AN Hi guys. Next chapter's up thumbs up. Hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 14 – Soldier's Mentality

Sam didn't say a word as they made their way through the various passages of he Institute's utility area. She followed her rapidly fading memory of the layout she had found on the computer in Hyden's quarters, several hours earlier. Luckily, the route was panning out as she had hoped, so far. She knew that it was likely they would meet more marshals before they were clear of the complex. It was vital for any resistance to be dealt with quickly and silently. They would rather have some distance between them and the city when the guards got word to Hyden that they were missing.

The idea of Hyden waking in the morning to find she had escaped from under his nose, gave her a grim sense of satisfaction but at the same time, scared her. He was a powerful man and she had seen first hand how quickly his temper could change if he did not get what he wanted. She remembered the relief she had felt when she realised that there was little or no open ground for them to cross, within the crowded city. The surrounding mountains meant that the entirety of the population was crammed into a space that could not spread over more ground. What she didn't understand, was why nobody had settled outside of this one small valley. They had seen for themselves the beautiful forest and grassland that lay beyond the mountain range.

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Within two hours, the small group entered the trees at the edge of the city. The sound of the few people and vehicles still moving around in the city at this time of night died behind them, leaving only the hollow sounds of their muffled footsteps and the occasional crack of sticks. The ground was coated with moss and the trees blocked a lot of the light from the sky.

Daniel pulled a flashlight from one of the pocket's of his vest but Jack motioned quickly for him to put it away again. They were still too close to the city to risk it, so they continued in the dark, with Teal'c taking point and Sam at the back, behind Daniel, making sure he was managing the walk. A mile later he had to rest. Sam crouched beside him on the moss while he swigged from a water bottle, grimacing at the slightly stale taste of the institute water. He looked pale and was sweating, more than a couple hours walk in the cool night should warrant.

When he finished drinking, Daniel slumped back against the tree stump behind him and felt the exhaustion pulling at him. In his years on SG1, he had toughened up considerably. Gone was the geeky, bookish Daniel who had first arrived on Abydos. He was now as physically fit as any of the air force officers. He had to admit that this was mostly due to Jack's influence. He had learned to work through discomfort, to ignore it – but the difficulty of the last few days was catching up to him and the effects of the injection he had been given earlier were wearing off.

Teal'c joined Sam at Daniel's side.

"Can you continue Daniel Jackson?" There was unmistakable concern in the jaffa's eyes as he peered at his friend. Daniel considered the possible consequences of either stopping or continuing. This was not a well protected place to stop, but if he pushed himself too hard, he would be no use to them tomorrow.

"I think we'd better keep going, 'cause if I sit here for any longer, I'm not getting up again any time soon." He grinned at Teal'c who offered a small smile of relief that Daniel was obviously still feeling well enough to make jokes. Jack stepped forward from where he had stood beside Roan, watching the conversation. His face was hard and his hands rested on the butt of his P-90, strapped to his chest.

"OK then, We need to find somewhere nearby to stop for the night. Somewhere reasonably secure. Teal'c, you and I fan out. Sweep the uphill area and I'll take the lower ground - radio if you find anything. Carter, you, Daniel and Roan keep going along here and keep an ear on the radio." He gave her a passing glance as he dished out his orders and set of walking away to their left, immediately on finishing. Teal'c gave Daniel and Sam, who was now helping him to his feet, a small bow of his head before moving away in the other direction. They watched him until his bulky shape was swallowed by the darkness and the stillness became complete again.

"Ok guys, let's get going." Sam let go of Daniel cautiously, watching to make sure he was steady. They moved out at a slower pace, not wanting to get too far ahead of where Teal'c and the colonel were scouting. They had been going for a further 15 minutes when Teal'c's voice came over the radio – low, but still startling in the quiet forest. Following Teal'c's directions to his current location, they found themselves climbing steeper ground and Daniel's breathing became more labored - when they reached the small cluster of rock's, where Teal'c stood waiting, he was panting heavily, Roan supporting him with an arm around his waist.

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An hour later, everyone had eaten some of the little food they had. Sam had administered more painkillers and antihistamine to Daniel, under the colonel's critical gaze. Since leaving the institute, his mood had not improved. She had done her best to ignore his occasionally sharp comments but it was getting her down. She shuffled a bit further under the rock that sheltered one side of the little enclosure in which they were all huddled. The light breeze snuck under her collar, making her shiver and close her eyes.

She took a deep breath, concentrating on keeping still, with her hands tucked inside her jacket for warmth she may be able to dose but seriously doubted whether she would get any kind of real sleep tonight. Teal'c currently stood on the top of the rocks behind her, on watch. Daniel lay asleep in the corner next to her; Roan was curled in a ball and Jack sat against the opposite wall of the enclosure, his long legs stretched out in front of him. Watching him staring blankly in front of his face she almost laughed as the thought that he might as well have been watching television crossed her mind. He looked perfectly comfortable and were it not for the dark scowl on his face he would have been the picture of contentment.

Turning her face into the cotton collar of her jacket and wrapping her arms more tightly around herself, Sam tried to sleep. When she was almost out, Daniel shifted suddenly beside her, waking her with a start. Turning, she watched as Daniel settled back into a more comfortable position and slept on. It's alright for some. Sam gave up. Maybe if she went for a walk, stretched her legs, emptied her bladder, she'd be able to get more comfortable. She stood and shook her legs out, glancing toward her commanding officer.

"I'll be back soon sir." She knew he would not question her reasons for going, she had been the girl on the team for years now and any awkward questions or comments had been done to death long ago. Jack however, was still not in the mood to let her have things easy and threw a parting shot at her retreating back.

"You'd best be Carter. Don't want you running off again." He realised as soon as he'd said it that this was beyond unfair. She may have chosen not to trust him; she may have disobeyed orders and put him through hell worrying about her, but what she had done, had been by no means cowardly, as he had just made it sound.

She stopped in her tracks when his words reached her but did not turn to him. If she faced him, there was a chance he'd see the hurt beneath the fury. But she realised it was useless to be angry. She had disobeyed him. Disobeyed a direct order form a superior officer. She felt absolutely no guilt, because she had done the right thing but she couldn't expect him to let it go.

She had to keep hold of the soldier mentality. The mentality that meant you couldn't feel anything that life threw at you because your feelings were shut safe inside the nice steel box you built to keep them safe. They go in there when you can't afford to have them on display; can't afford to make them a target. You shut away everything except what you need to survive, because in the end, that's what's important - survival. Without survival, you can't live and so, as a soldier, you have to learn to stop living, feeling, for as long as it takes to survive.

Sam stood for a moment, taking a breath, while keeping her emotions strictly in check. She did not not turn back to him, but said clearly:

"I wasn't running...sir." before disappearing into the dense trees.

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Jack sat silently, listening to the fading sound of Sam's footsteps, receding into the black mass in front of him until he could no longer hear her. He kicked himself. Literally. Why had he just said that. Oh right! Of course! It was 'cause he was a Grade A jackass with nothing better to do than gripe at his 2IC cause she happened to do exactly what he would have done in her situation.

The thought of her, back in Hyden's quarters made him want to punch something, hard. There had been no mention of the cut under her eye when she had returned from him the first time, weeks ago, but Jack had a hard time keeping his cool whenever he saw it. How could a bastard like that even dare to lay a hand on someone as beautiful and kind-hearted as Carter?

Except you're just as bad. The annoying, little voice in his head put in. She had gone back, to him, something that took no small amount of courage, and she did it to save Daniel; and if it weren't for her infiltration of the main computer, they wouldn't be here now. Without the drugs currently running through his system, Daniel might not be here at all. And what had he done? Treated her like dirt.

He couldn't get past the sick feeling he got when he remembered their conversation only 48 hours previously. "I promise you, we will get out of here." But his word obviously meant squat to her. She had left, to carry out her own plan, because obviously the Fabulous Major Certifiable genius, pulls-brilliant-ideas-out-of-her-ass Carter's plan was always gonna be better than what his run-of-the-mill, idiot brain could come up with.

Jack's mind continued to seesaw from fury at himself to fury at her for a few more minutes in the silence until he was interrupted.

"Jack, you're an idiot."

"Wha--? Daniel, I thought you were asleep."

"I was, but your huge, blundering mistake woke me."

"What are you talking about." He refused to meet Daniel's eyes, staring off moodily into the darkness.

"I'm talking about the stupid thing you just said to Sam. Oh yeah, and your attitude toward her in general...at the moment. I mean you're stubborn at the best of times but this should go on the wall of fame."

"Daniel, shut up and go to sleep."

"Polite as that request was, no. You're gonna listen to me."

Jack tried to reason. "Seriously Daniel, you need to rest or you won't be able to go anywhere tomorrow. Then we'll talk about who's stubborn huh?"

"Nope. You're gonna listen to me, now."

Jack sighed melodramatically, turned slightly away and tried to ignore Daniel, who was sitting up slightly straighter against the rock. "Ok, Jack, first of all. Even if what Sam did was stupid, or wrong; and for the record, it was neither of those things; then this ridiculous bullying is nothing short of childish and the rest of us shouldn't have to endure it quietly." He took a breath. "If what she did was wrong then you should be professional about it and wait until we're home to file a report on her."

"You wanna talk about professional!? She disobeyed a direct order!" Jack pointed wildly after Sam, as he spoke, his temper fast increasing. Daniel was used to dealing with Jack's temper and continued over him without faltering.

"She did the right thing and you know it! You need to swallow your pride and deal with whatever issue it is that's making you this angry about the situation."

"Well, gee Freud thanks, why don't you tell me? Since you seem to think you know exactly what's cracking off in my head!" Jack's voice was rising, which, in their current, somewhat vulnerable position was not a good thing. He also should have realised that asking Daniel to guess what was bothering him was a mistake. The man was creepily perceptive sometimes.

"I don't know Jack! Maybe it's your ego, you hate that we got out of there because of Roan and Sam, but that's crazy since she's saved our lives plenty of times in the past. Maybe it's cause for some reason you feel like you need to protect her, even though she's proved she can do that too!"

"Christ, I'm sitting in the woods, arguing with a drugged up, feminist, archaeologist."

"Maybe you were scared shitless about anything happening to her, as we all were, but none of us are taking it out on her. Maybe the idea of any other man getting close to Sam drives you crazy, but hey – if you felt anything real for her then you'd have found the guts to do something about it by now wouldn't you?"

Jack wheeled around to face him. He stood up, walking around the huddled figure of Roan on the floor toward where Daniel sat and pointed a finger in his face.

"That's none of your business, and you won't ever talk to me about it again. If it satisfies your ego bashing for the day Daniel, I'll tell you. I'm pissed cause I asked Carter to trust me, and she left." This was one of the times Jack hated that Daniel could read him so easily.

His face was set but Daniel could see he had struck a chord. He immediately felt pity for Jack's predicament.

"Jack, she trusts you. She trusts you with her life. Probably more than anybody else." And she'd trust you with a lot more if you gave her the chance. "I'm sorry. I—I don't pretend to know what's going on in your head, or between you and Sam. You care about her and I'm sure everything you do is with her best interests at heart. All I'm saying is that you guys' friendship is one of the most important things in your lives and the team's. You can't let this thing, whatever it is, fester. You have to fix it."

"Indeed."

Jack spun to look up at Teal'c; who was stood, p-90 in hand, on top of the rock Daniel was leaning on.

"T?"

"I concur with Daniel Jackson's assessment, O'Neill. You and major Carter must be able to depend on each other, completely, if any of us hope to make it back to the stargate alive."

Jack looked back to Daniel, a look of utter defeat on his face.

"It's never been any use arguing with you guys has it?"

Daniel's grin lit his face.

"Nope. And you can't court marshal us for kicking your sorry ass into gear either."

Jack's shoulders slumped and he scuffed the ground with the toe of his boot.

"Guys, I really don't think she'll listen to me after what I said."

"Jack, self pity is really unoriginal, just go after her."

When Jack turned back to Teal'c, a look of pleading in his eyes, Teal'c's raised eyebrow dared him to ask for support.

"Fine!" Jack kicked a small stone in Daniel's direction before turning his back on them to head into the trees after the major.

AN I love this chapter. Daniel and Teal'c kick ass. I know people were looking forward to that-tell me what you thought? Next chapter: Sam and Jack talk.

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