I apologize because I said every other chap. would be Sam and Daniel, but Thalia had ideas in store for Sue and Terry. This chapter takes place during 'Ascension'. I might put a part with Sam and Daniel towards the end, but it depends on what Thalia decides and if it's really long or not (I warn you now, it probably will be). If you're mad, don't hate me, hate the muse!

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It had gotten to the point that even Terry was wary of Sue. The 'phase' she had assumed Sue was going through did not end when most would. Even three months hadn't dimmed the anger that burned in Sue's heart. In public, Sue was tough, emotonless, but when Sue was alone with friends, she was the old Sue, unless someone brought up her past or the prank. Terry understood where Sue was coming from, she really did. She'd been there herself...a lot. She just hadn't expected Sue to hold on to her anger. But then, Sue had warned her that she wouldn't let this go. Ashamedly, Terry was kind of proud of Sue for that.

Sue, on the other hand, just wanted some respect. She hadn't gotten it by being nice, maybe she would get it by being colder, harder. Teal'c and Janet hadn't approved of Sue's new point of view, but supported her when she needed it.

At least no one had tried anything against her again. She had a suspicion about who had locked her in the showers but she still had to confirm it, hopefully with some help from Janet, the Gossip Queen.

Sadly, that would have to wait until they were back from their mission to P3X-636. Presently, they discovered the planet's civilization had mysteriously been wiped out. Terry and Sue were inside one of the buildings; Sue was looking at the walls, while Terry was too busy looking at her "big honkin' space gun" to notice much else. Suddenly, Terry saw a bright flash and jumped back. When her eyes readjusted, she saw Sue lying in a heap near the wall.

Terry's adrenaline shot up. Whatever had done that to Sue might do the same to her. "Help! Colonel, Teal'c!" she cried at the top of her lungs. When they didn't come, she kept calling.

Finally, the blessed calvary arrived. "Sir! I don't know what happened, there was a bright flash and when my eyes readjusted, I saw her just lying here," said Terry, panicked.

O'Neill made a disgusted grunt in his throat and ordered, "Calm down, Captain. We'll get her back and she'll be fine."

"Yes, sir," responded Terry, her mind rationalizing enough to prevent her from slapping the colonel for the withering glare he gave the unconcious Sue.

A few minutes later they returned throught the gate, Teal'c carrying Sue, who was beginning to regain conciousness.

They hurried to the infirmary, which by that time, Sue was fully concious, but still disoriented.

"Colonel, what happened," demanded Hammond, puffing, after having chased Teal'c and Terry to the infirmary. O'Neill had arrived just before Hammond.

"Actually, sir, I was hoping Captains Kelly or Roland could tell us," said O'Neill. "They're worse than Daniel was at getting into things they shouldn't."

Hammond glared at him, before turning to the two captains. "Do you have any idea what happened?"

Terry responded first. "Sue was looking at the wall for writings and I was looking at what appeared to be a weapon when there was a bright flash. When I could see again, I noticed Sue unconcious on the floor."

"I don't remember anything, sir," added Sue. "I was observing some writings that looked Ancient and then I remember being here."

Janet walked over. "Well, I can't find anything wrong with you, unless it's just stress," she pointedly added the last part. "Okay, everyone out so I can see to my patient. And you--" she said as Terry opened her mouth, "--can get showered then return here. I take that back. I don't want to see you near that door for at least a half an hour. And if I do see you, then you have to wait at least another half hour, plus get checked out with my largest needles."

"Okay, okay," said Terry, raising her hands in an 'I surrender' gesture.

The three-quarters of SG-1 that was not lying in an infirmary bed got up and left, leaving Janet with her victim.

"Is there something I should know?" asked Sue cautiously.

"Other than you need to get rid of your stress you've collected since your little break down.'"

"You make it sound...different, worse...than it was," protested Sue.

"You've been extremely stressed out since then. I suggest you take some leave, ah! and I won't take no for an answer. You are to take the next two weeks off and I don't want to see you on this base unless it's an emergency," warned Janet, waving a suspiciously large needle.

"Fine," grumbled Sue.

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One hour and several shots later, Sue was finally home. It was almost dark out.

There were no messages on her machine so she went to the bathroom to shower before she went to bed.

Once done, she wrapped a towel around her and wipped off the foggy mirror. Then she opened it and grabbed a comb. She shut the door and screamed, the comb clattered to the floor. She whirled around, fists raised and looked at the spot behind her where she had seen the reflection of a guy. No one was there.

'That's...odd,' she thought in confusion as she bent down to pick of the comb. She knew she had seen a man standing behind her. 'Maybe Janet's right. I am very stressed out.'

She combed out her long brown hair then brushed her teeth. Suddenly, she stopped and stood up straight. She could almost feel eyes boring into her from somewhere. Shrugging it off as stress, she finished and went to her bedroom to dress in her pajamas. The feeling still bothered her, so she went to shut her bedroom door and had to do a double take in the next room. This time she was sure she had seen someone there.

"H-hello?" she called out hesitantly. No one answered so she shut and locked her door.

The bed was nice and warm and she was so tired that she was out the moment her head touched the pillow. She couldn't be sure, but just before sleep claimed her, she thought she felt someone kiss her gently on the cheek.

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Sunlight streamed into Sue's bedroom. She opened her eyes and flinched at the beam of light that stretched across her face. Lying there for a minute, she tried to remember exactly what happened yesterday.

She had been looking at the symbols on the wall, that much she knew. The next thing she had been conciously aware of was intense warmth and then she was staring up at Teal'c who was carrying her to the infirmary. She blinked. There was obviously something missing, she just didn't know what, the lapse in memory was slightly unnerving. Nothing like thathad happened to before.

Sue sighed. If she wasn't going to come up with anything useful, then there was no point in just lying around in bed. She got up and began to fix breakfast. 'Yum,' she thought, 'cold cerial, my favorite.'

Today, she didn't have the feeling of being watched, so breakfast was eaten without a worry or paranoid thought.

It was when she wen to get her mail that the uneasy feeling came back. Sue went out side and picked up the paper. When she stood up again, there was a creepy (but kind of cute) guy standing infront of her in the middle of the road.

"Hi," he said.

"Uh, hi," she replied.

"How are you?" he asked.

The guy was starting to worry her. "Good. How are you?"

"Fine. It is nice to meet you."

"Uh huh. Are you from around here?"

"No. But this is where you live."

'What the hell? Not that it's obvious or anything, but is this guy a stalker or something, 'cause he's really starting to freak me out?' She said aloud, "Yeah, um...I'm going back in now."

Giving him a you-are-creeping-me-out-so-get-away look, she scurried back into the house.

She put the mail on the island in her kitchen. There was nothing better to do, so she called Terry.

The phone rang twice. "Yo, this is Captain Terry Roland speaking. I'm busy, but if you leave a message, I promise I'll call back. Thank y'all. Bye!"

"Hey, Ter, it's just me. I'm bored sick and there's this guy standing outside my street whose really creeping me out. Uh, I guess I was just calling to see in there was anything new and exciting you've discovered about your 'big honkin' space gun', but you're busy now, so I'll probably call back later. Bye." Feeling disheartened, Sue turned around and the guy who was just outside was standing right in front of her.

"How did you get in here?" she demanded.

"I won't hurt you," the man said reassuringly.

"You're right, 'cause I'll hurt you if you get any closer," threatened Sue. She turned the phone on and began to dial.

"Please don't," the man begged. "I just want to speak with you."

"About what?" asked Sue, turning the phone off but keeping it in hand.

"It's complicated," said the man uneasily.

"Okay, then. Let's start with how you got into my house."

"I followed you home last night." He was really starting to creep her out.

"You were the person I saw in the mirror and in the other room? How?" Sue demanded sharply.

Them man ignored her. "I read some of your books and watched you television so I could learn what to wear. Is this alright?" he asked, looking down at his clothes.

"How?" Sue asked again.

"I took this form so that we could relate. This is actually how I used to look before my ascension."

'This guy is a major wack-job. I'm calling, the cops,' thought Sue, beginning to dial her phone again.

"Please don't do this. I am not crazy," begged the man.

The line was dead. Sue slammed the phone down angrily. "Who are you?"

"I am called Orlin," said the man. "I came from the planet you just visited yesterday. I followed you through the Stargate."

"Now, how is that possible?" asked Sue. How on Earth (no pun intended) had this guy found out about the gate?

Orlin walked forward--right through her island--to stand in front of her. She backed quickly up against her sink.

"In my natual, non-corporeal state, I can become invisible."

Sue began to panic. "What do you want?"

"I'm sorry if I scared you, I just wanted to talk to you. It's been so long since I…I…I know this is going to seem…ok, I'll just come out and say it and then move on from there. I have these, I guess you could call them feelings..."

Sue began to edge around and finall had the freedom to run away, not even bothering to let Orlin finish.

She drove back to the SGC as fast as the law would allow. This had to qualify for an emergancy. Security let her in, unable to force her into staying longer out of spite, for fear of General Hammond's wrath. Sue hurried to General Hammond's office. Luckily Terry was there; she wouldn't have to say this twice.

"Captain, I thought you were only supposed to come back if there was an emergancy," said General Hammond.

"There's been one, sir," Sue panted. "Well, sort of."

He motioned for her to continue.

"After I got home last night, I had the feeling I was being watched. I thougth I saw someone in my house a couple of times, but I just passed it off as stress, like Janet said. Today, I went out and got my paper and this weird guy was standing there. I was polite and said a small greeting and went back into the house. I called Terry, but she didn't answer, so I hung up, turned around and the guy was standing across from me on the other side of my island.

"He tried telling me that he wasn't going to hurt me, then he says he came from the planet I was just at and that he followed us through the gate."

"Get to the point please, Captain," said Hammond, although he looked worried.

"He walked through my island and told me all this stuff about being non-corporeal and crap. I wanted to request someone to set up some bugs and cameras in my house just in case he comes back," said Sue.

Hammond looked at her doubtfully. "Sir, I'd have to be a lot more stressed than I am at the moment in order to start hallucinating," she pointed out.

"I think we should, sir," added Terry.

Alright," said General Hammond.

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Sue had to adjust to life under surveilance, but it really wasn't so bad in the sense that it kept Orlin away.

Too bad it didn't last. As soon as the cameras were gone, he came back. The worst part was, earlier General Hammond suggested (more of a subtle order, actually) that she get a psyche eval.

She had just returning from said evaluation and turned on the living room lights.

"I know why you did it," said an unpleasantly familiar voice behind her.

"Of course you would wait until the cameras were gone," Sue muttered.

"Your job would have been in jeopary if you hadn't reported me."

Sue's patience snapped. "I just got back from a psychological evaluation Do you know what that is?" she demanded angrily.

"They think you're crazy," Orlin said simply in his annoying monotone.

"Am I?"

"There were times on Velona I thought I was loosing my mind."

"Velona?"

"You refer to it as 636. I had been there for hundreds of years by myself, then I saw you--"

"Look--" Sue tried to interrupt.

He raised his hand to silence her. "Please, let me finish. Then I saw you and I began to eperience feelings I hadn't experienced sinse my ascension.

"My kind are capable of a level of communication that shares out innermost essence. It is not exactly and exchange of thought or memory. It's sort of an exchange of spirit," he explained.

"And you did this exchange on me?"

"Yes, but unfortunately, you passed out. I think that a human is capable of it if they are receptive. But I think that you just weren't ready. I did learn about you though."

"Oh, and what did you learn?" Sue was curious to see what he would say.

"That you are a good person, pure of heart and spirit."

'Okay enough bad flattery.' "Fine I'll try your exchange again. What do I do?" asked Sue in exasperation.

"Close your eys and open your mind completely."

Sue closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to open her mind. Then she felt a familiar intense warmth, this time accompanied by feeling of caring, and love, and honesty, and others that she couldn't even describe. For the moment, she felt so...free.

Sue gasped and opened her eyes. Orlin's face was very close to hers. "Oh my god," she whispered. His eyes suddenly flickered upward toward the clock in the kitchen.

"There appears to be something hidden in your...clock, isn't it?" he said softly.

Sue dragged her gaze away from Orlin and turned to look at the clock. "I don't believe it," she hissed. There was a tiny camera hidden in it.

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Sue brought the clock in and showed it to Terry. Terry regretfully informed her that no one believed in the man Sue had seen. She hadn't known about the clock though...she said. Sue wasn't sure if she could trust anyone at the SGC anymore, even Terry.

That night, she and Orlin went on a walk and she told him how she felt and the problem all of this has caused. They eventually started flirting and returned back to her house, where Orlin had a dinner set up.

When Sue asked how, he replied that he had become fully corporeal. He had made sure the door to the dining room was closed so she wouldn't notice when she returned home. Suddenly to doorbell rang.

"Crap," she muttered and opened it to find Terry.

"Hey, Sue," said Terry cheerfully. "I brought snacks and movies. Marathon sound good?"

Sue glanced back in and saw Orlin patiently waiting out of sight of the door. "Actually, I'm kind of busy," she said, slightly flustered.

Terry smirked. "Is there a guy in there? You know, I think I'll just leave." She winked at Sue and went back to her truck. Sue waved and went back in.

"Oh boy," she muttered.

Over dinner, Orlin told her more about how he came to Velona and about "The Others." He had actually "communicated" how to build the weapon they had found on Velona and that it ended up destroying all life on the planet.

"Why did you retake human form? Sue asked suddenly.

"I did it as much for myself as for you," he calmly replied.

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At the SGC the next day, Sue, Terry, SG-16, Colonel Simmons and General Hammond sat around the briefing table.

Colonel Reynolds was saying how the weapon was now ready.

"With all due respect, sirs," Sue interrupted. All eyes landed on her. "I think we should postpone the testing. It's too dangerous."

"We at the Pentagon believe it is worth the risks," said Simmons smoothly.

Terry went to defend her friend. "I agree with Sue, we don't know what it will do when we activate it."

"Captain Roland, need I remind you of the dangers we're trying to defend Earth against?" asked Simmons testily.

Terry widened her eyes innocently. "Could you? And please, go slow."

Sue choked down a laugh and continued with her debate. "Sirs, I believe the device on 636 will caused an atmosphereic weather anomoly big enough to destroy all of the civilization on the planet."

An angry Simmons gave her two weeks to come up with plausible evidence to support her theory. The problem with that was, Sue was an archaeologist, not a sciencey scientist like Terry, which would have made this a lot easier. Sue had already decided not to trust anyone at the SGC, which also meant that asking Terry for help was out of the question.

Orlin was waiting for her when she arrived home. He handed her something fairly small, but heavy and was also wrapped up. She undid the wrapping and found an emerald.

He had made it out of her microwave, she found out, but he made it because the emerald was her birthstone. It was also apparently genuine. Sue was speechless.

"Uh, we need to talk about something," she finally said. "Let's take a walk."

They went to the park and discussed what Sue was going to do about finding evidence. She suggested that they would only use it to defend themselves from the Goa'uld, so maybe it would be okay to use. Orlin pointed out that the atom bomb was made with the same intention.

Orlin commented on the fact that she had no hard evidence without exposing him and Sue said that she would feel bad betraying him. It wasn't true and he knew it. She was beginning to like him, which he also seemed to know.

One week, Sue was called to General Hammond's office. Colonels O'Neill and Simmons and General Hammond were waiting for her.

"Sirs, what's going on?" she asked.

"We're testing the weapon," said Simmons smugly. Hammond looked at him in dissproval.

"I received the order directly from the president. Reynolds team is setting up Captain Roland's naquadah reactor as we speak," he said.

"It's only been seven days, I was supposed to have--"

Simmons interrupted Sue's protest. "I daresay, Captain, that you haven't spent any of that time working on finding hard evidence."

"With all due respect, sir, but what's that supposed to mean?" Sue demanded.

"Could you explain these deliveries?" returned Simmons.

Sue was stumped. "What deliveries?" she asked curiously.

"One hundred pounds of raw titanium, two hundred feet of fiber optic cable, seven 100,000 watt industrial strength capacitators. The list goes on. All of it was ordered from your home computer."

"I've been here at the base everyday. I have no idea what you are talking about."

Simmons poorly tried to hide a smirk. "Maybe you can explain who's been accepting these deliveries." He handed her a bunch of photos of Orlin and some with her in the shots. A few were even from her walk yesterday.

"You have been watching me," she said, shocked.

"The Pentagon, not us Captain. I'm sorry," said Hammond, truly apologetic.

"Would you like to tell us what's going on Captain?" asked Simmons.

O'Neill spoke up. "She doesn't have to tell you squat. Captain Kelly has been working with the approval of her superior officers." It took an effort for Sue not to gape at him. He was actually defending her and showing signs of what everyone called the "Old O'Neill".

"Now Colonel," said Simmons admonishingly, "I'm not here to lay the blame on anybody. I'm just here as a courtesy." To Sue he said, "Right now, a team of special forces is surrounding your house and when I give the command, they will go in and take the alien into custody.

Sue's heart sank. There was no way she would be able to warn Orlin. "Come on," said Simmons.

He and Colonel O'Neill led her out and into a car. Terry joined up with them, questions all over her face. The four of them drove over to Sue's house, which true to Simmons's word, was surrounded by a team of SFs. They got out.

"What's going on?" questioned Simmons.

"The suspect is definitely in there but he isn't responding," answered the SF leader.

O'Neill spoke up again in a monotone. "Let Kelly go in. The place is sealed off; he won't go anywhere. She can go in and bring him out."

Terry looked at him in surprise, then she looked at Sue, who shook her head as a signal to be quiet.

"Give her a radio," Simmons ordered.

The SF gave Sue a flashlight and a radio. She walked cautiously into the house, calling Orlin's name.

She heard a faint response, "Sue? Come on down."

She went down into the basement and met Orlin plugging something into a fusebox, which showered sparks.

"I know they sent you down to bring me up. I can't though. I have to stop your people from activating that weapon," said Orlin, walking into the other room.

Sue stopped dead in surprise. Orlin had build a gate in her basement. That explained the odd deliveries.

"Whoa. Y-you've been busy," she said weakly.

"I knew I wouldn't be able to go through your Stargate--"

"So you build one?"

"In a way. This one will only go to Velona and has enough power for only one trip before it burns out."

Sue's radio crackled. "Yo, Sue," came Terry's voice.

Sue didn't respond.

"Sue?" Terry tried again.

Over the radio, Sue and Orlin faintly heard orders being given to enter the house.

The gate activated. Over the noise, Sue shouted, "I'm going with you!"

Orlin nodded and they dived into the gate. The trip was different somehow but Sue figured it was the fact they entered through a home-made wormhole. There was no time to further ponder this as Orlin had already taken off as soon as they had exited and was running top speed for the building with the weapon. Sue followed but didn't catch up in time. She heard a couple of shots.

"Orlin!" she cried. When she arrived at the entrance, she saw that Orlin was still on his feet but bleeding heavily from two gunshot wounds. "Sir, lower your weapon!" she called to Reynolds over the weapon's power-up.

"He attacked us!" Reynolds yelled back.

"He has good reason for wanting to stop this!" Sue shouted.

"We can't do that! Captain Roland's instructions clearly said that the device will overload is stopped!"

"Shit!" hissed Sue.

"I can't let the weapon be destroyed!" shouted Reynolds.

Orlin suddenly dived forward and Reynolds shot him.

"No!" cried Sue. She was torn between happiness and sadness as Orlin succeeded in disconnecting the cables, but fatally wounded in the process. The weapon lost power and died.

Sue rushed to Orlin and put his head in her lap. "I can't believe how much this hurts," he whispered.

"Just hang on," she replied tearily.

"We gotta go Captain!" called Reynolds. The naquadah generator was beginning to overload.

"I have to go," Orlin whispered, touching her face. "They're giving me another chance. It's the only way to save you."

He began to glow and Sue realized he was re-ascending. She watched as he floated over the reactor and took it up into the sky. Lightning shot down and destroyed the weapon. Sue looked down at Orlin's empty clothes and the tears began to flow down her face.

She then looked at the sky where Orlin had left and the clouds began to clear, revealing a beautiful blue sky.

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Sorry, that went way longer than I expected. Thank you to those that managed to finish. As a reward, the next chapter will be a fairly long S/D chapter. R&R.