Stargate SG1

by Anaika Skywalker

An alternate look at the episodes of Stargate SG1, starting at the end of the Movie and then on to 'Children of the Gods'. Completed.

4. Exodus

Title: Stargate SG-1

Author: Anaika Skywalker

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Don't own it, wish I did, I just like to play with SG-1 once and a while. I'll put them back when I'm finished. I promise.

Author's Note: This chapter starts with 'The Curse'; I really wanted to start with 'Nemesis' but just couldn't get going, so I changed tactics. Though I believe it was in 'Nemesis' that SG-1 changed, friendships changed. I think the whole season saw a great change in how the characters related to each other, and it kept going through into season five too, coming to a explosive closure in 'Meridian'. This however is my opinion only and how I see the path the next few chapters will run. If anyone else has a different opinion, I'd like to hear it, I don't mind and enjoy other people's points of views. I called the chapter 'Exodus' for a good reason, I looked up the word in the dictionary and part of it's meaning was – a going forth-, which if you look back is what happened. The characters when forth and became much more then what they had originally began as.

Chas54: Thanks, it's good to be back; LetNys: I'm so glad you liked the last chapter and I think Cali represents a not only a little of myself, but a little of everyone, which is why she is so real. So thank you.

Stargate SG-1

Chapter Four: Exodus

Daniel gathered the folders he needed for the briefing, grabbing them and his mug of coffee he left his office. Cali was meeting him at the briefing room, she wasn't going with them on this mission, but she did have valuable insights that warranted her being there and he wanted her there. It seemed lately having her at the briefings helped him get through them, that and coffee, lots off coffee and Cali's love. Things had changed between them all, not him and Cali, but the rest of the team. As he took the elevator to level 28, he reflected that it had all started when he'd had his appendix out, they'd been on a mission when he'd gotten sick, having to rush him back to the SGC, it had been touch and go, but he'd pulled through, Cali never leaving his side. The other's, well that had been different, if Jack hadn't have been transported away by Thor; he would have been off fishing. Teal'c had already gone to visit his son. Sam had been busy doing whatever it was in her lab. But Jack had gone; helping Thor, not that he would of wanted anything bad to happen to the little guy. Then Sam and Teal'c had gone up to the ship to help battle the Replicators and he and Cali had been left behind. After they'd gotten back, things had changed within the team, even Cali had noticed it, and her queries to her dad had just been dismissed.

Shrugging it off he left the elevator when it stopped and went up to the briefing room, seeing Jack was all ready there, reading some tabloid paper. "Morning," he greeted putting the folders and his coffee down before taking his seat.

"Hey." Jack greeted.

"What's that?" Daniel asked gesturing to the tabloid.

"Umm," Jack actually seemed a little embarrassed about being caught with it, showing him. "Teal'c into this stuff. I don't get it." He stared readying the star signs, ignoring the linguist. "A great week is in store for you… You'll be going on a trip –."

An article caught Daniel's attention. "Let me see that," he said snatching the tabloid from Jack's hand.

"Okay."

Getting a better look, Daniel read what it said. "Oh my god!"

"What?" Jack asked curious.

"He's dead," was the vague reply.

"Who?"

"My archaeology professor," Daniel said stunned. "Dr. Jordan."

Jack had heard that name before. "Whoa, wait a minute – Dr. David Jordan?"

That surprised Daniel. "Yes, how?"

"Oh when we went to Egypt for the dig, one of the archaeologist leading it was a Dr. David Jordan," the Colonel explained. "He took Cali under his wing, said she reminded him of a young archaeologist he knew. Especially when she voiced her opinions about the pyramids."

Daniel smiled. "Sounds like Dr. Jordan."

Cali had entered the room; she'd stopped by the archaeology department before coming up. "What does?" She asked putting the folders down she carried beside Daniel's as well as her coffee mug. Seeing the look on her life partner's face. "Daniel, what's wrong?"

"Dr. David Jordan was killed."

"How?" She asked sitting beside him, scooting her chair closer.

"This is a little vague," he showed her the tabloid. "But it says something about the curse of Osiris. It also says his funeral is tomorrow in Chicago."

General Hammond came out of his office. "Good morning. Where are Major Carter and Teal'c?"

"They're on their way, sir." Jack informed.

"General," Daniel stood, finding Cali had gotten to her feet too. "I just found out my archaeology professor died, Cali and I would like time off to attend the funeral. I realize this is short notice, but…"

The General held up a hand to "Where is it, Dr. Jackson?"

"Tomorrow in Chicago, sir." She answered for him. "I met Dr. Jordan when I went to Egypt on a dig. He was very encouraging and supportive."

"Then take all the time you need."

"Thank you sir," both said.

"I'll have a plane available to both of you and arrange for a car when you arrive in Chicago."

"Thank you, General." Daniel said, grateful for the man's support.

"Head home, son, Cali. I'll have an airman pick you both up in an hour."

"Thank you sir," Cali said and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before gathering her folders and mug, following Daniel from the briefing room after he'd gotten his.

"Colonel," Hammond turned to Jack. "Inform Major Carter and Teal'c the briefing is postponed until tomorrow morning."

"Yes sir."

The General returned to his office. He didn't know what had happened between SG-1, but they weren't the same, something had changed between them. They were still the best team he had, but there was something missing.

By afternoon, Cali and Daniel were in Chicago, having booked a hotel room before they left Colorado Springs. Once they'd settled in, Daniel made some phone calls, finding out what he needed.

Cali came up beside him as he stood out on the balcony. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I just can't believe he's gone."

She slipped her arm around his waist. "I'm sorry Daniel."

"I know," he drew her into his arms. "I'm just glad you got to met him."

"So am I," she whispered.

"It's been five years since we spoke, I should have come back. I wish I could have told him I was right."

She smiled warmly. "I wanted to tell him you were right," she revealed. "When he said he knew you, I wanted so much to say you were right, but I couldn't."

"I know," Daniel kissed her forehead. He worried about seeing Dr. Jordan's assistances; he especially worried about seeing Sarah again.

"Daniel?"

He smiled softly. "I'm all right," he took her hand, making a decision right there and then. "Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"I'm going to buy you something?"

"What?" She asked confused.

"You'll see."

Leaving the hotel they walked a short distance to an exclusive jewelry story, going in. A young woman behind the counter smiled at them. "Can I help you, sir, ma'am?"

"We'd like to look at wedding rings." Daniel told her.

Cali looked at him surprised. "Daniel?"

He caressed her cheek as the assistant moved away. "I want to do this, I want everyone to know you're my wife."

"Everyone?"

"Everyone," he insisted and lent over, brushing his lips against her. She blushed as they sales assistant returned, smiling brightly. Daniel loved that about his life partner, his wife. He glanced over the rings, all were beautiful, but not what he wanted. "Do you have anything a little unusual?" He asked, seeing the sales assistant had a nametag, using her name. "My wife and I are used to the unusual, Emily, we're archaeologist."

Emily blushed at the handsome stranger and became envious of his wife. "I think I have something, sir." She put the other rings away and took a small box from the display, taking it over to them; she opened the ring box, displaying a beautiful wedding and engagement set. "This set was ordered, but was cancelled two days after it was complete."

Cali was stunned; both the wedding ring and engagement ring were decorated by hieroglyphs, a single diamond was set between two turquoise stones on the engagement ring. "Daniel, they're amazing."

He carefully lifted both from the box and slipped them onto the correct finger, they fit perfectly. "They certainly are."

"They could have been made for you," Emily stated. "They look so beautiful."

"I'll take them." Daniel said without hesitation.

Cali's eyes widened. "Daniel?"

"No," he kissed her forehead. "I want you to have them."

"But I, I don't have a ring for you." She pointed out.

"There is a matching ring for your husband." Emily pointed out.

"There is?"

"Yes Ma'am," she hurried to get the matching ring, returning with it. She opened the box, showing them. The gold band was decorated with near identical hieroglyphs.

Cali lifted it carefully from the box and slipped it onto Daniel's finger. "It's perfect."

"It certainly is," Emily agreed.

"I'll take it." Cali told her and saw her life partner, her husband going to protest. "I want to do this."

"All right."

They each paid for their purchases; the rings however didn't leave their fingers. Emily put the ring boxes into a bag for them along with their credit card slips. Giving Daniel a big smile. "I hope you and your wife have nice afternoon, Dr. Jackson."

"Thank you Emily," he took the bag and they left the jewelry store walking hand in hand.

"Thank you, Daniel." Cali said when they returned to their hotel room.

"Thank you," he told her, leaving the jewelry bag on the side table, he drew her into his arms. "I'm tired of hiding it, Cali, I want to shout it to the whole world." He cupped her face in his hands. "I love you and I don't care who knows, I want everyone to know."

"I love you, Daniel."

He lent down and his lips brushed gently against hers, then again, with a little more force, parting her lips. She responded eagerly and willingly. Gathering her in his arms, he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom where they made love, as life partners, as man and wife.

The funeral was in progress when Daniel and Cali arrived, his hesitation having been addressed the night gone in bed, deciding arriving a little late was a way of going unnoticed or that had been the plan.

Steven Rayner stood near the casket, having been given the task of giving the eulogy to the small group of family and friends present. "Dr. David Jordan was a teacher, a celebrated author and a much revered expert in the field of Archaeology. And yet to the end, he remained first and foremost a student, guided by the simple desire to discover and understand." He paused. "It's fitting then, that a man, who dedicated his life…" his thoughts broken by the arrival of someone he hadn't expected to see again – Daniel Jackson. He regained his composure. "Who dedicated his life to reviving the wonders and majesty of long dead civilizations, should himself gain a measure of immortality through that very accomplishment." He paused again, wanting his words to hurt only one person. "I worked with Dr. Jordan for close to 15 years, he was like a father to me, through his man success and," he glanced over to Daniel, feeling he knew the young woman at his side, "some of his bitter disappointments. I'll remember him always as a dedicated archaeologist, a kind and generous man and a true friend."

Cali saw the hurt in Daniel's eyes as the funeral went on, she'd met Steven Rayner in Egypt and hadn't liked him then, her respect for the man had just flown out the window with his words. She felt Daniel squeeze her hand and she gave him an understanding smile.

They remained in the background throughout the funeral, waiting until people were moving away to approach the casket, bowing their heads in a moment's silence.

Silence that was broken for them by a sarcastic, unwarranted comment, that wasn't appropriate, especially due to where they were. "The prodigal son returns!"

Gripping Cali's hand, Daniel looked, seeing Steven coming towards them with Sarah, both had been Dr. Jordan's assistances and at one time his friends. "Steven," he greeted. "Sarah."

"Daniel," Sarah Gardner smiled warmly and gave have a quick hug. "It's good to see you."

"Yeah. Despite the circumstances," he agreed and gave his life partners hand a squeeze. "Sarah, this is my wife, Cali."

Neither missed the surprise that crossed the red head's face. "Wife, Daniel?" She managed a teasing smile. "You've been keeping secrets."

"Um not exactly."

Sarah shook Cali's free hand, quizzing her. "Have we met before?"

"Yes, in Egypt, a little over four years ago, I worked with you, Dr. Rayner and Dr. Jordan." Cali revealed.

It was then the tall red head placed her. "Of course, your father was the retired Air Force Colonel, you came along with a young man."

"Sergeant Michael Anderson."

"That's right, you wanted to be an Archaeologist."

Daniel knew she was patronizing his wife. "Cali is a doctor of archaeology, Sarah."

"Yes of course."

They started away from the casket. "So, what exactly happened?" Daniel asked them, he kept a firm grip on Cali's hand. "I mean… uh… the paper we read attributed his death to the curse of Osiris."

"According to the police," Steven began, he paused and sighed, "there was a slow gas leak in the lab and something must have caused a spark. The whole place went up, he was killed instantly."

"We would have called you, but nobody knew where to find you," Sarah announced, ignoring Cali.

"That's… that's okay," he said, seeing what she was doing. "Cali and I have been busy."

"Well I'm glad you're here," Sarah said with a bright smile. "So, how long has it been? Four years?"

"Five," he corrected.

"What have you been up to?" Steven asked, the question more to Cali, then Daniel.

"We've been busy, as Daniel said," she answered him.

"Really? I've looked for signs of Daniel out on the fringes," Sarah stated. "There's been no papers, no research projects. It's like you fell off the face of the earth."

"Yeah, it is a little like that isn't it?" He said posing the question to his wife and life partner.

"A little," she agreed with a loving smile.

"As I recall, the last time I saw you, Daniel, you were giving a lecture to an empty room." Steven snarled almost, dragging up the past in front of them, being vindictive.

"Well, it was full when I started." Daniel said calmly.

"Well, maybe the world wasn't ready to hear that the pyramids were built by aliens," he said sarcastically as they stopped, facing them. "Or was it men from Atlantis?"

"Steven please!" Sarah chastised him.

"Yes Steven. Please." Daniel agreed.

"Why did you come?" Steven asked him. "You managed to stay away all this time. If you're looking for closure Daniel, I'd say you're a little late." He stormed off.

"Always a pleasure, Steven!" He remarked, his voice heavy with sarcasm. Making Cali laugh a little.

"He's as charming as ever," she noted.

"I'm sorry," Sarah apologized, more to Daniel then her. "He's not usually like this, the last couple of days have been hard on him."

"No, he's right," Daniel, stated, releasing Cali's hand long enough to remove his suite jacket, before taking it again. "I should have come back sooner, I guess I was afraid I wouldn't be welcome."

"Are you joking? Even after everything that happened, Dr. Jordan never though any less of you, you were his best student," Sarah contradicted. "Your wife should be able to agree with that, Dr. Jordan bent her ear with stories about you in Egypt after she mentioned knowing you."

"Yes, I'm sure he relished in the realization I'd become the laughing stock of the archeological community."

"Daniel," Cali chastised him. "He never thought that of you."

"Cali is right, Daniel," Sarah agreed. "He kept hoping that you'd find proof. Something to shut everyone up."

Oh he'd found proof, but Daniel couldn't tell her that. "No, he thought I was nuts."

"That's not true. Look, why do you think it's so hard for Steven to see you here?" The red head asked him. "He's always been in your shadow. Even after you left."

"We heard his book is on the bestseller's list," Cali noted, changing the subject.

Sarah nodded. "He's… getting a Porsche."

"Ouch!" Daniel smirked.

The three of them sat together on a bench. Here Sarah became quiet frank. "Look, Daniel, I can see you didn't come back because of me."

"No. No, I didn't," he agreed, he'd told Cali all about his and Sarah's relationship.

"We could have ended it better then we did," she continued bluntly.

"Maybe," he smiled, knowing if things had been different he wouldn't be sitting with his life partner, his wife at his side. "The truth is, we, Cali and I, we got caught up in something… incredible."

She knew that look. "You found something, didn't you?" She questioned him. "Something that supports your theory? Tell me. Come on Daniel."

He shook his head. "I can't, we can't."

"Daniel!"

Cali chuckled at the enthusiasm. "We really can't."

"Let's just say," Daniel revealed, "that what the world knows about ancient Egypt, barely scratches the surface. The truth is more incredible then any of us every imagined."

Sarah smiled. "Now, that's the Daniel I remember," she mused. "I'm glad to see married life hasn't taken away your sense of adventure."

"Oh it didn't, in fact it was my sense of adventure that lead me to Cali."

"Really, I'd love to hear how you two meet."

"You could say we meet by accident and Daniel's curiosity." Cali mused.

"We did," he said grinning and lent closer, kissing her nose. "If it wasn't for that damn… 'Camel'…"

She giggled at that. "I did thank him."

Sarah was a little surprised. "A camel got the two of you together?"

"A camel." Daniel smirked. "It's a very long story."

"Well I'd like to hear it sometime," she insisted.

"But not today," Cali guessed.

"No," she stood. "Come on, I want to show you both something I think will interest you."

Curious they stood, wondering what it was, following Sarah, a little behind her. "Camel?" Cali whispered to her life partner, her husband.

"Well it was easier then telling her the truth," Daniel whispered back.

She giggled. "You don't think the world is ready to know your wife is an alien?"

"Not at all," he mused. "And you're only half alien."

"So I am, Dr. Jackson." She smirked and they both laughed.

Back at the SGC, Teal'c was seated at the briefing room table with Jack and Sam, half listening to their conversation.

"Sir, I definitely think something has changed," the Major was saying.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Carter, we're fine."

"No sir, we're not," she contradicted. "Something has changed within the team."

"I agree." Teal'c added his view.

Jack frowned at him. "We're a team, we've always been a team. Nothings changed."

"Sir, when was the last time you had Daniel over to watch a game?" Sam asked him.

He shrugged. "A while ago I suppose, we've been busy and it's not the same now Cali is living with him."

"You are saying Cali O'Neill is the problem?" Teal'c inquired.

"No," he snapped frustrated. "I'm just saying it's different now they're together."

"I do not believe so," the Jaffa contradicted. "Though even I am forced to admit my contact with Daniel Jackson and Cali O'Neill has been limited."

"When did it start, Teal'c?" Sam asked him.

"I believe when Thor transported O'Neill to his ship and we joined him, leaving them behind."

Jack winced. Daniel had been in the infirmary after having his appendix out. Cali had been worried about him and stuck by his side. She'd wanted to transport up with the rest of them though, but he'd yelled at her. She'd left from the briefing room upset and when they'd retuned she'd given him the cold shoulder for days. "We're taking this way to seriously," he dismissed. "SG-1 is fine, we're a strong team. We've always been a strong team."

It was forgotten when Hammond entered the room, they stood and were gestured to sit down again. "As you were," the General ordered.

"So General. Who's getting assigned to SG-1 while our resident geeks are away?" Jack asked.

"No one," Hammond answered frowning a little at the comment. "I've decided to reschedule your next mission until Dr. Jackson and Dr. O'Neill return. You're all long over due for some personal leave."

"Yes Sir," Jack agreed to the leave bit. "But the leaving part has been the problem."

The General smiled at that. "Oh, I think you'll make it to the front door before we realize we can't do without you. Dismissed."

"Thank you sir," Jack bided before the General left.

They all stood, Sam was hurrying around the table, ready to escape to her lab.

"Carter! You finally ready to take me up on that fishing trip?"

"Err…actually sir, I have a few projects on the go?"

"Oh come on," he protested, "are you really trying to tell me you'd rather work in a dark, dank, dismissal underground then sit on a deck with your feet up, sipping a cold one and casting for the ever elusive…. crabby?"

"Strange as it may sound, sir, yes," she informed. "Have a good time," she bided and walked out quickly.

"To each his own! Her!" He corrected himself. "I meant her… I think." He turned to his Jaffa friend. "So Teal'c. This'll be great," he said excitedly. "Just you and me. What do you say? The loons! Don't for get the loons!" He walked out grinning.

Teal'c counted to ten in Goa'uld under his breath before leaving, wondering what he'd let himself in for.

At the museum in Chicago, Sarah guided Daniel and Cali into Dr. Jordan's office; the large desk was covered with tagged artifacts. "I though you both might like to see what we were working on before the accident," she was saying.

Both hurried over to the table of artifacts, looking over them with interest, it had been so long since they could just look at an artifact with nothing but the search of knowledge in mind.

Daniel was eager. "Wow, this stuff is incredible!"

"It's amazing," Cali agreed.

"I only wish we had more time with them," Sarah announced as she removed her jacket, leaving it over the chair. "The Egyptian government's has made a formal request for there return. We've been desperately trying to learn as much as we can before the deadline."

Daniel picked up a piece of paper with a translation on it. "Woe to all who disturb this, my final resting place."

"Careful now," she teased. "All these artifacts are cursed. Well that's what they say."

"Yeah…" He glanced at Cali, recalling how they'd found out about it all. "I read something like that."

"Well every member of the original expedition in 1931 died within a year of the dig," Sarah continued, ignoring the look the two were giving each other. "Then the ship transporting these artifacts to America sank off the coast of New Jersey six months later."

Cali recalled information she'd read. "The Steward Expedition."

"Yes," Sarah said, a little surprised by the guess.

"Those deaths were attributed to mold spores that were released from unsealing the chamber." Daniel stated.

She moved around the table. "Mold spores aren't exactly front page material."

"No, I guess not."

Cali noticed the red head was looking for something. "If these things went down with the ship in 1931, how did they wind up here?"

"They found the wreck a couple of months ago," Sarah explained, she frowned. "All these artifacts were still in their packing crates, they brought them up and shipped them to the museum. We just got them last week."

"Well, we can stay a few days if you need help cataloging these," Daniel offered, seeing her search had become for frantic. "What's wrong?"

"Something is missing," she revealed worriedly.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," she kept looking. " A gold amulet. Daniel, I've got to find it."

"We'll help," Cali told her without hesitation.

"Umm thank you," she accepted.

"What about the museum's curator, could she still have it?" Daniel inquired, posing the obvious.

"I don't know," Sarah, said frustrated.

"I'll check."

"All right, it's listed as item 14C," she gave him a piece of paper that had a photocopy of what the amulet looked like, along with written details. "Thank you Daniel."

"No problem," he said with a gentle smile. "I'll be back in a moment." He walked over to his life partner. "I won't be long," he whispered.

"I'll be fine," she assured and kissed his cheek. "Don't get lost down there."

He chuckled and tilted her chain a little. "You've never going to let me live that down are you?" He asked, referring to when he'd gotten them lost within a museum on one of their off world missions.

"No," she smirked.

Daniel kissed her quickly. "Tease," he jeered and left to her chuckling.

Sarah smiled at the younger woman. "Daniel loves you a great deal," she admitted, hugging herself.

Cali was sympathetic; it couldn't be easy seeing someone you'd once at a relationship, flaunting a new wife in your face. "We've been through a lot together and our love for each other has helped us survive it all."

"Now that's cryptic."

In the basement, Daniel walked with the curator in and around the shelves full of labeled artifacts.

"Excuse the state of things, budget cuts," she apologized. "I'm straightening the mess out, but these things take time."

"Oh I understand," he said giving her a sympathetic smile, his office looked worse at times.

"So what am I looking for?"

"An artifact that went missing from the Steward Expedition."

"The Isis jar."

"Err… No. Actually, I'm…um… referring to a… gold amulet with a little ebony," he said distracted by the mention of the jar, looking at the paper in his hand. "It's listed as item 14C."

"That was sent up to Dr. Jordan along with the rest of the artifacts," the curator recalled as they stopped.

"Are you sure?"

"I sent it myself, I can show you the paperwork."

"No, um," curiosity was getting the better of him. "What's this…um… Isis jar you were talking about?"

"I'll show you," she declared and led the way. "The damn crate was mislabeled when it came in. I only found it a couple of days ago." She reached for a high shelf but even on tiptoes couldn't reach.

"Um… this one?" Daniel asked reaching for it easily, taking it off the shelf.

"Oh yeah. Yeah. Never seen those symbols before. Have you?"

"Um, yes. I'm going to need to do a translation." He said a little distracted.

"Well, if you need me, I'll be in the back cataloging the Polynesian death masks," she remarked unenthusiastically, wandering off.

Daniel didn't seem to notice, he concentrated on the jar. Grabbing his cell phone, he speed dialed his life partner's number. "Cal, it's me, you'd better come down here." He told her, then hung up after her reply, putting the phone away

A few minutes later Cali wandered into the basement and after a brief search, found Daniel. "What did you find?"

He showed her. "Well not the amulet, but this. It's the Isis jar."

She looked. "The symbols are definitely Goa'uld – Hako kra terak shree," she read. "Banished to oblivion, I'd like to ring Teal'c just to make sure."

"Okay," he took his cell phone and dialed Sam's work number. "Sam will know where he is," he decided and the phone was answered.

"Carter."

"Sam, it's me."

"Hang on a sec," he heard her say, then. "Thanks for your help, Sergeant." He could hear Sergeant Siler say something to her and obviously leave. "Where are you?"

"We're in Chicago," Daniel revealed. "In a basement looking at what appears to be an Egyptian burial jar…"

"Okay?"

"Which may not be out of the ordinary in a museum, granted, but there's something else beside the usual hieroglyphs," he handed the phone to Cali on her insistence.

"Sam, there's a second set of markings. They're Goa'uld symbols. I've translated it, but I want a second opinion, is Teal'c around?"

"He's with your dad at the cabin."

"Really?"

"Yes," Sam chuckled and gave her the number. "Let me know how things go."

"I will, by Sam," she hung up and dialed the number given to her.

Daniel gently lifted the phone from her hand. "My turn… Besides I don't think you'll want to take flake from your dad."

"I can handle my dad."

"I know," he said with a reassuring smile and heard a typical Jack bark of 'What!' over the phone. "Hi Jack is Teal'c there?"

"Yes, Daniel. He's right here! Please hold," came the sarcastic reply and then a few seconds later Teal'c baritone voice came over the phone. "Daniel Jackson."

"Hi Teal'c have you caught anything?"

"We have caught nothing. We are finishing."

Daniel chuckled softly. "Right, um listen, Cali has done a translation for me, she wants a second opinion," he explained, seeing her roll her eyes at him. "The line reads Harko kra terak shree."

"Banished to oblivion."

"Right, that's what she got too, thanks Teal'c."

"If you require assistance, I would be more then happen to return to the SGC."

"No, thanks, I think we can take it from here."

"Are you certain?" There was a touch of eagerness in his voice that wasn't missed. Then if was obvious Jack grabbed the phone off the Jaffa; because his voice was the next hear. "Goodbye, Daniel!"

"No, wait, wai…" Daniel groaned and ended the call. "Jack hung up on me."

"But I was right?"

"You were right," he agreed. "We've got to get this to the SGC."

"What will we tell, Sarah?" Cali asked him as they left.

"Um, that I'm not sure, did you happen to have a look at the records of the expedition?"

She nodded. "There was no sarcophagus found, if that's what you're asking."

"I am, so…"

"So that means…" Her voice faded, knowing what it could mean.

"Yeah," he agreed, so did he.

With a little fast-talking, they managed to get the museum to let them take the Isis jar, Daniel told Sarah they'd try and get back. Getting what they needed from the hotel, they flew back to Colorado Springs, studying the jar as best they could on the way. At the SGC, they revealed their findings to General Hammond and Major Carter, the Isis Jar sitting on the desk in Daniel's office.

"During the ritual of mummification, the ancient Egyptians would remove the vital organs of the deceased and place them in jar," Daniel explained.

Cali continued without breaking the sentence. "Which, then would be buried with the sarcophagus so that they could be accessed in the after life."

Hammond smiled at the closeness the two had developed; it was so strong they could finish each other sentences without trying at times. "Is that what we're looking at here?" He asked gesturing to the jar.

"That's what I thought at first, but according to the record of the original expedition, no sarcophagus was found."

"The hieroglyphs identify the jar as belonging to Isis," Daniel finished off his life partner's sentence. "Who was the Egyptian Mother Goddess."

"A Goa'uld?" Sam guessed.

"That's possible," he agreed. "See, Isis was a consort of Osiris, supposedly the first Pharaoh of Egypt."

"According to legend," Cali continued. "He was placed in a magic box and dumped into the Nile by his brother Seth."

"Now that's a name I recognize." Hammond stated, with a distasteful taste in his mouth.

"The Goa'uld symbols indicate that Isis and Osiris suffered some sort of punishment, or… banishment." Daniel concluded.

"Where to?"

"I have no idea."

Hammond had heard enough. "Major, I want the contents analyzed."

"Yes sir."

"Uh, now I'd be careful if I were you," Daniel advised. "For all we know, it could be some sort of Goa'uld booby-trap left behind by Osiris as a means of revenge," he paused, hesitating on the last bit as Sam picked the jar up "Also, it's, well it's cursed. So…"

"Thanks for the warning," she said dryly and left the office.

"General, there's something else," Cali added. "The inventory of the Steward Expedition lists two jars."

"Can the other one be found?"

"Well, we can try, we were going to head back to Chicago tonight." Daniel revealed.

"Very well," the General nodded.

"General, we…" Cali hesitated. "We need to talk to you about something personnel."

Hammond had been waiting for this ever since he'd found out they were a couple, even though they kept their relationship away from the job as much as possible. "You'd like to get married?"

She blushed and Daniel smiled, taking her hand. "Actually, sir," he stated. "By Abydonian law, we're already married. That's what we wanted to tell you, we don't want to hide it any longer. We also realize it's not legal here on Earth, but that's doesn't bother us."

"I see," he wasn't expecting that, but quickly came to a conclusion. "And since you're marriage isn't legal here on Earth, I can't stop the two of you from being on the same team."

Daniel hadn't thought about that, but he nodded anyway. "Yes sir."

The General smiled and shook his hand. "Congratulations, Daniel, Cali."

"Thank you sir," both said happily.

He nodded and walked out. Never boring, he thought. Life was never boring at the SGC

Returning to Chicago, Daniel left Cali at the hotel and returned to the museum, heading down to the basement to the curator's room, finding it in darkness. He walked in. "Hello?" He looked around in the darkness. "Hello?" He tried the light switch but nothing happen, finding a flashlight; he turned it on and moved further into the room. Hearing someone moving around he turned the flashlight towards the sound and it hit on Steven.

"Do you mind?" He asked shading his eyes.

Daniel lowered it a little. "What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" Steven counter asked.

"I asked first," he answered matter of fact.

"I work here, Daniel, remember," the other man snapped. "I'm looking for the breaker box, where ever the damn thing is!"

"Uh right. Um, I have a few questions for the curator," Daniel informed as they looked together, using the light from the flashlight.

"I don't think she's here," Steven announced. "The lights were out when I came in. What did you wan to ask her about?"

"I needed some information about items from the Steward Expedition. There's something missing."

"There's nothing missing."

"Err, a canopic jar with some hieroglyphs and some unusual markings." Daniel said.

"The Osiris jar."

"Yes."

"Destroyed in the explosion." Steven informed bluntly.

"You're sure about that?"

"Yes positive."

"Okay, well, what about this gold amulet?"

"Daniel," Steven stopped and faced him. "Look I don't care that you came back for Dr. Jordan's funeral with you lovely little bride, I couldn't care less, but I do have a problem with you coming here and involving yourself in my work!"

"Don't you mean Dr. Jordan's work?" He corrected him.

"No!" Steven snapped. "My work. Sarah and I were Dr. Jordan's assistants. You haven't been involved since you walked out on him."

"I didn't walk out on him," Daniel defended himself. "I was… trying to protect him."

"You mean you distanced yourself in order to spare him the embarrassment of being associated with you. Daniel, you really should not have come back."

Daniel found the breaker and switched on the lights, blinking at the sudden brightness as he turned off the flashlight. "Look, I don't want to get into this with you right now, but you need my help."

"Why?" Steven asked him. "Do you think there might be aliens involved?"
The sound of the elevator moving, cut Daniel off from replying, he turned and they both saw the curator inside the elevator. Dead!

"Oh God!" Steven exclaimed.

"Ring 911." Daniel ordered, seeing his friend didn't move. "Now Steven!"

Coming out of his daze, Steven went to do so. The police's arrival made it a late night, both Daniel and Steven were taken down to the Police station, but thanks to a phone call to Hammond, explaining what happened, he was free to leave. Returning to the hotel and the room he'd booked into with his life partner.

Cali was on the phone when he walked in. "He's here now, sir…" she paused listening to the General. "Yes sir. Thank you." She hung up and went over to her life partner and husband. "Are you all right?"

"Oh yeah, that was fun," he remarked sarcastically. "Right now I want a long shower and some sleep."

"Go have one, then I'll let you know what Sam found."

"Okay," he agreed and headed for the bedroom and adjoining bathroom.

Cali locked the door and turned out the lights, going into the bedroom, sitting on the turned down bed, a bed light lit the room. Daniel came out dressed for bed and they snuggled together under the sheets, the light turn off.

"So, what is the news from Sam?" He asked her.

"She did a computer enhanced MRI and there's a Goa'uld symbiote inside."

"Alive?"

"They don't know yet, they're going to open it in the morning." Cali revealed. "If it's alive and there is another Jar, then…"

"Then we could have a Goa'uld running around." Daniel finished off her sentence.

"Yes."

He sighed and held her close. "Why can't we go somewhere and do normal things like normal people?"

"Because we're not normal, Daniel," Cali reminded, she sat up and straddled his hips. "And normal can be so boring," she mused and lent over, brushing her lips against his. "You've never been boring, Dr. Jackson."

"Is that so?" He ran his hands up her thighs and gathered the silky nightgown she was wearing, pulling it up over her head as he sat up with her on his lap, throwing it on the bed he gathered her in his arms. "I may not be boring, but I've put a few people to sleep."

She groaned as he nuzzled her neck. "You're not putting me to sleep."

"I can see that," he laid back with her in his arms, rolling them over so she was beneath him. "I love you, Cali."

"I love you Daniel," she told him.

He bent his head and kissed her and all talk was forgotten as they made love, falling asleep in each other's arms in the aftermath.

The next morning they were back at the museum, being a little late getting away from the hotel after breakfast. When they did arrive, Sarah wanted to know what had happened.

"The police said the museum curator suffered a fatal blunt trauma to the skull," Daniel revealed as he and Cali helped her go through some files.

"They don't think that you had anyth…?"

Daniel cut her off. "No they don't think that, but, of course Steven didn't do anything to dissuade them from suspecting me, but fortunately I know a few," he hesitated for a brief moment, "people. Anyway, they found some bricks at the bottom of the freight elevator shaft and they think they came from the wall above. A freak accident."

"You know the papers are saying the Curse of the Mummy strikes again." Sarah smirked.

"We saw that over breakfast," Cali stated.

"Do you have any pictures of the Osiris jar?" Daniel asked interrupting. "The one that was destroyed in the explosion?"

"Yeah, here," Sarah held them out to him.

Putting down the folders he was holding, Daniel took them, standing next to Cali, they both looked. "I can't make out the inscription around the collar," he said disappointed.

"We were unable to identify the symbols, but Dr. Jordan copied them in his notebook," Sarah handed it to him at the right page. "Those markings are unlike anything we're ever seen before. They're not Egyptian."

Daniel and Cali knew what they ere. "No, they're not Egyptian," she agreed.

"So what are they?" Sarah asked, rhetorically.

"What are they?" Daniel repeated, hesitating.

"You know," she accused. "You both know! How?"

"Let's just say we can't really go into it right now, but this is really important," Daniel told her. "Did Dr. Jordan do any kind of preliminary tests on the jar?"

"Not that I know of, but he kept all his lab results on the computer," she turned to it and started typing on the keyboard as Daniel and Cali moved closer, the photo's and note book put down. "Something's wrong?"

"What?" Cali asked her.

"Dr. Jordan's files are gone. Everything's been wiped clean," she revealed, checking one more thing. "Even his e-mail account."

"Do you keep backups?" Daniel inquired.

"Yeah," She checked though the box of disk. "They're not here." She turned back to the computer and tried something else.

"What are you doing?" He queried.

"The system marks file space being deleted as Tombstone," Sarah explained. "At regular intervals it scouts the database looking for tombstone values and marks them as being ready to be overridden. There's usually a window of about 30 days before that happens, so I might be able to retrieve the files before the tombstone values replicate through the network," she paused, and then smiled. "Got something! The Professor received one message on the night he died. Well, I'm guessing he never got around to reading it." She brought it up.

"That's the results of carbon dating analysis done on the ebony portion of item 14C," Cali recognized.

"The missing gold amulet," Sarah agreed and read the results. "Oh my God, Daniel, it's over 10,000 years old," she looked back at both of them, but mainly Daniel. "This means you were right all along."

"Yeah I know," he straightened, not too excited by it. Seeing the look that Cali was giving him as she straightened up too.

"The Egyptian civilization must be thousands of years older then we've ever assumed!" Sarah continued, a little confused by their lack of excitement.

"Sarah, you can't tell anyone about this," Daniel told her.

"What are you talking about?" She demanded. "This is exactly the evidence you've been looking for. This completely validates your theories!"

"All we have are the results of one carbon dating on a missing artifact," Cali pointed out.

Sarah frowned. "So, we contact the technician who preformed the analysis," she turned back to the computer to find the name and her face dropped a little with what she read.

"What?" Daniel asked.

"Dr. Jordan wasn't the only one to get these results," she revealed disheartened. "Steven."

Cali's cell phone starting ringing, startling Sarah, taking it off the belt of her jeans, she moved away from them, answering it. "O'Neill."

"Cali, it's Sam, we've opened the Isis jar."

"And?" She turned, gesturing Daniel over.

"And we found a Goa'uld, a dead one, you guys better rap things up. Janet and I are going to brief Hammond."

"Okay, thanks, Sam," she hung up, hooking the phone back to her belt as she turned to her life partner, switching languages. 'They found a dead, Goa'uld, in the jar, we need to get back to the SGC, as soon as possible,' she said in Abydonian.

Daniel sighed. 'All right, there's one more thing I want to check out before we go,' he told her using the language too.

Sarah cleared her throat, getting their attention, frowning at the use of the unusual language. "I've got a few things to do, will you two be all right until I get back?"

"We'll be fine," Daniel assured.

"All right," she got up and left.

"Lets head down to the curator's room and take another look around," Daniel told Cali and removed a little yellow device from his pocket. "With this."

She saw what it was, a scanner developed to pick up traces of naquada. "So you have one of those for me?"

He gave her the one he had and removed another from his pocket. "I always come prepared."

"Oh don't I know it," she smirked.

And hour and a half later they'd scanned just about every artifact in the basement, finding nothing.

"Daniel? Cali?" Sarah called out them as she walked in. Spotting Daniel on a ladder, Cali not far from him. "There you are! I've been looking all over for you!"

"We're just doing a little extra research," he informed pocketing the scanner quickly, coming down the ladder. Seeing Cali had done the same.

"I went by Steven's place and he's gone," Sarah revealed. "He's packed up everything and left.

Daniel sighed. He had a feeling that would happen. "I know."

"You think he stole the amulet, don't you," she accused him.

"Yes." He answered bluntly.

"To stop your theories from being proven correct?"

"It's possible," Daniel revealed. "Anyway, we have to find him."

"Well, I'll come with you."

"No," Cali told her sternly.

"Cali's right, Sarah, it's too dangerous." Daniel backed his life partner and wife up.

"We're talking about Steven here," she said confused at why they were acting like this.

"Sarah, there have been three deaths ready."

"Three?" She was totally confused.

"They found the body of the technician that did the carbon dating on the amulet," Cali stated, they'd only found that out themselves.

Sarah looked from her to the man she had considered more then a friend. "Daniel, I know Steven. He maybe capable of a lot of things, but he's no murderer."

"Well, you might not know him as well as you think you do," he declared, not wanting to give to much away, "at least not anymore."

"What's that suppose to mean?" She asked angrily, seeing he didn't argue with her, nor answer her. "Oh let me guess, you can't explain, right?"

"Sarah," he sighed. He couldn't explain.

"Well, what do you expect, Daniel?" She questioned hurt. "You show up after five years, but you can't say where you've been! You have a wife and suddenly you've got this mysterious ability to ready this ancient language nobody, except your wife has ever seen before, but you can't explain how! Then, when we finally find the evidence to vindicate you to the entire archeological community, you want to cover it up. What's going on?" She demanded. "This is me, Daniel."

If he could have told her would have, but he just couldn't and there was only one other person in the room that understood that. "I'm sorry."

She was shocked by his lack of emotion. "You're just going to disappear again, aren't you?" She asked him hurt. "You and your wife, here."

"Yes."

"I think Steven was right," she snarled. "You should never have come back."

Daniel nodded and took Cali's hand. "Lets go." She nodded and they left together.

Returning to the hotel, they checked out and left, flying back to Colorado Springs, stopping off at their apartment to shower and change before driving to the mountain, finding Sam and the General in one of the labs with Dr. Fraiser, giving them a full report on what they found out.

"So you believe this Steven Rayner has been taken over by a Goa'uld?" Hammond concluded.

"Well, it makes sense." Daniel declared.

"So how do we find him?" Sam asked.

"Right now, this is our only lead," he brought up a picture of the amulet on the computer. "It's the amulet that was stolen from Dr. Jordan's office. Now, by Earth standards, it's a priceless relic, but I'm assuming that a Goa'uld isn't interested in its monetary value, so."

"Then why take it?" She asked.

"That's a good question," he stated. "It's a pretty standard representation of Osiris. He's carrying a crook and flail, which are the scepters of kingship and in the center is an anunk, which represents immortality."

"Could it be some sort of Goa'uld device?" Hammond asked him.

"It's possible."

"That might explain why it was the only item taken." Sam offered.

Daniel considered that, seeing his wife studying the picture. "Well, we checked the other artifacts for any indications of naquada, which is usually a sure sign of Goa'uld technology, and we came up empty."

"It's a key," Cali suddenly spoke up.

"What?"

"It's a key," she put forth.

"Well that would explain why it was taken." Sam agreed.

"Assuming this Goa'uld is Osiris, what does he want?" Hammond asked them.

"He's been out of the loop a long time," Daniel answered. "He doesn't know what happened to Seth or Ra."

"He could be looking for the Isis jar." Cali noted.

"Or a way off the planet," Sam added.

"I've already put the base on alert," the General announced. "We need to find this Osiris, though."

Janet came over with a number of darts in a pouch. "I managed to synthesize the liquid from the jar, so on its own it should act as a powerful sedative," she explained. "One dart should be more then enough to knock out an adult Goa'uld.'

"Do we really want this thing alive?" Sam asked them, knowing that was what they were talking about.

"Well, even though it's been in stasis for the last several thousand years, it could still be a valuable source of information." Cali told her.

"I want you to hold that option in reserve, Dr. Jackson," Hammond told him. "Your first priority is to stop the Goa'uld with minimum risk to yourselves."

The phone rang and Janet answered it. "Fraiser…Yes, he's right here." She held out the phone to the General. "Sir."

He took it. "Hammond… Yes all right, thank you," he hung up the phone and turned to them. "We got a lead on Steven Rayner. He boarded a flight to Cairo four hours ago."

"He could be headed back to the temple in Egypt where the jars were first discovered," Daniel purposed. "If we move fast, we could head him off, sir."

"I can alert the Egyptian authorities," Hammond informed. "This needs to be a low profile operation. Dr. Fraiser will accompany you and Major Carter," He turned to Cali. "I'm sorry Dr. O'Neill, but you're to go off world with SG-3 at Colonel Reynolds request."

"I understand sir."

"Very well, I'll make the arrangement," he informed and walked out.

"We'd better go pack," Sam said. "We'll meet back here in an hour."

"Sounds good," Janet and Daniel agreed. She and Sam left the lab.

Daniel and Cali walked out too. "Are you going to be all right?" She asked him.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, what about you?"

She nodded and smiled. "Be careful."

"I will," he assured and when they stepped into the elevator, he pressed the level required and took her into his arms as the elevator moved. "Be careful yourself."

"I promise," she rose up on her toes and lightly brushed her lips across his. "I'm jealous," she purred. "Egypt is so much like Abydos."

"It won't be the same without you," he said and kissed her back, then again with a little more force, forgetting about the security cameras inside the elevator.

A Jeep came over the horizon, the driver use to driving under the condition, his passengers hanging on.

"I think I know why this place doesn't get any tourists." Janet Fraiser remarked, holding on tight, she sat in the passenger seat as Daniel drove.

"Well according to the GPS, we've got another ten miles," Sam told them from her seat behind Daniel. She looked around at their surroundings as they drove. "Cali must have loved it here."

"She did, you should get her to show you the photo's of the dig," he said a grin. "She has a great photo of her and Jack on a camel."

"The Colonel on a camel," Janet laughed. "Now that I've got to see."

"It's something," he chuckled.

"So where are she and SG-3 going?" Sam asked.

"M3C 431, a small moon," Daniel revealed. "They requested Cali join them, apparently the data sent back by the MALP showed ruins."

"Requested her help?"

"I think Colonel Reynolds likes having Cali around, she's like a good luck charm."

Sam and Janet laughed. "I bet the Colonel loves that," the later remarked.

"Oh yeah."

At the SGC, Colonel Reynolds turned as the young archaeologist walked into the gate room, the first time he'd seen her, he'd protested loudly about taking a child with him on a mission. The General had informed him, he had no chose in the matter, and walked out. He quickly found out Cali O'Neill wasn't your average geek, she could handle any weapon given to her, was as brave as they came and when she was right, she was, no question about it. She was a regular pain in the butt, but then again so was Jackson and every soldier who went through the Gate would put himself or herself on the line to protect the two of them.

"Ready to go, Dr. O'Neill?"

She gave him a warm smile as she pulled on her cap. "Yes sir."

General Hammond and Teal'c came in behind them, the Colonel saw him first, snapping to. "Sir."

Cali turned. "General," she nodded to him. Smiling at her Jaffa friend. "Teal'c I thought you were fishing?"

"There are not fish in O'Neill's lake," he said bluntly. "I asked to be recalled."

Hammond forced himself not to laugh. The Jaffa had practically begged. "Teal'c will be accompanying you."

Reynolds didn't mind. "Good to have you along, Teal'c."

Teal'c merely bowed his head in acknowledgement.

The General took Cali's hand and placed a set of 'dog tags' in it. "They just came through," he informed. "Colonel O'Neill purposed the use of id tags after your allergic reaction to the antibiotic's, if the same mistake had happened in the field the results could have been a lot different. The Pentagon approved the use of tags for all civilians who go through the Stargate."

She looked at the tags in her hand, they were smaller then the usual military ones her dad wore, but they had the necessary information, her name, blood type and medical information, of course each tag had silences on them so they didn't clink. "Thank you sir," she acknowledged and put them on, tucking them under her shirt.

He nodded and smiled lightly. "Good luck," he bided as the Gate opened with a whoosh. "Colonel," he addressed the man. "You have a good. We'll see you in three days."

"Yes sir." Reynolds acknowledged and turned. "All right ladies, lets go."

Chuckling his team walked up the ramp and through the Stargate, Reynolds right behind them. Teal'c and Cali followed and moments later the Gate closed down.

In the desert near Cairo, Daniel stopped the jeep near the partly buried tomb; a four-wheel drive was parked near the opening, which meant Steven had gotten there a head of them. Getting out they armed themselves, Sam and Janet both with 9 millimeters, Daniel took the rifle that would fire the darts, grabbing a flashlight as well, as did Sam, he loaded the rifle before they cautiously entered the tomb, slowly walking down the stone steps to the inside of the tomb. Sprawled on the ground was an unconscious body.

"It's Steven." Daniel revealed.

"I'm not sensing anything," Sam told them. "He's not a Goa'uld."

Both Daniel and Janet hurried over to him, the doctor checking him over. "He's alive," she revealed. "But barely."

"Steven?" Daniel tried to rouse him.

"He's bleeding internally," she concluded after her brief examination.

"Steven it's me," he tried again.

This time he could a weak response. "Daniel?"

"What happened?"

He struggled to stay conscious. "I took the amulet. It's over 10,000 years old," he said weakly. "Your theory was right all along. I'm sorry." He reacted to Janet's probing fingers. "Ahhh!"

"Just take it easy, okay," she advised when he tried to move. "I need you to hold still."

"It's okay," Daniel reassured him. "She's a friend. What about the jar?"

"Huh?"

"The Osiris Jar, did you open it?"

"No."

Well that was something, but one question remained. "Why did you come here?"

"I figured out the amulet was a key," Steven said quietly. "There's a hidden chamber. I wanted to make the discovery."

"Daniel we have to get him out of here." Janet urged.

He nodded, pushing an important question. "Steven, who did this to you?"

"I did," a female voice said, it's tones obviously Goa'uld.

The three reacted quickly, rising to their feet weapons drawn, finding Sarah Gardner standing there, looking fresh in the white flowing clothing. They hadn't heard her come in.

Daniel found his voice. "Sarah?"

She smiled and raised her hand, she was wearing a ribbon device and before they could react, she used it to throw Sam and Janet against the back wall, raising a personal shield as Daniel fired the rifle, the dart bounced off. He never got time to reload. Osiris moved quickly, grabbing him by the throat, bring him to his knees, the rifle falling to the ground. "Daniel Jackson. You seemed to know much of the Goa'uld, much more then any other human I have encountered since my awakening. Now tell me where is the Stargate?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he lied, struggling.

Frustrated, Osiris threw him to the floor. "Insolence," he snarled, looking around, remembering. "This temple was once filed with worshippers."

"Yeah? Well, times have changed." Daniel said coughing a little.

"So I have observed," he turned his attentions to his captive once more. "Where is my brother, Setesh?"

"Ah, you mean Seth. Uh, he's dead," Daniel managed to get to his knees. "Yeah we," he gestured to those with him. "We kill him."

"You lie!"

"No! No, we also killed Ra, and Hathor, and um, who else?" he rubbed his throat. "Ah, Sokar!"

Osiris smiled greedily. "Then you have done me a great favor. I will rule without opposition."

"No," Daniel contradicted him. "No you won't rule at all. You see we don't worship false gods anymore."

"You have come far, it is true, but you are still weak," he pressed his point. "Even you are torn between your desire to kill me and your concern for my host, she who freed me from my long sleep." He moved closer. "What do you know of my queen?"

"Um, she was trapped, like you. We have the jar."

"Where is it?" Osiris demanded, getting even closer.

"I'm not going to tell you," Daniel said defiantly.

"You are mistaken." He raised his hand and used the ribbon device on Daniel. Not taking any notice of what the human was doing. "Where is my queen? Tell me!"

Ignoring the burning pain, that felt like a hundred daggers were being wedged into his brain, Daniel managed to get the dart from the holder on his belt, forcing the cap off he thrust up and jabbed it into Osiris' leg.

Osiris stopped and moved back stumbling a little, as Daniel collapsed. "What is this? What have you done?" He pulled the dart from his host's leg; it's effects starting to take hold. "You will pay for this impudence!" Stumbling towards the stone alter, he used the amulet to open the control console, using the ribbon device to send singles and orders. The tomb rumbled and sand sprinkled through cracks. Stumbling even more, Osiris moved back into the open, turning. "Make no mistake, Osiris will return and the rivers of the earth will run red with blood." He activated the crystal on the top of the ribbon device that activated the ring transport.

Sam came round, seeing what was happening she grabbed her weapon and got to her feet, the rings came down around Osiris, the Major fired her weapon, but the bullets bounced off the rings, Osiris being transported away by them. Sam hurried over to Daniel, who was no on all fours, breathing hard. She knelt next to him. "You all right?"

He sat up. "Oh yeah! I think I'm," he waved his hand. "I'm getting used to that thing!"

Janet had come too and gotten over to them. "Where's Osiris?"

"Gone." Sam informed.

"Steven?" Daniel inquired, hoping the man was still alive.

"If we get him out of here right now, I think he'll make it." Janet told him.

"I guess we'd better make up a story to tell him," he remarked shaking off the after effects of the ribbon device.

Above them a pyramid shaped ship rose from the sand fully and took off, leaving Earth.

Twenty-four hours later, Daniel, Sam and Janet were back at the SGC, Steven was in a hospital in Chicago, recovering, luckily for them he had no memory of what happened and accepted the cover story of being attacked by grave robbers. They finished giving their report to General Hammond.

"Very well," he said pushing back his chair. "Major, doctor, I suggest you make the most of what leave you have left."

"Yes sir," they both agreed.

They stood as the alarms went off signaling the Gate was being activated. "Incoming wormhole," was announced over the PA. The four rushed down to the control room.

"It's SG-3's signal, sir," Sergeant Harriman announced. "Code red, sir. They're coming in hot."

"Open the iris," the General ordered, and then gave a command over the PA. "What for friendlies, safeties off."

The Gate room troops reacted quickly, cocking their weapons, leaving those in the control room to watch anxiously as the iris spun open. Two members of SG-3 came through under fire, one supporting the other. Next came Teal'c and Cali, the young woman had the injured Marine's HK, her left arm was hastily strapped up, she looked as grabby the rest of them caked in dried mud. Finally Colonel Reynolds came through with his 2IC, yelling for the iris to be shut. It spiraled shut and the Gate closed down.

Janet rushed out of the control room along with Sam, Daniel and the General as the call for a medical team was put over the PA. Arriving as SG-3, Teal'c and Cali came off the ramp. The doctor checking the Marine first, finding he wasn't that bad.

"What happened?" The General asked.

"We were ambushed sir," Reynolds answered, as their weapons and vests were taken from them. "The doc and Michael's were caught in the shock wave of a blast that sent them into the ditch."

Janet moved to the linguist as her team arrived, leaving the Marine to them, she took at look at the young woman. "We need to get you to the infirmary."

"Cali's O'Neill's shoulder was dislocated. Under her insistence I placed it back into the socket."

"Popped it back in," Cali corrected, wincing as Janet probed her tender arm. "It's a little sore, but other then that okay."

Daniel wasn't convinced. "We'll let Janet decide that," he said worriedly, helping the Jaffa to support her.

"Report to the infirmary, we'll debrief in two hours," the General ordered.

"Yes sir," Reynolds acknowledged and followed the order, he and his team leaving with the rest of them. Two hours later though, all of SG-3 sat at the briefing room table, Michaels cleared by Dr. Fraiser with only bruised ribs. All had taken much-needed showers. Cali arrived with Teal'c, having escaped Daniel to shower and attend the debriefing. Her left arm was in a sling; no injury had been done by Teal'c medical attention.

Reynolds and the other members of SG-3 stood as she walked in. He pulled out the chair next to his. "Ma'am."

She blushed, overwhelmed by their actions, sitting down. "Thank you Colonel."

Teal'c smiled to himself and sat in the chair next to hers as SG-3 sat down.

General Hammond had seen the whole thing from his office, he smiled and walked out, waving them to remain seated as he took his seat. "All right Colonel. What happened?"

"As I said in the Gate room, sir," Reynolds began. "We were ambushed. We arrived on M3C 431 and proceed to the ruins; setting up base nearby, the doctor and Teal'c then went to the ruins with Michaels and Anderson, while Jeffries and I patrolled the area. This morning, we all proceeded to the ruins, around 11 hundred I ordered the doc take a break, when we came out, we were ambushed. We took cover and returned fire, I ordered Michaels to remain with Dr. O'Neill."

"The blast came out of nowhere sir," Michaels reported. "One minute I'm taking out Jaffa and then I'm flying through the air, the doc with me, the next thing I know we're lying in the ditch."

"I ordered my men to take cover with them," the Colonel continued. "It was then Sergeant Jeffries informed me Michaels had bruised ribs and Dr. O'Neill's shoulder was dislocated."

"I told Teal'c to pop my shoulder back in," Cali informed, taking responsibility. "I'd dislocated my shoulder on the dig in Egypt, so I knew it was out."

"Sir," Sergeant Jeffries spoke up, he was a trained medic. "I've had men scream their heads off when shoulders have been popped back in, but Dr. O'Neill," he shook his head, pride in his voice. "She buried her head into Teal'c chest and barely made a noise when he popped her shoulder back in."

"There was Jaffa all around us, General," Major Anderson stated, seeing Cali blush and squirm in her seat, smiling a little. "Any noise would have brought them down on top of us."

"As soon as Jeffries had tented to both the Doc and Michaels, I gave the order to head for the Gate, using the ditch and the ruins for cover," Reynolds reported. "As soon as we got there, Anderson dialed out while we laid down cover fire, when the Gate opened, I ordered everyone through."

General Hammond smiled warmly, he was proud of his people. "Very well, write up your reports, SG-3, your own stand down for the next four days."

"Thank you sir," Reynolds acknowledged.

"I think you've deserved it Colonel. Dismissed."

All stood, the General left. Reynolds turned to Cali. "Doc, my team would like to invite you and Teal'c to dinner, Dr. Jackson too."

"Thank you, Colonel," she accepted.

"I would be honored, Colonel Reynolds." Teal'c said.

"Seven o'clock at O'Malley's then."

Cali winced at the name of the restaurant, a few months back, under the influence of alien arm bands, Daniel, Sam and her dad had been involved in a bar fight at O'Malley's.

"Is Daniel Jackson not banned from O'Malley's?" Teal'c asked her.

"Um not any more, but they still frown whenever they see him, dad or Sam," she admitted.

Reynolds chuckled at that. "We promise to keep a close eye on him, doc."

"Thank you, Colonel. We'll see you there at seven," she accepted and along with Teal'c left the room. Something through bothered Cali, she waited until they were on the elevator. "Teal'c, tell me something," she turned to face him, "and I want the truth?"

"Then I shell endeavor to do so."

"Do you find Daniel and I a liability to the team or any team we serve with?"

"I do not," he answered without hesitation.

"But we're not soldiers, not like you, Sam or dad."

"I believe you were among the Abydonians who helped defeat Ra and his Jaffa," Teal'c stated. "O'Neill takes pride in revealing in your zealous in battle."

"I was lucky Teal'c and lately I feel that is still the case," she admitted. The elevator stopped at level 18, they stepped out, walking down the hall. "I may be an O'Neill by blood, Teal'c, I may even have the blood of a great Jaffa Master running through my veins," she paused, hugging herself. "But I'm not a warrior, I'd rather talk my way out of a situation then shot my way out."

"Your ability to negotiate has aided us on missions greatly. You and Daniel Jackson step forward and put yourselves at risk to communicate our peaceful intentions," Teal'c told her truthful, stopping her, he faced her. "You may not see yourself as a warrior Cali O'Neill, nor does Daniel Jackson, but you have the hearts and souls of warriors and when the time comes, your are both capable of being warriors." He put a hand on her good shoulder. "And I am honored to have you both as my friends and a part of my family. I consider Daniel Jackson a brother, as I consider you a sister."

She smiled and put her hand over his. "Thank you, Teal'c."

He bowed his head and together they continued to Daniel's office.

He greeted them as they walked in. "How did the briefing go?"

"It went well Daniel Jackson." Teal'c answered. "Now that Cali O'Neill is with you, I will take my leave and see you both at seven."

"What's going on at seven?" Daniel asked him.

Cali answered through. "Colonel Reynolds and his team invited us to dinner at O'Malley's at seven."

"Okay," he said drawing out the word. "Do you want a ride, Teal'c?"

"I shell make my own way. Excuse me Daniel Jackson, Cali O'Neill," the Jaffa insisted.

"We'll see you tonight then."

Teal'c bowed his head and left.

Daniel drew Cali into his arms, being careful of her shoulder as he kissed the top of her head. "I'm glad you're all right, Cal."

She buried her head into his shoulder and gripped the back of his shirt. "I have you to come home to and your love."

"And I have you and your love," he said huskily.

Rising up on her toes, Cali braced herself against him. She brushed her lips attentively against his, then with a little more pressure, parting them to deepen the kiss, feeling his response, one hand at the back of her neck holding her to him. She moaned against his mouth and pulled back breathing deeply. "We have to stop."

"I know," he said his breathing a little rapid too. "Later."

"I promise."

At seven o'clock that evening, the two of them were walking into O'Malley's, having left the mountain with plenty of time to head home, shower and change. Teal'c was already there, seated with Colonel Reynolds and his men; a black bandanna was tied around the Jaffa's head, covering his baldness and his tattoo.

Shawn Anderson whistled his approval at the snug jeans Cali wore alone with the white t-shirt. "Dr. J, you'd better keep a good hold on the doc tonight, she looks very good."

Daniel smiled, seeing his life partner and wife blush. "I think she's safe, Major. No man in their right mind would come near her with four Marines and 'Murray' to get through."

"As long as you're watching her six, Dr. J."

"Always," he mused and she blushed harder, making, all except Teal'c laugh, the Jaffa just raised an eyebrow, silently amused.

After they were seated, a waitress took their orders, returning a few minutes later with their drinks.

"So Dr. J," Jeffries said as he swirled his beer around his glass, there had been a question he'd wanted to ask since the mission, "are congratulations in order?" He saw the queried looks both linguists gave him. "They're nice wedding bands you're both wearing."

"Does Colonel O'Neill know?" Reynolds asked, having also noticed the bands.

"No actually." Daniel admitted nervously. "It's complicated."

"How complicated?"

"It's not legal here." Cali informed, adding. "General Hammond knows though."

"As did I." Teal'c admitted and saw their surprised looks. "General Hammond informed me."

"Oh."

"I will not say anything."

"Thank you Teal'c."

Reynolds held up his beer in a toast. "To Daniel and Cali, may you have a long and happy marriage," he and his team and Teal'c drank the toast to the couple.

"Thank you," Daniel said, he felt Cali squeeze his hand and smiled lovingly at her.

Their meal's arrived and they chatted through dinner, after they were finished they played pool before Daniel dragged Cali onto the dance fall, having her in his arms during the slower songs. Teal'c had been asked to dance by a pretty young lady and had agreed, he was enjoying himself.

Colonel Reynolds and his 2IC stood near the pool table, Michaels and Jeffries were playing. Both men could see the two archaeologists on the dance floor.

"You know, sir," Anderson stated. "Colonel O'Neill doesn't deserve those two sometimes."

"I know, Major," he agreed softly. "One day he's going to realize just how bad he does need them."

"I hope so, sir."

"Yeah me too." Before he loses them both, the Colonel thought to himself.

On the dance floor, dancing to a slow song, his life partner/wife in his arms, Daniel was content. He nuzzled the top of her head and felt her sigh against him. She'd refused to wear the sling Janet had given her and she was as stubborn as her dad, especially when it came to taking medication. He'd made her take the painkillers before they'd left home, which was mainly the reason why her shoulder wasn't bothering her so much at that point. "We should tell Jack," he whispered.

"I know," she sighed again. "Other then SG-3, no one has even noticed the wedding bands."

He realized that. "I was playing with mine on the way to Cairo and neither Sam or Janet asked," he stroked her back, slowly tender strokes. "Sometimes I feel like I'm losing a part of myself, the part that was eager to find new civilizations and ancient ruins."

"Losing it and becoming more the soldier instead of the discoverer," she said quietly understanding what he was feeling.

"Yeah. I find myself walking with my hand on my gun, looking around for trouble, being ready to dive for cover and return fire," he kissed her forehead when she looked up. "I don't mind the PT or the weapons training, I know in our line of work they're a necessarily. But the dog tags, I know being able to give the right information is important, it's just they make me feel…"

"Just another part of the system," she finished his sentence.

"Yes."

She rested her head back against his shoulder. "We have each other, Daniel."

"Always sweetheart," he promised and quoted part of the Abydonian wedding ceremony. "Bond by our love and blessed by the God."

Cali smiled as the music stopped and so did they, looking up. "Lets go home, Dr. Jackson."

Smiling Daniel kissed her gently. "Sounds like a good idea Dr. O'Neill-Jackson." Taking her hand he led her off the dance floor.

Colonel Reynolds acknowledged them. "Calling it a night, Doctors."

"We are," Daniel said, he glanced back and saw Teal'c had been engaged by another young woman to dance. Looking back to the Colonel. "You'd better keep an eye on Romeo."

Reynolds chuckled. "Don't worry Dr. J, we'll make sure he gets home alone tonight," he said with a grin. "Go take your wife home."

He liked the sound of that. "Night."

Cali stepped forward, without letting go of her husband's hand and kissed the Colonel on the cheek. "Thank you for the invitation, Graham."

He looked a little uncomfortable. "You're welcome, doc."

She smiled, stepping back, giving the others a wave. "Night guys."

"Night docs," they jeered back.

Daniel chuckled and they left, waving to Teal'c as they went. They'd used to have this with SG-1, the fun team nights, and the camaraderie, somewhere along the way it had gotten lost.

A few months later:

General Hammond made his way to the control room; yesterday he had the unhappy task of writing a letter to Lt. Barber's family. It had taken him two hours, he couldn't tell them how he died or anything about what he did. It hadn't been easy. On top of it, he'd had a very disturbing conversation with Dr. Jackson. Daniel's word's had shocked not only him but also Cali and Jack, both who had been in the office as well.

Walking into the control room, Hammond saw the Colonel and Teal'c by the star map, Major Carter was on the phone; he'd expected them to be in the Gate room by now. "What's the delay?"

Sam hung up and turned, addressing him. "Daniel and Cali haven't reported in this morning, Sir."

Hammond was shocked. "What?"

"I called their apartment, Daniel picked up, I could hear Cali calling his name and then there was nothing. When I called back, I got the buy signal."

"Yesterday he was demanding to leave immediately, now he's late," the General turned to Jack. "Colonel I think it's time you had a talk to Dr. Jackson and find out what the hell is going on, with both of them. It's not like your daughter to be late."

"Yes sir." He agreed and left the control room. Returning to the locker room, he quickly changed into civvies and left the mountain, driving to the apartment where his daughter and her life partner lived. Taking the elevator to the top floor apartment, finding the door ajar when he got there. He pushed it open and walked in, shutting it. The phone was lying off the hook on the sideboard; he hung it up seeing Daniel's glasses were lying next to it. On the dinning room table was the remains of breakfast. The kettle was whistling on the stove, he walked into the kitchen and turned it off. "Cali?"

"Dad?"

He frowned, it sounded like she was in the bedroom. He went there, finding the door locked. "Cali?"

"Dad," she sounded frantic. "Daniel locked me in here, I don't know where he is."

"It's okay, sweetheart, stand back from the door," he told her and when he was sure she'd moved, he kicked the door open and went in.

Cali went into his arms, distressed. "He was acting weird, I don't know what's wrong," she sobbed.

Jack held her close. "Its okay sweetheart, come on," he took her out into the living room, which was when they saw the balcony door was open. Jack's heart skipped a beat and they hurried over to the balcony, Cali holding tight to his hand. He grabbed her, stopping her from rushing out, keeping her in the doorway with him. Daniel was standing on the ledge, over the rail, his back to them, holding on, leaning forward. It looked as if he was about to jump. "Daniel?" He called out to him, trying not to startle the younger man. "What are you doing out here?"

"None of it means anything," Daniel said vaguely opening his eyes.

"Um, Daniel, you're scaring Cali, why don't you come inside here?" He suggested.

Daniel didn't seem to have heard him. "I tried," he said solemnly. "It just goes away."

"Okay," Jack said confused. "Then we'll get it back."

"You can't get it back," he said, tears slid down his cheeks.

"Whatever's wrong, we'll… we'll fix it."

Daniel bowed his head, he felt like his whole world was falling apart and Jack wanted to fix it. "You don't even know what I'm talking about."

"No," the Colonel admitted. "No I don't. But come inside."

"Daniel, please come inside?" Cali asked him.

He lifted his head, looking around, a startled frighten look on his face. "Cali. Jack?"

Both of them rushed forward and grabbed him, holding him against the rail. "Yeah, we're here, Danny," Jack assured him. "Come on buddy, let's get you inside."

Daniel nodded confused and let them help him. "What am I doing out here?"

"I don't know, buddy? I though you could tell me." Jack said guided them both inside.

Cali sat with him on the sofa. "You locked me in the bedroom, the phone rang and I know you answered it…" Her voice broke as fresh tears streamed down her cheeks.

He drew her into his arms. "I'm sorry, Cal, I'm so sorry," he said distressed.

"It's okay," she whispered.

Jack could see his daughter was almost ready to fall apart too. "Come on you too, lets get you both to the base," he suggested. "I think Dr. Frasier should check the both of you out." He found shoes for both of them and jackets, for some reason both were really spacey. He got them ready and then found the keys to Daniel's SUV, since there was no way the three of them would be able to fit in his track. "Come on, kids." Dazed they followed; Jack locked the apartment door and guided the both of them towards the elevator, this was going to be fun. Somehow he managed to get them both into the SUV, driving quickly to the mountain. Stopping at the first checkpoint, showing his ID to the Sergeant on duty. "Ring the infirmary and have Dr. Fraiser send some help up, let them know neither Dr. Jackson or Dr. O'Neill are capable of walking."

"Yes sir." The Sergeant acknowledged, having noticed both barely conscious, waving him through.

By the time the medical team rushed into the infirmary with the two archaeologists, both were unconscious, Jack rushed in with them, staying out of the way as Janet yelled orders. She turned to him. "Sir, I think you'd better inform General Hammond, neither Dr. Jackson or Dr. O'Neill will be going anywhere."

Jack nodded and walked out, he knew Janet had just wanted him out of the way; he couldn't do anything for either Cali or Daniel, not at that point.

The General found him though, coming into the infirmary. "Colonel?"

"Dr. Fraiser is with them, sir," he revealed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't know what's going on sir. Daniel had locked Cali in the bedroom; he was out on the balcony ready to jump when we found him. He was talking like he was depressed and Cali," he shock his head. "Sir, I've seen Cali face down System Lords, hell she told General Bower off without even blinking. When I found her she was sobbing uncontrollably, that's not her."

Hammond knew that too. "Lets just see what Dr. Fraiser says, Colonel. They're has to be an explanation for all of this."

"I hope sir."

When the Doctor called them back in, she'd finished doing a PET scan on both Daniel and Cali, who were lying in beds side by side, hooked to a whole host of monitor wires that ran from under medical gowns, and from their foreheads, as well as a nasal cannula each that was supplying oxygen. Both were still unconscious.

Janet moved the monitor out of the way, going over to the Colonel and General. "Their PET scans reveals their neurological activity is slowing down, it's happening faster with Daniel then Cali."

"So?" Jack asked.

"Neurotransmitters relay messages within the body," she explained. "Too many or too few of these chemical transmissions can result in anxiety, depression, or a number of emotional or physical disorders."

"Does this have anything to do with Barber's thing?"

Janet nodded, revealing. "The remaining members of SG-5 are reporting almost identical symptoms, so yes it's almost certain. Now the only good news is that it doesn't seem to be the result of a contagion."

"Well, if it's not a disease, what?" Jack inquired before the General could.

"I don't know," she admitted. "Such a drastic shift in levels is general drug-induced, but all of their systems are void of any foreign substances. Not to mention that preliminary MALP reading of P4X 347 have ruled out all the usual suspects – air, radiation…"

"So if we retrace SG-5's tracks we may be able to come up with something?"

"I'm afraid Colonel, until we get a grasp on it…" the General began

"General," Jack interrupted. "We saw the shadow on the video. Now something or someone is affecting these guys."

"More then affecting them, Sir," Janet said bluntly. "If their brain function continues to fail, they could be facing a worst-case scenario."

He hadn't wanted to hear that. "So we go in MOP2 and bring back samples of the usual suspects," he put forth.

Hammond nodded. "You've made your case, Colonel. Watch your step."

"Thank you sir." He looked over at his daughter, then the doctor. "You said Cali's neurological activity isn't slowing down as fast as Daniel's, why?"

"I'm not sure, Colonel," she stated. "It could be because her brain chemistry is slightly different."

"Different how?" The General asked.

"Sir, Cali has a higher brain function then normal humans," Janet explained. "Her IQ is extremely high, she has a photographic memory. Even a normal PET scan for her isn't normal for anyone here on Earth. It doesn't even compare with one of Cassie's."

Seeing Jack was worried, the General patted him on the back. "Spend a moment with your daughter, Colonel. I'll brief Major Carter and Teal'c."

"Thank you sir."

He nodded and left.

Janet gave him a sympathetic smile before giving the Colonel a moment alone with her patients.

Jack went over to his daughter and preached on the bed, taking her hand, being careful not to knock off the oxygen monitor that was on her finger. He brushed the hair back from her face; she always looked so young asleep.

Her eyes blinked open under his touch. "Dad?" Her voice was raspy.

"Hey kiddo."

She looked up at him groggily. "Daniel?"

"He's unconscious, what ever this is, it's affecting him more then you."

"Don't let him die, daddy," she pleaded as her eyes closed again. "I can't lose my husband too."

His eyes widen. She'd called Daniel her husband. It was then he noticed the wedding band on her left hand. God, why hadn't he noticed it before? Looking over to Daniel, he saw an almost identical band on the finger of his left hand.

"They were going to tell you," Janet said, she stood behind him.

"When?" He asked hurt.

"When they thought you were ready to hear it," she said dryly, hugging the file to her chest. "Colonel, do you realize there are times when both Daniel and Cali have felt left out and a liability to the team?" She saw his shake his head. "They do, especially since Daniel's appendix bust."

"How long have they been married, Doc?" He asked her.

"Since Sha're died. According to Abydonian law, Cali automatically became Daniel's wife," she answered. "They told me about it when I asked about the rings. Kasuf performed the ceremony before they returned to Earth after Sha're's funeral. They've been debating on how to tell you ever since. The rings they bought in Chicago."

Jack scrubbed his hand over his face. "God, doc, I've made my best friend and my daughter afraid to talk to me."

She put her hand on his shoulder. "Hopeful sir, you'll have time to make it up to both of them."

He got to his feet. "I hope so, doc," he said and walked out.

Wearing environmental masks, the remaining members of SG-1 stepped through the Gate to the Goa'uld Palace.

Jack looked around. "Well, I can see why Daniel and Cali were so hot on this place."

"Indeed." Teal'c remarked.

Sam pulled out a scanning device, checking the immediate area. Jack glance over to see her doing it. "What'ch got?" He asked.

"The air's fine, just like the MALP indicated," she reported. "What ever affected, Daniel, Cali and SG-5, they didn't breath it in." She put the scanner away.

One by one they removed their masks. "Okay, watch your step," Jack ordered and they moved out, looking around. Seeing a shadow moving between the pillars, they approached cautiously, seeing the shadow is a boy.

"It's just a kid," Sam stated the evidence before them. "Obviously scared to death of us."

Jack almost rolled his eyes, but didn't, of course the kid was scared of them, here they were wandering around with P-90's and Teal'c with his staff weapon. Signaling them to move forward, they made their way into a room, in its center was a large pedestal. A blue/purple light was being protected from it's top, over the ceiling and down the walls, it literally looked like the light was following over the pedestal like water.

"I believe this is the room of light which Daniel Jackson and Cali O'Neill spoke off." Teal'c stated fascinated by it.

"Really?" Jack remarked sarcastically, glancing to Sam. "Carter, what are we looking at here?"

She seemed taken with the light. "Ahh, it doesn't seem to be giving off any detectable radiation, other than visible light," she reported after checking the readings. "I think it's just decorative."

"Safe?"

"It is most difficult to believe that something so beautiful could be dangerous, O'Neill," Teal'c stated.

"Yeah." Jack agreed, staring at the light. It was beautiful, very beautiful, hypnotizing almost and captivating, it was like a water fountain flowing with light instead of water. With some difficulty, Jack looked away. "Phew," he shook his head and cleared his throat. "We'll come back to it," he decided. "Let's go." He walked towards he exit on the other side, realizing they weren't following. "Hey, let's go!"

Sam came out of her daze. "Right, sorry sir," she apologized and followed.

Teal'c did also and they went up the stairs and out of the room, heading down a corridor.

"Sir, I'd like to perform a full spectrum analysis on that light." Sam stated.

"Later," Jack told her.

"I think there might be a relationship between the light and what's happening to Daniel and Cali."

That got his attention. "I thought you said it wasn't dangerous?"

"I'm sure it isn't sir, it's just…" She stopped talking as they approached a slightly open door, aiming the P-90; she peered inside.

Jack pushed the door open and slowly stepped into the room, Sam and Teal'c followed him in, heading to the left; the room was huge. Soon Jack found himself alone or so he though, the further he went the more evidence someone else was there. Finally he found a boy, hiding behind a huge decorated stone pillar.

"Hi," Jack greeted, standing still. "I'm Jack." He announced. "And you are?" When he didn't get an answer, he looked around. "Nice digs. Kind of reminds me of my first apartment." He gave him a smile. "How are the people upstairs?"

The boy came away from the pillar. "Loran."

"I'm sorry," Jack apologized. "I don't know what Loren means."

Tapping his chest the boy grinned. "It's me."

"Hi Loran."

"Jack?"

"Yeah," he paused, the kid had to been in his teens, fifteen at a guess. "Anyone else live here with you?"

"Mother and father," Loran answered him.

"Can you take me to them?" Jack asked him. "I'd like to talk to them."

"No," the teenager told him. "They're not here."

"Not in this place?" He saw Loran nod his head. "So you're all alone?"

"Yes."

"Well, Loran, some of my people came here a few days ago."

"I was hiding," Loren said proudly.

"Yeah, well you hide very well, because they didn't even know you were here," Jack praised. "The thing is, when they came home they all got very sick. We'd like to figure out why. Do you know?" Loren shook his head, making the Colonel sigh inward. "Okay, well, we're going to have to look around a little more," he informed. "Maybe you should come along?"

Sam's voice came over his radio, startling the teenager a little. "Colonel. General Hammond has activated the Gate and is on the radio."

"All right," he ordered her. "Go ahead, I'll be there." He gestured for Loran to follow. "Come on." He walked out and the teenager followed. "You know I have a daughter, Cali, she was among those who came here."

"She's sick?" Loran asked him.

"Yes, so is her husband, he was with her."

"I'm sorry, Jack."

Jack smiled worriedly and they continued on to the Palace Gate room, walking in behind Sam and Teal'c, seeing the MALP's camera following them. Jack went closer to the camera, Loran with him.

"This is Hammond. Come in Colonel."

Loran stopped sharply. "Where is he?"

"He's sending his voice over the radio through this thing here," Jack explained showing him the radio in his vest pocket. "We read you, General."

"I see you've made a friend, Colonel."

"Yes, Sir. Loran, General Hammond."

"He can see me?" Loran asked him shocked.

"Yes I can, son," the General's voice was welcoming and calm.

Loran got more confident and moved closer. "Hi."

"We haven't found anything yet, sir," Jack reported. "But we've only been at it a few minutes."

"It's been well over an hour, Colonel."

Jack looked at his watch; it had to be wrong, didn't it. "Well, that can't be."

Hammond ignored him. "Jack, I have some bad news. All of SG-5 are dead."

The Colonel was stunned, a whole team was gone; he glanced over to see Sam and Teal'c were just as shocked. "Oh on," the Major exclaimed softly.

"What of the condition of Daniel Jackson and Cali O'Neill?" Teal'c asked.

"Dr. Frasier's doing everything she can, but I'm afraid Daniel's fallen into a deep coma," the General informed gravely. "We don't know how much time he has left." He paused. "Dr. O'Neill is holding her own, but just, she slips in and out of consciousness."

"What do you need, General?" Jack asked, pulling himself out of his despair, his daughter needed him.

"Blood samples from each of you, the boy included."

"I'll bring them back myself sir."

"Very well, Colonel, we'll see you in a few minutes. SGC out."

The radio went silent and the Gate closed down.

"Let's get a move on, people," Jack ordered. "Major, get the samples for the Doc, then you can do your spectrum analysis thingy on the light in there."

Sam nodded and hurried to get what she needed. She took blood from all of them, Loran included after they assured him it was all right, marking all the tubes correctly and binding them together with a rubber band. She gave them to the Colonel. "There you go sir."

"All right, I'll be back as soon as I can," he told her. "Hold down the fort, or in this case the Palace."

She managed a smile. "Yes sir."

"You're coming back, right, Jack?" Loran asked him.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Why don't you show Teal'c around?"

"Okay," the teenager said happily.

Jack smiled a small smile and dialed the Gate as the Jaffa and the boy wandered off. It opened with a whoosh, Jack sent his IDC signal and walked up the stairs and through, the trip taking seconds and he stepped out of the Gate within the SGC. Walking down to the ramp where Dr. Fraiser and a medic waited. He handed the doctor the samples. "Here are your samples."

"Did you get the boy's?" She asked him

"Yeah, it's in there," he assured.

She gave them to the medic. "Get this off to the lab," she ordered and he left quickly.

"How are they doing?" Jack asked Janet.

"I'm afraid their condition is unchanged, sir."

"Okay," he said worriedly. He gave his vest and weapons to an airman and went with the doctor to the infirmary. "Doc, um, Cali," he hesitated as they stepped into the elevator. "She isn't pregnant, is she?"

"No, Colonel, I thought of that," Janet admitted, selecting level 21. "When she didn't seem to have the same responses, I though…but no. She is going to get worse; it's just taking longer for her. I'm sorry sir."

He nodded. "I don't want to lose her," he said shoving his hands into his pants pockets. "Either of them. Daniel is my best friend, even if I don't treat him like he is at times."

"I know sir."

The lift stopped and they got out, going into the infirmary, Janet gave the Colonel an initial check-up, and then let him go see his daughter and friend.

Jack was hesitant, seeing Daniel lying there unconscious, his daughter in the next bed, the sounds of monitor's measuring heart rate and brain functions prominent in the room. For a brief moment he didn't know which one to see first, in the end he grabbed a stool and sat between the two of them.

"Dad?" Cali's weak voice broke into his thoughts.

He looked from Daniel to her. "I'm here, kiddo." He took her hand. "Dr. Fraiser is doing all she can, sweetheart."

"He's going… he's going to die."

"No, sweetheart," he corrected. "Daniel's too stubborn to let this beat him."

She tried to grip his hand. "Hold on to him, daddy, don't let him die," she whispered and slipped back into unconsciousness.

Releasing her hand he buried his head in his hands. He was losing them, his family and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. He didn't know how long he sat there, occasionally talking to both of them, even though neither heard him. He removed his jacket, throwing onto the end of his daughter's bed. Getting up he walked to the foot of Daniel's bed, feeling confided and frustrated. Why in the hell weren't they doing anything. He picked up the metal clipboard that held his friends medical chart and flicked through the chat before slamming the clipboard down on the trolley at the foot of the bed. Putting it back he lent on the trolley on his elbows and buried his head in his hands again.

Janet had been startled by the outburst. She hurried over to him. "Colonel? Are you all right?"

He looked up, straightening. "What kind of dumb-ass question is that," he snapped at her. "My friend is laying there on his death bed and my daughter is closely following him." He paused, calming down a little. "I'm fine."

"We're working on the problem, sir," she said to Jack, staying sympathetic.

"I don't want excuses!" He snapped again at her angrily.

Janet signaled the SF to come further into the room, but take no action. "Colonel O'Neill, if you don't came down right now, I will have your removed from my infirmary. Is that clear?"

He calmed a little again. "I'm fine," he said, rubbing his face.

"Sir, I don't think you are," she said worriedly. I'd like to recheck your dopamine levels."

"It's happening to me, isn't it?" He asked her, his mood gone from angry to solemn.

"Let me find out, please?" Janet insisted and guided him away when he went willingly.

And hour late she had the answer, having him issued to a bed the other side of Daniel, making him lie down while she got the rest of the results. Returning with General Hammond as one of her nurses finished taking the Colonel's blood pressure and moved out of the way.

"Whatever's coursing this actually accelerates neural activity in the brain and causes a dopamine-like effect in the body," she reported, glancing over the results.

"Kind of like drugs," Jack offered, he was lying on his side so he could see both Daniel and Cali.

Janet nodded. "Only as long as you're on the planet. Shortly after you returned, neural activity begins to decrease and depression results. Blood work confirms it.

"Does the boy carry any immunity we could use to our advantage?" Hammond asked.

She closed the folder she was holding. "No. His blood work came back the same, I don't think he'll be able to leave the planet without experiencing the same narcotic withdrawal symptoms."

"But Colonel O'Neill was only on that planet for a little over an hour."

"Yes sir, this addiction appears to be almost instantaneous."

"You're telling me I'm addicted to that place?" Jack asked her.

"The intensity of your mood swing into depression seems to be proportional to the time you spent on the planet," the doctor announced. "All we can do is hope that your exposure wasn't long enough for your symptoms to get as bad as they did with Daniel, Cali and the others."

"Great," he grumbled rolling onto his back. "All those years of just saying no."

"Jack. I tried to recall Major Carter or Teal'c," Hammond said. "They haven't responded and I can't risk sending another team."

One of the monitors Daniel was attached to started to beep.

"What's that?" Jack asked, sitting up.

Janet moved quickly, checking the monitor. "His EEG is sporadic," she looked from the monitor to him. "This is exactly what happened to the members of SG-5 before they died. Sir, you're going to have to take him back to the planet. Cali too."

He nodded. "Get them ready doc."

Hammond didn't argue. "I'll have the Gate opened as soon as you leave here," he walked over to the phone and made a call before leaving the infirmary.

Medic's and nurses rushed to dress both Daniel and Cali, the area being curtained off. An airman arrived with Jack's gear; he pulled it on and took the P-90, attaching it to the holster so it hung at his chest.

Colonel Reynolds arrived at the infirmary. "Colonel."

Jack nodded to him. "Reynolds. What are you doing here?"

"You're going to need help getting the two of them through the gate," the leader of SG-3 announced, adding quickly. "Don't worry, I'm not going through, I'm just going to help."

The curtains were opened and the now dressed archaeologists were on gurneys along with monitors, a nurse with each, keeping an oxygen mask over their nose and mouths.

"All right, lets go," Janet, ordered quickly.

They moved rapidly, Jack helped with Daniel, running along side the gurney. Behind them Reynolds helped the nurses and the medic's with Cali. They took the elevator to level 28, rushing down the corridor towards the gate room.

"Once you're there I'll need you to send me their vital signs every…" Janet stopped as the EEG flatelined on Daniel's monitor. "He's coding. No time to resuscitate. Let's go!"

They moved faster, rushing into the Gate room, stopping at the base of the ramp. Jack lifted Daniel onto his shoulder and rushed up the ramp, Reynolds went up behind him, Cali in his arms. He waited until Jack had gone through, before putting the conscious but unsteady linguist onto her feet right in front of the event horizon. "Sorry doc, but you've got to go the rest of the way on your own," he apologized and gave her a push, she felt forward through the Gate.

Jack rushed out of the Gate within the Palace, making it down the stairs; he dumped Daniel onto the floor, cradling his head as he followed him down. Settling him, he rushed back up the stairs just in time to grab Cali as she stumbled through, getting her down to Daniel, sitting her next to him. Grabbing Daniel by the shoulders he shook him. "Daniel. Daniel. Come on, come on," he checked his pulse. "Damn it Daniel. Let's go, come on."

Cali got to her knees, shaking off the fogginess that made her brain feel like cotton wool, pushing her father back, she tilted Daniel's head back, opening his mouth she pinched his nose, breathing into his mouth, then turned her head to listen, doing it again.

Jack looked to the doorway. "Carter! Teal'c!" He shouted. He didn't see them, but saw Loran appear from behind a pillar, hesitating before coming closer. "Where are my friends?" He asked the boy as his daughter continued CPR.

"With the light," Loran answered.

"Go get them for me, will you?"

"They won't come."

"Well, try!" Jack snapped and Loran rushed out. He looked back, hearing what sounded to be gurgling noises form Daniel.

Cali changed his position, rolling him onto his side into the recovery position. "He's back with us."

"Nice work, honey," her dad praised, seeing Sam and Teal'c weren't coming. "I'm going to find Carter and Teal'c. Stay with Daniel."

She nodded, feeling she couldn't move even if she wanted too.

Getting up, Jack hurried out, going to the light room, seeing the teenager was standing near a pillar outside.

"I'm not allowed to go in there," he offered.

Jack shook his head. "For God's sakes," he muttered and marched in, straight over to his 2IC, grabbing her he spun her around to him and gave her a shake. "Carter! Carter, wake up."

She came out of it. "You're back, Sir! When?"

He ignored her, letting her go he looked to the Jaffa. "Teal'c! Teal'c come on," he frowned at the questioning look. "Yeah, come on out of here right now."

They walked out, returning to the Palace Gate room. Daniel had come to enough to sit up on the first step along with Cali; his arms were folded across his knees, his head on his arms. Cali sat next to him, gently rubbing his back; she glanced up as they entered.

"Daniel Jackson, Cali O'Neill." Teal'c greeted, happy to see them.

"Yep. Had to bring them back," Jack remarked going over to them. "It was the only thing that was going to keep the two of them alive." He sat down next to Daniel, who didn't move.

"Sir, how long were you gone?" Sam asked curiously.

"Few hours. Hammond tried to contact you."

"He did not." Teal'c contradicted bluntly.

"He did," Loran revealed. "I heard his voice."

Both Teal'c and Sam were stunned. "Where were we?" She asked.

"In there," he gestured back to the light room.

"I can't explain it sir," she told the Colonel.

"Frasier thinks we're all addicted to something here that alters our brain chemistry and dollars to doughnuts, it's that damn light," Jack stated, pointing towards the room.

"Oh, I don't see how that's possible," his second in command declared.

Jack ignored her and looked to Loran. "Hey. You knew, didn't you?"

"No." He answered.

"That's why you're not allowed in there," the Colonel continued.

"My father said I was too young."

"Uh-huh," Jack said not believing him.

"Sir, if it's the light itself, then how did Daniel and Cali just recover just by arriving on the planet?"

"I don't know, Major, but I want you to find out," he ordered. "Otherwise we're stuck here indefinitely, and that's not acceptable," he paused, glancing at the younger man next to him and his daughter, making a decision. "Ahh, screw it," he got to his feet. "We're shutting that thing off."

"No!" Loran said strongly.

Jack frowned at him. "You stay here," he ordered and Sam and Teal'c followed. They went into the light room.

"What are we looking for, sir?" She asked as they walked right up to the pedestal.

"The off switch," he answered and put his hand in the light, watching it ripple around his fingers, changing colors. "All right, if we can't shut the thing off… we'll…"

Teal'c looked over, seeing the Colonel was zoning out. "O'Neill!"

"Aww, man," he pulled himself away, stepping back. "Damn that thing's dangerous."

"My guess is the control mechanism is somewhere inside this pedestal," Sam theorized walking around it. "If we focus our attention on that we should be all right."

Both men nodded and they went to work, moving around the pedestal.

Back in the Gate room, Daniel had recovered enough to stand with his wife in his arms. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she reassured. "For some reason I wasn't affected as badly as you were."

He kissed the top of her head. "We're alive, we could be stuck here, but we're alive."

"Yes we are."

They both head the Gate activate, moving over to the MALP, Daniel found the spare radio as the Gate whooshed open.

The MALP camera panned around. "SG-1, this is Hammond."

"We read you, General," Daniel said, using the radio. Seeing the camera had now settled on him and Cali.

"Glad to see your both alive and well, Dr. Jackson, Dr. O'Neill. We thought we'd lost you, Daniel."

"To be honest, I don't really remember much after yelling at you. Sorry about that, by the way," he apologized.

"That's all right," Hammond said understandingly. "Is there anything you need?"

"Glasses. Um supplies. It looks like we're not going anywhere for a while," Daniel answered. "And that little remote computer thing I couldn't make work before."

"I'll send it through immediately. Where is Colonel O'Neill?"

Daniel and Cali both looked back to Loren, who stood nervously by the door, they looked back, Cali took the radio from her husband, talking into it. "Dad, Teal'c and Sam went back to the light room to see if they can turn it off."

"Is that wise, Dr. O'Neill?"

"To be honest sir, I don't know," she admitted. "With Loran's help, we maybe able to translate some of the writings on the remote computer."

"All right, doctors, good luck."

"Thank you sir," she said and as the Gate shut down she put the radio on the MALP. "Now we wait."

"Yeah."

Half an hour later, the Gate reopened and supplies were sent through by a 'FRED', General Hammond wished them luck and told them to report in, in six hours. Daniel found his glasses and the light room remote, sitting on the stairs with Loran; the three of them went over the alien text. Translating as much as they good.

"All right," Daniel announced after what seemed longer then it was. "I'm going to see if this works."

"Be careful." Cali advised.

"I will," he gave her a reassuring smile. "I won't be long."

She nodded. "I'll go through the supplies, if you're not out in twenty minutes I'll come after you."

"Okay," he got up; the teenager did too, expecting to go. "Loran, why don't you give Cali a hand?"

"Sure."

Nodding Daniel hurried to the light room, studying the device still as he walked in. "Guy's I've figured out how to…" he looked up seeing Teal'c, Sam and Jack caught in the lights grasp. Using the device, Daniel switched off the light.

The three-team members blinked, coming around as if they were waking up, turning to see Daniel standing there.

"How did you do that?" Sam asked him, confused.

Daniel held up the hand-held device. "Remote control."

"I thought that thing was broken." Jack stated.

"Yeah, you were right – it was the batteries." Daniel informed.

Jack was surprised. "I was?"

"At least I think it draws power from something in the room itself," Daniel explained. "That's why I couldn't get it to work back on Earth."

"How long were we standing here?"

"I'm not sure. The General sent some supplies and Loran helped Cali and I figure out how to translate the writing on this thing, so…."

"That long." Jack stated.

"Well perception of time is one of the first things to go when you're high," he paused seeing them comprehended it all. "From what we're been able to translate so far with Loran's help, the Goa'uld used to use this place as some sort of opium den. The only difference is their symbiotes must have kept the host's mind chemically balanced once they left."

"Then it is most likely I will be able to leave." Teal'c said matter of fact.

Jack glared at him. "Oh how nice for you," he remarked, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Wait a minute," Sam interrupted, addressing Daniel. "If you turned it off, how come I'm not getting depressed?"

"Perhaps it will take some time to feel its effects." Teal's theorized and she nodded at the possibility.

"Well lets take advantage of that time," Jack suggested and they let the light room, going back to the Gate room. Loran was seated on the stairs; Cali came over to them, standing with Daniel. Jack addressed the teenager. "Loran."

"Jack."

"All right. Where did you're parents actually go?"

"Far, far away from here."

"How far? Which direction?" Jack fired the questions had him and saw the teenager hesitate and then clam up. Turning. "The kid's hiding something," he told his team. "Teal'c, Carter, with me," he ordered and they left. "There has to be a way out of this place, so lets find it and then check outside."

"Yes sir." Sam acknowledged.

It didn't take long, returning to get their gear; they left the palace, finding the structure was built near the sea, a pebble beach stretched out before them. Teal'c took point and they walked along the shoreline. Huge sphinx lined the high beach line with bird shaped heads. Sam and Jack walked along together.

"Daniel and Cali are married, by Abydonian law," he told her.

She was surprised. "Really?" She saw him nodded. "Why didn't they say anything?"

"They were trying to find the right time," he said with a sigh. "According to Abydonian law because Cali was life partner to both Sha're and Daniel, when Sha're died, Cali became his wife. Kasuf performed the ceremony before they returned to Earth after the funeral."

Sam couldn't believe it. "They've been married that long?"

"Yeah. It seems when they were in Chicago they bought rings, the ones they're wearing now." Jack said dryly.

"They're wearing wedding rings?"

He nodded. "The marriage isn't legal here, only on Abydos, but they don't care."

"How did you did you find out?"

"Fraiser told me, they told her. Hammond knows too," he shoved his hands into his pants pockets. "Hell'va father I turned out to be, my daughter is too afraid to tell me she's married to my best friend."

"I guess we haven't been very approachable lately," Sam supposed.

"I guess not." They walked on in silence, getting further and further away from the palace. Jack saw Sam sigh. "What?"

"I guess the reality that we may never go home is setting in," she admitted.

"Oh, Hammond'll keep us supplied with everything we'll need until we can figure this out," he said causally and glanced around. "It's a nice beach."

"It'd be a good excuse for you, wouldn't it," she said sarcastically.

"Huh?"

"Forget it," she snarled.

He pulled his hands free. "That would be, 'Forget it sir'."

"Oh please," she remarked almost rolling her eyes. "You think I'm keeping that up if we're stuck here forever?"

"Listen Major…"

"No way," she snapped.

"That's 'No way, Colonel'."

"I'm supposed to accept that?" Sam asked him angrily. "That's the way it's going to be?"

"That's the way it is." Jack snarled back.

"What difference does it make? It's not up to you."

Jack had heard enough; he stopped and grabbed hold of her, pulling him to him, giving her a shake. "Carter! You're in withdrawal!"

"Oh I'm in withdrawal?" She shouted at him.

"Yes!" He snapped. "So am I!"

"O'Neill, Major Carter," Teal'c yelled out. Both stopped bickering to turned to look down the beach. "I believe I have located the parents of Loran."

Releasing Sam, Jack hurried towards the Jaffa, with his 2IC following, slowing his pace a little as they reached Teal'c, who was kneeling next to two half-buried skeletons.

In the palace Gate room, Daniel and Cali were sitting on the stairs looking over the hand-held device once more, checking the marking with notes in one of his notebooks.

Loran came over to them with his camera. "This is my mother and father, that's me," he showed them the picture.

"You were a lot younger there," Daniel pointed out.

"Yeah it's old," the teenager dismissed.

"Yeah about that…"

"Hey, can I take an image of the two of you?" Loran asked interrupting him, taking camera back.

"Sure."

Cali nodded. "Why not."

Loren backed up and took a photo of the two of them, smiling at the image. "That's great," he came back, showing them. Sitting on a supply box. "I'm sorry that you can't leave."

"Are you?" Cali asked him. "I mean it would make sense that you'd want some company."

"Maybe that's the reason you didn't tell us how dangerous the light was." Daniel finished her sentence.

"No."

"It's okay, we're not mad."

"That's not why," the teenager contradicted and saw the both look away from him.

Jack, Sam and Teal'c came into the room; the Colonel removed his hat, bending over.

"What's wrong?" Cali asked quickly.

Jack straightened. "Oh we're going through that withdrawal thing again."

"We've felt fine the whole time you were gone." Daniel noted.

"Actually, sir, I'm starting to feel myself again." Sam declared.

He did too. "Me too. What's going on?"

"Well, something other than that light must be affecting us," she guessed.

"And we must stay in close proximity." Teal'c added.

"So not only are we stuck here," Daniel said as reality set in. "We're stuck here."

"Not acceptable," Jack said. "Come on, let's figure this out." He urged and they all went to the light room, staring at the pedestal, Daniel fiddled with the remote a little. The Colonel slumped his shoulders and sighed. "Well, it's sure not as much fun to look at with the light off."

"Sir, I think you're maybe onto something." Sam realized, thinking it through.

"How's that?"

"The light isn't what's affecting our minds – it's just something to take advantage of our altered state of our brain chemistry."

"So…entertainment?" Daniel asked.

"Probably more then that," Sam stated. "The color and light interaction with our optic nerve probably triggers the chemical responses, but it's not the direct cause of the imbalance."

"What's the cause, then?" Jack asked her.

"There must be a hidden device emitting some form of energy or radiation that we can't detect with our instruments."

Jack thought that over and looked to Loran. "All right Loran. Why doesn't this room seem to affect you?"

"I'm too young," he stated.

"How do you know that?"

"My father told me."

"It's possible that this place can only affect an adult physiology." Sam agreed.

"Fraiser said he's just as addicted as we are," the Colonel revealed.

"She's right. The light didn't have any affect on me." Loran declared.

"Then what'd it do to your parents?" Jack snapped. "We need to know what this thing does."

"When they get back, they'll explain," the teenager said seeing that wasn't going over well.

"They're not coming back!" He yelled at him. "You know that!"

"They are."

"Someone buried those bodies! Now how do you shut that thing off?" Jack snapped and watched the teenager hurry over to the pedestal and exposed the power core at the base, before rushing out of the room. "Figure that thing out." He told his team and went after Loran.

Daniel and Cali crawl under the pedestal's legs to the power core, as did Teal'c and Sam, getting to work.

Jack found Loran in his room, hesitating before going in; he shouldn't have snapped, he knew that. "Hey, I'm sorry," he apologizing seeing what he was looking at. "Nice picture, your parents?" He asked sitting next to him.

"I killed them," he said placidly.

"You did?" Jack was surprised to hear that. "I find that…" He hesitated, seeing the boy was serious. "What happened?"

"We found this place," the teenager recalled. "All that they would do was stare at the light. All day. The light didn't affect me – my father said it was because I was too young, but they didn't let me in the light room anyway. I told them to stop every day, but they'd just tell me to bring them things."

"Okay. So you did that. And?" Jack urged, seeing the tears slid down the teenager's cheeks.

"One day I stopped," Loren said, pausing. "It was days before their hunger was stronger then the light," a tear ran down his cheek. "Then they came out, looking for me, looking for food, and I snuck into the light room… and I turned it off. Not just the light, everything. I didn't know that it would hurt them. I just wanted to go home."

"Hey, it's not your fault," the Colonel told him gently.

"They died because of me," Loren contradicted. "They were screaming, they ran outside, they didn't make any sense. So I did it, I turned it back on, but they were already in the water, so far… and they just kept on going, they just kept going and screaming and I'd turned it on, but they just kept going," he stopped, the memories so painful. "And then they were gone. The next day I found them on the shore."

"Loran. You were trying to help them," Jack announced. "Trying to free them from something. It wasn't your fault."

"I miss them," he said tearfully.

Jack rubbed the back of the teenager's head. "Yeah," he sighed, giving him an understanding smile. "How about we go back and see how the troops are doing?"

Loran wiped his face and nodded, together they walked back to the light room, seeing the four team members working on the power core. Daniel looked like he was adjusting levels, Cali helping him. "So what have you got?" Jack asked them.

The four of them crawled out from under the pedestal, standing. "We think we can turn it off." Daniel informed.

"Don't let them," Loran said quickly. "You'll die, like my parents did."

"If we shut it off cold turkey, Loran is right, we'll go into withdrawal again," Sam agreed. "But Teal'c, Cali and Daniel have translated some of the writing inside this thing, sir, and we think it was designed to be turned down incrementally."

"The Goa'uld who used this place needed human slaves in order to tend to their need while they were here." Daniel declared. "Those slaves would have to come and go with them."

"We've already taken it down a notch without any harm." Cali added.

"Within two or three weeks your brain chemistry will return to normal," Teal'c revealed. "You may then return home."

"So three weeks in a palace by the beach," Jack said, that wasn't so bad. He looked over to the Jaffa. "Teal'c you don't have to hang around. Why don't you head back and let Hammond know what's going on?"

"Very well," he agreed and walked out.

"And then you'll leave?" Loran asked the Colonel.

"I think we all will," he looked to Sam. "Right?"

She nodded. "Yeah. He should return to normal along with the rest of us," she agreed.

"Then I can go with you?" He asked excitedly.

"Sure," Jack granted as Sam, Cali and Daniel walked out. Smiling at the teenager. "Let's go see Teal'c off," he told him. "You like ice cream?"

"What's ice cream?" Loran asked him as they walked out.

The Colonel laughed. "It's something we have on Earth, it's made from milk, sort of frozen milk; it comes in lots of flavors and believe me I think I've tried them all."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah, when Cali first came to Earth, she found ice cream a favorable discovery."

Loran frowned. "Cali came to Earth?"

"Yeah, she was born on Abydos, a planet far from Earth. I brought her back with me after a mission there and adopted her, her parents were dead," the Colonel explained.

"She's very lucky."

He glanced over at his daughter. "Yes, she is," he declared.

Teal'c turned to him. "O'Neill is there anything you wish from Earth?"

"You know, now that I think of it, yeah."

"We could all use things." Sam put forth.

"Okay, start a list people, only the essentials though," Jack ordered. "Daniel if you would."

Daniel grabbed a pen and paper, jotting down what they'd wanted sent back, when they were finished he handed the list to Teal'c. "There you go."

The Jaffa glanced it over. "I shell endeavor to send these items through," he announced.

"Well since the supplies have been removed, you can take 'FRED' back with you," Jack told him, and looked to the two archaeologists. "Daniel dialed the Gate."

He and Cali went over to the DHD and he dialed out. "I have a feeling we're going to be talking to Jack very soon," he whispered and pressed the center activation crystal, the Gate whooshed open.

"I got that impression too," she agreed.

Teal'c, using the remote joystick, controlled 'FRED', directing the machine through the Gate, after sending his IDC. He turned and bowed his head and them stepped through the Gate. It closed down a moment later.

"Okay, kids, lets get these supplies organized," Jack ordered. "Then we'll find rooms to stay in, I'm sure Loran knows some good ones."

The teenager smiled. "I do."

"Lets go then," the Colonel, urged.

Loren helped with the supplies and between the five of them they shifted them all into one room, that they decided to use as their cooking and dinning room, the teenager then showed them the rooms within the palace, which were actually suites, Jack and Sam chose one each and Daniel and Cali took one between them. They returned to the Gate room when the General called, telling them the extra supplies would be sent through in the morning and they were to keep in contact, if anything went wrong they were to dial Earth immediately.

"We'll do that sir," Jack assured him.

"Very well, Colonel, our next contact will be tomorrow morning at eleven hundred hours," Hammond reported over the radio. "SGC out."

The Gate closed down.

"Well kids, looks like we're on vacation for a while." Jack stated and glanced at his 2IC.

Sam got the hint and she and Loran wandered out, leaving the two archaeologists with the Colonel.

Daniel actually felt a little uncomfortable. "We um… we might take a look around, Jack," he stuttered.

"In a moment, sit down, the both of you," he ordered gesturing to the steps. He sat with them. "So when were you going to tell me?" He asked them bluntly.

They knew what he was talking about. Cali took her life partner's hand, her husband's hand. "We're tried, on several occasions," she admitted. "Something usually got in the way."

"Hammond being blackmailed into leaving," Daniel stated the obvious. "The note coming though the Gate from the future, Shifu arriving and giving me insight into a future I don't want to see happening. Then this."

Jack sighed. "I haven't exactly been there for either of you, have I?" He asked rhetorically. "I should have been." He got to his feet and held out his hand to Daniel, who stood along with Cali, taking the older man's hand. Instead of shaking it, Jack drew the young man into his arms, hugging him. "Just you remember to look after my girl, Dr. Jackson," he warned in a whisper.

"I will, Jack," he assured.

Cali was drawn into the hug, smiling. "Thank you, dad."

"You're welcoming kiddo," he released them. "I um told Sam, Dr. Fraiser told me."

"General Hammond already knows, as does Teal'c and SG-3," she told him gently and held up her left hand. "The rings sort of gave it away with the Marines."

Jack forgave them for that one and took her hand, looking at the ring. "It's unusual, but then again it's something that symbolizes who you two are."

"Yeah they do," Daniel agreed.

Realizing his daughter's hand, the Colonel smiled. "Well, you two, it maybe late, but congratulations and enjoy your honeymoon."

Both chuckled. "Thanks Jack," Daniel said, he took his wife's hand and they walked out together, happily.

Jack sighed and followed them. He could handle this, after all Daniel was his friend, and occasionally he acted like a father to the archaeologist, now he could act the father-in-law. What wasn't going to be too bad or he hoped not.

"Hey Jack," They stopped; Daniel had a curious look on his face. "Does this mean I can call you dad too?"

"No it does not," he snapped taking the bait, the two of them laughing hard. "Oh very funny. Just you two wait." He grumbled and walked past them.

Daniel drew Cali into his arms; this was going to be an interesting few weeks.

Sam was sorting out supplies as they walked into their cooking and dinning area; she straightened, seeing her CO wasn't that happy and their friends grinning. "Did the talk go well?"

"Oh yeah," Jack grumbled. "I've got a smart ass for a son-in-law."

She chuckled. "So how does this effect you guys working together, which is a stupid question considering you've been working together for ages?"

"Since our marriage isn't legal on Earth, the Air Force can't stop us." Daniel announced.

"General Hammond did suggest we keep things low keyed at the base and when we go off world." Cali added.

"Business as usual, huh?" Jack queried sitting on a supply box. "I mean you've been hiding it for what, nearly a year?"

They both nodded.

"I don't know how you did it." Sam said sitting down too.

Daniel and Cali sat together. "It wasn't that hard," he admitted. "When Jack was undercover after the NID, no one questioned Cali moving in with me or not moving out when it was exposed. Everyone was use to us being together."

Cali took his hand in hers. "The last few months things have been so full on that Daniel and I just blended in. We came to work, went off world, came back, went home and started all over again."

Jack felt bad about that. "The last few years haven't been easy on you two, have they?"

"No, but we're survivors, Cali and I." Daniel insisted, dismissing it.

"So what did you mean when you were out on the balcony?" Jack asked him seriously.

"I don't remember much about what happened, Jack, so I don't know," he lied.

Cali knew he lied; she pulled her dad's attention away from him. "It doesn't matter, dad, it's over."

"Yeah." Jack dismissed. He knew Daniel had lied, but he let it slide. They'd overcome one hurdle, the rest would take time and they had time.

Two and a half weeks later they arrived back on Earth, stepping through the Stargate to the SGC, a wide-eyed Loran at Jack's side.

"Wow!" The teenager exclaimed.

Jack and the others chuckled, the Colonel patting him on the back. "Welcome to Earth kid."

"Thanks Jack."

He led him down the ramp to where General Hammond was waiting with Dr. Fraiser and Teal'c. The General smiled warmly. "Welcome home SG-1," he acknowledged the teenager. "And welcome to Earth Loran."

"Um, thank you," the teenager said nervously.

"Loran, this is General Hammond." Jack introduced. "The voice you heard on the radio."

"It's nice to meet you General," the teenager said excitedly, holding out his hand.

The General shook it, smiling. "It's nice to meet you Loran."

"I'm Dr. Fraiser," Janet introduced herself, smiling warmly. "Will you come with me?"

Loran looked to Jack, the Colonel smiled. "It's okay, we'll be a long in a minutes."

"I will accompany you, Loran," Teal'c offered and when the teenager nodded, the three of them left the Gate room.

"So Colonel," the General began. "Is SG-1 rested and ready for duty?"

"Yes sir." Jack answered eagerly, making the rest of his team chuckle softly.

"Good, then I expect you all in the briefing room tomorrow morning at 08.00, you're back on the mission list."

"Yes sir."

"Dismissed." Hammond ordered and watched them leave, the tension that had been there nearly three weeks ago wasn't completely gone, but it wasn't so noticeable. SG-1 had found a little of what they'd lost, he just hoped it was enough.

The End of this chapter. (I'm not quiet sure whether or not there will be any more chapters to this story, I haven't decided – AS)