Thanks to everyone who wrote and let me know what they wanted for the finish. I guess it looks like I'll be writing about the wedding – by popular demand. I know I mentioned the baby but most of you had guessed what was wrong with Sam anyway. I just confirmed your theories. Thanks again to all who sent in reviews. Luv you guys. It's always good to know what things you enjoy about the story, and what you want to happen. Just a little more torture, before the fluff comes...it won't be long now!

Turtle D - yes, I could drag it out even longer by your suggestion, but I think this fic is long enough as it is.

Junior

By Lingren.

Previously:-

Minutes later, A white light engulfed SG-1 as well as Jacob Carter, leaving only General Landry in the briefing room. He sighed and hoped to god they made it in and out of there without too much hassle and that they manage to get Jack and his son out of there too.

Chapter 29

Bright white light greeted Jack once more as he opened his eyes.

"Crap!" he muttered, bringing his hand up to rub the bullet wound on his brow. Of course, there was nothing there now, but he could still feel the ghost of the impact. His hand moved down over his shoulder, feeling the blood soaked T-shirt around the bullet hole there, but his skin was smooth and whole underneath it. He closed his eyes in relief. Not because Ba'al was once again torturing him with the whole dying and reviving thing, but because it gave him another chance. A chance to kill the snake, and a chance to save his son, because he was under no illusion that Ba'al was saving that scenario for the grand finale.

The grating sound heralded the opening of the sarcophagus and he came face to face with a Jaffa leaning over the side. Without ceremony, he was grabbed and taken through a pair of rich claret brocade curtains into the next room where Ba'al greeted him with a sneer.

He had hoped he would have been taken back to the cell so that he could see Junior, but it wasn't to be. He shook off the guard when he was pushed in front of the Goa'uld.

"I have the power of life and death over you O'Neill. I can kill you as often as I wish and still have you brought back for more."

"Go to hell!" Jack snapped back.

Ba'al laughed and turned his back. Jack made a dash for the snake but was thrown backwards when he bounced off the personal shield.

"Damn!" he exclaimed. He'd forgotten all about that, at least, he hadn't expected the snake to activate it.

Ba'al merely raised an eyebrow and tut tutted his attempts and continued to strut about the room like a peacock.

"You humans are so pathetically weak. You cannot kill me. I am a god!"

"A false god. A weak human too except you have a parasite wrapped round your spine. That doesn't make you a god," Jack retaliated, picking himself up off the floor. He looked at the dust on his fingers in disgust, then made a show of wiping the dirt from his hands down his pants.

Ba'al watched him with an air of amusement.

"It is such a pity that you are so willing to die. You could amuse me greatly."

"Give me a Zat gun and I can amuse myself too!" Jack snipped.

Ba'al roared with false laughter, but Jack was sent crashing against the wall behind him using the ribbon device. It took a few moments for the world to stop spinning before he could climb to his feet once more. So long as the bastard concentrated on him, Jack didn't care what the evil monster did, just as long as it mean he left Jon Junior alone.

Ba'al turned to him, looking peeved.

"I grow tired of you already O'Neill, you are so predictable. It is time I livened things up a little."

He moved to the door and spoke quietly to one of the guards, but Jack instinctively knew that this was what Ba'al had been waiting for. The moment of truth.

Ba'al retreated to his throne and sat impatiently, ignoring Jack who stood there defiantly, glaring daggers at the snake and thinking desperately of a way out of what he knew was to come.

"Do what you want with me, Ball. Just leave the kid alone. Let him go!"

"A father's sacrifice? How touching!"

"He's just an innocent child..."

"Oh, come now O'Neill. He's hardly innocent. It was he who led me to you at your home or had you forgotten your earlier brush with death already?"

"He didn't have a choice. You promised to revive his mother."

"Such a tiresome woman too. Whatever did you see in her?" Ba'al snorted derisively.

"She wouldn't have hurt a fly, yet you killed her and her people. They were just farmers. No threat to you or your kind!"

Ba'al examined his fingers, studying his nails as he waited, and all but ignored Jack's argument.

Jack moved closer, making Ba'al look up and give him a warning glare. Jack stopped just as the door opened and Junior was dragged in, kicking and screaming. The Jaffa holding him received a mighty kick from Jon and hopped about on one leg, releasing the boy.

Jack snorted, fisting the air. Oh yeah, a chip off the old block! Junior ran over to him, pleased to see him again, yet frightened at the dishevelled and bloody sight of him too.

"I'm okay kid. I'm fine. See?" he said, showing him the smooth healthy skin underneath. He ran a hand under the boy's chin with a smile. Jack knelt down on creaky knees to run his hands over the boy to ensure that he hadn't been ill treated. Jon didn't complain for which he was thankful for small mercies. He threw his arms around Jack's neck and Jack clung to him, closing his eyes and savouring the contact before his worst nightmare was to be re-enacted for the Goa'uld's pleasure.

"No-one has touched the child!" the Goa'uld assured him from across the room as he moved from his previous position. "I give you my word."

"Well excuse me, but I don't trust your word. It means nothing!" Jack retorted.

Junior pushed himself as close to Jack as he possibly could, casting trusting eyes up at his father.

"Daddy? Why are we here? When can we go home?"

Jack stood up slowly and looked down at his son's trusting face and sighed.

"Not yet son, but soon!" He only wished he could believe the words himself.

"You should not lie to the child O'Neill. You know that you will never be able to leave here. None of your friends know where you are," Ba'al gloated. "First of all I will break you of your insolence, and then you will become my slave. Perhaps I will have the boy implanted with a symbiote so that you can become his slave. It would amuse me a good deal to see the great General O'Neill grovelling to the whims of a child."

Jack grew angry and he tensed, hoping that he could find a way out of here long before that idea became a reality. The boy was far too young to accommodate a snake; which ultimately and painfully reminded him of the Reetou boy, Charlie. He'd been too young too, but on the other hand he didn't have a choice back than. It was either allow the boy to become a Tok'ra or let the boy to die. He shuddered at the thought of Jon becoming a Goa'uld.

Jon gripped his father tighter, making Jack shake those thoughts loose. He was determined to do everything in his power to stop that from happening. Jack stretched to his full height, nudging the boy until he was half hidden behind him.

"I said, do what you want with me, so long as you let the boy go," Jack repeated, his voice tight with emotion. If he had to become a slave then so be it, and he would do it for the sake of saving his son.

"Your sacrifice isn't good enough. I need more. You have plagued me for too long O'Neill. You escaped from me one before but you will not do so this time. I will have my revenge."

Ba'al stalked across the room and picked up the pistol, caressing the barrel in his hands. Jack pushed Junior further behind him, trying to protect him.

Ba'al walked round the room, watching him in silence; Jack following his movements, always keeping himself between the boy and the Goa'uld.

They played this game for a while until Ba'al snapped out a command to his First Prime who was standing patiently near the door.

"Take him!"

The Jaffa moved forward and Jack was ready for him; but, it wasn't the boy he went for...it was Jack who found himself restrained after a brief scuffle. Junior looked on, scared to death that his father would get hurt.

Ba'al stepped across the gap, keeping the pistol aimed at Jack and sneered as he grasped the boy's arm to pull him away from the Jaffa and Jack.

"What makes you think I want to shoot the boy first? Perhaps it is you whom I will shoot. Without you to protect him, I may then do as I please!"

Ba'al pulled the boy in front of him and earned himself a kick in the shin for his trouble. Ba'al snarled with rage, jerking backwards, but didn't release his grip, instead he tightened it.

He turned Junior around, pulling him to stand in front of him, the boy's back to him. He squatted behind him, forcing the pistol into Jon's hands, keeping them firmly in place.

Jack watched in horror, knowing what was about to happen. He swallowed and smiled calmly at the boy who was looking terrified.

"It's okay Junior. No matter what happens, it's okay!" Jack cried out to reassure his son. The Jaffa released him, retreating once more. Jack stood there; waiting for the inevitable.

Ba'al took aim and tightened his fingers over the boy's, making him fire the gun. Jack gasped in agony and crumpled to the floor.

Junior screamed, struggling in the Goa'uld's grasp. He wriggled free and turned on the monster, kicking him and punching with all his might while Ba'al stood there laughing.

Jack stuffed the pain away and rolled to his side, his hand automatically pressing against the wound in his side.

"Jon!" he called, but the boy didn't hear him, so he yelled a little louder, which took a lot of effort on his behalf.

"Junior!"

Jon stopped his attack and turned to see Jack struggling to sit up. He ran over to his father, and dropped down to sob into Jack's chest.

Jack couldn't reciprocate the action, he was leaning heavily onto one hand, while trying to stem the flood of blood with the other, all the time riding the waves of agony. He spoke soft words of comfort, reassuring the boy that he was okay for now.

TBC