The Walkthrough

A/N – Found more spoilers for this. Upgrades and Divide and Conquer. Now on with the story. Remember to review.

The Walkthrough – Chapter 5

After what felt like a lifetime, Jack inserted the Tok'ra recall device, firstly on Sam, and then on himself. He really hated those things. It always gave him a headache afterwards, which no amount of aspirins could calm. He stared down at his hand with the deactivation device in. He closed his eyes and pressed the button.

Instantly he felt himself being transported to what felt like another world. It was rather like his first experience through the gate, without the freezing cold. He felt himself spinning and rushing forward. But suddenly the feeling stopped. Cautiously he opened his eyes. He looked down at his hand, and the deactivation devise was still in his hand as Jacob had told him. With that worry out of the way he looked around and had no idea where he was or where Sam was. He heard kids screaming not far away.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" he heard the kids screaming. He walked over to where a circle had formed around two boys fighting. One of the lads, lanky and brown haired, was on the ground while a plump blonde was kicking him hard in the stomach. Initially jack was going to step in and break up the fight, but then he remembered that this was not real. This was Sam's mind. So where was Sam?

He looked around again, and he saw a small blonde girl crying over by the jungle gym. He somehow knew it was her. She had the same bright blue eyes that he loved. He walked over to her and sat down beside her.

"Hello Sam," he said, without looking at her, but instead watched what she was watching, which was the fight.

"Why don't they stop?" the young Sam asked.

"Stop what?" Jack asked.

"Beating him," she said still crying holding on to the bars of the jungle gym tightly.

"Beating who?"

"My brother," little Sam replied.

"I don't know. Why don't you stop it?" Jack suggested.

"I can't," she cried even harder while shaking her head.

He turned and looked at her crying, and put his arm around her, but she shrugged him off, and walked off away from the fight.

Jack turned to watch the fight but found himself at a different location. He was sitting still but in-between two gravestones now. He looks up and sees Jacob and a young Sam standing together, Jacob dressed in his formals, and Sam dressed in a simple black trouser suit. Sam was crying, while Jacob remained stern.

Jack got up and slowly moved closer. He circled the freshly filled grave they were standing beside. As he moved round he was able to see the name on the gravestone. Elizabeth Carter. It was Sam's mum's grave. This was her funeral.

"Dad, can I have a moment alone please?" Sam asked her dad. He didn't say anything. He just weakly smiled, kissed her and walked off towards the car parked not too far away. Sam knelt down in front of the grave. Jack stood behind her and watched the scene unfold in front of him.

"Mum, I'm so sorry," Sam cried. "This is all my fault. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have been in that car. Dad will never forgive me. I'll never forgive myself. I miss you mom."

Sam cried harder now. Jack didn't know what to do. He wanted to comfort her, but he didn't know how. He knew oh too well that no amount of words can bring them back or change how you feel about it. The guilt for Charlie's death still ran through his veins but over the years he had learnt to cope, as Sam must have done. There was still nagging at the back of his mind. Why was she showing him this? She knew he was there, but refused to talk to him.

He heard something that sounded like someone kicking something and he turned around to yet again, find himself in a new situation. He was in an elevator. The Sam he knew was kicking the elevator walls, and slumped down in the corner and cried.

"Cassie," Jack said realising what this was. "This is when we thought Cassie was going to explode," he said out loud. He bent down to talk to her again.

"Sam, Cassie didn't die here," Jack tried to reassure her.

"I know," a teary eyed Sam replied. "But she almost did."

"No, she didn't. She went and lived with Janet. Sam you know this," Jack said frustrated. He was never good at puzzles, and a woman's mind is more than just a puzzle, it's a mystery. Sam got up and stopped the elevator and went back down again.

"Sam, you don't have to go through this memory. Cassie was safe at the end of it," Jack said trying to urge her. She barged past him, and back into the chamber. He opened the door and saw Sam hugging Cassie, her protective arms holding on to her so tightly.

"Sam," he said gently, but she was not listening to him anymore. Annoyed that she won't listen him, he turned and opened the door. As he opened it, he saw not the corridor to the base, but Sam's house. In her bedroom to be precise. She was over by her wooden drawers. She lifted a small black box, which had been sitting on top of the drawers, placed it in the top drawer, and closed the drawer again. It was a simple movement, but Jack knew it was significant, he just didn't know why. As quickly as he had entered her room he found himself in the isolation room back at the SGC.

He walked in the room and saw Sam sitting on a chair with everyone around her. Anise was standing in front of her with the Za'tarc machine. "Oh this memory," Jack said sarcastically.

He looked up from Sam and saw himself. It was a scary sight indeed. Jack wasn't expecting to find himself in here. But that got Jack thinking. Why was she showing him this? He was there. He knew the outcome of this event. It didn't make sense. Once again, Jack listened to what Sam had said three years ago. It was strange, hearing her say it over again. He had replayed the moment in his mind ever since, but actually witnessing it from another prospective was peculiar.

"When I awoke, I found Colonel O'Neill unconscious on the other side of the barrier. The armbands had reached their maximum ability and subsequently abandoned the user. This meant however that I was on one side of the barrier, and Colonel O'Neill on the other. I was trapped. There was no way round and no way for the barrier to open."

"How did you feel?" Anise asked.

"Scared. I knew the C4 was going to blow in less than a minute."

"Yet Colonel O'Neill tried to save you?"

"Yeah," she said glancing at Jack. "I told him to leave, but he refused. He tried to smash the barrier down, to get me out. But the force field was strong. No matter what he did, it was not coming down."

"But he could have saved himself." It was a statement, rather than a question.

"Yeah," Sam said quietly.

"But…" Anise said sensing something else.

"But I'm glad he didn't. I… I wanted him there. I needed him there." Again she looked at Jack. Jack remembered this moment well. He could feel her agony at relaying this very private information to everyone. He wanted to jump in and stop it at that moment. But he couldn't, the programme needed her to finish the story before she could escape.

"Why?"

"Because he is my friend," Sam said, not wanting to open her heart to the whole SGC.

"Sam," Jack said softly. Once again, their eyes locked. Jack, who was now standing behind Sam, watched himself stare at her, helping her continue the narrative.

"Because Jack means so much more to me than I will ever be able to show."

"Yeah," Jack said sadly to himself as he found himself once again at the playground. He had seen the images once through, and still was no closer to finding a way to convince Sam to leave her mind. There didn't seem to be a pattern with all of them. So, slowly he made his way over to Sam, to 'try' and talk to her.

"Hello again. Are you ready to talk to me yet?" Jack asked sitting down beside her.

"It depends what you want to talk about," she replied without taking her eyes of her brother.

"I know what this one's about," Jack stated. Little Sam turned to him. "You couldn't protect your brother from that bully."

"There was nothing I could do."

"But it wasn't your fault. This is school. Things like that happen. Your brother did not blame you for this."

"But I should have been able to protect him," and she ran off from him. Jack tried to follow, but she knew exactly were she was going, and he did not. He kept bumping into children playing, but he kept her in his sights still. He finally caught up with her.

"Sam, listen to me. It was not your duty to protect your brother. Your brother can look after himself," he tried to reassure her.

"You just don't understand!" she screamed at him. She ran off again. Jack was not going to chase after her. This was her mind after all, he could very easily get lost. He didn't have to wait long before the next image came forth.

The graveyard scene. Jack waited for Jacob to leave before he talked to her. He sat down beside her (well he wasn't going to kneel, he still had bad knees you know). She started her piece, but Jack cut her off. He didn't need to hear it again.

"Sam, this was an accident. You had no control over it. It was not your fault."

"I should have protected her," Sam said.

"You did your best."

"Well, it wasn't good enough was it? She's still dead."

"Sam, don't you think me, of all people, know about this. You can go over and over this memory in your head, changing what you did, hoping to change the outcome. But the outcome never changes. Nothing you did or didn't do caused this. It was not your fault," Jack softly explained.

"I loved her and she died because I didn't protect. That makes it my fault." Jack got a sneaking feeling he wasn't going to win this one.

"Sam," he said going to put his hand on her shoulder. But she got up quickly and angrily stormed off towards her dad.

"Believe me," Jack muttered as the scene changed to the elevator. More crying from Sam. Jack could hardly bare it. He hated to see Sam so upset, especially since he didn't seem to be helping.

"Sam, Cassie was OK after this. But she needs your help now, or what you think happened here will actually happen," Jack said changing his tactics.

"I can't protect her. I could here. I can't now," Sam cried.

"Yes you can. You've never let a challenge beat you before. This is no different. She needs you, and you can help her."

"I can't."

"Have you turned to Orvil all of a sudden? What do you mean you can't?"

"I just know I can't protect her." And she ran out of the elevator again. Jack followed, but as he opened the door, it was not the scene with her and Cassie that he saw, but the image in Sam's bedroom.

"What do you keep bringing me here? What's in the box?" Jack asked Sam. But Sam did not answer him. It was such a short scene that Jack could not say much before he came into the next image.

He was at the Za'tarc screening again. He bent down to talk to the seated Sam.

"I get the other three, apart from that little scene. But this? It doesn't add up. The others are about protecting people. This is not. Sam?" Jack asked.

"This is important," she simply said.

"Why? Because in the other ones you failed to protect others, but you managed to protect yourself very well here," Jack said. It came out not as he intended. And it seemed to anger Sam.

"You've been trying to convince me that things aren't my fault, but you've just admitted that they were! You're a hypocrite Jack. You have no idea what I am going through!" Sam shouted at him. Other Sam's from the other images appeared in the room.

"This has nothing to do with you," the little Sam said.

"I'm just trying to help. Cassie needs your help," Jack pleaded.

"I can't protect her," young Sam said.

"I can't protect anyone," Za'tarc Sam said.

Suddenly Jack felt himself being pushed back and felt like he was falling. Falling into oblivion. The falling continued until he felt the floor, with a bump. He was back at Sam's house, lying on the floor no more than two feet away from where he started. He sat up.

"She threw me out!" he shouted realising what had happened. He laid back down heavily, hitting his head off the floor. "Now what?"

He wasn't getting through to her. He knew he wasn't right for this job. None of it made sense. He thought it would all add up, but there was so much more complicated than that. The Za'tarc scene confused him. The others were definitely about protecting others. That was certainly not. And that little scene with the black box was also bugging him. What significance did that play?

Deciding he needed a break, he went into the kitchen and had a glass of water. He also decided it would be best to radio in with his progress, or lack of it. Maybe they would send someone else in.

He picked up the phone and dialled the SGC, a number he knew well. After taking five minutes to go through security checks, it got through to Hammond and Jacob.

"So how are things going?" Hammond asked.

"Not good. Carter threw me out," Jack said honestly.

"Ha!" Jacob laughed. "That's my girl."

"Jacob," Jack said annoyed. That recall device was giving him a headache already.

"Sorry Jack."

"So what now?" Jack asked.

"I told you Jack," Jacob replied. "Try harder."

"She won't talk to me Jacob."

"Why don't you go and get some rest, and try again later, once you have rested," Hammond suggested.

"Yes sir," Jack replied.

"Good luck Jack," Jacob quickly said before the connection was cut.

"I need it," Jack said to himself as he replaced the handset. Jack checked on Sam, who had not moved and went upstairs for a lie down. His head was really throbbing now. Maybe a lie down will do him good. As his head touched the pillow, he drifted off to sleep.

"Do you really believe he can do this Jacob?" Hammond asked once he put the handset down.

"I do George. Maybe, he's the only one who can," Jacob replied.

"But she threw him out?" Hammond said, not able to repress a smile creeping across his lips.

"I know my daughter. She is as stubborn as me. So that's how I know Jack will get through to her," Jacob said confidently.

"How?"

"Because he can touch her heart."

A/N – Hello! I'm stopping it here (aren't I mean!). Next Chapter will be… Cassie! (I'm really mean!). Hope you're enjoying it. The little button below is waiting for you to press it. Don't disappoint!