By the time Teal'c neared the compound he was sweating. He was a strong man but Jack wasn't light, even though he had lost weight since he'd been captured.

Teal'c kept a close eye on his friend as he carried him, growing increasingly concerned as he drew nearer the camp. O'Neill appeared to get steadily weaker as they traveled. He was truly worried his friend would not make it.

"Who goes there?" A deep voice suddenly split the early morning air.

"It is I, Tro'han, servant of my Lord Ba'al. I come bearing a gift to my God." Teal'c had stopped and waited for the Jaffa to appear. Shortly, not one but three Jaffa moved out from behind the trees.

"Troh'an? There are many out looking for you. It is said you deserted our God."

"That is a lie. I went out for a walk and my slave and I happened upon this one." He indicated the man in his arms. "We followed him for many hours. He killed my slave but I was able to capture him and bring him as a gift to my Lord Ba'al."

One of the Jaffa walked over and took a look at the man held by this strange Jaffa.

"He is dead."

"No, he is not but he soon will be if we tarry much longer. Let us go to the compound."

"What difference does it make if he dies? He is just a human and not a young one at that. I do not think he will make a good slave."

"Fool!" Teal'c uttered sharply. "Do you not know that that is for our God to decide – not a lowly Jaffa. If it is too late and he dies I do not wish to be in your place."

The Jaffa began to seem worried although a stubborn look had appeared in his eyes. He didn't like being told what to do.

"If this one is important Lord Ba'al will simply raise him up."

"Not if we wait too long. Even Lord Ba'al cannot raise him if too long a time passes."

"He's right Ur'dun", one of the other Jaffa spoke for the first time. "I would not want to be in your place if Lord Ba'al is unhappy. Let us take this one to Lord Ka'treg – let him decide."

With luck this Lord Ka'treg was the Goa'uld Teal'c had spoken to last evening as he and Daniel had left. He hoped his plan would work.

The Jaffa turned and headed back towards the compound, two in front and one following behind, his staff weapon at the ready. They were not sure of Tro'han and were taking no chances.

They finally arrived and were taken directly to Ka'treg. They made Teal'c lay Jack down in the outer chamber of the small building the Goa'uld commander was using as his headquarters.

"What is this?" he asked upon seeing Teal'c. "Wait – you are the Jaffa who left last night. I see they captured you."

"No my Lord", answered Teal'c. "I did not run away. I have returned with a gift for Lord Ba'al."

"A gift? What kind of gift?"

"My slave and I came across a human who we believe escaped from here. He ran and we gave chase for many hours. We finally cornered him but he was able to kill my slave before I captured him. I believe he may be important to Lord Ba'al."

"You do? And I suppose you are hoping to receive honor and glory for capturing this one?"

"No my Lord. I would give that honor to you. It was you who were wise and fair in letting me leave. It was as a result of that decision that I was able to capture this one. I would ask that you be the one to present him as a gift to Lord Ba'al. I am just a lowly servant and ask only the privilege of serving you and through you our God."

The minor Goa'uld looked startled, and then pleased, by the opportunity to do something for Ba'al. There was no surer way to advancement. Ba'al was a harsh master, as were most System Lords, but he generously rewarded those who served him well. He had worked hard to make it this far in Ba'al's service. This might just put him on top!

But what about this Jaffa? Was he for real? He knew it was not uncommon for Jaffa to avoid the System Lords as much as possible. You could get ahead by serving them directly but it was also possible to get yourself killed much more easily. All it took was your Lord getting angry over any least thing and you were history.

Also, he had heard that Andorans were an unusual race. They were not often to be found in the Goa'uld armies and were considered a rather ascetic race, not concerned with wealth or even power. Yes, this could be a perfect situation. Ba'al would reward him and, if he played this correctly, he could also add one very loyal Jaffa to his court.

"Very well. You do yourself proud. I will accept your gift, on behalf of Lord Ba'al. You are a worthy warrior and I would offer you a place in my service."

Teal'c bowed his head. "I am honored My Lord. May I offer one suggestion?"

"What?"

"The man I brought back is very ill. I do not believe he has much time to live. He needs to be seen to or it may be too late even if Lord Ba'al wishes to revive him."

Ka'treg swallowed nervously. That would be worse than anything, to bring back a dead and useless prize! "Who can we get to help him? Is there a slave here trained in human healing arts?"

One of his Jaffa stepped forward. "I believe one of the priests here is a healer. His house was filled with things that appeared to be used on the human body."

"Where is he?"

"He was taken to his house on the other side of the compound. He was tortured to try and force him to speak but I believe he is still alive."

"Did he speak?"

"No. They will continue to interrogate him and the other priest in the morning."

"Bring him here. No, wait. Take the human to him and tell him he must not die. If he does the priest will die as well, but very slowly."

"Yes my Lord." The Jaffa bowed and backed out.

"May I accompany them My Lord? I would like to make sure that the human is cared for properly so he is strong when you give him to my Lord Ba'al."

"Yes, yes. Go, but come back and tell me how he is doing as soon as you know."

"I will my Lord. Thank you." Teal'c turned and swiftly followed. Two of Ka'treg's personal servants were carrying Jack over to the house. Little did Teal'c know but Jack had been in this house before!"

"What do you want of me?" a fearful voice rose from the darkness in the small house. Teal'c looked and there in the corner, bloody and bruised, was a small, ugly little man. The Jaffa was prodding him with his boot, insisting that he get up. Teal'c glanced over and could see that O'Neill has been placed on what looked like an examination table. Beside it were a number of instruments, many of which were covered in blood. They had obviously been used to try and extract information.

"You are to heal this human. Stand up or my boot will not be so gentle." The little man stood, staggering so much that he had to grab the wall. He managed to drag himself over to the table where he looked down in shock.

"It is this one!" The little man – D'jindra – cried out.

"That's what I said. Heal him."

"No, I mean this is the human that – " the little man stopped himself.

"The human that what?" The Jaffa asked.

"Uh, just that he was sick before." D'jindra looked more closely and could see that this one was near death. He noticed the bandages peaking out and lifted the man's shirt in order to take a closer look. He quickly examined the wound confirming that that was not the main problem. No, as he looked down he knew it was the Kopra and Roshu that had caused this. Stupid man – all he had to do was mate with the woman. Why he wouldn't D'jindra could not figure out.

"Can you help him?"

"No", answered D'jindra shortly. "Only the woman can."

"Woman? What woman?" Teal'c had straightened up sharply when these words were uttered. He tried to remain unobtrusive but was anxious to hear what this was about.

"The woman who was with him. He will die without her."

"What? What are you saying? That is crazy. What can a woman do? Is she a healer?"

"No, no. The sickness he has, it is like an addiction. He has to be near the woman – no, he has to Mai'thun with her, in order to live."

Mai'thun – that was the word Teal'c had heard O'Neill utter. What did it mean?

"What is this 'Mai'thun'? Explain yourself more clearly." The Jaffa was getting impatient, which was never a good thing.

D'jindra seemed to realize this because he turned to the Jaffa and began to speak.

"My Lord Matsya makes hosts – perfect, beautiful hosts. Sometimes there is one of the breeders who is reluctant to do his duty and so we give him Kopra – this increases his desire for the woman. We also have another substance – Roshu – this acts to increase fertility and also desire. They are not to be given together or they create a permanent condition in the man. He becomes addicted to the woman he is with at the time he receives the substances. If he does not 'Mai'thun' - have physical relations with her - he will die."

"I have never heard of such a thing. I believe you are lying."

"No, I do not lie. I created these substances and the results are clear."

"Well, if you created them you must have an antidote. Give it to him."

"I cannot. There is no antidote. The substance is long gone from his body. What it does is change his physical self permanently and his mind so that he can no longer live without the woman. There is nothing we can do."

One of the Jaffa who had remained in the background spoke for the first time. "We can take him to the sarcophagus if my Lord Ba'al agrees. That will save him."

D'jindra looked up, shaking his head. "No, my Lord Matsya tried that. The sarcophagus only helps in small ways. There is nothing to heal – the person is simply changed. The sarcophagus does not recognize that anything is wrong so it does not counteract the effects. They are permanent."

Teal'c was extremely worried by now. If this was true, if this was what O'Neill had, then taking him from Major Carter was the worst thing they could have done. That is why he'd gotten so much worse each step they'd taken from her. And he had been right about the sarcophagus, although for a different reason. Their only hope lay in Janet or if O'Neill and Major Carter – no, he could not even think that way. That was only for them to decide.

He spared a brief thought for his two friends. He wondered if they knew the reasons for O'Neill's illness - and the 'cure'. O'Neill himself had seemed to know something and Teal'c would bet he knew what to do about it. He also knew it was something he would never tell Major Carter. On the other hand, if she was aware, there was nothing that would stop her from trying to help O'Neill.

What a terrible situation for his friends! More important right now, however, was to figure out what to do about it. He turned back to the Jaffa as Matsya's priest or servant or whatever he was, continued to speak.

"All I can do is give him something to try and help the symptoms. I suggest you go bring the woman. She's the only one who can save him."

"I know of no woman." The head Jaffa turned to Teal'c. "Was there a woman with this one?"

"No. He was alone. There were a small number of graves close to where we first saw him. We believed him to have just finished burying them. The woman was most likely there."

"No!" cried D'jindra. "She was the special one. She was going to make beautiful hosts with this one for my Lord Matsya."

"We had better find out whether she's dead or not. In the meantime, do what you can for this human. I will send a message to Lord Ba'al. He might want to take him to his ship and use the sarcophagus anyway. It'll help his other wound at the least."

Back at the ship Sam was working furiously with the scavenged pieces of equipment. Daniel was helping as much as could. Mostly it was simply by handing her the things she asked for. He really didn't have a clue what she was doing.

He did notice, however, that she wasn't well. She kept experiencing bouts of nausea and seemed tired and dizzy. After the third or fourth spell he walked over and made her sit down. Handing her a canteen of water he spoke.

"Sam, there's something wrong. What is it? Do you have what Jack has?" She looked up at him, startled.

"I – I don't think so Daniel. The symptoms aren't the same."

"Do you think you caught some kind of virus?"

"Maybe, I don't know. I haven't really been around anyone but the Colonel for a couple of weeks."

"How long has this been going on?"

"Just a few days. It's okay Daniel. It's not serious – I'm just feeling a little sick. I'll be okay."

Daniel was silent for a minute looking at his friend. She was pale, with dark circles under her eyes. They hadn't had a chance to discuss what had really happened since she and Jack had been captured. He knew Jack had been tortured but not much else. He did know why they had been brought here though, and that worried him. He debated whether to ask but finally decided he needed to know.

"Sam?"

"What Daniel?"

"Could you possibly – I mean, this was a 'host making' facility, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, is there anyway you could be – you know –?"

"What Daniel? What are you talking about?"

"I'm just wondering if you could be pregnant? Did someone – hurt you?"

Sam stared back at him, shocked. She hadn't even given the possibility a thought. There was no way; her birth control was still working, or at least should have been. D'indra had said she was infertile so it had been working. But what if they'd given her something that changed that?

"Oh God Daniel." She put her head in her hands and started to shake.

He sat beside her and gently put his arm around her. Slowly rubbing her arm he tried to offer some comfort. "So, it could be?"

"I – maybe, I don't know. It shouldn't be possible. I'm on birth control and they said I wasn't fertile. It must be something else Daniel. I'm just sick. Jack said it was just that I'd been through so much."

"Sam." He turned to face her and took both of her hands in his. "Did someone - force himself on you."

"What? Oh no Daniel, it wasn't like that, not at all. It -"

"Then how - ", he stopped. "Sam, tell me. What happened? Did they do this … artificially?"

She looked at him and then began to laugh, although it carried a hysterical sound behind it. Daniel looked on worriedly. Something was really wrong.

"No Daniel, there was nothing artificial behind it. The Goa'uld wanted to sell a really good host to Ba'al. Who better than the child of his arch enemy and a woman who had been the host to a Tokra." Daniel looked at her for a second and then his eyes grew big.

"Oh God Sam. Do you mean you and Jack?"

"Yes Daniel – what did you think this was all about?"

"Well, it didn't look, or sound like you guys were in that kind of a, you know, relationship. I figured it would be pretty obvious if you ever decided to ditch the regs and go for it."

"Go for it?" she laughed again although it sounded hollow. "You're right, there was no relationship. It was just, being alone, living in close proximity. It was a way to give comfort to each other Daniel, that's all. And I even screwed that up!"

"Like hell it was Sam. You love each other. I don't care how much you lied to one another but you can't tell me you – did that – out of anything but love."

"You're right; I did it out of love. I've always loved him. But it was different for Ja – for the Colonel." She paused and looked up at her friend, sorrow and guilt in her eyes. "I seduced him Daniel. He's a normal man and I, I was the one who came on to him. And then later he thought it was only because I didn't want them to hurt him. They'd threatened to castrate him if he didn't have sex with me. He thought that was the only reason I -. But he doesn't love me. He thinks I love Pete." She looked at her teammate and best friend, expecting to see sympathy and understanding. Instead she saw anger.

"Sam, if I believed in physical violence solving anything I'd take you over my knee right now and spank you! What the hell is wrong with you two? Everybody at the SGC, from General Hammond to the overnight cleaning staff, know you two have loved each other for years. Or at least that you used to. We were all confused when you took up with Pete. But you know what? We all knew that Jack was hurt and devastated when you did. God, how can anyone so brilliant be so stupid at the same time? Here you guys were, trapped together in a house for weeks and instead of actually talking and figuring things out you both decided that the other didn't love you." He stood up, unable to stay still anymore.

Turning to Sam, who sat shocked on the floor, he continued. "So, you decided to be all noble and not say anything to Jack because you were afraid of making him feel uncomfortable, didn't you?" He waited until he saw her give a small nod. "And I can bet any amount of money that he didn't say anything to you, sure that you were in love with Pete and only had sex with Jack in order to 'save him'. So, you both were feeling guilty and holding a broken heart. You know what? If, when we save all our asses and get out of here, you and Jack don't talk I'm going to suggest to General Hammond that we send you to some uninhabited planet and leave you there until you damn well work it out." He walked to the door separating the cabins. "I'm going to leave for a little while. Call me if you need me. Right now I'm too angry to stay here with you. Why don't you use the brains God gave you Sam and figure it out."

He pushed the control and walked through the door as it swooshed open. He really wished for a regular earth wooden door right now. He really needed to slam something.

Sam still sat on the floor, astounded at what Daniel had said. Had she been stupid? Did Jack really love her? She tried to think clearly without letting doubts or guilt get in the way. She thought about his reaction to Pete. When she looked at it another way it sure came out looking like jealousy. He didn't know Pete well enough to really dislike him and yet he could barely be civil about him. Then there was the tenderness he had shown her. He would do anything for her, that she knew. He'd held her, and clearly liked it when she held him. Was it just a guy thing? Was it just because he was physically attracted to her?

She thought of the times they had made love. That wasn't a man interested only in his own gratification. He was too tender, too caring, too – giving. He had shown himself to be more interested in her feelings and enjoyment than his own. Then there was his hurt when he thought she'd only done it to save him rather than because she - !

The tears slowly started to gather in her eyes and finally to overflow and fall onto her cheeks. Daniel was right. She had thrown Jack's feelings for her back in his face. He cared for her. No, he loved her and what had she done? She'd gone out and replaced him without a thought. She had decided that her feelings were one sided – but had never really listened to him. She could read him like a book in the field but when it came to his feelings, she was as deaf as a post! Teal'c and Daniel, hell, even General Hammond, could tell that Jack loved her. They knew him well enough to tell. How was it that she had completely missed it?

It was because she was afraid, she admitted to herself. Afraid that if she looked too closely she'd see only his warm affection and not love. Afraid that she'd be forced to chose between him and career. Afraid that she'd have to risk herself and her heart. She'd been hurt before and was afraid to allow it to happen again.

You're a coward, Samantha Carter. I don't know how a brave man like Jack O'Neill can love you. But he does. And she was just sitting here as he was being taken to the one being that scared him more than any other in this universe. Get your butt up Samantha Carter and go save the man you love – and that loves you!

"DANIEL!" she shouted. He came running.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. We're going to go save Jack. I need your help."

"Ah, okay. Look Sam, I'm sorry about - "

"Nothing to be sorry about Daniel", she answered as she quickly got back to work. "You were right and I needed to have someone kick my butt. I do love Jack and he damn well loves me. We're going to go get him, help him get better and then I'm going to kick his ass for him. Neither of us are going to be", she looked over at Daniel and grinned, "stupid, anymore. Come on, let's get moving."

Daniel grinned back at her, pleased to see his fiery Sam once more. A thought swiftly followed, which caused his grin to fade. "But Sam, what about, your uh 'sickness'?"

"I don't know Daniel. Maybe I am just sick or maybe I am pregnant. Right now it doesn't really matter. If I am, well then I'm just going to have to learn to have lots of patience."

"Huh?" he looked confused.

"Cause then I'll have two O'Neills to deal with. That will definitely require the patience of a saint!"