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9.
Beneath
"Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead." ― Benjamin Franklin
The dark clouds that threatened rain earlier that afternoon were gone, leaving nothing but grey tufts drifting in a sea of washed-out blue as though they'd been ripped apart and scattered by the wind. Sam rounds a section of rocky outcrop with Teal'c, and sees two familiar figures up ahead, standing in a small sliver of mid afternoon sun that still managed to reach down into the gorge and touch the dry riverbed.
"I'm guessing you found something interesting?" she asks, coming to a stop in front of Jack and casting an eye over the men's fatigues, which are covered with thick smudges of pale dust.
"Don't really know yet," Jack answers, shrugging slightly before turning away from her, and slipping his pack from his shoulders.
Daniel, on the other hand, seems intent only on Teal'c, and ignores her completely. "Teal'c, I'm hoping you can help me with the translation of some hieroglyphs we found," he says, gesturing towards the temple excitedly.
"I am not certain I'll be of assistance to you, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c replies, but follows Daniel's lead anyway and begins walking towards the entrance with him.
"I've never seen script like this before..." Daniel continues, the rest of what he's telling Teal'c becoming muffled and indistinct as they walk away.
She watches their backs for a moment - almost amused with herself at the little knot of childish disappointment she feels in her gut at being left out of the discovery.
"Sit, Sam," Jack says softly, and she can almost hear his hesitation over her name. It catches her by surprise, and she blinks, turning back towards him.
He's sitting now, knees up a little and back resting against the rocky wall of the cliff opposite the temple just a few feet from her, where it looks like a spot of ground has been warming in the sunlight. He's put his cap back on, and the peak shades his eyes so she can't read his expression.
He drapes his arms over his knees, and sits patiently, clearly waiting for her to make her move.
She tilts her head and regards him, squinting in the light, before taking off her own pack and sinking to the earth beside him.
The rocks are warm, and she settles herself down further, letting the heat seep into her - she hadn't realised how cool and damp it had been in the perpetually dark tunnels of the mine she and Teal'c had explored, and an involuntary shiver runs through her.
"Cold?" he asks.
She gives him a small smile and shakes her head. "You and Daniel look like you've had the full exploration experience," she says, pointedly giving him the once-over with her eyes.
He looks down at himself and frowns, and then peevishly gives his thighs a few pats in an attempt to get some of the dust out.
"I hate temples," he sighs, and drapes his arms over his knees again in defeat.
"What did you find?"
"Writing, and more writing," he responds helpfully, and she can tell by the way he's pursing his lips that he's trying to suppress a grin. She narrows her eyes at him, but doesn't take the bait, instead turning to grab her canteen from her pack.
She's opened the canteen and is taking a long drink from it before he gives in. "Daniel managed to decipher some of the text that he's more familiar with - with some help from our friendly neighbourhood priest," he adds. "Apparently, Amaunet was Amun's queen, and she was having an affair with Apophis, his enemy."
"Sounds like a soap opera," she supplies, lowering the canteen.
"Space opera," he corrects, and she can feel him watching her as she wipes a stray drop of water from her chin. "Complete with space warfare, futuristic weapons, and the death of the bad guy."
"And which one would that be?" she asks archly, raising one eyebrow.
"You have a point," he nods, reaching forward and plucking the canteen from her hands before she can replace the cap, "but in this little story, our star-crossed lovers are triumphant."
He takes a drink, and she shivers again, drawing her knees up to her chest and clasping her arms around them. She wonders how Daniel must feel at discovering some of the history of the creature now inhabiting Sha're - a lustful, violent union with Apophis spanning thousands of years.
"So, no sequels for Amun," she says after a beat, so quiet it's almost to herself. She finds herself staring at the golden torchlight emanating from the temple's entrance, the heavy shadow cast by the cliff now giving the whole thing the impression of a giant jack-o'-lantern; the theatre of it is both ridiculous and oddly captivating.
Jack's fingers graze her arm lightly, and she startles, swivelling her head back to him. He's holding out the canteen for her to take, eyebrows raised quizzically, and she exhales a small breath - she hadn't noticed the tension that had started coiling through her.
"Seems so," he responds finally, and she takes the canteen from him, ducking her head sheepishly.
"Was Teal'c right?"
"About?"
"There being naquadah mines," he clarifies.
His tone is light, almost playful, and she's strangely amused at his remembering the mineral's name from a single conversation - he was never quite what he made himself out to be.
She gives him a sidelong look.
"Seems so," she says, batting his words back at him.
He stifles a soft laugh, and meets her gaze. The moment stretches, the crinkles around his eyes and the slight curve of his lips softening into something more serious, but she refuses to let herself look away. She realises that the last time they were this alone was outside his house when he'd walked her out to the car after dinner with the team.
And that just makes her think of the kiss.
She feels the heat radiating from his body next to her, and she knows a slight flush has begun creeping up her neck; part of her hopes he doesn't notice, while another hopes that he does. She sees the muscle in his jaw working ever so slightly, tension clear in his frame where before he was almost slouching against the rock behind him, and she guesses that he has noticed.
She knows this isn't the time or place - that this can't be more right now. Not while they're here, off-world. All she really wants is a moment to assure herself that he doesn't regret what happened between them, and she thinks this is definitely that moment, because the feeling settling in the air between them isn't awkward or embarrassed, it's... expectant.
Hopeful.
Their radios crackle to life, and the moment snaps.
"Jack, you there?" says Daniel, and Jack reaches for his radio, wrenching his eyes from hers.
"Here, Daniel," he replies. "There a problem?"
He sounds borderline resigned, and she realises that he really doesn't want to have to go back into that temple.
She can't tell if it's boredom, or something else entirely.
"The script on the stone is a dialect of Goa'uld which Teal'c was able to translate," Daniel explains. "We need your help to lift the stone."
"You wanna tell me what's written on it first?" Jack asks warily, with a raised eyebrow that could only be for her benefit.
"Um, it says..." Daniel pauses, the static on the channel buzzing softly, "... "buried for all time"."
Sam throws her head back in disbelief, rolling her eyes up to the heavens, and grabs her radio. "You're not serious?"
Jack, meanwhile, has his head in his hands, evidently happy for her to continue the conversation.
"You said it earlier, Sam," Daniel responds, acknowledgement in his tone, "they're not exactly creative."
"Do they just have a big book of cliché catchphrases?" Jack says quietly beside her, and she doesn't know whether he's talking to himself or just to her, but he's progressed to rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.
She gives him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, and he reaches for the PTT button again.
"Have you considered that maybe whatever it is should stay buried, Daniel?"
"Yes, sure, let's just always do what the inscriptions say. I guess we should've gone ahead and left the Stargate buried then," Daniel responds sarcastically. "Whoops."
Jack appears to bristle at that, his eyes turning hard and flinty under the peak of his cap. "Fools rush in, Daniel."
"And you're no angel, Jack," Daniel retorts.
The radio cuts off abruptly then, and Sam swallows in the uneasy silence, resisting the urge to intervene - Jack was still the commanding officer, and she knew that she approached that fact with more discipline than Daniel would ever understand.
Some habits would probably never die.
Jack exhales a long breath and stretches his neck to one side until there's an audible crack.
"So what do you want to do?" she asks carefully.
"Sometimes," he responds after a moment, "I want to shake him."
She laughs at that, offering him a mollifying grin, and he catches her eye.
She can tell he's not quite as annoyed as he seems.
"I'm sure the feeling is mutual," she ventures, attempting to crack the stony expression he still wears.
Her reward is a slight twitch of his mouth. "Yes, well," he says finally, ignoring her comment and pushing to his feet, "better go help Daniel move mountains."
She looks up at him and sees nothing but silhouette in the glinting afternoon sun, but she imagines the expression he wears is sad - sad for his friend who has lost his wife, and who has no choice but to believe in the impossible.
He has to help.
"I guess I really do have guard duty this time."
"Sorry, Carter," he says, and she knows their brief moment is definitely over. "Stay close."
"Wait," she says, quickly fishing her analyser out of her pack and hopping to her feet. "Could you take some readings from inside?"
"I can't promise anything," he says, regarding her sceptically.
"It's easy, Colonel," she continues with a quirk of her lips, "just switch it on here and point, and let me know if it makes a noise." She demonstrates, and he tilts his head, narrowing his eyes at her.
"Guess we don't need you anymore," he says flatly, and she glares at him as he takes the device from her.
"Good thing I like having you around, though" he adds, before casually turning on his heel and heading towards the temple.
Sam folds her arms across her chest and watches him go.
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As Jack walks through the main chamber again, he notices that Sani has ceased praying and is now sitting quietly next to his lamp in the far corner, writing on what look like large strips of pressed paper. Probably recording the events of the day, he thinks, with some grandiose spin that put Sani as the central character.
Yes, he's sure the old man would like to be remembered that way.
He finds Daniel and Teal'c, standing around the stone in question, flashlights positioned strategically to light the centre of the space. Daniel doesn't look surprised to see him, but Teal'c raises a questioning eyebrow - Jack guesses Jaffa culture is a little less... nuanced.
"It doesn't look like it was sealed," Daniel says, getting right down to business, "it's just heavy."
Jack places Sam's analyser out of the way against the nearest wall, and fixes his flashlight to his vest again before turning back to Teal'c and Daniel. He rubs his hands together in mock preparation. "And you youngsters need this old man's help?"
"I believe I am considerably older than you, O'Neill," Teal'c says with a lift of his jaw.
"Yes, well," Jack says, quickly recovering from his surprise at forgetting that, "that doesn't count."
He drops to his haunches near Daniel, who is now crouched over the stone, and they're promptly joined by Teal'c. Jack works his fingers into the gap on one side of it, testing its depth and how much play they had, and just manages to grasp the underside with the tips of his fingers. It doesn't feel like much leverage, but perhaps with the three of them it will be enough, he thinks.
He looks over at the other two men and catches their eye. "Ready on three?" he asks, and they both nod.
"One, two, three," he says, stiffening his hands and pulling upwards on the stone with all his strength, using his legs to lift as well. Daniel and Teal'c do the same and for a beat it seems as though nothing is happening. Then there's the sound of stones and sand shifting and falling into the space below, and they clear one centimetre, then two, and suddenly Teal'c has enough leverage to get his hands completely underneath and he's practically lifting it out by himself - Jack lets the Jaffa pull it from his hands then as he hefts it to one side.
Dust swirls in the air around them, and Jack stares into the dark hole, the light in the room angled in such a way that it skips over it like it's a black void in the floor. Jack frees his flashlight from his vest again, and aims it into the hole. There is another square hole, smaller this time, but deeper, and before he can advise caution, Daniel has reached into it.
He pulls out what looks like pottery with the head of a man wearing... a very funny hat, Jack thinks. He frowns, and looks at Daniel questioningly, but the archeologist is carefully examining his find, gingerly turning it in his hands and scrutinising it from every angle.
Teal'c sits back on his heels and inclines his head curiously. "What is it, Daniel Jackson?"
"It looks like a canopic jar," Daniel replies, his forehead furrowed in thought. "A kind of pottery used by ancient Egyptians to hold the internal organs of a person prepared for burial."
"De-light-ful," Jack says, drawing out the vowels. "You just have the best toys, Daniel.
"Gonna open your present?" he adds, propping his flashlight against a rock before rising to his feet.
Daniel throws him the most disdainful look he's ever seen - on a par with anything Sara had ever levelled at him.
He holds his hands up placatingly. "Okay, okay. I guess it's worth more unopened."
He knows he's being flippant, but he can't help himself - it's pottery.
"Not only could opening this contaminate what's inside, but it's not ours to open," Daniel says, his tone serious. "Even if this is Goa'uld, it will have sacred meaning to these people, Jack, and that means we need Sani's permission to analyse it."
"Why would such an object be buried in this temple?" Teal'c asks, also rising to his feet.
"Teal'c asking the interesting questions," Jack adds distractedly. He's not particularly interested in the pot or jar or whatever it is, so he walks over to where Sam's analyser sits and scoops it up.
"What's that," Daniel asks.
"It's the device Doctor Carter uses to test for the presence of naquadah," Teal'c supplies.
Jack switches the device on like Sam showed him, shifts the bit with the handle into his right hand, and stretches it out in front of him. "Can I get some light over here, Teal'c?"
Teal'c retrieves his own flashlight from where it sits wedged between two fallen rocks and points the beam at him. Jack starts making a slow circle of the space while keeping the device close to the walls, and when he reaches the back wall opposite the collapsed column, it clicks. It's not very loud, but it's a continuous clicking sound in that general area.
He glances over his shoulder at the two other men and shrugs. "Carter said to let her know if it made a noise - I'd call that a noise, right?"
"Indeed," Teal'c says, and Daniel just blinks at him.
On a whim, Jack turns and crosses the room to Daniel, still crouched over the hole. He points the device at the jar, and Daniel practically recoils, pulling the object away from him.
But not before there's an audible clicking from the device.
The three men stare at each other for a moment.
"Huh," Jack says, raising one eyebrow quizzically. "Do you think it's the jar, or whatever's inside?"
"It could contain a power source," Teal'c offers.
"Like the cell in your staff weapon, maybe?" Daniel suggests, holding the jar carefully as he finally stands up.
"Come on, Daniel - we should go talk to Sani about your vase."
Jack leads the way back to the main chamber, and Sani stands to greet them. Well... to greet Daniel, he suspects - Sani hasn't exactly been interested in any other members of the team. Particularly Sam, which reminds him that she's waiting by herself outside. He looks over towards the entrance and is surprised to see Anoki standing just inside the archway, quietly watching them for a moment before running to Sani's side.
"We uncovered something in the ruins, Sani," Daniel says, stepping forward and holding the jar out to the old man. Sani cocks his head to one side, confusion and surprise battling for dominance on his weathered features. "We'd like your permission to take this with us through the... Great Ring."
Sani looks momentarily aghast at that, quickly lifting the jar from Daniel's outstretched hands, and Daniel hurries to assure him, "We would bring it back to you, of course."
Sani turns the jar slowly between his palms, peering at the markings intently. Anoki is wide-eyed beside him, captivated by the strange object, and Sani shifts his gaze to look down at the young boy with something like affection.
"Ma-tanah," the old man says, showing it to Anoki.
"Um... I think I'm starting to understand some of your native language," Daniel says, pushing his now empty hands into the pockets of his fatigues. "You said 'gift', or maybe it was more like... 'blessing'?"
"Yes, Daniel," Sani says, nodding enthusiastically, "but it would be more accurate to say 'God's gift'."
Daniel nods along with Sani, and Jack can tell the full force of Daniel's charm is about to be brought to bear.
"Sani," Daniel says, his tone serious and full of genuine concern, "we have reason to suspect this object may not be safe for you and your people - that it could have been left here by Apepi, Amun's enemy."
Sani looks at the jar in his hands, appearing to consider Daniel's words, but Jack can see the doubt there - his belief that this was from his god was stronger than any sense of caution or self-preservation. "How could this cause us harm?" Sani asks, shaking his head. "How could this do anything but bring our people closer to their God? Bring our lost ones back to Him?"
"We understand," Daniel continues, voice soft and placating. "We know how important this could be for your people. All we are asking is that you give us a few days to study it, and make sure that there is nothing inside it that could pose a danger to you."
Sani's expression is almost incredulous. "And you cannot determine that here, in the temple?" he asks. "It must not be removed from here - it is sacred!"
Daniel pauses at that, the line between his eyebrows creasing in thought, and Jack knows he's cooking up something in that big brain of his.
He puts his hand on Daniel's shoulder. "What are you thinking?"
Daniel doesn't answer him, though, instead turning his attention back to the old priest. "Sani, what if we could examine it here? Would you permit it?"
Sani takes in a deep breath and lowers his gaze, his expression pensive for a long moment. Jack turns to catch Teal'c's eye, slightly bored of the unnecessary fervour.
Finally, the old man gives a firm nod. "Yes, that is acceptable - I will allow it."
"Excellent," Daniel says, clapping his hands together, and Anoki copies him, surprising everyone.
"Um..." Daniel continues, a look of bemusement on his face, "we'll need some time to determine the best way to examine it here, Sani - possibly bring tools back from the Great Ring." He aims the last part at Jack, making it clear that he wasn't planning on going back to the SGC in the morning.
"Fine..." Jack says with a sigh, and heads for the exit - he'd had enough of the temple for one day.
Outside he spots Sam still roughly where he'd left her, and walks over. She stands, brushing dirt from her fatigues and silently takes her analyser from his outstretched hands as he reaches her. He smiles at that, but she doesn't see as she leans down to put it back in her pack.
"It made a noise," he says as she straightens again, slinging her pack across her shoulders.
Her almost lethargic expression immediately transforms, eyes brightening. "There's naquadah in the temple?"
"In the cannotpick jar as well," he adds.
"The what?" she asks, eyebrows knitting together in confusion.
"There was an Egyptian jar-thing under the stone we lifted - it could either contain some sacred dead guy's organs, or some Goa'uld power source," he paraphrases, shrugging helplessly. "Sani won't let it leave the temple, and Daniel won't let us open it."
She looks at him askance, one corner of her mouth almost twitching, and then she throws her head back and laughs.
He tilts his head to one side and can't help but return her smile, feeling some of his annoyance and frustration evaporate.
"Here they come," Sam says with a lift of her chin.
Jack turns to see the rest of the team and Sani heading towards them, and doesn't miss the momentary look of displeasure that darkens the old man's face as his eyes settle on Sam.
Jack really doesn't like it. It was more than just discomfort or a sense of cultural propriety - it was hatred. Hidden under a mask of politeness.
Anoki's coldness was starting to make a whole lot more sense to him.
Jack frowns then, noticing that the boy isn't with the men. "Anoki not coming back with us?"
"Anoki still has his duties to attend to," Sani says. "He will join us later at the village
"Come. You must join us for a meal - we have much to celebrate," the old man adds, guiding Daniel to walk with him as he leads the way back. Teal'c bows his head slightly, and then follows the two men.
Jack shoulders his pack and watches them for a moment, Sam waiting silently beside him, thumbs hooked casually into the straps of her backpack. "Come on," he says, waggling his eyebrows at her playfully. "It's party time."
He gets another laugh out of her at that.
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A/N: I think many of you lovely people can tell where this is going...
As always, thank you so much all followers/favouriters/readers/reviewers!
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of the Stargate franchise. All other characters mentioned in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.