Author: Rosemary Klein-Robbins
Email: zeesmom2000@yahoo.com
Pairings: Many and varied
Sequel: Another in the Beth Series follows the changes in Tangled Up in Blue. So obviously this story is not a “complete” story, but a continuation of an ongoing series. The set up is the emotional traumas and changes the characters are going through based on the situation experienced in Between the Darkness and the Light.
Summary: Life tends to get in the way of reality and "who will save your soul, for the lies that you've told?"
Author's Note: I do not own The Stargate Universe. I have no ongoing rights –monetary or otherwise to the show, characters or producers. This is a work of fan fiction and written strictly for amusement.
Disclaimer: Stargate Sg-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, SciFi Channel, MGM/UA, Double Secret Producitons, and Gekko Producitons. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infrigement is intended. The original characaters, situations, and sotry are the property of the author. This story may not be posted without the consent of the author.

Souls
©2007 by Rosemary Klein-Robbins

"Who will save your soul
for the lies that you've told, boy?
And who will save your soul
If don't save your own?"
(Song by Jewell)

Jack instantly recognized the man that sat on his porch steps. It wasn't hard to identify his visitor. His height and body build gave it away.

After greeting Ben Samuels Jack sauntered up to the porch steps and sat down next to him.

"So tell me, Samuels." Jack's eyes were dark and hard. His gaze seemed to narrow in like a laser onto the man's face. "Why are you here?"

He watched as the big man shrugged and took a pull on the longneck bottle he held between his legs.

Jack inclined his head toward the bottle and asked just exactly how many of those he had chugged down.

Ben sighed and shifted on the step. "Not many," he answered. "Two - three. Something like that."

Ben’s long fingers started to shred the label on the beer bottle. The quiet of night broken only by the night sounds of insects seemed to lengthen to an unbearable interval and then Ben let out a long sigh.

“I didn’t mean to hurt her, you know?” Ben said in a weary tone.

He was aware that Jack didn’t need to ask who “her” was.

The stare of the man he spoke to gave him the signal to finish his conversation.

“You two just pissed me off so much.” Ben looked back down at the bottle and waited for Jack’s response.

The non-verbal response to Ben’s statement practically vibrated the air between them. Ben knew that Jack was taking his time to respond. Partly because the deliberate hesitation as it were, was part of Jack’s psychological tactic and part of it was because Jack was trying not to hit him. They’d had many of these discussions in their years of contact.

“Ass!” Jack stood up. “You big dumb ass. You didn’t mean to hurt her?” The sarcasm was evident and unhidden.

Stooping to be closer to the man still sitting on the stairs Jack continued.

“You want to make sure you don’t hurt her? Go back to DC and clean up your act.”

Jack saw Ben flinch but continued without mercy while standing up.

“Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. You don’t deserve her.”

As Jack paced around the porch he turned every so often to look into Ben’s eyes. They were unreadable. Jack might even have described them as dead. There didn’t seem to be any visible response to the tirade.

“I don’t understand you at all Samuels.” Jack finally ground out. “You’re military. You were a SEAL for heaven’s sake. You know what secrecy is and why.” Shaking his head he sat back down next to him. “What?” And he just stopped talking.

“Blue Topaz,” was Ben’s only response.

Jack took a breath and blew it out. “Blue Topaz”. Whoever he, she or it was, they certainly had an impact on all of them.

“Tell me.” Jack said softly. “What happened?”

The blonde woman in the Army Uniform watched as he went through his paces in the obstacle course. For a big man he certainly moved fast. Those long muscular legs darting in and out of the tires didn’t falter at all in their rhythm. She had watched him do that many times in their time together in the JAG corp. He had played wide receiver in high school and college, said that he never wanted to go pro. It would stop being fun if he had to do it for a living. And he never went pro. He stopped playing after college and never looked back. Sure there was the pick up game, the inevitable challenges between units and different JAG groups, but that was all. But Commander Benjamin Samuels went into Law and from there to JAG, wrote the occasional magazine article and one book on Naval Law. He never again thought about football. She wondered if he did secretly when he went through some of the training drills he did to keep in shape. She inhaled sharply under her breath. The baggy nylon shorts and oversized tank top did nothing to hide the muscles in his legs, his arms or his chest. She shivered slightly. She was one of his in between girlfriends. In between his divorce from Rita and his reconnection with the woman who was clearly the love of his life, Elizabeth Greene-Morgan. Mimi never thought of Beth as anything other than Mrs. David Morgan. It helped her, somehow, to remember that she was widow to another man. It helped her to keep from hating a woman that she really never knew and who basically kept Ben from committing to anyone else he had been out with after his divorce. Once he found out she was single again and willing to see him, no other woman mattered to him.

She became aware of the instant Ben knew she was there.

“Hey, Mimi.” He was not short of breath, but the kind of winded you are when you finish an exercise session and was getting ready to cool down.

“Hi, Ben. How are you?”

“Sweaty!” His answer was given with some cheek and his eyes smiled slightly. The different way blue eyes and brown ones light up when greeting a friend is a surprise for people who aren’t aware or forgot that he has one of each color. “And you?”

“Fine. Waiting to talk to you, though.” She figured she might as well get to the point. He never did have much patience for a song and dance.”

Ben sat down on the bench and started to unlace his sneakers. He was careful to keep his eyes on what he was doing as she started to tell him why she came.

“We need you back, Ben.”

He tossed his sneakers into his bag and looked up at her. “There are plenty of other really good lawyers there.”

“But not like you, Ben.” She sat down next to him, close enough to practically attach to him. She noticed he didn’t move away. Taking a chance, she put her hand on his thigh. “But not like you.”

Ben carefully lifted her hand and placed it back down on her thigh.

“Mimi, I’m not coming back.”

He removed his hand from hers and continued to finish changing out his socks and sneakers so he could go home.

“But why, Ben? Is it because of her?” Mimi almost bit her tongue when she said that last part.

Ben stopped and didn’t seem as if he was going to move for a few heartbeats.

He turned to her with eyes that looked like polished stones:. sapphire and tiger’s eye.

“Don’t you ever... ” Ben’s voice was cold and hard. “... ever mention her in that way again. Whatever there is between us is never going to be mentioned in connection with my job.”

Mimi had the grace to flush and look down. “I’m sorry.” She told him in a small voice. She didn’t dare say anymore.

Ben finished what he was doing and stood up. “Yeah, well tell the Admiral I send my best.”

As she watched him walk towards his car, she cursed herself for her jealousy and Elizabeth Morgan for her stupidity.

Ben practically stalked into his apartment and threw his bag on the floor by his bed. Stripping as he walked to his shower, he had a hard time holding his temper. Beth was the least of the reasons he quit JAG. It wasn’t that she didn’t contribute to his general dissatisfaction, she contributed a great deal, it was just that he got tired of the cold cases that seemed to land on his desk. He had managed to close a few of them. Some by his own determination, but many because of Blue Topaz. He cursed the day that “thing” came into his life. Blue Topaz had taken great pains to chastise him lately. And Ben was tired of it... tired of it all.

He turned on the shower with water as hot as he could stand and went in. The hot needles rained down on his back and for once he was grateful for the stinging it caused. As he laid his head against the cool tile of the shower he allowed his mind to drift. The heat combined with the smooth touch of the tile caused a totally different shower to come to his memory. Another body slipping behind him and wrapping her arms around his chest and then caressing parts lower.

That scene happened sometime after Beth had come home from the hospital. He had been scared mindless she was going to die and for sometime after that he treated her as if she was going to break. What she had done to him that day had shown him that she was very much alive. He remembered that he had just barely been able to remember to turn off the shower and dragged them both soaking wet to his bed. He remembered holding her sleeping body much later and looking at the bruises that were starting to fade.

He didn’t remember how long he stood under the shower, but it must have been a long time because the water started to cool. He turned off the shower, grabbed the towel and left the bathroom.

Ben had barely started to dress when the phone rang.

“Samuels.” His tone was brusque. The last thing he needed was to talk to someone.

“Oh, Commander... ” The metallic voice on the other ended chided him. “Is that anyway to greet an old friend?”

Ben just fell backwards on his bed and closed his eyes. And yet it continues. “Yes, well you are aware that I no longer work for the JAG Corp?”

The metallic voice laughed. “Benjamin... I know everything there is to know about you.”

“Yes, I am sure you do. What the hell do you want?”

“Ben... I’m shocked. No small talk. No pleasantries?”

Ben took the phone away from his ear and looked at the receiver as if he couldn’t believe he just heard that statement.

Putting the receiver back against his ear, Ben repeated his question.

“My, my. So touchy. You must really get that woman back into your life, Commander. You have been such a grouch since you parted company.”

“Blue Topaz... get to the point.”

“Very well, if you insist.” The voice turned pettish. “You know of course what happened to two of the gentlemen responsible for that fiasco on the Goa’uld ship?”

Ben thought for a momemt-Goa’uld? Yeah, that was what Jack told him they were and how they existed. “Yes and... ”

“You know where Major Harris is?”

“Yes, in Juneau cleaning toilets with a toothbrush.”

“What a pleasant thought.” Blue Topaz clearly found that description amusing. “And the good Senator is under the radar again. But do you know where Mr. Latham is?”

“Frankly, I could give a shit less where Mr. Latham is.” Ben’s retort was short, angry and uncovered how very much he really did give a shit.

“You should care, Commander. You should care a great deal.” The metallic voice took on a harder edge when the answer came. “It isn’t finished, Commander, it is far from finished.”

Ben closed his eyes and tried to restrain a sigh of frustration. “Here it comes,” he thought. “The payoff.”

“Do you really think that all of this went away because the little people were punished? Do you think that anyone really believes that Major Gordon-that little piece of dog turd-was capable of pulling off that kind of assignment?”

Sighing, Ben answered in a tight voice. “No, I don’t think anyone really believed it.”

With almost a purr of satisfaction Blue Topaz continued.

“Your friends are still in danger Benjamin. As much as it pains me to send you back into the arms of your lady fair... ”

Blue Topaz paused because Ben’s sudden growl really did sound menacing.

“Very well then, Commander. I have given you enough warning. And Commander... ”

A pause that Ben didn’t even answer to.

“That little blue towel you are wearing right now really is your color.”

And with a metallic laugh the call ended.

Ben hung up the phone and started to laugh. He had always felt that Blue Topaz had something in his apartment. He never found anything, though he looked and after awhile, he didn’t care. If Blue Topaz was into peep shows, he hoped that he got his money’s worth out of it.

It was an elegant hand. The hand that slowly put down the receiver and caressed the handset was indeed elegant. Finely shaped. Long slender fingers tapered to immaculately manicured hands. The owner of that finally elegant hand tapped the receiver with a finely shaped digit and smiled at the recently concluded conversation. Almost as good as phone sex, but not quite. The hand caressed the handset once again.

“I’ll tell ya, Jack. I wish I never heard from that... whatever it is.”

“Ben, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s a tangled mess.” Jack started shredding the label of his now rapidly warming beer. “You may never be able to get out from under this... ” He could only shrug to finish his thought.

“Yeah well, that is one reason why I am here.”

“And that is... ” Jack looked sideways at Ben’s profile.

“That is you have to watch out for her for me.”

“Why don’t you watch out for her yourself?” Jack was curious. Here comes the punch line.

Ben looked down at his shoes and then stared into the distance.

“Do you know when I first fell in love with her?”

Jack smiled. “Yeah, I do as a matter of fact.”

Ben looked sideways at him and returned the smile. “Yeah, I suppose you do.”

Taking a sip of his beer he then continued. “She was tagging after us dragging that damn doll.”

“Emma,” Jack said with a laugh.

“Yeah.” Ben stopped in memory. “Those Cavanaugh boys down the street were riding their bikes and one of them snatched that doll right out of her hands. I had never seen her so mad. She took off after Lenny like a bat out of hell and pulled him off that bike and gave him a tongue-lashing that probably rivaled his mother’s. Then she kicked him for good measure, grabbed her doll and went crying to her mother.”

Ben laughed at the memory. “She looked like a street urchin but when I saw those eyes blazing away at Lenny, I knew that I was going to marry that girl when I grew up. I was what… twelve?”

Jack nodded. “But you sure made her think you hated her.”

“Yeah, well it wouldn’t do for me to let her know I was smitten. But man, when she turned 14…... ”

Jack remembered when Beth turned 14. It was if a new person just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Jack was aware that the changes were subtler and gradual and that Beth had been just as smitten with Ben, but his, Jack’s, bond with her had been a strong one. One that Ben had not been able to understand once his feelings for Beth became fully engaged.

“She can take care of herself, you know?”

Ben nodded. “I know it, Jack. She was always able to. But it is different now.”

“Maybe, but running away from the facts won’t help.”

“From the facts? Tell me, what facts are we talking about, exactly?”

“Let’s start with this obvious one. Why did you shut her out?”

“I can’t do what is right by her.”

“What is ‘right’ by her? What the hell are you talking about?”

Ben sighed. “We can’t seem to make a go of our relationship. I thought things would be different now. We’re older. We’d be able to work through the rough edges with some more flexibility than when we were younger.” He shook his head. “But it just isn’t possible. I love her, O’Neill. There isn’t any getting around that. But we just can’t seem to be together without hurting each other. And I don’t want to hurt her anymore. I don’t want to hurt anymore.”

Jack made a scoffing noise. “Have you been reading her romance novels on the sly?”

Jack stood up and then went to stand in front of Ben.

“I’ll look after her, Ben. Not for your sake, but for mine. If you want a word of advice from someone who could probably also take some of the same, talk to her. Tell her you love her, hate her or are whatever you are feeling and work it out. If you want to have a future with her and only you can answer that, you have to have to make the move. And I suggest you do it quickly.”

Jack then looked out in the distance. “You never know when feelings are no longer reciprocated or are at the same level at the same time.”

The remark was a cryptic one and Ben didn’t even bother asking Jack to clarify it. Something in its tone and the set of Jack’s jaw seemed to be enough of a deterrent and Ben was not interested in pushing his luck.

The two men sat in a silence for a few minutes and then Ben shifted his big body and stood up. He pointed to the remaining beers in the six-pack and Jack shook his head.

Ben reached down and scooped up the remaining two bottles.

“I guess I had better hit the road. I have a room at the Holiday Inn and an early flight back to DC.”

Jack nodded, but offered no other comments.

Jack stood on the porch and watched the taillights of Ben’s rental fade into the distance and wondered what he had gotten himself into. He had a girlfriend who was starting to get a little testy over his other “girlfriend”. He laughed slightly and wondered if Gayle knew the half of it.

He walked into his house and straight to the kitchen where he dumped the rest of the warm beer.

Jack placed both of his hands on the rim around the sink and looked down. Closing his eyes he tried to take some calming breaths. This last mission was a ‘pip’. Bless Danny and his rocks, he thought to himself. It wasn’t Daniel’s fault that the natives didn’t take to his wanting to take some of them back to study further. How was he to know that they were ‘sacred rocks’? He laughed again. He didn’t know Jackson could run that fast.

Pushing himself away from the sink he wandered into the living room to check his answering machine. The red light was blinking furiously. There were two messages. It wouldn’t have taken a Rocket Scientist to figure out the message leavers. One of them was from Andy, the Sheriff of the poker game fame and the other would be from Gayle. It appeared as if she “smelled” when he got back from a mission. There would only be that one message and it was always maybe an hour before he got home. He wondered if someone from the SGC gave her heads up. It didn’t matter, though. Their relationship had become ‘complicated’. Well maybe complicated for him, but more intense for her. And for that he felt guilty. Gayle was a good woman and she loved him. She told him that a month ago. She tried to make light of it. Told him that he need not reciprocate, she understood, but she wanted him to know. He was, quite honestly, very taken with Gayle. She was a good fit for him in many ways, but... It was the but that always seemed to hang there and he wished he could tell her he loved her back. No reservations. No ‘Buts’. However, it did no good because there were ‘buts’. There were lots of them. He could offer her what he had and hope it would be enough. For now, she accepted it. For how long, he just didn’t know.

He went up to his bedroom, stripped and showered. Sure, he did that at the SGC, but there was nothing like your own shower to really relax.

Once clean and into his sweats, he climbed into bed and picked up the phone. The first call was to Andy. It was mercifully short and sweet. The next call was to Gayle.

Sam sat in the sweet smelling bath and closed her eyes. There was absolutely nothing like a nice hot bubble bath after a mission.

Evan had been waiting at the house when she got home. It was nice to have someone to come home to, she thought. He had dinner simmering on the stovetop and in the oven and had thoughtfully drawn her bath.

She sighed when she thought about how guilty she felt about all of this.

He was a good man. That was the first thought she had whenever she saw him or thought of him. He was someone that she could settle down with. He understood her job and the risks. Evan always managed to anticipate her needs, wants and desires. More importantly though, he was available.

As she soaped up her sponge to wash her legs another thought struck her when she thought of available. Was he available because he was single and... Yeah, it was the ‘and’ that stuck in her head. She lowered her leg and then crossed her arms over her chest. It was the ‘and’ that focused her attention.

Sam realized that she had been pondering that word for some time, because she became alert with a start at the knock on the bathroom door.

“You okay in there honey?” Evan was on the other side. There was a worried tone in his voice.

“Oh...yeah.” Sam answered him. “Guess I dozed off.” She started to get out of the tub.

“It’s okay to not rush Sam. It’s just us you know.” Evan told her through the door.

“No Evan, really.” Sam toweled herself dry and reached for the robe.

She opened the bathroom door to see Evan standing there with a glass of wine in his hand for her and a worried look in his eyes.

She stroked his cheek. “You are a dear.” She took the glass from his hand and they walked to her bedroom.

Sam put the glass on the nightstand and then patted the mattress for him to lie down next to her.

Evan wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

“You work too hard, Dr. Carter.”

“It’s Major Carter and I don’t work that hard.”

Evan flinched at the correction. She seemed pretty touchy about the distinction.

Sam felt his flinch and caressed his hand. “I’m sorry Evan. Maybe I am more tired than I thought I was.”

He kissed the top of her head again and didn’t comment. Was she detached emotionally from him?

The portly General paraded back and forth in front of the screen. This was a routine mission. He was sending SG-1 and SG-3 and this mission was certainly as routine as they came. It was what Colonel O'Neill referred to as "meet, greet and eat." And he also knew how much O'Neill hated these kinds of missions.

"General...." Jack started to interrupt.

Hammond raised his hand to stop what his officer was going to say. "Colonel I am well aware that this is not the kind of mission that you feel your team is set up for. But bear in mind..." Hammond stopped for a minute to consider his words. "...These people specifically asked that your team be apart of this ceremony. They feel that they owe you this honor for what you have done for them."

"Sir..." Major Carter attempted to get their attention."...they realize that we do this for everyone that requests our help?"

"Yes Major, they do realize that. But you are the first group of 'warriors' that actually came through for them. They feel it is fitting that you be there for the singing of their constitution and you will be there. The President..."

Jack already knew the argument. The President is counting on them. The President ...The President.

The archeologist knocked and entered the room without waiting for the “come in” the owner usually barked out.

Daniel eyed his mission commander. This was the man that he had come to call friend and felt to be his brother. Jack was sitting at his desk. His eyes dark and unreadable as he “played” if one could call it that, with his yo-yo.

Breaking the tense silence Daniel ventured a comment.

“Have you been keeping up with the doings of the NID?”

Dark brown eyes looked up unblinking. An almost imperceptible shake of the head was the response.

“Well, I have been,” Daniel told him.

The blue eyes were wary as they watched the other man put down his yo-yo.

Daniel watched how very carefully those long fingers wound the string around the base of the toy and set it on his desk.

“Why?” The question came out in a quiet and soft tone, but there was a hint of steel in there.

“Because we know where Harris Gordon is. We know where Robert Kinsey is.” Daniel paused. “But we don’t know where Salem Latham is.”

“And that concerns us how?” Again that deceptively soft tone.

“Sam.”

That one word answer held the interest of the other.

Daniel watched the slow nod and heard the soft exhale of his friend’s breath.

He watched those long fingers grab hold of the yo-yo and grip it tightly. Daniel wondered if that toy was going to go sailing past his head. And if so, how fast.

To Jack’s credit however the only show of temper was the tightening of his grip on the toy.

“She’s not to know about this Daniel.”

Daniel gave Jack a studied look. “She’ll be a little put out.”

“Yeah ... well... ” Jack gave a small smile. “It won’t be the first time.”

“And it probably won’t be the last.” Daniel finished for him.

Jack studied his toy for a few minutes. “When did he disappear?”

Daniel answered that it was around the time that Harris was sent to Alaska.

Three months. Jack’s head worked around that bit of news. That Latham could be gone for that length of time and not have anyone know where he was interesting. Some small part of Jack’s mind was wondering if he was the same place Jimmy Hoffa was. Another part of his brain worried that he was with that Goa’uld Sissy somebody. That was the part of his brain that really felt was the reason Latham was gone. He knew that man was very important to Kinsey and having him killed would have settled some things, but caused other problems.

Jack put his toy down and with a slight sigh knew that his next visit was going to have to be with General Hammond. Damn, that was also a conversation he didn’t want to have.

Daniel’s raised eyebrow caused Jack to nod and the two men walked to Hammond’s office together.

Actually the conversation wasn’t as difficult as Jack thought it would be. Hammond agreed to have Major Carter followed. There were officers that were very good at that and as they had no intentions of telling the good Major about this, there would be no scenes. Daniel didn’t actually buy into that. Sam had a sixth sense about Jack and would, eventually, piece things together. Jack wasn’t exactly very subtle when it came to her and her safety. Subtle about other things within and about their very “touchy” relationship, but not when it came to the safety of his team, or more specifically, her.

The various trees and birds amused Jack this time. He could afford to be expansive concerning the flora and fauna of the planet.The meet and greet went well. Better than Jack had expected. Sometimes these diplomatic “receptions” were the prelude to strange customs and practices. There had been a few when he imagined some of the strangest outcomes. Luckily none of them had met or exceeded those imagined outcomes. He did have to admit that some of them would have been “nice” and he enjoyed the “what ifs”, but mostly, he was glad that they didn’t get beyond his imagination.

He was watching his team walking ahead of him. Carter was point followed by Daniel and Teal’c. If he hadn’t been just glancing down and around him, he would have missed it.

It was a strange thing really. This small piece of shiny paper caught the reflection of the sun and it caused a blip on his sunglasses. Probably really a fluke, but nonetheless it got his attention. Jack slowed down long enough to snag it and noticed it was of the same material a snapshot was made of. What made him almost stop and trip over himself was the fact that it was a snapshot and of someone he knew. Someone he knew quite well. Jack stopped and looked around the area. He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Whatever it was, some sense of his unease reached out to his team who, almost as one unit, turned to looked at him.

Jack pocketed the picture and waved them off. Their curious looks only got a shrug from him as they went through the gate.

Later on in his quarters on the base he took the picture out and gave it a good long look. It was Major Carter. He’d recognize that blonde mop of hair anywhere. Just finding that picture on that planet was enough of a curiosity. It was the nature of the picture that disturbed him the most. Sam was definitely doing something he had never seen her do. She was laying in a tub of bubbles, her eyes closed with a glass of wine in her hand and candles around the tub. This was a very personal photo. Somebody wanted them... him? To know that.

He sat heavily on the bed and stared at the photo. His mind went back to the conversation he had with Daniel earlier. Salem Latham. The question now became, what was he going to do? He knew that if he told Daniel and Teal’c they would both glue themselves to her side. Daniel would insist that she be told and Teal’c would sleep outside her front door if necessary. So, what to do?

He knew that he was no closer to an answer now than he was when he found the picture.

Taking it, he put it in the drawer of his nightstand. There was nothing he could do now. That, more than anything, else upset him.

O’Malley’s was crowded that night and as the team was on down time for the next week they decided that tying one on would be perfectly acceptable. It was one of the few times that the four let their hair down and could relate more as individuals to each other.

The blue eyes warily looked over at her CO. He was quiet. Far too quiet, even for a man that kept an emotional distance from everyone.

“Jack?” She ventured to ask him what was bothering him.

“Hmm?” The response was an absent one. Reflexive.

“You’ve been really quiet. Is everything okay?” She really wanted to ask if everything was okay with Gayle, but was afraid to.

“Yeah why?” He focused his dark eyes on her.

She looked into his eyes for a brief flash and then looked down at her hands. Looking into those dark brown eyes for too long, she knew, would have her see things that she was not prepared for.

Jack noted the sudden drop of her eyes and the wall that went up when things connected a little too personally for them.

“You’ve just been ...quiet.”

He put his beer down and considered what to say.

“Well Sam do you really want to know what is going on my beady little brain?” Huh-that should get her attention.

“Do you want to know how very much I want to kiss you right now? How much I would just like to hold you right now?” Yeah, Jack, she’d really love that.

“I found a picture of you naked in the bathtub on our last mission.” Oh yeah, that would get her attention.

“Sam. I’m fine. Tired but fine.”

He watched as she slowly nodded, her blonde hair just barely moving.

He hated this. Hated this strained silence when the two of them were alone. With Teal’c, Daniel or Janet the conversations were safe and animated. He and Sam alone, however, were cautious, stilted and restrained.

So he allowed the conversation to lapse back into silence, peeled off the label from his beer and signaled the waitress for another.

Jack felt the woman beneath him shiver within his arms. Her small gasps and sighs touched the inside of his soul and he continued to work toward eliciting those responses form her. God, he had to elicit those responses. Gayle had become more and more insecure about him and his feelings for her. He tried hard to put her fears to rest, but it had been getting more and more difficult. The last few times they tried to be intimate, she ended up crying before she had even reached orgasm and pushed him away. It was almost as if she felt that her reaching completion would weaken her and she would do or say something to push him away. He tried to tell her that her not allowing herself to release would cause them more problems, but it was to no avail. He tried again tonight to use his body to comfort hers and he thought that maybe with his persistence, she would finally relax. He was soon gratified to hear her cry out his name as she came and he swiftly followed.

Jack rolled over onto his back and attempted to pull Gayle to him, but felt her resistance.

He threw his right arm over his eyes and waited.

“You don’t seem to be with me anymore Jack.” Her voice was harsh with pain.

“What is it, exactly, you want from me Gayle?” Jack just wasn’t in the mood to play any more games with her. He was very fond of Gayle and she was, well *was* being the operative word in the past, fun and comforting. She was not so much of either now.

“That woman.” Gayle spat out at him. “You spend a lot of time with her.”

“By that woman, you mean Beth?” Jack took his arm away from his eyes and turned hardened brown eyes towards the woman next to him. “What has Beth done that makes you think that she is any kind of threat to our relationship?”

He just wasn’t interested in playing that game with her. Jack made no apologies to anyone for his relationship with his friends. Not Daniel. Not Teal’c. Not Beth. Not even Carter. Especially not even Carter.

“A day doesn’t go by anymore that I don’t hear you mention her name or have her call your cell phone looking for you.”

Jack took a deep sigh and pushed himself out of bed. He shook his head and went to gather up his clothes. He could feel her eyes on his nude body and had to suppress a shiver of desire, had to suppress that frisson of awareness that sometimes threatened to take control of his emotions, the desire that sometimes made him heedless and reckless.

“So are you going to her?” The shrill tone broke the quiet darkness of her bedroom.

“I am just going, Gayle.” Jack’s answer was simple.

“So you are just going to leave instead of talk?”

Jack silently finished dressing and sat on her side of the bed. He took her face in his hands.

“Gayle I don’t know what to say to make you feel more secure. I care about you and for you more than I have cared for a woman in a long time.” He silently crossed his fingers for this small lie. “I don’t want to have to leave you like this.” He used his long fingers to caress her face and her hair marveling in its texture. Her hair reminded him of silk and he loved touching it. “This is probably the worst thing a man can do after sharing what we have, but I… I just don’t know if I can stay here and not have this degenerate into a fight that both of us will regret. Forgive me… ” He leaned down and gave her a searing kiss, as if he was trying to pour whatever emotions he had for her into her to somehow make her feel what he felt. However, he wasn’t quite sure what he was feeling at that moment and wondered what message was conveyed to her.

Leaving her in silent tears he told her he would call her in the morning. Then silently, he left her room and the house.

He wasn’t really surprised when he found himself outside of “that woman’s house”.

Jack got out of his truck and walked up the path to the house that Beth was currently renting.

Habit had him turn the knob to see if the door was open and he was surprised to find that it was. There was no one downstairs and he thought he heard some faint movement or sound from the upstairs. Taking the stairs two at a time he moved to her bedroom to find her lying flat on her back with her head hanging over the edge of the bed.. She had on headphones and was singing along to a song by Queen.

Some kind of devil got into him at that point and he went over to the bed, swiftly pulled Beth up into a sitting position, waited until the surprise in her eyes turned to recognition, then pulled her to him and kissed her. He wasn’t surprised that she returned it or the heat that was generated by that kiss. Ending the kiss he watched her golden eyes glitter with the passion.

Beth removed the headphones and turned her attention to him, questions evident in her gaze.

Her amber gaze always fascinated him and he spent some time looking into her eyes before he asked her a question that caused her to blink.

“Would you have let me make love to you without a fight?”

“Huh? Would that have been before, during or after I’ve asked you if you were out of your fucking mind?”

She gently pulled herself from him and lay back down on the bed, once again letting her head hang over the edge and once again starting to sing along with her CD. “Fat bottom girls, you make the rockin’ world go round.”

“Is that how you usually respond when a man asks you that question?”

Beth blinked at him a few minutes and she reminded him of an owl. She slowly pulled off the headphones and answered him.

“Well fuck, Jon, this is you and me we are talking about.”

“Is it?” He tried to keep his question light. Beth could out swear a sailor and most probably had, but there was something about her aura that unsettled him.

“Fuck, yeah.” Her answer was very matter of fact and she fumbled with the headphones intending to put them on again.

“Beth, what happened today?”

“Oh, fucking everything.”

Jack took a breath in and considered what he was going to do. She was in a rare mood.

“You, uh... kinda seem to have this fascination with a certain word tonight.”

“Fuck?” Beth maneuvered herself back into a sitting position. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

He watched her watching him for a reaction and tried to keep a neutral look on his face.

“What’s the matter, Jon?” She then kneeled onto the mattress in front of him. “Does it make you fucking crazy when I use that fucking word?”

“Elizabeth, what happened here today?”

She sat back on her heels and replied, “Fucking everything.” She then put her headphones back on went back to hanging her head over the mattress.

Jack swiftly pulled the headphones from her head and dropped them on the ground. The he pulled her into a sitting position, but first put his hand over her mouth.

“I’ll let go if you... ” Jack started trying to talk to her in a reasonable tone, until she tightened his grip on her after she tried to lick and nip at his hand. “Cut it out.”

For a minute he saw some devilish amusement in her eyes and then suddenly the tears started. He removed his hand and then used it to wipe the tears away.

“What happened?” he asked her again. “You usually don’t act like this.”

”Fucking act like what?”

And then it hit him. She was drunk. He was surprised that he missed it. She smelled and tasted like Jack Daniel’s and he wondered what kind of mood he was in to miss that she was drunk.

Beth gave a small laugh and looked at him with the tears shimmering in her eyes.

“Whoda thought? Started the day in bed with Jack Daniels and am now about to finish it with Jack O’Neill.”

Jack moved his hands down to hold her upper arms. He had a tight grip on her.

“Lucky I’m drunk, huh?” She tilted her head and regarded him. “But lucky for who, I wonder?”

Jack didn’t answer, he almost felt like he didn’t dare.

Beth continued her perusal of her friend. “Lucky for me? Or lucky for you?”

Jack’s hands reflexively tightened on her upper arms. There was a flare in her eyes when she looked at him and he knew that his own response mirrored hers.

“Yeah,” he thought. “Lucky for who?”

He looked at his hands holding her arms and wondered if he was holding himself from her or holding her away from him. Or maybe a little of both.

“Beth what happened?” His voice took on a smooth and soothing tone. His anger over his fight with Gayle and coming here to find Beth drunk was gone because he saw the raw pain lurking in her eyes.

Beth didn’t drink. Well, no, that wasn’t true. She didn’t drink to the point of being drunk. Not on purpose anyway.

“Hmm! Kind of like you’ll show me yours, if I’ll show you mine?”

“What makes you think I have something to ‘show’?”

“Jon.” Some humor sparkled in the amber depths. “You left Gayle to come look in on a drunk friend?”

He shrugged. “What makes you think I left her to come here?”

Beth leaned forward and took a sniff. “Charlie,” she declared. “The perfume and the body lotion.” She took another sniff. “Funny, I always thought you were an Aqua Velva man.”

The silence stretched. Alcohol can be a funny conductor. Sometimes it can make people so stupid that they believe they can fly. It can make people believe they are so smart that they can outrun a speeding train. It can also heighten sexual desire and sexual awakening. It can’t make something out of nothing, but it can cause the wires that are already live and sparking to be active.

Beth put her hand on his cheek and stroked his face. Jack closed his eyes and just let his body enjoy the sensation of her touching him. They had both put such feelings on hold, knowing that they were there and being so much aware of how connected they were, but deciding that acting on them was not in their best interests. He took her hand and kissed it. It was a lingering kiss and to see him looking back at himself in her eyes almost allowed them both to break that wall they put up. Beth took his hand and started to caress his fingers.

“Your hands always fascinated me, Jon.” She held her palm up against his, to measure how much larger his hand was, how much longer his fingers were than hers. “You have such long fingers. The one thing I really liked about you was your hands.”

“Beth.” Jack’s voice had a gentle tone to it. “What happened here?”

Jack had pulled them both to the head of the bed and sat up against the headboard. Beth leaned against him and wrapped her arms around him while laying her head on his chest. For a while she listened to the steady thump of his heart and felt the regular risings of his chest as he breathed.

“Beth?”

The sound of his saying her name seemed to break the silent wall she had put up and she started to talk.

“I had two not so friendly visits today.”

“All right, all right. Hold your horses. Jeez!” Beth raced up from the lower level of her house to get to the front door. Somebody wanted her to answer the door and do it now.

As she pulled open the door ready to blast the impatient bell ringer, she was stopped in mid-tirade by the vision of a 70 something gentleman dressed in full battle regalia.

Lt. General Adam Greene in the flesh.

“Well blow me down.” Beth thought to herself. “If it isn’t Barnacle Bill the Sailor.”

All she said was “Hi, Dad,” and motioned him to come in.

Adam Greene came in, sat on the recliner and regarded his youngest child. Spoiled. That was the only thought in his head all the way from DC. He spoiled her. David spoiled her. Her brothers spoiled her. Hell, even Jack O’Neill spoiled her.

“You’re spoiled, Elizabeth.”

“Excuse me?”

“That’s your problem. You know that?” It wasn’t a question it was a statement of fact.

Beth sat on the couch across from her father and looked into eyes as amber as her own.

“Dad?” Beth clearly understood her father was trying to make a point, but she failed to see it.

“Things get tough back home and you run away.”

“Things got touchy at home and I changed my environment.”

“You and Ben have a rough patch and you run to Jack O’Neill.”

“Ben is having the rough patch. Did he not tell you that he never wanted to see me again? And what does Jon have to do with any of this.”

Her father regarded her for a minute. “Ben told me that your interaction with O’Neill was one of the reasons that he felt it was necessary to back off.”

Beth laughed. “Back off? Is that what he told you? Back off?” She continued to laugh until she felt that she had no breath left. “He didn’t just back off, Dad. Did he tell you that I went to speak with him?”

Her father harrumphed. “That was a mistake.”

Beth thought that her merriment was at an end, but that started her laughter again. “A mistake? Your interpretation or his explanation?”

“Elizabeth. The fact of the matter is that you had not really had your whole heart in your relationship with Ben. I have to admit your mother and I... ”

“You and Mom? You and mom what? Thought that we would just easily pick up where we left off 30 years ago and forget everything that happened?”

Her father had the grace to blush. “No, I didn’t think you two would just forget, but I did hope that you would marry. All right, Elizabeth. Me, more than your mother hoped that you would marry him. I hoped that you would have married him the first time. And no... ” He decided to tackle the unspoken question. “I adored David. I thought that David Morgan was the finest man alive and was proud to have him as not only my son-in-law, but as my friend.”

Beth’s eyes shined with unshed tears. She knew her father adored David Morgan.

“But Beth, I know you love Ben. I know that he loves you. What happened?”

Beth shook her head. “I don’t know Dad. Things these last two years have just been extremely complicated.

Her father nodded. “Yes, ever since you reconnected with Jack.”

Beth looked at her father. She could feel her blood start to boil.

“Jon.” She tried hard to keep some of the harsh anger she was feeling out of her voice, but didn’t succeed. “Jon had nothing to do with this. Ben and I have trust issues that go beyond whatever other forces you might think would be at play here.”

“You have to admit that things were easier between you before you went to Cheyenne Mountain.”

“Things between Ben and I were never easy. And... ” She paused to center herself. “It was because you and Mom pushed me towards him at that Ball. Did you not consider that I had seen him there before you two did and that I could have walked over on my own?”

Beth stood up and went over to the mantle. She lifted the picture of her family. David, Avi and Gabe. Tears leaked from her eyes.

She turned to her father holding the frame. “I told you that I didn’t want to get involved with anyone…especially Ben. We didn’t actually have an easy time of it when were younger and sometimes even being older doesn’t make things better or right.”

Her father looked into her eyes. He could she shine of pain in them. Whatever else she may have to say about her relationship with Jack O’Neill, Ben Samuels or even David Morgan, when she loved, she loved hard. And he knew she loved Ben Samuels the best of the three of them. Jack moved in and out of life like a revolving door and David was an older man with a steady demeanor that worked well with a woman that had a quicksilver temper and personality. Benjamin Samuels, however, really was the only man that could get her to react and respond like the other two men did not.

“I am sorry, Elizabeth.” Her father went to her and put his arms around her and was gratified to feel her do the same. “I only want you happy and settled and I thought that you and Ben getting back together was meant to be. I see now that whatever held you two apart before still does. I am sorry.”

Adam felt her head rub against him as she nodded.

Holding her back from him he sighed. “Well, I will be here for a few days anyway. I am really here on business and aside from that, I promised George that I would be at his poker game tonight.”

That caused her to laugh. She knew what game the General would be playing. “Oh, so he conned you into a game of Texas Hold ‘Em did he?”

Her father laughed. “Yes he did. And let me tell you, researching that game will give me no edge whatsoever.”

Walking her to the door Adam kissed her forehead. “Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater, Elizabeth.”

“Huh?” was the grunted response. She hugged her father again and watched as he walked down the walk to his rental care and drove away.

Beth realized she was still holding the picture of her ‘boys” and then hugged it to her. The boys didn’t need her as much now and David… well David was gone. And she needed him.

Beth let out a shaky sigh when she finished her narrative about her father’s visit. She lay quietly in Jack’s arms for a minute and then told him of her second visitor.

The anger, frustration, sadness and loss were evident in the story she told and all the listener could do was hold her closer. The visit churned up a lot of emotions in her and Jack could understand how she felt so overwhelmed by them.

“I’ll tell ya Jon, there are days when I feel like the bear has been nibbling away.”

“Come on, put your head on my chest.” Jack pulled her down and raised an eyebrow as she giggled.

“Wow, that is the most interesting come on line I have ever heard.”

She settled herself on his chest and he felt more than heard her breathing start to slow and become the deep and even breathing of someone sleeping.

“Man,” he thought, “She really tied one on.”  

He stroked her curls absently and started to just let his mind go. Where it wandered was someplace it hadn’t been for a while.

“This is so difficult. You don’t seem to understand.”  

The man stood silent watching the woman pace back and forth in front of the large picture window of the motel room.

Her amber colored eyes where shinning. Not with any particular light, but with the tears reflecting off the muted light from the lamp.  

“I just can’t take it anymore, Jon.” He could easily see the pain this conversation was causing her and the price she was paying for it.  

She shook her head and the dark blonde curls bounced slightly with the effort.  

“David…”  

“Is not happy that you came running when I called you.”  

She sighed and turned back to the window.  

“I’m sorry, Beth. I just didn’t know whom else to turn to. Losing Charlie…”  

Beth Greene-Morgan turned back to face him. To face the man that had been everything to her while she was growing up. She loved Jon O’Neill and she probably knew him better than he did himself. Just as he did her.  

Few people understood their bond and even fewer accepted it.  

Jack scrubbed at his head. His eyes were bleary from the exhaustion, the pain and the whiskey.  

He had gone to their house a few days ago drunk and laden with grief and after a day or two registered in a motel, where he continued his drunken binge. His pain had taken control of his mind and of his senses and he knew that he couldn’t drink it away in their house.  

Four days later he called her and begged her to come to him.  

It was pretty easy at first and then she put her arms around him and pulled his head onto her shoulder and that was pretty much all it took.  

Feeling her arms holding him gave him comfort, but it also reminded a small hidden part of his heart about how much he loved her. From that point on instinct took over and overrode his brain. His long fingers covered her cheek and held her head steady as his mouth took possession of hers. He heard her sigh and felt her mouth soften as she, also by instinct returned his kiss. From there it was a short move to lying down on the bed and continuing the mutual exploration of their mouths. His lips left hers and traveled down her throat kissing and licking as he went until he reached the buttons of her blouse. He didn’t think beyond wanting to unbutton the blouse, but the pink nailed hand grasped his and held him.  

Shifting his body he made soothing noises and returned to her mouth. The continued onslaught to their senses soon broke down both defensive barriers. He had, he told himself, only intended to kiss her. He had, he told himself, no intention of putting her in the position where she would be betraying her husband. But old memories and emotions resurfaced and combined with the extreme guilt made what other intentions he had blow away like dust. What she was thinking and feeling, he couldn’t even think about. Wouldn’t even think about. All he was concerned with was her taste and her smell.

It wasn’t long before things had progressed beyond the need to give and receive comfort and he found himself at a point that somehow managed to break through his haze of need and desire and he looked down into her eyes. He saw the mixture of love, desire, and fear and realized that he couldn’t drag her into his pain.

Jack rolled onto his back and threw his right hand over his eyes. Her small sigh held both relief and frustration.

“I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

Beth rolled up onto her right side and looked into his eyes. “I know. Neither did I.”

“Do you hate me?”

The raw pain in the question caused her tears. She shook her head and leaned down and kissed his mouth.

“No.” She stroked his cheek. “I love you. But you really ought to have gone to Sara and talked to her.”

“We…don’t…” He swallowed. “We don’t…didn’t…do the talking thing very well.”

A small laugh. “You mean, you don’t do the ‘talking thing’ very well.”

Jack took her hand and kissed her knuckles. “You really do need to get out of here.”

“Yeah. I think I had better shower first.”

“What are you going to tell David?”

Picking up the towels from his dresser Beth only stared into the mirror.

“I don’t know. I just…” She started to cry and then ran into the bathroom and locked the door.

He felt his heart constrict and knew that her marriage may also be another casualty of Charlie’s death, just like his.

It wasn’t until he spoke with her father and David before the first mission to Abydos that he learned what David had been told and that their marriage survived it.

“She has no sense when it comes to you Jack.” Adam Greene was very angry. “Do you honestly think that by just telling her that you dropped off the face of the earth, she will leave things alone?”

Jack looked into David Morgan’s dark blue eyes could only sigh.

David put his hands on Jack’s shoulders. “She has really has no sense when it comes to you. I suspect that you have none when it comes to her as well.”

Jack’s eyes snapped up. “She can be very clinical when she needs to be Jack.” That told Jack that he knew what had happened and he was about to apologize but David squeezed his shoulders.

“If you want us to tell her you went on a mission and died. Then we will. I think, personally, it is bad idea.”

Jack looked squarely into David’s eyes. “But you’ll do it?”

David stepped back and nodded. Both men looked at her father. Adam Greene was an unhappy General and it showed. Finally he nodded.

“I can get the necessary paperwork to show her. You’re a damn fool O’Neill.” And the big man walked over and pulled Jack into a hug. “I loved you like a son when you were a snot nosed kid hanging around the kitchen. And I still do Jack. Be careful and be safe.”

The big man paced his living room. He considered whether he had worn a hole in the carpet yet. His trip to Colorado Springs was not productive, not productive at all. What he heard and saw gave him no peace. He didn't expect anything different from Jack then what he got. Beth however…it seemed all they managed to do was rile each other up and then walk away. Or maybe in his case run. He absently massaged his nether parts. Her final goodbye to him was made in a straightforward manner. It caused him to smile slightly. She learned her lessons on self-defense from both Jack and himself quite well. As amused as he was by the rather swift and direct attack she had on him, he was still conflicted by all the other emotions he felt when he thought of her.

He had gone to her house to talk. Just to talk. He didn't know that the reason why her front door was unlocked and that she called up to come to the bedroom was that she was expecting Sam and Janet. Not Jack or some other man. His emotions ran the gamut. Anger, because he believed that she was waiting for Jack to come and desire, because he loved her. There was no way he could deny that. The minute he laid eyes on her his body took over. And his heart urged him on. There she was, her curly blonde hair wrapped in a towel and body gloriously naked drying herself in the bathroom. He had come into her bedroom without knocking and surprised her as she drying a leg. The squeal and the slam of the bathroom door gave him the first clue that she was not expecting a man, much less him.

She came raging out of the bathroom with a rather large bath towel wrapped around her and her hair wrapped in another. Then there was the cold blazing fire of two very angry amber eyes.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She was holding her brush almost like a weapon.

"You invited me up here."

"Are you deliberately being obtuse?" She challenged. "I'm not just asking about being up in my bedroom."

"I wanted to talk to you. Your front door was open and you yelled for me to come up. Which was a pretty idiotic thing to do you know." He answered. "I could have been an ax murderer for all you know."

"The only idiotic thing in this house is you, Benjamin Samuels."

Deciding that maybe he needed to back off and soften his presence there Ben pulled back in his tone of voice. Maybe referring to Beth as an idiot was not the best way to facilitate a discussion.

Raising his hands in mute protest Ben tried to explain why he was there. It went badly.

"Excuse me? You forgive me?" She came at him still holding the brush and Ben knew any self-control he had over himself concerning her ended when he grabbed her arm to keep her from smacking him with the brush. The shock of his hand on her arm seemed to cause the dormant flare of desire to ignite in both of them. Almost as quickly as he grabbed her arm he had her pressed against him. There was no mistaking either response to the contact. He could see her desire mirrored his in the sudden softening of the eyes as they turned to molten gold. Not being able to resist his own desires and impulses he took one of his hands and pulled the towel from her head and ran his hand through those tousled curls and then lowered his mouth onto hers. He knew that he was lost the minute he touched her and kissing her seemed to put the breath back in his body. Something he felt that had been missing and as her arms crept around his neck he felt her tongue engage his in battle. It was almost as if there was no barrier of anger or mistrust surrounding them. Only the sensual feel of two bodies striving for the other for wholeness. The moment ended rather abruptly as Ben's ring caught in a tangle of hair and pulled. That single pull brought Beth back to reality and …well…she certainly learned that move quite well. As he sat on the floor trying to get his breath Beth grabbed her towel and held it against her.

"You had better not be here when I get out of this bathroom." And with that, she slammed her way into the room.

Ben breathed his way through getting up and leaving her house. The lesson though was learned. Not that she was angry. Not that she was hurt. It was that whatever there was between them was not done. Not by any stretch of the imagination. The question was, where to go now.

As his mind turned around the encounters he had in Colorado he almost missed the ringing of his phone.

It was reflexive, his answering it. He never stopped to consider who would know that he was home. As far as anyone knew, he was in Europe vacationing. It never occurred to him to just let the machine pick up his calls and let everyone continue believing he was out of the country.

"Hello?" It was a perfectly acceptable tone of voice he used. But it changed with the identifiable voice of his caller.

"Commander…how was Europe?" The metallic quality to the voice and the laughter following the question changed the whole tenor of the conversation.

The caller did not miss the explosive sigh

"What the hell do you want?" Ben was not in the mood for Blue Topaz.

The metallic voice sighed heavily. The drama was not lost on either of them. “Oh Commander..tut tut. It is such a good thing that I like you. For your sake and the sake of those close to you, you are lucky that I like you.”

Ben sat down on his bed. He knew that for whatever reason Blue Topaz did ‘like’ him. Whoever it was, they never failed to come through for him, even providing information for cold cases without comment.

“Okay, what is it?” Ben tried to mellow his tone, but he knew that his source would see through any phony cheerfulness.

“Much better,” the voice rasped. “Much better.”

A metallic sigh came over the line and the voice continued. “You are aware of what happened to you on the Goa’uld ship, yes?”

A slight squeeze to his heart. “Yes.” He didn’t dare say more.

“Good then. Because you need to know that this is far from over. There is much regret over what happened.”

“Regret they were caught?”

“No!” The tone was explosive. “Regret that you and Colonel O’Neill got away. That part of the Colonel that Angra was able to awaken in him was very valuable. They felt that you had the same in you.”

Ben was told about what happened to Jack and how he had this inner person they called the “Hunter” and that it had shown up during the last altercation. What surprised him was what they felt he had in him.

“You are quiet, Commander. Are you truly surprised? You were a SEAL.” Blue Topaz continued. “You’re lack of a reaction shows me that you are aware of what that means. Commander, this is far from over. There were three men involved in this. One is in Alaska and the other in Washington. Where, do you suppose, is the third?”

“Salem Latham?”

“Indeed, Commander. You may look quite high to find him. Quite high. Your friends are still in danger, as are you. Things are not as they seem Commander. You might heed that warning.”

“So what do I do?” The question was out before Ben realized he talked to Blue Topaz as if he were an ally.

“What do you do, Commander?? You go back to your old job and you listen and you learn. She will need you very soon. She is not the link you understand, but a very important piece. They cannot turn her against him, but there are others near them that can be forced against their will. They are not cut out to risk their lives for the others. Be warned, Commander. These are dangerous times and not much room for error.”

Before Ben could say anymore the connection was severed.

Ben wondered who this Blue Topaz was. There were hints, there was too much confidential information that was known, but not enough to pinpoint.

Jack had suggested that it might be a Goa’uld hiding here. Teal’c, the alien that Ben had met and come to respect, had indicated that it was possible. Daniel had reminded them of the Goa’uld named Seth that hid on earth for some time before he was killed by Sam.

He knew now there were only two choices for him: to do as Blue Topaz suggested (yeah right) or to ignore the whole conversation and go on his merry way. Well, what was that word that Jack used concerning some of the situations they were in? Choiceless? Yeah, that was the word, choiceless. He knew there was only one thing he could do. He looked at the phone that was still in his hand. He had yielded to temptation once and tried to trace back a call he received from Blue Topaz. To no surprise at all, there was no way to do it. The call had been bounced around so many servers, it could have come from Mars and there would be no way to prove it.

Jack was sitting at his desk working on bills when his phone started ringing.

The ringing sound seemed to sound a warning tone as Jack’s number rang. 

“O’Neill.” 

“Jack, Ben. We need to talk. Now.” 

Jack looked thoughtfully at the phone. What Ben told him was no surprise to him, but it did concern him. More than concern, though. 

“I suppose things are going to get interesting now.” 

“That, Jack, is an understatement that I really didn’t need to hear.” 

Jack took a breath and tried to not snap at the man on the other end of the phone. “Ben,” Jack said evenly, “I’m sorry that you felt my comment was an understatement. However, you seriously need to listen to what I have to say.” 

Jack closed his eyes and counted before he continued. “We have been dealing with this threat for some time now. It isn’t the first or the last time that we have come across the Goa’uld on earth and whatever else we may or may not like, there it is.” 

Jack heard Ben sigh. “What is it that Blue Topaz wants you to do?” 

“Rejoin Jag. The Admiral would be very happy to have me back.” 

“Maybe you should do it then.” 

The silence on the other end didn’t last long. “I’m not really sure if that is a viable option….” 

Ben remembered a conversation he had with a former colleague about that very same issue. 

“I hear a ‘but’ in there.” Jack pushed a little. 

“Yeah, I hear a ‘but’ in there too, Jack.” 

Jack could almost hear Ben’s brain working and the old joke about the gears going through the motions flashed through his brain. Finally he heard a sigh, almost one of surrender. 

“You know, Jack, sometimes I wonder just how high up Blue Topaz’ contacts go. Some of the things I get told…” Ben was fighting it. He did have other irons in the fire, plenty of private firms courting him, plenty of opportunities to head out on his own. However, the JAG Corp kept calling him back. There was a certain challenge in the JAG Corp that tickled his intellect and challenged his soul. He issued another sigh. “Guess I will contact the Admiral and let him know.” 

“Probably a smart move on your part, Samuels.” 

“I suppose there are smarter moves I can make, but concerning Blue Topaz, I am not sure there is much that can be done. We still don’t know much about this character.” 

The conversation ended on that note. Jack was also deeply disturbed by what Ben had said. Salem Latham was the wild card in all of this. Kinsey was a slippery bastard, but at least they knew where he was. Gordon? Poor Harris Gordon was a small time dupe and a big time fool. It was Latham he needed to be worried about. Latham had a past history with his Major. He had to have some stake in whatever plans were afoot concerning her. Damn…but he hated this helpless feeling, hated the fact that his obligation to his position warred so violently with his emotional need to protect. 

Jack walked to his kitchen and grabbed a beer from the fridge and then sat at the small table there. It was some time later when he looked that the bottle of unopened warm beer in his hands and the remains of the label on the table top that he realized his brain just kept mulling the same question over and over. 

Angra was still alive. Si’Serra was still alive. Molem…he was also still alive. And he was more dangerous to them then the other two. 

Jack couldn’t even begin to think about the amount of damage that was done to the Aschen Empire. 

If they hadn’t found out in time. If they hadn’t been able to stop the Aschen. Jack didn’t even want to think about those consequences. He could only imagine how bad it would become based on the bloodstained note his future self sent them. The hate in Molem’s eyes when they found him to be one of the plotters on the Goa’uld mothership almost scorched Jack. They were in for one hell of a ride if the Aschen had been able to have completed their plan. 

He thought about that and the picture he found and wondered how it got there. Somebody had to have know where they were going and when. And that somebody had to be involved with the SGC in order to do that. That Somebody was a somebody very involved in the program and with their lives.

The petite dark haired woman sat quietly in the chair. She knew that if she moved, it would be worth her life. A blindfold ensured that she wouldn’t see the features of the man slowly walking around her living room.

“You have done quite well my dear. He might not be entirely under your spell, but it serves our purpose well enough.”

The visitor wandered around the room picking up and looking at the bottoms of the various collectibles scattered around the room.

“But you are going to really have to step up soon. He is…” and the visitor laughed here.”…a man of honor. And soon he is going to have to make a decision and we have ensure that it is the right one.” 

Her voice shook as she informed her visitor that he was a tough man to pin down. “I cannot get him to commit.” 

“You are turning into a shrew my dear. He may care for you, but if you do not get back to being the ‘fun loving’ woman he met, he will walk out that door. You have not pushed him to that point yet, but…” 

The figure looked at the woman. She was not supposed to get that emotionally involved. Not at the beginning. When it came obvious that her feelings were well and truly engaged as well, they had thought to use that and bind him to her. That way she would have control over him. They underestimated his character. Most men, when their libido was involved, followed it. This man, this man had too much honor. But then, that he was so focused on his missions that he would not allow distractions is what made him both desirable and dangerous. 

“Stop harping about her. Befriend her if you have too. You work in the same place. Try and convince them that you understand. You cannot show the jealousy anymore my dear. He is far too sensitive to that and might, in his mistakenly honorable way, walk away rather than cause you anymore pain.” 

The voice stopped for a few minutes. “You may take off the blindfold after you hear the front door slam. Do not be so foolish as to try it earlier, I will know.” And then he was gone.  

It was some time before she moved. The door slam came almost instantaneously with his comment. It was the fear that kept her immobile. She didn’t want to think about what he had said or truthfully what he had not said. It was worth her life to not fail.

The man in the shadows was not smiling as he left the town house of the other pawn.

Things were not going as smoothly as they had wished. Control was the orders. The two were to control the enemy. They were to entrap them with emotions and sensations and draw them away from the team in order to weaken them. They had not planned on how strong they were individually.

The footsteps rang out on the long hallway of the Mothership. The Goa’uld was tall. And as such his head almost brushed the roof of the hallway he was in. He was too wound up in thoughts to think about trying not to bump his head as he headed towards the meeting room.

His sources on the Tau’ri homeworld told him that there were problems with the two that they recruited to spy on Colonel O’Neill and Major Carter. It was not good, they told him, the two were too strong, too independent and too loyal. Emotional entanglements only went so far with them and both subjects were starting to get annoyed with their lovers. They had been cautioned to stop being so “difficult” and be more accepting and positive and carefree-but Si’Serra had guessed that their affections had been well and truly engaged as well. That was not something they had considered. For all they looked and acted like the Tau’ri-they were not and it was starting to show.

The End for Now...

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