Nursery Rhymes

“Yesterday, upon the stairs. I met a man who wasn’t there. He wasn’t there again today. I wish that man would go away.” ~Children’s nonsense rhyme

“So, let me understand this Senator,” the woman sitting across from Senator Kinsey began, “you want me to establish a Family Practice Clinic at a facility for the Air Force, called Cheyenne Mountain?”

“Yes Dr. Greene that is exactly what I am asking you to do.” Senator Kinsey looked at the woman sitting across from him.

Dr. Elizabeth Greene was a highly respected Family Practice Physician that worked out of a Veteran’s Clinic affiliated with Walter Reed Hospital. Her practice involved not only the Veterans, but their families as well.
Dr. Greene looked at the written proposal before her and noted that it had Presidential approval, but wondered if the Air Force was happy with the idea. Many questions sprang to her mind, not the least of which were why was this needed and why had they chosen her?

“Ok Senator.” She looked at him, her skepticism showing plainly on her face. “Why? And more importantly, why me?”

“Look at what you’ve managed to do with your clinic. There are a lot of service families in that part of Colorado because there are several facilities: Cheyenne Mountain, Falcon Air Force Base, Peterson Air Force Base. They certainly could use your expertise and you come highly regarded. Do you think we have an ulterior motive?”

“You best your ass I do,” Beth thought. Looking down at the paperwork, she continued her thought, “Ok. I’ll bite, but I have some questions I need to get answers to.”

“Senator Kinsey,” she began, “I don’t know what to say. I would like some time to consider your proposal. You are asking me to take a year’s leave from the clinic. I need to think about that and if I choose to accept, I need to talk with my staff about who will run the clinic while I am gone. Not to mention the lease on my apartment and finding a place in Colorado.”

“Dr. Greene, should you decide to accept, we will take care of your apartment and find you a furnished place, at no charge to you.”

“Yes we do,” the Senator answered, “but we would like an answer in 24 hours.”

Beth nodded, “Ok Senator. Let me look over these proposals and I will call your office this time tomorrow.”
Senator Kinsey nodded and signaled for the check and they got up from the table.

“No thanks Senator. I have some thinking to do and I think better when I walk. It isn’t far.”

“Ok Senator. You have something up your sleeve and I am not going to take a position like this without some background information.”

She set off at a fast pace to her office in the Clinic. Opening her desk drawer she pulled out a use and toss phone and called a number in Illinois.

“You know, even though I’ve never met you, I would know your were General Greene’s daughter, hold on.”

A few minutes later, a decidedly male voice came over the phone, “General Greene.”

“Dad, have you ever heard of a Senator named Kinsey and an Air Force facility called Cheyenne Mountain?”

“Why Beth?” Her father’s voice sounded very flat and controlled, almost as if he was trying not to show any emotion.

“Senator Kinsey offered me a position at the Cheyenne Mountain Facility as CMO of a family practice clinic. It’s approved by the president and I would like to know why.”

“I see,” General Greene replied. “Beth, I don’t know if I can help you there.”

“Dad, if I am walking into a Lion’s den, I would like to know what I am getting into.”

“All I can tell you is that Cheyenne Mountain is known as a Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station. It is not only a Deep Space Radar Telemetry facility, but it also houses four commands: North American Aerospace Defense Command, United States Northern Command, United States Strategic Command and Air Force Space Command. And as for Senator Kinsey, Bethie, I don’t know what to tell you except that I wouldn’t trust that man as far as I could throw him.”

Beth was silent for a moment and then responded, “Good, that is what I was thinking about him. I am calling from a use and toss phone.”

“Is Jon still stationed in Colorado?” Beth was aware of his being stationed in that State, but she really had no idea where he was or what he was doing. Years of living in a military family trained her to not ask more questions than she would get answers for. She had heard from him off and on in the last three years. Her correspondence record was equally as stellar. As they say, life does get in the way of life.

“ I believe that he is still stationed in Colorado. Why?” General Greene knew exactly where he was stationed and what he was doing. However, he was reluctant to reveal this to Beth.

“Well an old friend of mine is in charge of one project at Cheyenne Mountain. Let me call George Hammond and see if he knows where Jon is. If he doesn’t I’ll do what I can to track Jon down.”

“K…and if you get a hold of him, give him this number," Beth rattled off a cell phone number. “Thanks Dad. I love you.”

Beth dropped the phone on the floor at the end of the conversation, stepped on it and proceeded to take it apart. She took up the papers and re-read through the proposal. It appeared pretty straightforward and made sense. She still had too many questions and was hoping her father would be able to come up with answers.

The clinic was her baby and she was loath to leave it, but the challenge of starting another clinic was irresistible and she hoped that this was a genuine offer. Sirens kept going off whenever she thought of Senator Kinsey and she couldn’t shake the feeling that this is so not a good an idea.

Cheyenne Mountain
General Hammond was in the middle of briefing SG-1 when he was handed a telephone message.

“General Greene said it wasn’t urgent,” Sgt Simmons said, “but he hoped that you would call back as soon as you could.”

Looking at his team, he mentally shook his head. O’Neill and Carter were so tense around each other; he wanted to shake the both of them. “One more thing for them to work through.”

“Dismissed for now,” Hammond told his team, “When we receive more information from the Talbotians, I will inform you.”

“I wonder if SG-1 is the team to send,” he thought. Things had been tense between the Colonel and the Major, especially after the blow up they had over Major Carter’s latest boyfriend. Whatever they thought they were trying to prove during that little fiasco, he had yet to figure out. But he would bet dollars to donuts that whatever it was they thought they were doing, they’d had no idea how it would turn out. And now, they could barely be in the same room. How do you run a team with that hanging in the air between them? They both maintained their professional demeanor, but he wondered how long Daniel and Teal’c would continue to be go-betweens and how long he would tolerate their getting over it.

Looking at General Greene’s message, George went over to his phone and called his old friend.

Adam Greene chuckled and then got down to it. “Do you happen to know if whether a Colonel Jonathan O’Neill is stationed in Cheyenne Mountain?”

“Oh yes. He, his two brothers and my boys and daughter grew up together. He and Beth were more like brother and sister than she was to her own brothers.”

“Well I’ll be. I didn’t know that. Actually, Jack is still stationed here.”

Something in Adam’s voice made Hammond sit up. “Adam, what’s bothering you?”

“Well George. It’s just that Beth was actively recruited for a job at your facility.”

“Yeah, I’ve been hearing about a new clinic being started and that a Dr. Greene was the first choice. I guess I just didn’t put two and two together. Now that I know she’s your daughter, it doesn’t surprise me.”

“It doesn’t surprise me either. However,” Adam Greene took a deep breath, “the person who recruited her does bother me.”

George sat back in his chair. “Why would his referral be a problem for Colonel O’Neill and your daughter?”

“Because, knowing Beth, that would be reason enough for her to accept the position,” Adam answered, “and, I want her to make the decision without her affection for Jack entering into the mix.”

”Going to the bathroom involves an ulterior motive for that man. I want Beth to really dig in and think about this. Just like I taught all of my kids to do.”

“George, I know what you are doing in that mountain. Her older brother Aaron is a Physicist for Area 51. I wonder how you are going to keep Beth out of it.”

“That is a consideration - maybe that is what Kinsey wants…for her to find out about the program and make some news.”

“Well, Beth is no fool and she won’t rat out anyone for the benefit of that imbecile. We’ll just have to keep an eye on things. If I try to talk her out of it, she may just accept out of spite. Don’t let Jack O’Neill know and I won’t tell Beth. This decision she’ll have to make out of her instincts.”

“Ok Adam. Well, it was good talking to you. I’ll keep my ears open about your daughter.”

“Thanks. And I will get back to you about her decision…give you a heads up.”

The figure skirted the dark cavern. He didn’t like it to be bright. No, no. Bright hurt his eyes. At least, today, the figure was a “He”. It looked down at the dark, almost shapeless figure on the slab. “Poor, poor man.” And then It giggled. “Poor, poor man.”

Beth Greene bugged everyone she knew about Cheyenne Mountain. The whole idea of a Deep Space Radar Telemetry Station in an old Missile Silo struck her as odd. In the end, it was the challenge of establishing a clinic of that magnitude that made the decision for her.

It was Kinsey’s gloating that almost made her change her mind. Several times during the week she was preparing to leave, she almost called him back. She also kept bugging her dad about Jon’s whereabouts. Her dad, characteristically, wouldn’t give away anything.

“Well, that means one of two things,” Beth thought, “Jon is either on a special ops mission and Dad can’t tell me, or Jon is so deep undercover, no-one knows where he is.”

Beth thought about her childhood friend while on the flight to Peterson Air Force Base. Only three years younger than Colonel O’Neill, she had been both a confident and a pain.

She thought about the change that had come over him when he was eleven. He was really rude about her playing with her dolls near his army fort. Her eight-year-old self was quite shocked that all of a sudden, she and her dolls weren’t welcome.

She stood up and with her brown eyes flecked with gold, she looked directly into the dark brown eyes of a very “mean faced” former playmate.

“Oh yeah!” she answered. And she did what most little girls who are annoyed with their brothers usually do. She kicked him in the shins and ran off with her dolls crying to her mother.

Unfortunately, for Jonathan O’Neill, his mother was with Beth’s and it was to her that the crying eight year old ran to. It was his Irish mother that gave Jon the tongue lashing of his young life and from then on, he left Beth and her dolls alone.

Somewhere between the ages of 11 and 16, the flashes of who he used to be with her, would occasionally show up. By the age of 16, he was able to help Beth through her “alien abduction” stage - his mother used to tell him that when he was 11, aliens sucked his brain right out of his head and that it was returned to him just recently.
Jon helped Beth through a lot of emotional traumas through the years, as she did for him.

She remembered sitting in his arms crying after her first crush broke her heart. She remembered doing the same for him when, at age 17, his supposed prom date ditched him for the football captain. She still wasn’t sure how he managed it, but he got her parents to agree to let her go with him. It helped that her brother Michael, the same age as Jon, stood up for them.

Shaking her head, she remembered his arriving at her house, after his son died. David, her late husband, had put a very drunk Jon to bed. She also remembered Jon’s strength holding her and the boys up, when David died of cancer three years ago. Jon was characteristically tight-lipped about where he was stationed at that time. She was amazed that he was even able to come to the funeral and, what was more amazing, that he was able to stay with them that first week afterwards.

Cheyenne Mountain-General Hammond’s Office
“Dr. Greene,” George stood up and shook her hand, “welcome to Cheyenne Mountain.”

“Thank you General Hammond,” Beth answered. “My father sends his greetings.”

“Call me Beth or Dr. Beth, if you prefer. Dr. Greene is just so formal and I’m just not real comfortable with that.”

Beth laughed and smiled. “Yes, I have heard that before. If I grew a mustache and wore glasses, I could be his double.”

She had heard that during the years. Her brothers had their mother’s blue gray eyes, but Beth inherited her father’s “amber” colored eyes. The brown with the gold flecks always got her some interesting compliments and propositions.

“Well, from what we have heard about you, we are also very grateful…” George stopped in mid-sentence, as he heard SG-1 walk by.

Colonel O’Neill stuck his head in to say hello and stopped dead in his tracks. He looked at the woman meeting with General Hammond and did a double take. “Beth?” he thought. “No, she’s in DC.” Then he looked again at the woman who turned to the door when he greeted General Hammond. Jack knew those eyes. He would know those eyes anywhere. “Beth?” he said out loud.

In seconds she was in his arms getting a bear hug like she hadn’t had in years. The last time he hugged her like that, she had graduated from medical school.

“Well, I’ll be,” he said after he let her go. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m the new CMO of the Family Practice Clinic that the Air Force wants for this facility and the other two bases-Patterson and Falcon.”

Beth felt Jack stiffen and the tension in the room increase when Kinsey’s name was mentioned.

Beth looked into the eyes of her friend and noted that he tried to keep his face neutral. Unfortunately, for him, she knew him well enough to note the slight reaction of his pupils when Kinsey’s name was mentioned.

“Well, I would hope that you won’t hold that against me,” Beth said finally.

Beth looked at the blonde major and noted the signs of stress in her eyes and wondered why. It appeared to Beth that all of the individuals in the office were stressed and she wasn’t sure whether it was because of Senator Kinsey’s involvement in her placement or something else.

“Interesting,” she thought. Then she turned to General Hammond. “Well, it appears as if your people are checking in for a reason, other than me. If you have no objections, I would like to check out my office.”

Beth looked at him, “But the infirmary isn’t on that floor. I would prefer to be closer to that area.”

“I understand Doctor,” Hammond said smoothly, “but right now, we have to make some adjustments to accommodate an office for you. We weren’t given a great deal of notice regarding your arrival.”

“Well, yes,” Hammond answered, “I knew a couple of weeks ago that she had been recruited to come here.”

“Her father, “Hammond began, “didn’t want Dr. Greene to take the assignment because you were here. He doesn’t trust Kinsey either.”

Looking at Major Carter and continuing, “Her brother has a Ph.D. in Theoretical Astrophysics and is stationed at Area 51.”

Carter nodded, “Yes, he guest lectured at the Air Force Academy when I was there.”

“Well between her father and her brother, she comes from a well connected military family. Kinsey must be thinking of using her.”

Jack laughed, “Well, he picked the wrong person. Beth can peg a fool a mile away, including yours truly when we were younger.”

“So her father has told me,” Hammond answered, “but, we have to somehow keep the good Doctor from finding out about our program. And I don’t know how we are going to do that short of having her escorted everywhere she goes…and that won’t do.”

Jack thought for a moment and then, “I could try and feel her out,” he said. “She’ll tell me about whatever she knows.”

“Very well then, Colonel,” Hammond said, “but first, I need to speak with you and Major Carter.” Daniel left the office to go and find Teal’c and left Sam and Jack with General Hammond. “Whatever it is that you two are trying to sort out, do it quickly,” Hammond said this without any pre-amble or dithering. “I know that you two are consummate professionals, but I have to tell you that I have been quite unhappy with the cloud surrounding SG-1 as of late. Don’t make me have to re-assign you two.”

Hammond sighed, “Maybe Beth can help Colonel O’Neill sort through this. Lord knows, I can’t.” He picked up the phone and made a call to a certain General in Illinois to fill him in on his daughter’s arrival.

Beth smiled. Jack obviously remembered her fondness for Little Debbie Zebra Cakes. She opened a drawer and tossed a pack to him. He caught it neatly and sat down.

“Yup!” she answered and showed him a bottle in the fridge. “They now have a Spicy Hot flavor and a Lemon Twist one.”

He tore open the pack and took a bite out of one of the cakes. “So, tell me, why are you here?”

“You probably know all of it Jon. Senator Kinsey recruited me. No one told me you were here and I have a clinic to set up. End of story.”

She pulled out a picture frame and handed it to him. “The boys are both at the University of Colorado in Denver. So now I am closer to them.”

He looked at the twin boys, with their father’s color, but their mother’s eyes. He remembered the last time he had seen them.

Beth nodded, “I don’t know how you knew. But I can’t tell you how grateful we were for your being there.” Then she laughed, “How all four of us fit on that bed for that week, I still haven’t figured out.”

Jack laughed, “Yeah that was some trick. Avi and Gabe on either side of me and you either one side or the other of one of them.”

“Yeah, that would have been something to explain to anybody other than our family members.”

“Sleeping with the widow and her two children…” Jack shook his head, and then added soberly, “I am glad you are here. I really could use a friend right now.”

He shook his head, “No, not now. I just want to enjoy having my “sister” here for a while. We’ll have plenty of time to cry in our beer.”

“Okay,” she wasn’t convinced, but accepted his answer. He was serious, though. There was no sarcasm and no lame attempts at humor with his answer. “How about dinner tonight then?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’ll pick you up here at about five. We can head over to your place to drop off your car and then I’ll take you to a good dairy restaurant in town.”

He nodded and left. He didn’t notice the blue eyes that looked quizzically after him.

It was now a “She”. Looking down at the figure that was “her” last host and gently stroked the face of the struggling form.
“Poor Poor Man.” The voice said and the hand continued to stroke the cheek of the chained and gagged victim. “Too bad. Too bad.”

They didn’t notice the looks they got when they laughingly went arm in arm up to the surface. Beth, however, noticed that Jack’s eyes weren’t smiling and again wondered why. She noted that the blonde officer that had been in the General’s office shared that same haunted look.

When they arrived at the restaurant Beth took some time to assess her friend. Her physician’s eyes saw some physical evidence of stress, poor eating habits and lack of adequate sleep. The eyes of a friend saw a deep well of pain.

”Gee, thanks,” Jack said with a feigned hint of pain. “I haven’t seen you for three years and that is all you have to say to me?”

“Sorry, but assessment is part of my make-up…occupational hazard.” She looked down at their hands. Her fingers and his were entwined. “You know you can tell me anything.”

Beth sighed and opened her bag and silently handed Jack the proposal. “I knew you wouldn’t be satisfied until you saw it in writing.”

Jack took the papers and sat there looking at them. “Seems like a pretty solid proposal.”

Beth nodded and took a sip of her iced tea. “Yes, that is what I thought when I read it. Dad had spoken to the President himself and they felt that it was a decent idea and that our troops and their families could benefit from it.”

Taking a breath she added, “I have to tell you, that I am glad they are starting to go in that direction. I am a big supporter of a National Health Plan for the country, but the way our troops, and especially our Vets, have been treated…I am glad that they are doing this.”

Beth shrugged. “I have no idea. Unless you guys have something to hide, I can’t see that he intends anything other than what is there.”

Jack’s eyes took on a hidden look at her statement, and Beth noted it. It gave her pause, and she wondered, if indeed, there was something else going on.

“Beth, there really is nothing going on here,” he said, mentally crossing his fingers. His friend had this uncanny knack of knowing when he was snowing her, but then, he knew when she was doing it as well. “Well,” he thought, “we have had a long, long relationship and we know each other pretty well.”

Later that evening Beth sat and thought about Jon and that almost haunted look in his eyes. Haunted, that was a good word for it, she considered. Not as haunted as when Charlie died and his when his marriage failed, but still, haunted.

Beth shook her head; the Major had the same look about her. I wonder. Beth got up and walked to the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator and taking out a bottle of water, she returned to her thoughts and wondered if the reason why they looked so haunted was because of something that happened between them? With them? Taking a sip she returned to the living room. Well, can’t ponder that out yet, need to obtain more data. Putting down the bottle, she reached for the phone. She decided that she would think about that later. For now, she opted to call her boys and her dad. Dad had some “’splaining” to do and she was going to get her answers, one way or the other.

Daniel was seriously considering committing murder. He and Janet had been trying for the last month to get the Jack and Sam to “talk” about what happened. Both he and Janet figured that if they would just yell and get it over with, the team would return to some semblance of normal…well, whatever, the hell normal was these days. He remembered a bumper sticker he saw on a car once: “Normal is a setting on my washing machine”. He felt that in this case, that car owner had some clue about the world.

Janet told him that whenever she approached one or the other, the answer was always the same, “We can’t talk about that. We can’t even acknowledge it exits.” Or “It’s her life. I don’t have any right to make any comments.” “It’s against regulations.” That last one was beginning to get on her nerves. Daniel admitted that the stress ball he had on his desk had Jack’s name written on it.

“Daniel,” Janet began, “do you think we could ask his friend to talk to him?”

“I don’t know Janet.” Daniel thought for a moment, “I am not sure just exactly what defines their relationship. If they have a history…”

“…it might complicate things even more,” Janet finished. “Well Dr. Greene will be here in about 30 minutes. Maybe when we get to know her better…”

Daniel nodded and headed off to the briefing room. He hoped that Jack and Sam behaved themselves today. General Hammond was in a hanging mood.

Daniel’s luck was holding. Sam sat next to Teal’c and Jack next to him. Both managed to not look at each other and when either one spoke, there was no sniping. “A start,” Daniel thought.

General Hammond brought them up to date on what was happening on P3X 9628, also called Talbot by the inhabitants. They were a literary people, very well read. The one thing they wanted from the inhabitants of Earth, aside from an alliance, was books. Whatever books were read on Earth, they wanted. That was probably one of the easiest requests the SGC had ever filled. There was one individual that became very enamored with the horror genre - Edgar Allen Poe, Steven King, Mary Shelley, and Bram Stoker. Jack the Ripper and Dracula were two of this individual’s favorite subjects.

“Alright SG-1, you have a go. Be careful,” General Hammond said as he dismissed them.

The figure walked around “home” and touched the walls and the slab of rock that would soon hold his next host.
If anyone had tried to describe the voice, it would be very difficult. Think of any noise that would cause goose bumps to appear on your skin or a shiver to crawl up your back.

Beth wasn’t sure if it was her pre-occupation with Jon and his unwillingness to feed his elephant or the unusual scars she had discovered on one of the Sergeants who had dropped by her clinic, but one day she made it down to a level that she didn’t usually go to. She supposed, after thinking about it, she’d never have gone there, because it required her to sign away her soul and provide her first-born son as payment. She wondered if her “first born twin” would be okay.

It started out innocently enough, she was reading Sgt. Peters' chart and something puzzled her. The scarring she’d seen on that particular young man did not seem to be properly documented on his chart. She didn’t think it was sloppy charting. Dr. Fraiser was very precise in her charting. Something just didn’t seem right, so she decided to go and consult with Dr. Fraiser about this particular patient.

She was walking towards the elevator and ended up with SF’s going down on an elevator she didn’t normally take. No one said anything to her. They were all used to seeing her. Her badge didn’t appear different than anyone else’s and no one thought about the fact that it wasn’t her key card that had started the elevator.

The next thing she knew she walked into the briefing room…and suddenly looked up.

Beth looked around, at first confused about where she was. Then she looked at Jon and the rest. That’s when she noticed Teal’c and then she looked out the window into the gateroom. At that moment, the ‘gate came to life with all the bells and whistles accompanying an unexpected incoming wormhole, arriving casualties and calls for help. She looked at Jon and then dropped Sgt. Peters’ chart on the table and headed for the phone and called in a code and ordered for the Trauma Team 1 and 2 to…where? She looked at Daniel who supplied “the gate room.” Beth nodded, repeated the order and followed them to the ramp where her triage training took over.

“Pick it up people. This ain’t no picnic,” she said to the entering medical personnel.

She and the trauma teams sorted through the injuries. She had never seen injuries like these and “what the hell was that ‘blue shimmery thing’ they appeared through?” she wondered.

It was several hours later that a very tired doctor walked into General Hammond’s office. He was there with SG-1. They knew at this point that their cover was blown. What would happen next, depended on Beth’s response. And at that point, even Jack had no idea what she would do.

She said not a word just put her palms on General Hammond’s desk and look evenly at him. “You have one hour to tell me what the bloody hell is going on here or this letter gets faxed to Senator Kinsey and I am out of here.”
“Dr. Greene…” Hammond started.

She whirled on him. “Jonathan!” She tried to take a calming breath, but couldn’t. “I will not work somewhere, where I have no control over what I know or don’t. Especially when I get the injuries that Dr. Fraiser and I had to take care of today. I don’t really care why Senator Kinsey sent me here. I take what I do very seriously. If you can’t trust me to do my job I don’t belong here.” With that, she left.

Hammond looked at his team and nodded to O’Neill. They had already decided that she needed to know. Jack was fairly confident that she wouldn’t rat on them. General Greene had told Hammond the same. He had wished that Beth knew something more before she took the position, but politics being what they are and her not being in the “need to know” chain…well, she certainly needed to know now.

Jack headed for her office and found her packing up her stuff to go home. He walked in and locked the door from the inside and leaned against it, arms crossed.

“I’m not playing here Jon. I’m gone.” She considered him a minute, “And no, I won’t tell what I saw. But that doesn’t mean that Kinsey won’t figure out what happened.”

“Well, maybe that was his game all along Jon. I don’t know,” she said, snapping her case closed, “but I have to tell you, if you want me to stay, I need to know.” She walked to the door, but he didn’t move. “Either tell me or don’t. But get the hell out of my way.”

“An alien, as in, from another planet? That’s what you’re telling me? How many others down there are from another planet? How many other planets have you visited?” The questions came out of Beth faster than Jack could keep up with. He finally held up his hand and stopped her.

“There is time to answer all your questions,” Jack said, smiling at her reaction. “We told you this, because we really want you to stay. In the time you’ve been here, you have helped quite a bit. Some of our families are getting care they have never had.”

“Okay…I will give it a chance. But I need to know everything Jon. Not just bits and pieces. Too many times people get tripped up in that stuff, you know?”

He nodded and moved away from the door and held out his hand. She gave her hand to his and he pulled her to a standing position. Looking down at their hands he smiled and said, “It’s been a big help for me that you are here, Bethie.”

Leaving her briefcase and taking care to lock her office, she and Jack walked to the briefing room. Having them come in hand in hand shocked the occupants, especially Major Carter. She covered, but not before Beth noted the reaction.

Hammond welcomed Beth to Stargate Command and told her that her father was happy that she was really a part of it. He introduced Teal’c, but they decided that telling her about “junior” or about his departure would seriously “creep her out”, as Jack kept telling them.

And so, that was how Dr. Elizabeth Greene came to be involved in the everyday work of taking care of off-world teams. Staff wounds - piece of cake. Right!

The voice spoke to the struggling woman on the rock. Her eyes were bruised and her face was scraped almost raw. Being the host to this particular Goa’uld was so hard. So hard. “IT” caressed her face and kept saying only “Poor, poor woman,” And “So hard, so hard”. Her eyes kept getting wider and finally closed in agony as the figure bent and put her lips to her neck-and bit.

Beth looked at the charts of the various personnel and in particular the charts of Jonathon “Jack” O’Neill and Samantha Carter.

She was disturbed because both showed significant weight loss in the last month. Dr. Fraiser did a good job on making sure that after each “mission” they got a complete head to toe and whatever boosters they needed. She also noted that Janet spoke with each of them about the weight loss. Beth did a quick mental calculation and her eyes widened. Both of them had a BMI of less than 18. That was not good. Normal was between 20 and 25 and 18.5 – 20 was acceptable and over 25 was not. This would need to be addressed and soon. She took both charts and headed to Dr. Fraiser’s office.

The first month went by before Beth started to think something was odd concerning the interpersonal relationships between Jon and Major Carter. She and Jon still saw each other fairly regularly and she had started building relationships with Daniel and Janet. Her relationship with Sam was tentative. Sam seemed almost defensive around Beth, which made Beth wonder more and more if Jon was the reason that Sam was not as open around her. Beth liked Sam and because of her brother, they did have a starting point. Sam shared about her niece and nephew and Beth talked about her sons. But there was still a hesitation, a distance and Beth knew that she couldn’t breach it unless and until she understood more about the Major’s relationship to and with Jon and he with her. She tried to convey to Sam that she wasn’t a threat to her, but until she knew for certain what was going on, she couldn’t just come out and say anything.

Beth, however, did have quite a few things to say to Major Carter and Colonel O’Neill about their weight loss. Both were told the same thing: if their BMI was more than 18, she was Queen of Sheba and if they didn’t get their weight up and start getting more rest and adequate nutrition, she was going to “bench them”. She decided that she needed to take the bull by the horns, as it were. She decided to go and talk to General Hammond.

“Well, that gives new meaning to phrase ‘Hook ‘em Horns’,” she thought as she entered on Hammond’s response. She sat down at his direction and held out Jon’s chart and Samantha Carter’s.

“I know…habits die hard,” she said, smiling. Then she continued, ” I am worried about Colonel O’Neill and Major Carter. Although their weight is up and they appear to be getting a bit more rest than they had before…” she paused to consider her words. “I believe that if they don’t deal with whatever problem they are having, this latest mission is not a good idea for them.”

Hammond nodded. He trusted that Dr. Greene had their best interests at heart and would keep their secrets. He also knew what mission she was talking about. It was in her best interest to be in on what was going on, along with Dr. Fraiser. The mission she was referring would see them investigating a puzzling terror.

“It is my recommendation that they stand down if I don’t see any clinical changes in their condition. I have already spoken with Colonel O’Neill. I will be seeing Major Carter in 30 minutes.”

Hammond nodded. “Do you what you can Doctor. We really need them on this one.”

Beth nodded and headed to her office. Hammond was right. They really were needed on this one.

One night when Jack was over with Daniel, she told Jack that if he didn’t think that she was capable of grounding him, he needed to think again.

She had just braided her hair and was getting ready for bed. The doorbell rang and Beth looked at the clock on her bedside table as she was heading to the door. “1:00 AM…who, on Earth?” she thought. She looked out the peephole and what she saw caused her stomach to drop. She had never thought to see Jon look like that again.
She opened the door and pulled him in. He attempted to grab her in a clumsy embrace and as she had practice eluding drunks from many nights doing ER duty, she got him into the spare bedroom.

“Hey yourself,” she kept her voice light and steady, all the while managing to keep his hands off her. Not, that they hadn’t been there before, but this time, she recognized desperation in him.

Once he fell asleep, Beth covered him and pulled some clothes out of a drawer. Her boys were as tall as Jon, but heavier, at least at this time. She put out some towels and shaving supplies and, after kissing his forehead, turned out the lights and headed for her own bed.

“What the hell happened tonight?” she wondered. It had been some time since he’d come to her in that state and she didn’t think he did that anymore.

Beth turned out her light and went to sleep. The next morning a showered and dressed visitor sat on her bed and tickled her nose. Beth opened one golden eye and smiled at him.

“Well, you’re still among the living,” she said, yawning. “I’m impressed.”

“I threw my other stuff in the wash and started breakfast. Come down after you shower and dress.”

She nodded and 15 minutes later, she joined him. She poured herself a cup of coffee and looked at him.

“Yes, and I used to understand a little more of the situation,” Beth replied, while keeping here eyes glued on him.

“Well there is no situation for you to understand.” His fingers tightened on the mug.

“Kaboom!” She thought. Taking a sip of her coffee, she grimaced. “Damn, he still makes a strong cup.” Adding more creamer to her cup she leaned against the sink.

The mug missed her head and shattered on the wall behind her. Her eyes widened for a minute and Jack’s face registered shock and he got up babbling apologies and attempted to clean the mess. Beth pushed him back down on his chair and poured him another cup.

“Sit. It can wait,” she said. “What is bothering you can’t. Jon, talk to me.” Sitting across from him, she took his face in her hands, “Please. I want to help.”

He nodded, “There is no problem so great it can’t be solved.” He quoted a former Nun, turned educator that Beth felt had a realistic view of children and education. “This problem is not so easily solved. I’m in love with a woman I can’t even say the words to. I can’t talk to her about a future, much less a present.”

“Yes…and no,” he answered. “I saw the guy she was just previously involved with. I was away and she was involved briefly. They stopped before I came back, but things between us have been difficult.”

“Beth, we can’t even acknowledge that this situation has anything to do with us.”

“Maybe, but how long do you think you can continue to keep this up before it starts to really break you both down?”

He laughed. There was no mirth behind his laughter. It was as bleak as the expression on his face.

“No more questions, please,” he said and held out his arms to her. She came over and sat on his lap. She could feel him shaking as he held her in his arms.

They sat like that for a long moment and then Beth got up and cleared the table and the broken mug.

“Yes. Janet Fraiser and I trade days on the weekend. We do on-call work you know."

“No. I think maybe that would be a good idea. In fact, I think you need to get some more sleep. Let me give you something.”

He started to protest but she held him off, “It’s mild, really. Please, you need some sleep even if it is artificial.”
In the end he agreed and she left him sleeping. The lines around his mouth and his eyes softened slightly in sleep and she thought she heard him mumble the name “Sam” when she closed the door.

“Major, I have to tell you that I still am not happy with what I’m seeing,” Beth said after giving Sam a quick examination.

“No, don’t try and talk me out of it. I really am worried about you, Major.” Beth sighed. Putting down Sam’s chart she looked at the officer in front of her. “I’m not your enemy Major Carter. I really want to help you. Please understand, what ever is said in here stays in here.”

“No matter what my relationship with your CO is, it doesn’t preclude the Physician-Patient relationship. What I am seeing is an officer with a beautiful smile that isn’t reaching her eyes. In my years of patient care and even in personal relationships, there are two mantras that I use,” Beth laughed slightly. “It is has gotten to the point that I don’t even have to say them anymore, people can figure out by the situation what I mean.” Leaning forward, she continued, “The first is that the Good Lord helps those that help themselves. And the second is that there is no problem so great it can’t be solved.”

Sitting back she looked at Sam and very earnestly told her, “Both of those pertain to whatever problem or problems you have. Believe me, Major Carter, these things do sort themselves out. Talking helps make that happen sooner.” After a second, she added, “Talk to him, Samantha. It’ll make things better.”

Sam smiled a rueful smile. “You know I can’t do that. I can’t even acknowledge that I want to.”

“True…but he is as by the book as they come,” Sam said, shaking her head. “I won’t put him in that position.”

“Then try and figure out a way to let go of your guilt Major. The rest will come in time.”

“It” was quite angry this night. The new host had been spirited away just hours before.

“Fools, fools.” The voice rasped. “Never mind, never mind. We shall find a new friend to help us.”

The man left his sleeping wife and finished dressing to take himself to the fields. It was going to be a very good harvest. He did not see the shadow that watched him, did not notice the figure licking his lips and smiling. The smile did not reach its eyes. It never did. The figure’s host was starting to fail him and a new one was needed.
The man walked to his barn and getting out his horse and wagon. He wanted to inspect before they started the harvest.

He didn’t notice the shadow slip in behind him. He didn’t even have a chance to scream before he and the shadow disappeared from the barn.

It was then that they realized that to hide the next victim was to cause “It” to steal away another.

The cold and white figure lay on the straw. Almost not recognizable as a human being, much less a loved husband, father or friend that he had been only a month before.

The leader tried to console the now screaming in earnest wife. There was nothing more they could do for her, but to console and hope that the Tau’ri would find this killer.

Beth and Janet looked at the ME report on the body brought back by SG-1 from their last visit to Talbot.
“Beth, am I reading this right?” Janet asked her.

Beth read through the report again before responding. “Yes. I have never seen anything like this.”

“There was no blood left in the body Beth. That’s a lot of blood to drain out.”

“Yes and it looks like whomever killed this person tore open the juggler with their teeth and drank some of the blood,” Beth said, suppressing a shudder.

“And what they did to the body…skinned it,” Janet said, shaking her head in disgust.

“Well I guess we had better get over to the briefing and let them know what we found,” Janet said as she pointed toward the door.

SG-1 had something to worry about all right. That was only the first body that had been brought back by SG teams in that condition. In the succeeding months six additional bodies were discovered on Talbot. The bodies had all been drained of blood and showed the same damage to the carotid artery. Some of the bodies had been skinned and others had shown some severe signs of abuse, both physical and chemical. In one case, the High Council had noted that before the victim was taken and the previous one left a child in the household that the individual was taken from kept reciting a nonsense poem.

“Yesterday upon the stairs. I met a man who wasn’t there. He wasn’t there again today, I wish that man would go away.”

The elders said that the child would stand stock-still, look out into the distance and recite those words. They’d never had poems like that in their culture and wondered if the humans from Earth had ever heard such a thing?
Beth was the one to recognize the poem. “That’s a child’s nonsense poem. I can’t imagine why anyone from an alien culture would know this?”

Jack and Sam looked at each other and then at Daniel, who finally responded, “Because we gave it to them.”
“What’s that?” Hammond asked.

“We gave it to them,” Daniel repeated. “We gave them all kinds of books: children’s, adult, fiction, poetry. We provided them with the books of our world.”

“So,” Beth interjected, “it is safe to say you gave them horror books? Books about Dracula and Jack the Ripper?”

She handed out copies of the Medical Examiners reports. “Look at the type of injuries to the body and the drug of choice used on the previous victims.”

Janet and Beth took turns explaining about the bodies, their injuries, the abuses and the results of the tox screens.

“We found traces of an opium like substance in their bodies. Also something that resembled a 7% solution of cocaine,” Janet noted. “Whoever has been kidnapping these bodies, is Goa’uld. We found traces of Naquadah in their system. It appears the Goa’uld is having the host use these drugs and mutilate the old host after they enter the new host. The necks were torn open with teeth and the bruising around the wound shows teeth marks and frankly, lip marks.”

“Does anyone know who the first victim was or when the first victim was taken?” Sam asked.

“Possibly, “Hammond answered. “I think we need to send a team to the planet and do some digging.”

“I’m a family practice physician. I have experience with all ages. I know what to look for and how to work with children. Do you?” she looked at Jack as she asked that question.

“No,” she acknowledged, “I don’t. But I do have medical experience and my father insisted that I keep up my certification in small arms. You need me.”

“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into,” Jack was adamant about her not going.

Jack turned to look at her, trying to convey to her with that look that she needed to stay out of it. He didn’t count on Beth not wanting to stay out of it.

“Are you able to find patient zero?” she asked pointedly. “Do you have any idea how to go about it? What to look for?”

Janet added her observations, indicating that finding the first victim and what he did that may have put him into contact with a Goa’uld would be a first step in finding a way to end this. Daniel and General Hammond also agreed that Beth would be best in finding ‘patient zero’.

In the end, Jack was outnumbered and not happy. Now, in addition to looking after his team, he had to look after someone that had been a big part of his life. He did not like being in that position. He didn’t like it, not at all.

“Doc, would you mind?” he came in without knocking and was barely polite asking her to leave her own office. Janet looked at him askance, but nodded her acquiescence and left.

“You need to chill out Jon,” Beth said, her stubborn streak coming through loud and clear. “I’m not going to stay here when I can help.”

“Tell us what you need to look for, and Daniel can get the information for you,” Jack said through clenched teeth.

“Yes, I suppose he can. But I have to do it. I know what to look for. Telling someone else is not the same,” she replied, not the least bit intimidated by him. Her eyes appeared to bore into his soul. “There is something else, isn’t there?”

“I don’t want to lose you too,” he said with all the sincerity she had ever seen him muster.

“Jon?” She was seriously alarmed now. “You haven’t resolved the other issue have you?”

“This has nothing to do with that,” he replied, irritation evident. “I just don’t want you to go.”

“Jon, I’m going. General Hammond Okayed it. I grew up with four brothers. My dad is a General. I can take care of myself. My small arms certification is up date. I’m a big girl…leave it.”

She put her hand on his forearm and leaned up and gave him a kiss on his cheek. “You worry far too much, you know.” She left the room and headed to get the gear she needed, but she over heard him muttering something about having another headstrong civilian on his team.

It took Beth some time to get her composure back after going through the gate. Sam and Daniel sat with her. Jack just looked at her with amusement. Teal’c watched O’Neill looking at the others and still puzzled over his relationship with Dr. Greene and with Major Carter. Teal’c was able to piece together how O’Neill felt about both women. It was obvious to him that Dr. Greene and O’Neill had had a long and loving relationship, but that it was so very different from the relationship he shared with the Major, a relationship that could not be acknowledged. He, too, had been feeling the frustration and sensed that Dr. Greene was not comfortable about how O’Neill and Major Carter were acting around each other.

Patient Zero wasn’t too hard to find. The first victim had been an aide in the library. He’d had a love for ancient lore about vampires, werewolves and the like. He was the one that had read all about Dracula and Jack the Ripper and other “bad guy types”. At least that is how Colonel O’Neill referred to them. He had told one of the elders that he had found a really ancient book with unfamiliar writing on it. He was going to open it and try to translate it. That was the last time anyone had seen him alive. He had been missing for two weeks before he was found again, dead, in a field not far from the library. His body had been ravaged. It was the only word for it. Not a drop of blood was left in his body. His neck had been torn open as well. In fact, his whole body was mutilated.

The walk back to the gate after SG-1 had researched the information began quietly enough. Beth and Sam were walking close together and comparing notes.

“You know,” Sam began, “it was amazing how you got the kids to talk to you about what happened. They seemed to open up so easily to you.”

Beth laughed, “It’s a gift Major. I’ve been doing this for a long time. And the puppets are really a big help. Kids feel safe talking to someone or even something that isn’t an adult.” After a minute she added, “I have to say Major that you did some amazing work as well. Your research skills are top notch and I appreciate your ability to stay so focused. I sometimes think that I’m Adult Attention Deficit. I had so many questions. I don’t sometimes know where to start, stop or pause.”

“Hey, we at least got the information we need,” Sam said and then continued, “Tell me, Dr. Greene…”

Beth stopped walking and looked at her. “Literally, from the day I was born.” She started to laugh and continued walking as she talked, “The family legend has it that when Jon heard that the newest Greene was a girl, his comment went something like ‘Thank you Daddy Adam for the girl. Now I have someone I can boss around’”.

Sam started to laugh as well and Jack, who was following behind was startled to hear it. He hadn’t heard Sam laugh in a while.

Beth nodded and continued, “And he really has tried to boss me around since that day. He started by trying to toilet train me at 6 months and he wasn’t alone. My brother Michael - same age as Jon - did some really interesting things.”

Beth searched her memory for a particularly funny story. “I was walking at 10 months. Guess I didn’t think it was fair that everyone else could and I couldn’t. Anyway, at around 14 months I was particularly busy. I kept following the boys, stepping on their soldiers and baseball cards. Jon got the bright idea of putting me into my playpen. So, he and Michael picked me up and put me in the playpen. After screaming and crying for a while, I figured out that I could climb out of it. So I did. And they put me back. I think by the fourth time I did that, the parental units noticed something going on and watched.

After that one of my seven brothers was always put in charge of me. Actually I don’t think that Jon really minded. He used to play board games with me. I think I was one of the few 14 month olds that actually understood Chutes and Ladders and Candyland. But I couldn’t really tell you if I was actually playing by the rules of the game or the rules of the O’Neill.”

Sam and Beth continued walking and laughing and then Sam turned to her. “You really love him, don’t you?”

Beth stopped walking and looked into Sam’s blue eyes. She saw the concern and the questions.

“I can’t remember not loving him. He was and still is a big part of my life, Sam. We’ve always been there for each other. No matter how often we argued, and our fights were the stuff of legends, we always came through for the other. To be able to allow someone that much entry into your life requires a great deal of emotional contact.”
Beth thought for a moment. “My dad always told me that there are four things that make a great leader: honor, duty, commitment and loyalty. He was speaking in military terms, but it can be applied to life in general. Jon has, from a young age, showed these qualities. That is what made him a good leader when he had the older boys following him and that is what makes him valuable to the military. You don’t go Special Ops unless you show those things.

My dad also told me that those four qualities bring about one other quality: the ability to inspire and earn trust.” Putting her hand on Sam’s arm, Beth looked earnestly at Sam. “Jon takes his responsibilities very seriously Sam. He has always had to and he always will. It’s what makes him who he is. If you understand what makes him tick, you can also understand how to approach him.”

Sam nodded. She understood what Beth was saying, but she could not bring herself to talk to Beth about what was troubling her and what was scaring her.

The two women then turned and continued walking to the gate. Jack watched the exchange and he noted how earnest Beth was in her conversation and how very pensive Sam was after. He wondered what it was they talked about.

Janet and Beth had spoken with General Hammond upon SG-1’s return about getting an FBI profiler to look at the case. Beth had argued that if they were dealing with a serial killer, then a profiler would be able to give them some idea of what to look for. Hammond agreed and forwarded the information to Washington for review.

Later, in the cafeteria, Janet, Beth, Daniel and Teal’c were sitting around discussing the situation. Then they saw Jack and Sam come in. Actually they saw Jack come in. Then they saw Sam come in and leave.

Beth shook her head. Janet asked her what she was thinking and Beth answered that maybe the next time they came into the cafeteria, they should get peanuts.

“Yes, to feed the Elephants that reside in their living rooms,” Beth answered him.

Teal’c did not get the joke, but Daniel and Janet started to laugh and were in danger of not being able to stop.

Teal’c was fingering his staff weapon, while once again, witnessing an unnecessary argument between O’Neill and Carter.

Beth happened by while this was going on and remarked, “You know, Teal’c. If you ever decided to blow their heads off, be assured that their brains will be quite safe.”

Teal’c lifted a brow and looked decidedly amused. “This one has O’Neill’s sense of humor,” he thought.

“Beth?” Daniel asked one day. “Has anyone ever referred to any of Jack’s girlfriends as ‘Jacks Girl’?”

Beth was charting and Daniel was sitting on the corner of her desk. Janet was putting something in the file cabinet and lifted a brow. “Hmmm! Let me think.” Beth’s brow furrowed. “Well there was this girl his senior year…”

She stopped and then said, “…Actually, they called her Jack’s Bimbo. No, wait, come to think of it, I usually referred to her as ‘The Bimbo’!” The other two laughed and Beth continued, “Unless of course you count Sadie.”

“Yeah. I guess she would qualify. She was a girl. And she was his dog. So I guess Jack’s girl fit there.”

Beth giggled and then said seriously, “No one ever referred to any of Jon’s girlfriends in that way. Not even Sara was referred to as ‘Jack’s wife’. He would never stand for it and none of his relationships were with women that would be considered pushovers. That designation was just not acceptable.”

The report from the Profiler came about a week after the request was made. Janet pointed out to Beth that the Profiler could only come up with the personality type, and it appeared as if this Goa’uld fit the type not the victim.

“But isn’t there something that is in the victim that the Goa’uld feels would fit into his lifestyle?” Janet asked.
Janet looked at Beth and noted that her eyes had darkened while she was thinking. “Go on.”

“Wouldn’t it make sense for water to seek its own level?” Beth looked at the report again, “Wouldn’t their personalities need to match?” Looking down at the report she continued, “It would make sense…someone that deep down felt like he did?”

”Or…” Janet put in, “the Goa’uld absorbed the fascination of the host for the macabre.”

Beth rubbed her nose and looked at the report again. “Maybe…a bit of both? I mean,” she continued, “what is similar about the victims?”

“That may be the way we have to go. We need to see some factors that make all of them similar or connected.”
“We might require more FBI help. They have a Victim’s Crime Unit that tracks these things.”

Janet nodded, “Well, then I guess we need to see if what the charts have to say.”

Janet and Beth split up the charts about the deceased victims and started trying to correlate traits of victims.
“Doesn’t seem like there is any rhyme or reason,” Janet said at first.

"Janet?" Beth suddenly looked up from one her charts, "are you familiar with the study about drug abuse and alcoholism having a genetic predisposition?"

"Do you supposed,” Beth started thoughtfully, “that the same will hold true for the people of Talbot?"

"So, it might be safe to guess that all the victims may have the predisposition to alcohol and drug abuse and that is why there were chosen?"

Janet looked at her friend and furrowed her brow. "You know…" she started to answer slowly, "That just might be the key. Let's take a look at the tox screens and the blood work again."

Jack and Daniel walked in and looked in amazement at the amount of paperwork that seemed to be all over the place.

She didn't even look back at him to see if he’d had any reaction or comment. It appeared as if his childhood friend still had that single-mindedness that used to drive him batty when they were younger. But then, it took one to know one.

Beth and Janet sighed and both sat up from their places. Rubbing the bridge of her nose Janet answered, "We may have and if you two don't go away, it will take longer to know for certain."

Beth smiled slightly and her eyes glowed golden with the amusement. Jack just gave her a face that she recognized and she indicated that when they had something to tell them, they would, but for now they needed to go away.

Jack and Daniel finally left, only to be followed by Major Carter. Oddly enough, Janet and Beth didn't shoo her away. Samantha Carter was someone they could use. They handed her some slides and a microscope and told her to look for abnormalities. Beth and Janet explained their theories and Sam went quickly to work.

It was several hours before the three Doctors had a written report to give to General Hammond. After he reviewed it and spoke with the three of them, he notified the rest of SG-1 that there would be a briefing at 0900 hours the next day. Hammond made a point of letting everyone know that Dr. Greene was going to be a part of the upcoming mission and that there would be no arguments about it.

Later that night Beth had them all over for Pizza and to watch a hockey game. Her favorite team was playing. The others were amused to see her wearing her Penguins jersey and Jack wearing an Avalanche jersey considering his team was the Blackhawks.

"We never could agree on hockey, football or baseball," Beth explained. "Hockey and baseball often triggered our worst arguments."

Beth kept a close eye on Jon and Sam. They managed to be civil to each other. Lord knows she kept after Jon to behave and to do something, though it did no good. And Major Carter didn't listen to her any better than he did. She felt like she was talking herself blue in the face. She had really grown to like Sam and saw how very right the two of them were for each other, but wondered how much longer they would be able to keep their feelings in check before things could no longer be walled off. Jon and Sam had that much in common though, they made better doors than they did windows. When they didn’t want anyone to continue a conversation, they both made like a locked door. It was frustrating really, when you thought about, it and she did.

At the end of the evening Jack stayed to help Beth clean up. She endeavored to once again get him to listen about Sam, but Jack very clearly told her to not even waste her breath. Sitting together on the sofa, Beth remembered again, how very comfortable the two of them were together. Probably more comfortable than two good friends ought to be…male and female good friends.

"Oh yeah." She laughed, "Remind me again how it was we haven't killed each other yet."

She turned in his arms and gave him a thump on his head. "How many times have I told you not to call me that?"

Jack started to laugh in earnest then and started to tickle her. Beth scrambled off the sofa and stood over him shaking her finger.

Jack got up, laughing, and hugged her. "Hey, I had to know if I’d lost my touch or not."

"You think that ability to drive people to distraction is worth keeping or not?" Beth shook her head, "Go home, Jon, and think about your sins."

She turned and went back into the house, lost in her thoughts and wondering how on earth she can help her friend, her brother, feel better.

The DNA tests came back showing that all the victims had the genetic marker showing the potential for substance abuse.

“This is the key,” Beth told Janet. “We have to let General Hammond know about it.”

Armed with the forensic reports, the Profiler’s analysis and the DNA tests, the two Doctors started to write their presentations. This information, along with the time line that Daniel was able to establish from talking with the High Council members started to paint a clear picture. And it was a frightening one.

Janet and Beth took turns discussing their findings. Janet reviewed the results of the toxicology screens and the drugs that were in the blood and tissue samples. Beth reviewed the DNA tests and explained about the genetic markers that predisposed the victims to substance abuse. Both doctors spoke about the forensic evidence, which caused the heartiest members of SG-1 to blanche, and what the Profiler had to say.

Daniel presented the time frame from the time the youngest child in the household recited the rhyme to the time the next victim was taken and the old host left in its place. Daniel also told them of the various things that the families and communities had tried to prevent other victims from falling to the serial killer Goa’uld. They went so far as to spirit the likely candidates through the gate to another planet. All it did was force the demon to take another victim. Short of transporting everyone somewhere else, they didn’t know where else to turn.

“The thing of it is,” Daniel ended, “we have 48 hours from start to finish, from the time the child recites the rhyme to the time a victim is taken.”

“We don’t know. All the families could tell us is that they were sleeping in a locked room with their family member and then waking up with that person gone.”

Jack looked at the three of them and surreptiously glanced at Sam. “Did the Goa’uld zat them?”

“Well, we have some information,” Hammond said. “ It’s better than no information.”

“This may sound silly. Lord knows Janet and I didn’t know if we should laugh or cry when we came up with it. But…” She stopped and looked to Janet who nodded. “I recommend bringing garlic and holy water.”

“What?” Jack and Daniel exploded at once. Teal’c raised an eyebrow. Sam was the only one of the team that didn’t show any outrage or amusement. She knew the push and pull that Janet and Beth had gone through.

“Are you recommending a stake of Hawthorne too?” Jack questioned with more sarcasm then he intended.

“Scoff if you like,” Beth answered in a tone that Jack knew all too well. “But if our killer is into vampire legends, it would make sense. Hell, Jon,” she said as she ran her fingers through her hair, “if he thought he was a werewolf, I’d recommend silver bullets.”

Janet spoke up in Beth’s defense. ”We have to try. Don’t you see? If that ‘individual’ believes those legends, it is the only chance we have.”

“No, uh uh,” he said firmly. “This is nuts. There is no way I am going to buy into that.”

”And what would you buy into, Sir?” Sam spoke up. “Do you have any idea how hard Janet and Beth worked on this?”

The officers looked at each other-really looked at each other this time. It was almost as if they actually were seeing whom they were talking to. Then in an instant it was gone.

Hammond looked over at his doctors and shook his head. Two very intelligent individuals recommending myths for battle. With the exception of Major Carter, his other SG-1 members were still in, for the lack of a better word, shock.

“I think,” Hammond said slowly and carefully, “we need to take 5 and digest this. Dismissed.”

Janet looked at the other two women with her. Beth could only shrug and Sam just shook her head. “We have to convince them you know,” Janet finally said.

Beth agreed, “You go and talk to General Hammond, Janet. Sam, you talk to Daniel and I’ll talk to Jon.”

“What? You don’t think I’ve had to do this before?” Beth questioned. “Remember, I grew up with him. It isn’t the first time.”

“And it probably won’t be the last either. Beth, don’t you worry about your relationship with him?” Sam asked.
There was a definite undercurrent to her question.

“People who have a close and loving relationship with another learn to take the good with the bad. The trick is knowing when to, well, cliché as it is-like the song says-when to hold ‘em, when to fold ‘em, when to walk away and when to get on the old horse and get out of dodge. If you can’t talk it out with them, then you have nothing. More importantly, you had nothing. Can’t jeopardize nothing.” Beth’s words implied more than just the current conversation. She was still trying to get the two to talk.

The three women split up and Beth headed to Jon’s quarters. Jack knew she was coming. If she was nothing else, she was persistent.

“Garlic and Holy Water.” He rubbed his eyes and stretched. He almost smiled when he heard the knock on the door. “Come.” Beth walked on and stood in the doorway. “Can’t decide if you want to come in or run?” Jack teased.

“No, can’t imagine whom I learned that from?” Beth started, “Oh, wait! I know, I learned it from you.”
Beth took a mental breath. Jon could be like a wild cat in his movements. Probably more of his special ops training, but he’d also had that quality as a child. Watching him move around the room, she knew that he was going to try and intimidate her into leaving his office and into staying behind and not returning to the planet.

He finally settled and sat on the front edge of his desk. His arms crossed on his chest and his eyes, hooded.

“You’re an idiot. You know that don’t you?” she began. “Do you think that you can pull that intimidation crap on me?” She walked right up to him and looked him straight in the eyes. “The way I see it, there are only two things that you can do that you would think would make me back down. The first, you won’t do. And the second, well, been there done that. Don’t you think?”

Without much movement Jack pulled her to him. His left arm was around her waist and his right hand caressed her neck. “What is it exactly that you think I will or will not do?” His voice was low and had a dangerous quality to it.

“Well, as much as you have been tempted to during the years, you won’t strangle me.”
“And…”

“The Big Bad Male routine? Remember, I have brothers and sons who have all already tried to do just that many times during the years.”

“Oh Beth, you really don’t seem to quite realize the danger you are in right now.”

“No!” She challenged. “Angry, you are. Crazy? Maybe. Stupid? I don’t think that you would pull that here in your quarters with the cameras. So tell me, what is that you think you could possibly do to me that would make me quake in my Doc Marten clogs?”

Jack pulled her closer and she could feel the heat from his body and the need that was growing in him. She recognized just how dangerous he was right now. He had too many emotions rolling in him right now and if she wasn’t careful, he might just prove her wrong and that would put both of them in a very difficult situation.

Beth put her hands on each side of his face and blessed the fact that it was she that was facing him now. Major Carter might’ve stood a chance had she come in to do this, but she wasn’t sure it would have been a good idea.

Things were already too volatile between them and Beth didn’t want her hurt. Janet might be able to brazen him out, but he could hurt her too.

“I know you’re angry and frustrated. Between this mission and, well, other things, you are wound up tighter than a watch spring.” Running the pad of her thumb across his lips, she looked into his eyes. “What is it, exactly, that is bugging you about what we suggested? Will it really hurt anyone?”

“The people on that planet are superstitious enough,” Jack answered, still holding her. “What do you think they will believe when we come through with that?” he asked her quietly.

Jack pulled her into a hug and she could feel that his body was practically vibrating.

“Jon. All we have is but to try. Whether it is trying to find a serial killer or just saying I’m sorry and I understand to someone that needs to hear it.” She raised her hand when he started to talk. “Jon,” Beth spoke quietly and urgently, “life is far too short. Janet and Sam are talking to Daniel and General Hammond. What we are proposing is not like arming the people with cannons to kill a fly. Sometimes the appearance of helping is enough. You need to really chill out.”

He nodded and she pulled back from him and away. She sat down on the chair nearest his desk. “I will go along with it. I think it is idiotic and probably one of the silliest ideas I’ve heard in quite awhile.” He looked at her sharply, “I will go and find Hammond and Daniel.”

Beth nodded and drew a breath when he left. “Lord that man is dangerous,” she thought.

“Oh sure. Give me about 10 minutes so I can remember how to breathe and another 10 so I can remember how to walk.”

“Well, I have to hand it to you. Bearding that particular lion can be quite an adventure,” Janet responded.

“Tell me about it,” Beth said with some feeling. “There are times that man makes me forget how to breathe.”

Both women looked at him. “Hey, I’m not blind or dead,” Beth responded. “And, he has that intimidation thing down pat. If I hadn’t grown up with 4 brothers, I would have been dead meat many times over.”

Janet and Sam noted that Hammond and Daniel would as well. Teal’c would have his reservations, but his life’s experience has shown him that sometimes some of the strangest rituals have their place.

The house was quiet. SG-1 was stationed in various parts of the house. Dr. Greene was in the room with the soon to be victim. Sam and Beth had argued that SG-1 guarding the perimeter would be a better choice. They knew how to guard and their senses were far more acute than hers. She would be in a locked room. Really, how could they plan otherwise.“It” was angry. Who was that person with his new friend? “It” flitted past the window, a shadow really and the figure noted that “She” noticed his shadow. It considered maybe punishing them by taking “Her”, but then noticed something about “her” and decided to just knock her out, like all the other watchers.

Jack kept looking at his watch. Something about this, just didn’t feel right to him. A loud crash from the upstairs almost came as a relief to him. He looked at Carter who nodded and headed up the stairs into the bedroom. She saw Beth’s body on the floor as soon as she opened the door.

“Beth!” she called out. “Colonel O’Neill!” she yelled next. Jack responded to the obvious worry in his Major’s voice and bolted up the stairs two at a time. Teal’c and Daniel followed him. Thankfully the main family members were elsewhere.

Jack stepped into the room and blanched as he saw Beth’s unconscious form on the floor.

Sam had indicated that she was alive and her pulse was steady. She reached into her bag for the smelling salts and Jack held her off.

“Wait. Let me grab hold of her.” He lifted her off the floor and put his arms around her, holding her arms to her body. “She doesn’t come out of things very well.”

“When she was six and had her tonsils removed. I stood too close to the bed while she was waking up. She clocked me good.”

When he was settled with her, he nodded for Sam to give her the salts. As predicted Beth came awake with a violent lurch, but Jack held firm. Still groggy, she managed to ask what happened.

Beth nodded and attempted to sit up on her own. Jack released her, but kept a wary eye on her.

“Sam would you check my head for lumps or bumps? And my arms for any signs of an injection?”
“Beth? Do you think you were drugged?” Jack asked.

Doing a mental systems check, Beth replied in the negative, “I just want to make sure.”

Looking at the bed, her eyes went wide. Sam and Jack gazed over to where she was looking and Sam blanched.
“I don’t understand,” Beth started to say.

She nodded, yes it was. “But clearly that man couldn’t really be of any use to him. I’m a medical doctor.”

Jack shook his head, “How would the Goa’uld know this Beth. Your taking a wild guess here.”

“If the Goa’uld obtain the knowledge of their host, wouldn’t I have been of more use to him? If he is looking for a perfect host, why ignore me?”

“Beth, we don’t know if he is looking for a perfect host. And maybe he was set on that one.”

Beth shook her head. “I don’t think so. We need to take the body back with us and I need a tox screen on both of us.”

The team bagged the body and Teal’c helped a very groggy Beth through the gate. Janet took one look at Beth and ordered blood work and a toxicology screen. Janet checked Beth from head to toe and looked at the results. Shaking her head, she told Beth she could find no reason for her blacking out. There were no signs of drugs or head injuries.

Later that night Beth found herself at Jack’s house. He opened the door and without a word took her to the sofa where they sat together.

“Why didn’t he take me?” Beth started to shake. “It would have been so much easier for him to have taken me. I didn’t have any protective anythings. What was it that made a difference?”

“There was nothing you could do Beth.” He tried to calm her. He also knew that something else was whirling around in her head. Experience taught him to let her talk at her own pace.

Lifting her head off his shoulder, her eyes did not show the usual glow, but were a dull and flat brown. “I failed my patient Jack.”

Pushing her hair out of her eyes, he considered her comment. “What would you have done? Put yourself in front of him?” Judging that she would have, by her expression, he let loose. “For crying out loud.”

He sat both of them up and stood up and looked down at her. “Elizabeth Sarah Greene. What are you thinking?” He sat on the coffee table. “You would have sacrificed your life for what? And for whom? Haven’t you told me many times, when I really wanted you to not do this, that you have something important to contribute and that you are an important piece of this puzzle?”

“For whatever reason, the snake didn’t take you. That as far as I am concerned is a plus for us.”

Jack got up and put his hands in his back pocket and looked out his window. “I don’t know, but I guess we do a systems check.”

Staring at her neck he seemed to suddenly notice something. He walked over and picked up the medals she wore around her neck.

Beth looked down. “Yeah. One I’ve had since I was a kid and the other was David’s. Why? Do you think they are important?”

Letting the medals go, “Could be something, could be nothing.” Looking at his friend he asked, “Do you want to stay with me tonight?”

She looked up at him and nodded. He held out his hand and they went upstairs.Beth came out of the bathroom and found Jack already lying on the bed. She went over and lay down next to him. He started to play with her braid.

Neither spoke for a while and Jack broke the silence commenting on her friendship with Major Carter.

“Hey, I like her,” Beth answered simply. “She’s observant, compassionate and has a good sense of humor.”

Jack snorted. “Is that what you two were talking about the last time we were on the planet?”

“Ah…gossip. Okay. Only because I like you. We talked about your puny attempts to boss me around when we were much younger.”

“When, have I ever tried to boss you around?” Jack asked. The laughter was evident in his tone.

Beth stuck her tongue out at him and told him about the attempts to put her into the playpen when she was 14 months.

“At least,” Beth finished, “I didn’t tell her about the kissing lesson you gave me when I was 16.”

Jack groaned, rolled over on to his back, put his hands over his face and laughed in earnest. “That would have been fun to explain.”

“Oh yeah?” Beth’s eyes danced with remembrance. “Please, Jon, you have to teach me. I’ve never done it before.”
Jack laughed harder and Beth continued, in a deep and serious voice, “Oh, okay. Only so your boyfriend won’t think he’s kissing a fish.”

The two laughed harder at that and then immediately sobered. Each remembering that it had been one lesson neither one expected to teach them something else. After the “lesson” both agreed that maybe they had better not do that again.

Each had a different response to the lesson. Beth didn’t quite understand the turmoil caused by kissing him, until she had her first really serious relationship, but Jack, because he had some experience, did understand it. Jack was quite adamant that they not do that again. That was when Jack started seeing her as someone other than ‘Littlebit’. That was when he realized she was actually a ‘girl’ and Beth started seeing him as someone other than her ‘hero’. She’d never told him how much she’d looked up to him and depended on his quiet strength. That night, she found out about the depth of feeling a man and a woman could have for each other.

Although David understood her feelings for Jon, not too many of her boyfriends did or would. It was a long time before she understood and she guessed that it was the same for Jon. Things changed between them that day. They still maintained their closeness, but it lost some of the innocence.

“So, back to Major Carter’s sense of humor…or lack thereof,” Jack said sarcastically.

“And you do?” Beth laughed. “Your team has one of the most defined senses of humor I have seen in a long time.”

Beth rolled over to face him. “Let’s see. We have already established that Major Carter has to have one, to put up with you for six years.”

“Okay, Teal’c…a man of very few words. But with one raised eyebrow and one word, he speaks volumes. Have you noticed how he uses the word ‘Indeed’? Depending on the situation, it can mean so many things. And that eyebrow…subtle man, that Teal’c.”

“Ah, Daniel…very nice man. Compassionate. Emotional. Far too serious. He really needs to lighten up.”

“Wicked sense of humor. Worthy opponent. Just one look sometimes and she has you nailed.”

She pushed him and laughed. “David used tell me that I had no sense of humor. I always told him that I had to have one. I married him.”

She sobered for a minute and her eyes teared up. Jack gathered her to him and held her.

She nodded. “I know. He was a really good man. Next to you, he was one of the most solid things in my life. I miss him, everyday.”

Beth nodded and rolled over. Jack held her until she fell asleep and stayed there for a while watching her sleep.
He started to think about why Beth was left alone. His mind kept returning to various conversations with Teal’c about planets that the Goa’uld stayed away from: Cimmera, Kheb. Was it possible that one of Beth’s medals resembled a sign like Thor’s Hammer?

He made a mental note to speak with Teal’c. He finally drifted off next to her. He hadn’t intended to stay there with her, but exhaustion had its’ own ideas and he slept. He knew she wouldn’t think anything of his being there and his sleep was therefore undisturbed.

General Hammond was not a man given to pacing, but at this briefing he did. He’d spoken with Dr. Greene’s father the night before and told him what had happened. Adam, predictably, wanted him to order Beth off the assignment.

“She’s a civilian George.” Adam’s voice was tight with the anger and the fear. “She isn’t even supposed to be involved with this program.”

“I know Adam,” George responded, “but she is not a child. And she is involved. The President okayed it.”

“No Adam,” George responded. “You have a very closed mouthed child there.”

“Tell me about it,” Adam said with some humor. “All the Greene children are like that. Comes from being ‘Military Brats’ I suppose.”

“Adam, I would love to get Beth out of there, but she is in too deep here. The people trust her. In addition to working with the team, she is also providing medical care.”

“Leave it to her. One brother a Chaplin in the Air Force and another a Nurse Practioner in Seattle. It runs in the family.”

”I just wanted you to know what was going on, Adam. Colonel O’Neill keeps a good and watchful eye on all of his team members. I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

Now in the briefing room Colonel O’Neill and Major Carter explained what had happened up to the time they found Dr. Greene unconscious on the floor. Beth had nothing more to add. She thought she saw a shadow and remembered nothing until she woke up with Colonel O’Neill holding her still and Major Carter waving an ammonia ampoule under her nose.

“I just keep feeling that I could have noticed something. Observation is one skill that they beat into us in Medical School.”

Jack gave a short laugh and noted that mind reading was not one of the skills they teach anybody at anything, much less medical school. “The only thing we can do right now,” Jack began, “is wait. You and Doc Fraiser are just going to have to keep looking at the reports and Daniel is going to have to research our snake’s favorite heroes.”

“Dracula and Jack the Ripper,” Daniel responded. “Okay, but I think we have to all be in the room next time. He can’t knock us all out.”

”Sure he can,” Jack noted. “He didn’t even leave a mark on Beth. We need to come up with a different plan.”
“Colonel? Do you have one?” Hammond asked.

Daniel, Teal’c and Beth looked at each other. All five of them were sitting around civilly talking. How long had it been, since this happened?

Jack was in Beth’s office playing with her letter opener and tried to act casual as he asked her if she had heard anything from Sara in the past several years.

“It’s been awhile Jon,” Beth answered. “She never mentioned you when we did talk. But now that you two are no longer married, the reason for us to talk just doesn’t exist anymore.”

“Really?” Beth asked, “I suppose you would come to that conclusion considering we did not exactly have the warmest of feelings toward each other. But we each wanted the best for you.”

“I don’t know why you are so skeptical about that. Whom do you think contacted David and me when you returned from Iraq the first time?”

“Well, Sara was quite hysterical. You had a bad skull fracture and she told us that it took you almost two weeks to find your way out.”

“Well, you were in really bad shape and we just didn’t know if you had any brain damage or anything.” Beth looked down at her hands, “Sara called because she wasn’t convinced that you were receiving the best care. David moved heaven and earth to make sure that you lacked for nothing.”

Shaking her head in remembrance, she continued, “I tried really hard to take care of Sara and little Charlie, but with the twins and being worried sick about you, I just wasn’t sure that I would be able to hold it together. So Sara and I held each other together and David took care of you.”

Beth nodded. “I had never seen you like that night. Even after your last Iraqi visit, you didn’t look so dead or lost. But Charlie…”

“It isn’t natural for a parent to bury a child and his dying was my fault.”

Jack put the letter opener down and looked at Beth. “Doesn’t matter how old he was, or how better he knew things Beth. He died by my gun. So that makes me responsible.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to forget Charlie anymore than you would ask me to forget David. And maybe I didn’t have the sudden shock you did, but watching someone you love die by inches is equally as destructive.”

“I don’t either Jon. But if we can’t talk to each other, what the hell do we have?”

Beth nodded. “Old ground.” Sighing, “I guess we have a lot of that, don’t we?”

“Our last disagreement lasted four years, Jon. I’m not willing to risk that many years again.”

They both became quiet, each remembering that one argument that was 20 years old and wondered if they would ever be able to reconcile it.

Jack stood up and then told her that he had some reports to do. “I am going to be here late, Beth, but if you want company for coffee or whatever, just stop by.”

“Okay,” She acknowledged the olive branch. It was just their way of staying connected.

When Jack left Beth let her memory drift back to the times that Sara called her for help concerning Jon. That last Iraqi mission was just the final straw in some ways. Jack and Sara loved each other. Of that Beth was certain, but she also knew that some of the emotional connections they had and needed were no longer there. So, were they still in love with each other at that time? She had tried to talk to him about that, when he and Sara first dated, but he didn’t want to listen. She was certain he was less than honest about his military service, and with good reason. She wondered if Sara was any more honest about her feelings and misgivings. That was why, Beth told herself, that she did not go into the military herself, nor married her military bound fiancée when she was 19. She was not without her own elephants, she supposed.

She sat back in her chair allowing herself to remember that first time he came back from Iraq.

Sara sat on the chair with her head in her hands. Beth was standing by the door to the waiting room. “Too long, it’s been too long,” she kept saying to herself.

She tried not to cry or even look like she was freaking out. Jon’s wife was so fragile now. Beth didn’t even know how to approach Sara. She just looked back at the windows to the door of the waiting room and waited for David to come in and tell them that he would be okay. “He has to be okay,” Beth thought. She was almost willing her husband to come now. The operation had taken a long time. Beth didn’t even want to think in terms of the hours - there were a lot of them - she just wanted to know the outcome.

At last her husband entered the waiting room. David smiled and nodded at Beth. She breathed a sigh of relief and walked over to the window, to allow David and Sara the privacy of a wife receiving the good news about her husband.

“He’s going to be alright Sara,” David said immediately. “No brain damage, no metal plate in his head. But it will take time for him to heal.”

Beth heard Sara exhale and start to cry. Beth knew that her own tears would have to come later, at home with David holding her. Of all the “boyfriends” in her life, he was the one that understood about Jon O’Neill. She knew Sara did not understand and had, more than once in her hearing, asked David how he could tolerate knowing that Beth loved another.

David older, and wiser perhaps, than Beth by 10 years, was very secure in his marriage and in the affections of his wife. He told Sara that there are many kinds of love and loving. They all hold one major trait: trust. He trusted Beth. Jack and Beth were no threat to David and Beth and if Sara would just put aside her fears, she would see that. Jack loved his wife. Jack loved his son. Jack loved his family. Sara needed to trust him.

Sara could only shake her head. She looked to the woman at the window whose amber eyes held a hint of unshed tears and wondered if Beth was going to cry for Jack with David around.

The scene in her head changed to what happened a month after Charlie died. Jon had come to the house dead drunk. He and Sara had argued.

David welcomed Jon into the house and gave him some coffee. Beth said that coffee wasn’t what he needed. But David, in his own way, got Beth to go and get the spare room ready and get the boys to bed. The twins were still upset; they had grown close to Charlie since his dad first came home from Iraq. True, they did not live in the same town anymore, but they stayed in touch. His funeral had caused them some real grief that they’d had a hard time understanding.

David sat and listened to Jack ramble. How Jack managed to get to where they were in that state amazed him. Beth was right about the coffee. Jack would still be drunk, but he would be a wide-awake drunk.

They managed to get him to bed and David left Beth to sit with her friend for a while. She’d tried hard to get him to open up to Sara about his pain and his guilt. But he had been a door again. And she knew that once he locked it, he was the only one that could open it.

Beth knew her friend was bitter and had been for some time after Charlie’s death.

After that one night, she didn’t see him again until David had died. He wouldn’t tell her where he’d been, or what had changed his spirit, but whatever it was, he’d used what he’d learned to help her. And he’d listened and cried with her and the boys.

Shaking her head to clear the memories, Beth reached for the phone and called her sons. For some reason, she felt she needed to hear those hormone driven voices.Jack was also remembering a few tidbits of his past with Sara and with Beth. He found out, at David’s funeral, that she’d heard from Sara after he’d left for that first Stargate mission - the one he wasn’t supposed to return from. From the hell he caught from both his family and hers, well, he knew that Beth possessed a fine temper, almost as glorious as his. He didn’t expect it to explode the way it did after David’s funeral.

When her hand cracked against his face, and she was rearing up for another swing, he grabbed her hands and shook her.

“Elizabeth, what are you doing?” He was clearly confused. He knew she was distraught, but to start out by trying to beat the crap out of him…

Elizabeth looked at him and started to say something, but broke into tears and ran out of the room. Jack followed her to her bedroom and locked the door behind him. He grabbed her and pulled her against him, her back to his chest and held her with his arms in front of her body.

“OK, stop acting like some heroine out of a bad romance novel and tell me what is going on.”

In between sobs, Beth called him a schmuck. He hadn’t heard her call him that in years, and his temper started to come forward.

Beth wrenched herself out his arms and faced him. “You brainless ass,” Beth began, “it has been four years.”
“And…” Jack began.

“And?” She just stared at him. “All you can say is ‘And’?” Still looking at her like she was a lunatic, Jack could only shake his head. “Four years Jon. Do you know what I was told four years ago? That you went on a suicide mission and was most likely dead.”

“Sara called my dad. She was so distraught and so angry.” Beth sat on the bed. Giving him the full force of a glare, she continued, “She told him that for a good long while after Charlie died, all you did was drink and sit in his room. She knew you had that gun in there and kept looking at it.” She stopped to take a breath. “Then one day some men from the Air Force came and you were re-activated. She watched you walk out the door and heard nothing more.”

Looking him straight in the eyes, “They told me you were dead…or close to it. That it was a suicide mission.” Shaking her head and crying some more, “I didn’t believe them. Not Jon, I said. You don’t know him. He wouldn’t give up. Fat lot I knew.”

“I’m sorry Beth.” He was quiet. She believed him dead for four years. He knew that it was his choice that she not be told that he hadn’t die on that mission - as he’d thought he would. He’d made General Greene and David promise that they would not discuss him with Beth. He’d made a mess of her life and Sara’s and just didn’t want to cause any more grief or pain. David hadn’t been sure that it was a good idea, but General Greene had just motioned for him to leave it. They would settle up later. Later ended up meaning at David’s funeral. Although he doubted that was exactly how they’d intended it to happen.

“Yeah, sorry,” she laughed. It was a harsh sound, with no mirth. “I told them that they didn’t know you. You would show up and everyone would be embarrassed. No way, I said. There’s no way he would just drop out like that.”
Her eyes were hard. The gold glints in them flickered in the light of the lamp. “My best friend…and you didn’t even have the common decency to let me know you were all right. You walked out of this house four years ago and David and I heard nothing until today. I’m supposed to welcome home the conquering hero?”

Jack sat on the bed next to her and pulled her into his arms. He could only keep repeating he was sorry. He knew that a very large part of her anger and her tears were for David, not for him, but he also knew that a small part of her heart had always belonged to him and he was sorry for adding to her pain and stress. She also carried a small part of him as well, and he’d felt that all of her should belong to David and the boys and that staying away had been the best thing.

His staying with them that week helped Beth through a difficult time. David had had pancreatic cancer and death was quick. She’d barely had time to register it before he was gone and the boys, well the boys, just couldn’t understand it all.

They managed to make their peace that week, talking while the boys slept. He didn’t tell her what he was doing, only that it had to do with big “honking” telescopes. He didn’t tell her until Kinsey threw her into the mix. He still wondered why, but he knew that Kinsey had his own machinations, and damned if he was going to understand the man.

Jack was still puzzling over why “old snakehead” hadn’t grabbed Beth. He also wondered what they would do to track where the victim had been taken.

He then suddenly sat up. “Track,” he thought. “They put chips in animals to track their whereabouts.”

Turning the thought in his head he remembered that Cassie had had a computer chip implanted in her dog’s shoulder, so that if the dog ever got lost, she would be returned to her home. Could they implant a homing device in them to track them?

“How very James Bond,” Jack thought as he got up and headed to General Hammond’s office. “Well, where is Q when you need him?”

Beth and Janet were in Janet’s office re-reading their charts. Janet rubbed the bridge of her nose and remarked, “I am sooo ready to get out of here.”

“Me too,” Beth replied, “Do you think they would miss us if we disappeared for a weekend?”

“Probably not. General Hammond ordered SG-1 to stand down this weekend. SG-2 and SG-14 are on the planet right now. He felt we all needed a break, including the two of us.”

“Bon bons? Chick Flicks?” Janet laughed. “I’m there. I can relate to laying around in my jammies and acting like at 12 year old.”

Janet shrugged, “Why not? She is in need of a break as well. You know what I mean?”

Beth nodded and the two women searched out Major Carter, who could not offer to pack and go fast enough.
Jack, Daniel and Teal’c all wondered what on earth possessed the three of them. The term “Girlie Weekend” didn’t mean the same to them as it did to the ladies.

“Manicures, pedicures, facials?” Sam asked, laughing with the two others, “I haven’t done that in …” she stopped for a minute, “since college.”

Arriving at the hotel, they registered, unpacked and headed to the video and grocery store. Beth had them each pick out one “chick flick” and one “love story” before they headed back to the hotel.

The chosen love stories were the standard: Love Story, Romancing the Stone, Titanic. The chick flicks were standard as well: Beaches, Steel Magnolias and The Joy Luck Club.

Settling on the bed after dinner, the three women started to talk. Mostly they talked about the men in their lives. Beth told them a funny story about growing up with 7 boys and mentioned how Jack O’Neill was such a goof.

Sam raised an eyebrow and mentioned that maybe they shouldn’t mention her CO. Beth raised an eyebrow and indicated that maybe she needs to just forget about him being a CO and concentrate on him being a human being.

“Look, I know that you don’t feel talking about him is appropriate and I respect that. But he is a goof and I am not totally telling tales out of school.” She stopped for a minute and then acknowledged that maybe she was but… “He is Goof…and that “Ah Shucks” personae that he presents can drive you straight up a wall. What people do not seem to get about him is that just because he plays the fool doesn’t mean he is one.”

“Look, I have seen too many people have their brains handed to them when he does that.”

She considered the two women and decided she could trust them with the one observation about Jon that most of the people who really knew him, knew to be true.

“The next time he plays the ‘I’m this big dumb schnook’, look at his eyes. Jon takes everything in and sorts it through. You don’t get to do what he does if you are as dumb as he plays it. Senator Kinsey, obviously doesn’t get it and I have a feeling that a number of people involved in your program do not either.”

She stopped for a minute. “I can’t begin to tell you what that man has in mind, but I can tell you that he will be outplayed. Jon played a mean game of chess and I don’t know if he still does, but he has always been able to out think his opponents and I have seen him bust up a game in as little as two moves. If you underestimate that man, you have a big problem on your hands.”

The women were quiet for a minute and then switched subjects before finally settling in to watching Beaches. Later that night, when Janet announced she’d had it, Beth and Sam found themselves alone.

Sam shook her head, “How do you say you’re sorry and you understand to someone, when you don’t quite know why you are saying it?”

“I don’t know Sam. Depends on if you actually examined what the context is.”

Beth didn’t ask who ‘He’ was. She knew. Beth had to pull back and think about how to answer, not whether to answer.

“He can resemble a door sometimes Sam. You just have to learn how to unlock the lock and turn the knob to open the door.”

“I can’t pretend to really understand or even know everything that has happened to Jon in the last twenty years,” Beth continued. Beth marveled at the number. When she thought about it she’d probably known him longer than Major Carter had been alive. Scary thought, that.

“Jon can be so very black and white about things. The military is very much the same way. Emotions have no place in command. You know the joke, if the Army wanted you to have a family, they would have issued you one? It is the same thing for emotions.”

Sam smiled slightly. “I’m amazed that you are actually being so straight with me about him.”

Beth smiled back, “Not really surprising. I’ve learned when to notice if someone is asking because they care, or if they want to make mischief. I don’t really have amazing insights into his psyche, anymore than he has into mine. Thick as a brick really is an apt description for him sometimes. But then, I’ve been told the same.”

“I think that can apply to everyone. I just thought we could leave things buried,” Sam stated quietly.

“Trouble with things that are buried, they don’t always stay that way. Then they come back and bite you on the ass,” Beth responded.

“Oh yes,” Beth acknowledged. “We had a doozy of a battle about 20 years ago. Both of us were better doors than windows back then. You kind of need to remember where we were emotionally at the time to understand. We didn’t talk for four years and it was only because he took the initiative that we eventually did talk again. I don’t think I would have ever initiated the conversation. Although, I always knew where he was. My dad made sure of it, hoping we would mend fences. I guess getting married and having children kind of changes your perspective of things. As does the passage of time.”

Beth considered the woman before her and then added, “Don’t let the emotions of the situation get in the way of what needs to be done. You two work closely together and I can seriously tell you, that if you two wish to continue, you need to make that leap of faith. I can’t say, nor will I, that it will be an instant fix. However, your emotional state of mind will improve greatly.”

“Colonel O’Neill, let me get this straight,” Hammond said, “you want homing devices implanted in your team?”
Jack nodded and winced. He recognized that tone.

Hammond was speechless. He thought that the garlic and holy water was out there, but computer chips in the team?

“Sir, if he manages to knock out the others in the room with the victim, a homing device would be able to help us find him or her.”

Jack got up and paced. Finding Beth unconscious had rattled him. It could have been…he didn’t even want to consider that.

“Dr. Greene was unconscious on the floor General. She couldn’t tell us what happened.”

“With a homing device we can chase it down. Hopefully, before it does anything.”

Hammond looked at the CO of SG-1. O’Neill was not given to fancy. Not when it came to the safety of his team and others whose safety he was charged with.

Jack nodded his thanks and went off to see his team. Beth was going to look at him like he was nuts. But then, turnabout was fair play.

Janet injected the device last into Jack. “Well, that is all of you. Dr. Greene will do the same for the next individual. Have the elders learned who yet?”

He wondered if he could leave Beth and Sam back at SGC. That would really set the tongues wagging. He heard that Beth and Sam were arguing. That they were both “screwing” him. That he was having three-somes. The rumors were killing him. He thought of a song where the singer recommended that a bill be passed, that anyone spreading rumors - shoot to kill. Leaving the two of them behind would really set the tongues wagging. The rumor mills didn’t know what to think of the Janet, Beth and Sam going away together for a weekend.

“IT” wandered the cave. Even the host felt the anger now at this point. The host prayed for death. Prayed almost daily for it. What was left of the farmer was almost not recognizable as human any more. Some part of his soul was so achingly aware of what the Goa’uld was doing, but his brain was just no longer capable of recognizing the evil and was shutting down. Time, time, “IT” kept thinking. It was time for someone new. Looking off into the village, the new host was spotted.

Sam, Janet and Beth were sitting in Beth’s office when Daniel came breathlessly running in. Without much fanfare he announced that they heard from the elders. It was time. The three women looked from Daniel to each other and ran after him to General Hammond’s office.

“SG-1,” Hammond began, “the Elders have told us that the next victim has been picked.”

Janet and Beth nodded. “It is already in my kit General,” Beth answered. “Ready whenever you are.”
Hammond nodded, gave final instructions to his team and then ordered them to gear up and get ready to go.

Once on the planet they set up a perimeter and Beth injected the homing device into the next “victim”. The fact that the man was scared was an understatement. Beth just gave up and knocked him out.

Sitting on the bale of hay outside the barn, she looked out at the setting sun. “Just a few more hours,” she thought. “Can I actually do this and remember not to freak out?” She had been sitting there for about an hour when Jack came and sat on the stack next to her.

He reached over and tugged on her braid, bring her eyes to him. “What are you thinking about?”

“Yeah actually I do.” She considered him a minute before continuing, “But actually, I want to know when you are going to bury the hatchet?”

“What?” He laughed, “In you?””You are such a dude,” Beth responded. “No, in your monumental male ego.”
He raised an eyebrow and motioned for her to continue. “Major Carter,” she said. “And you.”

“F… the regs, Jon. I’m not talking about you two hitting the sheets. I’m talking about you two talking.”

“There is nothing to talk about Beth.” Jack was starting to get angry. “We have “no” relationship other than our professional one.”

“Look at where we are and what we are going to be doing.” Her eyes took on the light of the setting sun and Jack noted that they appeared to be burning. “One of us, in the next few hours, may die. Do you actually believe that there is nothing to be said to clear the air?”

“Look,” Jack’s voice was tight with his anger and his frustration, “there is no air to clear.”

Jack stood up abruptly and pulled Beth to her feet. His eyes had their own burning flame as his bored into hers. “When are you going to learn to leave things alone?”

“Isn’t this where we left off twenty years ago?” Jack still had his hands on her arms, but they were just holding her, instead of trying to grip her.

Jack pulled Beth to him and put his chin on her head and closed his eyes. He remembered their last fight. Things had started to change between the two of them. He knew that things had begun to change when he kissed her that first time when she was 16. He never explained to her the emotions that she churned up in him and they didn’t kiss again until she was older.

That was when she had broken up with her fiancé and it seemed she couldn’t stop crying. Her parents had been at their wits end. They’d known she’d loved Ben, but the thought of having to be a military wife was something that she just could not reconcile herself to. Ben had been in ROTC and planning to make the military a career. Beth had been well acquainted with the military through her own family’s involvement. It wasn’t that she’d viewed the military with disdain or anything like that, but there was something holding her back and so the engagement was broken.

Hand in hand they’d headed to the park they’d played at when they were kids and Beth had sat on the swing.
He’d leaned against the swing’s frame and looked at her. She hadn’t changed much since she was 16. At 19 she had just grown into her own person, independent, stubborn and very much a loving person. He’d known he loved her. But how did he love her? That had become a very big question. He’d found himself thinking about her and wondering if he was just connected to her because they had known each other for so long, or if it was something more.

Without even thinking about it he’d pulled her out of the swing into his arms and kissed her. Without missing a beat Beth had kissed him back. They’d looked at each other for a long time and finally Beth had taken his hand and they’d headed back home.

For the next four years they’d got together as often as possible and sometimes, their “togetherness” had not just been dinner and a movie.

In that four-year period Jack had met Sara. Things had gotten really complicated then, because his relationship with Beth had also gotten complicated and it had begun to change in ways that neither of them had ever anticipated.

The night of their fight had begun the way their nights usually did. Usually, they met for dinner and headed back to her apartment. She’d been in the middle of packing it up because she was planning to move home before she started her residency. Beth had been torn between two really good offers: one in Chicago and the other in Pennsylvania. She’d wanted to talk to Jon about which one to take. Basically, her decision depended on what direction they were heading. Neither had realized that some directions were not exactly in their hands.
Jack’s body gave one last shudder and he looked down into the golden eyes of the woman with him. He smiled at her and kissed her deeply. Then he rolled onto his back taking her with him.

Beth attempted to sit up. He wouldn’t let her. She felt how tense his body was and noted that his facial expression had sobered quite quickly.

“Let me up Jon.” He let go and she sat up and looked at him. “What’s the matter?”

He sighed and told her that they needed to talk. Something in what he said unsettled her, and she told him that she would use the bathroom to get dressed and he could dress in the bedroom. Watching the lines of her back exposed by the sheet as she went into the bathroom, he could only squeeze his eyes shut.

“Okay, what is it?” Beth asked without much fanfare. She knew him well enough that dancing around the issue would make things that much worse.

Beth sat on her dresser, mindful of the two letters laying there. “What is there not to understand? Obviously something has happened.”

“Things have become a little complicated. Sara and I are getting married,” Jack swallowed as he said this.
Her eyes widened and she could only look at her bed and look at him. “Beth, don’t…” Jack began.

“Don’t what Jon?” She began to cry, “Don’t wonder why you are here with me and your marrying Sara?”

He got up and pulled her to him. “I’m sorry Beth. This wasn’t what was supposed to happen.”

“Go!” she said suddenly pushing him away from her.”We are not going to end this like this Beth.”

“How else are we going to end this?” Beth’s temper was showing. “Damn you. You have to go.”

“I know that you sorry bastard. But whether you love me or not, doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Oh, I understand perfectly.” Her voice suddenly turned cold as did her eyes. “Go. Now! Don’t do this for me, or Sara, or for you. Do it because it is the right thing to do.”

Jack grabbed her and pulled her in for one last kiss. The heat of his kiss and her response was very evident to both of them.

They each found the strength to stop and let go. Jack turned to the door and Beth turned away. She was afraid of what she would do if he turned back from the door. Jack noted that she turned away from him and knew that if he looked back and saw her watching him, he may not be able to walk away.

When Beth heard the door close she ran and locked it. Seeing the two letters on the desk, she signed one and cried holding the other.

The next day she went and saw her parents. Her instructions to her parents were clear. Under no circumstances was Jon to know where she was or what she was doing.

Her parents were shocked, but figured they would sort it out on their own. Beth neglected to tell them why they’d fought. Then the wedding invitation came.

John had attempted to find Beth, but General Greene told him to leave her be, that she’d come around when she was ready.

As it turned out, when she was ready was when Jon found her at the diner near one the hospitals in Pittsburgh. By then she was married with twin boys.

She hadn’t seemed surprised when he’d come in and sat down at her table. He’d reached out for her hand and she’d held his.

The pain and the anger were still hovering in the distance, but time really did change the way they looked at things. And so, they’d patched up their friendship, and although they’d still felt the connection to each other, it wasn’t something that either was going to explore any deeper than they already had.Lifting his chin off her head he tilted her chin up to look at him. Jack noted the tears and asked her why his talking to Sam was so important.

“Because I can see that you have some deep feelings for this woman. And no matter what you say, they are affecting you. I want you to have some peace and some balance.”

“Here I am, again, sending you off to another woman. And this time you’re fighting me on it.”

She held up her hand and looked at him. “I don’t believe there is anything in the regulations that state that two people, who know, like and respect each other, cannot apologize or clear the air between them.”

Beth nailed him with her gaze and continued, “I also don’t believe anyone that heard you two say you are sorry and you understand, would find anything to complain about. People apologize to each other for a lot of different things and I don’t believe that anyone listening in on your conversation would find anything against regulations in it. Only you and the major would understand and you are the only two that it would be important to.”

Beth took his face in her hands, “I have been talking myself blue in the face to both of you. Damn your military stubbornness. For once, remember, you are people first.”

“Consider,” she continued, “what would you or Sam feel if one of you were taken as the next host? How would you feel if you were unable to have some closure with each other as friends? As comrades in arms? As…more? Go! Do it, because it is really now, the right thing to do.”

He touched his forehead to hers and then kissed her forehead. “Okay, I’ll talk to her.”

One last hug and Jack was off to find Major Carter. Daniel stepped out of the shadows and put his arm around Beth’s shoulder.

“Yes, he is,” Beth responded, taking a small measure of comfort in Daniel’s presence. “I’d like to be a fly on the wall during their talk, you know?”

Jack walked over to where Sam was sitting with Teal’c and he motioned for the Jaffa to go. Teal’c lifted an eyebrow, nodded and left. Jack sat across from Sam and took her hands into his. She looked up at him, but did not pull her hands away.

“This is probably not the most regulation sanctioned conversation we are ever going to have, but I have been convinced that we need to do this. So let me finish before you say anything.”

“I’m not really good with this type of a situation Sam. But I have come to accept that what I am about to say, is the right thing to do. And, I want to do it.” Taking a deep breath, he looked in into her eyes. “I’m sorry, Sam. I understand.”

Sam felt tears begin to form in her eyes and she fought to hold them back. This was not the time to get emotional and she really hated when her emotions betrayed her – especially in front of him.

He raised his hand. “No, it isn’t “Sir” and “Carter” here, it’s Sam and Jack. Our military relationship isn’t the problem. It’s our relating to each other as human beings that is out of whack.”

Sam looked around, clearly uncomfortable with the personalization of their disagreement.

“As it has been pointed out to me,” Jack began, “we are the only ones that have to understand what is being said here. No one else will need to know the context of our conversation. And I can assure you,” his hand swept the area around them, “no body here will care or carry the tale.”

“Jack…” Sam whispered and gripped his hands. “I want so much to explain…”

Jack shook his head. “No explanations are necessary. Sometimes life puts us into situations and we play the hand we are dealt. I only wanted you to know…”

“Jack,” Sam said his name in such a way, that he knew what she was feeling and that she wanted him to know.

“No more words Sam. I think we are both clear on where we are. Don’t you?”

Squeezing each other’s hands, they sat like that for a while. Suddenly, Teal’c came and interrupted. “Colonel O’Neill?”

Jack nodded and told Teal’c to round up Daniel and Beth and head into the house.

Things happened very quickly that night. One minute they were surrounding the victim, Jack and Teal’c guarding the door and windows with Sam, Beth and Daniel surrounding the bed. The next…

Jack woke up and shook his head and called out to everyone. Everyone but Daniel responded.

Jack immediately ordered the others to check in. He noted that everyone was present and while Sam turned on the GPS, they talked about why Daniel was chosen.

They discussed the naquadah in Sam and Teal’c’s system and the very bare trace of it in Jack’s system from various run ins with symbiotes. Daniel and Beth were the only puzzle.

“Dr. Greene?” Teal’c asked. “Did you have those medallions on the last time?”

Jack looked sharply at Teal’c who explained, “There are many protected planets according to Jaffa legend. Cimmeria with Thor’s hammer being one. And the symbol of the hand on her neck is the symbol of another.”

”My Chamsah?” Beth was confused. It was a Middle East thing, supposedly representing the hand of god.

“There are planets that have that on a pillar right at the entrance to the Stargate. No one knows where this particular symbol came from. It is one of many different symbols of planets that are protected from the Goa’uld.”

“Well, that explains why he didn’t choose you this time or the last,” Sam noted. “But why Daniel?”

Beth looked at him and he could see that she had some questions as to what he was talking about.

Sam and Teal’c exchanged a look. “He may still believe that Daniel has some power,” Sam noted.

The GPS monitor was turned on and the four of them quickly took off. Beth had her medical kit with her and they passed the elders on the way. Jack quickly told them to contact General Hammond and ask for a medical team to stand by.

The Goa’uld looked down at the drugged Daniel Jackson and smiled. Here was one with power. Here was one that may not wear out as fast as the others.

“Wake up.” The voice had a harsh and papery sound to it. “Wake up. I need you to be awake.”

Daniel struggled to open his eyes. Then he wished he hadn’t. Where was he? And where were the others? And would they get here on time?

“IT” dragged a rough and dry hand down his face and smiled. “You will be such a good host.”

“IT” laughed at him. “Do not fight so, you will wear yourself out and I need you strong.”

The creature was hoping the drug would fade soon. He wanted his host alert and aware when he entered him. It was more fun to feel the surge of fear and anger when they were awake, than when they were drugged. It also helped that his former host would also be aware. The power surge was always something he anticipated and enjoyed.

“If possible, take him alive,” Jack ordered. “Maybe we can help the current host.”

Beth and Sam exchanged looks and then looked to Teal’c, who shook his head. Jack gave Beth a quick refresher lesson in the use of the Zat.

Beth nodded and took her position behind Sam. Jack took point and Teal’c covered from behind. “Six,” Beth thought, “What a funny name for that.” Shaking her head, she considered that she might have lost her mind if she was wondering about military terminology at a time like this.

They entered the cave and listened for any sounds of voices. It wasn’t until they reached well into the darkness that they heard the papered whispering.“Soon, soon you will be awake and then your time will come.”

“Yes and they shall be our first victims. I need new energy and nourishment and they shall provide it.”

Jack held his fingers to his lips and signed for what direction everyone was to go. He made it clear that Beth was to stick with Sam.

In the end the battle was so very simple. One would suppose that it should have been more hard fought, but in the end…

The demon thought that after he knocked out Jack and Teal'c, that the women would be no problem at all. Thinking back on the surprised look on his face, just before Beth and Sam hit him with the third blast of zat, he did what countless men have been told not to do. He underestimated the power of a woman.

Jack and Teal'c had been taken by surprise. He had knocked them out and turned to face the women.
Beth had never seen such evil, but Sam had. Her memories of Jolinar had combined with her own to show her how truly evil the Goa'uld could be. Sam took a blast from the ring device and it knocked her backwards and slammed her left arm into the wall, but she managed to fire off the first of the three shots of her Zat.

Just as the Goa'uld was going to pass out, he attempted to fire at Beth. She fired the second blast which, amazingly, did not kill him outright. Adrenalin? Maybe?

Neither woman even stopped to consider why he was still alive. They both fired the third shot and "It" was gone.
Beth dropped to her knees and gasped for air. Sam just gasped.

As Sam went over to check on Beth, Jack and Teal'c started to come to. Jack yelled for Teal'c to check on Daniel and he half-limped and half-crawled to Sam and Beth.

"Are you two okay?" he could barely stop his shaking when he saw Sam leaning over Beth.

Beth was busy asking Sam where she hurt. Did her belly hurt? Did her chest hurt? Where was the pain? It was then ascertained that her left arm was broken. Luckily, it was a clean break, if breaks could at all be lucky and Beth knew she had what she needed to splint Sam’s arm as well as some pain medication. Feeling that, for the moment, Sam was stable, she made her way over to Daniel.

His respirations were regular, but she could see that he was still drugged. Or at least she guessed he was drugged. She hated not being where she could be sure, but based on pupil reaction, pulse and respirations, she thought that a narcan drip would be in order. She was glad that she and Janet had thought to pack that along with other first aid supplies. She picked out the package designated for Daniel and set him up. Once she saw that the IV was functioning she went back over to Sam.

With Jack's help she sedated Sam and set her arm. Then returned to monitor Daniel. Teal'c was sent to the villagers and instructed to have another SG team sent, along with a medical team. Jack watched Beth hover between Sam and Daniel for an hour after she finished with Sam's arm before he grabbed her and had her sit on his lap.

Beth noted that his hand was on Sam's arm. Not gripping it, but touching it and she smiled slightly. Jack felt more than saw her smile, but didn't move his hand away.

Beth shook her head. "No can do. I have to keep an eye on that IV and Daniel's condition and Sam as well. Do you think it will be long before help gets here?"

Jack told her he didn't think so. He figured that Hammond had SG-14 and the Medic unit waiting to go as soon as they got the signal. He was right. General Hammond had the teams ready to go as soon as they got the word and within the hour the cave was buzzing. Janet tended to Daniel and got him ready to be transported. An IV was started on Sam as well and she was ready soon for transport.

The Elders thanked the SGC profusely and provided the urns, jars and jugs that they had for ultrasound and x-rays in order to ensure there were no more surprises.

It was a slow and steady transport to the gate and the infirmary. Everyone was relieved to know that neither Sam nor Daniel suffered any physical injury. In Daniel's case, they were concerned about psychic injury and Dr. McKenzie was assigned to work with him.

The debriefing didn't take very long and given that Beth looked like she was going to collapse from shock, Hammond allowed Jack to escort her to the infirmary for a check-up and then to guest quarters to sleep.
Jack's time was split between Beth and Sam and Daniel. At some point Janet told him that he had better get himself to sleep, or she would ensure that there was a bed in the infirmary with his name on it. And it wouldn't be near his teammates.

Some weeks later Beth got notification that the Pentagon had another little pet project that they invited her to join. Well, it was couched as an invitation, but she knew an order when she saw one. Jack stuck his head in just as she and Daniel released a long hug. He smiled as Daniel sheepishly gave Beth a kiss on the cheek and promised to stay in touch.

Jack's eyebrow lifted as Daniel left the room and Beth shook her head and smiled.

“Oh I have a really good idea. In fact, I have a really good story for you. Walk me to my car?”

Jack lifted an eyebrow and picked up her case while she grabbed her purse and medical bag. On their way to the elevator people stopped them and spoke their good byes and gave a few hugs. Just as they got to the elevator Beth heard someone call out her name and turned to see Sam running toward them.

Beth gave Jack a go away look and went over to Sam. The two women hugged. Beth smiled at Sam and said to her, “Don’t let him wear you down or wear you out.”

“He’s a good man Sam and worth the fight. You are worth the fight as well. You two just need to decide to decide.” Reaching into her pocket Beth gave Sam her card. “Anytime, anyplace, anywhere Sam. Doesn’t matter for what reason.”

Beth hugged her and replied that she was going to miss her as well as the developments. Sam gave her a dimpled smile and told her to take care. Beth walked back to where Jack was waiting and he keyed for the elevator.

The elevator door opened and they stepped in. Beth leaned against the back of the elevator and looked at her friend.

“It seems that Senator Kinsey did have a rather simplistic, but heinous reason for picking me.”

“Well from what Dad and General Hammond have been able to dig up, Senator Kinsey was under the impression that I hated you. Not only that,” she explained, “but that I would do anything to ‘bring you down.’”

“Yeah,” Beth thought for a moment and then continued. “It seems that someone told him about our little ‘disagreement’ right before you married Sara and I went off to school in Pittsburgh. Seems that the fact that I didn’t tell you where I was going or allow my parents to tell you of what was going on gave them the impression that I was severely pissed. And I was, but not to that degree.”

“The point. Someone missed that we made up and had been in contact since that time and that although we haven’t exactly settled things and don’t give me that look…” She stopped walking and looked at him, “I don’t exactly like thinking that I am holding a grudge, but we do have some issues that need to be cleared up at some point in this lifetime, ‘cuz I don’t want to have to deal with it in another.”

“Anyway, our good Senator felt that if you deceived me while I was working here, then I would be a good and angered citizen and fly to his side and make all kinds of noise, etc, etc.”

“No he doesn’t and he didn’t. Anyone could have told him that I wouldn’t turn on you. But who ever his contact was dropped the ball. Now whether or not it was deliberate…” she shrugged, “I don’t know. But there you are.”

They finally reached her car and Jack held his hand out for her keys. She gave them to him and then made an exclamation, “Rats, I almost forgot.” She took her case from Jack and opened it and handed him a carton. He looked at the package of Little Debbie Zebra Cakes and then at her.

“You know,” she said with an impish gleam in her eyes, “if you ask the guys at the mess nicely, they’ll order them for you.”

“I kinda liked being here.” After some silence. “Don’t worry about the person running the clinic. I hand picked her myself. And, I’ll be checking in once a month, partly for the clinic and partly for the boys, but also, partly for you.”

Jack pulled her to him and dropped kiss on the top of her head and they stood that way for a few minutes. Stepping back, he lifted her chin and kissed her. By her response, both knew that the embers still glowed and from glowing embers a source of heat can be obtained and maintained, but by mutual design they broke apart and stood there holding hands.

Beth took her right hand from his left one and slowly traced the frown line between his eyes and traced his left eyebrow, stopping to smooth out the scar that seemed to neatly slice his left eyebrow in half. She then proceeded to run the pad of her thumb under his left eye and across his mouth. Jack took her hand and placed a soft kiss on it and told her to “Be Safe”. Her reply was for him to “Stay Safe”. A ritual they started when he first went into the service at 18.

Stepping away from each other, Jack opened her car door and handed her the keys. Closing the door to the car he took the carton of snack cakes off and patted the roof of her car as she started it and drove off.
Jack stood there for a while watching until her tail lights disappeared. Walking back to the entrance to the mountain he tapped the box against his thigh and almost as if coming out of a trance he noticed what he was doing and with what.

He smiled, and as he continued back to the entrance, he wondered if he should share.

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