AN Last chapter before they reach the gate folks and tension is riding high. Hope you enjoy...

Chapter 22 – This Game

Teal'c lowered his binoculars and passed them to O'Neill. The Colonel scanned the valley and sighed, tucking the binoculars back into one of the pockets on his pants. Glancing at Teal'c, the two of them shuffled backwards from the ridge and once sure they would not be seen, turned and stood upright. The last few days had been reasonably easy going, if slower than he would like; with Sam improving and doing longer stretches on her feet. Now it seemed, fate was making up for the reprieve.

Daniel and Sam crouched in wait just within the tree line which started a short distance from the edge of the ridge. Colonel O'Neill said nothing as he approached them, with Teal'c in stride, but motioned them farther back into the woods.

'Well, there's guards. Lots of 'em!' He told them once they were a safer distance from the edge of the trees and stood in a tight circle on the leafy ground. The Colonel's grimace made it clear that despite his understatement, their plans for reaching the gate safely were not going to be easily realised.

'How many, Sir?' Sam was standing up straight, without assistance which admittedly was a good sign but the question was; would she be up to a fire fight? Sure she will! It's Carter – tough as nails!

'Two on the gate and at least twenty more in the immediate clearing, but by the look of it, they've got a base camp, back by the road and that means they have reinforcements.'

'But wait a minute,' Daniel frowned considering what Jack had told them. 'We only have to get through enough of them to get to the gate and the DHD right? If we take out everyone in the clearing, one person can dial and send the IDC and the others can keep any reinforcements at bay. What?' Jack was shaking his head.

'That usually works Daniel, but a clearing like that is a nightmare to defend. There's trees on all sides and you can be surrounded before you know what's bitten you in the ass. Three of us can't hope to watch all sides. Besides, there's no way we could neutralise everyone without at least one person getting the alarm out to the reinforcements.'

'And Hyden's not stupid. He's governor for a reason. He'll probably have people posted along the route from the road to the gate.' Sam looked up at her CO, matching his grave expression. 'We can't afford to underestimate him Sir, especially now we've ticked him off.' Jack nodded looking hard at his second in command who, after holding his gaze for several seconds, glanced away, staring between the dripping lower branches of trees that rocked and creaked slightly from the wind buffeting their peaks. He did not want to think about what may have happened to Sam for her to find that out.

'Ok kids, lets get a bit further in before we settle in for the night, shall we? Cold ration chow tonight, my favourite.' He lead the way, his team following, unable to humour him. They all felt the irony of his words, since none of them were likely to be able to sleep.

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The arrival of darkness found SG1 sat uncomfortably on damp ground by a sliver of water, winding it's way downhill from the summit of the peak to their west. The stream could only be seen in a few places, where it was not clogged with rotting leaves, but the sound was, to some extent relaxing and gave them a chance to have some fresh water, rather than keep drinking the stale stuff, which they had had in their canteens for two and a half days now. There had been a couple of occasions where one or more of the team had almost leapt out of their skins at the sound of a dislodged rock or stick being washed down by the water.

They had all eaten – more than they usually would. They had finished about an hour ago and now sat, discussing in hushed voices, any and all possibilities for reaching the gate in one piece.

'Sir, maybe we need to consider a less direct approach?' All eyes cut to Sam.

'What do you mean?' Daniel's face had lit up in hope, but O'Neill and Teal'c both remained impassive.

'Well, maybe, we need to ...I don't know, set up a distraction or...maybe there's a way we could somehow minimise the forces Hyden has at his disposal...?' She shrugged. It was the best she had for now.

'You mean...attack the base camp before we try to make it to the gate?' The colonel's face said it all. Sam waved it off. She knew they were scraping the barrel.

'Right.' She sighed. 'It would be pretty counter productive.' She went back to ripping soggy leaves into small pieces over her boots.

'Yeah well, you're a little off.' Her smile was only half hearted. He was right. She was nowhere near fit enough for an assault like this. Problem was, she really had no option. Colonel O'Neill had not tried to suggest that she not be involved in the break for the gate, which she appreciated but knew that if another gun-hand weren't essential, he probably would have.

'I like the distraction idea, in principle. The problem is we don't have enough people. Splitting up is not an option.' His voice rose in frustration. 'We are all going through that gate...' He made sharp gestures toward the neighbouring valley. '...together.' He dropped his hand in defeat. He could see no way, even marginally safe, of them getting through the gate. 'Ok we can't sit here forever...and my butt's freezing to the ground.' Sam caught his eye and looked away grinning, having caught his answering wink. 'I'll take first watch. Carter, then Daniel, then Teal'c. Check gear and weapons then get some sleep.'

He strode away in the direction of the ridge again. Having checked, guns, zats, staff weapons and the couple of grenades they had with them, the other three lay shivering on the ground, close together. Their clothes were all damp to the skin and Daniel couldn't remember the last time he hadn't been covered in goose pimples.

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Sam felt Daniel stir as she hurriedly shut of the alarm on her watch. Rolling over, she got slowly to her feet, wincing at the familiar stab of pain. She flicked on the flashlight on her P-90 but kept it pointing down at the ground. Daniel was laying still again. She smiled. Despite having been part of a military team for years now, he could still fall right back to sleep unless he discerned any actual danger that was important enough to drag him from his dreams.

Keeping the light trained on the ground, Sam moved off in search of her CO, to relieve him. It was only the second night she had been permitted to take a watch during the night. She toggled the radio, not wanting to get too close before he realised who she was and risk getting shot. They were all significantly more jumpy, now that they were on the doorstep of the camp full of people waiting to arrest them and throw them back into the institute.

'Carter?' The volume on her radio was turned down but still sounded painfully loud in the horribly still forest.

'It's me Sir. Just didn't want to take you by surprise.' Another light broke out of the blackness, maybe twenty yards away, strafing backwards and forwards, broken occasionally by dark tree trunks. She made her way towards it, eventually lighting Jack's face with her own.

'Ow, hey!'

'Sorry sir.' She lowered the light.

He shifted across on the ground so she could lean against the trunk beside him, before both extinguished their flashlights.

'Mind if I stay out for a bit Carter?'

'No, sir. But you should get some sleep.' He made no response to this so she went back to scanning the woods. It seemed pretty useless. She couldn't see a thing, but after a few minutes, as she became accustomed to the darkness, she could make out the gentle rise of the ground as it approached the ridge and above it, a grey light filtered through the trees from the sky. She tried not to think about the following day. They had faced dangerous situations before, countless times. But she could not escape a burning sense in the pit of her stomach, that something was going to go wrong. Maybe it was just because she was injured.

Her thoughts wandered to Roan. They had seen no sign whatsoever of him since he had run away, four days ago. Not even Teal'cs tracking skills had picked up on any sign of anybody but themselves having walked, eaten or slept in the area they had traveled through. She hoped he was alright, if only because it would ease her guilt about him being left to fend for himself.

She had tried to think back over the few days he was with them because, she couldn't remember if there were any other signs of strange behaviour before he pointed a loaded gun at Daniel and herself. Problem was, she had been kind of out of it. Strange behaviour from an alien man was not at the top top of her priorities.

Why did she have such a sense of foreboding about tomorrow?

'Sir?'

'Carter.'

'Sir, are you afraid of death?' She felt him shift uncomfortably, though she couldn't see him.

'Why?'

'I don't know sir, just...curious.'

'Worried about tomorrow?'

'We've been in worse situations. I think we've all been pretty emotionally wrung out on this one though. I guess that's what the institute does to people.'

'Yeah.' He blew out a breath and she knew immediately what was coming. She smiled before he even spoke again. 'So...worried about tomorrow?'

'Yessir. Our entire lack of any plan is probably just making me nervous.'

'Run like hell and shoot anything that's not wearing green isn't a plan?' Jack's heart warmed a little when she laughed and elbowed him. He was not feeling good about tomorrow either.

'No Sir, I don't think so.'

'Oh.' They lapsed into silence again. The major sat thinking and finally her brain seemed able to kick some neurones into gear and come up with something useful.

'What about using snipers Sir?' He was silent for a moment.

'We don't have silencers.'

'We have zats.'

'Go on.'

'I think we'd be able to make it across the open ground ok. You said he has no marshals outside of the clearing and the route to the base camp? He's concentrated his defense?'

'Right.'

'So we spread out - come in from several sides. If we coordinate properly, we can take out almost everyone in the clearing from the trees before they can react. There shouldn't be too many left. If we use zats, they won't hear us from the base camp.'

'Someone is still gonna be able to raise the alarm.'

'Yes sir, but I think it probably gives us as best a start as we can hope for. We only need one person to dial and send the code back. How about one other person is in the clearing. The other two, coordinate watching the surrounding forest. If Hyden tries to send people round from the ridge we at least wouldn't get cornered in the clearing and whichever two stay behind the tree line can also offer fire support against any reinforcements that come along the path from the road.' Jack was smiling in the darkness. She sounded like Carter again.

'Yeah. That sounds like a planWe'll run it by Daniel and Teal'c. Still counts on a lot of luck though.'

'Mhm. But it's better than nothing. Once reinforcements arrive we can change from zats to

P-90s.'

'Right.' He sighed again. 'Still worried?'

'Yes.' She nodded. Her voice was small and it really worried him. 'Can't seem to shake it.' She took a shaky breath. 'It's a cliché but... it was an honor serving with you. I know I've told you that before but...just in case-'

'Carter shut up.' It was an order, not a request and it stung.

'Sorry Sir.' Neither said anything for a long while. Jack didn't care that his words had effectively ended the conversation. He couldn't deal with her thinking like that. He had to believe that they were all going home tomorrow, so if she had doubts...

He studied her profile in the grey light filtering from the sky, through the branches to where they sat. Dammit! He had been thinking about her way too much over the last couple of weeks. He was sure he wasn't usually this bad. Maybe it was because of the appendix thing; maybe it was because of Hyden, or because her hair was long enough now, that it fell in her eyes and she would run her fingers through it to push it off her face, which was pretty unproductive, since he was pretty sure that whatever she did to it, Carter's hair would always have a life of it's own. Maybe he just too sick and too tired to continue trying to hide how he felt about her. This mission had certainly affected him. He was starting to think seriously of retirement...again.

'I'm sorry Carter.'

'That's fine sir.' It was clear from her tone that it was not fine.

'We can't afford to go into what ifs Carter, you know that.'

'Yes sir.'

'How's your stitches?'

'Fine sir.' Sam gritted her teeth and took the plunge before her better judgment could make itself heard. It had bothering her and she had pushed it to the back of her mind but now, it pushed it's way to the forefront again and spilled straight out of her mouth. 'Sir, about that kiss.'

'What kiss?' His tone was flat. Nonchalant.

'Fine. Forget I mentioned it.' She stood from the muddy ground and strode away. 'I'm going to check the ridge sir.' Jack sat stunned for a moment. What the hell-?

'Carter!' he hissed, scrambling to his feet. 'Dammit Carter, come back here!' His voice was louder now and she spun round, eyes wide with panic at how his voice had carried. He glanced around irritably. No armed guards leaping from behind trees to shoot at them. Not yet. He strode towards her. She watched him approach, her heart in her throat, unsure whether she was about to be disciplined or finally given some answers. Either way, his face was set and her chest thumped with apprehension. She glanced towards the ridge again, half tempted to make a run for it. She'd take twenty armed marshals over a pissed off Jack O'Neill most days of the week.

Once within reach Jack grabbed hold of her arm, forcing her to face him. His grip was tight enough to leave marks but neither of them cared.

'What the hell Carter? Don't just walk off like that!'

'No sir, it's fine. It's obvious you just want to continue doing what you usually do.' She tried to pull away, but he held her firm, unimpressed with the tone she was using. She couldn't get away with dropping that on him and then backing out and being snappy.

'What thing!?'He demanded. Sam looked at him like he'd grown a second head. This time she succeeded in pulling her arm away from him.

'Making jokes about everything. Behaving like there's nothing going on here!' Her voice was louder now, though she kept herself in check, suppressing the urge to hit him. How dare he!?

My jokes bother you! Of all the things Carter, you have to insult my humour!' He said it to piss her off and she knew it, so she ignored him.

'I'm sick of always being the one to bring this up! I'm sick of this seesaw. Whenever I want to talk seriously, you're not interested!' It was a real effort to keep her voice low.

Jack couldn't help but laugh derisively.

'Carter, ever heard of the pot calling the kettle black? Let me just have a little memory check here – it was you, I seem to remember who wanted to shut this-' he gestured between them as she had done. '-in that isolation room! Not me Carter.' He jabbed a finger in her face, driving his point home. 'You.' He took a deep breath. 'And I've respected that.'

'Yeah, you've respected the hell out of it.' He was right, she had wanted to keep their feelings shut up but there had been times when she had tried to open up to him, thought about changing the status quo but he had always shut her down. Tried to show him that she still cared and never had he given her the same reassurance. He had hidden behind the team dynamic, his damn jokes and his 'Carter.'

Neither of them could meet the others eyes. 'You kissed me.'

He sighed, and pulled his hat off to mess up his hair and rub his eyes in exhaustion.

'I know.' She wasn't the only one who was sick of this ...game. But what did she expect from him? He had placed the matter squarely in her hands when he agreed to go on as if nothing had happened. As if his heart didn't ache.

So many times, he had gone home after a bad mission, shaking as he drove, until he was safely inside his house and could yell out his frustration and fear. It killed him to watch her hurt or afraid and not do anything more about it than what his role of commanding officer allowed, but it was what she wanted. 'Look Carter-'

'Sir,' She looked as though she about about to say something more but seemed to change her mind. 'You're probably right. It's probably best just to forget it.' She pointed up the gentle slope towards where the horizon through the trees was lighter. 'We have a job to do tomorrow. You should probably get some rest. I'm going to check the ridge.'

She did not look at him as she turned and made her way swiftly through her trees. He watched the light of her P-90 on the ground until it was out of sight.

AN I know there was a lot of talk but I think the majority of it was necessary. (longest chapter of this story so far.) Anyway, nobody cares what I think, i want to know what you think! So let me know.

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