"I know Jack. We are doing everything in our power to find Col Carter and Vala. Mitchell and Teal'c are being thorough and keeping Woosley off our backs to let us conduct the investigation." Stated Landry.

"Woosley is presenting a good case against Vala. The President assured me he will not make any quick decisions until we find out what's going on. But Woosley can still arrest Vala until this whole mess is cleared up. I'm on my way out there Hank. I have a personal interest on what's going on and what's happening to my old team."

"I understand Jack. We are all a little uncomfortable at what's going on. I'll brief you when you arrive."

"Thanks Hank and keep me posted, no matter what."

"You got it." Gen Landry knew that Jack was close to his old team and didn't mind his intrusion into the investigation. He had always thought that Col Carter and Jack had something special together and he never asked Jack, what was his true relationship concerning Sam. But he knew Jack was worried and would move heaven and hell to find Sam. Vala he believed Jack liked her, and she was a bit of a rebel and he liked that in her. Gen Landry decided to head to the infirmary and check out a few things himself. He also didn't want Woosley messing with his people and new this kind of situation would not be good for the morale of the base either. He headed off, hoping for some answers to a lot of questions.

JACK'S CABIN

Sam was asleep in the other room. She was exhausted and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. She had made sure Vala was asleep and would continue her calls as soon as she could. Vala knew that Sam would exhaust herself to help. But she couldn't see Sam throw away everything she worked for at SGC and how her reputation would be tainted. She slowly dressed herself and moved from her room slowly to go outside. She was weak, but the fresh mountain air seemed to give her strength at the beauty of the lake and the crisp clean air. She had grabbed Sam's phone on the way out and made a few phone calls and hung up. She sat outside, listening to the chirping of birds and the serene peacefulness of her surroundings. She sat down and hung on every sound, every ripple of the lake. She remembers Sam saying something about Jack saying there were fish in the lake, yet he never seemed to catch any. It struck Vala funny that Jack and Sam seemed to mention each other in her presence all the time. It's like they trusted her with their relationship, and mentioning them so easily in front of her seemed to give some semblance that the cared about each other. She watched her breath play in the air and her thoughts floated back to Daniel. She could see the crushed emotions in his face when she lied about how she cared about him. She knew he tried to protect himself from all the pain in his life, and yet he always seemed to jump into other cultures full steam ahead, caring about what made them tick, what made them special and try to help when the factions had any disagreements. Yet when it came to his own misfortune, Daniel couldn't seem to cope with death that had no relation to him causing it. To Vala he built this impenetrable wall of denial that sometimes bad things happen to good people and at times Vala could put cracks in that wall and when she found out she was dying, she knew he would close up even more. She was not sure she did the right thing, but it was necessary to die on her own terms, rather than see Daniel spiral down in despair. She couldn't do that, not to him.

A cab pulled up and Vala slowly got in. She gave the driver directions and stole a couple of dollars from Sam, hoping she would forgive her for the small theft. The cab punched in his destination and Vala sat back in the seats, trying to rest and hope Sam would forgive her for what she had to do.

INFIRMARY

"Oh, come in Col Mitchell. I was about to contact General Landry, but he called and said he was on his way down." Stated Carolyn, sitting at her desk.

"Dr. Lam, have you found out whose blood is on the towel" Asked Mitchell.

"I thought Dr. Jackson had informed you?"

"No, he was kinda not forthcoming in that area. He seemed to be distracted."

"Well, anyway, I found out this is Vala Mol Doran's blood and I was conducting some test. I found some abnormalities in her blood and compared it with her last check up. She has a high with cell count and something else in her blood I can't quite identify."

"Could Vala Mol Doran been injured Dr. Lam?" Questioned Teal'c.

"I don't know at this point, but her last blood draw was not normal either. I just did a comparison and somehow this abnormality was small, but not noticeable until now. She definitely was bleeding, but not a lot from the patches of blood drops."

"Teal'c said he found more on the blanket in Sam's room."

"Yes, Dr. Lam, the blood was more like drops, not seemingly large drops. It as if she was stopping some type of bleeding, but from what we do not know."

"Well, uh, that's a brilliant deduction actually. If there was an injury, there would be more blood on these towels and from what you're telling me, on the blankets."

Gen Landry appeared in the doorway. "Gentlemen, Dr. Lam. What do we know so far?"

"Well Sir, Dr. Lam was just informing us that the blood is Vala's. We don't know if it's from an injury or something else. But at this point, we have no leads to where they might have gone to." Stated Mitchell.

"Well, Gen O'Neill is on his way and Woosley still has the authority to arrest Vala on sight. I have a feeling that he's going to give us some grief about this investigation. I think Gen O'Neill may have some influence with the President to let our people try and locate them."

Just then, Walter entered. "Gen Landry, there seems to be a phone call for Col Mitchell in your office. I think you might want to be present, when he takes it Sir."

Walter shook his head in silence, noticing that there might be IOA personnel about. Col Mitchell picked up on the clue.

"Ok, I'll be right there Walter. General with your permission?"

"Lead the way Colonel. Carolyn, I like any conclusion to your blood work you can come up with. I may be needing it soon."

"Yes General." Carolyn knew her father was worried, matter of fact she was worried too. She kicked herself for not checking a little closer at Vala's medical exams. Vala often distracted her with conversations of men who had eyes for her and how she should get out more and mingle with SG1 sometimes. This time, she would not rest until she found out what Vala's blood work would reveal.

Daniel was busy sitting in his lab, contemplating why Sam would leave without saying a word. He finally realized that Sam had not contacted Mitchell at all. He wondered why there would be Vala's blood on the towel and not Sam's. He theorized that there had to be some logical explanation. His mind was going over so many scenarios.

I bet Sam punched Vala in the nose or something. Sam wouldn't just leave without saying anything or couldn't. I bet Vala is blackmailing her somehow. I wouldn't put it beneath her. If Vala has done anything to hurt Sam, she'll answer to me first. Sam has always been my friend, not like some other people in my life.

There were other thoughts going thru his mind also. One's that tore at his heart, but he refused to acknowledge to himself that he was hurt by such stinging words.

You thought there was an us? Please Daniel, how naive are you? Your credentials only impressed me and that's it. You're the great Dr. Daniel Jackson who can read and decipher almost any language, but can't tell when someone has no interest in him. Let's just quit playing this game and remember that this is all just one big mistake. I could never love you in that way. You're just too emotional, and I have enough baggage to carry with me, which does not include yours. Sometimes I just can't stand to be around you. You're way too smart for me and just good looking enough to make me tease the other women on base that I can flaunt you in front of them, because I'm bored

Daniel played the scene over and over in his mind. He couldn't make heads or tell of when Vala became so bored of him. He was trying to shake the thoughts and resumed archiving his artifacts as he always did. Something he relied on Vala helping him with, and now regretted even letting her in SGC.

Daniel decided that he was tired of being the fool, played for all he's worth and Vala had made sure he was the fool, he thought.

No more pushing Daniel Jackson around. No more.

Sam stretched like a ally cat, pulling on her muscles at too long being physically inactive from the gym. She looked at the time and wanted to immediately check on Vala. She chastised herself for now waking up sooner. Vala may have been weaker and needed her for a bathroom break. She opened the door and immediately saw that Vala was not in her bed. It was messy, so she thought she may be in the bathroom. When Sam didn't find her there, she looked into the other rooms. When she didn't find her there, she looked outside and called her name. Sam was growing more worried by the minute. She scanned the lake to see if Vala maybe went for some air. When she turned around, she realized there were barefoot prints in the snow. Her training had always served her well in always scanning her area for trouble and possible traps or snares. When she followed the prints to tire tracks, then Sam really started to worry. When she went back inside, she noticed her phone was not where she laid it last. She started running thru her cell phone log and found two numbers she recognized right away. One was SGC, Gen Landry's office and the other.

"Oh My God."

The other number was Woosley's.

TBC