A/N:Here it is, the next chapter. I am so sorry this one took so long, rl and an uncooperative muse hindered this one. Trust me the next chapter will not take so long. Thank you to all who reviewed the last chapter and/or reviewed in the time since I last posted a chapter for this story. Again, I apologize for the wait and I hope you like this chapter. Remember reviews are always more than appreciated.

Chapter 28

In his cell again Jack slumped against the wall. The sarcophagus kept healing him and his faith in SG-1 remained strong, but he had a feeling something was wrong.

It was the same awful feeling he'd had when Kate got sick when she was a kid. But at least then he had been with her, had been able to sit beside her bed and cheer her up. Stuck here, that was not an option, although he had several ideas for escaping, each idea had consequences, and these consequences were not ones he especially wanted to face.

And not just because he was convinced something was wrong with Katie and he needed to get to her quickly. Also because of Sam. He was just as worried about her as he was Katie. The only difference was that once he was back he could express concern about Katie, something he couldn't do with Sam. But when he got back he was going to do something about that. Even for him, the King of procrastination, he had put off this conversation with Hammond for far too long. The hundreds, thousands, even millions of things could go wrong, but he was tired of waiting for a possible chance with Sam.

Putting these boring and tedious degrees, as well as a lifetime or twenty of practical experience to work finding a way out Jack began to reanalyze his previous plans hoping to find a way to get out of Ba'al's clutches, alive.

SGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGC

Night had descended over the SGC, but only the dimmed lights of the infirmary indicated that.

In between working frantically to find Jack SG-1 had agreed to take turns watching over Kate. Hank had been sent to his quarters hours ago and Janet was a heartbeat away from removing him from the gate rotation but she hoped Kate would wake up before that became necessary.

In an effort to help, and because in some was because of her parentage Kate was at least an honorary member of the team, SG-1 had rallied around her and as they did for their own teammates they sat in vigil over the comatose doctor.

The graveyard shift was Sam's and as she sat and watched over the slightly younger woman, her fingers flew over the keyboard of her laptop and her mind raced with millions of possibilities as to where Ba'al could be hiding.

Hebron had given her a number of possible locations, places where he remembered there being the kind of facilities needed, or places where Ba'al he had been extremely comfortable, and had obviously felt safe.

Same downloaded those locations into the dialing computer and was using her laptop to run the numbers and identify the most likely locations. It was boring tedious work, it really didn't take much thought process but it kept her occupied and not thinking about either Jack or about Jolinar.

The steady beeping of the heart monitor was the only sound other than the steady tapping of the keys. Sam wanted to say something, anything to this woman. She couldn't bring herself to think of Kate as a kid, like others did, their ages were to close for Sam to think of this woman, who she was still jealous of, as anything but a contemporary. But wanting to say something, and knowing what to say are two entirely different things and Sam always erred on the side of caution, at least in her personal life. So she just sat, and listened to the steady beeping, and focused her mind on the problem at hand. Finding Jack and bringing him home before the NID figured out that something was fishy about the new chief surgeon.

"Weird isn't it?" Janet asked as she walked up behind Sam, "In so many ways Kate is nothing like her father, but when it comes down to the line, she causes just as many problems."

"She seems to be exactly like him," Sam said quietly.

"She tries to be. Anything that was her mother she's tried desperately to stamp out of herself. And frankly I never knew Sara outside of what Kate said about her, so I'm not even sure what influence her stepmother had."

"He loves her so much, and he doesn't have to hide it from her…"

"True, but they've had their problems too. For years she resented him, blamed him for Charlie. But then she blamed herself for not being able to deal after it happened, for not fighting for the only family she ever knew. She's not perfect, but I think she believes that if she is, then the one person who walked out on her might come back, and that possibly she will understand why she walked out after Charlie died."

"Your trying to make me like her, aren't you, Janet?"

"Sam, give her a chance. She's a great friend to have, and when dealing with Jack O'Neill, she is the master. Besides, think of how she feels, Sam. SG-1 has taken her place in the Colonel's life and no one likes to feel replaced."

"Not even world-famous surgeons?"

"They like it even less. Well try not to work too hard. He is coming back, you always bring him home."

"Yeah, but why am I more scared this time?" Sam asked quietly as Janet left.

As the hours passed til dawn, Sam sat and worked, never noticing the slight changes in the EKG readouts.