One of the guards at the door to the holding cells nodded to me and slid his key card through the slot. The light beside it switched to bright green, and the door clicked open. I pushed the door open and stepped inside, my breath catching as I saw Dani sitting on the prison bed in her black t-shirt and BDU pants. It seemed so normal, but I knew that everything was most definitely not normal.

"Sam! Thank god. You have to listen to me, I'm NOT a Goa'uld. Nathifa is Tok'ra. She said Jolinar knew her. Please Sam, you have to believe me. Please." Her voice was pleading, and it ripped at my heartstrings.

I closed my eyes and forced myself to think of Jolinar. The memories came barging in. Netu. Martouf. Lantesh. Love. Pain. Sadness. Hurt. Forcing past the painful memories, I started to see faces. Medara. Zenita. Darand. Talinth. The names of the Tok'ra rushed into my head, each piece clicking into place, until I found it. A blonde haired woman with brown eyes stood next to me as we fired on the enemy, attempting to escape. Nathifa. Dani was actually speaking to me. It wasn't a Goa'uld trick! Danielle was safe. My eyes snapped open and I grinned as relief flooded through me. Dani, picking up on my mood, grinned back, her eyes sparkling. My hand inched forward, itching to release her, but I knew I had to clear it first. The guards had been informed of Danielle's… condition, and they would shoot on site. Shoot first, ask questions later. Give the Goa'uld a taste of their own medicine. Still, that worked against Dani. I smiled again.

"Hold on a sec, Dani."

She nodded, immediately understanding. Gratitude rushed through me for having such a great team as knocked on the main door. The guard instantly unlocked the door, "Is there a problem, ma'am?"

I nodded, "Yes, actually. Could you get Colonel O'Neill and General Hammond for me. Also, if Teal'c can come, that would be great too."

"Right away, Major." He turned away to radio another SF.

"Thanks, Sergent." I backed up a step and carefully shut the door, turning back to Dani, "So, after they get here and release you, and the Tok'ra get here, they can remove Nathifa and everything will go back to normal." I wasn't sure who I was trying to comfort, her or me.

She shifted, looking uncomfortable, "Um, slight problem there, Sam…"

I stiffened at her defeated tone, "Dani…" I swallowed hard, "What do you mean?"

"Um, because of Nathifa's rush, the implantation went wrong. Everything is normal, except that if she is removed, we will both be killed."

My blood ran cold. Would Dani leave SG-1? Was this the end of out closely-knit team?

Sensing my distress, Dani quickly backtracked, "No, no. It's not like that. I will stay on SG-1, Nathifa said that it would be okay."

I released a breath as I took a moment to process that new information. Okay. This would not turn out bad. We would be fine. SG-1 would be fine. Getting my senses back, I knocked on the door once again. It swung open to reveal the guard.

"Sergeant, could you also call for Dr. Fraiser?"

He nodded concisely and turned away to use his radio.

"Thanks, again." I stepped inside and shut the door, looking over at Dani, who had her head tilted to the side in a silent question.

"Ah. Well, Janet found something strange in your MRI. Part of the symbiote is imbedded further into your brain stem than usual. It popped up on mine to, when I had Jolinar inside me. From what you said, I think that if the implantation process is rushed or done improperly, the symbiote is connected to the brain stem and cannot be removed without killing both the host and symbiote. With me, Jolinar was not removed, she died. Janet might be able to confirm my theory."

"She can."

I whipped around to find Janet standing there along with Colonel O'Neill, General Hammond, and Teal'c.

"Carter! What was so urgent as to pull me away from my apple pie?"

"Well, sir, I know that this may not contend with apple pie…" Sarcasm dripped from her words, "But Dani is Tok'ra, not Goa'uld. Jolinar's memories confirm it."

Everyone froze, and then slowly turned to look at Dani, who waved weakly, smiling a small smile, "Hi."

General Hammond cleared his throat, "Well, then. We'd better let you out, Dr. Jackson."

Dani smiled as he tapped on the window, taking the guard's key card and unlocking the cell, "Thank you, sir. Have we gotten in contact with the Tok'ra yet?"

"Kind of. Those snaky bast-"

Janet cleared her throat loudly, "Sir!"

Colonel O'Neill stuck his tongue out at her.

The general sighed, "We have made contact, but they are quite busy at the moment."

Dani looked alarmed, "Sir, we have to get them. Nathifa has some important information, and she has to let them know she's not dead!"

"Whoa! Slow down there Dani. Important information? And who the hell is Nathifa?"

"Nathifa is my symbiote." Dani tapped her head.

"Oh, yes. Your snake." He spat the last word out, glaring at her.

"Jack…" Her tone was warning, the tone that many-an-airman had come to fear.

"What?! That snake has ruined your life!"

"No, she hasn't! I can still stay on SG-1!"

"So?"

"So what? SG-1 will stay together. That's all that matters. To me anyways. And, in case you haven't noticed, I have no need for glasses or contacts anymore, something you've been bugging me about for ages! I can also hear further, run faster, jump higher, have better stamina, fight a LOT better, and I can probably shoot better. I don't know what the problem is, Jack!"

They were nose to nose, glaring menacingly at each other. The rest of us stared on, shifting awkwardly.

He broke the staring contest, "Nothing. Forget about it."

"I don't think so."

"Dani…"

"Jack!"

Realizing this could go on forever (or until one of them snapped and punched the other), the general stepped in, "Colonel O'Neill! Dr. Jackson! Perhaps this can wait for another time. What was the important information, Dr. Jackson?"

Dani shot one last murderous glare at Colonel O'Neill, and turned to the general, "Let me have Nathifa tell you herself." She glared at the colonel, "If everyone's just peachy with that."

He glowered at her, but didn't say anything. Dani bowed her head, and, a moment later, looked up.

"While undercover in the service of Baal as a minor Goa'uld, I managed to acquire some important information about his fleet's movements and attack plans. This could aid many of our operatives in thwarting Baal's plans. It may also help up destroy him. With him rising to power so quickly, this information cannot have come soon enough."

"I understand your predicament perfectly Nathifa. We will contact the Tok'ra immediately with your information and have them send a representative."

"Thank you, general. We appreciate this."

"No trouble at all. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a few calls to make."

Colonel O'Neill piped up, addressing Nathifa, "So, you think you could put Dani back on the line?"

She gave him an unreadable look, "Of course. I must ask one thing, though."

"Ya?"

"I am unfamiliar with Earth metaphors, and I am relatively sure this is in another language. What does it mean, when you call someone perhot' podzalupnaya? Danielle will not tell me."

The colonel's eyes narrowed, "You know what? Forget it. I have paperwork to do that would be much more enjoyable than this." He stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

Janet leaned over to me and whispered, "Um… do you know what she said?"

I dropped my hand from where it was covering my mouth, and whispered back to her, "It's Russian. She called him ass dandruff."

Janet stifled a laugh, and began to cough uncontrollably. She waved goodbye, still choking, and exited quickly, probably to get some water.

Nathifa, not hearing, or ignoring, all of this, lowered her head, closing her eyes for a brief moment. When she brought her head back up again, Danielle was in control. Wanting to distract her from Colonel O'Neill, and knowing that she probably hadn't eaten in a while, I offered up a suggestion.

"Dani, let's get something to eat. When the Tok'ra are contacted, we can go meet them, but we should take a break for now."

She tilted her head to the side, thinking, "Alright. Why not? And, by the way, when did SG-7 get back?"

I paused, momentarily stunned by the random question, "Um… about an hour ago. Why?"

"Were they under fire by Kali's Jaffa?"

"Yes, I think so." I shot her a questioning look.

"And that means I win the bet. Ferreti's money is mine!"

I grinned. It was so great to have Dani back, "We can probably track him down, and he's most likely in the commissary anyways. It's about 1300."

Dani grinned back at me, "Great! Let's get going." She went over to the door and knocked on it. General Hammond must have had some announcement of some kind, because Dani was not shot, nor did they look surprised to see her. She gave them a small smile, which they shyly returned, and we made our way over to the elevator. As the doors opened we stepped inside and the trip took less than 3 seconds. Exiting the elevator, we walked toward the commissary doors.

"So, what's on the menu today?" Dani looked over with a questioning look.

"Ah. It's meatloaf monday." I smiled at her scrunched up face.

"Eww. Although, I have to admit, it grows on you."

I nodded my consent as we pushed open the double doors and stepped inside. making a beeline for the desserts.

"Hey, Ferreti!" Dani had apparently spotted him and she went over to a table that sat him and his team.

"Oh, hey Dani! It is Dani, right?" He set down his meatloaf.

She nodded, "Uh, ya. Or else there would be the creepy voice thing."

"Oh, ya. So, what's up?"

She grinned, "Oh, I just came to claim my money."

He frowned and dug around in his pocket, pulling out a fifty and a twenty, "Damn, I was hoping you'd forget. Here, 70 bucks. Oh, and where's Jack?"

"I'm not sure."

Lisa, SG-14's archaeologist, spoke up at Dani's short, clipped tone, looking concerned, "Everything alright?"

"Ya, he's probably just in the infirmary, getting the stick up his ass removed. Excuse me." She turned and walked away, and I could have sworn I saw money change hands at the table. I was about to point it out, when the wail of the klaxons interrupted me.

"Unscheduled off world activation!"

Dani and I looked at each other.

"Any teams off world?"

"Nope. SG-6 just came back."

Simultaneously, we ran for the door, slipping into the elevator right before it shut. Luckily, the people already in the elevator were also headed to 28, so there were no stops along the way. As it dinged to signal the correct floor, we rushed out and into the gate room in time to see the blast doors opening and spotted a group of about three Tok'ra, including my father and Freya/Anise standing at the bottom of the ramp. Taking a calming breath at the sight of Anise, we walked over to stand next to General Hammond.

"Welcome to Earth. We haven't heard from you in a while, Jacob, Anise."

Dad smiled, "Thanks, great to be here. And where-" He glanced around, and spotted me standing there with Dani, "Sammy!"

"Dad!" I walked closer to give hims quick hug, "You should come visit more often. You missed the Lord of the Rings marathon incident about a week ago."

His eyebrows rose, "Excuse me?"

I smiled, my eyes sparkling, "It was frightening to see SG-25 acting like Gollum. Anyways, that's beside the point."

Anise stepped forward, "Yes, it is. We would like to be immediately taken to Nathifa. You said that she was here."

Dani stepped closer and gave my dad a quick side hug, "I'm here."

"No, I said Na-" Anise cut off mid sentence as my dad jumped back suddenly from Danielle.

He stared at her, "Danielle…"

"Honey, I'm home." She quirked her mouth to the side and gave a small wave, "Want to clear this up in the briefing room?"

Still looking a little weary, he nodded and followed us as we moved out of the gate room along with Anise and the other Tok'ra, who had so far stayed to the shadows. It was making me curious. He hadn't let us see his face yet, which was quite strange. The Tok'ra were usually very open. Well, the Tok'ra could be quite strange. Still, I couldn't keep my mind off the puzzle, even as we dove into the briefing. I glanced around the table we had seated ourselves at. He wasn't there! I gave the room another sweep, but quickly glanced down as Anise gave me a strange look. Huh. Even stranger… Well, I'm always up for a good puzzle.

NOTE:

Thanks for the reviews, everyone! I know there was some confusion on when this story takes place, and I'm sorry about that. This story takes place in season 5, in place of Meridian. Danielle is married to Atim in this universe (Sha're was not taken, Atim was), and Shifu was not born. So, the team did not go to Kheb, and Danielle could not ascend. I couldn't let her die! So, I inserted Nathifa into the story line. Also, Anubis has not been met (that's in the episode after Meridian). Hope this clears things up!