Disclaimer: 'Stargate SG1' and all the characters associated with the show belong to someone who isn't me. As I doubt that the owners would be willing to trade their rights for some magic beans that aren't in any way magical, this is not going to change at any point in the foreseeable future.

Author's Note: To Lali-chan - The story takes place in late Season Two, after 'The Tok'ra, Parts I and II', so Martouf is still alive and well.

Chapter Eight

The briefing room

Little Sam had remained glued to Jack's side, clinging tightly around his neck as he carried her up from the 'gate room to the briefing room, were Martouf was filling them in on the information the Tokra had gathered since their last meeting.

He would have been willing to bet that the intelligence they were being provided with was a mere drop in the bucket, but it seemed to be all that they were willing to share.

Much to his surprise, the little girl had not immediately clamored to be set down so that she could go over to 'Uncle George' but instead had remained in his lap during Martouf's briefing, for once paying less attention that he did.

Lantash seemed to have opted to take a backseat while Martouf explained the details of Goa'uld movements and pointed out a list of coordinates for Tok'ra operations, indicating that these planets should be considered off limits to all SG teams until further notice.

"What about…" Glancing at the little girl sitting on Jack's knee, Daniel stopped himself from speaking her name. "You know. Do the Tok'ra know anything about this Hebe?"

"She is a minor Goa'uld, far from the rank of System Lord. Her holdings are limited to just a few planets."

"Is P4C-656 among her current holdings?" Teal'c enquired.

"To the best of our knowledge, it is not. It was abandoned several centuries ago when Hebe began to lose power and to consolidate her remaining holdings."

"What do you know about her fountain of youth?" Daniel asked.

"Not much." Martouf admitted. "The Tok'ra have encountered the Jaffa of Hebe occasionally in recent centuries. They are exceptionally loyal, more devoted to their false god even than most Jaffa." He nodded in Teal'c's direction to indicate that he did not mean any offence.

"I'd be loyal and devoted too if I could get twenty years knocked off my age for it." Jack said dryly.

"I don't suppose you know of a cure." General Hammond asked. "Or if you have a timeframe for how long it might take for the effects to reverse naturally."

As much as he was enjoying the company of his youthened goddaughter, the SGC was far from a suitable environment for a small child and, in the far from unlikely event of an emergency, the expertise of the adult Sam Carter would probably be needed.

"We do not." Martouf said regretfully, regarding little Sam with curiosity. "She does not remember her adult life?"

"No." Jack responded, rubbing Sam's back lightly when she shrank closer to him, uncomfortable with Martouf's scrutiny.

"I see." Martouf was silent for a few moments, engaged in communication with his symbiote. "I have never heard of a Jaffa of Hebe losing his memory. It is possible that Samantha's memories of her adult life are merely suppressed, as her mind is not yet ready to deal with them."

"Is there any way to jog those memories?" Daniel asked.

"We possess memory recall technology." Martouf admitted. "But I would never recommend its use in Samantha's current state, or entrust this child to Anise for examination." He said protectively.

"What's wrong with my memory?" Sam asked, distressed by the conversation. "What do they want to do?"

"Nothing." Jack said soothingly. "There's nothing wrong with you. Is there?" He narrowed his eyes at the others.

"Colonel O'Neill is right, sweetie." General Hammond said hastily. "There's nothing wrong with you."

"Nobody will hurt you, Samantha." If Martouf had hoped that his words would calm the little girl, he was sadly mistaken.

Sam shrank closer to Jack, gesturing for him to bend down so that she could whisper in his ear. "There's something wrong. I feel funny."

Although Jack sometimes liked to pass himself off as an idiot, he was far from clueless. "And do you sometimes get a funny feeling around Teal'c?"

She paused for a moment before answering. She had accepted that Teal'c was a friend when Uncle George had told her that he was and hadn't paid any attention to the sense she got from him. "A little bit." She admitted. "Not like this, though."

"I believe that it is my presence you sense."

Sam's eyes became impossibly large at the sound of Martouf's changed voice. "Who is that?" Her voice shook as she asked the question.

Lantash stood, moving around the table to where Jack and Sam were sitting and kneeling down to her level. "I am Lantash."

"What happened to Martouf?"

"Oh, he's still in there." Jack said, resisting the urge to scowl. Martouf was pretty far down his list of favourite people, somewhere between Maybourne and Apophis.

"Colonel O'Neill is correct." Lantash smiled. "He and I share this body."

"Why?" Curiosity was pushing fear into a very secondary position.

"We are friends." Lantash chose his words carefully, not wanting to frighten or intimidate Sam more than she already was. "I live within Martouf, so that he is never lonely."

"Never?"

Lantash dipped his head, and when Martouf spoke, his voice returned to normal. "Never. Lantash is always with me."

"Is that nice?" She sounded wistful. Her daddy had to move a lot, so she would always have to leave her friends behind when they moved house. Having a friend that would always be with her sounded wonderful.

"It's not for everybody." Jack told her, frowning slightly at Martouf as a warning to end the conversation.

While the last thing he wanted was for the child he held to be frightened, he didn't like the way Martouf and Lantash were making being a Tok'ra sound so appealing.

The commissary

"Will you be staying on Earth long?" Daniel asked Martouf, more out of politeness than anything else, as they sat down to a late dinner.

General Hammond had already left to have dinner with his daughter and grandchildren.

Sam, sitting between Jack and Teal'c, was starting to look slightly drowsy as she tried to come up with cunning ways to hide the Brussel sprouts that the kitchen server had put on her plate, despite her protests.

"We will are to meet with another operative in three days time." Martouf responded, examining the meatloaf curiously. "This is most unusual. What is it composed of?"

"It's always better not to know." Jack told him seriously, taking a malicious pleasure in the Tok'ra's disconcerted expression.

"I enjoy it." Teal'c said calmly, a lifetime of Jaffa battlefield rations having inured his palate to just about anything, including what the commissary tried to pass off as 'food'.

Jack rolled his eyes, liberally lacing his own serving of meatloaf with ketchup, which he had found made it somewhat palatable. "Remind me never to eat on Chulak – Sam, if you don't want to eat them, nobody's going to force you." He said, seeing the four year old try to bury a Brussel sprout in her mashed potatoes out of the corner of his eye.

She looked surprised that he had seen through her stealthy attempts at concealing the despised vegetables but if the adults weren't planning to make her eat them, she wasn't going to say a word that might change their minds.

"Lantash and I are looking forward to spending more time on this planet." Martouf said brightly.

Jack groaned slightly at his animated tone.

Taking care of a four year old Samantha Carter he could live with; babysitting a Tok'ra was another matter entirely.

TBC.

Author's Note: I'll have the next part up as soon as possible. Please don't forget to review and, if there's anything you'd like to see while Martouf is there, let me know.