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A/N. Back from travels. Thanks to all for reviews.
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Jack expelled a breath of relief that he didn't know he was holding when Carter finally woke out of whatever trance they'd put her.
"Sir?" She stared up at him, her eyes wide, glazed. He released her slowly, still supporting her back.
"Can you move?"
"I - yes." He steadied her as she stood. She rubbed her hands over her face, pushed her hair back away from her eyes and finally looked up and around at the emptiness now surrounding them.
"What happened?"
He didn't answer her, unsure what to say. "They're gone, all of it's gone now. We need to head to the back-up site. I don't want to be here if they decide to show up again tonight."
She stared at her hands. "The blood."
"It's gone, along with the bodies and … all the rest. Not our doing."
She grimaced, her expression dark and closed. "They said it was. They said I was responsible."
He helped her on with her backpack, saying nothing. It could wait.
She stilled, staring around her again.
He lifted his own pack to his shoulders, and then pulled her away from the back of the cave.
"It wasn't real, Carter. Or if it was, it happened a long time ago. Daniel mentioned it, remember? He said they'd found a massacre in Butler Wash. Whatever's doing this was playing mind games."
He steadied her as she stumbled. "Are you sure you can move?"
He had to get her away, get them to a safe space. If she was compromised, it was going to be a hell of a trip down. He could strap her to him and hope the rope would hold, but it would be ugly in the dark of the night. He'd done something similar, once before, in the Middle East in a different lifetime, and didn't want to relive the experience.
"I – yes, sir." She focused on his face, and then grabbed the arms of her pack against her shoulders and shifted her gear.
He grimaced, expecting her answer, but not convinced. "Lead the way, Major."
He watched her movements carefully as they headed out of the cave and through the rock fall. She was steady throughout and found the way through without difficulty.
Jack breathed another sigh of relief. Whatever the entities had done to her seemed to be fading.
When they reached the edge of the ledge, he rechecked the ropes to make sure they were secure and then looked at Carter. She was crouched on the ground behind him, resting, her back against the cliff wall. "Take off the pack. You'll take point. I'll lower the packs after, and then head down."
He belayed her from above, keeping her secure, watching as she climbed down off the ledge and rappelled down the cliff. He lowered the packs after and then belayed himself.
They made it down to the lower ledge.
He took point to get down to the wash, taking both of their packs. He used the flashlight, making sure Carter could see as they descended.
They made solid ground, the bottom of the wash.
He turned off the light, an unwanted beacon in the night.
Carter stumbled again once in the darkness of the wash, but it seemed to Jack that her stride was more steady and sure as they climbed up the rocky path to the backup site, barely visible under the dim moonlight.
Finally, they were there. He watched as Carter navigated a rocky patch, ready to help, and then grabbed one of the water jugs they'd stashed. He handed it to her, and gestured for her to drink and then rest. She did both without protest, which bothered him more than he could explain, even to himself.
He took off the packs and set up camp. He didn't like that she was still subdued, although her gaze was pure steel, an icy determination covering her features.
Sleeping bags, food supplies, and equipment organized, he finally lit the sterno and then handed her a cup of hot broth he'd warmed. She seemed to come out of some sort of funk and scrunched toward the sterno, the light, where he had positioned the stove.
She sat next to him, cross-legged, and blew on the hot liquid, warming her hands on the cup. The chill of the late fall desert night settled around them. He looked out of the enclave and down into the darkness of the wash below, trying to wrap his head around what they'd seen and what he needed to do next.
He asked the obvious, yet again, a third time that night. He hoped the cliché was going to ring true. "Are you alright?"
She looked into the small fire, still glowing. "Yes. I think I am… now. Thank you."
He looked away. He had to know more, he was obligated to know more, but he didn't want to push her. Not yet. He futzed with the stove and heated more water for an MRE for them both, and then handed one to her when it was hot. She took it, saying nothing. He prepped his own, turned off the sterno, and sat down next to her, their backs against the side of the enclave, the moonlight barely visible.
She wasn't eating. He cocked his head and shifted his hand to hers, reminding her of the necessity without words. She shook her head and concentrated on finishing the food.
He stowed the empty cartons in the packs and relit the sterno, heating more water, then handed her another drink.
She stared at the cup.
"You need to hydrate, Carter. Desert country."
They sat in silence, the night enclosing them in the cave.
She finished her drink and finally broke the quiet.
"What do you think is doing this?" She paused. "*How* could they do it?"
He shook his head, not sure which question she asked; the science of it or the bloodthirsty nature of the scene. " I don't know. But whatever's behind it has an … ugly sense of justice."
She shifted, thinking, her hand beating a rhythm against the ground. He wasn't sure she was even aware of the nervous motion.
"It wasn't a hallucination. The bodies were solid, real. Their dress, the smell…the blood was… real. And Ruess bled when you shot him."
Jack glanced at her, surprised at the comment. "I know, but how do you? You were in some sort of… trance." He got to the point he'd been avoiding. " Do you remember what happened? "
"I remember that I couldn't move. I could see and hear everything you were doing, but I couldn't even blink."
He grimaced, pushing her further. "What else? Ruess said they wanted you to experience something, a message. What was it?"
She shook her head, saying nothing, her eyes turned away towards the canyon floor and the darkness.
He let it go for now. She'd been through enough. He'd push again later. "It's over."
She put her chin on her knees, her arms around her legs, clearly unable to let go of the memory, the one she wouldn't share yet. "Do you really think we relived Daniel's massacre? That they sent us back in time and replayed the story for us, bringing Ruess along as narrator?"
He rubbed his eyes, suddenly exhausted. "I don't know. Is that even possible?"
He was annoyed and relieved at the same time by her question. Carter thinking meant that she was getting better, out of whatever had happened. The fact that she still wouldn't tell him what she'd experienced, was disturbing.
"I don't - yes, I suppose it is theoretically possible. Or they could have shown us a piece of an alternate reality. It's -"
He cut her off. Science was her refuge, her back up, her safe space. He needed her to think that through, but right now he needed to know what they'd told her, and if there was a threat there.
"Don't bother, Carter. If you think it might be the case, that's good enough for now. You can figure the rest out later. What did they say to you, what was the message?"
She shifted, her arm brushing his, and swallowed. "I – it's jumbled. I saw what you were doing, what was happening, and at the same time saw who had ordered it, how it was done. But it can't be right. What I saw couldn't be right.
"It- we should have had the camera. Then Daniel could have verified if the details of the … massacre were accurate or if it was all just -"
"Daniel bailed. And he took Teal'c and the camera with him." If he'd been pissed before, he was now more than pissed at the archaeologist for abandoning the mission plan.
He turned to look at her, and moved slightly closer, his arm solid against her. "We made it through, Carter. That's what matters now. " He grimaced. "As a first and second contact, it wasn't exactly our best, but then again, there have been worse."
She grimaced. "Permission to shoot Daniel when he finally shows?"
He smiled at the black humor, although there was a bite in her tone. "Considered it myself, but we can't do it. Like it or not, he's on Earth, a US citizen and a civilian. He has rights. But if we could, I'd be glad to let you have first shot."
"Thanks."
He cocked his head, thinking. "Besides, if we're right, those bodies were the Anasazi dead. We're going to need him to help decipher what's going on."
She swallowed. "They thought I was responsible."
"They thought you resembled something that was responsible. They were wrong."
"It has to be Jolinar."
"They don't know about the Gou'ald, Carter. There's something else going on."
She clearly didn't like his answer. For some reason, this time, she wanted to blame the Gou'ald.
"Why you? Why were they willing to welcome you?"
"I wish to hell I knew."
She bit her lip, thinking. "We need to contact the SGC to see if they picked up any emissions and let them know we're alright."
He was relieved to see that she was returning to the present, even if it was just thinking through the obvious next steps of the mission. "Yes, we do. And we need to go back and make sure that whatever it is is done playing for now.
"After that, we'll need to contact the local authorities to get rid of the body. Hammond wants this under the radar and the SGC can't copter in and they can't move in until the body's gone. We can't move it out without a lot of people asking questions about why the USAF retrieved a murder victim from the canyons."
He grimaced, thinking out loud. "We could just make him disappear." Off world, he'd do that without a second thought. Even on Earth, in hostile territory, he'd do the same. But this was different.
He continued. "But I think we need to know who he was. He clearly had something to do with this mess and the local authorities will probably be able to give us answers that aren't in any database."
She glanced at him, moving her hand against her jeans, unconsciously rubbing it clean. "You don't think there'll be anything there - in the cave."
He stopped her motion, covering his hand with hers. She stared back at him.
"I don't. It's not their MO. They've made their point for now. And they told us when they'd show again. In riddles -'at the center at the height of the time of renewal', whatever that means."
"And then we face the test."
"I am damned well not playing any more of their games until we have a better sense of what we're up against."
He shrugged. "We've faced worse arrogant bastards, even fake gods in gold skirts. We'll work it out."
"Yes, sir." But she didn't sound convinced. He removed his hand from hers and gestured towards the sleeping bags. "The satellite phone won't work here. We'll need to hike out to contact the SGC. It can wait until morning. Get some rest. I'll take watch. I slept in the truck."
She tightened her hand into a fist, rubbing her leg again, and then stopped herself. "I don't think I can. Not right now."
He turned away into the night. "Then grab a bag and a shoulder, Carter. We can keep watch together."
She did as he suggested and settled down next t him, encased in the bag, as they both stared out at the night.
He felt some satisfaction when she finally fell asleep. He stayed silent, thinking, watching over her, his arm around her to make them both more comfortable, as the night shadows disappeared and sunrise began to shimmer over the cliffs, bathing the wash in early sunlight.