A/N - My apologies once again for taking a week to update. Hope you find this chapter is worth the wait!
Chapter 6
Cowering in the corner of the cell, Sam began to lose all track of time. Something was in there with her - she was sure of it. She could smell the stench of death and decay surrounding it, and she could feel its cold, unfeeling eyes upon her, watching and waiting.
Whatever it was hadn't made a move against her yet, however. She tried to stay diligent, certain that if she slipped toward unconsciousness, the thing would surely attack. But it was a constant battle to stay awake, one she knew she was losing. Her injuries and exhaustion were simply more than she could handle.
She began to drift.
It was dark in the barracks, but she couldn't sleep. The memory of their earlier coupling, frantic and passionate, was too fresh in her mind. Though she had really only known him a handful of days, it seemed as though it was something she had wanted forever, that they were destined to be together.
Her desire kindled anew, she tried to look at the man sleeping just a few bunks over. His features were difficult to discern in the dim light, so before she even realized she had moved, she found herself standing by his bed. She studied his handsome face, completely peaceful in sleep, and reached out her hand to trace the line of his jaw. He stirred slightly but didn't wake.
Quietly, she undid the drawstring of her pants and let them fall to the floor. She hitched up her long shirt and crawled on top of the bed, straddling him. He woke instantly and grabbed her by her hips. "Shhhhhh," she said, then bent down and placed her lips on his, slowly increasing the pressure, her tongue teasing and tasting.
She pulled back to find him looking at her with an untamed heat. "Thera," he whispered, his voice low and rough, her name more statement than question. She answered by moving her hips against him and bringing her lips to his once more. He hardened beneath her, and she moaned his name before giving one last passing thought to the wisdom of finishing what she'd started in the middle of the sleeping barracks...
A darkness passed over her battered form, and she shuddered in her sleep.
She stood in Brenna's utilitarian office, staring not at Jonah but her commanding officer, her own sense of longing and loss reflected on his face. "Let's go home," he said quietly, before turning and walking out the door toward the Stargate.
When she rounded the corner behind him, she saw him standing in front of an active wormhole. He gestured for her to join him, then stepped into the shimmering event horizon. Fear welled up in her chest unexpectedly, and she quickly made her way up the steps to follow him. But just as she reached the top, the wormhole winked out of existence.
"Jonah!" she cried, though he was already gone.
She woke suddenly with the certainty that he had left her and was never coming back. She let out a sob as her heart was filled with an unimaginable despair.
It was at that moment that she realized the thing was upon her.
oOoOoOo
When the rings retracted, Jack, Daniel, and Jacob had their weapons ready, though there was little need. The room in which they found themselves was completely empty, save the traditional tacky Goa'uld decor.
"Think she knows we're here?" Jack asked, looking around the apparently abandoned space.
Jacob nodded. "You can count on it."
"So what now?"
Jacob crossed the room to look at a dimly lit display on the wall. "It is as I suspected," Selmak replied. "The Goa'uld have little imagination. This facility is laid out very much like a hak'tak."
Jack walked up beside him and took in the schematic in one glance. "Which means the snake is on the pel'tak," he said. "Let's move out." He readied his P90 and began heading toward the center of the structure.
Jacob followed, but Daniel hesitated. "Jack," he said, and the military man stopped and spun on his heel.
"Daniel?"
"She's got Sarah, Jack," he said, somewhat uncomfortably.
"She's got Carter, Daniel," the military man replied forcefully, trying without much luck to keep the irritation out of his voice.
Daniel took a deep breath. "I know. It's just...if we can do this without killing Sarah..."
"Even if we capture Osiris, Dr. Jackson," Selmak interrupted, "there is little chance we would be able to recover your friend."
Daniel closed his eyes briefly. "I realize that. But if we don't have to kill her, I'd appreciate it if we didn't."
Selmak inclined his head, but Jack merely stared at the archeologist, his face unreadable. "No promises," he said finally, then continued out of the room.
They made their way stealthily through the underground facility, though it seemed there was little need; the entire structure appeared to be abandoned, and many places were completely dark, as if no one had been there in many years.
Selmak explained that at one point in the distant past, the base was probably filled with Jaffa and even a few lesser Goa'uld. But Osiris had been out of the loop for a long time, and there was little doubt that they were all gone now. Still, he felt confident that she was already making plans to rebuild her empire.
After several twists and turns, they quietly crept up on what was obviously the control room for the structure. Jack used his mirror to look around a corner and could just see Osiris working furiously at a display panel. He indicated to the others that he'd go first, followed by two of them. He hefted his P90 and whipped around the corner into the room.
"Don't move," Jack barked. He pointed his gun straight at Osiris' heart and was quickly flanked by Daniel and Jacob. His next words were low and dangerous. "Where is she?"
Osiris turned to face him with narrowed eyes, then smiled ever so slightly. "You will find out soon enough."
Suddenly, a dozen Jaffa entered the room from various directions, surrounding them, with staff weapons at the ready. Jack swore to himself and debated whether he should take the shot anyway. It was only his fear that such an action might mean the death of them all, including Sam, that stopped him. Reluctantly, he lowered his gun, and Daniel and Jacob followed suit.
He wondered where the hell Osiris had found so many Jaffa in such a short period of time. His question was answered, however, when Heru'ur walked through an open doorway, a smirk plastered across his smarmy face. He took his place beside Osiris.
"I've waited a long time for the opportunity to exact my revenge on the infamous SG-1," he said.
oOoOoOo
"Hey!" Jack protested, as Heru'ur's minion gave him a particularly rough shove into the cell behind Daniel and Jacob. He was still glaring at the Jaffa, when Jacob's strangled cry caused him to whip his head around to desperately search the dark space for the source of his distress.
"Sam? Oh, god, Sam!" Jacob rushed to the far corner of the cell.
His heart pounding, Jack immediately began to follow but stopped short when his eyes adjusted to the dim light and he saw his Second, his Sam, naked and bleeding and cowering in the corner. For a moment, he was completely overcome with a series of raw emotions: overwhelming relief first, followed quickly by fury, which was slowly eclipsed by an almost debilitating concern for her condition. His stomach clenched when he realized she didn't recognize them, and he knew that if he wanted to continue to function, he couldn't think about what it must have taken for her to get to that point.
"No! Stay away!" she cried, as Jacob approached, her voice panicky. She attempted to crawl further into the small space at the back of the cell.
"Sam," Jacob said with a broken voice, close to tears. Carefully, he knelt down next to his daughter.
She desperately tried to scramble away, but she was trapped by the same corner in which she'd sought refuge earlier. "Don't touch me! Get away!"
"Sam, please," Jacob said, softly pleading with her. "It's me. It's your father." He reached out to lay his hand on her head.
"No!" She cringed away from his touch and pulled herself into a tighter ball. "Jonah," she sobbed quietly.
Jack and Daniel looked at each other, both stunned. In an instant, Jack was by her side. He knelt down next to Jacob. The older man gave him a questioning glance but moved over to give him some room. Jack leaned toward Sam.
"Thera?" he asked gently.
For the first time, she peeked past her hands to look at the man kneeling in front of her. "Jonah?"
Jack tentatively touched her arm. "I'm here."
She jumped into his arms and clung to him desperately. He pulled her tightly to his chest, laying his head on top of hers as she began to cry.
"You didn't leave me?" she asked, the disbelief in her voice causing him physical pain.
"I'd never leave you," he whispered in reply.
Jacob stood and backed off a bit. At that moment, he thought he felt something brush past him, something decidedly evil. He shivered, but quickly dismissed the experience, as his attention was consumed by the interaction between his daughter and her commanding officer.
Jack tenderly kissed Sam's head, then took his jacket and draped it around her shoulders. Jacob watched them for awhile, then turned away, rubbing his hands over his face and trying to sort through his conflicting feelings. He was relieved that Sam had responded to at least one of them, but he was less than thrilled that it was Jack. And he had no clue what was going on between them.
"What the hell is that all about?" he asked Daniel quietly. "Who's Jonah?"
Daniel considered just how much he should tell him. "You know how we all had our minds stamped with different memories on P3R-118?"
Jacob nodded. "Yeah."
"Jonah is the name they gave Jack. Sam was Thera." Daniel hesitated. "They didn't remember who they really were. Even after Teal'c and I began to suspect the truth, they refused to believe they weren't Jonah and Thera." He looked uncertainly at Jacob. "I'm not sure they wanted to remember..."
Jacob's jaw dropped slightly as the pieces began to fall into place.
Before he could fully process that particular revelation to its logical conclusion though, a scream filled with sheer terror filtered from the hallway into the cell, causing Sam to bury her head further into Jack's chest and all of the men to turn in the direction of the door.
The first scream was followed quickly by another.
And another.
TBC...
