A/N: I meant to get this to you sooner, but life has been a bit crazy lately. Anyway, here is the second chapter!

Also, I wanna say thanks to Tara for being my beta for this story and for her encouragement. huggles!

Chapter 2

As Jack seemed to be trying to assess the situation they were in, Daniel looked down at the girl. He put one hand in hers and his other hand on the side of her face. "Hi," he said. "My name is Daniel. As Sam told you, we're friends. We're trying to help you. You need to help us too, though. We need to know if they - the ones that did this to your village - we need to know if they're coming back." She didn't respond in any way. "Look," he said gently, but firmly, "I know that you're probably very scared, but we really need to know. . . . Heh, I guess I don't even know if you can understand what I'm saying." At that her eyes moved to look into his. "So you do understand. . . ." Daniel tried asking her the question again, but got no further response.

ooOoo

"So you want me to go after Teal'c, sir?" Sam asked as she started to pass by Jack.

"Uh, yeah," he said, grabbing her arm. "In a sec." He pulled her with him outside the house. "You didn't . . . you know . . . sense anything about this girl that we need to worry about, did you?"

Sam stared at him for a moment. "No, sir," she said solemnly and then glanced back toward Daniel and the girl. "She seems to be just a young, human girl. A very scared, very young, human girl."

Jack looked somewhat relieved to hear this, but still seemed concerned. "Good," he said, looking at the ground now and shuffling his feet, obviously in thought.

"This situation actually reminds me a bit of Cassie and when we first found her."

"Yeah, me too, which is one reason I'm worried," Jack admitted as he looked back up at her.

"Sir?"

"I'm trying to assess our situation, Carter. If this is at all like the situation with Cassie, it could be a trick. But if it isn't and those Jaffa are about ready to come back through the 'gate or are still here on this planet . . ." Jack now had a frown on his face. She nodded as she realized he was going to have to make a very tough decision. "Any thoughts?" he asked.

"Well, sir, none of us can say for sure at this point, of course, if this is a trick or not, but my best guess would be that it's not."

"OK then," Jack said, relieved to hear her give backing to what he was thinking.

"Sir, do you want me to . . . ?" Sam asked, pointing in the direction from which they had entered the village.

"Yeah. Send Teal'c through the 'gate when you get there and then shut it down. I want you to stay here . . . just in case Daniel and I need someone to dial home in a hurry or someone else tries to dial in. Have Teal'c tell Hammond that we're bringing a girl with us and that she needs medical attention."

Sam smiled a little in relief to see that he was going to let them take the girl home with them. "Yes, sir."

"And for now, Teal'c needs to stay away from her," Daniel said as he came up behind them. "Or at least wear a hat if he's going to be around her."

Jack and Sam looked at him in confusion. "Just until she's in a mental state to where she can understand he's a friend and not an enemy. I mean, to be blunt, he is Jaffa and Jaffa just ambushed her village," Daniel said. "Can you explain that to him, Sam?"

"Yeah, sure," she responded.

"Get going Carter," Jack ordered. "We'll be there soon. I'll let you know when we're getting close."

"Yes, sir," she said as she began running.

Turning to Daniel, Jack inquired, "So did you ask her?"

"If they're coming back?"

"No, what she had for breakfast," Jack spit back sarcastically. "Yes, if they're coming back."

"Yeah, um . . . she wouldn't answer me." Jack kicked at the pebbles by his feet in frustration. "But Jack, remember she's been traumatized. The good news is she looked me straight in the eyes this time, rather than only up at the ceiling."

"Meaning?" Jack asked.

"Meaning, I'm pretty sure she could understand what I was saying."

"But she wouldn't answer you?"

"No, but she's not in a very good state of mind right now." Daniel was frustrated that Jack just didn't seem to be getting it.

"Fine. Let's just get outta here," Jack said.

"Fine," Daniel shot back as he headed into the house.

When Daniel got to the bed he saw that the girl was tracing the mark on her arm. "Oh, no, no, no," he said, gently grabbing her wrist. "You're not going to die. You're going to be fine." She looked into his eyes, even more intently than she had the first time. "You're going to be fine," he said again to reassure her. He took the bandana off of his head and wrapped it around her arm, covering the symbol. "See? You're going to be just fine."

She continued to stare deeply into his eyes. "What's your name?" He wanted to see if he could get any response from her, but she just lied on the bed quietly, still staring at him. He stroked her cheek. "It's OK. You can tell me later."

"Daniel," Jack shouted from outside the home, "let's get a move on!"

"All right!" Daniel shouted back towards Jack, frustrated. "We're coming!" He looked back down at the girl. "Don't mind him. He's actually a nice guy, once you get to know him." He briefly smiled at her, but she just continued to stare at him with a blank look on her face.

Convinced that she probably wasn't going to want to walk, Daniel picked her up and held her in his arms. She was still staring into his eyes. "We're going to take you back to our home, OK? You'll be safe there, I promise."

"Daniel!" Jack started coming in the house after them to see what was taking them so long.

"OK, we're ready to go," Daniel said. "Can we try to keep the mood light, please?" he asked with an artificial smile on his face.

"Yeah, alright," Jack answered. "I just wanna leave this place. Let's go."

Daniel followed closely behind Jack. Suddenly, Jack stopped a few yards outside of the house and Daniel had to prevent himself from running smack into him.

"What?" Daniel asked.

"I thought I heard something."

"Like what?"

"Like footsteps."

Jack looked behind the village at the crest of a hill that was probably about 60 yards away. He now not only heard something, he saw something. He put his finger to his lips and pointed Daniel in the direction he was looking. They could see the tips of staff weapons coming up over the hill.

Daniel looked down at the girl. "You were trying to tell me they were coming back, weren't you?" he said quietly.

She just stared at him, now with tears welling up in her eyes.

Jack glanced angrily at Daniel for his late realization. Jack swore under his breath. He motioned Daniel to follow him.

The two men ran as quickly and quietly as they could through the village in the direction of the 'gate, trying to avoid tripping over all of the bodies. At one point Daniel glanced down at the girl. She was still staring at his face. For that, he was thankful. At least she wasn't looking at the bodies they were passing or at the danger behind them. However, by the look in her eyes he knew that she knew they were in danger.

They finally made it through the village and rounded the corner of the mountain. Daniel began to lose his balance a little and started to fall, but thankfully caught himself beforehand. Jack looked back and stopped running for a second. "You got her?"

"Yeah," Daniel said, a bit out of breath. "I'm fine."

They started running again. Jack looked at his watch.

"Carter? What's your position?" Jack radioed.

"I'm about half way to the 'gate, sir."

"Teal'c? You at the 'gate yet?" Jack asked.

"It is in my sight."

Jack thought for a moment as he ran, although not as fast as he could because of Daniel not being able to go at top speed.

"OK," Jack said through the radio, "Here's the situation. The Jaffa are still here. We were about 60 yards from them when they first came into sight. As far as I know they didn't see us –"

"Jack!" Daniel yelped as he fell on his knees. He had lost his balance completely this time. He was also getting tired. This business of running through the forest wearing a backpack, carrying 65 extra pounds of precious cargo, trying to dodge tree trunks, and jumping over roots was tough.

Jack stopped. "Hang on a sec," he radioed to the others. He turned in Daniel's direction. "OK, Daniel. We should take cover now anyway," Jack said as he looked around. "Let's go behind those bushes." Jack pointed to where he wanted to go and then went over to Daniel and took the girl into his arms to give him a break. "You gonna make it?"

"Yeah," Daniel said, out of breath. "Thanks."

Once they got behind the bushes, they saw what appeared to be the dried up bed of what used to contain a stream a few feet from the bushes. "Get down in there and stay down," Jack ordered as he handed the girl back to Daniel.

ooOoo

Daniel and the girl got settled in their hiding place. He sat her next to him on his left and then took off his backpack, setting it in front of him. She stopped staring at his face now. She slowly looked at his left hand and grabbed it with her right. He looked down at her and she looked back up at his face. He smiled, hoping that she would smile back, but she didn't. She looked frightened now. He squeezed her hand.

ooOoo

Jack ducked down behind the bushes and got back on his radio. "When you get to the 'gate, Teal'c, still dial home, but go on through right away and take the MALP with you. Have them shut the 'gate down immediately. The rest of us are gonna have to hide out until the Jaffa have gone through the 'gate. Tell Hammond the situation at the village and that we found one survivor – a girl. Tell him she will need medical attention." Jack looked down at Daniel, who was now looking up at him. Jack knew what he was thinking. "And Teal'c . . . the girl probably won't be able to understand at first that you're a friendly, so wear a hat when you're around her. OK?"

"I understand," Teal'c answered. "I am now at the DHD."

"Good," Jack replied.

"Where are you, sir?" Sam inquired.

"We're not far from the corner of the mountain. Carter, can you see the 'gate from where you are?"

"Not completely clearly yet because of all the trees, sir, but I think . . . yeah, I can tell that Teal'c has just dialed home."

"Good. Find a place to take cover for a while. We'll need to maintain radio silence until they're by us. I'll let you know when they've passed us so you can be ready. O'Neill out."

"Yes, sir. Carter out."

ooOoo

"It's SG-1's code, sir," Sergeant Davis said to General Hammond in the control room of the SGC.

"They left less than two hours ago," Hammond said with confusion. "Open the iris."

After the iris opened, Teal'c came through the 'gate with the MALP. "Disengage the gate immediately!" he shouted.

Hammond looked at Teal'c and then at Davis. "Do it," he said.

Hammond raced out of the control room down into the embarkation room. "What's going on, Teal'c? Where are the others?"

"They are unharmed at the moment."

"At the moment?"

"Approximately one mile from the 'gate, we came upon a village whose population had been attacked by Jaffa. Only Daniel Jackson found a survivor. She apparently requires medical attention. Soon after finding her, Colonel O'Neill ordered me to come back to Earth. Major Carter was no more than two minutes behind me in returning to the 'gate. O'Neill and Daniel Jackson were following a few minutes behind her with the girl. However, the Jaffa were apparently still on the planet and the others had to hide from them. At this moment the Jaffa are headed toward the 'gate. Once they are through the others will come back to Earth with the survivor."

"Do you know how many Jaffa there are?" Hammond asked with concern.

"After walking through the village, I would say there were approximately 40 of them."

Hammond sighed. "All right, Teal'c. But, if we don't hear from them within an hour we'll send the MALP back through and figure out what our options are from there."

Teal'c nodded.