When Jack announced that he was feeling better, the large group began the journey back to the village.
As they approached Kanaka, Jack began to hang back from the rest of the crowd. Sam immediately noticed, and fearing he wasn't feeling well again, moved to walk beside him.
Jack reached out and put a hand on Sam's arm to stop her from walking. She looked at him questioningly and he asked "That pink flower rock that Nike gave me, what exactly was it suppose to do to me?"
She smiled at Jack when he called Nika by the brand name Nike. "I'm not exactly sure, Sir. I do know that it had something to do with emotions."
"Dammit! I thought so!"
"Sir?"
"It's nothing, Carter."
"Colonel..."
"It's just...um...I've been feeling feelings, that's all...I mean more than normal,...feelings..."
Sam looked at him with understanding in her eyes. "Well, at least your stone didn't increase your desires," she said ruefully.
Jack's eyebrows shot up at that and Sam instantly regretted having said it to her commanding officer.
"No! It's not like that!" She hastily interjected. "It's very confusing. It's all my desires that are amplified and I can't sort them out. On one hand I want to always be on SG1, but then I also want to work in R and D, make a brilliant discovery in physics and be able to publish my findings. I want a command of my own, and I also want to be the highest ranking female officer in the United States Air Force. At other times I just want a normal life. I want to be in a relationship, maybe have a kid...I want to be loved." She stopped quickly as she realized what she had said.
When she said she wanted to be loved Jack looked down at the ground and kicked at a tiny pebble. He wanted to shout "I love you, Carter! I want to give you everything you want!". But he knew Sam. If he told her that now she wouldn't believe him because he was under the influence of an alien technology. He also knew that the decision was hers. Whatever she eventually decided, he would be there for her. Always.
When Jack looked down and kicked a pebble Sam thought "He really doesn't have feelings for me, what he's feeling now is just a result of the alien stone." She felt embarrassed at having told her commanding officer so much about what she was feeling. She knew he didn't like dealing with emotions.
"So how long do the effects of these rocks last?" he asked, quickly changing the subject.
"I don't know, Sir, but as soon as we get home I can work on figuring that out. I believe that we have to remain in close proximity to the stones for them to have an effect on us but I can't be sure."
"So, if we send the rocks to Area 51 and let the egg heads play with them, we should get back to normal?"
"I think so..."
"Good. Let's go get the rest of our stuff and get out of here."
As they entered the village, Lopaka had already called the Kanakans together in the commons and was explaining what had happened with the rite of Pukaua Koa.
Palaki, unnoticed, had hurried off to his own cabin. Once there he pulled a small locked box out from its hiding place beneath a board in the floor of his bedroom. Palaki carefully opened the polished wooden box and pulled out the strange alien artifact. The baseball sized silver ball had been handed down from generation to generation. Palaki didn't know if anyone had ever used the device he now held in the palm of his hand.
Suddenly, the device lit up and a face shimmered to life in the ball. The face looked similar to Teal'c except that the man had a different symbol tattooed in the middle of his forehead.
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