“Hey,” Elizabeth said from the door to Daniel’s office, “Can I come in?”
“Sure,” Daniel gave her a tired half-smile, “What can I do for you?”
“You can knock that off for a start,” Elizabeth told him as she pulled over the spare seat, “I’m your sister not a stranger, not anymore.”
“I’m sorry,” Daniel sighed, “I guess I’m not handling this as well as I could be.”
“Who is?” Elizabeth snorted.
“You seem to be doing okay,” Daniel pointed out.
“Only on the outside,” she told him, “I keep going over and over in my head all the horrible possible outcomes of this. But, if I fall apart then we can kiss Kelly acting sane goodbye.”
“I guess there is a lot of responsibility being the eldest,” Daniel said.
“You’ll find out when we all come to you for help and advice,” she teased before becoming serious again, “What are the chances we’ll get Maria back?”
“Not too good at the moment,” Daniel confessed, “But Jacob is using all his contacts to try and find them.”
“Just keep hoping then,” Elizabeth said before she leaned over, lightly kissed his cheek and left him to his brooding.
When he was alone again, Daniel glanced over at his wife’s picture, “I stopped hoping a long time ago.”
Elizabeth standing just outside dropped her head, tears welling in her eyes; she brushed them away and turned back to her ‘shadow’ who escorted her to rejoin her mother and sister.
Sara stared in amazement as Jack appeared through the door.
“Hey,” he greeted her with a hug, being careful of her wounded shoulder, “How are you feeling?”
“Completely confused,” she said staring at him, “Jack, you were in Egypt half an hour ago.”
“Ah,” Jack grimaced, “I can’t…”
“Don’t tell me it’s classified,” Sara snapped, “I want to know what the hell is going on, who shot me and who took Maria?”
“Can’t you just trust me?” Jack asked hopefully.
“Not for this I can’t,” she sighed, “I want to know.”
“I’ll see what I’m allowed to tell you,” Jack sighed too, “But you know what this is like.”
“I do,” Sara whispered, “That’s why you’d better tell me.”
Jack gently kissed her forehead, “Get some more rest,” he felt her squeeze his hand as she lay down and closed her eyes.
“Colonel,” Hammond greeted him as Jack entered the office, “What can I do for you?”
“I just spoke to Sara,” Jack dropped into a seat, “So if you won’t let me shoot myself, you have to help me. She’s demanding to know what’s going on.”
“Jack…” Hammond started.
“She knows I was in Egypt less than an hour ago, she’s been attacked by the Gould,” Jack listed, ignoring his commanding officer, “Besides you’re always saying we need a counsellor and Sara is now trained...”
“As I was saying before you interrupted,” Hammond cut him off before he rambled anymore, “I have already received permission to tell both Sara and Kelly about what’s really going on. Giving the youngest Miss Walker the chance to work with us, especially after the help she gave you in Egypt. Your idea about the counsellor is actually very interesting. Do you think she’d take the job?”
“Possibly,” Jack shrugged, “Any word from Jacob yet?”
Hammond shook his head, “How’s Dr Jackson?”
“Which one?” Jack asked with a slight grin.
“Junior,” Hammond frowned at him.
“Daniel is being Daniel,” Jack sighed, “Pretending to work, staring into space and at Sha’re’s picture. He’ll talk to me when he’s ready.”
“Until then I need him to brief Kelly and Sara,” Hammond said, “Say in about an hour.”
“Yes sir,” Jack nodded and left.
“Hopefully Jake will have something by then,” Hammond sighed to the room.
*********************************************
Maria and Steven both jumped up as the door opened and Osiris, it was Osiris not her father Maria reminded herself, stalked in. In his hand was a long staff and the other was paper and pens that he threw at Maria’s feet.
“You will design a base for us,” Osiris told her, “One that will be invincible.”
“No,” Maria stated, “I won’t help you.”
Osiris laughed, “I thought you would say that.”
Before either could react Osiris grabbed Steven’s arm and flung him against the opposite wall, activating the staff and firing.
“No!!!!!” Maria screamed as Steven stared at her for a second before he fell to the ground, dead.
“For every time you disobey,” Osiris told her, “He shall suffer.”
Maria watched in horror as Steven was dragged out, leaving a thick trail of blood. As the door shut, Maria staggered until the wall pressed against her back and she slid to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. She was alone now and there was no way she was getting out of this.
Daniel stood staring out at the Stargate, waiting for Sara and Kelly to arrive so he could explain things to them. He was so tired. He just wanted to go back to the apartment and crawl into his bed and hide for about a week.
“Danny,” his mother’s soft voice interrupted his thoughts, “Are you okay?”
He gave a small shrug, “I’m okay, Mom. I promise. I’m just trying to work out in my head how to explain this to Kelly.”
“Considering she’s read your theories anyway, I think she will understand everything,” Claire smiled, “Though she might be a little surprised.”
Daniel smiled back slightly, “Jacob should be back soon. We’ll find Maria.”
“I know you will,” Claire tried to sound hopeful.
“I won’t lose her too,” Daniel said stiffly, “I’m not losing her.”
Claire looked in her son’s eyes and wondered if that deep-seated pain that lived there would ever leave. Wrapping her arms around him, Claire hugged her son tightly.
“Mind if I join you?” Sam asked Elizabeth as she sat in the commissary.
Elizabeth jumped slightly, “Sure. I was just taking the doctor’s advice and getting something to eat.”
Sam smiled as she placed her tray down, “How are you doing?”
“Now that’s the question of the hour,” Elizabeth sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose, “I’m a little overwhelmed. I’m just so worried about Maria. From what I was told these Go…Goa…what are they called again?”
“Goa’uld,” Sam corrected, “Though most people call them Gould.”
“Much simpler,” Elizabeth noted before frowning, “You don’t though.”
Sam shrugged, “I’m a precise sort of person. The Colonel and Daniel use the term Gould as some sort of contempt of them.”
“Well one did take Daniel’s wife,” Elizabeth pointed out.
“And they took Skaara,” Sam added, seeing Elizabeth’s look of confusion, “The Colonel looks on him as a sort of surrogate son,” Sam explained, “For both of them this whole thing is personal.”
“Let me ask you something else,” Elizabeth said, sipping her lemon tea, “Have you ever saved a host?”
“Your Father?” Sam deduced.
“I know Maria hates him,” Elizabeth said, “And I know he and Mom have some serious issues between them but he’s still my father. And despite a lot of things, I do love him.”
“We have saved hosts,” Sam told her slowly, “But we usually lose more than we save.”
“Sha’re,” Elizabeth said.
“And a good man named Charlie Kawalsky,” Sam told her, “Skaara was only saved because of the Tok’ra and another race.”
“You know normally, I would be itching to write this all down and get you saying all this on tape,” Elizabeth gave a sad smile, “Journalistic instincts. But now I want to hide and I want to forget everything I’ve been told and everything that’s happening. Since I can’t do that then I want to help.”
“You’re keeping Kelly together,” Sam told her, “Janet told me. Having someone panicked is not what we need just now.”
“Daniel is telling her what’s going on in a bit,” Elizabeth frowned, “I’m going to join him and Mom and take some of the flak from her.”
*********************************************
Maria jumped as the door opened and Osiris stalked in once more.
“I see my demonstration has not motivated you,” he looked at her disdainfully, “Maybe if you realise my power you will be more compliant.”
“Go to hell,” Maria managed to spit at him, her voice shaking.
Osiris laughed, returning to the door, “Remember next time, I shall not simply kill him.”
He left the room and Maria relaxed a little; jumping again as a figure was flung back into the cell with her, crashing into the wall and dropping to the ground.
“Steven?” she cried, dropping down beside him; her eyes scanned where he’d been shot, amazed to see only smooth flesh showing from the hole in his shirt.
Maria touched the dried up, blood soaked material around the hole before gingerly stroking her fingers across his skin, “Incredible,” she breathed.
“What is?” Steven groaned, “My baby soft skin or the fact I’m still alive?”
“We’ll say both,” Maria smiled, helping him to sit up, “How?”
Steven shook his head, “I don’t know but I woke up in what looked like a sarcophagus.”
“A what?” Maria asked confused.
“Egyptian burial chamber,” Steven told her, “Like a coffin.”
“Now there’s a cheery thought,” Maria grimaced.
“I think it healed me,” Steven said, “I must have blacked out when he hit me.”
“Steven, you were dead,” Maria told him, realisation suddenly dawning, “This is what he meant.”
“What who meant?” Steven asked, wishing his headache would disappear.
“Osiris,” Maria whispered, “Every time I refuse to help he’ll hurt you. Next time he won’t kill you as fast.”
“That’s another cheery thought,” Steven groaned, “What do we do?”
“I don’t know yet,” Maria sighed, “But we better think fast.”
*********************************************
“You’re not kidding?” Kelly asked, staring at Daniel, “You were right?”
He nodded softly.
“Oh my God,” she cried, “That’s incredible. Everything we know…”
Elizabeth slapped her hand over her sister’s mouth, “We all get the implications.”
“So that’s what the Stargate is,” Sara said very softly.
Jack nodded, “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Sara sighed, “But I have a few things I want to ask you later.”
Jack grimaced, knowing exactly what it was she wanted to talk about.
“What about Maria?” Kelly asked, “Why did they take her? What are they going to do to her?”
“We don’t know,” Daniel whispered, taking his sister’s hand, “But we’re doing everything we can to get her back and we do have allies who are able to help. We won’t give up.”
The alarms suddenly started.
“Unauthorised Incoming Wormhole,” the tech called.
Jack, Daniel and Hammond ran downstairs, leaving the others up in the control room to watch.
The Stargate burst open.
“SG1 signal coming through,” the tech said to Jack, Daniel and Hammond.
“That should be Teal’c,” Jack sighed in relief as they headed into the Gateroom.
Just as they walked into the Gateroom, Teal’c appeared with Jacob and Aldwyn behind him.
“T,” Jack called, “Tell me you have good news?”
“We do,” Teal’c told him, “Aldwyn and I followed Osiris and Isis to a remote planet. They have landed there and as far as we can ascertain plan to stay there for a time.”
“Is there a Stargate there?” Daniel asked.
“Unfortunately, no,” Jacob joined them, “We’ll have to go in by ship.”
“How many teams can you spare?” Jack turned to Hammond.
“No,” Jacob said, “We have to do this as covertly as possible. Remember they don’t have any Jaffa yet.”
“Okay,” Jack grimaced, “So SG1, Jacob, Aldwyn and I think we should take Fraiser just in case.”
“Agreed,” Hammond said, “You have one hour.”
“Mom, you can’t come this time,” Daniel said, “I know it’s hard to wait but you have to.”
“You’ve become a good little soldier,” Claire snapped.
“That’s not fair,” Daniel replied,” I had to learn to defend myself so I could search for Sha’re. I don’t like it anymore than you do but to stay on SG1 I’ll do it.”
“Danny, I just get you back,” Claire whispered, “I can’t lose my little boy again.”
“You won’t,” Daniel told her.
“I want Maria back, Danny,” his mother sighed as he hugged her.
“We’ll both be back,” he whispered, “I promise. You won’t lose us, Mom.”
*********************************************
“We have to think up some way to at least stall him,” Maria said, her eyes kept drifting to the hole in Steven’s shirt; “I don’t think I want to see you die again.”
“I don’t exactly relish the thought of dying again either,” Steven told her.
“Okay,” she said, licking her lips nervously, “He wants a fortress. My father knows from conversations I’ve had around him how long this sort of thing can take.”
“He’s not your father,” Steven reminded her.
“I know but he appears to have Dad’s memories,” Maria pointed out, “Which this time can work to our advantage.”
“Okay,” Steven decided to go along with her for the moment.
“I’d better look like I’ve started work,” she moved and spread out the paper, grasping a pencil. She chewed the end for a moment before she started to do a few rough sketches.
They both looked up nervously almost an hour later as the door opened again.
“Well?” Osiris demanded when he stalked in.
“I need more information,” Maria told him, “Measurements, where you want things, the number of rooms. Things like that.”
“You are lying,” Osiris snarled.
“My Dad knew that,” Maria swallowed as Osiris towered over her, “It takes a lot more than just do it to design a fortress.”
Osiris stared at her for a few moments before he nodded, “Once I give you this there will be no more stalling. Or he dies once more in a longer much more painful fashion.”
Steven shuddered as Osiris swept from the room.
“He knows how to leave a room cold,” Maria gently squeezed Steven’s arm, “You okay?”
His dark eyes were filled with fear, “For the moment.”
Maria sighed deeply before she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
“We’re going to get out of this,” she told him, “Because there’s no way in hell I’m dying here.”
Jack sat watching Daniel pace the small cabin in the Tel-tac. The young archaeologist had been in a constant spin since they’d left Earth, either pacing or sitting muttering to himself. Jack was letting it go for the moment as trying to stop Daniel would lead to either an argument or Daniel shutting down.
He smiled softly to himself as he remembered how well Sara had taken all this but he still had to explain to her about the clone of him and Charlie. Just as they had moved to leave, she’d taken his hand and told him to come back safely before gently kissing him goodbye. Hammond was going to discuss the counsellor position with Sara while they were off on their rescue mission and if she accepted it, Jack knew he might have the chance to make things up to her, at least some things.
“Dad says we’ll be there in about an hour,” Sam said as she joined them, “And that we should all eat something.”
“I’m not hungry,” Daniel told her.
“And yet you’re going to eat what we put in front of you,” Jack reminded the younger man.
Daniel made a disgusted noise at his friend as he took the MRE Sam held out to him, “Great, something else that tastes like chicken.”
“Could be worse,” Jack told him.
“Really?”
“It could taste of nothing at all,” Jack grinned.
Daniel started to laugh, “That’s a gift only the commissary can manage.”
“What do you care?” Jack shot back, “I’m surprised you have any taste buds left after the amount of coffee you drink.”
Sam smiled as she watched them argue, knowing that Jack was doing this to take Daniel’s mind off of their mission. It was only Jack who could do it.
Up front, Jacob and Teal’c sat listening to the good-natured argument between the friends. Neither said anything but both had a smile on their face.
*********************************************
“Have you eaten?” Janet asked Claire when she found the elder Dr Jackson sitting in her son’s office.
“I’m not hungry,” Claire told the doctor.
“Well it’s a shame, I’m going to make you eat,” Janet said as she took the spare seat, “You’ve two children here as well who need you healthy.”
“I know,” Claire sighed, “For so long I had no idea who I was and as bad as this sounds I’m starting to wish I’d never found out.”
“I can understand that,” Janet mused, “To a certain extent.”
“I guess everything that’s happened lately has…” Claire trailed off in annoyance, picking up the picture of her son that sat on his desk, “He is so like his father.”
“Actually, I see more a resemblance to you,” Janet shrugged, “Though considering I didn’t know Daniel’s father isn’t much of an observation. From what I saw of Maria, she and Daniel were quite similar too.”
Claire laughed, “I guess they are. Maria was always outspoken as a child, she still is and in her chosen field she’s incredibly talented.”
“She’s an architect right?” Janet asked.
Claire nodded a proud smile on her face, “Her boss is her best friend’s father and when he offered to sponsor her through University we had a talk. He told me the one reason he was giving her the opportunity was he knew if he didn’t, someone else would get to her first and he’d have to pay much more to entice her to his company.”
Janet laughed, “Come and get something to eat. And don’t worry too much. I’ve seen SG1 do amazing things.”
Claire sighed; replacing Daniel’s picture back down ,glancing down at the picture of her daughter-in-law before joining Janet to walk to the commissary.
“Tell me some more about the amazing things those four have done?”
“Okay,” Jacob said, bringing up a plan of the planet, “The base they’re using is here. It’s old Headquarters of a minor Gould that worked for them back when they were free to come and go as they pleased. At the moment, they don’t have any Jaffa but every door is wired.”
“So if we try to sneak in they’ll hear us,” Sam frowned.
“Not exactly,” Jacob said, “The one thing they haven’t got booby trapped is these conduits.”
“We estimate Maria Walker and Steven Rayner will be held here,” Teal’c pointed out the small room in the middle of the complex.
“The easiest room to get to of course,” Jack muttered sarcastically.
“This leads to them,” Jacob highlighted the conduit for them, “Getting them out will be more problematic.”
“We have to let them know we’re here,” Daniel said.
“Daniel’s right,” Sam told them, “If they know we’re coming for them they won’t be surprised when we try to get them out.”
“I’ll…”
“I’ll go,” Daniel cut Jack off, “I have to see she’s okay.”
Jack nodded.
Maria tossed the used pencil across the room, picking up the next one.
“What exactly are you doing?” Steven asked, watching her sketch.
She glanced up at him, “I have no idea,” she gave a half-laugh.
“You should probably get some sleep,” Steven told her, “You look exhausted.”
“You’ve been awake as long as I have,” Maria snapped at him.
“I slept when I was dead,” he shot back.
Maria started to laugh, “Okay, I’ll get some sleep.”
“It’s nice to see you two getting along,” a voice said amused.
“Daniel?” Maria’s eyes widened in amazement.
“Yeah,” he said, “We’re here.”
“Where exactly?” Steven asked.
“Look above you,” Daniel told them, “The grating.”
Both scrambled up to where Daniel lay, looking in on them.
“You took your time,” Maria told him, “Can we get out of here now?”
“Soon,” he promised, “We’re working on a way to get you out of here. Just sit tight and we’ll get you out.”
“Okay,” Steven nodded.
“Take care of her,” Daniel said to him.
Steven smiled, “I think she’ll take care of me.”
“Standing right here,” Maria snapped amused.
“I’ll be back soon and we’ll get you out then,” Daniel gave a soft smile before he retreated back through the shaft.
Steven and Maria sat down again this time with renewed hope.
Maria rested her head on his shoulder, “I told you we’d get out of this.”
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