Sam slowly opened her eyes. It hadn't been a dream. No, scratch that, it hadn't been a nightmare. This was very real. Carefully, she drew breath, remembering the blows the Jaffa soldiers had given her. Her ribs felt fine, which was a good sign. Other than a slight headache, she didn't feel any pain.
The Colonel.
"Sir?" she whispered as loud as she dared. If they were still around she didn't want to let them know she was awake.
"I'm here. You OK?" he whispered back.
"I think so."
"So... When do you think room service shows up?"
Sam laughed slightly. "Are you OK, sir?"
"A slight headache, but I'm fine."
"You too?"
Sam was aware of someone moving beside her. It was then that she realised that she hadn't actually moved. She was still staring up at the ceiling. If it was a ceiling. There wasn't enough to light to tell.
"Carter?"
His voice was low, he'd moved beside her.
"Sir?"
"Excuse me while I get up close and personal," he laughed softly.
Sam felt his hand run through her hair, round the back of her neck, then round the outline of her face. When he found what he was looking for, Sam realised what was causing her headache.
"Is that...?" she asked.
"One of those damn memory devices. I've got one too."
"Apophis?" she asked, pulling herself into a sitting position.
"I'm guessing he's still around."
"So what now, sir?"
He didn't get a chance to reply as the door to whatever cell they were in slid open, and three guards entered.
"Room service?" Sam asked quietly.
*****
/Kneel before your god,/ Apophis boomed.
"We've been over this," Jack said. "I've got bad knees."
/We are in no mood for your jokes, Tauri. You will tell us what we need to know./
"Again, I don't think so."
Apophis reached out his arm, and an energy pulse was emitted from the Goa'uld bracelet. Instead of feeling a crippling pain, Sam and Jack felt a sharp shock from the recall devices embedded in their temples.
/You will learn the power of your gods./
With a nod, a Jaffa guard pulled out his Zat, and discharged a single shot at Sam. With a soft cry, she collapsed to the floor, and Jack was a second behind her.
"What was that?" he gasped.
/You are connected. One will not tell us what we want to know, but we have observed you will do anything to save the life of your companion./
"The recall devices, sir," Sam gasped as she regained her composure. "They must be transmitting feelings, sensations."
"So when you got shot, that's what I felt?" he asked, helping her off the floor.
/Tell me the code to open your iris,/ Apophis demanded.
"I'm hopeless with numbers," Jack said.
Jack soon learnt that his smart answers earned Sam a good beating. Every blow, he felt as if he'd received it himself.
*****
Apophis soon tired of getting nowhere, and ordered his prisoners returned to their cell.
"You OK, Carter?" Jack gasped. He felt like hell, and he knew she was feeling the same.
"Just fine, sir," she replied with a thin smile on her lips.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. You couldn't tell him anything."
"All the same, I'm sorry."
"It's OK, sir."
Sam couldn't move, and didn't want to. She lay there, staring at the ceiling, trying to ignore the pain building in her left leg. She couldn't remember if she's taken the physical blow, or the Colonel had, but it hurt just the same.
"This is not good," she heard him say.
"Been in worse," she replied. "Iraq was hell, all the torture..."
"Carter, you weren't in Iraq," Jack said.
"I know," she replied, sitting up. "But... I remember it. Being captured..."
"Where?"
"What?"
"Where were you captured?"
"I... I don't remember exactly. I was hit, in the jungle, about five clicks from the river..."
"Carter, that's exactly what happened to me."
"I remember it though."
"Apophis said we were linked. How linked?"
"The recall devices are intended to work on the memory. It's possible that during the modifications Apophis made to them that he enhanced the recall ability."
"He's linked our memories?"
"Possibly."
"So, think of something. Remember something," he said.
"Like what?"
"I don't know. Your first impression of me was that I was demanding?" he said.
"I guess that proves that theory," Sam muttered, and lay back on the floor.
"It's inappropriate to think of your CO in that way, Major," he chided.
"You're going to Court Martial me for my thoughts?"
"Why not?" he laughed, lying beside her.
"I'll have to keep an eye out for some blackmail material of my own, then," she laughed.
"Good luck, Major," Jack laughed.
Lying in silence, they could feel the link between their memories getting stronger. The odd image from the other's past floated between them. Jack felt Sam fall asleep beside him and the sense of calm helped him to sleep too.
*****
The second time Apophis summoned them, he decided to inflict his torture on Sam. He knew his enemy; this Tauri would not stand to watch someone being tortured in his place. He would also know the pain they were inflicting on this woman.
/Tell me!/ he demanded.
"Leave her alone!" Jack yelled as he felt the blow delivered across Sam's back.
/Why?/
"Carter!" he called out to her. He wished that he could get to her, but being chained to the opposite wall prevented that. There was nothing he could do to help her. He could feel her pain, her discomfort. He wanted to block it out, think of something better.
*****
"Dad!"
*****
His mind threw up Charlie almost immediately. Without thinking about it, he smiled. Better times. A split second later he felt Sam's mind relax. As soon as she shot him a look, he knew she'd felt it too.
That was it. Turn Apophis's device against him.
*****
Sam wasn't on Apophis's ship anymore. She was, but in her mind, she was in a back yard somewhere, sometime. It wasn't her memory, she knew that. He was doing this to protect her.
Charlie tottered across the lawn towards her. He couldn't have been more than eighteen months, still unsteady on his feet, but with the confidence of being able to walk. She picked him up in her arms, and kissed him, and loved him, and was happy.
He could do this; work through the pain, focus on something else. It was what he had been trained to do. And he was using it as her lifeline.
*****
"My lord," one of the guards said. "Her endorphin levels are rising."
/What?/
"I believe she is... happy, my lord."
/How is this possible?/
"Him," the guard said, pointing a finger at Jack.
/Bring him./
*****
Sam found herself wrenched from the back yard, and flung into a cell in Iraq. Jack's memory had changed.
She couldn't get out.
*****
/You have great pain in your past, human,/ Apophis spat, holding Jack up against the wall, hand on his neck. /You will remember./
"Not a chance in hell," Jack croaked as he struggled to breathe.
/You will remember, and she will experience. A side effect we had not considered./
"I won't put her through that."
/We think you will./
*****
There was blood on her hands.
Charlie's blood. It was everywhere. Sara was screaming in the corner and Sam... no, Jack yelled at her to call 911. Sam held her son, and spoke to him softly, telling him not to let go.
She cradled her only child, her son, until the paramedics arrived.
*****
/Tell us everything, and you will spare her./
"No," Jack whispered.
Angered, Apophis threw him across the room. Crashing against the wall, Jack took a second to assess his own injuries before hauling himself across the floor to where Sam lay. Rolling her onto her back, he fixed his gaze with her unseeing one.
His hands shaking, he checked for a pulse, and ghed gently as he found one. She was still with him, but where was her mind?
/There is more,/ Apophis said, outstretching his hand.
*****
Sam was in a cell that was little more than a box. Four bars practically covered the only window to the place, letting in little daylight.
It stank. The air was heavy with scents and moisture, and Sam couldn't breathe. This wasn't real, she told herself. It was just his memory of it. She wasn't going through this.
A wave of pain slammed through her from nowhere, and she dropped to her knees on the filthy floor.
He was still being tortured. Apophis was doing this to get at her, to break him.
"Hang on, sir," she whispered to herself, and hoped he heard her.
*****
/You will die here, human,/ Apophis growled, his arm out for the kill.
"I don't think so," Jack heard another voice speak.
Tired and in agony, he couldn't speak or see anything beyond Apophis's body collapsing in front of him.
Then he closed his eyes and passed out.
"Good morning, Jack," Daniel said as Jack slowly opened his eyes.
"I do not believe it is morning, Daniel Jackson."
"It's an expression, Teal'c, Jack groaned as he tried to sit up.
"Nice to have you back," Daniel said.
"What took you so long?"
"Jacob got lost," Daniel smiled.
"Jacob?"
"He and Anise told us you'd been captured by Apophis. The four of us got you out of there."
"How?"
"Good old fashioned stubborness," Daniel smiled. "Hammond wanted to send a couple of teams, but it was easier sneaking up on Apophis when there were only a few of us."
"Carter?" he whispered.
"Major Carter is in a state of shock from which she cannot be roused," Teal'c said.
"I need to see her."
"Jack, you can barely sit up!" Daniel protested. "Plus we need to get those recall devices off."
"No. Don't. It's important," added, seeing the look of confusion on his friend's face.
*****
"Sammie?"
Jacob gently wiped his daughter's fevered brow. It had been almost a day since they'd pulled them from Apophis's ship, and there had been no change. Every now and then she'd blink, and Jacob was sure she knew where she was, but there was no proof.
"Jacob," Jack acknowledged as he leant against the doorframe. "I hear I owe you thanks."
"What did he do to you two?"
"Apophis connected our minds with those damn push button things. He meant it to connect our senses, but he ended up connecting our memories," Jack explained.
"I don't understand," Anise said. "Why would such a thing cause Major Carter's condition?"
"He forced my to think about what it was like in Iraq," Jack said. "And when Charlie died," he added quietly.
"He put hell into Sam's mind," Daniel realised.
"I can get her out, I know I can," Jack said.
Limping over to where she lay, he took her hand, and gently stroked her cheek.
"Sam?" he asked.
*****
"What?" she replied.
"Hey there."
"Hey yourself."
She was curled up in the corner of the cell furthest away from the door. Iraq was exactly like he remembered it, and it was unnerving being here again.
"This isn't real, Carter."
"Feels it."
"No, this is just a memory."
"Yours. I know."
"It's over. Your dad's here."
"I know."
"Then why are you still here?"
"Protecting you."
"How?" he asked, sitting beside her.
*****
"This," she said, looking at the spot where they had found Charlie. The gun was still lying where he'd dropped it.
"I don't understand."
"You were ready to tell Apophis. I know. I felt it. You wanted to save me."
"Sam..."
"It's OK. I'm surprised you lasted as long as you did. I know you felt what I was going through."
"I know what you were going through. I went through it."
"Apophis used that against you. Against me. I can't let him do that."
"You are not my weakness, Sam."
"Yes, I am."
"Sam..."
*****
They sat on the edge of the ramp leading up to the Stargate. In front of them she cradled Martouf, watched by the Tok'ra High Council, and her friends.
"I thought this would be the worst I felt. After Mom that is," she said.
*****
"Nice cookies," Jack mused, as he watched the young Sam sob her heart out over the news.
"He knew this, he knew what I went through."
"It's over, we can deal with this."
"Sir, I've already dealt with this. I'm over losing Mom, Martouf, you..."
*****
"Me?"
Jack looked round. They were no longer in Sam's house, but her lab. The other her was working on the beam thingy that they used to get him back from Edora.
"Losing you was hell."
"I didn't realise," he said.
"Apophis did," Sam said simply. "I've dealt with this, but the feeling of the moment never goes away, does it?"
"No," Jack agreed.
"If I'm in here, he can't use me. He can't get to you, to us."
"It's over, Sam. We're safe."
"So Apophis is never going to come after us again? We're safe from every Goa'uld out there? It's never going to be over, Jack."
"Yes it is."
"In here, I know how it feels. It hurts, but it's better than adding all new kinds of hell."
"What about everything else?" Jack demanded. "There's some good stuff out there too."
"Like what?" she asked.
"This."
*****
"You're resigning? What for?" Sam asked.
"So I can do... this..."
Sam felt the kiss, remembered what it felt like. The shock, the surprise, the feeling of his lips on hers, the way her stomach flipped.
When he turned her and dipped her, she was happy to lie in his arms, trusting him not to let her fall. Her hand held the back of his neck softly, not for support, but to let him know that she was a willing participant.
"There's too much good out there to just let go, Sam," Jack whispered.
*****
"Dad?"
Sam's eyes lit up with recognition before filling with tears. After hugging Jacob, she turned her gaze to Jack who was still beside her.
"It's over, Sam," he whispered.
"Thank you, sir," she replied.
"You know what I say. Never leave a man behind."
"No, sir," she smiled.
Jack slipped his arms round her waist, and allowed her to establish how close the hug would be. Sam's arms wrapped themselves tightly round his neck, and hung on for dear life.
That suited him just fine.
Fin.
Latent Memory by Jen
Story Notes: Email: angel_812000@yahoo.com
Warnings: slight H/C theme
Archive: SJ, Helio, and anyone else who wants it! Just let me know...
Spoilers: Cold Lazarus, Jolinar's Memories, The Devil You Know, Divide and Conquer, Window of Opportunity, A Matter of Time, Children of the Gods, Hundred Days
Notes: this had better read OK, as I'm editing it and putting it in my Writing Project for Uni! Many thanks to Nell for pointing out a huge hole in the orginal draft!
Warnings: slight H/C theme
Archive: SJ, Helio, and anyone else who wants it! Just let me know...
Spoilers: Cold Lazarus, Jolinar's Memories, The Devil You Know, Divide and Conquer, Window of Opportunity, A Matter of Time, Children of the Gods, Hundred Days
Notes: this had better read OK, as I'm editing it and putting it in my Writing Project for Uni! Many thanks to Nell for pointing out a huge hole in the orginal draft!
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]