It had been several hours since Vala's last contact with Mitchell, Teal'c and General Landry. Vala was being very mysterious in three men's assessment of her phone call. They believed she could have easily disappeared again, without as much as saying goodbye. But with the intent of clearing Sam, Vala was willing to sacrifice her freedom and then some. To her friends and the General, this said a lot about Vala's character. Deep down the wanted nothing more to have her and Sam back safe with them and Woosley off persecuting someone else for a change. But the reality of the situation only fueled the IOA, and Woosley that Vala was not to be trusted. Now they waited for Vala and hoped she could explain why she was acting in such a manner.

As all three men waited in the General's office, Gen O'Neill arrived on schedule and wanted to find out, where the rest of his friends were up to.

"Gen O'Neill, I'm certainly glad you're here. We received a phone call from Vala. She wanted certain terms before she gave herself up?"

"I hope they were reasonable Hank."

Mitchell chimed in. "Vala wanted Sam absolved of any wrong doing. I think Sam was helping her somehow and Vala wouldn't say where she or Sam where. The General hoped that you could intervene for Sam and protect Vala from Woosley's interrogations."

"Well where is Vala? Matter of fact do you know where Sam is? I mean she still has her locater, right?"

"Damn; I forgot to get back with you on that General, sorry." Said Mitchell. "Somehow, Sam is able to jam her locator and well, Vala removed hers altogether. Actually, we can be thankful both ladies are smarter than Woosley are he would already have them both in custody."

"Indeed."

"Well, the only thing we can do is wait on Vala guys." Jack looked around and finally noticed that Daniel was not in the office.

"Where's the space monkey. I bet he's worried sick about Vala." Stated Jack.

Jack seemed to pick up that there was something wrong in all three men not answering him so fast.

"To tell you the truth General, Daniel has been acting weird lately. He doesn't seem to interested in our investigation on why Vala disappeared. Matter of fact he's been speaking, I think to Woosley. I don't know if………..well he may be out of it a little."

"He's always out of it, what makes this any different." Jack was curious and a little worried about Mitchell's assessment of his friend Daniel. He knew Mitchell was a good leader. But there were layers of Daniel only Jack understood.

"Col Mitchell is correct O'Neill. Daniel Jackson has been most indifferent to the concerns of Vala Mol Doran. He has had no interest in finding her as of late and is not aware she is on her way to turn herself in. "Said Teal'c.

"Hmm, that's not like Daniel. Maybe I should go see what your resident archeologist is up to. Keep me posted when Vala arrives. I'll take care of Woosley and his goons."

"I hope you can find out what's bothering him Jack. He's an important part of SG1 and I hate to see him resent one of his own team members." Stated Landry.

"Right…..well you'll know where I will be, somewhere in his lab."

As Jack left, Mitchell contemplated that he felt a little guilty, ratting out one of him team members. After all he was in charge of what happens to his people and Daniel was no different. He knew that Jack and Daniel were more than friends. Sam had told him that they were more like brothers than friends. He just hoped that Jack could get thru to him.

Jack found Daniel working on some type of artifact. Daniel never even raised his head from his books, to notice Jack. To Jack this was moderately suspicious.

"Hey Danny boy. I see you still keeping your nose in those books. Any new info you want to slay me with." Jack was waving his hands in the air to demonstrate Daniels acute knowledge of anything and everything ancient.

"Why are you here Jack?"

"Well hello to you too, Daniel. Something up your ass? Maybe I should have Dr. Lam check it out."

In a terse voice Daniel shrugged off Jack. "Why does everyone think there's something wrong with me? I say if there is anyone to be examined, it's all of you."

"Well, I think your friends are worried about you. Not to mention Sam and Vala have been missing. That's why I'm here. I want to get to the bottom of what's been happening. Gen Landry has kept me in the loop and I just want Sam and Vala back, both safe and sound. How about you?"

Jack may have been cordial, but he was disturbed by Daniels reaction to Sam and Vala missing. He watched his friend and waited to see what reaction he would get.

Daniel moved his glasses up onto his nose. Something Jack had always noticed as something bothering Daniel. "I hope Sam is ok. Who knows what mess Vala had gotten her into? That woman seems to be nothing but trouble lately."

"Trouble………..trouble. That's odd, because I remember something of a conversation about how she makes you feel and how nice it was to finally be close to someone like Vala. Did something change while I was gone? Did you two have a spat?"

Daniel turned around to face Jack with almost a vehement stare. "There was no spat. Vala just let me know that she is as she always was. She likes to fool people in thinking she's this wonderful person. She charms you, coxes you into thinking she's there for you and would lay down her life for you. But in the end, she's just a con, always has been, always will be. That's all; just a con. She bats those eyes and we all melt at cute and sweet she is. I could care less at what happens to her. Just find Sam, Jack. She's the most important person on this base. She would never harm anyone like that."

Jack was taken aback that Daniel would trash another team mate. Sam he could understand why he was so concerned with, as well as his personal interest that Sam is alright. But Jack sensed he was hurt by Vala somehow, and he had enough history with Daniel to know he puts up a lot of walls to protect his emotions. He knew Daniel had cared about Vala, but something happened that made Daniel seem cold and distant. Jack decided to pursue what's happened to Daniel later. His main concern was for Sam and Vala right now, and ward off Woosley.

"Well, I'll be in the General's office. If you need anything, just let me know."

"Yeah, that's great Jack." Daniel returned to his computer and books, not wanting to speak any further.

"One more thing Daniel." Daniel never looked up.

"I believe in you, Sam, Teal'c, Mitchell and Vala. I believe there is always a reason for things to happen; good or bad. I never give up hope that things will turn out right, no matter how bleak. I will always believe in all of you, no matter what the stakes. None of you have ever let me down and I'm always proud to know that I can count on you and the rest when times get tough. I hold to that with every fiber in my body. You can count on the people you fought with, died with and we have had our shares of death and fighting. I know that whatever has happened, there is always a reason. We just can't see it until the very end. I'm hoping that you remember that. I'm hoping that you remember that we are all in this together and It's called hope Daniel; It's called hope." Jack left, hoping to get thru to his friend and he hoped that Sam and Vala would give him that hope.

GENERAL LANDRY'S OFFICE

"Sir there's a secure call for you on line one." Walter stated. He shut the door and smiled.

"Yes, this is General Landry, who is this?"

"General, it's me Col Carter."

"Sam…….Sam, where are you? Mitchell interrupted. "Sorry Sir, I'm just glad to hear from her."

"No problem Colonel; let me put it on speaker."

"We're listening Sam, where the hell are you? Are you injured, can we pick you up?"

"I'm fine Col, ah, I have a problem. Vala is missing and I hope she's not done anything crazy."

"Well, ah, it's kind of complicated Sam. Where are you?"

"I'm on my way back to base. I'm prepared for the consequences of what's happened. I'm sorry I didn't let you know where I was at. "

"Well, uh, Sam, Vala called us and she wants you absolved of any wrong doing before she turns herself in. She's probably on her way now. It was a few hours ago, before she hung up."

"Damn; I'm going to………………….uh, I'm on my way now. I'll be there in about a couple of hours or sooner. Just make sure Woosley does not take her Cam."

All of the three men could hear the fear in Sam's voice. Whatever has happened, Sam was more worried about Vala than herself. Mitchell could feel the urgency in her voice.

"Col Carter, this is Gen Landry again. Gen O'Neill is here to address the investigation on you and Vala's disappearance. I urge you to arrive safely, but I believe the General has a personal interest in this situation."

Although the General was being subtle, Sam understood what Landry was conveying. Sam was at least relieved that Jack would put a thorn in Woosley's side, before he would let Vala be taken. Sam just hoped that Vala was well enough before she arrived to see her.

"Tell General O'Neill, it's important that he keep Vala on base. Tell him…………it's important to me that he keep her there. Cam, I need you to make sure Vala is taken care of until I arrive."

Mitchell knew that Sam rarely called him by his first name in the presence of the General. Teal'c also understood that something else was disturbing and Sam was almost being personal, when mentioning O'Neill keeping Vala safe.

"Ok, Sam, I'll do as you ask, and hopefully this whole mess can be cleared up. Woosley is hot to throw away the key on Vala. We'll make sure, she's taken care of. Is there anything else we should know?"

There was a hesitation in Sam's answer. "Just………..Just tell her everything…………….just tell her I'm on my way and I forgive her."

Mitchell, Teal'c and Landry all looked at each other with perplexed looks at Sam's request.

"Ok, Col Carter. I'll instruct General O'Neill that you are on your way and we will take care of our own."

"Thank you General. It means a lot." Said Sam.

Sam hung up her cell phone as she sat back in the cab. Vala had left hours ago from the cabin and without any shoes or any proper covering. Sam was scared that Vala would be too weak to even speak or worse when she would not be conscious. It at least gave her some comfort that Jack would be there to intervene for Vala's sake or Woosley would not hesitate to arrest her and send Vala off to who knows where. But even worse, Vala was dying and Sam could not tell them anything. She just hoped that maybe, some possible way, that Dr. Lam was as good as they said she was. All she had now was hope in Vala, even though she wanted to strangle her for leaving the serenity of the cabin, but Sam promised herself that she we would be there, no matter what happened, concerning Vala. She was not going to abandon her friend, not now, not ever.

TBC