An'ok was waiting for them at the entrance of the building.
Sam came up to him tiredly. "Look, An'ok, like General O'Neill said, we are tired. It's been a long and eventful few months, and the fact that we are here now with you is not something we first wanted…"
"I understand," he interrupted. "I am sorry; the urgency of my situation made me lose focus of the real purpose of this." He paused. "I shall now endeavor to provide nourishment while you get settled better," he said with a little bow. "My zat'ni'katel might prove useful, if you could convince General O'Neill…"
"Convince General O'Neill of what?" Jack's voice asked as he reached their position.
"Of giving me back my zat'ni'katel so I could go hunting," An'ok deadpanned.
Jack sighed, then took the weapon from his belt and gave it to the Jaffa wordlessly. An'ok grabbed it with a bow of his head and disappeared into the streets leading to the forest.
Jack turned to Sam. "I'll go fetch some wood…" He turned on his heels, and he too disappeared through the street leading to the forest.
Sam sighed and went to their 'house'. She would explore it further and try and understand the intricacies of the heating and watering systems, which, according to her calculations and the last known active signs from the Ancients, hadn't worked in more than 10,000 years.
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"I understand your frustration, Daniel Jackson, but unless we actually know where to look, it is very difficult, even for us, to track down O'Neill's bio-signature," the disembodied voice of Supreme Commander Thor's hologram said.
"But can you confirm no Asgard abducted O'Neill and Colonel Carter?" Teal'c asked.
"As of yet, this issue is still unresolved, but in all honesty, I don't believe any one of us would do that. We are rather busy with the reconstruction of the Asgard Empire on Orilla, and Loki's experiments were isolated as far as we know," Thor resumed.
"Well can you at least try to scan our galaxy for some sign of them? They're probably in a space ship or on a planet with no gate…"
"Scanning has already started, Doctor Jackson; we will keep you informed if we find anything."
"Thanks…" Daniel replied dejectedly.
"I shall now tend to my primary duties. Please give my regards to General Hammond," Thor concluded with a slight bow of his head.
Daniel turned to General Landry. "What now?"
"We are still expecting news from Master Bra'tac," Teal'c said.
"Maybe you both should go to Dakara and try to find out," Hank Landry suggested. "That at least would keep you busy," he added with a forced smile.
Daniel looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Jack was the one to recommend your posting, right?"
A 'cat ate the canary' smile spread over Hank Landry's face.
"I now see why…" Teal'c deadpanned.
Daniel sighed. "I'm sorry, General, I am so used to Jack that I'll admit I can be a little disrespectful of military protocol sometimes," Daniel said.
"My statement was also intended to make you inquire about Master Bra'tac's whereabouts and the well being of the New Jaffa Nation…"
"The Jaffa Nation is well," Teal'c started, with a touch of annoyance in his voice.
"No offense meant, Teal'c," Landry resumed hastily. "It's just that I want to be sure the Ancient weapon is truly destroyed, and that Master Bra'tac does indeed have the upper hand at the moment."
Teal'c bowed slightly, acknowledging the man's words.
"In this case, we shall indeed go to Dakara…"
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Jack stepped inside the Ancient house carrying some wood he had collected and bundled into a tarp he must have found in the Al'kesh.
"Sam?"
"In here!" came the muffled sound of her voice.
Jack laid down his burden and walked in the general direction of her voice. Sam was crouched under the fountain, with mud all over her face.
"Fancy a mud struggle?" he smirked.
She glared at him.
"I was trying to fix that pipe…"
He smiled. "Had any luck?" he asked.
"Got any tape or chewing gum?" she replied, disgusted.
"Actually…" he searched his pockets before extracting a pack of strawberry chewing gum and tossed it to her.
"Strawberry?" she asked, surprised.
He shrugged. "Yeah, well, I have a sweet tooth…"
She smiled and took several gums to chew. When she managed to get the consistency she desired, she used the ball as a patch on the defective plumbing.
"There… that should hold for a while at least…"
"Carter, can you explain to me how a village built by a civilization that has normally disappeared 10,000 years ago can still be in a shape good enough for scavengers like us to inhabit it, and the water system still functional?"
She pulled herself up from her crouching position and shrugged. "I can only say that I believe the plumbing held because it's not plastic or lead… It's a foreign alloy that seems to be very resistant. I'd suspect it's something similar to the Stargate alloy, minus the naquadah…"
"So what else did you discover?"
She treated him with one of her wide smiles at that moment, took his arm, and led him to what they had elected their "room." It was fully equipped with what he would actually call a king sized bed, or rather mattress, and blankets of sorts.
"What the…" he started, taken aback.
"I went searching for replacement parts in other houses while you were gone, and I found one that was probably used as a storage area when Anubis was here."
"Anything cool?" he asked.
She shook her head negatively. "Only material supplies; no weapons nor anything that could be used as such… I found tables, canteens, crates, blankets, mattresses…"
"I inform you that I brought some fruits from my hunting session, and meat is roasting above the fire," An'ok's voice interrupted her.
Jack jumped at that. "An'ok!" he started, aggravated. "You have to STOP sneaking up on us! Just ring or knock or whatever! Announce your presence!"
An'ok looked a bit taken aback, then composed himself. "I am sorry, I did not mean to…"
"Ah, for crying out loud, forget it, it's done anyway," came Jack's gruff interruption. "Let's go to eat," he said before exiting the house.
Jack definitely didn't want to know what the meat was or how it looked like – alive – despite having eaten many strange things in his life, but he had to admit it was well cooked and tasted delicious.
He looked over at Sam at the exact moment she was planting her teeth in a Mango-like fruit and had to look elsewhere, for it did things to his mind that went in all the wrong directions.
He swallowed and decided to make small talk with An'ok. "This is great. Thanks."
An'ok looked at him surprised, and bowed his head in acknowledgement. "This is the first time you have said something nice to me," he replied calmly.
"There's one for everything," Jack replied laconically.
"I may not have been the perfect host, and I apologize for that," An'ok resumed. "The urgency of my situation may make me forget about proper behavioral rules."
Jack sighed. "We all have our problems. You try and respect both the colonel's and my privacy, and we're okay."
"I shall endeavor to try and do that from now on," An'ok replied.
"Carter? You finished?" Jack asked her.
"Yes, Sir," she nodded, licking the fruit juices off her fingers, and making Jack groan inwardly.
"Then we should go get some rest. You keep watch, An'ok?" Jack asked.
"I will kelnorim; you may rest."
"Thanks," was the only comment he made before standing up and heading down the street to their house.
Sam stood up, too, muttering a "thank you" before following Jack.
An'ok observed them slowly melting into the shadows, frowning. These humans have proven to be what he had been told they were: strong-minded. He might have to influence things more drastically to get what he wanted…
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Jack shut the 'entrance' door behind him and caught Sam's hand as she was headed to the sleeping area. She turned towards him, a questioning look in her eyes. He tugged her hand gently, bringing her close, and encircled her shoulders with his free arm, pulling her into a gentle hug.
They remained silent in the soft light of the night, illuminated by bright stars, before she pulled back slowly, smiling. "What was that for?" she asked softly.
"I wanted to make sure it's still real," he said with a trace of regret at their current situation.
She looked at him, understanding, and pulled gently on his hand as she started back toward the room with the cots.
They silently divested themselves down to their underwear and lay down next to each other. Jack pulled a blanket over them, and she snuggled up to his large frame. Automatically, his arms came to encircle her.
He was the first to break the silence. "We haven't had time to talk…."
"What is there to talk about?" she replied, moving slightly for a more comfortable position.
"Us?"
"Oh."
"Oh? Just, 'oh'? What does that mean?"
She sighed. "It means nothing, Jack… I'm comfortable with where we're headed. I don't know how we'll handle it, and I don't know how I'm going to deal with us being so far apart, but for the first time in years, I feel at peace with my choice for a life." She rose a bit and looked him in the eyes. "I like my job, Jack; I like stepping through that ring and discovering things I wouldn't have ever dreamed about, but with Anubis's defeat, I feel like we've come to a new dimension in our fight — if there still is one — to protect the planet, and I want to take care of myself, be selfish for a change. I am comfortable with that because I know you'll support me," she concluded softly.
She saw him smile in the dark as he drew her body on top of his, cradling her head in the crook of his shoulder with his large hand. "Always…" he murmured.
She hugged him in return, before raising her head again. Jack's questioning look made her smile, before her eyes descended on his mouth, and she kissed him.
Jack's mouth opened immediately, and their tongues began dueling languidly in a slow rhythm, like they had done this for years.
Sam reveled in the new sensations the kiss was eliciting. Her hands, which had been idle a moment ago, now were sensuously caressing his undershirt-clad chest while she felt his drawing slow circles on her back, but before it became too much, Jack gently pulled her back, licking his lips, and obviously trying to regain control over his body and senses.
"Jack?" she asked, her voice trembling.
"So. Not. The right setting…" he managed to croak.
Sam laughed at that and rested her head on his chest. "Hey, at least we've got a king sized!" she teased.
"Ah, see, now that's an interesting observation, Carter," he said, still a little out of breath.
"Oh?" she replied, her voice muffled by his undershirt.
"If it's a king sized, how come you are lying on top of me?" he deadpanned.
Sam again erupted in laughter, diffusing the tension, before moving back down his side, resting her head on the shoulder.
"Sleep?" she asked drowsily.
"We'll resume that conversation later, promise?" he murmured.
"I can't promise you we'll actually have a conversation, but we'll definitely resume!" Sam said teasingly, making Jack groan in frustration.
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Sam was swearing under her breath, crouched underneath a broken (and now torn apart) console.
An'ok was trying to help her at his best, but so far, his best had been to hand her the tools she had found in the 'storage house'.
After hearing the tenth 'Crap!', Jack for his part, had decided to scout the area and see if he could find anything interesting related to the machine.
His wanderings led him to several aisles in the building that revealed itself as being rather large. In each of the rooms he entered, he could decipher a few things, but what struck him the most in general was the obvious devastation left by Anubis with regards to anything remotely linked to what the building sheltered.
He had also discovered other broken devices, some of old, and some more recently. Apparently, Anubis had not only destroyed the machine Sam was working on, but according to the scattered remains he found in some areas, and a few others had simply vanished, either completely destroyed or dismantled to be reconstructed some place else?
He arrived in a wide room that must have held a library of sorts, if the broken shelves that lay all over the ground were what he thought they were. What looked like Ancient tables were also visible, and Jack thought Daniel would have had a blast trying to know which part went with which, since the tablets were also all broken to pieces. Whatever Anubis — or Time — had found here was totally useless now.
He resumed his exploration of the place and reached a patio with a fountain in the middle. Unlike the one they had found in their house, this one was not functioning.
Luxurious vegetation was threatening to overcome the patio, and it made Jack think of an Ancient Mayan or Aztec temple for a while. He went across the patio to the other side where he found a wall that looked to be the end of it. He walked along it, his fingers softly threading the ancient stone, taking in the peaceful feeling of the place. It must have been a place where the scholars came to relax, he thought briefly. He should be heading back to check on Sam, but he enjoyed the peace. So he leaned back against the wall.
A soft 'click' alerted his ear that something was about to happen; at the same moment he felt the wall behind him slide smoothly before falling backwards, stumbling on roots and stones as he tried to catch his balance.
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Daniel and Teal'c stepped down the gate pedestal on Dakara and were greeted by Bra'tac.
"Tek Ma'teh, my friends," he said with a smile.
"Tek Ma'tek, Master Bra'tac," Teal'c replied with an equal smile.
Daniel shook the old man's hand. "Have you made any progress on Jack and Sam's disappearance?" he asked, cutting to the chase.
Bra'tac smiled broadly. "Actually we have!"
Daniel looked at Teal'c with hope, then back at Bra'tac. "Care to enlighten us?" he asked.
"Of course, but let us go to my quarters. I shall also show you that we have started dismantling the weapon," he resumed proudly as he led the way to the buildings of the reconstructing city.
They finally entered a quiet area that Bra'tac had elected his home in a remote place of the temple.
"The enormity of the task at hand sometimes frightens me, but I know we will manage. Several people among our people have started leading their own, and we are slowly building a council of representatives. Years of war and slavery are not overcome that quickly, and all point of views must be considered and respected. But as the Tau'ri would say it, democracy is not something that is achieved in one day. We also have the reconstruction of Dakara to supervise, and some Jaffa have expressed their wishes to settle on independent planets."
"Segregationists?" Teal'c asked, visibly annoyed.
"No, my friend, but Dakara does not offer much aside from a dismantled city and arid plains. Some of us want to start anew, some of us want to settle and maintain farms, some of us want to be traders, some of us want to explore… Just do things they have been denied for centuries," Bra'tac said, putting a hand on his former apprentice's shoulder.
"I hate to cut short your enthusiasm, Bra'tac, but you said you had made progress on Sam and Jack's disappearance?" Daniel reminded him.
"Ah, yes!" Bra'tac nodded. "We suspect one of Anubis's former Jaffa, An'ok. He left recently all of a sudden, with no word to his former partner. You can meet him if you like."
"We would," Daniel said, nodding with interest.
Bra'tac smiled and stood up. "Please stay here, I will have him called."