Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I don't own Stargate, I don't own my house, I don't own my car, I don't own my pants. Where…are my pants? Where…is my car…? Oh shit..not again…VALA!

Warning: Sexual Content…I repeat graphic Sexual Content. There will be scenes and they will probably be graphic. Lemons and Limes are my kind of fruit, and if you ain't cool with that turn around now.

AN: Thank you to Lilferret for her beta skills. Enjoy everyone.

Chapter 2 - Adjusting

Jack's hands flew up in front of his face to shield himself. He felt the heat and the hot air bubbling in his lungs. The world around him super heated, but it wasn't quite like he'd thought it would be. The fire didn't hurt him really, just was uncomfortably warm as it licked around him and made him spontaneously sweat. He opened his eyes and saw her. Something beautiful and real in the center of the light. The energy bursting from her skin and burning her away and yet she never disappeared and never truly died but rose again, her skin turning from molten fire back to skin. But the fire lasted forever. It was an eternity of roaring emotion and fear from the woman, exhausting all her energy with an expression of terror in a sudden burst before dropping her to the ground again.

When it was over, Samantha Carter didn't even think to look for her friends and their dead bodies, just felt her tired body fall to the cold metal floor and tears burst hot from her eyes. She felt all the pain in the world from guilt to horror pulsing through her and yet, there was absolutely no fuel left in her to burn it off. She let a ragged sob pull from her throat as she imagined the smell of burnt flesh in her nose and knew she couldn't look. Couldn't look.

Needless to say she was a bit in shock when she felt Jack's cold fingertips on her shoulders, his warm soothing words flowing against her. "Everything is okay. We're okay. You're okay."

She looked up at him, her eyes the shape of saucers and her body shaking with expenditure and shock. She looked at Teal'c and Daniel. They were all all right. They were all okay. She couldn't help herself as she hugged Jack. Clutching his life to her, but he was still cold, still so chilly as compared to her overheated body. But she could tell he was alive, living and truly there. The feeling of relief was so strong that her blonde hair took on a red tint for just a moment before it dissipated.

"It doesn't really burn like normal fire," explained Daniel softly, but amazement was in his voice. This was a conclusion he came to in this moment, not something he knew before. "It is connected to you, and restarts you, whipping clean your emotions, or acting on them. Mostly, the theory would be that you are now…invincible."

Sam pulled away and was a little glad that her tears had already evaporated off her hot flesh, her voice, however, still cracked slightly. "Well I don't want to be invincible." She felt a little embarrassed about hugging the General and immediately began looking the three of them over to make sure they were okay. "How do I stop it, how do I give it back..." Normally she'd never say that. Never ask that. She was smarter than that. But for some reason her brain was having trouble keeping up.

Daniel was quiet. She knew what that meant. She looked up at Jack, her eyes pleading for something. Anything. "I don't know Carter? What's wrong with being hot?" he asked, an innocent shrug to his shoulders, even though he knew perfectly well that that wasn't what she was talking about. It still made the slightest smile tug her lips. She looked tired. So tired. And she felt it too, but there was just something about the way these men were there for her. Willing to stand in a room and burn with her.

Well…now that she thought about it. Jack and Daniel started to run. Only Teal'c never moved. Then her eyes fell to the still calmly sitting Jaffa. Why hadn't he gotten up? Why didn't he run? "How did you know the fire wouldn't hurt you Teal'c?"

"I did not." Answered the stoic man. "I merely believed you would not harm us, Samantha Carter."

Sam gulped, finding herself sliding down onto the bed. "That…was quite a chance to take…"

"Indeed," was the only response she received as silence descended on the three. They watched her lower her tired body to the bed and fall asleep instantly. She didn't notice the conversation wasn't really over. She didn't notice anything. Just that she was so completely drained that nothing mattered but the blissfulness of sleep. Her friends watched her for a moment, peering down and waiting for just a few minutes of silence, making sure she was asleep.

"Daniel…you heard the lady. Find out how to give it back," Jack ordered, his voice steady but quiet.

"I translated everything I have records of Jack. This was a coveted artifact; something sought out to be earned. Those who came after it died or got exactly what they wanted. This wasn't something intended on being reversed," Daniel explained softly, but the General probably already knew this.

"Perhaps if we had more data; more text to analyze?" asked the tall Jaffa as he stood strong and still.

Jack nodded. "Send an unmanned MALP, maneuver it thirty minutes at a time if you have to." He stared down at the oblivious and spontaneously sleeping woman. "We need an answer for her when she wakes up."

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Sam's eyes fluttered opened and she pushed herself up on she sheets, leaning against the cold wall with a deep exhalation. Time passed both slowly and quickly to the girl in a box. She was alone again. Deeply, and fully, alone. She was left with her own betraying body to feel it burn from the inside out.

Something in her gut told her that they wouldn't be able to reverse this. They didn't know how to fix this. They didn't know how to make it go away. She felt a sudden rush of real fear. She would spend the rest of her life on this base. She couldn't leave and run around earth. She could just imagine exploding in the middle of a supermarket, melting something in her hand if the emotion was intense enough, but other than that harming nothing. That wouldn't matter.

She would scare people, she would be a representation of something alien and there was no way she could every risk living in the normal world again. She felt very alone, and her mind moved to her choices. She could still work. But she couldn't let Cassie see her like this. Even if she was almost an adult, that wasn't close enough to being one. Cassie wouldn't fully understand and she wasn't sure if she could handle the look of disgust and fear on the young girl's face when she looked at the woman who was her third chance at a mother; a third failure.

She watched the little patterns appear on her glowing skin and admired them. They were kind of pretty to her if they didn't imply impending explosion. That part hurt somewhat. Especially where it broke the skin. It was like everything inside her bubbled and broke out in one spot of blinding hot white pain. Sadly to say she was adjusting to it. Every day, every few explosions, she contained them more, let the blasts rip less and less skin till it was nothing more than needle holes. She could live with it; but that still didn't mean anyone else could. She felt the sudden swell of sadness.

Jack. She watched her hand glow brighter, and that only made it worse, the reminder that she was a broken remnant of a person, nothing to be held and cherished and loved. She was something to be feared now. The sudden thought of living her lifetime like this and longer, haunted her in a flash. She imagined being alive in hundreds of years. Alone, hidden away, locked away where no one could find her. Immortal. Invincible. She didn't want that. She didn't want to live with that.

She could feel the heaviness of the room, she could feel the everlasting silence of the world around her, yet knew that there was someone watching her, behind the glass, long since tinted to give her privacy. She wrapped her arms around her legs and let her eyes glance at her laptop. She could turn it on. She could do some work. But she really didn't feel up to it, and that surely said a lot about her.

She knew that Daniel was trying really hard to find a way to help her. Knew that all the scientists on the base were. She knew that if it involved a physical trial, even if it was fighting an army, Teal'c would be working just as hard. She also knew Jack was fighting for her rights. He only let the scientist in every once in a while, gave her at least three full, solid hours alone each day or with a visitor not interested in dissecting her. They seem obsessed with her newfound ability to heal.

She remembered the first small hole in her skin burning with sensation before it closed. Then there were the experiments where they sedated her and with her permission made three slices into her arm. The three were of different depths and performed with medical supervision, but Jack hadn't been happy about it. Even after all three healed without Sam feeling them due to the anesthetic, the three tiny hair-like scars still remained. He didn't let them touch her again without someone he trusted present. Sam appreciated his concern, but she cared very little anymore. If that was all she could do, why not? It didn't hurt.

But Jack was adamant she was still a human being who shouldn't be experimented on. She could see in the way the doctors moved hesitantly around her that he had been reprimanding their treatment of her. She knew he was trying to make her feel better, but sometimes she just wished she could fall into a deep hole and disappear forever. She didn't feel human anymore. She definitely didn't feel normal anymore. She was boiling and she wished the world would cool down before it killed her. She wanted to be somewhere other than the base. She wanted to see the sky again, because the knowledge that she might not made her heart ache.

She heard the door hiss and one set of footsteps walking into the room. She knew it was Jack. He liked to bring her lunch, but it seemed a little early for that. She realized she could have just lost track of time. She found her heart lighten a little bit, a soft little pink glow flushing down her arms at the thought. She peeked over to look and to her pleasure she saw him in civilian clothes, a soft smile on his face. "Mornin' Carter."

She unfolded herself gracefully, careful to look collected, as if it would make a difference. Her heart was beating a little faster and her face flushed a little warmer as it always did when he came in, but this time, he was sure to be able to see the glow from her skin. "Good Morning, Sir. How can I help you today?"

Jack tucked his hands into his jeans and smiled wide. "Thought you might wanna get out of here for a while, take a walk, maybe go fishing?"

Sam blinked hard for a minute, her brain struggling double time to catch up with him, the implications of his words rushing through her like a sudden overload. They didn't have an answer. They weren't even close. If they were there would be hope and there would be things they could tell her. But there was nothing they could say to calm her fears because there was nothing they could do. Jack however, had watched her pacing like an animal in a cage and wanted to give her a chance to step out, to enjoy her life rather than just sit here, miserable. "You're letting me out, Sir?"

"Well," he said, shifting a little. "You won't be left alone, you'll have to deal with me for the duration of your time away from the base or an assigned AF officer. I've gotten approval to allow you to leave the base, and be comfortable for the time it will take for us to find a solution."

There it was. They were sending her away. They were allowing her to leave and find someplace to live out her life, because they weren't going to find a solution. Because she was stuck with this. "I think I would rather stay, Sir; able to give any help I can to analyzing my condition."

She could see it in his eyes. The pain of having to tell her, the realization that there wasn't going to be a solution. He didn't need to say it and she wasn't going to make him. "Maybe for the weekend, but I expect to be able to take my laptop and as much research as I want with me. I still have work to do, you know." She responded with the sweetness of a friend who would live with him in denial. A friend who wouldn't make him say what was too hard to say. She also wasn't ready to hear it yet. "Are we going through the gate, Sir?"

"No actually," responded the General with a little smile. "You remember my cabin, don't you?"

Samantha's heart skipped a beat as she did, she had enjoyed every moment in the man's presence there. They had fished and shared the best days in her memory. Beautiful scenery, open air, and most of all, the company of one another. She smiled just a little. "Of course, but I can't exactly risk blowing up on a public roadway," she commented, a soft shrug in her voice.

"The Prometheus is in orbit and will be beaming us to the cabin anytime we like today," he explained, a smirk across his face. "And I hope you don't mind I sent Daniel to get some things Cassie packed for you? You can't fish in BDU's, you know."

She rolled her eyes at the man's simply sinful smirk. He was doing all he could to lighten her spirits and he was also trying hard not to let her down. She wasn't sure what the younger girl would pack for her but she hoped it didn't involve sweaters. Despite it being winter, she was sure she would never need a jacket again. "Of course not, Sir," she agreed and turned to pack her laptop.

The General watched her pack her things, the folders with papers and the single technological item she could never live without. He watched her skin, glowing with softness and slightly cute happiness. He could feel it die away as she attempted to push her emotions down, something she had always been good at, but at the moment, he knew she was making a stronger point of it, because she knew her skin was betraying her. He felt guilt bubble inside himself. He felt anger. Because there wasn't anything he could do. There was no solution. It didn't matter what was wrong with her; he wouldn't leave her locked in that room at the mercy of scientists, not as long as he had the power to help her in some way. He smiled to himself as she finished and knew she was mostly humoring him; but probably would give anything for something to keep her mind off of her current condition.