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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the following people for their comments and frequent encouragement.

001ElvenWarrior, Anaika Skywalker, dark3princess, fancymemad, Grub5000 SJ Fan, helen8uk, JoSG1fan, katy1986, linkinparkgundam, Matts-Girl1, meowx2, Moonrays and fridays, NadineCarter, novastar22, roseofthegate, sea2209, selache51, Spamurai, stargazzr8-28, StupidMajor, stusue, tmcccjc, Tony the jew, trtlsoup2001, and x-izzles-x.

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NOTE: My Microsoft Word isn't working at the moment so please excuse the grammatical errors.

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And now…

PART FIFTEEN: Losing the War

Daniel had looked for what seemed years but he could not find a single trace of Janet from the base to her house. He checked all the places she'd frequented, security cameras, witnesses. But no one had seen a thing. One moment she was there and the next she was gone. Literally.

That's what bothered him most. When they found her car, they checked nearby cameras. She had literally disappeared from her seat.

"The Asgard?" Adrienne asked over the phone, her tone seemed surprised. He had to be wrong or she was just kidding with him again. But it hardly seemed the time to kid and he figured it wasn't right.

"No? It was definitely an Asgard beam. Who could have access to Asgard technology?"

"Hmm. This is troubling. Any sign of the Cadillac and the Mercedes?" she said and he decided not to push it further because he knew she wouldn't tell him anything.

"None. How's Sam?"

"Not so good. She was close."

"Jack with her?"

"Yeah, he hasn't left her for a while. It's worrisome. I was about to bring him some food," Adrienne said, her voice sincere.

Daniel looked around. He was alone in Janet's office, sitting at her desk, the sounds of airmen and FBI and police officers running around crazy outside filtering through the door.

"Take care of the old man, 'kay? Tell him 'Welcome back' for me."

"Daniel… I…"

"Yeah Ree what is it?"

"I'm really sorry I can't tell you anything, but everything's different now."

"Is that why you… you and I never… uh…"

"I knew it wasn't real for you, Danny. You had Janet. I could tell."

Daniel closed his eyes and looked down at his shoes, still sitting on the edge of the desk staring out into the back yard through the large window. "Ugh, why didn't you say anything?" his voice seemed exasperated and tired and remorseful to no end.

Ree laughed a little bit for his sake but she wasn't in the mood to smile.

"It could have saved me a lot of trouble," he said.

"I'm gonna go see Dad now. Tell me if you find anything, anything at all. Okay?"

"Yea. Call if Sam wakes up."

"When. When she wakes up," she said and hung up lightly, reluctantly. She didn't know what it was but she wanted to keep talking with him, hear his voice. It was so reassuring, so comforting, so safe.

She left Hammond's office and went down to the mess hall to get Jack some pie and maybe some for herself as well. She had never truly felt hungry but she wanted pie. She wondered if it was another residual feeling from Sam. She'd been getting a lot of those lately. Humanity was getting to her.

You're a bad influence on me, Sam, she thought and missed having another voice respond. She felt lonely but she had always been alone. She felt remorseful but she had always lived a sorry life. A sorry lie.

There wasn't any pie, she saw. She narrowed her eyes evilly at the airman in front of her in line that had taken the last piece. She didn't feel like eating anything else but got some dinner for Jack. They told her it was chicken something but she couldn't tell from looking at it.

The infirmary was so quiet. It seemed the entire base mourned her loss, even if she wasn't gone yet.

People are so silly. As if I'd be here if she doesn't survive.

She shook it off and found Sam's bed. Jack sat on a chair beside her, his hand atop hers, his hair a mess and his face looked like he hadn't shaved in months. This was technically true.

"Hey, Dad," she said quietly as if approaching in timid fear, two emotions she had never known either. She had always disregarded them since what happened with Dionysus.

She thought if she let anyone in again, she'd be vulnerable and Earth couldn't afford losing her. Not now, not ever. She wasn't sure if she wanted to leave again, either. Her original plan involved her own demise but now she was hopeful.

'What ifs' came to mind. What if she could save Dionysus from turning or being turned? What if they could save Janet before she's implanted and tortured? What if it was no longer wrong for her to live?

"Hey Ree," he said unemotionally. His face was solemn but he had hope in his eyes again and she knew he was always happy to see her.

"How'd your blood work check out?" she asked, sitting on the edge of the bed beside Sam's, looking across to him and his ponderous expression.

"I don't know. They don't know. They're worried I'm getting the same thing Sam had but I doubt it."

"No you aren't. I can tell. You'll be fine."

"I thought everything was different now. How can you know?"

"Because I know you. I can tell things about you. You and Sam, anyway."

"Can you tell how she's doing?"

Adrienne paused and looked over at Sam. "It's trying to take control of her. She's fighting but she's weak."

"She's strong. She'll come out of it ok, right?"

"She has to. If not, what the hell have I been fighting to save?"

"Hmm. Ree, tell me what's going on with Dionysus and you."

"What makes you think there's anything going on?"

"I'm your father, remember? I can see things too."

"He was my husband. A long time ago."

"You mean in a few years he'll be your husband."

"No, he was my husband."

Jack looked away from Sam and raised an eyebrow at Adrienne to explain.

"The Goa'uld DNA that was used to make me was from a System Lord named Ariadne. Dionysus was her husband."

Jack looked scared. "Dionysus is a Goa'uld!"

"No! No. He's just… he's special. He's like me."

"He was made too?" She nodded. "Question is: by whom?"

Adrienne looked back to Sam and responded, "Sometimes people aren't made and they aren't born. They're reborn. Dionysus was kicked out of Ascension, Dad. He's neither good nor evil. He's immortal."

"Daniel got kicked out too. He just ended up naked in a field. As far as I know, he still bleeds red."

"They didn't have a plan for him. He wasn't supposed to be there in the first place. Getting kicked out was a blessing for him."

"So the Ancients are behind everything?"

"Not just them. Not all are neutral. Neutrality may be a sin but interfering is worse."

Jack never liked her word games but he understood her cause for this. He didn't want to know anymore. He didn't want to know what kind of senseless tasks he'd have to be put forth to save him and Sam. He didn't want to know how long he had to live, for he knew it was not long. He didn't want to know the future, the past, the lives he could live.

"We live now, Adrienne. There's no neutrality. It's a war. And without her, we're losing."

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Daniel had given up looking. There were capable people for it. He was just in the way. So he left it in their hands and went back to the base, check in on the team.

He found his way to the infirmary. Jack still sat beside her and Adrienne still sat on the bed, a plate of lemon chicken still uneaten beside her right thigh. When he walked in, she smiled wretchedly. Jack gave him a look hello but he didn't move below the neck.

Danny sat down beside Ree on the bed, his hands folded on his lap.

"How'd it go?" she asked the tired archaeologist.

He sighed and responded, "Nothin'."

"You'll find her, don't worry."

"How you doing?" he said over to Jack.

"I've been better, Daniel."

"You've looked better, too," Adrienne chipped in.

Jack looked over at her in her fatigues and Daniel's old clothes. "Likewise."

They both looked each other over and Jack smiled at their confused faces. "Where's Teal'c?" he asked.

"Funeral on Chulak. I think he's trying to find the people responsible. It's the whole Jaffa revenge thing," Ree responded.

Jack and Daniel nodded comprehensively. They knew all too well about the "Jaffa revenge thing" and its suicidal outcomes. They were all a little worried but Teal'c could take care of himself. They'd check in on him later, just in case.

"Ree, can I talk with you for a moment?" Daniel whispered in her ear.

Jack heard it anyway and said, "Go ahead, kid. We're ok here."

"Ok. I'll be back as soon as I can. Take good care of her, Dad."

The word "Dad" still made him wince. It was strange to hear again. It brought back memories of Charlie and though he tried to forget them, the pain was seeping through every cavity of his being. For the first time in years, he felt like an old man.

Daniel had taken Adrienne to the hallway outside and pinned her against the cement wall. He hadn't meant it as threatning and she didn't really take it as such but his proximity was driving her crazy. She cursed her humanity under her breath. He looked at her strange and placed a hand high beside her head. He was much too close.

"Ree, why are you doing this? Is she really meant to die?" he asked.

"Sam? What are you talking about? She's getting better."

"No, I'm talking about Janet and you know it. Tell me where she is, Adrienne."

His aftershave was intoxicating. It was not helping her enhanced senses, even though she was sure he'd applied it three or four days ago. He noticed her distance from the situation, her seemingly helpless behavior, the fact that she refused to look into his eyes.

"You know I can't do that! Stop asking!"

"Everything's different now, right? Why does it matter? It's about saving lives, Ree. Every life counts," he said and sighed, moving slightly away from her. Their tones were getting high, angry even. Still, the hallway was empty. They only worried their voices could reach Jack. "Adrienne, please. You said it yourself. She means so much to me, to all of us."

"Daniel..." she whispered.

"Ree." His voice was firm, his eyes fixed upon her. She seemed like she was caving, her own eyes becoming shimmering pools of tears. But she didn't cry because she knew she couldn't say anything. She cried because of Daniel, because she was causing him pain. And in that moment of realization, she decided to help him find Janet.

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Jack had stayed beside Sam's bed for hours, possibly days. He couldn't tell anymore. He took a book with him, The Slaughter-House Five, and he spent his time reading, looking over to see if she'd woken every other page. People would visit. Technicians and Hammond mostly. Walter brought roses and they sat in a vase on the table beside her.

From time to time, she'd spasm uncontrollably and nurses would come running but nothing would happen. Moments later, she was back to normal. The nurses had stopped coming after a while. She was getting better though. The color was returning to her delicate skin and he could see her hand move occasionally. He used to reach for it and beg she'd wake up but he stopped that as well.

"Why don't you go home, Jack. Take a bath, for christ's sake," General Hammond told him one day. Jack had disregarded him. He took showers in the locker room at the base instead but he still hadn't shaved and that was hardly what the general meant. "You don't want her to wake up and see you like this."

"Sorry General. Not too worried about what she wants at the moment. Just about what she needs."

"Then you being here should just about cover it. I'll leave you to it then. In the meantime, I want SG-1 back together as soon as possible. We hear word that Anubis and Ba'al's soldier are--" but the general didn't finish. Jack was too far gone and SG-1 was no more. There was no point.

What seemed like a week or two after he and Teal'c arrived back on Earth, Sam began to speak in her sleep. Nothing of any sense but it still brought a smile to Jack's face. A few days later, her eyes opened for the first time.

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"Welcome to my home, Teal'c," the young man said. The symbol of Apophis was also branded on his forehead but his eyes were gentle and free of burden. He was no longer of the Goa'uld.

"Thank you, Deryc. It is good to finally meet you," Teal'c responded, extending his arm.

Deryc took it enthusiastically. He was so young by comparison. "Come in! Come! Let me introduce you to my wife, Aileia."

His wife was young as well, and approximately 5 months into her pregnancy. She had no insignia on her forehead. Teal'c found this strange but she had a nice smile and long brown hair. "A pleasure, sire." A soothing voice too.

They all sat around a wooden table inside their modest home.

"You say you can bring us soldiers?" Teal'c asked.

"I can. I hold allegiance with 17 tribes of Jaffa spread over 16 planets," Deryc said, not braggingly but beggingly.

"So I was told."

"You like Amazon women, eh Teal'c?" Aileia joked. "They speak highly of you, enough to recommend this trade, no?"

Teal'c raised an eyebrow at the pregnant woman and gave her a friendly smile. It was strange that Deryc let her sit in as well. But already Teal'c could see this was not an ordinary Jaffa nor an ordinary child.

Deryc ignored her remark and continued, "Anubis knows of me. I have hid in these hobbles long enough. My wife deserves the safety of the Tau'ri."

Aileia looked at him as if she did not agree. "Your wife does not think so," she said. "The hobbles are where the people are, where I want my child born. With the people as they fight for our cause."

"This is not the time, Aileia," he said calmly and turned back to Teal'c. She got up from the table and left the humble home, slamming the door as she left. "I need her safe, Master Teal'c. If you provide safety for my refugees, and for my people, I'll give you warriors."

Teal'c took one final look at the swinging door and agreed. He thought of Drey'auc.

He left swiftly through the busy village. It was a good hiding place for a Jaffa leader. He could easily slip through the crowd.

But then he saw her, Aileia, walking towards the deep forest. He was expected back but he decided to follow her. It was a short walk before she reached a clearing and a rocky seat which she took gladly. He didn't know why he wanted to follow her but there he was and there was no going back.

"Aileia?" he asked. "May I speak with you?"

She nodded and he sat down on the large rocks above her. "What is it, Master Teal'c? ...He said yes, didn't he?"

"He did. And I see why. He merely wishes to protect you and your child."

"Yeah, I suppose. But these hobbles are what we're fighting for. We're no different than any of these people. I cannot leave them behind after they welcomed us without question."

"We can offer them sanctuary. I cannot promise it for everyone but those in imminent danger can be easily relocated."

"You think I haven't told them that?" she whispered to herself more than Teal'c. He heard her but kept quiet. "They will not leave their homes lightly. Nor should they have to. We're just peasents caught in the slaughter."

"You are not Jaffa, are you?" he asked, intrigued by her words and speech in general. She spoke like a Tau'ri.

"No, sire. I was born free. I'll die free."

"What about your child?"

He had struck a chord. She looked up quickly. Sometimes it was hard for her to realize she had another to care for. She couldn't be reckless anymore. Teal'c could tell she didn't follow Deryc. She led beside him. It was admirable, he thought.

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Jack saw her eyes open and he felt his blood move again. "Sam?" he asked, getting up off his seat, throwing his book to oblivion. He was pretty sure he hit a nurse from the nose and the body that thud to the ground but he didn't care. "Damn it's good to see you up."

But Sam did not speak back, simply smirked deviously and caressed his cheek before moving her hand to his neck and begin to choke the life from him.

Her eyes glowed an ominous gold and Jack knew. Sam had lost the fight.

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To be continued in PART SIXTEEN:

--What will Ba'al do now that he's in Sam's body?

--Why is Jack so unfeeling about the deaths he'll cause by not telling them the Goa'uld is Ba'al?

--Will they find Dr. Frasier?

--Is Adrienne falling in love with Daniel or is it just the excuse she gave him, the homing beacon of the previously Ascended?

--Will Adrienne's true extent of power be revealed?

--Is Jack willing to kill the woman he loves to save the world?

--What of this Deryc and Aileia? More lambs for the slaughter?

--And finally... Is that really Jack?

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So sorry for the delay! It was Spring Break down here and I'd left this chapter in school. But don't worry. I was still writing. The final two scenes have been written and most of PART SIXTEEN. I think I cried while writing them. They're quite possibly the saddest chapters I've yet to write. But don't worry. Expect PART SIXTEEN in less than two days time. WARNING: Unexpected character death approaches... swiftly and frequently.

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