A/N: Thanks to one and all for kind reviews. Just for the record Questionablelight, I'm saving the kangaroo comments for later – they've just got Jack written all over them!

Sorry for the delay in this update, apart from my usual busy life I've had a très exciting week – my brother I went to Antiques Roadshow during the week (we were the youngest people there so we attracted some camera attention and he's going to be on some ads for the Lifestyle channel later this year – mucho excitingo)… and then there was the SG1 season 5 marathon on today and yesterday on the cable channel TV1 which required my attention as I hadn't seen many eps from that season before… by the way, any Australians reading this should buy the season 8 DVD box set at JB hifi cos there's a competition to go to Vancouver and visit the SG1 and Atlantis sets!

Enough randomness… here's chapter two!

Chapter 2 - Point of origin

Sam shot her arm out to steady Jack, who was now teetering dangerously against the cave wall behind them. His gaze seemed to be far-off, not looking at anything in particular, and for once there was a clear sense of fear being portrayed through his eyes. She didn't have time to think about who the goa'uld was, but suspected that it didn't matter. In Jack's mind, following his encounter with Baal and the sarcophagus, any goa'uld would be likely to provoke a similar reaction. She twisted around so she was facing him and reached her free hand up to cup the back of his neck and direct his head downwards so his eyes, still unseeing, would be looking directly into hers. She didn't say anything, but kept her hand where it was on his neck, rubbing her thumb gently back and forth on the skin behind his ear. Soon she saw his eyes move slightly, indicating that he was at least back in the present world. The haunted expression remained on his face, although he was now returning her stare, his eyes fixed on hers. Relieved Jack was at least back from wherever the trauma had taken him, Sam lowered her hand to rest it comfortably on his forearm, squeezing it slightly to reassure him. Now that her focus wasn't required to be entirely on the man in front of her, she realised the goa'uld and jaffa were on the move.

Teal'c watched the scene playing before him through the narrow line of sight he had of the stargate. He had tensed up the instant Baal had arrived, and, following his execution of the jaffa, was now deeply concerned. He knew that even such a formidable warrior such as O'Neill would be in no state to face his tormentor yet. Even more importantly, he knew that from what they had learned about Baal in recent times, the position they now found themselves was intensely dangerous. If O'Neill had once been captured by this false-god, then it was entirely likely that they would be too.

The system lord began marching purposefully away from the gate and Teal'c receded into the tight space behind him, unfortunately squashing Jonas somewhat, so as not to be detected. None of the bodies moving passed them hesitated while walking past SG1, but instead strode purposefully into the tunnel, which proceeded to close behind them. As abruptly as light had been shed on the cave, their surroundings returned to darkness.

Sam didn't know what to do or say. Upon seeing the Goa'uld she knew who it was, and why Jack had had such an averse reaction to his voice. Her heart leapt into her throat as she realised how he must be feeling; the fact that he had been so stunned, and not able to maintain his usual façade of strength was noticeably unsettling. When darkness once again descended upon them, and she heard Teal'c and Jonas move, clicking their P-90 flashlights on, she quickly moved to whisper to Jack.

"Sir?" she wasn't sure how he was going to react. "Sir, it's ok – he's gone."

Jack had been struggling to quell the blind fear that had overtaken him at hearing Baal's voice. Sam had brought him back, his eyes had suddenly registered her presence as her hand lay on the back of his neck, and he had seen her eyes looking into his, deep with concern. Shocked at his loss of control, he forced himself to focus on the situation at hand. Try as he might, he couldn't make the fear go away. He couldn't let them see, but they had to get out of there – and fast. They had to escape before Baal found them. Before he killed them; again, and again, and again. Feeling himself slip into a spiral of dread and fear again he jolted himself and physically flinched on the spot.

It was at this moment that he heard Sam speak. The timidity of her voice made him realise just how hopeless he must look. Pushing all the pain far away into the corner of his mind, he pushed passed Sam, callously squashing her against the wall of the cave.

"I know Carter," he snapped, feeling annoyed at his display of weakness, knowing he couldn't afford to collapse. "I felt the pompousness dissipate as he went through the tunnel."

He refused to look at Sam, who was looking shocked and mildly hurt at his reaction, even though it hadn't been entirely unexpected. Inwardly feeling regret for his reaction, he had different priorities for the moment: namely getting home.

"Teal'c, Jonas," he barked at the two aliens who were once again studying the writings on the cave wall. "We're going. Carter!" he began moving towards the gate with powerful strides. "Dial us home, let's get the fuck outta here."

After a couple of seconds, Jack realised that no one was following. He growled under his breath, came to a stop, and whirled around on the spot to look at them, fire in his eyes.

"Well!" he demanded, looking at them accusingly. "What's the hold-up? Let's GO! Major that's an ORDER!"

Sam was too stunned to speak or move. She wouldn't ever wish to contravene an order from a superior officer, but it was clear to her that he was not thinking clearly. She looked to Teal'c, appealing for his support.

"I do not believe we can leave immediately, O'Neill." Teal'c's even voice contrasted sharply with the sight of Jack, whose veins were almost popping out of his skin as he stood there looking at them with rage.

"Why the HELL not?" Jack was in complete despair now. He tried to keep control of the situation but the uncontrollable aspect of his rage meant he was edging perilously close to breaking down. "There's GOA'ULD on this planet with what could be an ARMY of Jaffa! We need to LEAVE, NOW!"

Sam looked to Jonas and spoke quietly out of the corner of her mouth. "Check the writings for any reference that could indicate Uluru's location to Baal. I'll talk to him."

With that she moved cautiously towards Jack.

"Carter I have ordered you to dial us home!" he hissed at her through clenched teeth as she walked towards him

"Sir, I know, and I agree we have to get out of here," she began slowly, imploring him to hear her out. She saw his jaw clench as he fought with himself, deciding whether to listen or explode – as he was clearly wanting to do. She moved closer to him, now standing only a metre away. "But we have to make sure that there's nothing to suggest the actual location of Uluru." She said softly. "If Baal figures out that it's on Earth, we'll have a much bigger problem than our own personal safety."

Jack felt his muscles twitching, his unconscious desire to flee fighting with his conscious mind, which was telling him that Sam was right. He felt helpless, impotent in the face of the situation. He let his shoulders droop and nodded lamely, looking at the ground in front of him. "You're right." He admitted quietly. "Of course you're right." He raised his head to look at her. "Just do it quick, k? We leave in ten."

He raised his voice and looked over Sam's shoulder to where, although Jonas and Teal'c were looking at the cave wall again, their attention was obviously still on him. "Ok guys, we'll make sure he can't trace the naquada stock back to Earth, and then we're out of here."

He looked at Sam, who was still in front of him, cringing inwardly at the still concerned look on her face. He did not want to deal with this now… nor ever really. "Carter, go help them – I'll be standing by at the gate to dial us out of here quick if necessary." He saw her hesitate at his words but didn't need to repeat them as she quickly accepted them and turned to move towards the rest of the team.

Jonas was again studying the wall in front of him when Sam approached them. He glanced up at her quickly to see her give him a reassuring smile. "Is he ok?" he asked quietly, wary of the Colonel's freakish hearing abilities.

"Yeah, he's just shook up…" Sam began, "…not that he'd ever want to admit it."

"Should you not be at his side, Major Carter?" Teal'c enquired evenly, his tone indicating there was nothing at all wrong with Jack's reaction.

Sam looked at Teal'c, admiration on her face. "He doesn't want me there, he's ashamed of his outburst." She glanced back in his direction, shaking her head slightly as she saw how tense his posture was, standing rigidly in front of the DHD. "Maybe you could…" before she could finish the sentence, she realised Teal'c was already making his way back towards the stargate.

Jack didn't look up as Teal'c approached him. He could tell the difference between the different gaits his team members adopted as they walked. He kept his focus on his shoes, or where he imagined his shoes were. Not only was it extremely dark, but he found his eyes weren't quite registering his surroundings properly – he couldn't seem to focus them. Every time he did, he imagined seeing Baal emerging through the tunnel, or the gate. It was easier to live with the blurriness.

"We will return through the stargate in good time before Baal returns." Teal'c's voice filtered through the swirling torment of Jack's mind.

"Here's hoping." Jack's voice was quiet, coarse even. He transmitted no emotion through the cool timbre, but then he didn't need to – his posture spoke volumes.

"Indeed." Teal'c didn't try to say anything more; he didn't even look at Jack. Instead, he just stood silently, stoically, next to the team leader; staring composedly straight ahead.

Jack felt himself calm down slowly. He concentrated on the even breathing coming from the jaffa standing next to him, and felt things becoming clearer. Consciously taking long, deep, breaths, he lifted his head slowly and turned to look down towards Sam and Jonas. He was just about to call out to see how they were going when Sam's voice rang out through the cave.

"Sir, you'd better see this." She was businesslike, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened beforehand. He said a silent thank you to some higher being for her discretion before moving away from the DHD and towards them, Teal'c following.

Jack looked between where Jonas and Sam were crouched down looking at the cave wall, right near its intersection with the ground. Jonas had scraped away some of the loose rocks on the ground to better see the symbols that had been engraved on the rock, so low down they were probably meant to be overlooked. The alien looked up to Jack apprehensively, not knowing how safe it was to speak his mind.

"Out with it Jonas," Jack said good-naturedly, once again able to forget the fear and uncertainty that had briefly overcome him. "Is the writing on the wall?" Jack paused to gauge Sam's reaction to his lame attempt at a joke. Seeing her eyes roll, he winced ironically. "Yeah… I know… not a good one." He smiled at her apologetically, his heart warming at the grin she shot back at him.

"Ahem," Jonas cleared his throat quietly. "Colonel? We have a problem."

"Let me guess," Jack was still looking at Sam, "There's a nice set of instructions about how to find Uluru down there?"

"Not exactly, sir." Sam was the first to deflect her gaze from their mutual stare. "But it's clear enough… we're just lucky it was obscured before now or they would have already figured it out."

Jack looked down to where the markings were present and saw a kind of dismembered point of origin symbol – Earth's point of origin. Sighing quietly he glanced unconsciously back at the wall behind them; the wall that could, at any moment, disintegrate and announce Baal's return.

"What can we do about it?" The anxiety was rising within him again. Every breath anyone took, every slight movement they made, any change in the surrounds made him flinch, fearing the return of Baal.

"Well, not a lot. Try and cover it up I guess." Jonas shrugged, while looking back to the cave wall. "Hope they don't find it."

"I do not believe that is possible." Teal'c voice was grave. "Any good jaffa would discern the change in texture at this location were we to artificially cover the wall."

"Yeah he's probably right," Jonas added, scrunching his pain up in apology for insisting on uncovering the engravings in the first place.

"So we blow a hole in the wall." Seeing the look of shock and indignation on Sam and Jonas' faces, Jack raised his hand in defence, his eyebrows approaching his hairline. "Hey, just a little one… I'm not talking about blowing up the entire cave or anything..."

At that moment the wall behind Jack began to dissolve behind him, heralding the arrival of some extremely hostile forces and possibly a certain system lord himself.

"Forget it Jonas… we're outta here." He was already jogging towards the DHD, Sam close behind him. "We'll be no use if captured. He's going to find it anyway now."

For once, Jonas didn't need to be told twice, and he and Teal'c were right behind Jack and Sam as they stood in front of the gate. Just as the wormhole opened the chink-chink sound that had been growing slowly louder stopped suddenly.

"Kree!" came the clichéd cry of one of the jaffas now in the cave.

Jack turned slowly to look the jaffa in the eye. "You know what? I don't think we're going to 'kree' this time." His eyes took on an almost diabolical glint and he grinned at them manically, "Byyyyyyyyeeeeeeee!"

With that he stepped through the gate quickly, before anyone else could appear through the tunnel.

The sirens indicating an off-world activation were resounding throughout the SGC headquarters as SG1 tramped down the ramp. The wormhole disengaged behind them and – thankfully – so did the infuriating wailing sound. General Hammond came bustling through the door, his expression slightly concerned.

"Colonel?" his tone of voice relayed his confusion. "You weren't due back for another four hours… something wrong?"

"Oooh, I dunno General," Jack stood that little bit straighter and squared his shoulders in an effort to keep himself composed. "We came, we saw, we nearly got freakin' ambushed by that gothic freak, Baal, and then we basically ensured that he'd follow us home." He looked around distractedly, as if the statement he'd just given was completely benign. "So yeah… you might say that."

Without waiting to be dismissed, Jack marched purposefully out of the room, leaving General Hammond gaping in his wake.

TBC

A/N: So there we are… let me know what you think… I'm trying to keep Jack's reactions as true as possible but it's kinda difficult.

I had written more for this bit but it's really late and I wanted to post so I just thought I'd cut it off here. Hope it's not too slow, but all this stuff has to happen.