The ride back down to the cell seemed to go a lot faster than the ride up, and dread threatened to suffocate Jack as they got closer to their destination. He looked over at O'Neill, hoping to come up with a reason to stall their arrival, but knew deep down that he didn't have a chance in hell. He sighed instead, when the elevator doors opened up to let them out.
Jack's heart began to speed up as adrenalin raced through his veins when he saw all four members of SG-3 walking toward him from the direction of his cell. Anger coursed through him and he lowered his head, trying to think of a way to get to them before the SFs stopped him.
"Stand down," O'Neill told him quietly, but Jack was beyond listening to the General. He clenched his fists as he stood there, ever on the lookout for his chance to destroy the men who were responsible for Taria's death.
"Reynolds," O'Neill said, as he positioned himself in front of Jack. "I wasn't expecting to see you until this afternoon."
"General O'Neill," Reynolds responded politely, as he came to attention along with his men. O'Neill nodded at them to put them at ease and Reynolds continued with his explanation, "We had the opportunity to come back early. General Landry informed me that you wanted to speak with us, so we came to see you right away."
"Well thank you, but this might not be a good time," O'Neill told him, as he put a restraining hand out toward Jack, who at the moment was considering his options.
"I understand sir," Reynolds said. "Should we come back later?"
"I'll hunt you down," O'Neill felt the need to say. Reynolds nodded and started to move away. Jack saw his opportunity slipping away from him and took matters into his own hands by pushing past O'Neill and wrapping his hands around Reynolds' neck. There was nothing but blind rage racing through him as he squeezed his fingers around the man's throat, wanting nothing more than to make this guy pay for the torture Taria was put through.
"Jack!" O'Neill snarled as he grabbed one of Jack's arms to pull him off of the Colonel. Jack was not about to let go though, and he struggled harder to kill the bastard as O'Neill and Teal'c, who had grabbed his other arm, pulled him away. Jack kicked out at Reynolds in frustration, but his captors were determined to stop the attack and he found himself held back by Teal'c who had laced his arms around Jack's bound ones.
"Let me go," he growled, as he tried to free himself from Teal'c's grasp.
"Stand down," the General ordered, and for the first time, Jack realized that all four SFs were aiming their guns at him. They lowered their guns, but they were still ready and willing to knock some sense into him if the opportunity arose again.
"You're welcome," Reynolds snarled at Jack, who then made another attempt to get free of his restraints. Reynolds was rubbing his throat and Jack kicked out at the son of a bitch again, just for spite.
"Teal'c, take him back to his cell," O'Neill demanded.
"No," Jack yelled angrily, as he was dragged off toward his cell. He struggled to get away from Teal'c, but Teal'c was much stronger and Jack finally gave up, as he stood next to the door to wait for one of the SFs to unlock it.
"That was unwise," Teal'c stated, as he continued to hold on to Jack while the SF opened the door. Teal'c pulled Jack inside, then let him go. Jack just stood there, glaring at his so-called friend, watching as the guards walked out and shut the door.
"Damn it," he swore, as he stood there breathing heavily and glaring at Teal'c. "I almost had him."
"Killing him will not bring your wife back," Teal'c responded sagely.
"Ya think?" Jack snarled sarcastically, anger coursing through his veins. What did Teal'c know about it?
"Of this I am certain," Teal'c responded stoically.
Jack just glared at him, then held his hands out saying, "I'm behind locked doors again, Teal'c. Will you release me?"
Teal'c stared back at him for a moment, then went to the door to knock on it. The SF came in and Jack watched with narrowed eyes as Teal'c told him to cut the plastic handcuffs off. The guard, being a much more cautious man, called to have one of his friends come in to cover Jack while he cut off the strips. Jack stood there waiting for his hands to be released, all the while feeling hatred pour into his soul at the injustice and humiliation of this whole mess.
The guards left him and Teal'c alone once more and Jack went over to sit down on his bed, closing his eyes as he leaned back against the wall, trying to calm himself down. The peace didn't last long though, as the door opened and O'Neill came in, glaring at Jack while at the same time starting in on him.
"What the hell were you thinking?" O'Neill thundered. Jack stood up to face his counterpart, needing to be on his feet to deal with this. "He is a superior officer and you just attacked him!"
"He's responsible for Taria's fate," Jack said, hoping to make the General understand the pain he was going through.
"He is no more responsible than you are," O'Neill snarled. "I've calmed him down, but he has every right to press charges, and if he does, there is nothing I can do to help you. God!" he exclaimed, frustration showing up right along with the anger, "What the hell am I going to do with you?"
"He wouldn't let me go back," Jack insisted stubbornly. "I could have gotten Taria out of there!"
"You don't know that," O'Neill said angrily. "And I don't care what your reasoning is, you had no right to attack him."
"Whatever," Jack snarled back. He knew O'Neill was right, but he couldn't get past the fact that he wanted to destroy that bastard. "Did he tell you anything?"
"Just that you are an ungrateful son of a bitch who is going to be facing a court martial real soon," O'Neill ground out, still angry at Jack's stupidity. "I've got Daniel talking to him now. Hopefully he'll talk Reynolds out of the court martial threat."
"Look," Jack said, realizing the futility of making the original Jack O'Neill understand, "I'm sorry about what happened out there. I just… I couldn't let him get away with what he did. I'm sorry."
O'Neill stood there, staring at him for a moment, before turning away as he pushed both hands through his hair and stared at the wall. "They think this is just one more indication that you are crazy," he said, as he turned back toward Jack. "Are they right?"
"Hell no!" Jack responded indignantly. "I'm not crazy." He felt the blood drain from his face as he realized the implications of what O'Neill was saying. "Jack listen, I wasn't lashing out because of a flashback," he said, panicked at the very thought that he may have blown it in more ways than one. "I knew who he was and why I was trying to kill him. I'm doing much better."
"Nice job in proving it to everyone," O'Neill said sarcastically. "Mackenzie is probably already gloating over this."
"Jack…"
"You know, I'm having a hard time believing this shit," O'Neill said, his anger coming back in spades. "I mean, I can't believe I would ever do anything that stupid. This proves that you are not me."
"Yes sir," Jack agreed, as he stood there taking the heat. O'Neill was right, Jack was an idiot. All that work he had put into proving to them all that he was better, and he pulls a stunt that flushes all that hard work down the drain. He couldn't control his anger, and now he was paying for it. What the hell HAD he been thinking?
"Let's just hope Daniel can do his magic with them," O'Neill said. Jack could only nod his head, as he stood there waiting for his death sentence. O'Neill just glared at him once more, then walked over to the table and took a drink of the coffee that was sitting on the table. He grimaced, as he stared into the cup, "It's cold," he said dejectedly. "Nothing's worse than cold coffee."
"Yeah," Jack responded, his own thoughts pulling him back down into the depression that seemed to always be hovering around him. He sat down on the bed and stared at the floor, his mind dwelling on his failure.
He was so lost in his depression that he didn't even bother to look up when the door opened. Daniel and Carter's voices filtered over to him as they spoke with the General and Teal'c, but Jack still didn't care. He finally looked up when Daniel came over to sit down next to him.
"Hey," Daniel said, leaning into his arm to nudge him in an effort to emphasize that he was there. "You screwed up again."
"Yeah," Jack said, turning back to stare at the floor. Daniel waited, but Jack had nothing else to say.
"Will you tell me why you attacked Reynolds?"
"It doesn't matter now," he replied, knowing in his heart that the words were the truth in its simplest form.
"It mattered at the time," Daniel said, trying to get through to him.
"Yeah," he agreed. A fat lot of good it did, he thought bitterly.
"Patterson described the woman who gave him the stone," Daniel tried again. "She fit the description you gave of Taria."
Jack wasn't surprised by this news. He had come to terms with the fact that Taria had given her life for his – a dead woman wouldn't need a reminder of a husband who had left her behind.
"Jack? You know, don't you, that it's rude to ignore people."
He turned to look at his friend, surprised by his remark. "I'm not ignoring you. Not yet, anyway."
"Well, you sure could have fooled me," Daniel replied, with a slight smile.
"I just don't have anything to say," he said, his gaze going back to study the floor.
"Taria must have loved you very much," Carter said, as she came over to join them, her voice taking on a wistful tone. "She helped you to escape."
"She turned me over to the guards," Jack said, voicing his thoughts as he remembered his first escape attempt.
"What?" Daniel asked, while Jack found himself staring at the confusion on Carter's face. "What are you talking about? She told Reynolds where to find you."
Jack didn't respond right away. Panic moved in as his mind took him back to that first escape attempt. He could still remember the fear on her face as she screamed to attract the guards' attention. "God," he said out loud, his own fear increasing ten-fold.
"Gallagher," Teal'c said, as he came over to stand next to the bed, "You would do well to tell us about it."
"I'm not sure that I can," Jack told him. He stared into the calm face of his friend, wondering if Teal'c really understood that talking about this would bring on memories of a punishment that had destroyed Jack's very soul.
"We're right here," Daniel said, as if that made all the difference in the world.
"I'm not going anywhere," O'Neill announced, pulling up a chair.
Jack watched as they all gathered around him, effectively ganging up on him again, not giving him a chance of even thinking of doing what he wanted to do, which was to forget this conversation had ever come up.
"She turned you over to the guards," O'Neill prompted.
Jack just glared at his counterpart. "You're a jerk, you know that?"
The grin that showed up on O'Neill's face seemed to fuel the wrath building up within Jack. "I've been called worse," the General said, with a shrug. "So why did she turn you in?"
Jack just stared at O'Neill, trying to get rid of the memories that had moved in and taken over, but his efforts were in vain. He scowled as he remembered Taria's eagerness to leave that place behind, only to turn on him at the last minute. "I had figured out a way to get past the barrier in front of the Stargate," he said, giving into the memories. "We had made plans to leave one night, and we almost made it." The night air had been cool after a long, hard day of toiling under the sun, but Jack hadn't been the least bit tired as he and Taria silently made their way across the compound. "She was so excited about leaving that place, or at least I thought she was." This was said with venom, as her screams of innocence echoed through his mind.
"We made it to the Gate and I was working on getting through the door of the barrier, when all of a sudden Taria started yelling and screaming, begging me as loud as she could not to try to escape. I was shocked at first, but then I tried to shut her up." Her eyes were wide and full of fear as she tugged on his arm to pull him away from his work. "It was too late though. The guards came running and I was dragged off to face Handar."
He stopped then, panic making him want to jump up and run from this place, but he'd have to knock someone over to do it. He pulled up his knees instead, curling up into a ball as he fought off the memories that wouldn't go away.
"It's okay," Carter soothed, her hand rubbing his back in an effort to calm him. "You're here with us. It's okay."
Jack just shook his head. It would never be okay.
"Just tell us what happened," O'Neill insisted. "Get it out in the open. We'll be right here, just in case you… well… you know. Daniel, are you sitting on those restraints?"
Daniel moved to look for the restraints and Jack had to smile as he stared at O'Neill, wishing that he could be as strong as O'Neill believed he should be. He knew well enough the expectations he had of himself. O'Neill had to be harboring the same expectations.
His gaze moved on to Teal'c, who smiled encouragingly at him. "You once helped me get through something similar to this, Gallagher. I will not leave you to deal with this on your own."
Jack couldn't respond, he wasn't sure what to say to such a heartfelt statement. He hugged his knees tighter to try to control the trembling that had taken over, as he turned to look at Daniel. Daniel would do anything to get Jack through this, he knew, but Jack was afraid that once he took that plunge, even Daniel wouldn't be able to help.
"You can do this, Jack," Daniel said with confidence. "Not a doubt in my mind."
Yeah, Jack thought bitterly. He brought his gaze back to O'Neill, then said, "Handar was pissed, to say the least." Panic was racing through him in waves and Jack suddenly realized that he didn't need to worry about going crazy. His heart was racing so fast, it would surely burst and kill him on the spot.
"Tell us what happened, Jack," Carter said, the warmth in her voice calming him a little. "What did Handar do?"
"He started out by yelling at me," Jack said, knowing he was stalling the inevitable. The memories had invaded his mind, spilling out from the box that he had stored them in, filling in every nook and cranny of his consciousness. There was no way he could avoid them now. "Then the guards dragged me over to a table that was shaped like a cross. I had seen it before, but didn't know what they used it for. I wish I had never found out," he said in a near whisper.
He took a full minute to pull himself back out of the memories and continued telling his companions what happened. "They stripped me down to my shorts, then tied me down on the table. Then they started making little cuts into my skin, starting with my arms and legs and working up to my stomach and chest. I couldn't believe it. I mean this was it? Here I was thinking it was too horrible to even talk about and all these guys did was cut slits into my skin." He stopped to take a deep breath, then continued, "I should have known they weren't going to stop there. A couple of the guards went over to a cabinet and pulled out some bowls and brought them over to me. I have to admit that's when I really started to worry."
Carter took his hand into hers, but Jack was so far into his memories, this barely registered in his mind. "Taria was forced to watch and they had brought in the other slaves so that they could watch, as well. What better way to set an example?" he said bitterly, as he remembered watching the others file in, their faces reflecting the sadness and defeat they had long since learned to live with.
"The bowls were filled with leaves from a plant that grew plentiful in the garden. Taria had told me that Handar used the leaves as a filter when he wanted to make wine." He stopped speaking once again, staring off into nothingness while his friends waited patiently for him to continue.
"They took the leaves and began sliding them into the slits they had cut into my skin. By the time they'd finished, the leaves had released their poisons into my bloodstream." Jack squeezed his eyes shut at that point, hoping to erase the visions he had of Taria's tears, as she stood there watching his pain. "It wasn't too bad at first," he continued, his eyes opening to see O'Neill staring back at him. "It started out with a stinging sensation, but it wasn't long before true agony set in. My whole body was burning and I couldn't get away. It was like that acid Ba'al used when I was his prisoner," he continued, willing O'Neill to understand. "It started out just burning the cuts, but then moved on to consume my whole body." O'Neill's expression showed nothing of what he was thinking, but Jack knew he was remembering the incidents. How could he forget?
"After awhile, the pain seemed to dull and I was relieved that I had survived it," Jack said, the words coming out on their own now. He had already started down this path; he might as well finish the story. "But they weren't done with me and I remember trying to get free of the binds long enough to kill every last one of those guards when they pulled the leaves out, only to replace them with fresh ones." He was back to staring at the bars, as his mind took him back to Handar's throne room, remembering the anger and helplessness he had felt while he writhed and groaned in the restraints as the pain became excruciating. The groans of pain soon turned into screams when the substance attacked the already sore nerve endings throughout his body.
"The skin around the cuts had become tender and inflamed, so that by the time they replaced the leaves the third time around, I was practically screaming from that alone. But that wasn't the only thing I was dealing with," he said quietly. His mind had pulled out the memories of the hallucinations he had gone through as he fought off the agony. "After awhile, I started to see and hear things that scared me and is probably what finally drove me over the edge."
"What kinds of things?" O'Neill asked, pulling Jack back out of his memories for a minute. Jack stared at his counterpart, trying desperately to grab onto some of the strength O'Neill possessed, but Jack had gone too far for that now.
"Everything from glowing eyed snakes to ants biting at my skin," Jack told him wearily. He smiled grimly, then said, "If I remember correctly, Taria was the Wicked Witch of the West in one of them." The smile disappeared as he remembered her showing him a handful of leaves, laughing and taunting him in the face of his pain. He knew that this had only been a hallucination – he also remembered her being forced to watch him the entire three days he had been tortured.
"They never let up," he said, wanting to get this over with. "For three whole days, they replaced the old leaves with new ones, never once allowing me any relief. They came in shifts to make sure I never got that relief," he snarled, anger taking over completely. "When they were finally done with their fun, I was taken to my bed and left there with Taria for her to 'take care' of me." God, the anger was rolling through him in waves now as he remembered her pleas for his forgiveness. He had laid there on his bed for three more days, dealing with the after affects of the torture and hallucinations, and his absolute hatred of the one woman who had betrayed his heart and soul.
"It was too much for me," he continued, begging O'Neill with his eyes to understand. "I couldn't go through that again, ever, and I just… I did whatever they told me to do, whenever they told me to do it."
O'Neill nodded, as he reached out to put his hand on Jack's shoulder. "I don't blame you," he said gravely. "Smartest thing you've ever done."
"Anytime I even thought of escape, panic would set in," Jack continued, although he wasn't really sure why. "I just couldn't do it."
O'Neill nodded and Jack felt a measure of calm working its way through his mind. Apparently O'Neill didn't share Jack's thoughts of his weakness of giving in. "I couldn't totally let go," Jack admitted wryly. "I was their slave in mind and spirit, but they still had to use the vise and the lightening rod occasionally. Man," he grimaced, "I can be really stupid sometimes."
O'Neill grinned, as he sat back in his chair, "You won't get any arguments from me on that one."
Jack smiled back weakly, then put his chin down on his knees and closed his eyes, still thinking about the torture he had endured. He brought his head up though when he heard Taria's laughter filling the room and he opened his eyes to look around for her. "Jack!" she called out to him from the other side of the bars. "Come see what I've found."
Jack could only sit there and stare at her. What was she doing here? "Taria?" he said, as he stared at her in disbelief. Her smile got even wider and Jack uncurled himself from the huddle he had been sitting in and got up to walk over to her, pushing past O'Neill to get to her.
"Aren't they beautiful?" she asked, her dark hair falling about her shoulders, as she held up her arms for him to see what she had in her hands. "Mother says they bring health and happiness to those who believe in such things."
"Your mother doesn't believe in such things does she?" Jack asked, knowing full well the answer. His mother-in-law was the epitome of depressing thoughts and she was always spouting off dire warnings that doom was just around the corner. Jack always wondered where Taria got that spark of radiance from, certainly not her mother.
"No she doesn't," Taria responded, her face scrunched up in an effort to frown, even as she smiled out at him. "I keep trying though," she added with a sigh. Jack couldn't help the grin that came to his face as he stared at his wife. She was so beautiful and full of life, the very thing this place needed. He stared at her as the afternoon sun brought out some of the highlights in her hair, and he smiled thinking of the softness of her hair when it brushed against his skin during their lovemaking.
"What do you have there?" he finally asked, as he looked down at the handful of leaves she was showing him. "Weeds?"
"No Jack," she said patiently. "Not weeds. They are from a plant called porate and they are used to make medicines that will cure many illnesses. They are hard to find," she said, as she looked down at the leaves. "Our master will be pleased."
"Well, we definitely don't want to upset 'our master'," Jack responded nastily. Taria looked up at him, a real frown taking over her features as she glanced around to make sure no one had heard him. "You must be careful of the way you speak of him," she demanded quietly, turning to walk toward a group of slaves. "The guards expect nothing less."
"Whatever," Jack grumbled, as he followed her down the path. The night would be soon upon them and Jack was anxious to get out of this hellhole. Tonight was the night they were going to leave this place for good.
"Hurry," she whispered back at him, as she picked up her pace. "We must not make them wait." Jack just nodded as he rushed past her and grabbed her hand, pulling her along after him in the darkness that had fallen over the landscape. He knew that they needed to hurry, to keep quiet until he could get the Stargate activated, and he crouched down when he reached the door of the barrier, pulling out the tools he needed to get it open.
"Jack," Taria whispered, as she crouched down next to him. "What if they catch us? What if we cannot get away?"
"Shh," Jack stopped working long enough to say, "We won't get caught," he added in a whisper. "Just, please be quiet."
She nodded at him, then stood up as he went back to getting the door opened. His blood ran cold when Taria suddenly started yelling at him, pulling on his arm to make him give up on this insane idea of escaping. "Jack, please stop. We cannot escape from this place," she pleaded desperately. "Please, we must go back now. Please."
"Shh," Jack said again, giving up on his task of opening the door to concentrate on shutting Taria up. "What is the matter with you?" he asked, as he grabbed her arms to give her a little shake. "Do you want to bring the guards down on us?"
"Jack," she said, her voice trembling, as tears rolled down her face, "Please don't do this. We will be caught if you continue. Please stay here with me."
Jack was in shock as he stared at his wife. What had changed? She had been so excited about running away, and now she was begging him to stay? "No," he said vehemently, as he shook his head. "We have to get out of here."
"You there, stop!" one of the guards demanded, and Jack just stood there gripping Taria's arms as he stared into her face. He couldn't believe that she had done this, alerted the guards to bring them running. His eyes never left her face as the guards grabbed him and pulled him off of her. He continued to stare at her, watching tears stream down her face as she tried to silently make him understand. Her face haunted his mind even after he was dragged away from her and taken to see Handar. And he watched her as the guards tied him down to the table and began cutting into his skin. She had betrayed him and he would never forgive her.
The agony of the torture was excruciating. Jack struggled mightily as he tried to escape from the pain by jerking his arms and legs in an effort to release them from the straps that bound him to the table. When that didn't work, he began arching his back and pulling even harder at the binds that held him, desperate for release. The pain came in waves and he resorted to demanding his release only to be laughed at while his body was eaten by the burning fire that seemed to course through him.
The pain was consuming his every thought, every action and he struggled to escape it any way he could, but the guards knew exactly what they were doing. Just when he thought he could stand the agony, they came over to pull out the stale leaves, only to replace them with fresh ones that took his misery to a much higher level.
He suffered for several hours, resorting to hoarse screams when his willpower to keep the screams at bay broke down. The guards continued to replace the leaves, causing him extreme agony as the wounds had begun to fester and became sensitive and tender to the touch. It hurt when they removed the stale ones, only to become excruciating when they put in the new ones.
Taria stood watching him the whole time. They forced her to stay there to watch and her sobs only seemed to make his hatred for her grow. The others were allowed to leave in order for them to go about their duties, but Jack had gotten to the point of not even caring if anyone was watching or not. He had been reduced to a crying, pitiful, screaming mass of pain by the end of the first day, and an audience was the least of his worries. His bravado had left him almost from the minute they had inserted the fifth or sixth set of leaves. He was far past caring what the others thought of him by that time.
The hallucinations moved in slowly, pelting his mind with images of snakes and dragons, while he writhed and moaned in his restraints. The hallucinations continued to take over, and it wasn't long before Jack had trouble separating reality from the constant barrage of images and people that floated through his vision. There were a few times when he didn't even know who he was, as he laid there begging for mercy from his tormentors.
But mercy was something these people didn't know existed. Three long days of constant, burning, agonizing pain, along with hallucinations and paralyzing fear took its toll on Jack's mind, body and spirit and he woke up on the fourth morning barely able to function. Taria's face hovered over him, dark circles underlying the blue darkness of her eyes, and she stared at him with a worried expression that had taken over the smiles she used to give him whenever she saw him. "Jack?" she murmured, as she reached over to push the hair off of his forehead. He jerked away from her touch, anger at her betrayal seething in his mind, while he steadfastly refused to listen to her promises that she would never do anything to cause him to go through that again. She didn't have to worry on that account, Jack thought grimly. He had no plans whatsoever of ever going through that again.
He lay quietly, listening to Taria as she spoke softly to him, telling him that she loved him and that she had to do what she did. Her words meant nothing to Jack. They were just words meant to soothe his soul, but only served to fuel the anger that had built up and completely consumed him. He hated that lying bitch!
He felt himself calm down, despite his anger and he stared up at Taria, watching her as she sat there talking to him. His world seemed to shift though, and confusion clouded his brain as Taria's features shifted into those of Samantha Carter. She was still talking to him soothingly, and Jack looked around to see that O'Neill was sitting in the chair next to his bed, his head hung down as he stared at his hands. "Jack?" he said, causing O'Neill's head to jerk up.
"Hey," O'Neill said, relief showing up clearly in his eyes. "You're back."
"Back?" Jack responded with confusion, not quite sure what was going on. "Where did I go?" he asked, as he tried to bring his hand up to cover his eyes. That was his intention anyway. The restraints holding him down on the bed wouldn't let him follow through on that movement.
"I don't know. You tell us," O'Neill said. He then got up off the chair and nudged Carter to get her to move so that he could sit down on the bed next to him. Carter complied and O'Neill sat down heavily as he stared at his clone. "I'll admit that I thought you might have finally taken that last dive over the edge."
"Over the edge?" Jack asked, as panic threatened to take over. He had done it again, gave into those damn memories and now he was definitely going to end up in an institution. Damn it, this shit was never going to end. "Get me out of these restraints," he growled at O'Neill, while he pulled and struggled to find his own way out.
"Nope," O'Neill said casually, but Jack knew that this was just an act. The man was on the brink of panic himself, just too damned stubborn to let anyone else know it. Jack knew it as sure as he was lying there and he couldn't help the resentment flowing through him as he thought about it. O'Neill wasn't facing a lifetime in an institution. What did he have to be afraid of?
The answer hit him square in the face. O'Neill was afraid of the very same thing Jack was afraid of – insanity. Despite O'Neill's wishes, and Jack's for that matter, they were one and the same. If Jack could succumb to the evils of insanity, it stood to reason that his counterpart could just as well. If pushed hard enough and far enough, the infallible Jack O'Neill could be a viable candidate for the loony bin and this was, and always had been unacceptable. Insanity was something they had fought against every single time they went through something that endangered their minds, and Jack realized that these flashbacks were just the tip of the iceberg – the ultimate enemy, as it were.
"I'm not crazy," Jack insisted, staring into O'Neill's eyes, willing the General to believe him.
"No, you're not," O'Neill agreed. "Not yet, anyway."
Jack couldn't help the small smile that showed up on his face, "Do you really believe that?' he asked.
"Yep," O'Neill responded, reaching over to start unlocking the binds. "You know me. I wouldn't have said it if I didn't believe it."
"Yes, you would," Jack grinned. "This is me you're talking to. Remember?"
"O'Neill stopped what he was doing to look up at Jack. "Oh yeah," he said thoughtfully, with a small nod. "I forgot for a minute there."
Jack sat up when he was finally released and smiled warily at Carter, as she stood next to the bed watching him. He turned to look over at the other side of the room and found Daniel and Teal'c both standing there watching quietly. He nodded at them, which prompted a small wave from Daniel. "You scared us for a little while there," Daniel said.
"Speak for yourself," O'Neill piped up, as he sat back down on the side of the bed. "I knew he was going to snap out of it."
"Of course you did, Jack," Daniel said in a patronizing tone as he walked over toward them. "Never doubted it for a minute."
Daniel didn't make it to his destination though. The door opened after he had taken a few steps, and he turned to see what was going on.
"Excuse me, General O'Neill, sir," the guard said as he stepped into the room. "Colonel Mitchell would like a word with you."
"Tell him I'll be right out," O'Neill said dismissively. The guard nodded, then turned to leave, but was thwarted from delivering the message when Mitchell walked in and began his spiel.
"No need," Mitchell insisted, as he stopped and turned his attention to O'Neill. "General sir, the Asgard have sent a message and I volunteered to deliver it to you."
O'Neill just stood there in the middle of the room, staring incredulously at the Colonel and Jack could feel the man's anger heating up the room. "I'm going to kill Landry," O'Neill finally said.
"What's going on?" Mitchell asked, the innocent look on his face not fooling Jack for even a minute. "Are we having a party?"
Apparently O'Neill wasn't falling for it either because he snarled out, "Carter? Can I have this man court martialed for interrupting a private meeting?"
"No sir," Carter responded with a shake of her head.
"How about for sticking his nose in where it doesn't belong?" he growled.
"No sir," she said again, her expression telling everyone that she was clearly feeling sorry for Colonel Mitchell.
"You're the smart one," O'Neill said, as he sent a glance toward Carter before turning his glare on to Mitchell. "Think of something." With that he stormed past Mitchell and walked out the door leaving the rest of the room's occupants in complete silence.
Jack watched as Mitchell sent a pleading look toward Daniel who just shrugged and gave him an 'it's your problem now' look. It was apparent that Carter and Teal'c were not going to be any help either, so Mitchell squared his shoulders and turned to follow the General out.
"He doesn't like being out of the loop," Carter told Jack, in an attempt to break the silence. "He reminds me of you and the General in a way."
"Yeah, well don't tell Jack that," Daniel advised sagely. "It may not be the right thing to say, if you know what I mean."
"Yeah," Carter said nodding her head vigorously. "I think I'll keep that to myself." She then came over to sit down next to Jack, while a smile lit up her face. "You are going to be just fine. Just don't ever do that again."
"Yes ma'am," Jack said, hoping he'll be able to keep his word on that. "I'll do my best."
"Good," she replied, "That's all I ask." Her smile dimmed, then disappeared altogether while she stared into his eyes. "You scared me pretty badly this time. I was afraid you wouldn't come out of it."
He stared back, wishing he had something to say that would calm her fears. He had loved her once, perhaps still did, and he wanted nothing more than for her to be happy. But he knew that his troubles weren't over, not by a long shot, so he sat there and took her hand in his, squeezing it to tell her in his own way he would do his best. "I refuse to let it drag me down, okay?"
"Okay," she said, a smile gracing her features once again.
The door opened again, and O'Neill walked in, a little calmer than the way he had left the room. Jack figured Mitchell had to be feeling like a heel right about now.
O'Neill ignored Jack's questioning look as he headed back into the cell to sit down on the chair that he had vacated earlier. He sat there for a second, then sighed when he realized everyone was waiting.
"Good news, General?" Carter prompted, finally breaking the silence.
"The Asgard have agreed to help," he said, as he watched Jack carefully. "We're going to finally find out what happened to Taria."