Her first sensation was one of complete disorientation. She couldn't tell if she had been asleep or unconscious, whether she was at home or on a mission. If she was at home, she knew it was definitely time to invest in a new mattress! She was lying partially on her side with one arm pinned underneath her. The surface she was on felt very cold, very hard.

Okay, not in bed then. That meant she must be on a mission – but where? Where were Daniel and Cam, Teal'c and Vala?

Wait, no … she slowly started to remember. She had been on, what was the name of the planet? … Trelea, that was it. She had been with Teal'c and Daniel all right – but also with Jack!

It all started to come back. She had watched Jack act like he was in a trance and head for the door. She hadn't known what was happening but something felt really off, really wrong. She just knew she had to reach him before he touched that door.

Had she? She didn't know. If fact, she had no idea where she was, what had happened or whether she was alone or with someone else. She was totally, absolutely blind. She hoped it simply meant there was no light in the room, not that something was wrong with her eyes. The last thing she remembered was reaching for Jack – after that nothing!

She started to feel panicked and forced herself to calm down. She made herself take slow, regular breaths. She concentrated on slowing her racing heart.

After a few moments she began to feel calmer – although she could still see nothing. She was afraid to move, not sure what she would find. As she lay there quietly she soon became aware of another presence in the room. It's not that she could hear something exactly; it's just that she knew someone else was with her.

Slowly, carefully she turned onto her stomach and began to inch her way forward, to where she felt the presence. Heart speeding up, she continued to move until her fingers touched something. Startled, she drew her hand back. Immediately, however, she realized that what she had felt was simply cloth. She once more reached out carefully, slowly until her fingers came in contact with the cloth.

As she felt it more closely, she realized that what she was touching was a body – whether or not it was human she didn't know. She hoped and prayed it was Jack – or at least someone she knew. She began to softly run her hands along the body, recognizing that it was a leg she was touching. It certainly felt human, she thought.

She continued to touch the body, which was lying on its back. She moved up the leg to the hip, torso, and the neck. She stopped there. Although she knew it was silly, in her imagination she worried that she might discover something horrible – like a headless corpse!

"Stop it Sam," she thought to herself. "You're a soldier for God's sake."

After a couple of seconds of hesitation, she moved on to the face. Breathing a huge sigh of relief, she quickly realized it was, in fact Jack. She could tell by the rugged face and, more importantly, by the scar through his eyebrow. The relief was short lived as it suddenly dawned on her he hadn't moved at all since she had awoken.

"Oh God, what if he were dead!"

She quickly felt for the pulse in his neck and was relieved when she could feel it beating slowly, steadily although he didn't appear to be waking up.

After another few minutes, which felt like hours, she could feel Jack stirring. At first she simply heard a slight hitch in his breathing. Then, she heard a soft groan and felt a twitch in his arm and hand. Finally, she felt him begin to move.

Interestingly, as soon as he began to move she started to be able to see. Oh, it was still dark but there was now a teeny bit of life – from where she couldn't tell. She looked down at Jack and could see that his eyes were just beginning to open, although he still looked dazed and unaware.

A couple of minutes more and she could see him take a deep breath and open his eyes wide. At that moment, the room was filled with a soft, golden light. Again, there seemed to be no source to the light – it was as if it simply grew out from the room itself.

'Jack, are you okay?"

He didn't answer but slowly turned to look up at her. He still didn't appear to be completely aware of what was going on, but he did seem to be waking up.

"Jack, can you hear me?"

"Wha ?"

"Jack, General, it's me Sam. Are you okay? Are you in pain?"

He slowly sat up and, taking another deep breath, he looked at her and slowly began to speak.

"I'm fine, I think. What the hell happened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Walking towards that white building."

"Do you remember the Guardians?"

"No, did we meet them?"

"Yes, just briefly. But you seemed to be in some kind of daze or trance. After looking at one of the Guardians you walked towards this door in the side of the building. Just as you reached it I grabbed your arm. Somehow I didn't trust those people, or whatever they are, or the building for that matter. The next thing I knew I woke up here with you unconscious beside me."

"Wow, I don't remember any of that. Where is here by the way?"

With that, both of the soldiers began to look around the room to try and discover where they were – and how they could get out.

After a couple of minutes it was obvious that there was no visible door or window – no way, in fact to get out. There was also nothing in the room. Just like the original building, Carter realized that the walls seemed almost translucent – with the colors changing all the time. They couldn't truly see through the walls but it was almost as if they should be able to. Just when they felt like they would be able to see out, the color, or room changed and they could see nothing.

Although at first the changing colors looked beautiful, after a while they started to make the two soldiers feel rather dizzy and nauseated.

"Well, lets do a walk around and see if we can find anything", decided Jack. Better than sitting there getting 'room sick', he thought.

So, the two of them began to walk around the room, carefully touching the walls to feel for any invisible seams or an exit. They also knocked to see if any areas were hollow or sounded different from the rest.

Nothing. It both looked and felt as if the walls were solid, with no way out.

"That's a real bummer," snorted Jack. "I guess we might as well sit down and relax until someone comes to get us." to himself thinking – I hope someone does come and this isn't some kind of a trap in which we'll be left to starve and die. Wow, nothing like being an optimist O'Neill!

So, the two sat down, silently beside each other, but not touching. After a few minutes it started to feel uncomfortable. They both knew all that had been said last evening and this morning, and that things weren't yet resolved. They knew there was a still a lot to say, a lot to talk about. However, they also realized that now was not the time. They needed to keep their soldier personas on. They couldn't be Jack and Sam – they had to be General and Colonel. Now was definitely not the time to worry about personal issues. However, until someone came, or they could do something, there was little to discuss that wasn't personal.

Somehow it seemed totally wrong to just sit and chat about inconsequential things. Yet, there was nothing they could do or plan until they could get out of this room.

Jack laughed to himself, I guess they needed to keep it 'out of the room' this time! God, this was getting very uncomfortable. Maybe he should say something … but what?

Sam too was starting to feel awkward. She couldn't believe she had told Jack, no General O'Neill, that she was going to kick his ass. Yikes, what had gotten into her this morning? He must think she was an insane woman. She really, really hoped they could get out of this room soon because she was starting to feel very uncomfortable, very embarrassed.

"So, ah Colonel, did you have a nice Christmas this year?" Yes, that's it, he thought. Let's make inane, useless conversation to pass the time away.

"Yes sir", she answered. (Oh thank God, he's not going to bring up this morning!). I didn't have time to make it to Mark's so the Silers invited me over for Christmas dinner. Other than that I just puttered around the house. How about you?"

"Nah, you know me Carter. Christmas isn't really my thing." (It used to be, he thought. Growing up he had loved the holiday – and too when Charlie was still with him). I mostly got ready to come here for this gig." Okay, he wondered, now what?

"Mark doing well?"

"Yes, sir. The children are getting big."

"Yeah, they do that." Really, really inane!

"What are you ..?"

Before Jack had the chance to finish his question, a figure suddenly appeared in front of the two of them. The figure didn't appear solid – more of an ephemeral 'presence' was the only way he could describe it. He couldn't tell if it were young or old, male or female, friend or enemy. All he knew was that the moment it had appeared he began to feel strange again. It was as if his brain was expanding inside his skull.

Lovely, he thought. Isn't that a nice picture? Brains, leaking out his ears …!

Carter looked over at him, expecting him to say something – probably something sarcastic or irreverent. – but Jack didn't seem to be able to speak. He again appeared like he had when they first came upon the Guardians. She decided to speak instead.

"Hello, we're peaceful visitors from another world (Daniel's favorite intro – it sometimes worked, although more often not!). My name is Carter, this is General O'Neill. Can we ask who you are?"

The – apparition – for a want of a better word, did not speak. In fact, it didn't appear to even be aware of her presence. It was like she didn't exist. It just kept looking at Jack, who stared as intently back.

"Sir?" – nothing

"Sir? – again, nothing.

She went up to touch him to see if she could get his attention, however before she had a chance to reach him he clutched his head and fell to the ground.

"Jack", she shouted!

Jack began to roll around the floor in agony. His breathing sped up and he began to moan. Soon, he began to scream. He writhed in endless anguish, continuing to scream. She reached out to him, to touch him, to hold him, to help him, but that seemed only to make matters worse. As soon as she put her hands on his arms he flailed away from her and screamed even louder. This went on for what felt like forever.

"Stop this!" she cried to the figure. "You must stop this. You're killing him." But the figure did nothing but continue to stare at O'Neill.

"Please, please don't do this." She sat back on the floor with her arms around herself, rocking, praying that this would end.

His screams slowly began to die out. Not that he was in less pain, it was that his body, his voice could no longer maintain the sound. Soon, he began to whimper, mewling in short gasps. By this time he had curled himself into a ball with his arms wrapped around his legs. He slowly pounded his head against the floor. His face was again completely white with his eyes like two glazed points of black onyx. Tears streamed down his face. What was worse – and what presented a truly macabre picture - were the streams of blood that poured from his nose, mouth and ears. The red, against his white face, looked like some horrible, gruesome painting.

His whimpers suddenly became words – words gasped out in bits and pieces.

"Please, … make it .. stop! Make … them … stop!" he begged.

"Sam … please, help ..me."

Oh God, she sobbed to herself, what could she do? She once again looked toward the figure and begged it to stop doing this. Again, it ignored her and looked only towards Jack. Sam knew, if this didn't stop soon, Jack would die.

Strangely, quietly, with no warning, the figure began to fade. It didn't disappear suddenly and it certainly didn't move. It was almost as if it simply became part of the room.

The moment it was gone, Jack seemed to relax a little bit. The whimpers slowly stopped. She could still hear the occasional, soft sob – the sound you often hear when a child has been crying for a long time and then stops.

Although still in a ball, he was beginning to calm down a little. She moved closer to him and tentatively put her hand on his arm. This time, he didn't move away, in fact, he appeared to lean slightly in to her.

He was shaking terribly – his whole body quivering. She carefully lay down beside him and gently put her arms around him. He stretched out a bit and then rested his head into the crook of her neck. She felt, more than heard, a softly breathed "Sam". They lay together like that until Jack finally settled into a light doze.

As his eyes closed, the lights in the room gradually dimmed until again, it was pitch black. Sam, exhausted from the day's events, fell asleep beside him.

The two comrades, the two soldiers, the two friends, rested in each other's arms giving each other comfort and solace.