LJQ: I'm glad you did. Lots of familiar faces so people know who's who and where they are.
Chapter 8
Daniel came back into the infirmary and took a seat on the opposite side of Sam that Jack was on. A few moments later Teal'C looked over to the door again.
"Jonas Quinn," Teal'C greeted, gaining the attention of everyone else who was awake, "welcome back to Earth."
"Thanks Teal'C," Jonas smiled as he laid down on one of the empty beds.
"May I enquire as to who you are with?"
"Tabitha," she spoke up, "I accidentally arrived on Jonas' world and kinda… stuck to him ever since."
"I'm Daniel Jackson," Daniel introduced, "that's Teal'C and Master Bra'tac, the young man on the bed is Teal'C's son, Ry'ac, this is Jack O'Neill and Sam Carter, and I do believe Janet went to help whoever else you brought through with you."
"Ma'at," Jonas supplied, "Selket's dead and Shait's truly gone evil."
"Tabitha," Jacob greeted as he entered the infirmary.
"Selmak."
"You okay?" he asked as he walked towards her.
"Jonas was caught, I went to get him and came back with Ma'at as well," Tabitha explained, "she'd been severely beaten."
"What of Selket and Shait?"
"Selket is dead and Shait has allied herself with Khnum."
"Khnum?" Jacob repeated slowly.
Tabitha only nodded. "Weren't you meant to make sure he never got another host?"
"That's what I thought was happening," Selmak spoke up, "obviously he managed to get free, find a host and this seducing of Shait to the Dark Side shows how much power he has, she's one of the strongest minded people I know."
"Well it's happened and we just have to live with it."
A silence settled over the infirmary as what Selmak just stated slowly began to sink in.
"Are you and Jonas Quinn in a relationship?" Teal'C broke the silence.
"Why do you ask?" Tabitha asked slowly after turning to look at Jonas for a moment.
"I did not mean to offend you."
"You didn't, I just wanted to know why you thought that."
"I sensed that there was more to your relationship, than just friendship, that you were not speaking of."
"Well, you were right. We are closer than just friends."
"Then I congratulate you both," Teal'C bowed his head slightly.
"But why can't I be invited?" Jason whined as he followed Charlie into the lift.
"I told you. Because," she smiled.
"That's not a good reason," he crossed his arms and pouted slightly.
"Yes it is," she turned and slowly moved closer, "you're just jealous that you didn't think to use it first."
"Please?" he whined again; "I'll behave."
"You're still not invited," Charlie smiled as she started walking out of the lift.
After a moment Jason followed her.
"I'm not going to leave you alone until you agree to let me come."
"Whatever," Charlie smiled as she began to walk slightly faster.
After a few minutes they both arrived in the infirmary.
"Please?" Jason whined, getting down on his knees.
"For the last bloody time, I am NOT inviting you to come!" Charlie exclaimed before heading over to Daniel.
"What can Captain Mendelo not attend?" Teal'C asked, one eyebrow raised.
"Don't worry about it Teal'C," Charlie smiled before turning to face a rather confused Daniel, "Dr. Jackson. I have been requested by the others to invite you to England for a week. You do have the right to refuse this request."
"By who?" Daniel asked.
"Fellow archaeologists. Every year they put on a medieval fair. They'd like you to attend."
"So you invite him but not me?" Jason came and stood next to Charlie and pouted again.
"I told you. You're not an archaeologist. You can't come."
"Neither are you!" Jason pointed out.
"But I'm a professional pirate," Charlie grinned.
"What?"
"Exactly."
"Please let me come. I'll even put on one of the dresses!"
"As funny as that would be to see…" Charlie paused for a moment, and looked at a hopeful Jason, "no."
"Can I get some more information on this fair?" Daniel inquired.
"Sure, I'll send you a copy of the info. Travel and accommodation is all arranged," Charlie explained before leaving with Jason chasing after again.
"What's with those two?" Jacob asked, breaking the silence.
"Captain's Barker and Mendelo care a great deal for each other," Teal'C explained, "that much should be obvious."
"Why is he willing to wear a dress?" Jonas looked over at everyone.
"He's upset… Charlie invited the women and… not him," a weak voice spoke up.
Everyone looked over to see Sam slowly looking around.
"Sam?" Jacob asked as he came over and stood next to her.
"Hey dad," she smiled weakly.
"My Lady," a Jaffa knelt down in front of Shait, "two of the prisoners have escaped."
"Which prisoners?" Shait turned to face the Jaffa.
"Ma'at and Jonas Quinn," the Jaffa kept his head down, pausing slightly before continuing, "it looks to have been done by Tabitha."
After a few moments of silence Shait stood up and stormed out of the room to tell Khnum.
Along the way to Khnum's chambers everyone moved out of her way and bowed their head's respectively as she passed. Shait paused before the doorway to Khnum's chambers.
The doors slid open and she walked inside. Once she was in the doors closed behind her.
"What news?" Khnum stood up and walked over towards her.
"Jonas and Ma'at have escaped," she replied, not looking at Khnum.
"Who got them out?"
"Tabitha."
Silence descended over the two of them. Khnum raised his hand and hit the side of Shait's face, knocking her to the ground.
"Charlie, you got a minute?" Alan asked as he walked into her room.
"Sure, what is it?" she turned to the door and saw the other three members of her team standing there.
"Why are you being so mean to Jason?" Ben broke the silence that had settled.
"I'm not. I cannot invite him to come."
"But he could go anyway?" Alan inquired.
"Yeah. I'm inviting people to take part who I was asked to."
"So you dragged us here, telling us she was being mean, only to find out you didn't understand the situation properly?" Ben turned to Jason.
"I… er…" he quickly ran over and hid behind Charlie, "save me!"
Charlie grinned and shook her head slightly.
"You guys can go now," she told Ben and Alan.
"Next time, try to think," Ben sighed before the two of them left the room.
"Why did you just tell me?" Jason pouted.
"Why didn't you just ask?" Charlie replied before going back to sorting out her books.
"I…" Jason paused in though, "you want any help?"
"Would be nice," she smiled.
"I'll go find someone then," Jason began walking towards the door.
Jason immediately turned when he felt something hit the back of his head. Charlie smiled innocently at him.
"That does it," he started walking closer.
"Does what?"
Jason grabbed her and started tickling her. She struggled to get free and eventually gave up, waiting for him to finish tickling her. Once he'd stopped she managed to wriggle out of his grasp and move away from him.
"Why you moving away from me?" he pouted slightly.
"Because you won't help me."
"Yes I will."
"Then sit on the bed and stay there," she walked over and started removing the books from the box again, "you're going to get in the way otherwise."
"How is this helping?" Jason asked as he sat down on the bed and watched her.
"You're keeping me company."
"After you're done can we do something I wanna do?" Jason broke the silence.
"As long as it's not too ridiculous."
"I'm offended," he cried out in mock-shock as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Good," Charlie grinned as she put the books on the bookcase.
Ma'at opened her eyes and looked around the room. Her confusion was evident on her face. This was not the cell that she had been in before. She tried to remember what had happened but she couldn't. She looked over to her right and saw someone sitting on the stool next to her bed.
"Glad to see you're feeling better," Tabitha smiled.
"How…" Natalie began.
"Got you and Jonas out. Brought you back to Earth."
"Selket, she…"
"Natalie, I'm sorry," Tabitha reached out and took her hand as tears began running down Natalie's face, "the best thing to do is rest and heal so that we can get Shait and bring her to justice."
Natalie slowly nodded and used the back of her other hand to wipe away her tears.
"Sleep now. It'll do you some good."
Natalie slowly closed her eyes and settled back down to sleep. Tabitha let go of her hand and turned to see Jonas standing behind her.
"How's she doing?" Jonas asked quietly.
"Ma'at's doing her best to heal her, but it's taking a lot out of her to do it," Tabitha turned to face him, "Natalie's devastated."
"How about you?"
"I'm fine. Just a little tired," Tabitha replied trying and failing to conceal a yawn.
"Come on," Jonas took her hand and led her out of the room, "you're not going to be any help if you're tired."
"Aren't you just peachy?" Tabitha muttered.
"Life is good."
Alan turned to face Ben, giving him an odd look. The two of them were in the commissary having dinner and had been sitting in silence.
"And what, oh fearless leader, enabled you to decide that?"
"Well, Charlie and Jason are okay, SG-1 seems to be okay again and well, nothing else has gone drastically wrong."
"So what about Selket being killed, Ma'at being tortured and the fact that their hosts were twin sisters?" Alan inquired, sitting back in his seat.
"Erm, okay that's not peachy. What about that other one?"
"Shait?"
"Yeah, her."
"She's the one who did that to them. Defected to the Dark Side, apparently."
"Ooh, nasty."
Alan smiled and shook his head. They'd been friends for years and he still found Ben to be odd sometimes.
"You my friend, need a life."
"I have one, it's wrought with danger at every turn in the search to get to the hidden thingamabob at the end."
Alan laughed and shook his head. This job was never going to be boring with Ben around.
TBCI know it's taken a while but inspiration is gradually running out. So please let me know of any ideas you have. And if you're reading this and don't review, could you please just review to say that you do read it. Please?