Title: In the Middle

Rating: It will become R

Summary: SG-1 meets goes to planet that is very much like Earth

Spoilers: Basic knowledge

Archive: SJD yes

Disclaimer: Not mine don't sue me!

AN: I really hope no one is offended by the subject that this story will follow. I don't know why I decided to write about it, other than I just did. I know a lot about what happened. And sometimes it's hard not to think about it. Well, here it goes…

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5:19.

Well, that's a rather… odd time to wake up suddenly in the morning. Sam looked over at her alarm clock, squinting to see it properly after just waking.

"Ugh…" she muttered as she fell back on her bed. She put her hands over her face and rubbed her eyes after a second. She had to get up in another eleven minutes, no reason to go back to sleep.

"Might as well just get up now and get some coffee for once," she drowsily said to herself as she rolled over and waited for her alarm to go off in ten minutes.

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"Goooooooood morning everyone! I hope you had a good night's sleep!" Jack announced as he walked in to the mess hall. He walked closer, then clapped and rubbed his hands together with a bright smile. Sam and Daniel just looked at him over their identical glasses of coffee.

"You seem most, exuberant O'Neill," Teal'c stated next to Daniel.

"Why not? The birds are chirping, the sun is shining,"

"Mrs. Manki finally moved out didn't she?" Sam asked. They knew the situation.

"The woman was a nuisance! `Oh Mr. O'Neill! I brought your paper to your door step! Oh Mr. O'Neill! I see you haven't been home lately! Oh Mr. O'Neill! I see that you haven't been on a date in a long long time. Might I suggest my daughter?" Sam and Daniel laughed into their cups hearing Jack do his best impersonation of her, winding his voice high into mockery. Teal'c even cracked a crooked grin.

"I actually think she liked you," Daniel stated, looking over his notes. Sam grinned again while Jack became flustered.

"What's that?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"The notes for today's de-briefing. I thought you read them," Daniel said.

"What? Oh, yeah, yeah sure did. I was just testing you." He slumped into his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. It even looked like he was sticking out his bottom lip out a little bit.

"Well people let's get this de-briefing done and over with," he announced after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Where's the fire Jack?"

"No fire. Just want to go, you know?"

"Is there a storm coming?" Teal'c asked.

"No…" Sam said in confusion.

"Well then O'Neill, perhaps the birds have all established a case of sudden laryngitis?" He simply raised his eyebrow to meet Jack's squinted eyes. Sam just laughed into her cup again.

"Ha ha!" With that, he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room.

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"We sent a MALP to P5X-484, and we found nothing out of the ordinary. Just some trees for Jack and soil for Sam." Daniel was standing at the head of the table, giving the gist of the mission. Jack had heard enough of them to not have to listen to Daniel.

"SG-1, you have a go." With that, everyone stood, except for Jack.

"What? That's it? No three hour long ramblings?" he asked, holding his hand in the air like a valley-girl.

"No. Is that ok with you? Cause I could if you wanted me to," he started. Jack jumped off of his seat and held his hands out in front of him.

"No no no! That's alright! Don't worry about me! See you guy in a half hour!" he yelled behind his shoulder as he was running out of the door.

"You have to teach me how to do that Daniel," Sam said as she stood stunned.

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"See anything interesting?" Jack asked as everyone else started working. He liked his job; he just made sure everyone else was doing something. How simple…

"We're good for 48 hours off world, Jack. I suggest that we start heading down the path in front of the `gate." Daniel involuntarily pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and squinted, looking straight forward. Jack glanced around to see if there were any objections.

Seeing none, he shrugged and walked forward off of the stone platform that every Stargate seemed to appear on. The four started their journey casually, making easy talk or just being silent. Until Teal'c heard something.

"Teal'c?" Jack asked, sensing him go tense.

"I hear something in the distance." He swiveled his head around, trying to see anything coming.

"Can you make it out?" Sam asked, tightening her grip on her P-90.

"It sounds like, engines," Daniel said. They could all hear it now. They all put their backs together, trying to cover each other's backs. In front of Sam a jeep pulled out, followed by three others. It looked remarkably like ones made on Earth. The people in the Jeep held guns pointed at SG-1. It was a stand off as the other jeeps continued to circle the team.

"Put your weapons down!" someone called from the first jeep.

"You put yours down!" Jack yelled back.

"I don't think so! You're outnumbered here. Put `em down!" Sensing that they weren't going to win the situation right away, Jack grimaced as he lowered his gun and put his hands up. His team immediately imitated his actions. They were roughly shoved into on of the last jeeps and taken away through the trees.

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"How did you get here?" one of the leaders asked. They were all led into a room that looked very Earthy-military. There were maps on the walls and guns on the table, which surprised everyone. They never ran into guns before. There were five men in the room, all wearing the same light brown-tan color outfit. Teal'c noticed the banner on their arms right away. It was a dark green band with a white symbol on it. He couldn't make it out yet.

"Through the Stargate," Jack replied. `Wow, was that me not being sarcastic?'

"What business do you have here?" They were all shoved on their knees in a row, and the man questioning them moved forward. He brought a chair with him and sat down in front of them. Two men behind them held guns defensively incase they tried to escape.

"We are simple explorers, searching out civilizations like our own. And by your technology, yours has come the closest." Daniel had taken notice of everything.

"Whose side are you on?" The four were silent for a moment.

"Side of…" Jack lead on.

"The CC."

"CC?"

"Of the Continental Conflict. Don't play stupid with us. We have better things to do with our time." The man interrogating them stood up off of the chair he was sitting on.

"We aren't playing stupid! We really don't know what the fight is about! We aren't from this world!" Daniel's voice quickened with excitement and desire for the man to understand what they were talking about.

"Yes, we have had allies and enemies come through the `gate. Now, which are you?" He was done playing games. He shoved the chair to the ground and pulled a gun out from the back of his pants and aimed at the group.

"Yours if you put the gun down!" Jack yelled.

"Tell me the truth or she gets it!" he yelled as he loomed over Sam grabbed her head from behind, pointing the gun at her temple.

"We're telling you the truth! We don't know anything! We could be you allies! You seem to be closely related to us! This could be a great opportunity!" Daniel sputtered out. Sam tried not to wince as his grip tightened.

"Or you can blow it and shoot her," O'Neill warned with a growl. The man seemed to weigh his words closely, and put the gun down and shoved Sam back to the ground.

"Take them to a holding room. I'll talk to them later," he said to the two men behind them. After getting hauled to their feet, they were lead through a military camp to a holding room.

"Does this look familiar to anyone?" Jack asked after he was shoved in and thanked his captors for the lovely service.

"It looks like, Earth. Military. Us. This is something we would set up. The colors are a little lighter, but the tents, the beds, everything is the same." Sam was looking around the room as she spoke, taking in everything.

"I wonder what the global conflict is," Daniel thought out loud as he started to look around with same. "Continental conflict Daniel, *continental*," Jack corrected.

"Did anyone see the symbol worn on the armband?" Teal'c finally said.

"I did. I saw it up close and personal when that guy had me at gun point. It was a white "M" with a white circle around it. I don't know what it means yet." She sat down on a bunk and dropped her head into her hands.

"Their technology is much like that of the Earth's military, O'Neill." Teal'c took as second to look around the room.

"Yeah, I noticed that. Jeeps, guns, it's all weird." He sat next to Sam and mimicked her movements.

"On your feet!" Someone yelled as the door was shoved open. Everyone jumped to attention, waiting for, well, something to happen. No one knew just yet what to expect from their sibling planet. The same man who interrogated them before marched into their shack, splitting the team into to with Daniel and Teal'c on one side and Sam and Jack on the other.

"What brings you here?" he asked, looking at no one.

"We're explorers from a distant planet, trying to meet new races of people," Daniel tried again.

"What side are you on?"

"Side of what?" Jack tried again.

"Stop this bullshit! I want to know now! Who do you serve? Khnum or Mentu?" he yelled at them.

"We serve no one, as you serve a false god!" Teal'c announced to the man. He became more and more passionate every time he announced that to someone new.

"Toss them in!" he yelled back over his shoulder to the men waiting outside. They were forced out of the tent, and manhandled to a different section of the camp. That part was obviously the prison.

Barbed wire marked the sections between camp and prison, with people on both sides. They noticed train tracks as they passed above them, especially since Daniel almost fell on them. The officers were clearly distinguished from the prisoners. The officers were clean, with nice tan uniforms on, while the prisoners had black rags on. Jack even saw a few of them smoking cigars.

But that wasn't what made his stomach want to get rid of everything.

A prisoner was hanging from the entranceway. And he knew that they hung him. As a warning to the other prisoners not to screw up. They made an example of him.

"Learn from it," one of the guards said as he laughed.

They were led through the prison, and made to see the injustices that were happening. There were guards at every new barrack, just waiting for someone to screw up. The people, woman and children included, tip-toed past them. Teal'c couldn't remember the last time he saw people this afraid of their captors on this large of a scale.

They were led into a new facility and given the same black clothes as everyone else; black pants that were too large, but had a draw string on them, and a black top. Some shoddy shoes clung to their feet. After they changed into their new garments, they were led into a new room and forced to sit in chairs. Someone came up behind Jack, Daniel, and Sam, but left Teal'c alone for a moment. The new people cut as much hair off of them as possible.

Daniel was laughing inside, thinking, `Well at least they didn't get that much hair!' It was a small victory, but he needed one right now.

After they had their hair cut, they were led into a barracks, where they were told that would be their place to sleep. No one paid too much attention to them at first.

"They're probably too afraid to say anything to the new people right now," Jack said out loud, thinking the same thing as the other people.

"Daniel, do you remember the two names of the Goul'ds in this fight?" Sam asked as she sat down on a bunk.

"Um, yeah. Mentu, Egyptian God of War and Sun, and Khnum, old Egyptian God of creation."

"Any idea as to why they're fighting?" Jack asked.

"If I remember correctly, they both shared a wife, Menhit. And, Menhit and Khnum had a child, Heka, who stood for all magic, supernatural powers and miracles and was patron of wizards and physicians." Daniel sat down and leaned back.

"So, why are they fighting?"

"I have no idea."

"Does any of this seem familiar to anyone?" Sam asked.

"What? Being imprisoned against our will, not being believed that we don't want to start trouble, the horrible living conditions…. Yeah it kinda rings a bell." He had hoped to at least get a rise out of her. Nada.

"It's like World War II," Daniel said. She only nodded.

"Wadda mean?"

"Continental Conflict? This prison? It's nothing more than a concentration camp! I wouldn't be surprised if we were forced to work tomorrow," Sam said, her voice trying to not elevate to draw attention.

"But I'm not Jewish!"

"That's not the point. There were more people who were imprisoned that just Jews. There were Communists, homosexuals, mentally handicapped people, anyone else who opposed their `god' was thrown in," Daniel rambled.

"Are you calling me a Russian?!" Jack squeaked out, audibly offended.

"No Jack! What I'm saying is, this is their form of a world war. Half these people have probably done nothing more than believe something different than they were supposed to." Everyone was sitting down again, and needed a moment of silence. Everything just needed to sink in.

"Jesus Christ," Jack murmured into his hands.

"This isn't good," Sam said.

"And we're stuck," Jack said.

"Right in the middle of it all."

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Their day was Hell. If they thought Netu was bad, they didn't know what as coming. They had been `woken up' about two hours after the arrived at their barrack, but then they realized they never fell asleep in the first place. Then, it was off to work.

Teal'c, Jack and Daniel were all taken to the loading docks, and worked their butts off. They loaded and unloaded supplies for the military off of the trains and moved them into the right place. No one seemed willing to befriend them yet, but some people weren't as terrified of them as the night before.

Sam was forced into her worst nightmare ever. Give her a good fight any day, someone to take on. Even give her some physical labor; that she could deal with. But sewing? That was horrible!

She had to sew materials for the army. Their blankets, their uniforms, anything they needed. It was horrible. She would rather work in a munitions factory. With any hope, she thought, I'll get transferred. Since she was a sewing novice, the other women helped her as much as possible. They were almost frightened that she didn't know how to use a sewing machine that well.

As soon as their work day was over, everyone was allowed back to their barracks to eat and rest for the next day.

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"So how was the train station?" Sam asked as she broke off a piece of stale bread.

"Exhausting…." Daniel replied as he flopped back onto a bed. The barracks were made up of two sets of fifteen rows of bunk beds, three beds high. Teal'c had the highest one, Daniel had the middle, and Jack and Sam both had two bottom bunks. She had the bottom of a different bunk than the three guys. Daniel and Jack were sitting on Jack's bed, while Sam and Teal'c were sitting on her bed.

"It was indeed tiring, but I have endured worse." Teal'c was eating his small portion of bread as well.

"Yeah, it was bad, but probably not as bad as sewing all day," Jack replied sarcastically. He was a tad touchy that she only had to sew all day, while they had hours of harboring labor.

"Hey! Switch jobs with me any day! Lord knows I can't sew! I always manage to screw the machine up, or lose the thread through the needle. I would rather be with you guys," she stammered back defensively. Jack felt a little guilty about his earlier remark.

"Yeah, I know Carter. And don't worry, I wish you were too. Sewing is easy! If you're using a needle to sew, just double-loop the thread through the eye of the needle. That way, it's twice as hard to lose it." All three of his teammates just looked at him with disbelief.

"You know how to sew Jack?" Daniel asked, obviously flabbergasted, as he lowered the piece of bread he just grabbed.

"Hey, I had a kid once before. You don't think those holes in clothes sew themselves, do you?" he said, eating the last of his bread serving for the day.

"It was a little odd though, the other women were almost nervous when they realized I couldn't sew," Sam said.

"Well that makes sense. If their guards were anything like the Nazi guards of our World War II, if you have no use to them, then there's no reason for you to, ah, how to put it nicely." Daniel started matter-of-a-fact-ly, but couldn't finish his sentence.

"Be alive in there presence," she finished for him. The team just sat for a silent second, taking in how hard it must be to survive here.

"I guess I'll try harder tomorrow. I just feel bad because you guys have all of the hard work and I sew." She shook her head.

"Think nothing of it. Easy. Piece of cake. No problema," Jack started as he took his turn to slump back onto the bed with his arms around his head.

"Was there anything learned about the feud itself?" Teal'c asked.

"I managed to talk to someone, I think his name is Held. He works in the same area of unloading as me. He didn't seem too afraid to talk to me. Right now, we're in a work prison of Mentu, who was married to Menhit, which I did have right. Now, Menhit was also married to Khnum, and they had a child called Heka."

"Yeah, we know this already Daniel," Jack groaned from under his arms.

"Like I was saying, Mentu now considers Khnum his enemy because he thinks Heka is his."

"So it's all about the paternity?" Sam asked.

"Well, almost. Mentu also think that Menhit's marriage to Khnum was meaningless and unaccountable. So, if that's true, then Heka means nothing and deserves death."

"And I thought I had a hard time with my father as a kid," Sam muttered.

"So basically they're dealing with a lose-lose situation."

"And we're stuck here. How do we get out of her Daniel?" Jack asked impatiently.

"I don't know Jack; I've been here as long as you. Do you know how to get out of here?"

"Hey! As long as we are here, we need to keep our cool. And keep a cover going. Some people might be a little stand-offish if they knew that we aren't one of them," Sam interrupted.

"I concur. These people may not like the idea of outsiders intruding on what little bit of home they have," Teal'c said.

"So, cover story?"

"We were traveling outside of our town to find a safer place to stay and were captured?" Sam offered.

"Works for me." Jack grunted as he turned over.

"We've been gone for thirty six hours now, another day, day and a half at the least; they should be sending someone through." Daniel got up and hopped onto his bed. Teal'c bowed his head at Sam, and climbed up the bed from the foot side, and climbed in as well.

"Don't let the bed bugs bite," Jack sluggishly said as everyone tucked themselves in for a horrible night's sleep.

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Jack noticed Daniel talking to someone, and decided to join him. They had about two minutes before the next train arrived, so they had a moment to breathe. After smacking Teal'c on the arm, they were both off to see his new friend.

"Daniel," Jack said, getting his attention. Daniel's head snapped towards him in mid-sentence.

"Jack, Teal'c, this is Held. He's been here a while." The new men nodded to each other.

"Held was just giving me some survival tips. For instance, see him?" Daniel pointed to the guard near them. He was adorned with many metals and had a hat on that covered his face. "That's Juest, Mentu's second in command."

"Or first prime," Teal'c said quietly. Daniel just nodded.

"Be careful of him. He will look for things to punish you." Held just shook his head in disgust as he spit on the ground, trying to re-fresh his mouth from the nasty taste in it. Juest looked over at the group and smiled. It was one of the most evil smiles Jack had seen in a long time. He was just waiting to see eyes glow.

The break ended about a half hour when they saw the UAV fly over them. Many of the workers were too busy to notice it, but SG-1 had been waiting for it to come through. When it turned in a circle to get a better picture of what was happening below it and send its findings back to the SGC, most of the workers noticed it.

"Plane! It's Lord Khnum coming for us! He has not forgot about us!" they heard many people cry. Everyone stopped and dropped what they were doing, raising their hands above their heads and waved them, trying to capture the UAV's attention. SG-1 was sure that Hammond would send teams through soon enough. They just had to hold on.

Then, it started.

The guards were scurrying out of whatever hole the had been living in with their guns ready for action. They started screaming for everyone to return to work, to forget the mysterious flying contraption above them, that it wasn't from their false lord. And when the people refused to listen, the shooting started.

Forty yards from where the stood they heard screaming… women screaming. All of the train men looked over and saw all of the sewing women looking out of the window of the building where they worked right as the shooting started.

The guards were shooting at the women first, not even bothering with the men.

Some of the women even whipped their heads, the disbelief and distraught shown in their eyes. They were frozen for a moment, not knowing what to do. Jack scanned the crowd to see Sam, but she was lost in the crowd of rushing women. A few more shots rang out, and a few more bodies fell to the ground.

The guards started hording everyone back to their barracks like cattle. People were being shoved, hit, kicked, shoved. Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c all managed to stay together, but they couldn't find Sam. All of the women were being held behind, which made SG-1 uneasy. They didn't like the sound of that at all. Sam was a good solider, a kick ass soldier. They knew she could handle herself for the most part. But after what they saw today, they were still nervous.

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"Where is your friend?" Held asked as soon as they were back in the barracks. He was in the same barracks as them. Daniel felt better, knowing someone who they worked with and stayed with. It was better to have allies; that he learned a LONG time ago.

"Who, Sam?" Daniel asked back.

"Yes, the one with the blond hair."

"She isn't here yet I'm guessing."

"What's wrong with that? What are they going to do her?" Jack asked, stepping forward to see Held. He was about the same size as Daniel, but with shaggy black hair. Everyone, except for Teal'c, stood with their arms crossed. Teal'c was his usual stoic self.

"I'm not sure if this is true, but I heard they kept the women behind for a reason." He leaned closer and looked around as if he were trying to keep a special secret.

"And what would that reason be?" Jack asked nervously.

"I'm not sure. It could be for anything. I hope that it's not what you're thinking."

"Thanks Held," Daniel said as Held walked away. Jack sighed and ran his hands through his hair as he walked to his bed to sit down. Teal'c watched him with a raised eyebrow, and then followed. Daniel followed suit.

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"Sam! Where have you been! It's been four hours!" Daniel was the first to spot her coming near them. She looked uneasy; her eyes were looking all around her as if she were watching for someone to come after her. It almost looked like she was in shock.

"Carter! What the hell happened!?" Jack yelled as he jumped up and grabbed her arms. She winced and removed herself from his grasp by twisting her arms away.

"Jesus Sam, what did they do to you?" Daniel's voice was quite with concern as he saw her eyes well up with tears. She put her left arm close to her chest and covered it by putting her right hand on her left shoulder. Confusion overran her face for a moment before realization hit her eyes.

"Oh god, no, nothing like that. No no, no. I didn't get, no. That didn't happen." She shook her head as if trying to shake the thought out of her head.

"What happened? Why are you cradling your arm? Did someone hurt you?" Jack ran his hands down her arms, looking for any injuries.

`Standard military procedure, keep telling yourself that Jack," he thought to himself. So help him god, if they did anything to hurt anyone on his team…

"No, I'm fine, really." She shook her head at him, trying to reassure him.

"Sam what is it? What did they do to your arm?" Jack asked, calling her bluff. How many times did they do that, say they were fine but nearly end up dying because of their stupid pride?

She was shocked by her first name for a moment and just looked at him. They only used their first names when something bad was going down, and they needed to all know what was going on to make a correct assessment of the situation. Or when someone was dead. And all of SG-1 was there, so that couldn't be it. Or, he just could be plain worried about her. Looking at her feet, Sam slowly raised the sleeve of her shirt. On the inside of her arm above her elbow, they saw what she was upset about.

"He marked you," Daniel stated, the surprise evident in his voice. It was the same symbol that Mentu's soldiers wore on their armbands. Now, it was on Sam, forever.

"After what happened today, he didn't want any of the women to get a false hope that something could happen, so he… burnt this into us so we wouldn't forget who we belonged to." She shivered as she finished the sentence. Quickly, she rolled down the sleeve of her shirt over the tarnish on her skin. She squeezed between Jack and Daniel and passed Teal'c, wanting just to get away from everyone. Teal'c just watched her with a sympathetic face, knowing exactly what she was going through.

"I will have a discussion with MajorCarter tomorrow," he simply stated as soon as she was out of range getting food for herself. The other two men just nodded, to shocked to even say anything at the moment.

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Sam didn't say anything to anyone for the rest of the evening, or for the following morning for that matter. What happened to her was something she could never forget for the rest of her life, regardless of how hard she tried. Even if she tried drugs (not that she'd actually consider it, but thinking isn't any harm, right?), there would always be that, big, blurry, undeniable blotch on her arm to remind her that she was actually there when they burned it into her, and for at least a little while, she belonged to someone.

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It had been a long, insufferable day at 'work'. The women's camp was quiet; the insistent chatter had vanished, and been replaced with looks of surrender of the situation. The men for the most part had also been quite. Everyone wanted to know what the strange machine was that flew above them the day before was, but no one wanted to suffer the wraith of Juest. They all saw what he was capable of yesterday. After trudging back to the barracks, Teal'c knew it was time for him to talk to her.

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"MajorCarter." Teal'c was standing next to Sam, who was sitting slumped on her bed, pouting, but not wanting anyone to know it. She was tough, she could deal with it. She could just shove it deep down inside with her mother's death; the issues she never ever dealt with. She turned her head minutely and looked at him.

"Teal'c. What can I do for you?"

"May I sit down?" She nodded, and he took a spot directly next to her, nearly touching but careful to leave her enough space.

"What's up?" Her voice was scruffy, and sounded like she had just been thinking.

"When I first became a Jaffa for Apophis, I was full of pride of my achievement. But that was not good enough, not at that time. I wanted more, I needed more. I participated in many battles, hoping that I was making my lord proud of my work. There was not a challenge I would not accept. When I was rewarded the status of his first prime, I thought my life's achievement was fulfilled. I was never prouder than when I was allowed to bare the golden mark of Apophis." Sam had never really heard him talk this way, and was eager to oblige and listen.

"That was until I realized what my false god was capable of. Murdering innocent women and children, posing as a god, and enslaving generations of my people. Now, everyday when I see myself in a mirror, I am reminded of what I was a part of. I will never escape that." He stopped talking for a minute to let everything he said sink in for her. When she realized, her eyes went wide and she looked away from him. After a second, she responded.

"How do you deal with it?" she asked so quietly that she thought maybe he wouldn't have heard her.

Silly her, this is Teal'c she was talking to.

"I admit, at first it was not easy. I wished more than anything that I could remove the golden emblem. But after time passed, I channeled the negative thoughts into those that were positive. I no longer consider the symbol one that I abhor, rather than one I admire. I consider it a marking of the fight against the Gou'uld. And when we are victorious, I hope the other rebel Jaffa fell the same way as I do about it." Sam listened and smiled. Whenever Teal'c would talk about something he felt passionate about, he had a glow to him. Kind of like the glow a pregnant woman has, except he wasn't a woman. And Junior was already all grown up and moved out into an apartment of his own, so to say.

"Thank you, Teal'c." She put her hand on his forearm, and he rested his hand on her thigh. They shared a smile that was uniquely one they had to themselves; appreciation, understanding, courage, dependence. She knew it was going to take a while, but she would cope with it. She had her family to cope. Who knows, maybe next time she needed a heart to heart she could ask Daniel where the obsession with coffee started.

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Sam felt better the next morning after talking to Teal'c. She knew it would be difficult, but hey, she was Sam, she could do anything.

"Morning," she muttered at Daniel, Jack and Teal'c who were all already up and alert, sitting on Jack's bed eating their `food' when she returned with her own. Teal'c moved over to her bed to give some room to Jack and Daniel.

"Good morning everyone. Just to let you know, there's a bug going around camp. Just be careful who you come into contact with and try to stay warm." SG-1 looked over to see Held standing at the foot of the bunk beds.

"Good morning Held. Thanks for the warning. Has anyone gotten sick yet?" Daniel asked.

"There were a few cases in a different set of barracks, but nothing too bad yet. But it's one of those bugs where they get you down and out for the count. And that can't happen." They were shocked by the seriousness in his stance.

"What would happen if someone gets sick?" Jack asked.

"Well, they are basically out of commission for a few days, but for these miktas, that's a few days too many."

"They'll kill whoever is too sick to work," Sam summed up for him.

"Exactly." "Wow. Thanks again for the warning," Daniel said, his voice evidence of his shock.

"No problem. See you three at the trains," he said with a wave and went on his way.

"You heard the man. Everyone try to be as, um, un-sick as possible." Jack went back to his eating.

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"So, Teal'c. What do you think happened?" Jack, Daniel and Teal'c were all working away from the others today. Maybe Luck was starting to return to them.

"Please specify O'Neill."

"With the UAV."

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot about that! Yeah what do you think happened?" Daniel piped in.

"Normally, General Hammond would send through two or more SG teams to assess the situation if he felt it safe," Teal'c answered.

"Right. But the real question is, do you think he felt it was safe enough for anyone to come through?" Daniel asked.

"Dunno. Hope so!" he grunted out as he threw a sack to its rightful place.

"I guess we'll have to listen for signs." Jack nodded to Daniel. He took a second to look up at the sweltering sun and squinted at it as he rubbed the back of his neck. He couldn't believe how cold it was outside even though the sun was scorching down on them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They were working for two more hours before they heard the song of freedom. The sounds of distant gunfire were engulfing the entire train station, reverberating off of the trains, echoing as if the battle was happening right in front of them. The workers came running from every direction once again, but more cautious as not to make a fray like last time. They all hated the thought of someone else dying because of their curiosity.

"And the sign is here! This is our chance! Teal'c, you and I are going to try to see if the SG teams out there. Daniel, you nab Carter and get the hell back here!" Without waiting for Daniel or Teal'c to say anything, Jack was off running, confidant his friend was right behind him. They didn't question his methods when it came to situations like these anymore, which made his job ten times easier. Maybe Daniel's goal in life wasn't to give him a life sucking ulcer…

Without weapons, Jack felt a little nervous. It was almost like going into a room to give a speech without clothes on. They ran crouched to the ground through the trains to the edge of the station, and positioned themselves so they could see through the gate to see what was happening. There was one guard right by the gate, not paying attention to his behind. He was looking through the gate, letting his gun sway back and forth in his posture.

Using the hand signals they knew, Jack told Teal'c that they were both going to take him down and take his gun away from him. Jack snuck to the right of the guard, while Teal'c snuck left. When the time was appropriate, Jack jumped up.

"Hey! How are ya doin?" he yelled up, scaring the guard. The guard took a second to react to the surprise, and pointed his rifle at Jack. But before he had a chance to shoot it, Teal'c came from behind him and hit him in the back of the head with his two fists together, swinging from the left to the right. The guard slumped over, and Jack grabbed his gun before it hit the ground.

"Thank you!" he quipped as he and Teal'c ran towards the gate. They both picked a side of the gate, trying to discern what the best way out was.

"O'Neill, should we not return for DanielJackson and MajorCarter?" Teal'c whispered to him. The gunfire was getting closer, and they hopped that meant that the SG teams were also getting closer. The escape would be a tight one, but they've been through worse.

"You just read my mind, T." They both turned on their heels and ran the same way out they came in. After making good time, they decided to run the rest of the way. The guards seemed too preoccupied with the SG teams outside.

"Stop! Don't move!" they heard from behind them. They both stopped, annoyance running over their faces.

"Drop the weapon! Slowly!" Jack obeyed the command and slowly put the rifle on the ground.

"Arms up! Turn around! What the hell do you two think you're doing?" In tangent, they put their arms up and turned around. Teal'c waited for Jack to answer.

"We saw a guard lying on the ground over there and we were going to take his weapon to someone of authority. Good thing you found us!" Jack yelled. He wasn't too sarcastic; he hopped that the guard was stupid enough to believe him.

"Right." Guess not.

"Those two, right there! They're the ones!" the group heard from the distance. The guard they took down together was running with other guards towards them, rubbing the back of his head. There was a small cluster of guards around them now, all pointing their guns.

"Fools! Did you think you could get away with this?" One of the guards took aim at Teal'c, ready to shoot him.

"No! Don't shoot him yet. It might be more fun to hang `em," one of the guards called out.

`Oh great, I always wanted to get hanged!' Jack thought to himself. Teal'c and he were manhandled all the way to a building then shoved inside. After climbing three flights of stairs, their adrenaline rushes were starting to die off. They entered a room where handcuffs with chains attached were dangling from the ceiling.

"Ready for your hanging today?" one of the guards laughed as he shoved them towards the center of the room. Two chairs were set up beneath two pairs of the handcuffs.

"Get on." They already knew that this was going to be bad, so they obeyed carefully so they didn't make it any worse. After getting on the chairs, the guards put their arms in the handcuffs behind their backs. After a moment, the chairs were ripped away from under their feet and they fell. Trying to grunt away the pain, they adjusted to their new area after a minute.

"I always hated getting hog tied and getting hung from a ceiling," Jack mumbled under his breath.

This was going to be a long day for the both of them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Damn it Daniel sit down!" Sam finally yelled. He was pacing between the two bunk beds, which didn't give him much room. Sam was sitting down on her bed, resting her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. And every time Daniel would pass, he'd bump her knee which would set off a chain reaction of her head falling and causing her spine to seizure.

"Sorry Sam! I'm just so… they should've been here by now! Something happened!" His hands flew all over the area. It almost looked like he was an ancient magician casting a spell to bring back his friends.

"I know Daniel. Trust me I know. But there isn't anything we can do about it right now." He plopped down next to her and sighed, taking the same position she was in a few minutes earlier.

"How can you be so calm about this?" he asked, taking in a breath and blowing it right back out.

"Training, and lots of it." She took a second to look at him, really look at him, for the first time that day.

"I can feel your eyes burning on me Sam," he drawled.

"How long have you felt sick?"

"Don't. I feel fine. Never felt better in my life."

"You should really leave the whole, `I'm fine, on my Girl Scout honor!' thing to me Daniel, cause you really suck at lying."

"You were a Girl Scout? I can see you in the cute little green beret!"

"I didn't have the beret, thank you, and stop trying to change the subject." She was now using her `don't talk back to me or I'll kick your butt' tone of voice with him. He let out a sigh before he retorted.

"A day or so."

"A day or so!? Why didn't you say anything Daniel!"

"Cause I didn't want you to freak out," he lead on.

"Freak out? I'm not freaking out! Why didn't you say something Daniel" She was standing next to him now, flapping her arms like a drowning bird.

"Please Sam, stop." She looked at him, hard.

"You don't look so great Daniel." She squatted next to him and spoke softly. She ran a hand through his hair and noticed how hard he was sweating.

"Thanks. Well, I didn't want to say anything either, but you should try some new make up." The sarcasm was forced. He was sick, and she knew it.

"Come on, you've got to try to get some sleep." She gently urged him to stand, and he climbed up into his bed. Making sure he was tightly tucked in, she took one last look at his appearance. He was sweaty, very pale, and almost looked in pain.

"Thanks Mom," he muttered.

"Maybe if you're nicer to me tomorrow, I'll let you watch ten more minutes of TV." After she was satisfied with him, she sat back down on her bed and began the torturous task of waiting for her comrades to come back to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was some commotion going on when Sam looked up. Joining everyone else, she stood up and looked behind her, trying to see who was coming in. Being dragged in by two guards each were both of her fallen comrades, heads hanging.

"God, sir, Teal'c! What happened?" The guards threw them on the floor near their bed. Held automatically ran over to help her. He put Jack into his bed, while Sam put Teal'c in hers. There was no way he was going to be able to climb up to his.

"Guards thought it was a nice day for a hangin'," Jack muttered into his pillow. He was just laying there, face down, not moving. And much to her dismay, Teal'c was doing the same thing.

"What do you mean hanging?" The worried mother hen look in her eyes could not escape them.

"One of the guard's punishments is to take prisoners and hang them from their hands behind their back from about 15 feet above the ground for an undisclosed amount of time." Held stood and looked at Jack and Teal'c with sympathy.

"Sounds like you've had some experience yourself."

"Just a little," he said as he nodded, trying not to go back there in his mind.

"Just be happy they didn't kill you, sir."

"Yeah. Carter! What happened to the SG team that came through?" His voice rose with excitement.

"Those weren't your teams. They were mine." Held beamed.

"What?"

"My leader Khnum was trying to free us! He knows what we are forced to do in here, and he does not like it."

"Sure, it was your leader," Jack managed out before he passed into slumber.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

God his body hurt! His arms felt like he had, well, they felt like he'd been hanging from his hands tied behind his back!

"Ugh…" he groaned out then next day. He fell asleep in the same position Held managed to lay his body down in.

"Teal'c!" he called out, seeing if his friend was ok.

"O'Neill, are you well?" came the baritone reply. He looked like he woke up only a few minutes before he did, and had just sat up.

"Yeah, just peachy. Feel like running a marathon." He didn't hold back any of the groans when he sat up. He noticed the sun was high in the sky.

"Shit! We aren't at the railroad tracks!" He nearly jumped out of his skin, not wanting to be late. He couldn't take another punishment again any time soon.

"Do not worry, O'Neill. Today the men had off." Held stood next to him, put his hand on his shoulder, and gently ushered him to sit down.

"Why do them men not have to work today?" Teal'c asked.

"I guess there's going to be a choosing soon."

"Ah, choosing? I guess that doesn't mean like choosing a dress that matches shoes or anything like that, does it?"

"No."

"Where's Carter?" His tone was harsh, his team had been messed with, and he'd be damned if they got compromised.

"She's a woman. She had to go to the choosing."

"What must they choose?" Teal'c asked.

"Juest is searching for a new house maid. It isn't a job Sam would likely enjoy." They just sat there for a moment, taking everything in.

"Like hell she's gonna get that job."

"Where is DanielJackson?" Jack burrowed his eyebrows. Where was Daniel?

"I'm up here," came his weak reply. Teal'c raised his eyebrow to Jack, and the two slowly stood up and took in Daniel's form.

"Daniel."

"Jack."

"So, guess playing out in the rain wasn't such a great idea."

"Guess not."

"Daniel, why didn't you say anything?" Jack was trying to act annoyed, but he couldn't help but let some worry into his voice. This was bad.

"I thought it wasn't anything too bad. And I feel better than yesterday, which is good. I have the rest of the day today to rest up and feel better. And, at the trains, I'll just let you pick up my slack," he said with a cocky smile.

"Yeah you won't. Just, sleep for now. We'll wake you up when there's something to eat." Jack pat Daniel's arm before he slunk back down onto his own bunk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Teal'c was the first to see the women to start to come back. Many of the men were standing up, looking for their own. Teal'c watched for Sam, craning his neck around and above different people. Sam just walked past the other women to her group, looking less-than- amused.

"So? What happened? What's going on?" Jack assaulted her with questions as soon as she reached her bunk. She looked nervous, and like she could actually go for a marathon at that moment.

"Well we all lined up so Juest could `see which one looked housey'. He just picked the girls that he thought were attractive. He only picked about ten of us out of the entire group. Then, he told us that we had to come back tonight and he would make his final decision." She started drumming her fingers on her leg.

"That's not good," Held said.

"Yeah, I know. I've heard."

"What's not good?"

"Just think about it sir. You've seen Schindler's List, hopefully. You know what kind of things go on for female house 'guests'." She couldn't resist doing the air parenthesis. He just silently mouthed "Oh" to her.

"What are you going to do?" Teal'c asked.

"I don't know. I don't plan on being picked, I can't get picked." She ran her hands through her hair and fluffed it.

"I do." The three looked at Held, who spoke with such confidence.

"What?"

"Well, just look what you did. Your hair. It's light, it's yellow. No one's hair is like that around here. Differences are bad. And your face, it's beautiful. He'll remember that. I can fix it. But we can't do it here." He started to walk out of the barracks, and they all followed except a sleeping Daniel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We have to WHAT?" Jack asked incredulously.

"Well, if you want the full effects to work you do."

"I won't do it. I can't do it."

"Nor will I."

"Then I will."

Without warning, Held punched Sam in the face, knocking her backwards. Jack and Teal'c automatically jumped forward to help her, but they knew it needed to be done. Held's theory was that if they gave her a few bruises and other stuff to make her less unattractive, Juest would just pass over her. Jack thought it might actually work. Sam let out a cry of surprise, and recovered just as quickly. As soon as she had her footing, Held landed a left hook to her jaw line. Sam held her fists down by her side, knowing she could hit back. He backhanded her mouth, and she took a second to regain her stance and wipe the blood off with the back of her hand. With one final blow to her right eye, Held stopped.

"That's enough. I'm sorry Sam, I really didn't want to." She only nodded at him. Yeah she was mad, but not at him.

"What else do we have to do?" she asked apprehensively.

"It isn't as bad. Let's go."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They walked to where they received water, and grabbed as much as they could. Then, they went outside to where the men worked. Held dumped the water and started mixing it to create mud.

"Here, lay down on the ground on your back." She did as requested. All three started to wash her hair in the mud.

"Are you laughing Carter?" Jack asked.

"I'm sorry sir! It's just that, well, I feel like I'm in a salon and you three are my hairdressers!" With that, her quite chuckles grew into full fledged belly laughs. Jack just smiled at her, and thought how nice it would be to wash her hair without the mud, or even just to run his hands through it….

`Nope! Not here!' he scolded himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well, you look, well, not so nice?" Jack offered.

"Who are you kidding? I look horrible!" And she did. Her face was swollen and almost blue, and her hair looked a nasty shade of brown. She saw bits and pieces of what she looked like in the water, but it was no mirror.

"Was that not the desired effect, MajorCarter?" Teal'c asked.

"Yeah, it sure was. Well, wish me ugly thoughts!" she said cheerily. With a half smile, she turned away from her friends and went to face her captor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack was sure that if he had a clock in front of him, the minute hand would be traveling backwards at the moment. He couldn't stand it any longer! He was sitting down on his bunk, and Teal'c on Sam's, since he couldn't climb onto his own just yet. Flopping backwards, Jack let out an audible groan that ended as a sigh.

"If you concentrate on the time, then it will seem as if the time is occurring slowly." Teal'c just looked at the man in question, trying to help ease his worries.

"Yeah yeah yeah, I know I know. Well what else is there to talk about?"

"Do you no longer watch hockey, O'Neill?"

"Yeah, hockey season is way over Teal'c." Jack put his hands over his face.

"Yeah, even I knew that one," came the quiet retort from Daniel above.

"Hey! What did I tell you! Get sleep!" Jack pointed to the top of his bunk, which was the bottom of Daniel's and used his commanding voice.

"Yes sir…"

"So, nice weather we were having at home before we left."

"Indeed. Although I heard that it would become colder after a few weeks passed."

"Yeah, just as long as the snow isn't too bad again this year. Last year, that was nuts."

"I do not leave the base often, so I could not pass judgment on that." Teal'c's little bit about `passing judgment' set him off.

"Oh for crying out loud! Here we are, discussing the weather, and Carter's getting judged as we speak!" he yelled, his aggravated tone not helping anyone else. Held had been watching the conversation between Jack and Teal'c with much interest, sitting next to Teal'c.

"Well, not so much anymore sir." Jack snapped up, his eyes wide in surprise.

"Carter! You're here! You didn't get picked! I'm guessing…" he started.

"No sir, you did a bang up job of ugly-fying me. Thanks." Her humor was almost forced. She was a little shaken by the situation, which was completely understandable. She waltzed right in front of him, and checked on Daniel.

"God Sam, when I said you looked bad before, I didn't even imagine…. You look horrible," he told her, trying to crack a joke.

"Why thank you Daniel! When we get home, maybe you can give me some of your makeup you use and I can be just as glamorous as you. Now, cut the crap. How do you feel?" She ran a hand through his hair and tried to see if he still had a fever. His forehead was actually quite a bit cooler.

"Much better. But if you guys would just let me sleep…" he rambled.

"Yeah, I'm sure that they were keeping you up out of spite," she answered back sarcastically, giving him a smile.

"As long as I'm not the only one who knows now," he whispered back, as if their conspiracy was a complete secret from everyone.

"Get some sleep, Daniel." He was already dozing off by the time she said it. She moved away from him, and sat down next to Jack.

"So, how did it go?" Jack asked quietly, so quietly in fact she wouldn't be surprised if he called her Sam any time soon.

"Well I'm still here. I didn't get chosen, I didn't get chosen…" she mumbled off to her self, her words becoming quieter each time they were spoken. She rested her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands.

"Thank God for that," Jack murmured, and gently rubbed her back. She was scared. Hell he was scared for her! There was no way she was going to get chosen, even if it meant beating her up to guaranty that.

"What was the process like?" Teal'c asked.

"They started off by lining us up in a line like they did before. I think some other people had the same idea as we did, and some of the other girls had bruises and were plenty dirty for Juest. He didn't find it amusing at all."

*********************************************************************************************

"Are you ladies ready to serve your lord?" one of the lesser guards asked.

`If I had a nickel every time I heard that,' Sam thought to herself.

"What happened to half of you! Did you plan to deceive your lord?" Juest yelled. Obviously, he noticed that some of the women looked horrible as well. Only, Sam didn't got over board like some of the others did. For instance, her hair looked like it was dirty, not that someone had clearly tried to create a dingy look. Some of them still had mud chunks hanging out. And their faces were still so swollen that she doubted that some of the women could see clearly.

`Yep, overly done.' Sam could help but think back to her high school dances, and making fun of the girls who looked like clowns. And then, when their foundation would rub off into their dresses, oh lord. She never understood why the girls would do that either.

"Why would you do that to your lord? Lie to me? Guards, I want all of the fake offenders taken to the house, the decision will be made there!" With that said, he stalked away from the women.

Sam was terrified. Did they know she was cheating? The women, who had previously been kneeling in front of `their lord', were on their feet, screaming. They were running around between the guards. Sam thought for sure that the guards would get so annoyed with them they'd shoot all of the women. The guards were snatching the lairs, one by one. The women knew right then and there, they would never see anyone else again. They would die that night.

"If you don't want to come, you leave now!" Without needing further instructions, Sam ran. She couldn't believe that she wasn't picked, that they didn't think she faked it. She ran as fast as she could back to the barracks.

*********************************************************************************************

"Holy crap." Everyone had been listening carefully for the last few minutes as Sam told her story. Jack didn't care anymore. He put his arm around her shoulders and let her know he was there. He was terrified for her. She leaned it, taking all of the comfort she could find right now.

"One thing is not clear, MajorCarter."

"What's that Teal`c?" She didn't move from her spot to talk to him.

"You said the guards referred to Juest as their lord."

"Yes."

"That is not their lord. Their lord would be Khnum, but as they are in Mentu's work camp, then Juest would be Mentu's first prime. Juest referred to himself as their lord." Sam sat up at the revelation.

"I guess he did. I wonder what that's all about."

"Perhaps Juest is planning to over throw Mentu?" Held suggested, speaking for the first time.

"Maybe, but I don't think I want to be around here when it does." Jack's face was very solemn, very serious. They had to get out of there, and soon. But the real question was, how?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daniel, Jack, and Teal'c all felt like they were dying at their first day back at work. They all decided not to let anyone else know that Daniel was sick, and Daniel had to keep up the guise that he wasn't. He wasn't as sick as the day before, he managed to get rid of most of the fever, but his body still left like it had been hit by a truck, and then run over by a car while he was lying in the road.

Jack and Teal'c were still unbelievably sore. Their arms and shoulders ached with every movement, and having to lift large sacks and move them around wasn't helping them much. That, and they had to help Daniel out every so often. He was still a lot weaker than them, and they didn't want anyone to notice it. They could just imagine what Daniel was going through.

Sam left her disguise on. The mud in her hair was starting to become hard, but not too bad yet. And there wasn't much she could do about her swollen face. She didn't want any of the guards to notice that she looked different than last night. Some of the other women she recognized from last night shared sympathetic looks with each other. They were all terrified last night, they could've all died. And no one brought up those who did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Teal'c, I've been thinking about what you said last night, about the whole, `Claiming to be a lord' thingy". They were back in the barracks after their hard day's labor. Daniel was laying down on his bed, paying attention and trying to rest at the same time. Held and Jack were sitting on his bed eating, while Teal'c and Sam sat on hers.

"And what was your conclusion?"

"I think that Held was right. Juest was claiming to be our lord, not serving his lord. I think there's going to be a coup, and we're going to be," she started.

"In the middle," Jack finished.

"You agree sir?"

"I do. I've been thinking about it too."

"As do I."

"So, back to the original question. How do we get out of here?" Held asked.

"Well, we could just wait for another attack and then try to escape then. But wait, Jack, that didn't work too well last time did it?" Daniel asked from above, raising his voice for everyone to hear.

"Yeah, maybe next time you can go and try to make contact. Isn't that in your job description?" Jack shot back, even louder.

"Hey! If something here is going to happen, we need to stay calm and quiet, and work together!" Sam yelled in a whisper, trying to get her team back together.

"Now is not the time to have a disagreement," Teal'c agreed. Jack just rolled his eyes before turning his full attention to what he did best; get out of jail. He just wished he has his card this time.

"Well, hopefully Khnum's troops will attack again sometime soon," Held offered, trying to break the awkward silence.

"Held, I find it most interesting that you do not refer to him as your lord., Teal'c offered.

"I may have lived where many people believed that Khnum is a god, but I was not one of them. Many of these people in here do not necessarily believe it. There is more than one reason for Mentu to throw people in here. You, yourselves, you do not believe that Khnum is a god, yet you are in here. Anyone who opposed Mentu, for any reason what so ever, was thrown in here to rot or die." The spitefulness dripped off of each and every word he spoke. He hated the Gou'uld as much as they did.

"This entire situation, it just isn't right," Daniel muttered from above.

"Daniel, you once told me your world went through this once before. What happened at the end?" Held asked.

"Ok, wow, sum up WWII very quickly. Well, basically Hitler, the leader of the enemy, realized that he was going to loose the war and killed himself. The allies, our side, liberated the camps the prisoners were being held in and tried to save as many people as possible, but some people were walking skeletons. Then, after the war was officially over, a group of leaders put the war criminals, the Nazi's, on trial for the horrors and crimes they committed.

"How many people were killed?"

"All together, about 50 million people," Daniel replied with a sigh.

"Did any of the people manage to escape?"

"Well, many of the Jews managed to hide in attacks or basements in the houses of people who wanted to help. Other's managed to sneak kids off of the trains through vents, or some even managed to forge papers, saying they were allowed to leave the camp and just never returned."

"So, not so easy," Jack offered, listening closely to Daniel.

"No, not so easy." Daniel laid back down.

"I don't know sir. I can't think of anything." Sam sounded defeated.

"What? You? Not being able to think? I'm shocked Major. Just don't worry about it. It'll come when you're not worrying about it." Jack added the fake shock and perched his hand over his heart. He was hoping that it would make her smile, and he was slightly rewarded, but he knew she was doing it so he would feel better. Even know, in the worst of times, she was doing it for him.

"Yes sir."

"Why don't we go to sleep early today? Everyone's had a rough day. Go on, hit the sack." Held rose and bid the team good-night, and Jack laid down and stretched on the bed. Teal'c nodded at them, and climbed up to his bed, not wanting to use Sam's again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack awoke to someone tossing and turning in their sleep. He looked over to see Sam turn over again and again in her sleep. After a moment she seemed to stop, and Jack was going to try to sleep again, if possible. He closed his eyes, and he felt himself slipping away, ever so slowly, falling into the safe, warm, depth of sleep, where he knew he was protected from any harm. Just as he almost forgot the pain in his shoulders, he heard her turn and smack her hand against the side of her bed that made a very loud clanking noise that fully woke him up again.

Grumbling to himself, he ever-so-quietly made his way out of bed. Just because he couldn't sleep doesn't mean the other kids didn't have to wake up, he thought. He sat on the side of her bed, debating on whether or not to wake her. After watching her for a moment, he decided she was alright. As he was about to stand up to go back to his bed, she whipped in her sleep, and the back of her hand whacked his upper thigh and let out a "SMACK!" Her eyes jerked open, surprised with the sound and the contact.

"Sir!" she whispered loudly, not wanting to wake anyone else. He sat for a moment, noticing that she never moved her hand from his thigh. 'If this was a different situation…' he thought grimly to himself.

"Carter! Uh, you kept me up." His words were fast to hear and spouted out of his mouth.

"Um, sorry?" she offered, obviously confused?

"Uh, yeah. You were tossing and turning, I thought I'd wake you up," he offered. He saw her raise her eyebrow, then saw where her hand was on his leg. She lifted it as if it was on a hot stove.

"Sorry, sir." She laid back down so she was flat on her back. After interlacing her fingers and laying them over she ribcage, she looked out of the corners of her eyes and saw her CO, still sitting where she saw him, looking at him.

"Was there something I could help you with?" she asked slowly, starting to feel uneasy.

"Are you ok?" he asked quickly.

"Sure, I'm great."

"Bad dream?"

"Doesn't everyone get them?" she countered. She knew he had to have had his fair share.

"Yeah, usually when something happens." She never replied to his starter, so he continued. "Did something happen?" His voice was deep and quiet, full of concern.

"Oh, other than getting stuck here, having to sew everyday, getting branded, getting beaten up, and nearly being picked to be someone's slave, then no, nothings happened." Her face was completely un- readable. Stone cold and stoic.

"You need some more girlfriends, Carter. You're starting to act like all of us."

"Oh, and now you're insulting me!" she nearly yelled, turning her head away from him.

"Shh! Keep it down!" he hissed. "No, I didn't mean it like that Carter. You've become like us."

"What? Manly? Do I have hair growing on my chest? Or what about on my upper lip? Am I starting to lose my hair in a U shape on my head?" She turned to look at him again. Her voice was the same as if she were asking, "What color is the sky? What's two plus two?" Incredulous, but it got the point across.

"No. You're becoming hard. It's just, I don't know. Daniel's always been Daniel. All whiney and stuff. `What about the grass Jack? We can't kill the grass! It has feelings too!'" His voice was high and whiney, his hands flapping in the air, making fun of Daniel. "And Teal'c, he'll do whatever it takes to do anything. I think he takes guilt better than I do. Which brings us to me. I'm the dark, shady one, who gives out the horrendous orders that you hate. You, you're the good one. You know the line between me and Daniel, you can call either one of us on a situation. Now, you're becoming more like me and Teal'c."

She sat up half way through his speech, feeling awkward laying down with him talking to her. She sat through his dedication, almost shocked by his words. And she couldn't help what happened next. She turned her head away for a second, and tried to cover up her smile with her hand, but it didn't work. Her silent laughing sent her body moving up and down, and he noticed it.

"What?" he asked, obviously offended.

"Oh, god no sir it isn't you! It's just that two minutes ago, I was asleep, and now, I just sat through one of the deepest conversations I've ever had with you. It's just crazy. Sorry. I don't know. I just guess this place is getting to me," she stammered out quickly. The laughing wasn't meant to be offensive…. His eyes softened after the last sentence.

"Completely understandable Carter." After that, the two just fell into silence. For a bit. Actually, Sam was starting to wonder what the deal was. She was kinda tired.

"Are you ok sir?" she finally asked.

"Sure, I'm great," he mimicked. "This place just kinda makes me hate the military," he added, which shocked her.

"What? You are the military," she reminded him.

"I know, but there are some parts of the job that really suck. War, killing people, giving crappy orders, regulations, you know, stuff like that." He had to look at her for that one word.

"Yeah, they really do." They just shared a look for a moment. It wasn't lustful, or even desire. Just acceptance of what they did - or didn't - share.

"You know what part I hate the most?" she asked him. He just shook his head no, a little nervous. He knew he started it, but he didn't know what else he could say.

"They stopped taco Tuesdays in the mess hall a few weeks ago." She had such a serious look on her face for a moment, he didn't know what to do. After she smiled at him, one of her smiles for him, he laughed with her.

"Try to get some sleep Carter." This talk was good for them. They both needed it to get through the rest of it. It was getting harder and harder every day, he didn't know how much longer they were going to have to stay here.

"You too."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A loud mechanical whistle woke everyone up from their restless sleep. People all around them were doing the same thing they were; sitting up and looking around wide eyed. Then the guards came.

"Move it! Now go you worthless pieces of junk! Go go go!" They were running down the aisles of the barracks, guns in hand, trying to motivate people to move. Jack and Sam were on their feet immediately, and Teal'c jumped off the top bunk, beating Daniel down.

"What the hell is going on?" Daniel asked.

"Not sure, but I think we should follow," Jack said. They all mutually nodded their heads, and headed out the say way everyone else was going.

"Run! Go now! Run!" the guards started yelling. People were pushing and shoving, knocking people over and trampling them in their efforts to save themselves. Women were near hysterics, and their children were crying. They were led out into the large field where they had to line up every morning to take role call, so the guards could see who wasn't there and go find them, if they were still alive.

By some miracle, the massive mush was formed into a single file line, walking slowly to a guard at the front of the line. They could hear him yelling of, "Left! Right! Right!" to the prisoners, and pointing with his thumb the direction he was yelling.

"Right! Right!" he yelled off to Sam and Jack, and had sent Daniel and Teal'c to the left. Jack didn't like it, but there was nothing he could do about it.

"We'll find you later!" he yelled out to his comrades, knowing that whatever was going to go down was going to be very bad.

"Held!" Daniel called out to their new friend who ended up in the same group as them. Held looked confusedly looked around. Relief washed over his face when he saw his friends and jogged the short distance to meet them.

"Daniel! Teal'c! I'm so glad you're over here! Where are the Colonel and Major?"

"They had to go in the other line," Daniel replied. The crestfallen look on Held's face was devastating.

"What are the differences between the lines?" Teal'c asked. Held almost looked afraid to tell them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Carter!" Jack yelled to her as she was almost trampled over. He reached out and grabbed her upper right arm and pulled her up straight. The large fellow who almost knocked her down casted a glance over his shoulder, almost in curiosity.

"Thanks," she muttered, gaining her bearing again. They were being headed into what looked like a piece of farm equipment. It reminded Sam of one of the wagons that little kids would go on for haunted hay-wagon rides, except the top was about three feet taller than her, and the wires that made the cage seemed to be made out of some type different wire. She saw a little boy get pulled up by his mother, their eyes connecting. He was terrified. He didn't understand any of this, nor should he have had to.

They were one of the last people shoved on, so they got to stay on the edge to see what was happening. Or so they thought. Much to their dismay, they were at the back of the wagon and it started moving forward. That's when the screaming started.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What?!" Daniel yelled.

"They cannot do this," Teal'c said, his voice defiant.

"They can, and they are." Held's voice was broken. He hated it as much as Daniel and Teal'c.

"We've got to do something."

"I agree, DanielJackson. But what can we do?" At that moment, all the hope they held on to came running through the grounds to help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh my god!" Sam yelled, realizing what was going to happen to them.

"Sam?" Jack asked, yelling over the panic.

"They're going to burn us alive," she said, and had his head not been lowered by hers, he wouldn't have heard her.

"What?" She never answered, her breathe was pushed out of her. The crowds were trying to push out of the wagon's entrance, which is where they currently stood. Jack stood directly between Sam and the crowd, but it was all vain. She was getting pushed against the wires so hard that they were starting to cut her cheek.

"Oh my god I can feel the heat!" she yelled. The wagon was on some type of type of track, pulling it inside of a blazing inferno. The Jaffa were going to burn them alive in this wagon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Daniel! You were right! Juest is trying to take over!" Held yelled above the battle sounds. They were all crouched down trying to avoid the firefight. The Jaffa were fighting each other; a civil war was breaking out in a world war. This was their time to get out, to make a break for it.

"We have to stop that wagon from killing everyone!" Daniel yelled as he took of, tearing through the throng of people.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The cries were almost unbearable. The smell was almost as bad. The smell of human flesh as its burning is one of the worst things that could ever happen. Being burnt to death is the worst possible death anyone could endure. The body is on fire, and it feels everything. The flesh being burnt off, the nerve endings being destroyed which causes an immense amount of pain, the smell, the fear of dying, and the knowledge that nothing can be done. That was their worst nightmare coming alive. The wagon was moving closer and closer into the giant oven.

They were still be pushed onto the back end of the wagon. They were even pushing themselves. Jack put his hand over Sam's, which was clinging to one of the spaces in the wire. The worst thing about this is death is that they couldn't stop it.

The wagon creaked along, bringing the occupants closer and closer to annihilation.

Creak. A minute passed. Or was it a second?

Creak. Sam tried as best to hold his hand, terrified that this was the end. It wasn't going out in a blazing glory, fighting some Jaffa. It wasn't going to be as an old woman, warm in her bed and happy that her life was wonderful. It was in a wagon, amongst the hatred of a war that wasn't even hers. It was with people who were killing because of who their leads were. `How stupid', she thought to herself, and continued to count the creaks.

Creak. Jack snuggled closer, trying to prepare himself for what was coming. No words needed to be said between them.

Cre--

It stopped.

Neither of them realized that they both scrunched up their faces and tightened their body, a natural reaction as if they were about to be punched. The wagon sat still for a second before it started to move again.

They didn't realize that the screaming stopped until it started over either. Except they were moving in the opposite direction. They were being pulled out of the oven and, hopefully, to safety. Once they passed the smoke, they looked to see who their savors were.

"Daniel!" Sam cried out. He saw her, and ran up to the wagon. He jumped on the edge outside of the cage to greet his friends. Sam grasped him through the wires was best as possible, and he held back.

"Danny! Thank god!" Jack hadn't remembered when he sounded more relieved.

"Don't worry guys! We're going to get you out of here!"

"What's going on? Why are we in here?" Sam asked.

"I was right. Juest is trying to overthrow Menhit right now, and I guess one way to piss him off enough is to get rid of some of his workers. But with the battle that's going on right now, they won't even notice us when we get the hell outta here!"

"Spoken like a true military man!" Jack yelled. As soon as the wagon was completely out of the over, Teal'c stood before it and shot a staff blast at the lock, freeing the people. Or those that were left.

Sam and Jack jumped out and were greeted by Held who set the manuals to get them out and started to run past the wagon. Jack and Sam were loosely holding on to each other's arms, so when Sam stopped, he did too. They saw the back end of the wagon.

"Oh god," she muttered. The back half had nothing in it, except the ashes. There were ashes all over the floor, the remains of the people who once stood there. The group stood for a minute, but Teal'c pulled them back to reality.

"We must leave now!" Sam snapped back to reality. She tried to erase the memory of the little boy looking at her. She meekly nodded to everyone as they ran.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Don't move!" They had only been trying to get back to the gate for about two hours, trying not to say anything or do anything to draw any extra attention to themselves. Freezing in the spot the stood, they slowly raised their arms. Whoever had the guns on them were behind them.

"Identify yourselves!" the voice barked.

"Colonel Jack O'Neill US-" he started.

"Colonel! Major Thomas, SG-6!" With that, they all whipped around to see their saviors.

"Major, it's nice of you to show up now," Jack muttered.

"Sorry sir, we ran into some issues. Let's go back home and we can explain it there."

"Yessir," he muttered.

"Home?" Held asked.

"Yeah Held, home. Come on, let's go." Daniel put his arm around his friend and led him in the direction of the gate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sam rolled over the bed for the um-teenth time that night. She finally broke down and looked at her watch. And it was, oh, 5:19. A fact that sent her blasting straight up, eyes wide like an owl.

5:19. The last time she woke up at that time was a month ago, the day before she was sent through the Stargate. It was amazing to think they had only been there a month. It felt like a lifetime they were there.

They only arrived back home two days ago, but everything still seemed fuzzy. Janet, being the Napoleonic power monger she was, wouldn't even allow them to think about leaving base. She was in the infirmary, and thankfully she had been taken off of the IV drip earlier that night. They were all put on one because of the lack of nutrients and malnutrition they acquired while slaving away. After taking in a deep, shuddering breath, she mentally scolded herself for looking down at her newly acquired tattoo before she even realized she was looking at it.

"Stop it Carter." His voice startled her out of her staring.

"Sir?" she whispered back to him, not wanting anyone else to wake up.

"Stop looking at it Carter. You'll never get over it if you keep looking at it," he scolded.

"Actually, I was thinking of how much money it would take to get it removed," she replied in all seriousness. He just raised his eyebrows slightly, as if to say "Ok fine whatever."

"Get some sleep Carter. You shouldn't even be up."

"Then why are you up sir?" she asked. He quickly looked away from her, like a kid caught with his hand in the preverbal cookie jar.

"Couldn't sleep," came the whispery reply.

"Yeah, me either," she whispered back. They couldn't help it; they went back to the planet in their minds.

"I thought that was it. When we were in that cart, I thought that was the end." She was happy their beds were next to each other because his whispers were so quite she wouldn't have heard them otherwise.

"I did too," she replied.

"That'll put a lot of things in perspective, you know? I mean we thought we were invincible. We are SG-1, we make the crazy escapes. The ones you only see on TV. And then the characters on the show can do whatever they want with whom ever they please damn the consequences cause everything will work out in the end, and everyone will have a new car." He sighed, signaling that he was done with his little speech. And Sam knew exactly what he meant.

"Well, all TV shows must come to an end. It's a rule of physics," she joked. He turned and smiled small at her. It was one of her favorite smiles of his; it meant he wasn't really in the smiling mood, but something made him smile for real, so it was an achievement.

"Well you are our leader in physics around here."

"Yeah, you should trust me. I know a lot about physics." She debated whether or not she should go further into her train of thought. After thinking, `Ah, what the hell!' she did.

"You know, another rule of physics is that everything will stop at one point or another. We won't be in the SGC forever." And that's when he looked over at her. There was no doubt was he was thinking; and the seriousness in his eyes reminded her why she felt the way about him she did.

"No Sam, we won't be. Soon enough," he trailed off as he moved his hand. Before he knew it, his hand was across his bed and on Sam's hand. They both just looked down at them. Sam raised her hand to they were palm to palm. The fingers interwove themselves, and an energy almost seemed to be created and could flow between each other by the simple act of holding hands. Maybe the hands didn't know the emotions behind themselves. The deep connection lasted for a few minutes, neither one wanting to break it.

Jack looked up at her, and smiled when he saw her gazing at their hands. It reminded him of a moth going towards a light. He saw how tired she was, and quite honestly how horrible she looked. She still had a little bruising on her face from Held, and had dark circles under her eyes. Which made him realize how horrible he must look. He moved his free hand to touch her cheek. He slightly rubbed his palm into her cheek, and she automatically moved into it. He leaned forward, thankful that their beds were next to each others, and places a chaste kiss on her forehead.

"You should get some sleep," he whispered, his lips newly removed but still close enough to her forehead for her to feel.

"You should too." Sighing, he moved back into his own bed, feeling slightly sad when he felt the cold in his hand where there used to be warmth. Sam settled back down on her side, facing him, and almost immediately fell asleep.

"Soon enough Sam," he repeated, not realizing that she almost immediately fell asleep, not immediately.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, this is ice cream," Held repeated. They managed to get out of the base a week later, under the strictest directions, and took Held to see some of their world. Why not start with ice cream?

"It sure is. How do you like it?" Sam asked.

"It's better than anything I've tasted before!" he exclaimed.

"Well then we have to get you started on other things! Pizza, nachos, beer, ah yes beer. How I've missed the beer," Jack said.

"Well sir, I don't know. I think chocolate ice cream is right up there. Especially with fudge chucks in it…" she started slowly, her voice almost becoming husky.

"That's our Sam, chocolate fiend," Daniel laughed.

"Chocolate is most enjoyable. It creates endorphins in your brain which cause you to experience bliss," Teal'c stated. He took a heaping spoon of ice cream and put it in his mouth. After pulling it out, he had a grin on his face.

"MMmMMmmmmnnnn, endorphins," Jack purred, imitating Homer Simpson.

"You know what Held? Something just occurred to me. In German, your name means hero. And in a way, you are," Daniel said between mouthfuls of ice cream.

"Me?" Held asked.

"Yeah! If you didn't help us, we probably wouldn't all be sitting here right now." With that said, everyone let the comment sink in. Wishing that he didn't just break a mood, Daniel started again.

"And it's kind of ironic. You name mean hero in German, right? Well in World War Two we fought the Nazi Germans. They were our enemies. And we were saved… by… their… hero…" Daniel started. Everyone just look awkwardly at him. Teal'c had his eyebrow raised with a spoon in his mouth.

"Or is it one of those things that are funny to linguists only?"

"There ya go!" Jack said. The group laughed together with Daniel, not at him, or so Sam told him later. But the imprisonment was something that none of them ever forgot or laugh about, which helped them understand their culture a little better. They already understood how the Gou'uld were; evil, horrible creatures who did anything for personal gain. And now they knew who to blame when their own people did exactly that.

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The end!!! Feedback craved!