Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate SG1 or any of it's characters, I post this strictly for entertainment purposes.

Chapter 12

Daniel pulled Sam quickly to the doors of the reception hall. All around in a panic, the wedding attendees scattered, most heading for the shelter of the building as well. He held Sam close to him, not willing to let her leave his sight, his heart racing a million miles a minute for this was his worst nightmare coming to life.

Cam raced up to them, Carolyn by his side and his phone pressed against his ear with a finger in his other so he could hear the voice on the other side through the shouts and screams of the wedding guests.

"I'm coming back to the mountain." He shouted. "Tell the president we'll be there as soon as we can!" He flipped his phone shut and turned to his wife, Sam and Daniel. "Those ships are awfully familiar aren't they Sam?" Cam asked her, then looked to Daniel.

"You know who they are?" Daniel asked, he had never seen anything like these vessels before.

"Daniel," Sam explained with a grim face. "these are the ships that attacked us and took Vala."

"What?" His eyes widened in shock and he found it hard to breath. This truly was his nightmare as he stared out into the sky at the approaching ships.

" We need to get to the SGC, let's get to my truck!" Cam shouted, snapping him out of his panic.

"What about Mark and everyone else here?" Sam questioned, concerned for her brother, looking around for him, but failing to find him.

"We don't have time Sam, I'm sorry. We gotta go now!"

Sam nodded reluctantly, her military training taking over. She kicked off her shoes as did Carolyn as the four ran to the front door towards the parking lot. It was then that the ships in orbit began their assault. Fire rained down on them as they ran for Mitchell's truck. Behind them, Daniel caught sight of Walter Harriman running for them. A blast of heat seared across his skin as a beam of energy swept across the parking lot, barely missing their location. Daniel fell back, and watched in horror as the energy enveloped Walter, incinerating him as he ran. Cam grabbed Daniel and pushed him forward to keep them running towards their goal of the truck.

Once to the vehicle they jumped in, Mitchell starting up the truck and peeling off, tires squealing as they burned rubber over the pavement. Down the road they raced, dodging fire balls and explosions. The base was only a couple of miles away, but it might as well have been all the way across the planet for all Daniel was concerned. Cam floored it, barely missing the oncoming traffic as other panicked motorists attempted to flee the city.

"Look out!" He heard Sam cry out to Mitchell. Still half a mile from the main gate to the mountain, a huge ball of fire struck the road beside the truck, sending it flipping and crashing onto its side, tossing the occupants inside around like rag-dolls. The truck skidded to a halt, still on its side.

Groggy from hitting his head against the side of the door during the impact, Daniel reached over for Sam. She lay on the side that had taken the brunt of the impact and he feared the worst, thankfully he felt for her pulse and found it to be strong and steady.

"Sam!" he called out. She moaned, blood stained her blond hair red, but he couldn't make out any other injuries from his vantage point. He unbuckled himself and noticed that Carolyn was doing the same from her seat as Cam was also out cold. Explosions continued to rock the world outside, but Daniel's only concern at the moment was getting Sam out and helping his friends get to the safety of the SGC.

From the front seat he heard Mitchell stir and groan as he opened his eyes and turned to his wife. "You okay?" he asked her weakly. She nodded. "I'm fine, but we need to get out of here."

"We're going to have to make a run for it." Daniel told him as he worked to free Sam from her seatbelt. "Can you make it out?"

Mitchell nodded and found success in releasing himself from his seat belt. Carolyn pushed against her door, but found she could not open it. Daniel freed Sam from her belt and tried his own door, it too was jammed and not budging.

Cam turned in his seat and raised his feet towards the windshield. He kicked desperately against the window until it cracked. He continued to pound on it with his feet until the safety glass popped out of its mouldings and he was able to completely kick out all of the glass. Grabbing Carolyn, he helped her out of the vehicle. Daniel climbed over the front seat and situated himself so her could haul Sam over the seats as well. He worried that he might cause her more injury by moving her in such a way, but the need to flee the broken vehicle outweighed that concern and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her over the seats, dragging her out of the truck through the windshield.

He found Cam and Carolyn at the other side of the sideways truck, taking shelter from the maelstrom from above. Daniel laid Sam on the ground carefully and Carolyn began checking her for injury. Obviously her head was a concern, but the doctor could find no other serious conditions for which Daniel was eternally grateful.

The entrance to the base was visible from their point of view, but the alien weapons fire was intense. They were going to have to take their chances and make a run for the base on foot. With Sam still unconscious he was going to have to carry her.

Without having to say a word to one another they each knew what they had to do. Daniel had to hike Sam's dress up to her waist so her could put her into a proper fireman's carry over his shoulder and Carolyn, unconcerned with modesty at the moment, took off her heavy gown, not wanting it to slow her down, stripping to only her slip.

Cam grabbed Carolyn and kissed her deeply and passionately. "No matter what happens. I love you more than anything." he told her after they broke apart. With tears in her eyes she replied "I love you too."

Cam looked back to Daniel, who had situated Sam over his shoulders and nodded before he and Carolyn took off running. Spurred into action by another nearby explosion, Daniel too sprinted as fast as he could for the gate entrance. He could see troops at the gate attempting to bring down with alien aircraft with surface to air missiles and other conventional weapons, but none of them appeared to have much of an impact on their attack.

Had Daniel been younger, the sprint towards the mountain with Sam on his back would not have been such a hardship, but as a middle aged man that had found little excuse for physical activity over the past decade, his lungs burned and he had to will his legs to keep turning over. Four hundred meters to go before they reached the entrance to the mountain and another blast from the alien energy weapons sent him and Sam sprawling to the ground. His ears rang and his head was spinning from the impact, blood flowing into his eyes as he rolled over to Sam, who was still unconscious. Weak and unsure if he could rise again, he brushed her hair out of her face, her expression peaceful and in contrast to the world being destroyed around them.

He gathered her to his arms, at least if they were going to die, then they would die together. He held her tight, doing his best to shield her from the heat and fire that surrounded them and started to tell her what he thought would be his last words to her when he suddenly felt strong arms hauling him up from under his arms and taking Sam from him his grasp.

"No!" He shouted, unable to see who was taking her from him in the confusion. He found himself being half dragged and half carried between two men, but his only thoughts were on Sam. Where was she where were they taking her? It wasn't until they reached the relative safety of the mountain that he came to realize that he had been rescued by several brave airmen and marines that had run out to retrieve them. He saw Sam being placed on a stretcher and ran to her side, grabbing her hand as they raced into the mountain. He was relieved to see Cam and Carolyn waiting for them on the inside as they all boarded the elevator and descended into the deep confines of the SGC.

OOOOO

Sam woke to a monstrous headache. She couldn't remember for the life of her why she was in this place. Where had she been before this? Something had happened but she couldn't recall it. It frustrated her for it was right there, the memory was so close she could almost touch it, but it was just out of her reach.

She felt a weight on her bed next to her legs and she ventured to open her eyes to see what it was. The light burned her retinas, and flared the pain in her head, she groaned involuntarily, but she forced her lids to stay open. Looking down, she saw her hand being held and the top of a sandy and grey head resting on the bed. Recognition hit her then and she remembered it all at once. The wedding, Daniel, fire, ships, running and the truck turning over before she was thrown into darkness.

"Daniel?" She gasped. He stirred beside her, his head snapping up. His glasses were gone and blood caked his sooty face.

"Sam!" He was immediately up and kissing her cheeks. She wrapped her arms around him and they held each other. Pulling back and laying her back onto the bed he looked at her with probing eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"Head hurts, but okay otherwise." looking at him, she could see from his glassy eyes that he was in pain as well and she was concerned by all the blood in his hair and on his face. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." She knew he was lying, but she had not the strength the call him out on it.

"What happening out there?" She asked.

"The ships have stopped firing for now, but we still don't know who they are or why they're here. They're still in orbit and have stationed themselves over some of the largest cities in the world, like New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris just to name a few. We've tried to contact them, but they aren't responding."

"What about Cam and Carolyn, did they make it back here too?"

"We're just fine, Sam." A voice called over Daniel's shoulder and approached. Sam was relieved to see Carolyn, now dressed in scrubs instead of her bridesmaid dress, come near and check her vitals.

"How are you doing Sam?" She asked.

"I'm a little foggy, but I'm okay." Carolyn nodded and turned her attention to Daniel pointing at him.

"You, Dr. Jackson need to get in bed now. Sam's okay and you need to take care of that concussion you've got too."

"You said you were fine." Sam stated reprovingly to Daniel.

"I had to make sure you were going to be okay and I wanted to be here when you woke up"

"C'mon, Daniel." Carolyn grabbed him by the elbow and lead him to the bed next to hers, his knees giving way a bit as he stood, but she had a secure hold on him and prevented him from falling.

"Daniel!" Sam called out.

"I'm okay." He told her with a wave of his hand. "I just got a little dizzy." Carolyn laid him down and he closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. She could see from the tension on his face, that he was indeed in a lot of pain, but not only that, but there was the emotional strain as well. Their world was in deep peril and what could they do about it? She reached across for him, but she couldn't reach him. Seeing her strain, Carolyn came to Sam's bed and pushed it closer to Daniel's.

"There, that should be easier for you two. I've got to go, as you can see, we're pretty swamped in here." She left and Sam took Daniel's hand in hers. He turned his weary eyes to her and silently they contemplated their situation.

Just as Sam was beginning to feel sleep tug at her once again, a bright blue light filled the Infirmary. She sat up, as did Daniel. She regretted the sudden change of position and the effect it had on her headache, but she needed to see what was happening. All around Airmen and soldiers gasped as one by one a beam moved through the room, scanning each person from head to toe before moving on to the next.

"Sam!" Daniel cried as the beam hit her. She felt nothing as the light passed over her body.

"I'm okay. I think it's just a scanning device." She postulated. The beam found Daniel as well and Sam held her breath as it ran up and down his body. It seemed to linger over him longer than it had the others and she grew concerned.

Without warning the beam cut off and she let out the breath she had been holding. Everyone in the infirmary looking around, unsure of what had just happened.

"I think it's over." Daniel said tentatively, looking around. "Maybe we should ca-" His voice was cut off mid-sentence as another bright light flashed, causing Sam to shut her eyes against its blinding effects. When she opened them again she cried out in horror.

"NO! Goddammit, NO!" Daniel was gone, his bed empty.

Ugh, I've got the flu. So, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to work on this much more before I start to feel worse, but I hope to get back to it soon when I'm better. Anyway, hope you like this one, sorry to leave it off on yet another cliffhanger, but I'll try not to leave you hanging for too long.