A/N: As promised, here's the next, meatier installment of Path. FYI, voting is on at the stargate fan awards site. Lots of great material there for reading. Learned by Heart, Kept in Mind (my prequel to Reap) is up for best novel in the ship fanfic category. (Thank you, all, who nominated me again this year!)

I am, obviously, heartbroken about the cancellation of SG-1. (Whose stupid idea was that? Please send all leftover rotten eggs, dirty diapers, and snotty Kleenex directly to SciFi's president.) However, I've gotten past my initial depression and am going to place myself firmly in the denial category. Robert Cooper has vowed to find a new venue, and I'll just pray he's successful, though it sounds as though contract agreements with SciFi make a season 11 all but impossible. Maybe a film instead? I'll take what I can get. In any event, I will continue to write my fanfics, regardless of what happens next year. All I can say is that if it all does end, I'd better get a Farscape/West Wing/Jag finale and NOT one of the Angel variety.

As for this chapter, I've made reference to The Trust, which technically didn't appear on the show until after Affinity. If you recall, Reap occurred before potatoehead, er, I mean Pete, proposed, which happened in that episode, thus the timeline is theoretically different. For the purpose of this story, we'll assume that normal operations at the SGC have revealed the existence of the group by this point.

Now, on with the show…

Chapter 22

Nervously tapping the handle of her coffee mug, Sam shifted in her seat uncomfortably. It had been several hours since her awkward encounter with Daniel and Sha're. In that time, her husband had done little to help her forget her mortification over the whole affair. In fact, it seemed that every time the furious, pink flush on her cheeks began to dissipate, Jack would make some sort of pointed remark to bring it back.

On any other day, her husband's less-than-endearing teasing would have probably made her want to strangle him. However, she knew he had ulterior motives today. As long as she was thinking about her embarrassment over finding Daniel and Sha're in bed together, she wasn't thinking about the missing cylinder and – more frightening by far – how it could have been stolen.

Now, sitting in the conference room outside Jack's office, Sam wasn't sure which upcoming conversation appealed less to her: the one where Jack ruthlessly teased Daniel and her over the morning's incident, or the one where she told Daniel that their best chance for helping Sha're had disappeared from the lab.

Seeming to read her thoughts, Jack wandered over from the door to his office and stood behind her chair. Leaning forward, he gently began rubbing her shoulders in a comforting manner. "We'll figure it out, Sam. Every inch of this place is under surveillance every minute of the day."

Sam's mouth twisted into a frown. "Yeah. Except for the corridor outside my office, where a convenient systems malfunction caused the security cameras to go offline for twelve minutes last night."

Jack continued his massage, trying to ease some of the tension so obvious in his wife's posture. "But he had to get into that hallway somehow, and all the other cameras were working. We will figure out how this happened."

Sam nodded, though it was clear she wasn't convinced.

At that moment, the sounds of footsteps and quiet conversation drifted up the staircase leading into the conference room. Soon after, Daniel and Sha're stepped into view, holding hands and looking utterly enamored with one another.

"Danny!" Jack's overly cheerful greeting caused an immediate grimace to appear on the archaeologist's face. "Sleep well?"

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Daniel sent his friend a quelling look. "Jack." The word was a clear warning. Looking pointedly at the still slightly pale face of his companion, he made it very apparent that he wouldn't tolerate anything which would upset his wife.

Jack returned Daniel's glare with a knowing smile that promised future conversation on the subject when Sha're was no longer around.

Shaking his head, the archaeologist was obviously ready to move things along. "So, what's going on? Sam said it was important."

The reminder of the real purpose for the meeting caused Sam's face to change from the slightly-pink shade it had been all morning to an unnaturally pale hue. Swallowing nervously, she met Sha're's dark eyes directly. "There's no easy way to say this. I'm afraid that the cylinder from P3X-812 has been stolen from my lab."

Sam's words seemed to hit Daniel like a physical blow. Jerking painfully, he turned to face her with an expression of denial. "What? How?" Slowly, anger began to bubble up in his clear, blue eyes. "Wasn't the lab locked? How the hell could someone get in there? And why wasn't it guarded?"

"Daniel." Now it was Jack's turn to issue a warning. From his position behind her chair, he could see the look on his wife's face shift slowly from distress to guilt to outright misery, and he wasn't at all pleased with that transformation. "Sam followed every protocol to the letter. We had no idea that anyone was after the stupid do-hickey and certainly couldn't have anticipated its theft. I'd also like to remind you that while Sam's lab was unguarded, we did have a few posted at Sha're's door, since we thought her safety was of paramount importance." As Daniel's eyes turned toward Jack, the two men shared a charged moment of tension. It was obvious that neither man was going to tolerate anything which might hurt his respective wife.

After a moment, Sha're gently placed her hand on Daniel's arm. "I am sure Samantha has done all she can to help us. Whoever did this must have been very cunning. It is not her fault that the device is missing."

Hearing the truth in her words, Daniel sagged slightly. Looking apologetically at Sam, he nodded. "You're right. And I'm sorry. It's just that the only possible solution to this whole mess has disappeared." Glancing at his wife, a flash of panic crossed his face. "We have no idea what might have caused Sha're's lapse into unconsciousness yesterday. For all we know, it could happen again at any moment."

Sam sighed heavily. "I know, Daniel." Her words were bleak and somber.

Squeezing her shoulders, Jack reassured her without words. Then, to the group, he spoke resolutely. "We've got an army of investigators on the case. Whoever did this is not going to get away with it. I've got calls in at the Pentagon, and General Hammond is checking out the usual suspects. If the NID or the Trust have anything to do with this, we're bound to get some sort of tip-off."

Daniel's face darkened. "Are we sure that Woolsey didn't have something to do with this? He's obviously not pleased with our decision to keep Sha're anyplace but a locked cell."

Jack shrugged. "Anything's possible. Trust me, he's the first person I started checking up on when this all came to light."

Nodding, Daniel looked back across the table at Sam. "I really am sorry for snapping at you. This obviously isn't your fault." A smile began playing at the corner of his mouth. "I suppose that's why you came to visit us this morning?"

At the mention of her humiliating encounter with the couple, Sam began blushing again. "Yes, well… Once I got there, it didn't really seem like an appropriate time to discuss the situation."

Sha're's throaty chuckle made everyone in the room turn to look at her. The lovely woman looked directly at Jack. "You should have seen the looks on their faces," she said, starting to laugh uncontrollably.

Jack's face broke into a huge grin. "I can only imagine."

Sam and Daniel exchanged chagrined looks. Both of them knew how much fun Jack was going to have with the incident in the next few days. Suddenly, however, Daniel's eyes lit up as an idea clearly flashed in his mind. Turning to Jack with a rather devious smile of his own, the archaeologist spoke with a deceptively casual air. "You know," he said offhandedly, "this brings to mind a little incident back on P5X-918…"

Jack's face grew faintly puzzled. "P5X-918?"

Sam's eyes widened. "The volcanic planet," she gasped. Turning first to her husband, then Daniel, she felt her face grow red again. "Daniel! You wouldn't!" She glared at her friend sternly. "That's not fair! He's the one tormenting you, not me."

Daniel seemed unmoved. "Sorry, Sam. It's all I've got on him."

Suddenly, Jack seemed to realize what they were talking about. "Christ, Daniel! You kept those thermal images for four years?" He looked both annoyed and incredulous.

Daniel smiled gleefully. "Sure did. Like I told you then, they're in a safe place."

Seeing the utterly baffled look on Sha're's face, Sam turned to her and sighed. "Four years ago, Jack and I were stranded on a planet with a huge volcano that was about to erupt. Daniel and Teal'c made it back through the gate, but we were cut off. In an attempt to gather information, Daniel sent an aerial device to take heat-sensing pictures of the mountain."

The archaeologist turned to his wife with a smile. "Imagine my shock when the photos showed one very snug warm spot in my colleagues' tent, where there clearly should have been two."

Sha're's intelligent eyes lit up with a smile. "So, you and your Jack were-"

Jack interrupted. "Conserving body heat." However, the heated look he sent his wife as he remembered the incident did little to support his words. "We were, after all, forbidden from doing anything less professional by the strict regulations of our military."

Sha're didn't look convinced. "But are you not married now?"

Sam laughed. "Yes, but things were very different then." Smiling wistfully as she recalled events that her husband still could not recollect, Sam sighed. "It's amazing that we made it as long as we did, really."

Jack cleared his throat. "Yes, well… Thankfully, we weren't talking about Sam and I. Nor will we talk about that particular episode any time soon." He cringed. "Just because we avoided a court martial last year doesn't mean the Joint Chiefs couldn't reconsider in the future."

Suddenly, the sound of a deep voice filled the room. "I am sorry to interrupt."

Turning quickly toward the staircase where the voice had originated, everyone was relieved to see that it was only Teal'c. "T!" Jack was clearly relieved by the distraction his friend provided. "What's up?"

"There is a development that I thought Colonel O'Neill would like to hear about." Teal'c's somber tone left little doubt that the 'development' had something to do with the missing device.

"What is it?" Sam's voice was clearly anxious and Jack felt her shoulders tense immediately.

The large warrior crossed to the computer console in the room. "Can you bring up the security camera footage from corridor 24-C last evening?"

Sam nodded, quickly rising from her seat to the computer. In moments, she had the indicated footages playing on the monitor. She knew that the corridor in question was the one leading into the section of hallway where the entrance to her lab was located. Instinctively understanding that Teal'c would want to view the moments immediately before and after the security camera outside her door went out, she pulled them up on the screen.

The footage showed nothing unusual. Three airmen and a lieutenant were all seen walking either toward or away from the hallway where her lab was located. All four of the men had already been interrogated this morning and none of them had shown any suspicious behavior, nor did any of them appear to even know the cylinder was present. Three of the four had been offworld at the beta site for almost a month, and the fourth was just back from an extended medical leave. "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to see, Teal'c." Sam's voice was puzzled.

With a grim look, Teal'c pointed out two of the men they had interrogated this morning. "We have a problem," he said starkly. "Airman Phillips and Lieutenant Jorgenson appear on this footage and were even questioned thoroughly this morning. However," he continued stoically, "it would appear we have been misled. In the past twenty minutes, both Airman Phillips and Lieutenant Jorgenson have appeared for their next mission assignments." Teal'c's eyes were blazingly intense. "Both men insist they have been off the base for the past twenty four hours and have no recollection of being in the corridor last night or being questioned this morning."

Exchanging wide-eyed looks with her teammates, Sam felt her face grow pale.

Jack, however, looked both interested and determined. Pausing the security footage, he tapped his finger over one of the figures on the monitor. His quiet words left no doubt as to his state of mind.

"Now we've got you."