A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews! I love receiving them!

Janissima -- I wanted to say thank you for telling me not to leave Teal'c out of the sequel when you reviewed the last chapter of Chosen. Because if you hadn't said that, I might have left him out altogether! I'm really just most comfortable writing Jack and Sam, but I know Teal'c and others really ought to be in there so I've done my best to expand my horizons a bit and add some other pov's in this story. Although I'm still focusing on Sam and Jack.

After reading all the reviews, I feel I should warn everyone that I'm not actually going to include Sam's session with Dr. MacKenzie. I have my reasons! One being that I know absolutely nothing about psychiatry and I'm sure if I did try to write the scene it would come out like something from a really bad movie. Anyhow, I hope you can still enjoy this chapter...

Chapter 3:

Okay, it was official. Sam was having trouble concentrating. She and Daniel were working on the device that had been retrieved from P7X 165, trying to figure out how it worked and what it was for, but they weren't getting very far. At least, Sam sure wasn't. At the moment, Daniel had his nose buried in his notes and seemed to be in a world of his own.

Sam had survived her session with Dr. MacKenzie, but it hadn't been pleasant. Far from it. She'd been able to handle talking to the police the week before, she'd even handled relaying the details of her experience to Janet, General Hammond, and Colonel O'Neill during her last day in the infirmary. But this had been different.

Dr. MacKenzie had tried to delve deeper than just the basic facts of what had occurred. In Sam's mind, he had pried. Pried at places she really didn't want him to have access to. But she'd made it through. It was over, but the session had left her feeling both emotionally and physically drained. And now she just couldn't focus.

Sighing in frustration, Sam pushed the device away from her. "Daniel, I'm not getting anywhere with this."

Daniel looked up at her and blinked. "Oh. Sorry, Sam. I guess I'm not being much help." He put down his notebook and reached for a pile of files and papers that he'd brought along from his office to her lab. "Maybe the writings from the temple wall will give us a clue." He began rummaging through the stack of papers. "I'm sure I've got the photographs here somewhere."

Sam's hand froze on the surface of her worktable.

Photographs.

Camera.

Flash. Flash. Fear.

She was back in her cold, cement prison. Tied up and helpless as Marvin Garrett snapped picture after relentless picture. The camera flash was blinding her, her terror choking her, suffocating her...

"Sam!"

Sam came crashing back to the present, gasping for breath and shaking from head to toe. Daniel had a hand on her arm and was looking extremely worried and alarmed.

"Sam, what's wrong? Should I call Janet?"

Sam grabbed his wrist to keep him from going for the phone. "No," she said quickly, still trying to catch her breath. "Don't call anyone."

Daniel gently pried her hand from his wrist and then held it in his own. "Okay," he said soothingly. "I won't."

Sam took a few deep breaths and felt herself begin to calm down. Slightly, anyhow. She was actually feeling rather ill. She realized that there was a single tear running down her cheek and brushed it away roughly with her free hand.

"What just happened?" Daniel asked quietly.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"Sam, that wasn't nothing. You were shaking like a leaf and didn't even hear me call your name the first two times."

"I'm fine, Daniel," she repeated, more forcefully this time.

"No, you're not." He wasn't giving up. "It was Garrett, wasn't it? You were back there with him."

Sam pulled her hand out of Daniel's gentle grasp and turned away slightly. She couldn't do this. "Daniel, don't."

"Sam, ignoring it isn't going to make it any better."

She closed her eyes briefly, trying desperately to hold herself together. "There's nothing to ignore." God, she really couldn't do this. Didn't he understand? If he didn't drop this she was going to fall to pieces. And if she did that, she really didn't know where she would be. She didn't think she'd be able to put herself back together again.

She glanced over at Daniel and knew she couldn't fool him. But still, she just couldn't handle this right now. Maybe not ever. "Let's just get back to work, okay?" He was still looking at her with discerning eyes, so she tried again, almost pleading now. "Please, Daniel."

He must have caught the note of desperation in her voice or noticed something in her eyes, because he sat back and nodded once. "Okay," he said quietly.

He turned back to his papers and a heavy silence fell over Sam's lab. She felt bad, knowing that Daniel was just trying to help, but she couldn't dwell on things. She just needed to forget and move on. Just forget.

Unfortunately, after her display in front of Daniel, Sam had a bad feeling that she was going to have a hard time convincing everyone else that that's what she needed.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

As much as she loved Daniel, Sam was really rather glad when he finally left her lab later that evening. His furtive, worried glances in her direction had been starting to wear on her already frazzled nerves and she was afraid she might end up snapping at him if he kept it up for much longer. And that was something she really didn't want to do.

Now she was alone in her dimly lit lab and despite the late hour, she was struggling to go on working. But with the words on the screen of her laptop blearing before her tired, stinging eyes, she wasn't sure how much longer she'd be able to continue. It wasn't as if she was actually getting any real work done, it was more that she was avoiding stopping for the night. Because that would mean she should go to sleep. And that was something she didn't want to deal with.

She had already decided not to go home for the night. Remaining on base seemed a far more attractive option after being cooped up at home for so many days. At least, that's what Sam told herself. But deep down, she just didn't want to go home. She felt safer at the base, more in control. The memories and nightmares she was so desperate to leave behind seemed somehow less threatening at the base than they did at home. Despite her earlier episode with Daniel.

That was just a minor setback, Sam had convinced herself. A result of Dr. MacKenzie poking at almost-healed wounds earlier in the day. She would do better the next day. But for the moment, she still wasn't looking forward to sleeping. So she pressed on, trying to ignore the increasing weight of her eyelids, trying to keep her head held up no matter how much it seemed to want to drift down toward her desk. Her screen bleared even more noticeably, but still she tried...

"Sam?"

She nearly jumped right out of her chair at the sound of someone speaking her name, and at the touch of a hand on her shoulder. Her eyes shot open and her head jerked up off her folded arms. She was completely disoriented.

"Sam, it's okay. It's just me."

Sam blinked. What? Oh.

Janet.

She ran a hand through her hair as her brain finally started functioning again. "Sorry, Janet. I guess I drifted off there for a bit."

"So I see."

Sam checked her watch and was surprised to see that nearly an hour had passed since she'd last looked at the time. Nearly an hour of sleep and no nightmares. Well, that was something. Even if she did have a major crick in her neck now. She began massaging the offending part of her body.

"Sam, are you all right?" The doctor's hand was still resting on her shoulder.

"Just a stiff neck."

"That's not what I meant."

Okay, so Sam had kind of known that already. She stopped massaging her neck and made eye contact with her friend. "I'm fine, Janet."

"So you said this morning, but I don't think you are. Look at you -- you're exhausted and Daniel said you were upset earlier."

"Daniel said that?" Sam felt a flicker of panic as she wondered what else Daniel had said. But she quickly pushed both the thought and the panic away and rubbed a hand over her eyes. "I just need a good night's sleep, that's all."

"Well, I won't argue with you there," Janet agreed. "But are you sure there's not something else going on here? Something to do with your recent experience?"

"Positive." And she was, wasn't she?

"Okay. But my offer still stands if you decide you need to talk to someone."

"I know."

Janet made her way to the door before pausing to look back. "No more working tonight, okay? Make sure you get some sleep."

Sam flashed her a cheeky grin. "Yes, Doctor."

Janet shot her a stern look, but the corner of her mouth was lifting upward in a slight smile. "Goodnight, Sam."

"Night, Janet."

Sam watched as her friend exited the lab and disappeared from sight. Then she turned back to her computer with a sigh. Time to shut it down. Time to get some rest.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

She was tied up, wrists and ankles bound tightly. She was trapped. Helpless. She struggled to break free, but her bonds wouldn't give.

Suddenly, she felt a presence nearby. Cold. Frightening. She couldn't see him, but she knew he was there. She knew he was drawing closer.

Fear rose up in her throat, nearly choking her. She tried to scream through her taped mouth, but no sound came out. She tried to get away, but her bonds hindered her and she fell over. And kept falling.

Falling...

Falling...

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Sam jolted awake, momentarily disoriented in her brightly lit base quarters. Closing her eyes again, she took several deep breaths in an effort to calm herself.

Safe, she told herself. You're safe.

Sitting up, she drew her knees to her chest and hugged them tightly. This wasn't supposed to happen anymore. Not when she was sleeping on base, not when things were supposed to be getting back to normal.

Disappointed and shaken, Sam closed her eyes tightly.

God, when was this going to end?

TBC…