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Chapter 11

Having slept a bit, Kate had returned to the infirmary and now sat next to the Goa'uld, Tanith. Nursing a cup of coffee, she simply stared at the man whose life she was so desperately tying to save. She had gone to these same lengths before to save a patient, and a few times for patients who were supposed to be her enemy, but never for a man who was truly trapped in his own body.

What also worried her, and was causing her insomnia, an old chronic condition of hers that her own doctors had hated when she was a child, was that instead of going up against the brass or even suits, she was now pitted against her father's friends in this fight for the life of the host. She was fairly sure that she was not fighting her father, but growing up with Jack O'Neill had taught her unshakeable loyalty, and she only had her belief and hope that in this case his love and loyalty to her would supersede his loyalty to his team and perhaps even his cause.

As she had done hundreds of times when worrying for particular patients, and even the one time she had sat by her own father's bed, not just as his daughter, but also as his doctor, she sat. And turned over and over in her active mind all the ways Teal'c could still get his revenge. Growing up surrounded by Air Force Special Operations Group 9 had taught her more than the average layman knew about Special Ops tactics, but she knew that she didn't know enough. Luck, and maybe reason, would keep this man safe until the Tok'ra arrived. If they arrived.

She had not guarantees of that, she knew from Janet that the Tok'ra were spotty in their visits to the SGC, and couldn't always be trusted. Janet and Warner had told her about how the Tok'ra had used Tanith. Told her about how once he was no longer useful they had planned to remove him from the host, but how that plan had gone south like a duck in winter. Without any guarantees of Tok'ra assistance, Kate was mentally preparing herself for a surgery that she knew could kill her patient. Warner was pulling the video from Major Kawalsky's surgery seven years before, and he was going to walk her through it, but they has no guarantees. And even after seven years of fighting the Goa'uld, they knew so little. The only thing they knew for certain, was that being a host was having a adverse affect on the host's health. Damnit, she really needed a name for this guy. Calling him 'the host' was too impersonal. She needed some kind of personal connection to him, even if it was just a name.

Without a personal connection, she felt nothing for this man. And long ago at a teaching hospital in Princeton, New Jersey, where she had spent a few weeks, she had learned that the personal connection with patients was key. Of course she had also learned that everybody lies and sometimes a doctor has to take a step back and not be involved, in any way, with the patient. Her contradictory lessons from those long weeks at the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital had eventually been what decided her on her own future. And the enigmatic, sarcastic, brilliant doctor who had treated her and constantly reminded her of her father, would surely have something to say about a surgeon who worked for someone who had a specialty in diagnostic medicine. That was the other reason Janet had been chosen for the job of Chief Medical Officer of Cheyenne Mountain, she had trained with that medical version of Jack O'Neill. This was why she was the best at figuring out what was afflicting the members of the SGC, and in figuring out how to cure them. And even though Janet was the best, except for the doctor in Princeton who the Air Force could and would never put up with, she liked working with others.

But that wasn't helping her with the problem of Tanith and his host. It also wasn't helping her with SG-1. Daniel seemed to be beginning to accept everything. Teal'c had accepted her, before she had stood up to him at least. And Major Carter, well, the Major would eventually accept all this, Carter, her father's friend would accept it after the hurt of the not telling went away, and Sam…well Kate honestly didn't know if Sam could accept it. In the end, this might be the last straw. The last thing Jack O'Neill could keep from her or do to her before she just gave up.

Kate had seen the look in Sam's eyes when everything was revealed. She had seen the sympathy, for both women knew single parent military homes; she had seen the sympathy for all the crap he had put up with over the years; she had seen the respect, for Sam knew that no matter what, Jack would never turn his back on a child, especially not his child; she had seen the pain and betrayal, for my not telling Sam, Kate knew that her father had betrayed Sam; and she had seen the love, that Jack would put up with all the crap, that Jack would do his best for Kate, that underneath all his cocky bull and near debilitating insecurities, he was a good man simply trying to do the right thing.

With a heavy sigh, Kate put down her coffee and scrubbed her exhausted face with her hands. She had patiently read her father's letters and listened to his occasional phone calls. To her, who knew him completely, it was obvious. Jonathon Kincade O'Neill was completely, head over heels, in love with Samantha Grace Carter. And she could tell that Sam felt the same, but Kate still worried. He was horrifically bad at verbalizing his feelings. And he respected Sam and her career too much to even think of telling her.

Kate had always played an active role in her father's love life. Women who were interested were immediately introduced to her and it was explained very clearly, Jack's priorities were with his little Katie, he'd called her that when she was little and he'd just come home from the war. Now Kate realized that she was still playing that active role. Only this time, she would be telling her father, on no uncertain terms, that he had to tell Sam Carter how he felt. And all things being equal, she's rather face down Teal'c again, than have that conversation.