When Sam woke up, she saw Jack hanging on the wall across from the chair in which she was propped. Sam began to lean forward but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.
"I am glad you are awake. I was growing quite bored." Ba'al stepped around Sam and walked over the Jack.
"You have been very resistant in my attempts to find out how to predict a solar flare. I thought there might be another way to convince you to cooperate." Ba'al touched a small thin black stick to Jack's shoulder. Jack threw his head back against the wall and shut his eyes. He managed to not scream but only barely. He felt as if every inch of his body was burning and melting off his frame. He realized that Sam had under played the pain she'd survived that last six weeks.
"I have seen in your mind how you feel about O'Neill." Images appeared on a screen behind Sam's head. Jack saw himself strapped to a chair as Sam leaned down to explain they were lying.
He could hear her thoughts as she told him they could keep it in the room. 'Please fight me. Tell me you want more. I want to reach out but I'm scared and everything within me says it's wrong.'
Jack's throat constricted as the words from inside Sam's head were projected behind her. The scene changed and Jack saw himself sitting against a gray background. It wasn't a moment he could recall.
"I'll always be there for you…no matter what." Jack searched his memories for this moment but he had nothing. Then to his surprise Sam leaned forward and kissed him in a way he would definitely have remembered had it actually happened. Jack's mouth dropped open and he looked away from the screen. Sam's heart clenched as Jack looked away from her head wound induced hallucination.
The kiss disappeared and was replaced by Jack grilling on his deck. As soon as the beer splashed across the grill Jack knew what was coming. The running commentaries from inside Sam's memories were the real surprise. 'I have to give this one last chance. I can't just give up on him and settle.'
When Kerry stepped out on the deck the internal commentary stopped briefly. The silence grabbed Jack's attention. It took Sam a moment to internally respond, even as she remained externally calm. 'I'm too late. I can't believe I let this happen. It's my fault. I should have done something years ago. I've pushed him too far away and now I look like a fool.'
Just as the sound of Sam's cell could be heard, the scene changed. Jack was on his sofa. He had a beer in his hands and Sam was beside him. Jack knew this was the day after the Ancient repository was again downloaded into his brain.
"You want to be alone. This was a bad I…I…should go." Her words and the discomfort on her face were familiar to Jack. It was the internal commentary that again caught him by surprise. 'I'm losing him and I'm still letting him put me aside! I'd throw it all away right now if only he'd let me!' He hid his emotions from Ba'al as the burning sensation lessened.
The screen flickered as Sam took control of her emotions. "Using General O'Neill against me was a mistake. I respect him and the values he holds dear. I will not willingly do anything that would violate his beliefs, no matter what you do to him or me. His faith in me is more important than our lives. I know he feels the same."
Ba'al screamed in frustration and marched from Jack to Sam. He backhanded Sam across the face. The strength of the Goa'uld strike threw Sam across the room. She slammed into the wall and was out cold again.
When Sam next awoke, she was back on the all too familiar cot. Jack's was sitting cross-legged on the floor and his head was resting beside her arm. Sam ran her fingers over the gray spiky hair she so loved.
Jack jerked his head up and looked at Sam. His concern was obvious and she smiled to help calm his fears. "You've been out cold for hours. How are you feeling?"
"I have a knot on my head and it hurts but…" Sam's eyes widened.
Jack sat up on his knees and leaned over Sam. "But what?"
"The headache…the one from the probe…it's gone."
Jack's face tensed. "Gone as in?"
Sam smiled. "As in I don't feel it."
"I'm guessing this is a good thing?"
Sam pulled herself up and faced Jack. "I certainly hope so."
Not long after Sam had regained consciousness the guards returned and led Sam and Jack back to the room of torture. Jack was bound to the wall and Sam was forced to sit in the chair that was centered in the room facing Jack. Ba'al glided into the room and pressed the burning device against Jack's arm without having asked any questions. The guards quietly left.
Sam tensed her face and glared at Ba'al. "Haven't we already made it clear this won't work?"
"You have been to the Asgard homeworld. How did you get there?" Ba'al turned his eyes to the screen, which remained blank. "What did you see on the planet?" Ba'al was screaming but nothing appeared on the screen.
Ba'al took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. "I don't have time to continue this game. Stand!"
Sam stood as ordered. Jack's confidence that the mind control ball wasn't working was suddenly shaken.
"Go to him and hit him across the face." Sam walked past Ba'al and towards Jack. She slightly grinned at Jack before she spun on her heel and placed a forceful kick to Ba'al's midsection. Ba'al fell to a kneeling position. Sam followed through with a double fisted blow to the back of Ba'al's neck before he could recover from the kick. She grabbed him around the neck and twisted, severing his spine and quickly ending the battle.
"I swear these clones just aren't as good as the real thing." Sam walked over to a console and pressed three symbols. Jack fell off the wall. While Jack got his legs back under him Sam accessed the ship's computer. She'd located all of the ships occupants by the time Jack joined her at the console.
"Nice job. I guess that proves the probe thingy isn't working any more." Jack gently patted Sam on the back.
"There." Sam pointed to two blips only three corridors away. "We can take down those two guards and get their weapons."
"I like the way you think."
Sam smirked and glanced at Jack. "I had a good teacher."
Jack grinned back and bounced on his toes. "Cool."
The two poorly trained guards went down easily. Jack and Sam freed the Asgard who used the ship's security measures to stun all non-Asgard occupants except Sam and Jack. When the Ba'als and guards awoke they were imprisoned in several small Asgard brigs. The Asgards happily removed the non-functioning probe from Sam's brain.
The complete story (which includes one more chapter) is posted on nibikko(dot)com!