on her? Even worse, why would he ever do such a disgusting, lowlife thing? Having been raised in a dysfunctional family torn apart by infidelity, adultery was on the top of Jack's hate list.

At the same time, he realized his hidden loss was over a woman named Dorothy with blonde hair and blue eyes. The desires for this other woman riddled him with guilt, while the idea of cheating on his wife remained foreign and repulsive. Maybe that guilt caused his impotency issue? Whatever!

Were Jack honest, he'd known this mystery woman long before that revelation. Many a sleepless night he'd rack his brain, trying to put a face and name to those eyes, to that voice. All he ever came up with were bits and pieces, none of which made sense, except in a Black Ops covert sort of way. Scarecrow, The Land of Oz, Dorothy, and the Wicked Witch of the West. Jack became obsessed with the movie, The Wizard of Oz and watched it whenever possible, as if in doing so, he'd find the missing link, find Dorothy. But nope, nada.

Those fiery blue eyes and soft familiar voice continued to haunt and taunt him. The year before Charlie died, he met those blue eyes, heard that voice during an intel exchange. Over an eighteen-month period, she became his key courier. Then in Central America during a covert mission gone sour they had shared a prison cell for two weeks. Never once did Jack tell her of his dreams or that he'd known her before they met. If she shared similar memories she'd never told him. Weird, but in his head he'd known her as Dorothy, and then came to know her as Shimmer. Once they escaped, they parted and Jack returned to his family and tried to make his marriage work.

He had managed to not think about Dorothy/Shimmer in a long while. But as he stared at the armed bomb, Jack realized that finding himself on a weird planet with even weirder aliens was somehow connected to Dorothy. Despite his CO's order and his selfish desire to die, he couldn't take over five thousand innocent souls with him. Charlie wouldn't be proud of Dad and God would be royally pissed. Not the best reception awaiting him at Heaven's pearly gates that's if he ended up there.

There was no doubt that meeting Daniel Jackson had a great influence on Jack's desire to live, but Daniel was never the changing factor. Torn between Sara and Dorothy, Jack knew he would do the right thing. If he returned home the rest of his life would be spent into Sara's loving arms, but his motivation to do so, was because Jack heard Dorothy/Shimmer's voice, saw her lovely fair-freckled face as clearly as if she were calling out to him, "Live, Scarecrow. Live!"

He did!

CHAPTER THREE

2001: SGC

The Goa'uld Nirrti had healed Cassandra from the retrovirus!

"I have honored my part . . ." Nirrti moved coldly from Cassandra's bedside and glared at Jack.

He glanced at the teenager who, thank God, was alive! Jack looked from Nirrti to Hammond, who nodded affirmation. Figures!

"Let's go to the Gate." He addressed the Goa'uld.

Two guards escorted Nirrti ahead of him. Jack followed and turned back to the infirmary room. He saw Cassie and Janet hugging, and then held Sam's appreciative gaze. Yeah, it was worth it. He smiled wearily and left to escort the wicked witch to the gate.

In the Gate room at the ramp Jack got a gut ache. Letting Nirrti go would prove a mistake, but then he'd have sold his soul to this demon. Yeah, he'd do anything to save Cassie, and had. He loved the sweet teen as if she were his own. Sometimes he swore she was. He shook the foolish idea from his head along with flashbacks of being in this foul creature's, Nirrti's presence.

He felt her frigid gaze. The demoness had no heart, let alone soul.

"We've never dialed these coordinates before. I . . .sort of hope you know what you're doing." He kept his distance.

"It is not my final destination. Without a sample of her blood, I will have to begin my experiment again."

"Aw—nuts!" Jack snorted, clenching his hands at his side before they found their way around her neck.

"At least you've honored this part of our bargain. In your place, I doubt I would have done the same."

"I'll keep that thought alive." He snorted.

The Wormhole established. Jack and Nirrti stared the other down until she turned to the ramp and then paused. "O'Neill?" she spoke softly. He assumed she didn't want the intercom to pick up her voice.

"What?" He took a hesitant step forward.

"Regarding the child you named Cassandra."

His jaw flexed and tightened. "Cassie better be normal! Coz if you've left anything undone—"

"She is Tau'ri again if that is your concern."

He nodded, sensing the witch had more to say. She did.

"You and Samantha Carter have strong emotional ties with her." She cocked an acknowledging eye at him.

"Yeah, well when you love someone, which you know nothing about, those feelings are normal."

"Perhaps and yet . . ."

"Hey, holding the door open for you jacks up our power bill. What's your point?" He rolled his eyes as his last thread of patience unraveled.

Nirrti smiled her evil little smile. "Cassandra was the result of my first genetic experiment, O'Neill. She was not born on the planet Hanka, which you refer to as P8X 987. Her biological parents are from your world, Earth."

Absorbing her words, Jack gaped as the freaking Goa'uld swished her hips up the ramp to the Stargate, and then turned one last time as if to say something.

Knowing General Hammond's eyes were on his six, Jack maintained a stoic, emotionless expression even after the gate shut down. But Nirrti's words made his head spin like the farmhouse in the Wizard of Oz just before it crashed in Oz. Jack wanted to puck.

Cassie was a hundred percent human!

2002

Planet 367 001: A prison cell beneath Nirrti's fortress

After returning Sam to Jack's cell, Woden dragged Jonas to his feet and pushed him toward the stairs. "Do not attempt that again!"

Why hadn't Nirrti taken him instead? Colonel Ivanov, Sam, and now Jonas. Jack cursed his inability to protect his team. Watching Jonas being led away to Nirrti's DNA slice and dice machine, Jack turned from the cell bars and dropped on the bench alongside Sam.

"Carter?" He turned into her, touching her damp wrist, looking into her flushed features.

"Sir." She looked at him, but there was no gray spark to her blue eyes.

"Hey, you made it through. You're gonna be all right," he said more upbeat than he felt.

"No, sir, I don't think I am." She leaned against her backpack, drew her knees to her chest and rested her head avoiding his concentrated look.

Damn! Jack's heart lodged in his throat and it took all his military discipline not to draw her into his arms, but he knew she'd refuse him. She'd stay strong and proficient until the bitter end. He loved that about her, but as her husband, he wished she'd give him some sign of her fear.

An hour later, she came full circle. The Russian Colonel Sergei Ivanov had gotten worse and Sam admitted she felt sicker. Jack ordered she get some sleep and she perched her head on his shoulder and shut her eyes. When her hand snaked around his forearm, he felt her tremor and intertwined his hand in hers for reassurance. At last they were just Jack and Sam. He couldn't take his concerned gaze off her.

The inevitable happened. Sam had no sooner started to doze when Sergei started to choke. Seconds later the Russian officer dissolved before them.

Leaning against the bars with Sam's head on his lap Jack gazed into her flushed features. Her eyes closed and breathing heavy, she didn't look too hot since Nirrti had played musical chairs with her DNA. He touched Sam's brow. 'Crap, she's burning up with fever just like Ivanov had before he turned into a puddle of H20.' Wasn't that supposed to happen to the wicked witch of the West, Nirrti?

Now the mad scientist had Jonas in her damn machine. Poor kid! Jack suspected the Goa'uld decided to torture Jack by taking his team-members first. There was no doubt Nirrti had marked Jack for revenge long ago.

Sam coughed and clutched his arm. Jack shuddered. 'Oh, God, don't take Sam from me? Don't let her die because of my stupid carelessness?'

Once again, Nirrti had taken an entire planet hostage and turned the majority of its inhabitants into lab rats. All because he'd let the evil bitch walk through the gate last year!

"Sir?" Sam's eyes fluttered open as she tried to focus on him.

"Shush." He captured her hand and smoothed back her wet bangs. "You need to rest, Carter."

"Um, no we need to talk, Jack."

He flinched. She only called him Jack when well, it was deadly serious like one of them was about to bite the bullet or it was something fantastic. This wasn't fantastic. He couldn't bear to have this conversation. Didn't want to. He dropped into his CO mode, his only emotional defense. "Excuse me, but last I checked my name was sir or Colonel to you, Carter."

He felt Teal'c's concerned gaze shift at Jack's abrasive tone.

"Don't be an incorrigible ass." She coughed which caused his hold to tighten around her.

Jack glanced over to see Teal'c's glint soften. Sam did that to everyone, including the Jaffa. Teal'c nodded, encouraging Jack to listen to her.

"Fine. I'm all ears, but I'm just saying you should rest."

"Hey, I'm dying here." She coughed.

"No you're not!" He snapped with open defiance.

She brushed a trembling damp hand across his tensed jaw, her blue eyes aglow with her love for him. "Don't."

Jack worked his jaw and squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them, she was still looking at him like his lover, his wife.

"For both our sakes, you gotta hang in there," he lisped huskily.

"Ditto." She managed to smile. "And I'm trying. But Nirrti played chess with my DNA. She's after something we both have . . .When I was in the machine she said something about having lost the solution with Cassandra and that you and I are the key to an Ancient genetic code. What does she mean?"

"How should I know? You're the geek."

Sam closed her eyes and shook her head. "She'll do the same to Jonas. You must stop her, Jack . . . " She tried to sit up but slumped back into his arms.

"Carter?" Jack shook her.

"So . . .tired, sir."

Teal'c stood and shook the bars that separated him from his friends.

"Talk to me, Carter!" Jack pleaded. "How can we be the key and to what?" he murmured his confusion.

An emotional groan emanated from Teal'c. Jack glanced over. Even though he'd not been experimented on the Jaffa appeared ill. Jack knew that look. Teal'c was hurting over the possibility of losing Sam but Jack sensed he knew something vital to their situation.

"Spill, T!"

"It will gain you nothing but pain and suffering were I to do so, O'Neill."

"As if watching Carter die isn't painful enough!" Jack countered angrily.

"You all ready know the truth." Teal'c insisted. "You must face what you've buried and both fear to confront."

"Buried? Fear to confront what?"

Teal'c's dark eyes grew darker. "If you insist, O'Neill."

"I do!"

"Many years ago before you ever met each other in this world, you and Samantha Carter knew each other in the biblical sense."

"Don't think so." Jack growled. When Sam stirred and cried out he rocked her and spoke softly to her. After she calmed, he glared back at Teal'c ordering him to speak.

"It indeed happened, O'Neill, for I was there."

"Why am I not surprised," Jack groused, wanting to hurt Teal'c more than ever.

Sam cried and Jack consoled her.

"Forgive me, O'Neill. But when I saw you and Major Carter at Apophis' prison six years ago, I remembered our first meeting and I knew I could trust you."

"Well that explains a lot." Jack reflected on that encounter.

"Indeed. Ten years before when I was First Prime to Apophis I often worked as an operative."

"A spy." Jack clarified and chewed his inner cheek.

"Yes. Apophis was one of many Goa'uld to oppose Nirrti's experimentation on their worlds. She was destroying the indigenous populations—"

"Cutting into their host bank reserves, huh?"

"Indeed." Teal'c nodded.

"Yeah, like I've always said, the only good Goa'uld's a dead one. I should have killed Nirrti last time. If I had, we wouldn't be here and Carter wouldn't be dying. God only knows what that witch is doing to Jonas. So continue to enlighten us, T!"

"As you wish, O'Neill. Over a ten-year period you and Major Carter were frequent guests of Nirrti. Before she could take both of you to her home world, I rescued you and sent you back to earth."

Jack's head snapped around sharply. He stared into his friend's anguished brown eyes. Teal'c told the truth. The wall Jack had painstakingly built to protect himself all these years came tumbling down.

"No!" He eased Sam onto the bench, stood, and reaching between the bars, grabbed Teal'c's massive arms and jerked him into the bars, into his face. "There was some drug to make us forget."

"Indeed, there were several. One dissolved the Naquadah marker that Nirrti injected into you. However, it did not make you forget. I told you a fabrication with the hope you would both forget what she had done to you. It appears to have been successful."

"Ah, yes the power of suggestion." Jack let go, and dragged a hand through his hair. "Still don't remember much. Don't know if I want to."

"O'Neill, if you intend to save Major Carter, you will prove beneficial to recall those past events. It could prove a worthy weapon against Nirrti. For she believes I gave you the memory potion which would have erased your reminiscence and in time killed you and Major Carter."

"Killed us?"

"Indeed. It is a slow poison that destroys the brain tissue. That is why I did not give it to you. Obviously her fear of Apophis forced her to depart the galaxy before she could find you or seek retribution against me."

"Yet she hasn't recognized you?" Dubious, Jack waggled his scarred brow.

"Nor do I expect her to. Nirrti remains, how do the Tau'ri say, a loaded cannon among the Goa'uld."

"Loss," Jack corrected.

"Thank you, O'Neill." The Jaffa settled on the bench nearest Jack. "I also wish to inform you that it was you who addressed me as Murray upon our first encounter. You also called me blowfish and tattoo head. I prefer Murray."

"Well, whatcha know."

Teal'c tilted his and smiled. "In addition to the handful of Jaffa here, there may only be a few onboard her vessel. No doubt she does not know their names let alone faces. Thus, I assume she has yet to realize it was I who deceived her so long ago. Furthermore, I made it appear you had escaped on your own, after being given the potion."

"Sure. Makes sense I guess."

"Therefore you see, O'Neill, Nirrti believes you are more valuable than ever because you and the major survived the memory eraser potion. Since her return, I find it most remarkable she has never attempted to abduct you or the major before this encounter."

"Coz up until now she's had more interesting subjects to mess with and I'd assume her experiments has evolved. So, what now?" He glanced at Sam who appeared to be sleeping.

"Remember, O'Neill. Remember floating in each other's embrace, being torn apart by Nirrti's Jaffa."

Jack sat down, closed his eyes and focused on Sam. In his mind's eye she became younger, her hair flowing past her shoulders. He remembered—Dorothy! Her wide-eyed innocence and her trusting smile. He immediately realized that during all this he'd been married to Sara.

'Dear Lord, help me? Forgive me? I cheated on Sara, cheated on my wife!'

Jack clutched his head and groaned out his misery.

Teal'c persisted. "Consider the events when you were tethered to a surgical table while Nirrti extracted living embryos from the Major's womb."

"Embryos?" Jack felt sick.

"Yes. Several of them were transplanted into other female wombs, but failed to survive."

"Damn!" Jack shut his eyes. The memories took on sounds, smells, and substance, flesh and blood. The bitter reality crashed into him and he began to sob like a broken man. He could hear Sam's anguished cries. Worse, he recalled what Nirrti had done to her, to them, to their unborn children. Then the greatest revelation slammed painfully into his heart.

"Sam carried a baby full term." Jack sprang to his feet.

"Yes. Because of your combined Ancient DNA Nirrti temporarily enhanced Samantha's gestation period to that of an full-blooded Ancient. Within ninety days, Samantha gave birth to a healthy female infant."

"Cassandra?" Jack looked up at Teal'c. "I was there."

"Indeed. Nirrti made you watch."

"The witch cut Sam open with a laser." Jack slammed his fist against the bars.

"Yes." Teal'c nodded glumly and closed his eyes at the horrible memory.

"Without anesthesia." Dropping on the bench, by Sam, the memory forced the air from his lungs and rose up to strangle him. He heard Cassandra crying out as breath was forced into her tiny lungs. Despite the fact Sam lie in her own blood, she fought the straps that restrained her to reach for their child.

'"Our baby!" She had cried out, then turned her tear stained face to Jack, who stalked toward the hag holding their child. "Stop, them! Don't let them take her."'

"I won't!" Jack charged forward but was restrained by two larger Jaffa.

One arm holding his child, Nirrti pressed Sam back on the table and proceeded to scan a hand device over her. After she collapsed, Nirrti proceeded to seal Sam's C-section. "Your mate will live." She gloated calmly. "To breed again. Take her to the sarcophagus."

Two Jaffa un-strapped the unconscious woman and carried her past Jack.

Torn between his infant daughter and her mother, Jack's paternal instincts returned to his baby, their baby. He knew Sam would want him to save their child first.

"Give her to me!" he commanded Nirrti.

Without protest, she handed the small wailing armful to Jack and grinned at his relieved expression. His concentration on his newborn baby, Jack cuddled his wailing daughter, kissing her unwashed face and unbeknownst, branding her, his own. The moment his lips brushed her skin he experienced a rush of emotions, thoughts, and an electrical charge passed between him and his child.

He'd always had a way with kids. Therefore he wasn't surprised when his daughter quieted and cooed at his voice and touch. "Hush, Sunshine," he whispered. "Daddy's gotcha and I'm never letting you go." It was then he remembered his grandmother's beautiful name. "Cassandra. Yeah, that's what we'll name you." He kissed her forehead and she looked trustingly up at him with the biggest gray-blue eyes. Sam's eyes.

"Return it to me." Nirrti put out her arms.

"Are you nuts?" He glared into Nirrti's black outlined eyes. Eyes that held no warmth, no emotion, just cold, black, heartless. Jack intuitively knew he could kill her with one touch. If he could get a hand around her neck, he could snap it like a twig. Yeah.

"Hardly. You just completed the branding ritual of the Ancients' between a parent and child. Had one of you not branded it, it would have died within hours."

"She's not an 'it'! She's my daughter! And you are not laying another hand on her."

"Your duty to this creature is now completed. You will relinquish 'it' to me."

"Don't think so." Jack tightened his hold on his child and stepped back until he bumped into a Jaffa. Whoops!

"Like your mate you refuse to learn, O'Neill." She snorted. "I'd eliminate you, but I've need of you both for sometime to come. You are my most successful breeders and the first to pass on the Ancient's DNA."

Breeders! Jack flinched at that crude term Nirrti applied to him and Sam, meanwhile he observed his options and realized he was outnumbered.

Still yapping, Nirrti drew closer. "This brat is just the first of what will one day be a race of hok'taur."

"Yeah. Whatever!" His eyes on the precious prize in his arms, Jack bolted for the door. He felt a painful rush of adrenaline. Not until years later when he'd heard the gunshot that took Charlie's life would he know that helpless, feeling of his child's life being ripped from him. Tears of anger flowed down his face.'

The rest was a blur. He remembered being zapped by what he now knew was a zat. Felt, Cassie torn from his embrace as he hit the floor. Heard Nirrti curse him and then as he tumbled into a deep black void he heard his daughter's frightened wail.

Jack bolted to his feet. "The zat should have killed Cassandra." Jack realized.

"It did, but Nirrti put her in the sarcophagus and then took her to the planet Hanka or as you know it, PX8 987."

"I know!" Jack angrily waved him off.

"I regret having to inform you, O'Neill." The Jaffa's voice held a noticeable tremor.

"Yes. Well. Thanks." Jack swiped at his eyes, drew himself up and buried his emotions deep, for Sam's sake, for his team's sake. "Cassandra was born about a year after we were first abducted."

"Yes."

"Then there were more full-term infants born?" Jack felt his blood boil.

"No. It would appear that Cassandra was as you say a miracle child. Not that there were not other conceptions between you and Samantha Carter before I rescued you . . .for whatever reason Nirrti, chose to experiment on those embryos."

"I'll kill her!" Jack seethed.

"I will assist you in that endeavor, O'Neill."

"Time is irrelevant to the Goa'uld. During the tenth year, Nirrti decided to take you to her fortress. She was intent to produce another full-term pregnancy."

"We were nothing but lab rats." Returning to Sam's side, he gently stroked her fevered face and made an important decision. "Teal'c, if we survive this, she must never know. Nor Cassandra or Janet."

"As you wish." Teal'c nodded in agreement. "But I fear in time Samantha will remember. I would expect the same for Cassandra, if she hasn't already remembered."

"For crying out loud! Cassie's was a baby."

"She is branded to you, her father, O'Neill. It is that seal of familiarity that has always connected the two of you. It has long been obvious to anyone who knows you and Cassandra."

"But what about Sam? Cassie's her daughter too."

"According to what Daniel Jackson had discovered in regards to Ancient bonding, they were branded at conception. But because you were the only one to touch and speak to Cassandra after her birth, your bond is stronger than Samantha's. It always will be."

Jack nodded. No wonder he'd always felt guilty about not spending enough time with Cassandra. Why when they were together he felt like a missing limb had been reattached. It dawned on him, how she looked like his kid sister, Susan. Jack grimaced, recalling the car accident that had taken her at the tender age of sixteen. Why hadn't he seen the resemblance before? He recalled his conversations with Cassandra and how she admitted to considering him and Sam her real parents. Even if not consciously Cassandra knew the truth. Which no doubt meant Sam did too. Shit!

Teal'c broke into Jack's bittersweet musings. "There is a reason you had forgotten, O'Neill. Had you not, you would have gone insane striving to rationalize the nightmares. I doubt had you survived the memory eraser, you or Major Carter would be together, let alone fighting the Goa'uld."

"You don't need to justify not telling us, Teal'c. I'd probably have done the same." Jack felt anger not at Teal'c, but Nirrti. God help him! He'd make that witch cure Sam, these poor folks, and then send her packing to kingdom come! At that very moment, Sam's limp fingers circled his forearm. He turned and gazed into her frightened blue eyes and knew without a shadow of a doubt, they'd had to get through this mess and somehow someday, he, Sam, and Cassandra would be a family.

CHAPTER FOUR

Jonas was back.

"Ivanov?" The younger man looked around the cells.

Jack glanced up. "Dead. Just like Alebran." He glared at Woden. "Yeah that's right, Nirrti killed your brother." Outraged, he challenged Egar, "Go ahead; take a look in my mind if you don't believe me. Better yet, look into Nirrti's head."

"That is forbidden." Egar stated.

"No kidding." Jack snorted.

"Because she's hiding something." Jonas inserted as he glanced at Sam's still body and looked outwardly worried.

"She is god. She would know."

Teal'c addressed the man. "She would not know because she is not a god."

"O'Neill is next." Woden telepathically raised the bars on Jack and Sam's cage.

Jack stayed beside her. "Look, she just killed a good man. She's gonna do the same thing to the rest of us."

Jonas winced and addressed the deformed men. "Together you're stronger than she is, you just don't realize it."

Woden mentally directed Jack toward the bars and lowered them after he'd walked through.

As they climbed the stone steps to Nirrti's chamber Jack went for broke. "Nirrti doesn't give a rat's ass about your people! Eighteen years ago, she abducted Major Carter and myself."

"Why?" Egar asked.

"To experiment on us just like she's doing to your people."

"Why should we believe you? You have not changed like we have." Woden insisted.

Jack halted and faced the deformed men. "I've no reason to lie to you, guys. We don't look different because Nirrti's performing different experiments on your people, but for the same purpose. She's after a hok'taur. After Nirrti abducted us, she forced us to copulate in hopes of creating a superior host for herself. In the process we conceived a daughter and just learned about it today. Major Carter has yet to be told."

Jack sniffed and rattled on. "Six years ago the population of the planet our daughter was taken to was completely wiped out by Nirrti's experimentations. And then last year Nirrti almost killed our child. We were helpless to stop her. Have you any idea how painful that was?"

Woden and Edgar considered Jack for a moment.

Edgar finally replied, "I would find it quite unbearable," and then motioned him to keep walking. "But Nirrti is here to cure us."

Dang! Jack wondered what it would take to convince these pathetic creatures of the truth, the honest truth, O'Neill. "You know, you're right. I did want to kill her. But if you'd look into her mind for a split second, you'd want to do the same thing for what she's done to your people."

His escorts on either side, Jack marched into the main chamber and halted. Gloating at him from behind the controls of the DNA machine stood the bride of Frankenstein, Nirrti.

"You should not have come here, O'Neill."

"Can you undo what you've done to Carter?" He flexed his fists at his side.

"If I choose to."

"I let you go once. We made a deal. I honored it." Jack shook a fist at her.

"I told you then I would not have done the same."

The bitch! "Fix what you've done to Carter, let the rest of my team go, that's all I ask. You can do whatever you want to me."

"Yes, Colonel. I can."

"I remember everything you did to me and Carter from that first time in your ship." The venom in Jack's voice made her head snap up from the controls. He watched as his words sunk into her one-track mind.

"The first time?" She taunted.

"Yeah, when you kidnapped me and a young Air Force cadet."

"I am not surprised, since you both survived the memory eraser medicine."

"Why us?" Jack hoped stalling would give Egar time to probe her mind. He knew how much Nirrti liked talking about herself and her experiments. "And when did you first abducted us?"

"You continue to delight me, O'Neill. Contrary to the popular belief about alien abductions, I study my specimens in their environment before I utilize them. I'd watched you for years, O'Neill, as I did Carter. Actually I'd taken you both separately as children and tested your DNA. When you were what your race calls a teenager and she a child, I brought you together. You bonded as siblings. You became very protective of her."

Jack's gut ached with the forced memory of an adorable blonde haired girl sitting on his lap in Nirrti's lab. He recalled Sam clinging to him and crying when Nirrti yanked her from his arms. His fist had made contact with Nirrti's livid face and then her hand device sent waves of excruciating pain through his skull. Holy cow, she was telling the truth.

"I knew then you were both special. Especially you, Jack, or do you prefer Scarecrow?"

"Go to hell!"

"You first." She chuckled and activated the machine. Jack looked at Egar.

Egar stared at Nirrti a moment and then yelled, "Stop! What he says is true."

"My brother?" Woden's disfigured face tensed.

"She murdered him." Egar pointed at Nirrti. "She has murdered hundreds of our people. And she intends to do the same to us."

"Jaffa, kree!" Nirrti ordered.

The Jaffa lifted their staff weapons but with the wave his hand Woden killed them.

"I command you!" Alarmed, Nirrti glimpsed Jack triumphant smirk.

Woden lifted Nirrti off the floor as if he gripping her neck.

"Wo-oden. . ." Nirrti strangled out.

"Stop!" Jack feared he'd kill her before saving Sam.

"I am your god!" Nirrti insisted struggling against Woden's chokehold.

Jack grew desperate. "We need her alive! Woden, she's the only one who can help your people."

"I can make you more powerful than your . . .wildest dreams!" Nirrti gasped.

Woden snapped her neck. Her eyes glowed before the symbiote died and her body crumbled in a heap behind the control panel.

Jack's last hopes crumbled with her. "Why did you do that?" He stared in shock at Nirrti's lifeless form.

"She deserves to die." Woden argued.

"She was Carter's only chance." His limbs trembled, as he grew sick.

Egar turned to Jack. "Not so, O'Neill. Before she died, I looked into Nirrti's mind and took what I needed. Hurry, while there is still time."

Jack raced down the stone steps into the prison and Woden followed. Woden lifted the bars on Teal'c and Jonas' cage and then on Sam's. Jack ran in and scooped Sam's limp body into his arms.

"Sir?" She murmured against him.

"You'll be okay, Carter!" He assured her and rushed her out of the cell and back up to Nirrti's chamber. God, he hoped so!

On the machine's platform Jack propped Sam up until Egar motioned him to let go. As the machine's gravity held Sam in place, he took a hesitant step back beside Teal'c and Jonas. His team members smiled their reassurance and looked at Sam.

Jack closed his eyes and said a silent prayer as Egar operated the controls and the slicer-dicer hummed and then switched off. Sam finally stood on her own.

"It is done. You are as you were before." Egar nodded to Sam.

"Thank you." She spoke with relief.

Jack helped Sam off the platform and led her back to the others. Noting she was still unsteady he stood close behind her, his hand at her waist supporting her. When she leaned against him he thanked God. Sam was alive!

"Yes, thank you." He acknowledged Egar and Woden.

"We can all be as we were before now that you have shown us the truth." Woden addressed Jack and SG-1.

"Hail Dorothy. The Wicked Witch is dead." Jack happily declared. The confused men stared at him and Jack sensed Sam was grinning.

"It's a movie, Margaret Hamilton." He glanced from one man to the other. No compendia. Figures.

Sam spoke up. "Point is, with Nirrti gone you can get back to your lives, rebuild your village."

"We can help you out with food and supplies, get you back on track." Jonas added.

"Once we get to know each other a little better, I'd really like a chance to study this machine." Sam's eagerness made Jack flinch. He knew these folks weren't going to buy into it.

"As soon as we have made our people whole again, we intend to destroy it." Woden insisted.

"But this is an incredibly advanced piece of technology," Sam motioned at the machine.

"Carter," Jack spoke over her shoulder. "Don't you think it would be for the best?"

He heard the air leave her lungs. "Yes, sir. I guess it would." She glanced back at his approving smile, but he realized he hadn't heard the last of it. Jack could just imagine the head-butting match they'd have at the debriefing. Sam so wasn't going to let this one go. Yep, it'd be great.

"To Oz." He waggled his brows.

Woden and Egar exchanged stranger looks.

"Part of that movie." Jack gestured and gave up, leading his team out of Nirrti's palace.

In Nirrti's fortress, Woden and Egar failed to notice the Goa'uld, Nirrti, slip out of her dead host's mouth and slither off to find another host.

Another time, O'Neill, Nirrti vengefully thought. For time is something I have plenty of!

The team proceeded to collect their gear including zats and staff weapons from the dead Jaffa. Jack questioned Jonas about whether he needed Egar to undo whatever Nirrti had done to him. Jonas insisted no, that she had only examined his DNA and not messed with it, coz Jonas was far superior to the rest of the Tau'ri.

Jack heard the gloating sarcasm in Jonas' remark, no doubt aimed at him. He let it go. Just like everyone else, the kid deserved his three minutes of fame.

"Well, I've known Nirrti a lot longer, Jonas, and I wouldn't consciously inhale anything that passed from that dead bitch's lips. So, soon as you get back to base, you report to Fraiser. That's an order!" Not like Fraiser would let them off the hook, but emphasizing the issue seemed to make Jonas squirm. Nice.

After acknowledging Jack's command, Jonas helped Teal'c haul the weapons out of the fortress and stockpile them for later retrieval.

Sam remained unusually quiet.

"Sure you're feeling all right, Carter?"

"Yes, Colonel, sir." She glanced up at him as she zipped her Kevlar vest and then hoisted the strap of her P90 over her shoulder.

Adjusting his ball cap, Jack's brows arched at her overkill of address. Here we go again, he inwardly groaned. He leaned toward her. "Chill, Carter, too many titles give me a hernia." He smirked, tucking his dimples deep for her. His boyish smile usually unhinged her.

He waited for her smile. Nothing. Not even a snicker at his lame jest. He hoped she was okay, but they couldn't pursue personal conversation here, let alone around Jonas. He feared she'd overhead his exchange with Teal'c. That would suck.

Topside, in the ebbing sunlight, Jack halted as Sam and Jonas went to dial the gate. Teal'c held back and turned to his friend. Jack's gaze was on Sam. He wasn't smiling.

"Will you be all right, O'Neill?" Teal'c came alongside him.

"No, T, I won't." Jack took off his cap and scrubbed his hair. Even though Nirrti had only zapped him, he felt emotionally and physically exhausted. He leaned on his rifle, drew a breath in then blew it out between his lips.

Ahead at the gate Sam and Jonas waited on them. Jack tapped his com, "Carter, you and Jonas can gate."

"Roger that, sir."

Jack picked up his pace with Teal'c matching his long legged strides.

"This is killing me, T. Far as I know Carter and I no longer have any secrets from each other, at least that involve both of us. I owe her the truth, but don't know how."

"I understand your dilemma, O'Neill. Were I in your slippers—."

"Shoes," Jack corrected, then caught the Jaffa's full mouth tug upward. Teal'c's screw up had been intentional. Jack's smile didn't reach his eyes.

"I would also find myself torn over such a complicated decision." Teal'c grew serious.

"But you're not." Jack defended. "And I can't expect you to resolve my personal problems, nor do I want you too."

"Because I am not Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c spoke honestly.

"Ah, Teal'c, old buddy, just for the record. I'm a private guy. Secondly, Daniel never solved my issues. If anything, he stuck his nose where it wasn't wanted, especially with Sam and me. It was more annoying than dealing with Urgo."

They glanced over as Jonas entered the event horizon. Sam did not. She stood beside the DHD watching her approaching teammates. Jack suspected she wanted to talk. He so didn't want to. Not now.

"Doctor Jackson meant well, as did by I by not telling you and Samantha Carter the truth about Nirrti or Cassandra. If it is any consolation, although I had my suspicions the day Captain Carter refused to leave Cassandra at the missile silo, I did not realize Cassandra was your child until Jolinar took possession of Captain Carter the subsequent year."

"How's that?" He hoped Sam could see him scowling at her insubordination and purposely slowed his pace.

"After the incident with Captain Carter and Cassandra at the hospital and then at the infirmary when Cassandra was the only one to comfort the captain after Jolinar's death."

Jack flinched. Yeah the fact it hadn't been him had hurt. Now that he knew the truth he not only understood, he felt comforted.

"I was present when you bonded with Cassandra, O'Neill. As a father I comprehend the powerful connection between a Jaffa parent and child. When I saw you with her in the corridor before visiting the Captain that day my reservations since the rescue of Cassandra multiplied. And what transpired between Samantha and Cassandra was more evident."

"Yeah, felt it too." Jack but avoided the Jaffa's intense gaze. This conversation was difficult. Heck, any dialogue that involved emotions was a major struggle.

"Indeed. You see, I personally delivered Cassandra to P8X 987 and placed her with a good family. Being younger and naive, I had not considered that Nirrti had inserted a homing device inside of her, or that she'd intended to experiment with the rest of the children."

"Then how did you know?" Jack halted yards from where Sam impatiently paced. He worried that she'd heard the entire conversation between him and Teal'c in the prison cell.

Teal'c blushed. "You possess a heart-shaped birthmark on the back of your right shoulder do you not?"

Jack nodded then gapped. "You mean?"

"Indeed."

"Doh!" A moment of silence fell between them.

"O'Neill, I confess I do not regret having withheld such pertinent information from you or Major Carter and I believe you know why."

"Yeah." Jack kicked at a stone, stirring dust between them. "If we'd known, one of us would have left SG-1 to care for Cassandra."

"Whom remains in excellent care under Doctor Fraiser's supervision."

"Yeah. This news would hurt Janet."

"And Cassandra continues to thrive as a normal Tau'ri."

"Yes, yes she does." He begrudgingly admitted.

"Colonel." Sam walked toward them.

"Carter! I told you to go home with Jonas."

"I know, Colonel, sir, and I apologize for disobeying a direct order." She blushed in the dusky light. "But we need to talk before we--"

"O'Neill, Major Carter," Teal'c nodded to Sam. "If you will excuse me, I will join Jonas and inform General Hammond you will be following—"

"In a few." Jack finished with a nod to his warrior friend. "We'll redial."

"As you wish, O'Neill." Teal'c walked the platform and entered the event horizon.

"Carter?" Jack winced and rocked on his heels. "What's so important it can't wait until we get to base and after doc gives you a passing grade?"

Sam frowned at him. "Off record, sir?"

"Always." He smiled.

"When I was sick back there, I had strange dreams. Dreams I've had before and involved you—."

Frick! Jack gulped. He directed her toward the gate hoping the sooner they got through to the base this conversation could end.

"Really?" He started walking faster. "Hope they had cake."

"Sir!" She gripped his BDU sleeve. "There wasn't any cake but--"

"Whaat?" He looked where she held him and his mouth thinned, as his narrowed gaze delivered his evasive, 'don't want to hear about this,' look.

"Nothing." She let go.

"Excellent." His CO tone closed the subject.

"But, sir?"

'Why me Lord?'

"When I thought I was about to die I got pretty um, emotional." She turned from him.

Jack lifted his hand to console her but thought better for it and dropped his arm to his side. They had to get back into professional mode and the sooner they did, the less likely he'd be tempted to tell her the truth. He hated deceiving her, but Teal'c was right. To tell Sam now would change everything, especially the unique dynamics of SG-1. Bad enough they were still dealing with Daniel's loss and Jack had yet to adjust to smiley face Jonas.

Selfishly, Jack couldn't imagine Sam not being his 2IC. On the other hand, if he told her there they could get legally married, make love twenty-four/seven, have Cassie, be a family, break Janet's heart and . . .Ah shit. It was a no win situation!

"Yes you did get emotional, Colonel." He looked her square in the eye, well as much as the fading sunlight allowed.

Sam's back stiffened because he hadn't given her any leeway. When she turned around her eyes glistened but she wouldn't cry in front of him. That was something she'd not done in a long time. "I regret I put you in an awkward position with Teal'c and it won't happen again, sir."

"Then you disappoint me, Sam." He approached the DHD and entered their IDC and address.

"I do, sir?"

"Yep." He smiled as the blue toilet bowl flushed sideways. "Because there's been too many occasions when we've been in near-death circumstances or caught up in a mission, that even when we knew one us might not return, we couldn't say goodbye like we wanted to."

"Excuse me, sir?" They walked side by side toward the event horizon and Sam halted and turned to him. "We've agreed to behave professionally no matter the situation or who was present."

"Yep. Been there, done that." He recalled the Entity situation two years back and the Cave of Wishes. "But today proved a revelation for me, Sam."

"Me too, Jack." She acknowledged with a wistful smile.

A comfortable silence ensued, but neither made an attempt to change it. Sam was clearly unhinged by his personal admittance.

"Um, what I'm trying to say here, Sam, is . . ." He silently cursed his romantic heart as his nervous hands directed traffic. "If the opportunity ever again arises and one or both of us—"

"Are about to walk into a dangerous situation or push up daisies?"

"Umm, yeah." He cradled her face with both hands and tipped it toward his. "I don't want regrets because nothing was said. In other words, one of us better speak up and that's an order, Major."

Sam leaned into his touch. "Deal, sir."

"Then we're 'okay,' here?"

"Always."

"Sweet!" He winked and reluctantly let go. "So, guess we need to see how many supplies and medical assistance we can get for Woden and Egar's folks, huh?"

She nodded and snagged her lower lip. "I'd really like to get my hands on that machine for awhile, sir." There was a defined whine to her voice.

"Ah, for crying out loud, Carter, you're not going to cry me a river are you?"

"Whatever works, sir." She winked. "Besides, we know I can sweet talk Hammond into—"

A thunderous explosion erupted from the village. Both turned to see smoke billowing from Nirrti's fortress.

"Shit! Damn!" Sam stomped her feet.

Jack arched his brows in surprise. To hear Sam swear was a rare privilege. "Um, they obviously aren't into haste makes waste." He laughed and engaged her glower. "Get it? Haste, waste . . ." Jack cleared his throat. Whoops. Bad timing. Bad cliché.

"Doh!" He winced.

"Happy, sir?" Shoulders stiff with rage she tramped ahead of him and then into the flickering blue puddle.

"With you, Carter, always." He smirked.

Just before he stepped into the horizon Jack glanced at the dusky heavens and spotted the first evening's star. He murmured a prayer of thanks, knowing no matter how long it took someday; he, Sam and Cassandra would be a family. Yeah.

Fin

PS: Please read the next story in the Chosen Hearts Series, Any Given Wednesday, S7