Sorry ya'll! I kinda got side-tracked by a sudden adiction to Supernatural...which I'm not writing a fic for...(so if you like SPN check it out;))...but I'm back! I'm not stopping my other stories, so don't worry. Anyway, for some reason I had trouble making this chapter come together and flow, and...well anyway, it'll be easier for me from here, so there shouldn't be any more breaks that long. I hope! Anyway, here ya'll go; can't wait to hear from you! Thanks!

Chapter 16

The rock was still there, in the clearing on the mountain, right where he remembered it and large enough to sit on to gather his thoughts as the sun came up the next morning. It had been a rough night.

"This is nice."

Daniel almost jumped. He'd been too gone in thought to hear anyone coming, no matter how well his ears worked now. "Alice! What…what are you doing here?"

"Am I not welcome?" she asked, stepping out into the clearing nearby.

"It's fine…I just didn't expect to see you down here."

She shrugged. "The last time you called it seemed like you could use some support. I thought I should come see how you were holding up."

Daniel stared at her for a moment. "I never told any of you anything more specific than the state. How did you find me?"

"I got lucky; saw a few street signs. Once I was in the area it was easy enough to track you."

"And you did all of that in one night?"

Alice grinned. "You'll be able to track too, once you have more experience."

He shook his head at her. "But I'll never have the visions to help."

"Well, no." She streaked to his side and perched lightly on the other side of the boulder. "So. This is where you've been running off to, hmm?"

"Yeah…here, my old house…that's about it, really." He glanced at her. "You I can't take you to Vala, right?"

"Right…all of that top-secret military whatever. I know. It's all right." She cocked her head at him. "What's up? Bad night?"

He nodded. "No change in Vala, and she's been out all night, but at least she's not getting any worse. Mitchell though…he flat-lined once last night."

Alice's eyebrows shot up. "But you said he'd finally woken up."

"He did. I don't get it either."

"Oh no…Samantha isn't going to be happy when she finds out."

Daniel sighed. "Carolyn was there, and she probably won't tell Sam. There wouldn't be any point. It would only make her worry more. He's stable now anyway."

Alice shook her head. "I wish there were more I could do—more any of us could do. But there's no way to get Carlisle in there, is there?"

"Probably not, no, and I don't know what he could do that Carolyn couldn't." Though of course he couldn't tell her how Carolyn Lam had an advantage in medicine over Carlisle, now matter how good of a doctor Carlisle was.

Alice fell silent for a moment, and then glanced at him again. "You're eyes are dim already."

He raised an eyebrow. "You're the one who rushed me to get out here; I didn't have time to hunt before I left." He sighed. "I should go soon though. That base is full of people…"

Alice nodded. "So it doesn't take as long to feel thirsty, whether you need it or not. I know how it is. It takes some getting used to, being around a lot of them so often."

"I don't really want to go any farther than this though."

She stood. "Come on. We'll go together. I need to hunt too, and I can tell you if anything changes."

Daniel looked at her for a long moment, conflict tugging at him. He didn't want to leave, even for a little while…but he had to hunt. If he wasn't well-nourished, something could happen down there. As much as he hated to admit it, he could lose control.

"All right."

"Good." She smiled encouragingly. "We'll be back in no more than two hours."

The meeting was held in the general's office, with the doors shut and the blinds pulled down. Landry stood leaning back against the front of his desk, with his people instead of behind the desk and separated. The only others present were Carolyn, Samantha Carter, and Teal'c.

"Last night was…rough," Carolyn began. "Maybe they're not necessarily getting any worse, but they're still not getting any better, and I'm out of options."

Hank scowled. "So you're saying there's nothing we can do but wait this out. We still have no idea if they're going to put through or not."

She sighed. "That's about the size of it."

Landry scrubbed a hand over his face, and just saw Carter shifting uncomfortably. "Colonel?"

Sam swallowed. "Sir…I think we should contact the Tok'ra. We need to know if they'll have someone who can come at a moment's notice—or if someone can come now. Maybe they would be willing to try to help them, and even if it's too serious for them to heal, they…"

Carolyn seemed to know what she was talking about. His daughter opened her mouth and closed it again, wincing a little.

"What?" Landry asked.

"Sir…Vala asked me to make sure the baby survives, if at all possible. We'll probably need the Tok'ra for that, to…" Her crossed arms tightened over her chest. "To transfer the fetus safely if she's not going to make it."

"Transfer it? To who?"

"To me."

Teal'c's eyebrows went up. "To you, Samantha Carter?"

Sam blinked back the tears in her damp eyes. "She's one of my best friends, Teal'c. It's the least I'll be able to do if we can't save them."

Hank looked at her for a long moment. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "More than sure. I don't want it to come to that any more than the rest of you, but I'll do my part if it does. We have to be ready. We don't know how this is going to play out."

"And I hate it too," he answered grimly.

Teal'c frowned. "Indeed."

"Sir?"

He nodded quickly. "All right. I agree. Contact the Tok'ra."

"Thank you," she answered quietly.

Sam left the brief meeting feeling drained. She didn't know what else to do. She didn't know if what was left of her family would still be in one piece by morning.

Teal'c walked beside her, and neither of them had to say anything when he stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. She swallowed back a sob and turned to hug him. "What's happening to us, Teal'c?" she muttered. "General Hammond, Daniel, and if we can't help Cam and Vala…" She choked. "We're dropping like flies."

"There is nothing we could have done to prevent what happened to our friends," Teal'c answered after a moment. "And we can only do everything we can for those in danger now."

"I know, it's just…" She let go of him and swiped at her eyes. "I don't know. Maybe after all those years cheating death…it had to stop somewhere."

"Samantha Carter—"

"I'm not saying I like it—or that I think it has to be this way, or anything like that. I hate this. I'm only saying that we have to face reality. People…die," she swallowed, voice wavering. "We can't pretend like we're always going to come through, no matter what. We can't think like that anymore." Her throat ached trying to hold back the tears. "I think that's why losing Daniel hurt us all so much," she whispered. "None of us ever thought it could really happen—especially not to him."

Teal'c nodded slowly, sadly. "I understand."

Sam hugged him once more, briefly. "Anyway, I…I'm gonna go sit with Cam for a few minutes, okay? I'll see you later…"

"I will come at a later time."

She nodded. "Good…good." Teal'c let her go and she made her way back to the isolation room. She was in for a surprise, at least, and she needed it just now.

Cameron was awake again.

"Hey," he smiled weakly. "I was wondering where you ran off to."

Sam hurried into the chair beside him and gripped his hand. "Hey. Are you doing any better?"

He grimaced. "Not really."

"Oh…"

Cam sighed. "Man…this really sucks, too. I had plans for this week."

She managed to laugh. "Oh yeah? What kind of plans?"

He glanced around them for a moment, as if checking to see if they were alone. She couldn't imagine why until he looked back at her, right in her eyes. "Oh, I don't know. I was going to get my life straightened out, I guess—stop pretending I could wait and ask you to marry me. I will be seriously ticked off if I don't get the chance."

Her breath caught in her throat and Sam had to swallow hard to be able to answer. She smiled and pulled one of her hands from his to brush his cheek. "When you have your chance…I'll say yes."

Cam grinned, and after she looked around again, confirmed there was no-one to see, she kissed him.

Daniel and Alice were halfway back to the mountain when Alice stopped short and cocked a head to the side in curiosity. "Hmm…"

He stopped, too, and came back to her side. "What is it?"

"I'm not sure…I shouldn't being seeing anything going on in that base, but…" She frowned. "Perhaps it's the fact that you're so emotionally tied to Vala; it's letting me see those around her, even though she's not conscious."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm getting something. It's not clear, but they're waiting for something. They think it's someone who may be able to help."

The Tok'ra, Daniel thought in relief. He knew they couldn't do much with only their hand-held devices…but if one of them was able to try, it might give Vala and Cameron the edge they needed to pull through on their own

"I should get back," he concluded immediately.

Alice smiled. "Of course," she nodded. "Keep me posted if you can."

He winced. "Alice, if this is what I think it is, I may be down there for a while waiting. My cell phone won't work down there; you know that. Look, thanks for coming, but you don't have to stay…"

"It's all right. I'll be around when you do come out again. I came here to be here for you, didn't I? Besides, if this is where you lived before, I might as well take a look around. It's cloudy."

"Okay," he sighed. "Thank you."

She nodded again, then urged him to go on. Daniel didn't hesitate. He swept through the trees and to the ladder that led own into the SGC. It took a bit of time to work his way to the isolation room, but he was still surprised to see that one of the Tok'ra had already arrived.

The male was unfamiliar to him, and he seemed to have already missed the introductions. But that wasn't important. What was important was whether he could help Cam and Vala. Daniel slipped into the isolation room behind the Tok'ra and his friends, and into the shadows again—it was so cliché, considering what he was now, that for some reason in the sudden hope he almost laughed.

The hair stood up on the back of Sam's neck as she followed Carolyn, Teal'c, and the Tok'ra man into the isolation room, and she turned at the sudden seeming rush of air. She frowned when there was nothing there…until she caught movement at the corner of her eye. It seemed to be coming from the other side of the room, but when she focused it was gone.

She remembered it wasn't the first time that had happened since Vala and Cameron had been moved here…

Sam shook it off and focused on what the Tok'ra was saying.

"I am not certain how much we can do," the host said again. "This appears to be quite serious; however, we will make our best attempt."

"That's all we can ask," Sam nodded quietly.

"We thank you for your effort," Teal'c nodded deeply.

Sam's attention wondered, while the Tok'ra tried. She was too anxious to focus on what he was doing, and in the end it wasn't much at all. All they could hope for was that it would help. Please... She and Teal'c lingered behind in the isolation room, and her eyes wondered unbidden back to the darkness across the room.

She wasn't sure why, but she almost felt as if something were watching her back.

Daniel wasn't sure how long he could stay in the isolation room. More than once he was certain Sam suspected something; finally he made sure to remain frozen until she and Teal'c left for the night. He heard Sam mention that she wouldn't be leaving the base anymore, until this was over in one way or another. She didn't want to risk not being near if she were to…be needed.

He swallowed to himself and settled back against the wall once the room was quiet, listening to the quick, steady rhythm of the unborn child in Vala's womb. He still couldn't help but be amazed at it's existence.

He didn't know how he felt about Vala and Sam's decision. He hoped it wouldn't ne necessary.

The first part of the night was quiet. The nurses went in and out at their regular intervals, and nothing changed…but then it did. Halfway through the night everything went from bad to worse. The monitors began screaming, and the isolation room was never empty.

Daniel pressed himself as flat against the wall in the shadows as he could, knowing he couldn't be seen but paranoid in all the activity anyway. It didn't help that he could all but feel the racing of his heart that would have been there if it were still beating. He could hear the echo of fear in his ears even if his heart wasn't there to remind him of the rhythm. No...nonononono.

Both Vala and Cameron crashed more than once. Daniel held his breath for hours before either of them were truly stable again. And then…

"Their fevers are breaking," Carolyn commented suddenly, astonished.

Sam and Teal'c, who had long since been roused from sleep, leaned forward in the observation room, and Sam clicked the microphone. "What?"

"Both of them," Carolyn clarified. "Their fevers are coming down. I don't understand it."

"Are you saying that they are beginning to recover?" Teal'c asked immediately.

She shook her head and shrugged. "Maybe…We'll see. I still can't guarantee anything, but…this might be it."

Daniel quietly let out a pent-up breath that he hadn't needed anyway, and glanced at his watch. It was morning now.