Bound Reflections
by Carlyn
Part 3

Back to Part 2

-7-

As most of the others at the briefing room table rose and filed silently out of the room, Jack slumped forward in his chair. Leaning his elbow on the table, he rested his forehead on his fist, his thumb digging into his bisected eyebrow, trying vainly to rub away the dull ache that had settled there. Three hours of expert assessment and they were no closer to finding Daniel than they had been when Jack first walked into his friend's house that morning.

Pressing harder against his brow, Jack closed his eyes and mentally encapsulated the opinions of the crime scene investigations team regarding Daniel's movements: Daniel had awakened alone — there being no evidence he had shared his bed or his morning coffee — turned on the shower, noticed the intruder, broke the bottle to warn off his assailant, struck out, tried to run and was overpowered. None of them was able to definitely explain how the abductor got Daniel out of a locked room, or why this person would lock the door after he removed Daniel. Adding to the mystery was the fact that Daniel's was the only print on the lock.

Jack squeezed his eyes tighter and replayed Janet's report — the only part of the briefing to capture his whole attention.

// Hammond turned to the base CMO. "Dr. Fraiser, you performed the tests on the blood found in Dr. Jackson's bathroom?"

"Yes, sir." Janet Fraiser flipped open the file folder which rested on the table before her. Extracting a photograph from the folder, Janet waited a few seconds for the others at the table to locate their copies. "While there wasn't a large quantity of blood on the bathroom floor, it was spread out rather than collected in just one or two places.

"As Major Hynes reported, there were several smears of blood on the floor leading from the sink to about halfway across the room." She absently stroked the red smudges in the photo. "This is Daniel's blood, no doubt from his feet, which, if we presume he was barefoot or wearing just socks, would likely have sustained multiple lacerations from the glass scattered across the floor. Nothing life-threatening, but those wounds would be painful as the pressure of walking... or running would have driven the glass into his skin."

Flipping to the next photograph, Janet softly grimaced at the patch of blood depicted in the image. She lifted empathetic eyes, her gaze taking in each of Daniel's other close friends in turn. "This is the wall in Daniel's bathroom. The tile is commercial porcelain according to the lab."

"Pretty solid stuff," Major Carter commented to no one in particular.

"Yes, it is," Janet concurred, gazing in Sam's direction, "especially, if your head collides with it."

"Doctor?"

Janet turned her calm brown eyes on her CO, smiling faintly at the open concern she found there. "The techs located several of Daniel's hairs affixed to the tiles amidst the blood — also Daniel's. We're surmising that he was tripped or thrown into the wall. The presence of scalp hair suggests that he fell head first against the tile."

"What kind of damage would Dr. Jackson sustain from such an impact?" Hammond asked.

Janet shook her head. "There's no way to know for certain. There are quite a few variables — the speed with which he hit the wall, which part of his head made contact — but, Daniel could very well have a severe concussion."

Janet gave everyone a moment to digest that news before moving to the final set of photographs. "You'll notice that the pattern of the blood in these pictures is different — droplets as opposed to smears. The tests show that this is not Daniel's blood, so we're speculating that it came from Daniel's assailant."

"So Daniel made contact with his improvised weapon," Carter ventured with a gratified nod.

"So it would seem. And lucky for us too, because having that blood has helped us narrow down the suspects."

"You found some sort of identifying element, then?" Hammond sat forward in his chair, obviously guessing where Janet was leading them.

"Yes, sir. Naquadah." Her eyes again made a quick circuit among those present, landing finally on Jack's. "Daniel's abductor is a Goa'uld."//

"Sir?"

Pulled out of his head by Carter's worry-tinged inquiry, Jack dragged open eyelids made heavy by emotional and physical pain. Glancing across the table, he found his 2IC and her trusty Jaffa sidekick gazing at him steadily, neither successfully disguising their concern.

'Deja vu.' Slipping his hand downward, Jack grazed his thumb and forefinger over sleep deprived eyes. 'God, was it really just this morning that I got lost in thought worrying about Daniel's call from Sarah and came back to find these two staring at me just like this?' Sitting back slowly, Jack lowered his hand into his lap and acknowledged the major's prodding.

"Carter?"

"Sir, I know it doesn't seem like it now, but —" Carter stopped talking immediately when the colonel's warning finger came up.

"Carter, spare me the pep talk, okay." It took great effort on his part, but Jack managed to push himself gracefully to his feet. "I know all about our allies and how they'll keep an eye out for Daniel once they know he's been taken by a Goa'uld."

Turning his back on his teammates, Jack wandered over to the window overlooking the Stargate. With his face out of view, he let his harsh colonel demeanor slip, revealing, just for an instant, the despairing lover. Glaring at the Stargate, the portal through which so many miracles had come in the past, Jack silently admonished the damn thing to activate and spit Daniel out.

"Unscheduled, off-world activation."

The disembodied voice of Sgt. Walter Harriman cut through Jack's misery. Automatically, he sprinted towards the spiral staircase that led to the control room, pulling himself up short, waiting out of respect for General Hammond to come out of his office and lead the way down.

"Sergeant?" Hammond made the inquiry as they came around the bend in the stairway and the Stargate again came into view.

Stepping down into the control room, Hammond stopped behind Sgt. Harriman's chair and watched as the giant ring ejected its plume of quantum particles in the familiar whoosh of energy, before settling into the blue, fluid comparative calm of the event horizon.

"It's the Tok'ra, sir," Harriman announced once the identifying information flashed on his monitor.

Glancing over his shoulder, Hammond nodded the members of SG-1 towards the stairs on his right. "Open the iris," he instructed, turning to follow them.

"Yes, sir," the sergeant acknowledged, his fingers deftly finding the command keys that told the computer to do just that.

Acknowledging SG-1 waiting for him in the hallway, Hammond preceded them into the gate room.

Like a stone cast into water, the passing of a form through the pool set up a ripple, beginning at the disturbance, and radiating to the boundary of the contained surface.

Jacob Carter marched briskly down the ramp, confident of his welcome here.

"Jacob, good to see you." Striding towards the base of the ramp, Hammond greeted his long-time friend with a broad smile.

"George," Jacob nodded and returned the smile.

"Hi, Dad," Sam said, leaning in to receive a kiss on the cheek.

"Hello, sweetheart." After placing the kiss, Jacob nodded a pleasant greeting to Teal'c and Jack over his daughter's head.

"So, Jacob, is this a social call or...?" Jack's hand whirled in the air in front of him, sweeping invisible possibilities for Jacob's visit into place at the end of his inquiry.

"No, Jack, I have some news," Jacob replied, his pleasant aspect fleeing instantly. "Where's Daniel?" Jacob glanced up into the control room, perhaps suspecting that the archaeologist had been delayed by a translation.

"Funny you should ask..." Cringing at his spontaneous quip, Jack turned away from Jacob's open stare.

"Daniel's missing," Sam disclosed plainly.

Exhaling sharply, Jacob hung his head. "Timing is everything," he sighed.

Narrowing his eyes, Jack looked pointedly at Jacob. "Excuse me?"

Slipping between his 2IC and their guest, Hammond placed one hand on Jacob's shoulder, sweeping the other man towards the exit. "Let's take this to the briefing room, shall we?"

Staring daggers at the space just vacated by the Tok'ra, Jack shook his head. 'Damn Tok'ra. Something's going on with them. And somehow, it involves Daniel.' Spinning on the ball of his foot, Jack marched quickly after the others.

"Jacob, you want to tell us what's going on?" Hammond invited as Jack reached the top of the stairs.

"I don't know how to tell you this, George." Jacob lowered his eyes, seemingly unable to maintain contact with his friend's penetrating blue gaze.

Taking the seat next to Teal'c, Jack eyed Jacob suspiciously, for the moment seeing not his friend, the former general, but a member of the race who, though an ally, had so often given them nothing but trouble.

Hammond smiled patiently. "Why don't you just say it?"

Jacob pulled a quick breath and looked up. "Osiris has escaped."

The two second stunned silence was followed by Jack's loud, "What? Osiris is dead."

'No." Jacob shook his head sadly.

"No? What the hell does that mean, no?" Only strict discipline kept Jack in his chair.

"Colonel." Hammond pinned his subordinate with an icy stare, the expression on his face matching the sternness of his voice. It softened only slightly when he turned back to Jacob. "You'd better explain that."

Glancing around the table, his eyes lingering on those of his daughter, Jacob cleared his throat and turned back to Hammond.

"George you know the Tok'ra don't completely trust me anymore. They think that I'm too close to the SGC."

"Are they right?"

Jacob met Jack's questioning gaze steadily. After a moment of consideration, he huffed a small laugh. "Maybe. They were right to keep this from me, anyway. After what happened recently with Daniel and Osiris, had I known the Tok'ra were keeping Osiris alive, I would definitely have shared that knowledge with you."

"Wait a minute," Sam interjected, "I thought the Tok'ra killed the symbiote before removal to keep it from releasing its toxin into the host."

Jacob's confirming nod was followed closely by a disconcerted shrug. "The Tok'ra must have thought the sacrifice was worth it. Maybe they thought Osiris could tell them something about Anubis."

"Obviously there was no sacrifice since Dr. Gardner survived the procedure," Hammond pointed out.

"True," Jacob acknowledged. "But no one understands why the symbiote didn't kill her."

'Osiris probably recognized her for the vermin she is and couldn't bring himself to kill a kindred spirit,' Jack sneered mentally.

"Do you know where Osiris is now?"

"No. And neither do the Tok'ra." Jacob locked eyes with Hammond, underscoring the truth of his statement. "I do know that three days ago the Tok'ra attempted to move Osiris from a medical facility on one of our outposts. They were en route to a more secure holding area when they were overpowered by some of Anubis's Jaffa. Two Tok'ra were killed, and the Jaffa got the symbiote."

"He was still a snake?"

A grimace briefly pulling at his features in response to Jack's use of the derogatory label, Jacob remarked, "At that time, yes, but the Jaffa have had ample time to find him a new host."

Brows pulled low, Jack looked pointedly first at Teal'c then Carter. All three of Daniel's teammates turned their eyes on Jacob, making no effort to hide their shared looks of disgruntlement.

"Okay," Jacob conceded, his lips tightening, "assuming Osiris had something to do with Daniel's disappearance, the delay in warning you may have made his abduction possible. But the Tok'ra tried to track Osiris down, and when they couldn't figure out where he'd gone, they suggested I alert you."

Feeling the familiar tingle of his hackles rising, Jack pushed back the urge to strangle the only Tok'ra in sight. "They think we can help find him," he conjectured with barely disguised loathing. "And they sent you here hoping, what, that Daniel would offer himself as bait?"

"Actually, I came here to warn Daniel," Jacob countered, his defensive tone veering towards wounded.

"You have arrived too late to accomplish that objective." From anyone else, Teal'c's words would have been a condemnation, but from the Jaffa, they were simply a statement of fact.

Jacob offered a genuinely apologetic nod. "So I understand. How long has Daniel been missing?"

Shifting uncomfortably, Sam glanced at her watch. "We estimate just over 8 hours. We knew a Goa'uld has taken him..."

"How?"

"Some of the blood we found in Daniel's house contained naquadah. Thankfully, Daniel managed to injure his kidnapper."

"Some of the blood. So, Daniel was injured too," Jacob concluded.

Sam nodded. "We had just concluded a briefing on that topic when you arrived," she said, waving her hand at the folders still lying on the table.

Jack's eyes followed her gesture, and he closed them against the reminder of what those folders contained. Daniel was in the hands of a Goa'uld. It would have been so much easier to get Daniel back if Sarah Gardner had been the kidnapper. He could simply put his hand around her scrawny little throat and squeeze until she spilled...

Gasping softly, Jack opened his eyes and blinked once. 'She could still know something.'

The elation generated by his hunch carried into his physical movement, and Jack sprang forward in his chair. "General, if I may."

"What is it, Colonel?" Hammond asked, the sudden glint in his clear, blue eyes a reflection of O'Neill's excitement.

Turning to his Jaffa teammate, Jack began speaking, his hand flailing in an animated manner reminiscent of Daniel in the throes of discovery.

"Teal'c, I know we've been through this like, a hundred times, but..." Halting the unnecessary prologue with an impatient snapping of his fingers against his palm, Jack took a quick breath and continued. "A human host would retain memories from when they were possessed by a Goa'uld, right?"

"That is correct, O'Neill," Teal'c replied, his brow rising in a manner which Jack recognized as expectant.

As he rose from his seat, Jack turned to Hammond. "Sir, permission to go talk to Sarah Gardner."

Hammond gaped for a second. "Wait a minute, Colonel. If I understand correctly, the Tok'ra modified their memory device to erase Dr. Gardner's memories of when she was possessed. What do you think she can tell you?"

"Actually, George, the device doesn't erase the memories completely; it just overwrites them with the host's own memories, pushing the Goa'uld memories into the subconscious." Jacob shook his head, a distinctly dubious expression touching his face. "The procedure is experimental..."

"Oh, don't tell me. Another of Anise's bright ideas?"

Jacob nodded. "As a matter of fact, yes."

"And we all know how well her 'experiments' turn out," Jack sneered.

Giving the colonel's comment just a momentary thought, Hammond pointed towards the door. "Go. Take Teal'c with you."

Jack's feet started propelling him to the exit the second the general uttered the word 'go,' and he wasted none of his momentum checking over his shoulder to see if Teal'c was following. Hammond had given him leave to interview Sarah — okay, in truth it would be an interrogation, he had no illusions otherwise — and nothing, not even a Jaffa irritated at being left behind, was going to slow him down.

-8-

Peering from beneath annoyingly drooping eyelids, Daniel pressed them tight against his eyes, hoping to break up the dry crustiness that had accumulated in the corners near his nose. He wondered absently if anyone had been able to complete the translation SG-5 needed for their meeting with the Yunian hierarch on P4S-370. Daniel had just determined that the script was a intriguing amalgam of Phoenician and Egyptian Arabic — easy enough to translate if you knew both languages — when Jack blew into his lab to whisk him away for their romantic dinner... was it really only last night?

Determinedly beating back visions of an angry and hurt Jack, Daniel refocused his mind to assess his current situation.

He had lost consciousness sometime during the treatment with the healing device. His brow tightening at the memory, Daniel recalled the incredibly uncomfortable sensation of having his brain cells reorganized as the device repaired his injury at the microscopic level. Just when he though the pain would become unbearable, he lost all perception and tumbled headlong into blackness.

Squinting at the distant wall, Daniel attempted to resolve the blur that was more a product of his head injury than his myopia. He narrowed his eyes in concentration, and, after a moment they flew wide. He blinked, surprised by what he saw. Or, rather, didn't see. The door was missing.

Turning his head towards the other side of the room, Daniel instantly recognized that an absent door was not the only change in his surroundings.

"This is not good," he murmured to himself, figuring that even if the half dozen Jaffa standing loosely at attention across the room could hear him, they wouldn't much care for his opinion anyway.

Spying a familiar pattern from the corner of his vision, Daniel angled his head for a better view, verifying his impression. 'Yep, those are transport rings in the floor.'

A quick inspection of the rest of the room confirmed Daniel's suspicions. He was on a tel'tac. So, sometime during his forced nap, Osiris had removed him from the larger craft — an al'kesh from the look of it, probably left orbiting Earth from Osiris's first visit — and was now transporting him somewhere further away from help. Away from Jack.

Swinging his gaze up to the ceiling, Daniel grimaced at the maddening itch that erupted suddenly in his back. He shifted his chest against the strap still pulled tightly across his upper body and winced when his injured shoulder flared painfully. Groaning, he silently cursed Osiris for his limited benevolence.

Of course the Goa'uld had only healed Daniel's skull for his own benefit — to keep the archaeologist conscious during whatever vile activities he had planned. So, Daniel wasn't really surprised that Osiris hadn't taken care of his other hurts.

As a wave of dizziness hit, Daniel surmised Osiris hadn't completely healed his head wound either, leaving him just muzzy enough to hinder any escape attempt.

Not that escape looked likely any time soon.

Pulled from his musings when the Jaffa came noisily to full attention, Daniel turned his head in their direction just in time to see Osiris sweep into the room.

The Goa'uld barked orders at the Jaffa, sending two of them shuffling off to do his bidding. He then spoke directly to another Jaffa, presumably the squadron leader, before gliding over to Daniel. He flashed a patronizing grin in response to the glare Daniel aimed steadily his way.

Reaching out, Osiris carded his fingers through Daniel's hair. "Feeling better?"

"Where are we going?" Daniel asked curtly, pointedly ignoring Osiris's question and his caress.

Pursing his lips, obviously piqued by Daniel's refusal to respond, Osiris slid his hand out of the archaeologist's hair. He ghosted his fingers over a stubbled cheek then moved to the shoulder beneath. Gingerly stroking the bruise marring the perfect skin, he took a few leisurely steps towards the foot of the table, gliding his hand over Daniel's torso.

The caress tickled his side and Daniel flinched involuntarily. Rolling his eyes dramatically, he growled. "Haven't we done this?"

Osiris paused. Turning eyes bright with mischief on his captive, he slid his fingers beneath the strap holding Daniel to the table. Hooking them around the waistband of Daniel's pajamas, he tugged the pants down to expose the bruise on Daniel's hip, frowning in mock sympathy at Daniel's pained grunt.

Starting at the lowest point on the injury, Osiris walked his digits around the perimeter of the defacement, smiling smugly when, as they moved in the direction of Daniel's groin, the Tau'ri's hands jerked reflexively to protect it.

Clearly perceiving Daniel's action as confirmation that his captive was fully aware of the uninvited touch, Osiris drew out his self-satisfied smile, his eyes taking on a feral glint. Unaccountably, he abandoned his fondling and resumed his trek. He slid his hand the length of Daniel's pajama-covered leg, finally resting it on the bound man's ankle.

Sidling around the end of the table, Osiris cupped the fingers of both hands over the tops of Daniel's feet. Intently watching his prisoner's face, he placed his thumbs against the archaeologist's heels.

Inwardly steeling himself for piercing pain, Daniel nevertheless twitched when Osiris began rubbing the bottoms of his glass-flayed feet. The Goa'uld increased the pressure, digging his thumbs into the flesh.

'Agh! Definitely some glass in that left foot,' Daniel cried mentally, just managing to resist the urge to squirm.

"You have no one to blame but yourself for these wounds," Osiris admonished, squeezing Daniel's feet for emphasis.

"Is there a point to this?" Daniel snarled, abruptly aware that the Goa'uld had lost the accent he had affected during their last encounter.

"Just that you could save yourself so much pain if you would just cooperate with me."

"Yeah," Daniel snorted explosively, disregarding the spray of his own spittle settling on his face, "that'll happen."

Before Osiris could respond, a young Jaffa entered, redirecting his attention. Releasing Daniel's feet, Osiris motioned the Jaffa to approach.

Bending low at the waist, the Jaffa reported, "My lord, we approach your ha'tak."

"You have your own ha'tak. Congratulations," Daniel interjected with mock sincerity. He refined his tone, brazenly ridiculing, "Wait a minute. That's right. You work for Anubis. You don't actually have your own anything."

Osiris shot his prisoner a black look, the angry glare morphing almost instantly into a supercilious sneer. Moving to the side of the table, he turned his back on the Jaffa, and scanned Daniel's prone form with intense interest, seemingly lost in thought. "Is everything ready?" he inquired.

"It is, my lord," the messenger said.

Tearing his eyes away from Osiris's loathsome attention, Daniel blinked in surprise when the Jaffa cut his gaze from the obviously distracted Goa'uld to briefly make purposeful eye contact with him.

Momentarily scrunching his brows at the Jaffa's apologetic look, Daniel memorized both the Jaffa's tattoo and his face: an entirely too youthful face for this kind of work — still smooth skin, surrounding a set of guileless grey eyes, and topped by a crown of short-cropped, curly blond hair.

"Excellent," Osiris replied approvingly. "Notify my lieutenant to attend me upon arrival."

"My lord." The Jaffa bowed again and hurriedly left the room.

Watching after the Jaffa, Daniel yelped, swinging hard blue eyes on the Goa'uld, who again squeezed his nipple with crushing force. Osiris smiled wickedly and Daniel's gaze turned murderous.

"Yes, he bears the mark of Moloc," the Goa'uld confirmed, blatantly unconcerned by Daniel's scowl. "And he was a gift from Anubis along with the Jaffa of other System Lords that Anubis demanded as tribute." Shuffling nearer, Osiris loomed menacingly over Daniel. "But make no mistake. These are my Jaffa, and they obey my commands."

As if to prove his point, Osiris whirled on the four Jaffa still waiting across the room. "Bring him," he ordered gruffly, tossing a hand in Daniel's direction, before stalking from the room.

The Jaffa converged on Daniel, two standing guard while the other two loosened his bindings. Despite the numbness in his limbs, Daniel immediately fought against them.

Swinging his still-manacled arms as soon as they were freed, he managed to strike one Jaffa with the chain that hung between them. The wounded guard staggered backward, clasping a hand to his eye. Absurdly taking note that his victim wore Tilgath's tattoo, Daniel shouted his defiance, and rolled toward the now unguarded side of the table.

Stilled almost immediately by the large fingers encircling his throat, squeezing with deliberately increasing pressure, Daniel raised his bound arms in supplication to the squadron leader, who held his ability to breathe, literally, in the palm of his hand.

The hand slipped from Daniel's throat and shot out, halting Tilgath's Jaffa as the man lunged dangerously at the prisoner. His eyes flashing momentary dissent, ultimately the injured warrior nodded acquiescence to his leader and stepped back.

On his superior's signal, the Jaffa laid a restraining hand on Daniel's shoulder, grinning in overt enjoyment at the pained grimace twisting the Tau'ri's face.

As Tilgath's Jaffa pressed his sore shoulder into the table with more force than was strictly necessary, Daniel pulled his bottom lip into his mouth, attempting to stifle a groan. He grinned tightly at the Jaffa, conceding the first round to the armored man.

"Why do you insist on fighting? You are severely outnumbered," the squadron leader snarled, his tone a strange mixture of awe and offense. "There is no escape."

"Can't blame a guy for trying." Daniel tipped his mouth in the semblance of a grin, his eyelashes fluttering in rapid-fire rebellion.

Fleetingly, Daniel wondered himself why he fought — the battle was in vain. Ultimately, he succeeding only in awakening the aches in his hip and shoulder and exacerbating the vertigo he'd experienced upon waking. Still, he pulled against their hold when they roughly yanked him from the table and propelled out of the ring room, the second pair of Jaffa following close behind.

As they came onto the bridge, two more Jaffa filed into formation before him. Attempting to determine if one of them was the apparently sympathetic soldier, Daniel nearly plowed into the young Jaffa's back when the entire party pulled to a halt at the tel'tac's exit.

Still held upright by the bruising grip on his biceps, Daniel shifted his weight to his right leg to ease the pain in his hip and his glass-flayed left foot. Shaking his head to clear it and to shed the perspiration clinging to his brow, he glanced around for Osiris. Spying the dark figure standing regally at the front of the craft, Daniel followed the Goa'uld's gaze, his attention immediately captivated by the large gold-encrusted pyramid looming on the other side to the force field screen. Daniel silently watched, along with those who surrounded him, as the cargo bay doors of the larger ship opened, maw-like, to devour them.

The tel'tac glided into the ha'tak's cargo bay, and Daniel braced himself for the small bump of impact which heralded the ship's landing. Almost as soon as they came to a rest, Osiris pushed past Daniel's escort, turning to speak to the squad's commander.

"You have your orders. Do not harm him... permanently."

"Yes, my lord," the Jaffa replied, tightening his grip on Daniel's arm.

Pinning Daniel with a pointed look, Osiris swiveled and strode through the still opening door.

Shuffling along with the Jaffa who dragged him through the cargo bay, Daniel watched after Osiris. The Goa'uld marched quickly towards a stocky, dark-haired Jaffa, who rushed to intercept his master. Yanked in the opposite direction, Daniel had no time to observe their interaction. A hand planted itself in his shoulder and shoved. His six-man guard surrounded him, herding him forward, keeping perfect step with each other.

Not far down the hall they'd exited onto, the group stopped. Glancing up, Daniel scowled at the large door looming before him. Catching a glimpse of Moloc's Jaffa as the young man leaned in to punch buttons on the control panel beside the door, Daniel feigned a swoon, lowering his head and tipping it sideways in an attempt to covertly catch the eye of his potential ally.

The hand on his left arm tightened. Jerked roughly back by the squadron leader, Daniel cursed under his breath. The doors parted, revealing a set of transport rings imbedded in the floor.

"You would be wise to remain awake, Tau'ri," the commander advised. "My lord will be much displeased to find you sleeping when next you meet."

"Well," Daniel grunted as he was propelled into the center of the rings, "you can tell your 'lord' from me that I don't much give a damn about pleasing him."

The Jaffa's lip curled in a telling sneer. "Yet, I suspect he will take his pleasure regardless," he opined as the rings rose to surround them.

Materializing elsewhere in the ship, along with his contingent of guards, Daniel blinked. Swinging his startled gaze from one Jaffa to another, all of whom had turned to observe his reaction, he noted that, to varying degrees, each adopted an expression of amusement at their commander's quip. Yet, while the smirk on the face of Moloc's Jaffa mirrored that of his fellows, Daniel saw something else in the man's eyes — a message: courage.

Since the Goa'uld had, at least temporarily, abandoned the plan to implant him with a symbiote, seemingly because his interest in his captive had taken on a far more disturbing aspect, Daniel had hoped that rescue, preferably in the form of his stalwart lover, would come soon enough to spare him more carnal advances. But now, with the squad's leader all but confirming his apprehension, Daniel stopped just short of praying that the looks he was receiving from the Jaffa who wore Moloc's tattoo was an indication that the Jaffa wished to help him and not merely squeamishness on the young man's part.

The doors of the second ring room ground open and Daniel was once again compelled to follow where his guides led. Periodically, he hopped, needing to keep pressure off his left foot.

Turning left, they walked the length of the hallway, making a second left. They pulled to a halt just around the corner, and Moloc's Jaffa once again moved forward and unlocked the door. Accompanied by a menacing low rumble, it slid slowly open.

Barely disguising his apprehension, Daniel peered through the gradually increasing gap. The entry opened fully, Daniel darted quick eyes around what appeared, at first glance, to be an empty room. He gasped involuntary, his gaze settling on the shackles affixed to the center of the floor. Letting loose a series of Goa'uld curses when the Jaffa attempted to move him further into the room, Daniel planted his feet pulling with all his strength against the hold on his biceps.

Moloc's Jaffa crossed the room to a control panel on the far wall, and the two who had trailed them moved forward. One Jaffa grabbed Daniel's left leg; the other punched him viciously in the side with the butt end of his staff weapon, knocking the wind and a good portion of the fight out of him.

The Jaffa bent and grasped Daniel's right leg, and, with his partners, lifted the archaeologist off his feet. Firming their hold on Daniel's twisting, writhing frame, the four carried him to the center of the room.

Summoning energy reserves he wasn't sure he had, Daniel pushed back the second his feet hit the floor again, kicking out with his right foot. Failing to make contact, he found his ankle caught in a bruising grip.

Struggling against what seemed like a hundred opponents, Daniel cried out sharply when a hand shot out of the melee and cuffed him hard across the left side of his face, weakening his efforts long enough that one leg was captured in the shackles.

Still foggy from the slap, Daniel was brought back to instant awareness by a firm grip on the inside of his thigh, uncomfortably close to his groin. Gaping down he managed to recognize the mark of Heru'ur on his molester.

The far-too-intimate touch renewed his fervor, but Daniel growled in frustration, finding his efforts to free himself easily overcome by the Jaffa who surrounded him. In less time than it took to think about the implications, Daniel's other ankle was caught, yanked about three feet from the first and secured tightly in the second shackle. The offending hand slid further up Daniel's leg, cupping his balls through his pajama pants.

Nearly spent, Daniel still found the strength to again tug against the bruising hold on his arms. He raised his head and glared into the face of his abuser, who came to his feet before Daniel and raked his body with deliberate salaciousness.

Taking a step back, the Jaffa made a show of looking up, drawing Daniel's attention above his head. Silently, a twisted metal rope descended from the ceiling, and it wasn't until one of the Jaffa grabbed it and fastened the end through the chain between the manacles on his wrists that Daniel realized the cable ended in a hook.

The line retreated, raising Daniel's arms above his head, just short of full extension, pulling him upright and keeping him on his feet after the Jaffa released their hold.

Daniel yanked ineffectually against the restraint. The edge of a manacle bit into his flesh, wresting a strangled curse from the back of his throat.

Narrowing his eyes at the Jaffa gathered before him, Daniel gingerly waggled his jaw, working out the stiffness that resulted from the blow he'd taken to his face. He touched the inside of his cheek with his tongue, cautiously poking at a laceration etched into his flesh by its collision with his teeth. Eyes still boring angry holes through his captors, Daniel covertly worked his jaw to call forth a bit of saliva, and spat blood from his mouth, succeeding in despoiling a Jaffa boot.

The Jaffa thus marred stepped forward, and Daniel noted that the wound he'd opened over the warrior's eye had stopped bleeding. He locked eyes with Tilgath's Jaffa, his gaze unwavering even as the man pulled his knife and placed the blade against Daniel's throat. The deadly instrument pressed into the line of his jaw and Daniel held his breath, instinctively tipping his head back.

Moloc's Jaffa stepped forward, grasping the enraged Jaffa by the shoulder, careful not to jar the knife-wielding hand. "If you kill him, Osiris will flay you alive," the youth exclaimed, his concern seemingly for the Jaffa and not their prisoner.

"The boy is right," the squadron commander barked. "And even that will not satisfy his anger. He will kill the rest of us with you. Now stay your hand."

Snarling resentfully, the Jaffa sneered over his shoulder at his commander then, turning back to Daniel, withdrew the blade from the archaeologist's throat. A savage smile distorting his features, he twisted his wrist and brought the blade down against Daniel's clavicle. Pressing and drawing the blade slowly towards him, he chortled, content with the six-inch line of blood the knife produced.

Daniel groaned. Briefly pinching his eyes shut, he snapped them open and glared defiantly at the Jaffa. The guard broke their mutually disdainful eye contact, dropping out of Daniel's immediate line of sight.

A hand made contact with his side and Daniel flinched involuntarily, jerking reflexively when the knifepoint nicked his hip. Pulling on the chain, he sputtered obscenities while the blade sliced through his pajamas and boxers, uttering a final strangled curse when the Jaffa roughly ripped the material away, leaving him completely exposed.

As Daniel's nemesis stood and joined the others of his squadron, the leader swaggered up to the prisoner.

Obstinately refusing, in spite of the circumstances, to look away from the Jaffa's dark scowl, Daniel cried out angrily when the man slipped a black cloth over his eyes, effectively blinding him.

Determinedly donning a mask of apparent detachment to hide his mounting panic, Daniel stood stock still. Keeping tight control of his breathing, he silently willed his heart to slow, the roaring in his ears to cease.

Keenly aware of his vulnerable position, Daniel turned his head slightly, training his ear, attempting to keep track of the Jaffa's movements by the only means left to him.

"Leave us."

The command stopped Daniel's breath in his throat, though he schooled his features to disguise his dread. As his ears registered the Jaffa's retreat, followed by the unmistakable thunk of the door closing behind them, Daniel straightened, standing as tall as his various injuries would allow. Turning his face towards the door, he glared daggers through his eyelids and the blindfold, wishing they were substantial enough to pierce Osiris's heart.

"I don't have a four-poster bed onboard, so we'll have to make due with this," a voice breathed near his right ear.

Daniel inhaled sharply. Quickly catching himself, he directed his blinded eyes towards Osiris's voice.

"You are just as beautiful now as you are in Sarah's memories," Osiris purred, Sarah's accent again coloring his speech. "Do you recall the first time she convinced you to try restraints? Sarah was so certain you would cooperate with her."

Daniel's forehead tightened, the memory of that 'first time' heating his skin with mortification.

"I'm not quite so trusting," Osiris confessed matter-of-factly. "Iron bands are a far surer way to secure you than silk scarves. And this..." Osiris stroked the edge of the cloth covering Daniel's eyes, "is just as effective a blindfold."

Snapping his head away from the Goa'uld's touch, Daniel addressed the air directly in front of him, determined not to give Osiris the satisfaction of making him chase his kidnapper's voice around the room.

"I'm afraid I'm gonna have to spoil this little trip down memory lane you seem so hell bent on taking," Daniel jeered. "I think you'll find that Sarah's perceptions are a bit dated. It's been quite a while since I was so easily managed. Just ask Colonel O'Neill."

Daniel shuddered, the hand that settled possessively against his chest chilling him to the bone.

"Yet your heart pounds madly... and your lungs begin to pump almost as quickly." Osiris strolled around Daniel, skimming his hand lower until, by the time he reached Daniel's left side, the hand rested near the archaeologist's belly button. "So, if you are not anxious, then perhaps you are excited?"

'Damn it, with this blindfold I can't anticipate his moves well enough to mask my reactions.'

Angling his hips so that the Goa'uld's hand no longer made contact with his skin, Daniel smiled pleasantly. "Revulsion is just as strong an emotion as anxiety or excitement," he observed dryly.

Osiris blew out a soundless laugh, the amused gust easily detectable at such close range.

"I see you have been entertaining my Jaffa," Osiris crooned. Fingering the new bruise on Daniel's side, he glided his hand outward to trace around the knife wound on his hip.

"Oh, yeah. They're a great bunch of guys. We got along swell."

Osiris shifted and Daniel recoiled from the barest touch of the Goa'uld's shirt against his chest. Goose flesh rose on the affected skin and Daniel forcibly suppressed a shiver.

Sniffing loudly, Osiris hummed in appreciation. "You have such a manly scent."

"Yeah, well, you interrupted my shower this morning," Daniel groused. He flinched as Osiris's tongue played along the edges of the cut on his shoulder, cringing in horrified disgust when the Goa'uld clamped his mouth over the wound and suckled, his tongue laving the blood from Daniel's chest like a cat washing its paw.

"Ah, yes, the shower," Osiris trilled, his manner soft-spoken. "Such fond memories."

The Goa'uld rubbed his palm sensuously over Daniel's muscled frame, his voice taking on a faraway quality. "Your skin is still so smooth." His breath hitched slightly, and the fingertips twitched against Daniel's flesh. "It's quite a thrilling sensation, soap-slicked hands gliding smoothly over that gloriously silky chest." The hand skimmed Daniel's body as though illustrating the statement.

Shifting uneasily, Daniel coughed. "You know, I think maybe you've taken one too many turns in the sarcophagus." The comment was infused with undisguised sarcasm. "You do know those are Sarah's memories you're getting all worked up over."

"Perhaps," Osiris conceded, the gentle demeanor giving way to cold callousness. "But we have the opportunity now to make our own memories. And while it's not nearly as intimate as the close confines of a shower... again, it will have to do."

Capturing Daniel's chin in a crushing hold with his left hand, Osiris pressed his thumb into the bruise on Daniel's cheek, the edge of the ribbon device he sported creating a new line of blood.

"Don't for a moment think that Sarah's memories have any sort of power over me," Osiris hissed warningly, the affected British accent belying the statement. "I am in control here. Granted, dear Sarah has left me some lovely clues about what you like..." the Goa'uld released Daniel's face and clasped his penis with the same savage grip, "and don't like. But I am acting of my own will." Letting Daniel's flaccid cock slip through his fingers, Osiris leaned in close, and whispered, "I doubt you will be able to make the same claim."

Daniel angrily twisted his head away from the lewd presumption panted into his ear, having no time to respond before the Goa'uld fell to his knees, his hands wrapping with painful pressure around Daniel's hips.

'No, no, no, no!' Daniel groaned inwardly. 'Shit! What the hell is he doing? Ah, God!'

Daniel bit his tongue to keep from giving voice to his surprised exclamation, prompted by the hand that slipped between his legs. The invader advanced, fingers cupping Daniel's balls, the thumb stroking the underside of his penis.

Grimacing at the hot breath Osiris blew against his hip, Daniel shuddered when the Goa'uld's tongue lapped at the blood drawn by the blade of one of his Jaffa.

Osiris's hand was creating unwelcome sensations across his groin, and Daniel sought desperately for some distraction to shut them out. Nuzzling the juncture between Daniel's hip and leg, Osiris unwittingly provided the diversion, sinking his teeth deep into the flesh, sucking noisily.

"Ahh! Gah!" Daniel jerked away from the pain but his retreat was thwarted by the hand Osiris slid further between his legs, cradling his backside, hugging him tightly.

Osiris abruptly released the suctioning grip on Daniel's leg and sat back. He dropped his hold on Daniel's ass, slipped his hand back between the archaeologist's legs, and rested it on the swell of muscle just above the knee.

Exhaling heavy, gusting breaths, Daniel squeezed his eyes together, silently thankful that the blindfold absorbed the pain-induced tears he could not keep at bay.

"Anubis has ordered that I turn you over to him," Osiris announced indignantly, his fingers gently massaging the firm flesh beneath them. "You have been a thorn in his side for quite some time." Osiris poked at the bit wound and Daniel wrenched away. "I suspect he'll be unhappy that I've marked you, but the thrill was definitely worth suffering his displeasure." Osiris adjusted his grip on Daniel's leg, the massage segueing into a forceful kneading. "And, it will be at least a day before we reach the designated rendezvous point." Climbing its way up the limb, the hand slithered to the inside of Daniel's leg. "I wonder what we can do to pass the time."

As the hand crept closer to his privates, Daniel held his breath, hoisting himself to his toes to avoid the contact for as long as possible. The breath whooshed out in a grunted gasp when Osiris grabbed his balls, roughly tumbling the fleshy sacs in the palm of his hand.

While his right hand was juggling Daniel's balls, Osiris loosely gripped Daniel's flaccid penis in his left, nudging the organ upward. Leaning in, he teased the tip of the phallus with his flicking tongue then pinched it with teeth.

Reflexively jerking his knees towards each other, Daniel cursed under his breath, succeeding only in abrading his ankles with the shackles.

"I don't know if you've got memories from another host working here or what, but the biting thing..." he twitched, the Goa'uld again nipping the end of his dick, "is not doing it for me."

Tickling his fingers under Daniel's scrotum, Osiris grasped his prisoner's cock between thumb and fingers, steadily squeezing and pulling, coercing a response from Daniel's body that the archaeologist was powerless to prevent.

"Hmm, that looks like a positive response to me," Osiris gloated.

Osiris's ministrations forced his penis to swell and lengthen. "Damn you, get off me!" Daniel snarled through gritted teeth, his features taught with anger.

He endured the fondling, steadfastly refusing the Goa'uld any further outbursts until the edge of the ribbon device nicked his hyper-sensitive flesh and the continuous repudiation Daniel had been shouting in his head became an audible cry.

"Oh my," Osiris said with mock self-reproach, rolling the wilting cock between his fingers. "Look what I've done." He ran his tongue the length of Daniel's penis, licking and sucking at the blood.

"No." Unable to shut out the sensations, Daniel groaned as his captor engulfed his cock, pulling the swiftly re-firming flesh into the hot, moist confines of his mouth.

Cradling Daniel with his tongue, Osiris released the archaeologist's scrotum. Snaking his hand between Daniel's legs, he reached behind, roughly clamping his hand over the firm globes of Daniel's ass and pulled the archaeologist towards him. Closing his lips securely over Daniel's dick, Osiris hollowed his cheeks, and drew the organ fully into his mouth.

His breath stuttering, Daniel frantically searched his brain for an image to distract him from Osiris's attention, shuddering when his mind perversely conjured first Kinsey's shriveled ass in a Speedo, then Maybourne modeling Jack's red thong.

While both images repulsed him utterly, neither buffered Daniel from the sensations Osiris's hard-working jaws were creating.

When conjugating Ancient verbs and counting to one hundred in Goa'uld also failed to provide the desired distraction, Daniel opted for a different tactic.

'Okay, okay, ummmmm, maybe focusing on a different sensation — ooof — pain. Pain could work. Okay. Damn... damn my head hurts. That Jaffa really rang my chimes. Ahh! I bet that clout did nothing to help my concussion.

The shoulder's still pretty te — ehh — nder. Not helped by having my arms held... held... whoof... above my head, either.

And don't get me started on the bites... ah, God, nibbling... shit! Biting... biting is *not* good. Sadistic bastard.

Speaking of sadistic — which I probably shouldn't do because there are possible sehhhxual connotations there, too — these chains are a pain.

Heh, maybe rhyming will do it... nope, not working... ah, God... no... no... Ah!'

Daniel's breath quickened, the fire stoked in his belly by Osiris's unwelcome touch blazing when the Goa'uld slipped a finger into the cleft of his ass and pressed it against his anus.

Convulsing involuntarily, Daniel roared his outrage as his balls drew up expelling his essence into the mouth of the Goa'uld, whose lips continued to pull on Daniel's penis until he had nothing left to give.

His legs having failed to support him sufficiently at the height of the assault, Daniel hung limply from his chains, drawing in rasping breaths. He was only dimly aware of the blood running in small rivulets down his arms and dripping in crimson droplets onto his shoulders.

Slipping his finger from between Daniel's cheeks, Osiris wrapped his arms around Daniel's hips, hugging gently. He spat out the spent cock, snuffling his nose in the surrounding hair before turning his head and resting his temple against Daniel's abdomen.

Daniel sucked in a hissing breath, the added weight causing the manacles to deeper into his damaged wrists.

"You are magnificent," the Goa'uld muttered, releasing his hold enough to caress the left side of Daniel's rear with his fingertips. Sighing, Osiris released Daniel and pushed back, coming to his feet in one smooth motion.

Distantly registering the Goa'uld's fingers on his jaw, Daniel stiffened and jerked away, wrenching out of the grip when Osiris's lips brushed his own.

"No!" he shouted.

Osiris clutched Daniel's head in both hands, locking his mouth onto the hot, dry lips of his captive. Unable to break the hold, Daniel growled in anger. The tang of his own semen, so sweet on the lips of the man he loved, soured on his tongue, churning his stomach until he was sure he would vomit.

The Goa'uld's tongue sought entry and Daniel grunted in disgust, tightly sealing his teeth against the invader. He lurched backward. Osiris ground against him, the kidnapper's quickly burgeoning erection shockingly evident.

Just when Daniel thought he would pass out from lack of oxygen, Osiris turned him loose. Pushing away, the Goa'uld, snatched the blindfold from his captive's face.

Daniel squinted as the harsh light struck eyes previously confined in darkness. Blinking back tears, he groaned in dismay when he saw Osiris unbuckling his belt.

The Goa'uld rubbed his genitalia appreciatively. "This host body has much more interesting equipment than the last one." Osiris flashed a malevolent smile, the effect spoiled slightly by the ejaculate that had apparently slipped through his lips and messily coated the right side of his neck. "Though dear Sarah's memories will add much to the experience."

Swallowing down the bile that threatened to choke him, Daniel shuddered involuntarily. Closing his eyes, he retreated to his mind and thoughts of Jack, trusting his lover to shield him from a second, more invasive, rape.

-9-

"There are six stages to this 'Obsessive Ex Sydrome,'" Jack began, jetting through traffic on I-25 North.

Glancing briefly at Teal'c, he confirmed the Jaffa still had custody of the crumpled paper containing Sarah's address, garnered from Daniel's rolodex. "Punch that into the GPS."

Turning his attention back to the road, he continued. "The first is courtship. The Obessor — that's Sarah — finds someone who makes her feel powerful — that's Daniel — then sets out to win him. She begins to test her ability to control him. If, at this point, Daniel had told her point blank to take a hike she might have given up."

"Daniel Jackson would never be so blunt."

"I know," Jack sighed. 'Which is why in the past we've had to rescue him from the likes of Shyla, Ke'ra, Reese...'

Shaking off his mental trip down the path lined with women who had taken advantage of Daniel's good nature, Jack resumed his dissertation.

"That leads us to stage two: relationship. Now this is where she takes control over his life." Jack took his eyes off the road just long enough to give Teal'c a sidelong glance. In the lights of the passing traffic, the Jaffa's eyes shone intensely. "I told you before T, some of this stuff is too personal. I won't share it unless Daniel gives me the okay. All you need to know is that she did. Exert control."

Jack chanced a longer look. His lips drawn only slightly tighter than normal, Teal'c tipped his head in acceptance of the limitations O'Neill asserted.

"Okay, stage three: the breakup. Daniel tried for weeks to break things off with Sarah. He hasn't shared the details with me, but he told me she fought him leaving the relationship until eventually he had to get out of Chicago altogether."

Huffing indignantly on Daniel's behalf, Jack pressed on. "Stage four... is stalking. That's where the Obsessor tries to make contact again even after she's been told that the contact is unwanted." He broke off abruptly. Lurching dangerously around a slower moving vehicle, he laid heavily on the horn. "There's quite a time lag between stages three and four," he proceeded as though the intervening drama had never occurred, "what with Daniel leaving the planet and then Sarah... well, you know."

"Osiris," Teal'c rumbled low in his throat. The knuckles on the hand clutching the dashboard were near white with tension.

"Yeah. But Daniel told me that Sarah admitted she tried to find him between the time he left Chicago and when he went back for his professor's funeral. And since the snake was taken out, she's called him every day." Jack shook his head, a grimace twisting his features. "She even left messages on his machine when he was off-world.

"From what I understand she was released from the hospital about six weeks ago. I fully expected her to show up on his doorstep, but so far that hasn't happened — at least if she has come to Colorado Springs, Daniel hasn't told me about it."

"You have indicated that Daniel Jackson does not decline to speak with Sarah Gardner when she telephones him. If he has not informed Sarah Gardner that her attention is uninvited how can her actions rightly be considered stalking?"

Jack glanced again at his Jaffa teammate, skewing his lips at the implication inherent in the question. "You said it yourself; Daniel's too much of a gentleman to tell her to back off. Plus she's playing on his sense of guilt over her 'predicament.'" Without removing his hands from the steering wheel, Jack lifted his fingers to enclose the word in air quotes.

"He's not interested in renewing a relationship with her, but he won't tell her that because he doesn't see a need — he won't believe that her ultimate goal is to get him back. If Daniel was refusing her calls, the frequency with which she tries to contact him would be considered stalking. Just because Daniel lets her bend the rules doesn't mean she's not violating them."

"I see," Teal'c intoned. He reflexively gripped the door as O'Neill shot across two lanes, easily passing an SUV and a yellow sports car.

Silence reigned in the cab, broken after a few minutes by Teal'c.

"You indicated previously that there are six stages to this 'Obsessive Ex Syndrome' O'Neill. You have enumerated but four."

Jack sighed. "We haven't reached the last two yet. That's what I was trying to avoid by encouraging Daniel to give Sarah the old heave-ho." Ignoring Teal'c's impassive stare, Jack shook his head. "But in true stubborn Jackson style he wouldn't do like I asked —"

"You digress, O'Neill."

"Huh?" Jack shot Teal'c a confused brow.

"We were not speaking of Daniel Jackson's obstinate behavior but of the final stages of 'Obsessive Ex Syndrome.'"

Duly admonished, Jack cleared his throat. "Right. Stage five is threats. When the object of the obsession refuses to return, the Obsessor resorts to threats, either against the person she wishes to possess or someone he cares about, in order to force him to return to her."

When Jack paused again, Teal'c prodded, "And stage six is..."

"Violence. Stage six is violence. At this point the Obsessor will do anything to regain control — even kill the man she's obsessed with."

Again, Jack sensed the larger man's eyes on him. Teal'c continued to watch, maddeningly silent, and just at the point Jack had decided to tell the Jaffa to cut it the hell out, another distraction offered itself.

"Hey, lookit that." Jack flicked his finger at the overhead sign, aiding Teal'c in obeying the instruction.

As the truck swerved across the interstate, headed towards an exit ramp, Teal'c curiously eyed the sign which announced that they were in Denver.

"Did not Major Carter estimate that it would take one hour and fifteen minutes for the trip from Colorado Springs?" he asked, pointedly indicating the dashboard clock. O'Neill had made it in just under 43 minutes.

"What can I say," Jack smirked, "I was motivated."

They easily located Sarah's apartment, only to find she was not at home. Jack grumbled his way across town to the University of Denver campus, rolling to a slow stop in front of the University's Museum of Anthropology.

Jack's eye twitched with the anticipation of coming face to face with Daniel's former lover. "This is the place. Sarah's neighbor said she and her 'roommate' would be at a reception here."

Scouring the nondescript building with abject scrutiny, Jack ruminated on the events behind Sarah's presence within it.

When Sarah had requested that she be allowed to do something useful with her time, Daniel had found an opening at a nearby college. Citing the Tok'ra's assurance that her treatments with the converted memory recall device had gone a long way towards returning Sarah to herself, Daniel convinced the President to grant Sarah this request. The Presidential petition had pretty much guaranteed Sarah the job.

'Not even the damn NID bodyguard put 'em off,' Jack bemoaned silently.

"Did not Mrs. Jones state that entry to this event is restricted, O'Neill?"

Startling from his woolgathering, Jack studied Teal'c in the muted lighting from the parking lot lamps. With the black stocking cap covering his tattoo, Teal'c could pass for an average Earthling — if average Earthlings were six foot four and had 30 inch wide shoulders.

"My invitation musta gotten lost in the mail," Jack smirked, adding a shrug when Teal'c's brow lifted inquiringly.

Shifting away from the Jaffa, Jack opened the door of his truck and stepped out into the night air before Teal'c could move to stop him.

"Should we not wait until Sarah Gardner departs so that you may speak with her privately?" Teal'c asked, his tone annoyingly reasonable.

Jack leaned back into the truck, banging his hand impatiently on the door frame. "No. I'm not gonna wait. I need to know now what she knows. Daniel's life could be at stake."

"Then I shall accompany you." Teal'c slipped out of the truck, closed his door, and stood on the sidewalk waiting for O'Neill to join him.

Jack glared at the Jaffa over the hood of the truck. "Yeah, okay," he said, finally.

Closing his own door, he hit the fob on his keychain, nodding in satisfaction at the alarm's succinct chirp.

As Jack stepped onto the sidewalk and made his way to the museum entrance, Teal'c filed in silently behind him. He dogged his team leader's steps until they reached the door, when the Jaffa took one giant step forward and pulled the door open before Jack could lay a hand on it.

Recoiling from the suddenly outward swinging door, Jack whirled on Teal'c, staring dumbfounded for a second.

"Thank you." Jack's crooked grin telegraphed the 'I think' his lips did not utter.

Teal'c grinned pleasantly — 'a rather scary sight if you don't know the guy' Jack thought — and tipped his head in acknowledgment.

Almost before Jack had a foot in the door, a fairly well built, red-headed linebacker type, apparently AWOL from a wedding, stepped up to intercept him. Though he couldn't have been more than five ten, what the guy lacked in height, he made up for in balls.

"I'm sorry, sir," he said, taking in Jack's jeans and worn leather jacket with obvious distaste. "The museum is not open to the public." Placing a restraining hand against Jack's chest, he ignored the dark scowl the touch elicited. "This is a private reception. By invitation only." He spoke the last words as if he doubted Jack had the intelligence to understand what that meant.

Suddenly the kid blanched, his gaze drawn over Jack's shoulder and up.

"It would appear that the postal service has misplaced our invitation," Teal'c growled, moving in behind O'Neill.

Jack glanced over his shoulder. 'Yep, damn scary.'

"We require admission to this affair," Teal'c announced, and though his friend made it sound almost like a request, Jack hoped that the kid was bright enough — his laying hands on Jack notwithstanding — to understand that Teal'c was going in whether he was formally invited or not.

"I... I, I can't let you in. Not without an invitation," the kid reiterated, trying to call up some of the forcefulness his tone had originally contained.

'Guess he's not all that smart after all,' Jack lamented, shaking his head sadly at the stubborn set to the blue-green eyes. 'Don't they teach these kids about self-preservation?' Then, recalling all the times his multiple PhD'd lover had walked headlong into trouble, Jack answered his own question. 'Not if Daniel's lack of survival skills is anything to go by.'

Flinching involuntarily at the large form flashing by him, Jack straightened and grinned appreciatively when the kid took several shuffling steps backward.

"Then you must endeavor to prevent us from entering," Teal'c warned matter-of-factly, making no move to threaten the student bouncer, other than stepping towards him.

Jack noted the Adam's apple bobbing furiously as the kid tried to swallow, the wide-opened mouth no doubt hampering that effort. When the youth turned terror-wide eyes on him, Jack merely shrugged and pointed to his companion.

"What he said."

The kid glanced up at Teal'c again and, obviously weighing the discomfort of a probable reprimand from his faculty advisor against the physical consequences of tangling with the two intruders, wisely stepped aside.

"Son, you've renewed my faith in higher education," Jack commended, slapping the young man on the back as he passed. He sauntered behind his Jaffa-shaped battering ram, confident that Teal'c could break any roadblock that might materialize between him and Sarah Gardner.

Moving into the gallery proper, Jack grinned casually at the often startled, sometimes frightened faces aimed in their direction. From their left side, two formally clad gentlemen, one tall and one squat, waddled to intercept them, looking for all the world like penguins on the march — Emperor and Adelie, respectively, Jack decided, opting to roll with the cliché.

Just as the tall man opened his mouth, presumably to question their presence here, the attention of all four men was diverted to the right. Smirking disdainfully at the overly dramatic effect, Jack studied the tall, slender, elegantly-attired woman, slinking sensuously through the crowd that parted to allow her passage, working her boney shoulders in counterpoint to her hips to emphasize their swaying. 

"Colonel O'Neill. Were you looking for me?" Sarah Gardner glided towards Jack, flashing far too many teeth, and tossed her head of strawberry blond curls theatrically. "Or perhaps you regularly crash private parties on university campuses? No co-eds here, I'm afraid," she trilled brightly, glancing with mock-disappointment among the mid-aged crowd.

Barely sparing Teal'c a glance, Sarah grasped Jack's arm and leaned towards his ear. "Though I understand co-eds aren't really your thing," she murmured conspiratorially.

Jack pulled away from her cloying scent and too-close proximity. Whirling on her, he snapped in her face. "We need to talk."

Cursing himself for his single-mindedness, Jack rearranged his features into a more pleasant guise. His eyes were drawn to those of the tall, stocky brunette suddenly hanging over Sarah's shoulder.

Turning to follow his gaze, Sarah gestured amiably to the woman. "Oh, have you met my shadow? Colonel Jack O'Neill, this is Agent Frederica Webb. Though she likes to be called Freddie," she added softly, puckering her mouth in obvious disapproval. "Freddie —"

"I know who the colonel is," Freddie said, looking Jack up and down.

Grinning impishly, Jack shot Teal'c a glance. "Celebrity status is still intact," he quipped, knowing Teal'c would remember his 'we're famous' remark a few years back in response to bounty hunter Aris Boch's unaided identification of the individual members of SG-1.

Turning back to Freddie, Jack indicated the large man standing behind him. "This is my friend, Murray," he said with deliberation, calling attention to Sarah's failure to acknowledge the Jaffa.

O'Neill met the NID agent's steady blue stare. She wasn't an unattractive woman, if Amazons were your thing. Quickly reviewing the report in his head, Jack recalled that Agent Webb was assigned to protect Sarah, whom the government still considered a valuable asset, even without her Goa'uld. He had no doubt that she had also been ordered to watch the former host, ensuring that she didn't inadvertently — or intentionally — disclose any classified information.

The assignment was as twenty-four hour guard so Agent Webb became Sarah's roommate, Freddie.

Jack fervently hoped that Agent Webb was one of the NID's best because if, God-forbid, a mishap involving Sarah did occur, Daniel would be beside himself with guilt.

"Sarah?"

Having forgotten about the penguins, Jack wheeled, defensive instincts kicking in, to face them. His mouth tipped, half-amused, to find that though the Adelie had addressed his colleague, his eyes darted indignantly between Jack and Teal'c.

'He can't seriously be thinking about taking us on,' Jack thought, turning his best black ops 'Crazy Colonel' glare on the man to discourage him.

"Its fine, Roland, thank you." Sarah lightly touched the man's arm, her smile overly gracious.

Both penguins acquired a bewitched glaze to their eyes. The Adelie flushed mightily, obviously excited by Sarah's attention.

'Damn, looks like she's worked her voodoo here already.' Jack rolled his eyes and pointed toward a hall winding off to the right. "Down there?"

With obvious effort, Sarah pulled her attention away from her admirers and glanced over her shoulder.

"Second door on the right," she confirmed, gesturing for Jack and Teal'c to precede her to the designated meeting place while she reinforced the penguins' devotion with more praise.

Jack stomped through the partygoers, many of whom literally jumped back to avoid being run down by him. Teal'c followed at a more leisurely pace.

Grasping the knob of the second door on the right, Jack pushed it open with undue force.

Teal'c quirked a brow when the door rebounded off the wall and hit his foot. Saying nothing, he pushed the door gently against the wall and watched O'Neill, who stalked to the other side of the room and whirled on the entrance, waiting for Sarah Gardner to appear.

Jack's eyes absently followed Teal'c as the larger man walked around the desk placed perpendicular to the left wall, facing the door. The Jaffa scanned the items occupying the top of the desk, his gaze lifting suddenly to O'Neill's.

Jack had no time to wonder at the murderous glint in Teal'c's eye as Sarah Gardner breezed in just then, smiling smugly, and pushed the door closed behind her — practically in the face of her 'shadow.'

"Freddie's going to wait outside," she declared brightly.

Initially delighted at Sarah's slight towards the representative of an agency he despised, when Agent Webb didn't immediately push the door back open and storm inside, Jack wondered whether Sarah was exerting influence over her 'guard' as well. He filed the question away for later investigation.

Offering her visitors a seat, Sarah made her way around Teal'c, going behind her desk to settle regally in her chair. She exuded a pompously superior air, yet she carefully crossed her long legs so that the slit in her gown exposed the maximum amount of flesh.

"You've brought your Jaffa friend," Sarah observed, nodding towards Teal'c, who had positioned himself next to the chair Jack occupied. "If you thought he would intimidate me..." She shook her head as if the very notion was a sad miscalculation on O'Neill's part.

"Actually, all due respect to Freddie, I think he's here to protect you," Jack stated simply, a rather unpleasant smile playing on his lips. "My CO insisted. He thinks I might be tempted to snap your scrawny neck when you don't tell me what I want to know."

Sarah smiled, nothing more than a patronizing little lift of the corner of her lips, patently unconcerned by the apparent threat Jack posed.

In his mind, Jack's hands already encircled her throat. 'Hammond is a wise man — I just might need Teal'c to pull me off of her before we're through.'

"Welcome to my little corner of the world," she crooned unexpectedly, gesturing grandly around her. "I have Daniel to thank for all of this," she added cheerily, one hand dropping to caress the photo frame in the center of her desk. "How is dear Daniel? Does he know you're here?"

"The condition of Daniel Jackson is none of your concern," Teal'c snapped, propelled forward a step by a force seemingly not of his control. His troubled eyes widened, his outburst apparently surprising even him.

Jack turned, eyebrows raised, and patted Teal'c's arm. "I got this, T," he soothed, responding to the Jaffa's acknowledging nod with one of his own.

Returning his attention to Sarah, Jack just caught her appraising gaze before she disguised her interest in their exchange with a dull aspect. Clearly she was impressed by Jack's command of the Jaffa.

'Good. Let her wonder who she's dealing with.'

Jack shifted in the uncomfortable guest chair. "Nice gig Daniel got for you here? Assistant curator, isn't that the title?"

"They also let me substitute teach," Sarah recited, her indifference to the topic clear in her tone. "It's the first step back to a full time professorship." She pulled out the supercilious grin again and leveled Jack with an assessing gaze. "But you didn't come all this way to discuss my return to academia."

"Well, not directly," Jack allowed. "I'm surprised, though, that you'd want to stay in Colorado. Why not go back to Chicago, or England, even. Surely you have friends or family in those places. You don't have anyone here." 'Anyone except Daniel,' Jack amended in his head.

"I do have Freddie," Sarah replied. She scooted forward in her chair and lowered her voice as though sharing a confidence. "And, of course, my psychiatrist."

Jack met her stare evenly, his mind working to discern her purpose in bringing up her continuing need to see a shrink.

"I've not been able to reach Daniel today," Sarah blurted, openly pleased when Jack flinched visibly.

Grinning crookedly, a concession to the fact that she had managed this once to distract him, Jack tipped his head back to address Teal'c. "T, why don't you join Freddie in the hallway? Make sure we're not disturbed."

When the Jaffa raised a worried brow, Jack flashed a reassuring smile. "Go on, I'll holler if I need you."

Glaring dangerously at Sarah, who met his hostile gaze with open amusement, Teal'c bowed to O'Neill and left them alone.

As soon as the door snicked closed, Jack rose to stand over Daniel's former lover. "I don't have time to play games with you, so let's just cut right to it, shall we?"

Sarah draped herself casually against the back of her chair, elbows resting on the arms, fingers steepled loosely in front of her. Briefly closing her eyes, she tipped her head in agreement.

"Okay." Jack nodded curtly. Spinning on the ball of his foot, he paced a few steps before turning back to Sarah.

"You and I both know that the Tok'ra's claim that they covered over your memories of Osiris's possession is a load of crap. If you really had no memory of your time as a Goa'uld, you wouldn't have known that Teal'c is a Jaffa."

"Oops. Did I let that slip?" Sarah chimed with mock chagrin.

"Ach!" Jack cautioned her sharply, raising an admonishing finger. "No games. You agreed."

Sarah simply smiled at him.

Jack narrowed his eyes, concerned suddenly that, if she knew something that could help them locate Daniel, he just might have to resort to choking it out of her. Her gloating attitude did not bode well for his hope that she'd offer the information willingly.

"How about we do a little information exchange," Jack suggested, moving away to lean against the wall opposite Sarah. "You asked how Daniel's doing." Jack pursed his lips, pushing them out testily when she failed to respond, but pressed on, undaunted by her lack of cooperation. "The fact is I don't know how he's doing because your pal Osiris kidnapped him out of his home this morning."

Sarah sat up straighter, clearly interested in this bit of news. But whether the considering set to her jaw meant she was thinking about helping Daniel or just that she was contemplating her next move, Jack couldn't determine.

Hoping to startle her into some sort of response, he pushed himself off the wall and lunged towards Sarah. Stopping just in front of her, he bent over, gripped the arms of her chair, and loomed threateningly, placing his face mere inches from hers.

"I need to know what you remember from your time as Osiris's host and I need to know it now," he barked.

Sarah swiveled the chair slightly, nearly tipping Jack sideways, and turned seemingly troubled eyes on the photo she had previously fingered.

Stepping back quickly to avoid being toppled, Jack followed her gaze and bristled. The picture showed a much younger Daniel Jackson seemingly captured in the embrace of a decidedly assertive Sarah Gardner. Daniel's discomfort was plainly evident to anyone who knew his history with the woman.

Jack immediately understood why, having just been educated about obsessive exes, Teal'c had reacted so strangely when Sarah inquired after Daniel's welfare. Finding that she kept in plain sight such blatant evidence of her abnormal interest in their young friend had no doubt set off Teal'c's protective tendencies big time.

Jack was jarred from his contemplations by Sarah's soft lilt.

"I remember hurting Daniel with the ribbon device," she offered, almost in a whisper.

Wincing uncomfortably at the apparent pain in her voice, Jack wondered if this was the side Daniel saw when he looked at her. The injured, vulnerable former host.

"The last thing I remember is watching Daniel's dreams," she muttered distractedly.

"When Osiris tried to get him to reveal the location of the Lost City," Jack supplied, trying to hurry her along.

"No." Leveling her gaze on Jack, Sarah studied him intently, smirking wickedly at the perplexity he'd obviously failed to mask.

Although witnessing her effortless transformation from hapless victim to totally in control intimidator set the hairs on the back of his neck on end, Jack met her stare with hard, assessing eyes.

'Damn, she's further over the edge than I realized. No completely sane person could switch gears that quickly.' His hands immediately curled into fists when she spoke again.

"I always suspected Daniel was gay, though he never said as much." Sarah's eyes seemingly lost focus, apparently turning inward. "My first clue was his unenthusiastic response when I finally managed to convince him —"

"Coerce, I think, would be a better word," Jack sneered, remembering Daniel's anguished retelling of his and Sarah's relationship.

Sarah's answering smile unleashed hordes of butterflies in Jack's stomach.

"Potato, potahto," she sing-songed. "I'll admit I had to work on him a bit to accept my attentions in the spirit in which they were given..."

"You orally raped him in the shower every chance you got." Jack expelled the accusation with excessive force, clearly unable to get the distasteful words out fast enough.

"Is that what he told you?" Sarah's countenance morphed once more, this time to that of unappreciated lover. "Well, I shudder to think what he had to say about the bondage, then."

Jack felt the blood drain from his face, the sensation leaving him lightheaded. His chest tightened, a giant fist seemingly squeezing the life out of him.

"You tied him up?" he choked out.

"I thought he took to the restraints quite well," she opined approvingly. "He did resist having his legs splayed open, but I just attributed that to the fear you boys all seem to have for the safety of your... manhood," she smirked.

The amused expression bled from her face, a vexed frown moving into its place. "He wasn't at all happy with the blindfold." An irritated knot developed between her eyes. "I found it impossible to get him to stop complaining and concentrate on what we were doing."

She pushed her bottom lip out in a fair imitation of Daniel in one of his famous snits. However, in keeping with her tendency towards extreme reaction, Sarah's pout grew, encompassing her entire face until she looked like a spoiled 5-year-old who'd been denied her favorite toy.

The semblance to a child disappeared quickly when her eyes darkened and she tossed away a line that bespoke the true nature of her mind. "I finally had to resort to duct taping his mouth shut."

His breath catching in his throat, Jack saw in his mind's eye an image of his Danny: naked, helplessly struggling with the bonds securing him hand and foot; head swiveling jerkily, ears trained to every sound, trying to make up for the loss of his sight; loudly voicing his discomfort and displeasure ... only to have his sole means of protest cut off with a silvery gag.

Jack closed his eyes briefly, easily imagining Daniel's literally blind panic at such a predicament.

"You're a sick bitch," he spat.

"Daniel had to learn to accept my guidance," Sarah explained, as though her goal naturally warranted restraining Daniel in such a manner.

A sly smile crossing her features, Sarah leaned forward. Tipping her head, she gestured him closer with her chin. "You really should consider it," she whispered suggestively. "I know you've had some difficulty with him on your missions..."

"What? No!" Jack gasped reflexively, mentally recoiling at the very idea. "Restraining him on the bed? God, taking away his ability to speak? That's not instruction, its torture."

Sarah dismissed his diatribe with a sneer, a decidedly ugly marring of her delicate features. "You don't understand him the way I do. Daniel is a genius; he's absolutely brilliant. But he has no idea what to do with it."

"Oh, let me guess, this is where you come in," Jack jeered, the knowing manner with which she spoke about Daniel making him bristle further.

"He was content to remain in Professor Jordan's shadow, publish a few papers and live in complete anonymity," she sputtered. "When I read his research I knew right away that he had the capacity for greatness. I came to the States specifically to find him, knowing I had to become part of his inner circle."

Affecting a frown, she shook her head sadly. "Imagine my disappointment when I got here and found not the giant of a man I was expecting, but a mousy, backward, overgrown boy whose sole ambition was to make his professor look good. He had no idea how superior his mind was."

"So you set yourself up in the role of kingmaker," Jack scoffed, rubbing vigorously at the ache blooming behind his forehead. "Power by association. But, tell me how, exactly, sexual assault and nonconsensual bondage were supposed to make him see the light?"

Sarah glared scornfully. "Daniel wouldn't believe me when I told him he could be so much more than he was. He refused to accept that I could help him achieve the greatness I knew he could have. He had to learn to give me complete control. He had to learn to trust me."

"You took advantage of his goodness, of his innocence. And damn near destroyed him in the process."

"He destroyed himself," Sarah cried, the tone of her statement bordering on remorse. "I told him not to go public with his theories until he had concrete proof. I knew his thinking was sound, but I also knew that without proper evidentiary support very few in the academic world would be astute enough to see it. Daniel is a colossus, a Titan compared to the small minds who rejected him."

Jack realized with mounting dread that Daniel's ouster from academia hadn't dimmed Sarah's estimation of the younger man's worth. 'She still wants him,' he determined. 'How far is she prepared to go, I wonder?'

A patronizing smile tugging at his mouth, Jack nodded knowingly. "So this poor innocent victim role you're playing with him now. It's just another means of controlling him."

"Daniel has the potential to effect great change," Sarah contended. "He's wasted working for your military."

"Saving the world not ambitious enough for you?"

"He could rule the world!" Sarah roared, pounding her hands on the arms of her chair. "I learned during my time with Osiris what it is like to have dominion over lesser creatures. Daniel could have that power but he refuses to take the necessary steps."

Jack had no doubt from the way Sarah looked at him that she considered him one of those 'lesser creatures.' "Okay, I had it all wrong. You don't want to be kingmaker; you want to be Goa'uldmaker."

"Daniel owes me!" Sarah leapt from her chair, her furiously swinging hand striking the center of her chest. "I had everything I've ever wanted. More power than I could ever imagine, and he took it all away. Again."

Feeling as though his chin had literally hit the floor, Jack snapped his mouth shut, considering for a second what he had just heard.

"My God, you let the Goa'uld take control, didn't you? You let Osiris use you, and you vicariously basked in what you saw as your shared glory."

"Daniel thwarted my plans for him once. I intend to have him this time."

Jack's laugh was beyond his control, a reflexive reaction to her ridiculous statement. He stalked towards her, intense eyes locked with hers, his disbelief accentuated by his shaking head.

"Daniel is never going to let you manipulate him again. Even before, when he wasn't so emotionally strong, he found a way to stop you."

Jack scanned her features searchingly, dismayed that her determined glare was unaffected by his statement. 'I need to know if she's got a concrete plan to get Daniel back.'

Softening his gaze, Jack sighed, banking on her overconfidence to lead her to the conclusion that he had determined he was powerless in this fight.

"As much as I hate it, he'll probably continue to answer your calls as long as he thinks he can help you," he said fatalistically, knowing there was no way in hell he'd ever allow Daniel to have contact with her again. "But just playing on his sympathies isn't going to be enough to get him to go along with whatever insane plan you're concocting."

"He'd do it for love."

Her softly spoken avowal so shocked Jack that, for a moment, he couldn't speak. Shaking his head in amazement, he laughed derisively, finally finding his voice. "Daniel does not now, nor will he ever, love you."

Sarah stared at him, a cold, hard assessment.

"Not me, Colonel," she smirked, placing particular emphasis on his title. "You. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can face court martial, dishonorable discharge, even prison time for having sexual relations with another man. A man, I might add, who is a subordinate under your command."

Jack thought to argue that Daniel was in no way his subordinate, but the point seemed moot. Anyway, he was too busy hiding the fact that his heart was in his throat, though based on Sarah's next words, he was not as good an actor as he had hoped.

"How did I know?" Sarah asked, clearly enjoying her perceived mastery over Jack. "Dear Osiris was so generous when I asked for favors," she said fondly.

Her small smile disappeared and Sarah gazed off to her left. For a moment she appeared lost in thought.

"I wanted him to take Daniel with us, after that first encounter in Egypt," she said suddenly, her matter-of-fact confession chilling Jack's blood. "I knew from the moment I spoke with Daniel again after Professor Jordan's funeral that his mind was as brilliant as ever."

"Ironically, it was Daniel's quick thinking, even while the ribbon device was eating away at his brain, which prevented us from escaping with him." Sarah pursed her mouth in a brief pout. "Osiris could have done much more damage, but I convinced him that Daniel's mind was extremely valuable." Her pout transmuted to an angry frown. "He was deactivating the ribbon device when Daniel stabbed me with the tranquilizer dart. I protested leaving Daniel behind — loudly — but Osiris was too weak to fight with him."

"Pity," Jack said in mock sympathy, his hands squeezing tight of their own volition.

Sarah inclined her head, accepting the condolence as though it had been offered sincerely. "So, when Osiris had his idea to manipulate Daniel's dreams hoping to get him to reveal the location of the Lost City of the Ancients, I asked him to let me see inside Daniel's mind, to determine definitively whether the spark for greatness still burned."

Her face twisting grotesquely, Sarah spat, "What I found burning was his lust for you." Swinging her hair haughtily, Sarah spun away from him and regally drifted into her chair. She rested against the desk and raised a slim hand to finger the framed photo. "Has Daniel ever told you of his erotic dreams? You feature quite prominently in every one of them."

Turning her eyes on Jack, she pursed her lips pensively. "You also play a starring role in the majority of his nightmares. The most telling of which brings to life his fear that you will be harmed if your relationship with him is made public."

Jack shifted slowly from foot to foot, hoping Sarah would recognize the mounting rage he had about decided he shouldn't be trying to suppress.

"You know, that's all very interesting, creepy even, but just because Daniel dreams about me doesn't prove we're doin' it."

Her answering smile was decidedly evil. "I have pictures."

Jack ceased his fidgeting. His lips twitched infinitesimally, but he otherwise remained impassive.

Her smile dimming slightly, Sarah stretched out her long, lean arm and walked her fingers over the handle of her topmost desk drawer. "I'm insatiably curious, much like Daniel. Once I learned he was dreaming about you, I had to know if the relationship was all in his head, so to speak."

Yanking the drawer open, Sarah pulled out a 35 mm camera, complete with a night vision-equipped telephoto lens. Laying it gently on the desk blotter, she stroked the device with her hand, grazing Jack's face with her eyes.

Biting the inside of his mouth to keep from reacting, Jack continued to feign disinterest.

"You really should put up better lighting around the perimeter of your house, Colonel. I know you think all those trees shield you, but all I had to do was climb one...and wait. I knew Daniel would be over that evening. Friday night after a mission. Tradition with you two, isn't it?"

"How the hell —"

"Daniel's personal journals," Sarah responded casually, as though the answer should have been obvious.

"You broke into Daniel's house?"

"Not technically. I was already there to monitor his dreams. Osiris granted my request to investigate further when Daniel's dreams proved so interesting. I learned that you get together on certain Friday nights; and, once I was released from treatment, all I had to do was wait for the right one." She gazed at the ceiling, thoughtfully. "Well, that, and drug poor Freddie so she didn't know I'd gotten out."

Crooking a finger, she motioned Jack closer. When he refused to be bidden, she sulked fleetingly, quickly overcoming his lack of cooperation. "I only had to use it that one time," she gloated. "Imagine my luck. On my first try I got a shot of the two of you in a shirtless embrace on your back deck."

She winked at Jack, smiling charmingly. "Thank you, by the way for clutching Daniel's ass. You might have been able to talk your way out of a simple hug, but that... well, it will be harder to sell as a harmless gesture between friends."

As her smile disappeared into a derisive smirk, Jack worked to resume a neutral aspect, forcibly pushing back the urge to vomit.

"And even if you manage it, there's still the kiss. A very sweet one, too."

Jack glared at her for a second before jamming his hands into his pockets and sauntering in her direction. He leaned his ass on the edge of her desk, folded his arms, and loomed above her.

Decidedly unimpressed, Sarah raised an amused brow.

"So," Jack observed, undeterred by her mocking smile. "Snooping through Daniel's things, without permission, and taking unsolicited pictures of private moments. Sounds like stalking to me."

Grinning broadly, Sarah chirped, "Yes, it does." The pleasant smile darkened to one of smug self-satisfaction. "Too bad you can't do anything about it without exposing yourself and your male lover..."

Realizing suddenly what she'd said, Sarah raised her hand to her mouth and began to giggle. "Oh, now that is something I would definitely like to see," she cackled.

Figuring that the only thing he had to gain by staying longer was additional ridicule and nausea, Jack leered at Sarah, his tight smile conveying his parting message: 'This is not over.'

Standing wordlessly, he snatched open the door, glared at Agent Webb and, gesturing to Teal'c on his way past the Jaffa, quietly left the building.

"Did you learn anything, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked once they were in the parking lot.

"Nothing that would help us find Daniel." Jack unlocked his truck remotely, hurrying to the driver's side of the vehicle. He climbed in and waited until Teal'c was seated.

"But I did find out that Sarah Gardner is one seriously disturbed woman." Fumbling out his cell phone, he hit one of the speed dial buttons. Waiting for someone to answer, he glanced at Teal'c and said nonchalantly, "Oh, and we've moved on to stage five."

Before Teal'c could respond, Jack barked into the phone, "This is O'Neill. Let me talk to General Hammond. Yeah, I'll hold."

While Hammond's secretary apparently went looking for him, Jack turned to his companion, whose dark eyes immediately locked with his own. He carefully sealed the cell phone's mouthpiece against unintentional eavesdropping with the palm of his hand.

"She's so gone... I don't know if Anise's treatments enhanced her obsession or if she's always been this fanatical about Daniel, but she's hell bent on getting her claws in him. The crafty bitch has ...compromising pictures of us — me and Daniel — and she thinks that by threatening to expose our relationship she'll get Daniel to come back to her and let her use him again."

Teal'c's expressive brows dropped over dangerously gleaming eyes. "Daniel Jackson would never agree to such an arrangement, O'Neill." 

"No, he wouldn't. Especially when he learns she wants him for purposes of galactic domination."

All emotion fled Teal'c's face instantly. Jack recognized the deadpan stare; Teal'c doubted his sincerity.

"No joke," he asserted.

Hearing his CO's voice, Jack redirected his attention to the phone. He pointed past Teal'c's nose, beyond the passenger window, to where guests were leaving the party.

"General Hammond. Sir, I have reason to believe that Sarah Gardner is a threat to Daniel's well-being and, ultimately, to national security. I recommend that she and her NID babysitter be detained."

Though he should have expected the request, Jack balked, his stomach knotting, when Hammond asked him to elaborate.

"I'd rather not go into it on the phone, but General..." Jack glanced sidelong at Teal'c. "She has information that, should it become common knowledge... potentially, it could destroy Daniel."

"O'Neill." In the close confines of the cab, Teal'c's basso voice reverberated like the echo of an avalanche.

"Sir, they're leaving the university now. Teal'c and I are gonna follow them, hopefully back to the apartment. I strongly advise you send a team, preferably one with unquestionable loyalty to Daniel, and that we keep contact with both women to an absolute minimum once they're in custody." He paused, awaiting his superior's instructions. "Yes sir, we'll wait outside until they arrive."

Eyes on Sarah and Freddie, who climbed into an expensive-looking sports car, Jack plunked his cell phone into the cupholder on the center console and started his truck.

"Hammond's sending a team. In the meantime, we watch them."

"You believe Sarah Gardner poses so great a threat, O'Neill?" Teal'c inquired as Jack pulled the truck into the line of traffic moving towards the campus exit.

"Yeah. She's more dangerous than I gave her credit for."

Part 4

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. The works on this site are for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. Each work is a parody for entertainment purposes only. The original characters, situations, and stories are the property of the author(s). These works may not be posted anywhere without the consent of their creator(s).
Contact the Webmaster