Jack noticed something else beside the temple. It was on a hill that was for sure. But under the hill there was a crossroad of some sort. Well it was obvious which way they should take but it made him curious anyway.

"Carter, did the UAV found any other signs of civilization?" He asked.

"No, Sir. Just the temple."

"Weird."

"Why, Sir?"

"There's a crossroad over there…" Jack pointed out and it made them all look there.

"Any thoughts, Danny?" He asked Daniel, hoping he'd have some answer for him.

"I don't know… with the weather we cannot be sure of anything. We couldn't see anything beneath the snow. We were lucky this temple wasn't snowed in so we noticed it. Who knows what else can be buried under the snow."

"Yeah, sounds probable."

"Maybe we will find out something later once we are there, Sir."

"Maybe we will, Carter, maybe we will. It just seems a bit odd that the only thing we could see was the temple and now there's a crossroad… it shouldn't be visible."

"Jack it could have happened during the last storm – the wind could have just moved the snow from the crossroad…"

"Now when you say it like that it seems weird, I agree," Carter admitted. They all looked at each other, suddenly feeling a bit more cautious. Something or someone could be here. They haven't seen any signs of anybody being there but well – something was happening on this planet.

They reached the temple and checked out the area. Daniel found few entrances. From their point of view all he could see were the ruins. But he was lucky because the UAV took some nice picture of the entire visible layout of the place. Daniel was almost sure than main part of the place was still under the snow, the shape of the temple didn't make any sense. It didn't look like anything they had come across before. However there were few room-like areas with ceilings – their structure seemed to be intact. He couldn't wait to start digging around.

They entered the temple through the easiest way. Daniel put his back-pack down and looked around. He was mesmerized.

"Is it just me or does the stone looks like…"

"Glass?" Sam asked Daniel. He shrugged. She walked over and with one of her most favorite toys made an analysis.

"It's not glass, Daniel."

"Then what is it? It's practically flawless! No real deep scratches or missing pieces and it just looks…"

"I don't know what it is, I just know it's not glass…"

"So take your samples and figure it out later, Carter," Jack suggested and she just nodded. It seemed strange though – they were in the middle of ruins of some temple with only few rooms being complete with all the walls and ceilings and yet even the ruins seemed to be perfect. For few seconds Sam had a fleeting thought – maybe those ruins were not ruins at all – maybe it had always looked like that… she would have to talk to Daniel about this possibility later. It would keep on nudging her for ever otherwise.

"Okay you two, we should head back in three hours. That should give us enough time to make it back safely before the weather kills us, right?"

"Yes, Sir."

"So you stay here and I'm gonna check out the perimeter."

"You wish to know where the other road from the crossroad leads, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked.

"Yep," Jack told him.

"Check-in every thirty minutes."

"Yes, Sir." Sam told him and put her back-pack down next to Daniel's. Teal'c joined Jack and they walked down the path. They left their snow-shoes there, it seemed like they wouldn't need them.

Sam started to walk around the temple, trying to find the place where the energy spikes were coming from. She couldn't understand it! She was sure it had to be there somewhere but now it looked like this place was just … cold place with nothing in there.

"Sam, take a look at this." Daniel called and she came to him.

"Look, it doesn't seem to be just a crack… what do you think?"

"No, it looks like a mark of some sort… let's clear it." She told him and they started to clear the wall of the temple. Soon they discovered lots of those strange marks.

"Have you ever seen anything like that?"

"No. It doesn't look like anything we have encountered. I don't recognize a thing…" Daniel told her. "Why don't you walk around, try to find the energy source. I will try to clear the rest of this place."

"Okay."

Sam took her things and walked out. She was being very careful and very thorough and yet she couldn't find a single trace of that energy. She was almost sure it had to be something ancient. Okay, maybe not 100% sure but almost there, almost.

All the walls she was passing by were clear. The rare cracks in them were just that – cracks, no symbols, no writings, nothing. She still didn't know what the material was but she was sure it wasn't something to be found on Earth. But it wasn't something found in the Gate either. Damn this was getting messy… but also very interesting. Some of the walls were rather small, some of them reaching her head and some of them were really high. She was really impressed by the place. There was something about it…

She checked in with the Colonel and with Daniel and continued with her sweep of the area. She was not about to give up.

Daniel found more markings on the walls in what he supposed were one of the main halls. There was no altar there, no relics; there was nothing in there at all! It all seemed pure and pristine, clear and sharp. Maybe that was it – maybe it was about the clarity and simplicity. He didn't know. After clearing as much of the walls – all sizes and shapes - as he could he took his camera out and tried to film as much of the area as possible. He knew about several other rooms more or less complete and he needed to get all the information he could.

Jack was walking with Teal'c, both silent, just looking around the area. The path leading away from both the Gate and the temple was almost clear. It was giving him creeps. Of course – Carter assured him that there were no other living forms presented on this piece of rock and ice covered with snow but well, he had his experience.

"Are you worried, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked him after their first check-in with the rest of the team.

"I don't know, T. I just don't like it."

"The coincidence."

"Too much of a coincidence you know. When we sent the UAV there was nothing here… and suddenly there's a path."

"Maybe it was just the wind and we are for once lucky."

"Could be…"

"But you are not convinced."

"And you are?"

"No, I am not."

"See… something is off about this place."

"We shall see." Teal'c told him and Jack had to admit that it felt good to have his jaffa friend there by his side. It took them little time to find a way how to work closely together as brothers in arms – they knew each other well and could tell a lot. Doing recon together was one of the activities they both enjoyed.

On the other hand Jack was a bit worried. He took the lead on this mission, it just came to them naturally. He should have asked Carter though. It was her team, it was her mission, he was just a visitor. And yet when they met in the Gate room she was waiting there for him to give the order. Right? Or was it just of pure courtesy? He should have talked to her earlier.

"Do not trouble yourself, O'Neill. We are all happy that you could have joined us for one more time as our leader." Teal'c told him without looking at him. It amazed Jack – that his friend knew him that well. Sometimes it felt like T. could read his mind.

"I'm happy to be with you guys as well."

"We are aware of that fact, O'Neill." Teal'c replied and Jack just smirked into the collar of his winter jacket. Leave it to Teal'c, right?

He just hoped he was right. He would have never forgiven himself otherwise. Well, he should talk to Carter anyway. Not just as her CO but also as her friend. It was difficult to admit it but one of the things he missed the most was talking to Carter. She was his close friend and talking to her was something he had gotten used to. And now when he wasn't spending so much time with her – hell almost no time at all – he missed her.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to get stuck here over night… on the other hand the snowstorm that could kill them within few minutes didn't sound that good.

They hadn't found much though. The path suddenly ended. They had no idea why. But they decided to walk a bit further. And it was getting difficult – the snow was much deeper there. It took them about 15 minutes but they found a cave.

They had to almost crawl the first few meters but then they could stand up almost normally. With their guns raised and as quiet as possible, they entered the cave. Jack whistled then, not able to help himself.

"T., do you see what I see?" Jack asked him but gave him no choice to respond. He opened the channel to talk to Carter and Daniel.

"Daniel, do you copy?"

"Jack, what's up?"

"We found a cave with some markings…"

"What markings?" There was excitement in his voice.

"How the hell should I know?" Jack asked, grinning.

"Do you have a camera with you?"

"Sure… want some pictures?"

"As many as you can take, please."

"Anything to make you happy, Danny."

"Sir, what is the material of the cave?" Carter asked before he could end the conversation.

"Looks the same as the temple but it's hard to tell. I'll try to bring you some samples."

"Thank you, Sir."

"Okay kids, we'll be back in an hour. O'Neill out."

Jack ended the conversation and with Teal'c they cleared as much of the walls of the cave as they could. He also tried to put down their position into the map they've brought – made from the pictures from the UAV. The mark wasn't 100% accurate but at least it gave them some sense of direction. They took the pictures and all they needed and started to head back. They were getting tired – and Jack was still rather hungry. They hadn't eaten much – just few granola bars.

Sam was getting desperate. At first she couldn't pick any traces of energy of any sort. Then it suddenly happened – something – whatever it was – and she could pick the energy – but it seemed to be all around them with no source! She had to sit down and think about it for a moment. She didn't like it – not at all. It was not natural. But well – what from this place was, huh?

She knew there had to be something significant there. It just had to! She had enough readings and samples to work with but she was worried – they should bring something valuable back or they wouldn't be granted the permission to come there again. And certainly not with the General. It was unfair anyway – that they had just this one mission.

Okay, she knew it wasn't his job anymore – but one part of her honestly didn't care.

She had to remind herself to take a grip. She decided to head back. She didn't have much time anyway. Soon they should be meeting back at the front of the temple – assuming they had started at the front – and then they would head back home.

Daniel had enough footage to work on for weeks. With every wall he seemed to find some more marks and some of them looked like pictures. Some were obviously similar – which led him to the idea – those could be letters or numbers. Maybe they found a new language – or old and dead one – he wasn't sure about that yet.

Sam came to him and sat down next to him, both marveling the room. Some places were crystal clear so the sun was coming through. Some of them were dark. But what was the most interesting was the fact that they haven't found any edges – no signs of pieces of whatever it was – it looked like the place was from one piece of the strange material.

"So… anything?"

"I honestly don't know, Daniel. At first I had no readings at all and now I'm picking up on about three different ones. I don't get it."

"You will, later."

"I have to."

"Hey, maybe it's nothing here…" he didn't want her to have her hopes high for nothing.

"It can't be... I am sure there has to be something here…" She told him and he noticed the worry line on her forehead.

"Sam, you okay?"

"Yeah, better than in weeks, actually." She admitted after few seconds and smiled at him reassuringly.

"Tell me about it. Feels great, doesn't it?" He grinned at her.

"Yeah, it does."

"I haven't seen you smile like this in a very long time…" Daniel added gently, as a close friend he was.

"I'm not smiling." Sam tried to argue.

"You haven't stopped smiling in few days… actually since you told me that we were going here." He told her and looked into her eyes. He knew she would get his point. She could read him like an open book now – as he could read her.

"You are happy he's here with us too."

"Of course I am, he's my friend." Daniel assured her.

"He's mine too, Daniel."

"You know it's okay to admit that you miss him, right?" He asked gently, knowing he was walking into a very dangerous territory.

"I shouldn't."

"Why? Because he's your commanding officer? Come on, Sam, you two are way past that…"

"Daniel…"

"Look, I know things are different now when you are dating Pete. I'm just saying it doesn't mean you have to stop spending time with him – and with us – your friends."

"It's not that easy, Daniel."

"It's up to you, Sam. But let me tell you - you both seem to be very happy to see each other. At least talk to him, okay? I know he missed you too…" And with that he just gave her knee a squeeze and got up. He walked away and left her alone there to think for a moment.

Neither noticed Jack standing there. Teal'c was doing another check of the area close to the temple. Jack took a deep breath and turned around. He had to walk away and sit down for a moment. He needed a minute.

Sam got up as well and went to check out the last part of the temple – she hadn't been there before. She picked some energy readings from there – it was worth checking out.

Jack had to take a breath… There was the strange weight sitting on his shoulders. He felt it again. And it was not the responsibility coming with the new job or being here as their CO again... He knew what it was. He just wasn't ready to face it. Not yet.

Jack closed his eyes and sighed, standing behind some column. He was old, he knew that. His life was now either in his office or the briefing room. Okay, and in the control room but that was about it. Not that it wouldn't be interesting; of course it was, but still. He knew that having backs of his people was important and he wouldn't trust anyone to do it instead of him but sometimes, just sometimes, he wished he could grab his cap, one of the Zats and with sunglasses just walk right through the Gate again.

Sure, there would probably be either very thick forest or super-high humidity or lots and lots of hot sand out there, plus maybe an evil alien or two trying to kill him or enslave him, but he could live with that. There would be his team there with him to save him and get him home so they could suffer some more in the Infirmary together and then have a team night with beer and pizza and Daniel getting drunk and Carter giggling while being just a tiny little tipsy.

God he missed those! He couldn't remember the last time he had a team night with his team. Well, maybe it was because he had no team now. It was Carter's team. And she was doing great. Of course she was. He knew she would. But that didn't mean that they weren't his friends, his family anymore. Actually aside of them he had nobody.

He remembered the moment he had been thinking like that – like an old lonely General. It was the moment his eyes caught a picture of himself and Cassie laughing together at her last birthday. Oh yeah, he had Cassie, his little girl that was not little anymore. He smiled at the memory. Maybe she was a grown-up woman now but she knew as well as he did that in his eyes she would always be his little girl. She had a special place in his heart. It was very difficult to imagine that she would be leaving for college soon and then… then he'd be alone.

Okay so now he was off-world again and with his people – with his team - which counted as the best bonus ever – but still – Carter was having a new life, and it was just a matter of time before Daniel would find somebody as well, Teal'c would go back to his people… He had to stop himself from thinking like that. No matter what they were friends, good friends, family even. He would not allow it – he would not lose them. So what – maybe he would have to try a bit harder and overcome a fear or two but it was worth it. He knew what the most difficult thing would be – but maybe it was the time to admit it – maybe he just should face it finally. Damn he didn't want to!

On the other hand Daniel was right after all – Sam was dating somebody but she was still his friend and he missed her. There was nothing wrong about that. Well, they still had the way back to talk and catch up on the lost time. Maybe they could also plan their next team-night.

"Sir, you okay?" Carter suddenly asked and smiled at him. He didn't even asked her how did she find him… she just did – probably followed his footsteps.

"Absolutely." He grinned at her.

"You might wanna see this." She told him and the gleam in her eyes told him enough – she was excited enough to pull him there by his hand.

"What did you find, Carter?"

"Come with me."

And so he decided to forget about everything and enjoy himself right there on P-whatever. She was a step in front of him – she took him to the last part of the temple she had been visiting.

When they entered Jack couldn't help himself – one simple 'wow' escaped his lips.

"Cool, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah, it is." He had to admit. The last part was made of something that really looked like glass – okay – so alien glass – but it was almost possible to see through it. There were markings on one of the walls – they all looked like flowers actually – and with the sun coming through them – it was really beautiful. It looked like a small half-dome or whatever. Difficult to describe – but definitely pretty.

"What are we looking at, Carter?"

"I have no idea, Sir." She admitted and he just had to smile at her. She had really come a long way…

"You have what you need, Colonel?"

"I don't know, Sir. I have some energy readings but I can't make heads or tails from them."

"You will."

"Yes, Sir." She looked at him and he nodded at her.

"Sir?"

"Yeah?"

"Just for the record, Sir, I am really glad you could have come with us."

"I'm glad too, Sam." He admitted and allowed himself to enjoy the moment. It was disturbed by Daniel coming to them. He also entered with 'wow' on his lips. He just couldn't help himself. And he had seen that place before.

"So… what's the plan now?"

"I was thinking – lunch – and then we should probably head back."

"I agree, we have about four and half hours now so we still should make it back safely." Carter added.

So they had their lunches and they chatted about things, all of them trying to come up with ideas concerning the place. So now they had a temple, a cave and a crossroad, they had the strange material those buildings had been made from and they had the markings and pictures. Oh and of course – they had the energy readings.

Daniel wanted some last pictures of the main hall – with the sun changing its angle the room looked a bit different – he just didn't want to miss anything. His battery was getting low so Jack took the other camera and took some more pictures and videos of that place. He had to admit – it surely looked beautiful. Maybe he was looking at ruins and maybe this place had always looked like this – it was impressive either way.

Almost on time they decided to head back. They had less than four hours to make it to the Gate. Or – more precisely – they had less than four hours before the planet would get consumed in the storm for another approx. ten hours. And they really didn't want to be there to witness it.

Jack tried to talk to Carter – he was given the opportunity – Daniel and Teal'c walking few steps behind them – very subtly letting them know they should finally at least try to talk – because they hadn't really talked in weeks – hell – longer than just few weeks - but it was difficult. As long as they stayed on the safe ground, it was okay, but when it came to more personal things, it got a bit awkward.

Sam knew her CO was just trying to be friendly but she didn't know how to talk to him… part of her life was now occupied by Pete and she wasn't comfortable talking about him. Not with Jack O'Neill. Maybe it was pathetic and maybe it was wrong but she just couldn't. So in the end they had to stick to some more general things – more or less work or Cassie related. She felt so stupid because of it…

They had walked for about an hour when Sam finally had the courage to ask Jack about coming to a team-night. When she was about to actually ask him she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. Jack stopped with her, worried. Daniel and Teal'c were by their sides in a few seconds as well.

"Carter?" Jack asked carefully.

"Did you hear that, Sir?"

"Hear what? There's nothing but us and the wind around…"

"No no, it sounded like…"

"Like what, Carter?"

And before she could answer him she heard it again. This time they all did – well if the shock on their faces could be taken as a sign.

"It's a baby, Sir." She told him, all her instincts and senses on high alert.

She knew it was not possible but she had heard a baby crying. When there was a pause in the wind – that was getting stronger by every minute – way too soon for their liking – they all heard it again. It indeed sounded like a baby – crying baby.