Jack stayed by Mia's side as the rest of his team raced from the ship, heading for Dr. Lam's equipment outside. He sat transfixed as her skin paled, then greyed. She grew cold to the touch, but still he sat, watching, waiting. None of the others came back, but Jack didn't move. Couldn't move. History was repeating itself. His child, his fault.
When Charlie had died, it had been quick, a serpent's strike in the dark. At the time, he had thought the abruptness of his son's death was some cruel trick of fate, a double-edged blade wrenching its way through his heart as he was forced not only to watch his son's life seep away in a wash of blood, but to do so while powerless to do anything to help, or even to say the things he should have said before Charlie was gone. It had happened so fast, he had never really had the chance to say goodbye.
Now, watching Mia's life wink slowly from existence, he wondered if this was in fact the crueller fate, to be given another child, a second chance, only to lose her again mere days later, minute by agonizing minute, without ever having really known her at all. Still powerless to stop it, still unable to say the things he wanted to say. Jack leaned heavily against the ship's wall, his gaze never leaving the girl's still form. He felt he owed her that much, at least, to bear witness to her final hours as time marched endlessly forward, leaving the brief flame of her life far behind.
"We're losing them!," called Dr. Lam desperately, as one brain pattern after another disappeared from the readings displayed across the monitor hooked up to Colonel Carter.
"Dr. Jackson is back over here!," exclaimed Dr. Lee excitedly in response, pointing to the monitor hooked up to the archaeologist's prone form.
"And Teal'c is over here!," confirmed Jonas, having raced over to the third monitor connected to the large Jaffa warrior.
"What?!," said Dr. Lam, trying to wrap her head around what they were seeing.
Dr. Lee picked up an instrument of his own, recalibrating it quickly. "The energy output in this area is fluctuating rapidly, too," he noted.
"What does that mean?," asked Jonas.
"I have no idea," replied Dr. Lee, as the ground beneath their feet began to writhe and break apart as tendrils and roots slowly withdrew themselves from SG-1.
"This planet could be very, very interesting to study, under different circumstances," noted Jonas, dancing away from a clump of retreating plants heading his way.
"All right, as soon as they're free, I want you two to help carry them back to the ship," ordered Dr. Lam. "The sooner we can get them back to the SGC, the better."
"Yes, ma'am," replied Jonas, watching in fascination as his friends were released from their vegetative prisons. Even by SG-1's standards, this was different.
In the meantime, Dr. Lam busied herself with checking vitals for the team, moving swiftly from one person to the next and back again as more and more of the vegetation cleared out of her way.
Finally, as the last of the vivid green shoots disappeared back into the soil, Dr. Lam gave the signal to start moving SG-1 to the ship. Obediently, Jonas and Dr. Lee moved towards the team, choosing Colonel Carter to start. Hoisting her inert form between them, they made their way slowly back to the ship, careful not to jostle their unconscious charge.
Mia was back in the cavern with only the barest hint of the alien presence for company. She could feel herself growing weaker with every passing moment, sinking down to the cool, smooth ground to lay immobile beneath the domed ceiling. She was afraid, afraid of losing too much of this life-force the planet seemed to need, afraid of never making it back to the life Daniel had worked so hard to prepare her for, yet Mia couldn't help but feel compelled to hold to her end of the deal. She'd give them the rest of what they needed in exchange for the lives of SG-1. It was an uncomfortable process, especially given that she was fully aware of what was going on. No dream-state for her, apparently.
"Your friends have been returned to the others of your kind," the presence whispered, a gently rustling in her foggy mind.
"Thank you," she replied faintly.
She was too weak to move now, even if she had wanted to, and her vision blurred as exhaustion threatened to overtake her. Fighting to stay conscious, she forced herself to focus her glassy eyes on the domed ceiling, counting the ridges around the apex. Her mind felt oddly sluggish, refusing to pay attention to the task at hand.
"We are whole once more," proclaimed the presence after some time, drawing Mia's wandering attention back from the cavern walls.
"I'm glad," she replied sincerely, trying to recall why it was so important for her to stay awake.
"You and your kind are free to leave us," added the presence, gently beginning to withdraw from her conscious mind.
"Thank you," said Mia again, vaguely wondering how much longer she could hold on to consciousness before simply slipping into the inviting darkness of sleep.
"And you as well," whispered the presence, retreating entirely from the scope of Mia's awareness.
Mia could feel herself falling, being drawn away from the cavern and the last known voice of the Furlings. She fell faster and faster, her speed knowing no bounds, until at last she was dizzy and sick from the descent, willing it to end soon, to let her rest. She was so unbearably weary. If only she could just close her eyes and sleep...
Jack watched in frozen amazement as the impossible took place right before his eyes, the tendrils holding Mia disentangling themselves from her young body, disappearing back through the hull of the ship, the way they had come. His heart skipped a beat as he pushed himself back up onto his knees by her side, watching, hoping, as she was at last set free. Reaching a tentative hand toward her ashen face, his heart stopped altogether as those beautiful blue eyes fluttered open, locking briefly on his face. She smiled at him, a warm, radiant smile that eased some of his tension, some of his self-recriminating guilt, and mumbled something incoherent about remembering.
As unconsciousness overtook her once more, Jack reached out to her, lifting his daughter carefully off the mangled section of floor to cradle her gently in his arms, feeling her pulse, her breath, the reassuring signs of continued life. Suppressing a sob of relief, he held her tight, silently thanking whatever force had kept her alive, grateful that today, at least, history wouldn't be repeating itself after all.