Slowly, he awoke, groggy and confused. “What? Somebody saying something to me?” he muttered. He thought he heard a vaguely familiar voice outside his head telling him to rest now, it was going to be all right. As he drifted out of consciousness he heard a familiar voice inside his head, asking him what had happened. Before he could even think about what that meant, he slowly lost consciousness again. The thoughts and questions of not one but two minds filled his head. All he remembered clearly was asking himself, “Am I dead? Is this heaven?”
*******
Sam sat in her lab reflecting on her father’s death and everything that had happened afterwards. It surprised Sam that Jacob told her of Selmak, dying within him. It was even more shocking that he would refuse to let Selmak leave him in order to save his life. She tried to understand it. She could not. Her father tried to explain to her how he grew to love Selmak and above all was thankful to him for everything he added to Jacob’s life. Then she broke up with Pete instead of sharing with him all the turmoil she had gone through.
Now it was too late. She tried to reach Pete through his job with the Colorado Springs Police Department. Sadly, she found out that he returned back to his old job in Denver. She tried driving all the way to Denver. Yet, when she arrived, her pain intensified when Pete refused to see her.
Fighting back tears and feelings of helplessness, she returned to Colorado Springs to resume her duties traveling through the Stargate. As she drove, she desperately tried to accept the void and loneliness she now faced.
A year and a half had now passed since her father’s death. Since his passing, she often thought of Jolinar of Malkshur. She gave her life for Sam, but Sam in return just shut down and ignored all the thoughts and ideas that Jolinar left behind in her head. Sam realized that she finally could have learned to love a man without any strings attached just as Jolinar had loved Martouf. They had been equals each going off to carry out their missions, never knowing if that was the last time one would see the other. That love, strong and enduring, overwhelmed Sam with the same type of feelings for Martouf that came from Jolinar. It took a few years, but in the end she sorted out her feelings for Martouf, finally separating them from Jolinar’s. Then Martouf came under the influence of zatarc technology. After the SGC Personnel failed to kill him, Sam finally shot him two times with her zat gun, thus killing him.
Then a few years later, Sam met Pete. She chose to build a relationship of love with him and it went well for a while. Extremely well! She introduced Pete to her father and Jacob reacted the way a typical father figure would react, he gave him the once-over more than once. Then when her father died she let the old insecurities get in the way. She shut down that part of her heart that felt love freely again. She did not let Jolinar teach her in death all that Jolinar learned in life. Mainly how to love someone when everything went against you, and how to keep the fire in that relationship even if death could take one partner from the other. style="mso-spacerun: yes">
Now it was too late.
Pete was gone.
General O’Neill had never been there for her. In the beginning he mentored her, but backed off when she started throwing herself at him. Sam went to his house when the knowledge of the Ancients took over his brain. She hemmed and hawed and tried to tell him, but he just wouldn’t hear her. She noticed the picture of Sara, his ex-wife. That should have been enough. Then Daniel and Teal’c stopped by and General O’Neill expected them. Sam realized the invitation did not include her. Despite this, she tried to tell him later on in the mission, but he cut her off again. Fast-forward to the time just before Jacob died and Sam went to his house, ultimately intending to bring up the matter again. When she got there she found that General O’Neill had Kerry Johnson over for a cookout on the grill. She realized that he had quietly pursued a relationship with her and stood there altogether foolish.
Then came General O’Neill’s promotion to Washington to take General Hammond’s place. General Hammond took a well-deserved retirement. The fantasy that she harbored for General O’Neill came crashing down in that moment when he called her into his office to tell her of his transfer. Suddenly a passing comment by Daniel suddenly made sense. General O’Neill spent the previous night celebrating with Daniel and Teal’c. In that moment it became clear what she had done. Daniel knew and Teal’c did as well. “Damn it,” she thought. “Everybody at the SGC knows. I screwed up and there is nothing I can do to ever change it.” They knew that Samantha Carter, supposedly a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Airt Force broke one of the rules that they had about personal relationships. Those rules existed for a reason. She thought all along that if she just skirted the rules it would be okay, because they constantly saved Earth. She was wrong about that. She was alone now and she always would be.
*******
Anise strongly argued with the Tok’ra High Council her theory regarding the disease that Selmak contracted. Almost all symbiotes would easily filter it out, except for the one in ten thousand or so that could not. For these symbiotes it became deadly. Selmak unfortunately fit in that category of not being able to heal the illness. He had a faulty gene that would normally allow him to successfully fight the disease. Once he caught the disease that gene did not activate as it should and deterioration soon followed. The Goa’old immediately killed any symbiote that contracted the disease and could not cure it. They would not allow themselves to ever appear less than godlike and dying of this disease would certainly cause them to appear weak in front of their subjects. The Tok’ra were not so callous but they could not help the stricken symbiote either.
Usually the symbiote left their host so only one death occurred. However, earlier Jacob needed Selmak’s help with translation of the Ancient’s language, then he needed to tabulate the weapon to its correct setting, and so would not let him leave. It meant a death knell for Jacob as well as Selmak. As Jacob lay dying, the days turned into nights. Jacob argued for his body to go with the Tok’ra and have the rituals performed by the Tok’ra. Specifically, he requested that they allow the Tok’ra funerary rites to apply to him as well as Selmak. They would take his body and let the opening wormhole on a Stargate consume it. Finally the SGC gave their permission for the Tok’ra to take Selmak with Jacob to their base. Jacob, as a General in the Air Force could guarantee that his wishes would be enough in the matter.
Unexpectedly, Anise stepped in and successfully argued for cryogenic freezing of Jacob and Selmak, who were both in a coma and near death. Meanwhile, she worked on finding the antidote that would overcome Selmak’s lack of the necessary gene and help him cure the disease. Freya, Anise’s human host, thanked them. Anise went to work right away trying to solve the problem that so far had eluded her. Many nights she stayed up working on the problem, not giving up.
When the Goa’uld attacked the Tok’ra’s base at Giloul, Anise insisted they move the cryogenic freezer in its totality to the base at Barshim. The task proved not so easy and finally Anise threatened to stay if they did not move the freezer. She would die in that place, with Jacob and Selmak. That panicked the Tok’ra. They came to expect that they would suffer losses and already accepted Selmak’s death. But with all the losses they had taken, Anise now was their foremost expert on anything scientific who stayed on the base. So they gave in and dispatched a team to move the freezer to their new base.
When they secured their new base, Anise started working on the problem again. It frustrated her knowing that she solved everything but that last piece of the puzzle. The piece constantly eluded her. A night came that an extremely tired Anise and her host Freya were going to turn in for the night. She excused Jachan, her assistant in the matter.
Anise told Freya, “It is no use. We have checked and rechecked and there is seemingly no way to get Selmak’s gene to activate and cure this disease.”
Freya began to answer, but then she stumbled over a box on the floor and knocked part of her sample into another part that held a virtual copy of Selmak’s missing gene. Freya started to apologize to Anise but Anise said internally, “Do you see the way that is reacting?”
Freya excitedly said, “Yes, I do. Could it be that easy?”
“Yes, I think that with the right modifications, we might have found what has eluded us for so long,” Anise said, just as excited as Freya.
Anise and Freya stayed up the rest of the night, focusing their efforts on the new direction. Then they double-checked and triple-checked the results. With the results in hand, Anise called an emergency meeting of the Tok’ra High Council.
Anise paced back and forth as the Councilors came into the Council Room. The Barshim base held most of the Council Members, but some came from a great distance. The Tok’ra learned to separate the Council at three different locations as the Gua’old became quite adept at finding their bases. Once assembled they would all have a part in discussing the matter.
As Anise looked around the room she could see there were just a few that they were waiting on. “We cannot wait to tell them the good news,” Freya said internally.
“Yes, I have finally solved this mystery,” Anise told her human host internally.
The last two Tok’ra entered the room. Garshaw called the meeting to order. “Now, Anise what have you called us here to share?” she asked.
“The mystery of the disease that has long influenced a few our kind and recently has infected Selmak, one of the oldest and wisest of our numbers, I believe I have finally uncovered,” Anise answered.
“You have a cure?” Horan asked incredulously.
“Yes, I believe I do,” Anise answered. That sparked murmurs of interested excitement among the members of the Council. Anise waited quietly, knowing what they would ask her next.
A few moments later Garshaw cleared her throat and called for silence in the room. The Council Members quieted down. Garshaw said, “Anise, we would like to see your notes on this. We must be sure.”
“Very well,” Anise said. “I have them prepared for you. Will you kindly pass these around.” She gestured to Jachan behind her and he walked over and started passing out a small holographic oval.
“Thank you, Jachan,” Garshaw said. Jachan nodded. Then each member of the Council took a few moments and reviewed the data that Anise had arranged for them.
Delek looked up at Anise and Freya. He did not like them because they shared the body equally, same as did Selmak with Jacob. When Anise caught his eye, he gave a brief bow of his head. His dislike of Selmak giving ear to what Jacob had to say, which caused him to take an active stance against Selmak in the Council meetings, paled in comparison to what Selmak and Jacob now faced. Delak wanted Anise to succeed as much as any of the other Councilors did and he showed it. Anise looked at him for a moment then nodded. They moved beyond whatever disagreements existed between them in times past.
Anise turned her eyes away from Delek and waited quietly. Internally, Freya spoke, “Do you think that they will approve the test on Selmak?”
“I see no other choice than to revive Jacob and Selmak and try the solution on them,” Anise said internally to Freya. “It is the only way. If there were another symbiote who had contracted the disease but had not seen it progress this far, we could try it out on them, but there is not.”
Freya agreed with her assessment and said, “Yes, there is no other way. We have no other alternative.”
They turned to the Council members and saw that they were all immersed in reading the results of Anise and Freya’s work. The plan was simple yet dangerous. Anise would administer more of the virus that caused the disease. Only this dose had a few conditions changed so these differences would reignite the gene and cause it to work ten times its existing strength, restoring the healing properties near normal. That should be enough to effectively cure the disease.
Anise focused again on Garshaw who finished reviewing the scientific document. “This is a risky procedure,” Garshaw said. “You are going to give him more of the virus that causes the disease with the only exception being a few molecules changed to act differently. This causes the symbiote with the disease to begin healing. Is this process enough for the symbiote to truly heal itself and the human host involved? And specifically, how do you know?”
Anise answered, “As you can see the solution requires that I do give him more of the virus that causes the disease. However, the one change that I have made to the molecule should cause a natural healing reaction to take place in the gene that is faulty, and does not have this healing process occurring naturally. Once this healing reaction starts to take place in the gene the molecule amplifies that reaction so it is ten times as effective. To put it another way, it should cause the faulty gene to work close to the way it should work. Thus the symbiotes own healing abilities will overwhelm the disease and take care of it. When the process is complete the symbiote and human, though weak at first will become strong again. Soon they experience a restoration of health and vitality.”
“Have you tested this solution?” Garshaw asked.
“There is no way I can test this other than to use it on a subject who has the disease,” Anise said. “Let me be frank. There is no way Selmak or Jacob can survive unless we give him the solution. That will be the test.”
Anise bowed her head. When she looked up Freya controlled the body. She said, “Members of the Council Anise and I threatened to give our lives when the Gua’old attacked the base at Giloul if we did not move Jacob and Selmak with us to this base on Barshim. Since we have been here we have not moved out of our lab to enjoy the panoramic sunrises and sunsets. How many worlds would you say we have ever been on that had the magnificent views of the rising and setting sun?”
“We have never seen anything like this place before,” Garshaw acknowledged. “It is so beautiful it will literally take your breath away.”
“Garshaw, even you have taken time to enjoy the sunsets. Is that correct?” Anise asked.
“Well, yes, how could I say that they were so beautiful unless I had taken the time to enjoy them,” Garshaw said, a little offended.
“Forgive me, Garshaw,” Anise answered. “My human host, Freya enjoys the tactile sensation of writing, so we keep a journal, even though we have many more advanced means at our disposal. So then it would follow that she would want to see all the beauty this world has to offer. However, she has not even insisted that we go to enjoy the sunsets or sunrises because this work that we have immersed ourselves in, is far more important.”
Garshaw bowed. “I see your point,” she said.
“I am confident that we will never get any closer than this to finding a solution no matter if we spent the next thousand years working on it,” Freya said. Then she bowed her head and when she came back up Anise said, “The zatarc detector that I worked on proved not only to be accurate, but also has become of mainstream use. Not only in detection of a zatarc, but well beyond that for widespread use of whether or not Tok’ra or people are telling the truth. Since I completed that task with such a high level of success you have granted me much wider latitude in my studies. You must trust me now in this. I am confident that this will work.”
“Why do you make such a claim? I am not by my very nature a scientist. So, I must ask without testing your theory, what do you base your belief in its success on?” Ohen asked.
Anise smiled weakly. “True, I have no means of quantifying my data. I have what the Tau’ri call a hunch,” she said Freya smiled internally. “Just a ‘hunch’? Been around General O’Neill too many times, have we not?” Freya asked. “If this works, he will forgive us for our earlier… misunderstandings,” Anise told her. Freya agreed with her assessment.
Meanwhile, the Council cried out in an uproar. They were furiously talking among themselves. They never heard Anise say anything like this before. “Now you have done it,” Freya said internally. Anise just smiled inside. “I learned this from General O’Neill. He is quite a human,” she told Freya. She felt the satisfaction coming from Freya and quickly added, “I also learned it from the time around Jacob Carter. I meant that he is quite a human.” Anise could feel the laughter coming from Freya. She realized that Freya didn’t buy it for a second. She made a movement within Freya’s body to tell her that she thanked Freya for her confidence and also that all would be well with Selmak and Jacob. Freya agreed.
Anise and Freya just stood there silently as the Tok’ra High Council discussed for a couple of hours the prospect of unfreezing Selmak and Jacob, giving him the antidote and seeing what would happen. The decision came down to what would happen if an attack came on their base at Barshim. If they evacuated the base, they would have to go through the argument with Anise all over. All of them agreed they could not and they did not want to do that again. Anise was persistent, sometimes frustratingly so but she usually got what she wanted. Still the Council decided that they would go through the argument again.
Finally, Garshaw spoke, “Anise, we have decided that it is just too risky to test it on Selmak with noone to test it on beforehand. We cannot lose Selmak, now that you have given us a choice. If it takes you ten more years it will be well worth the wait. You may continue to work on the problem and find another way. Present it to us and we will see.”
Anise frowned. “Go ahead, I am ready to do this if it is necessary,” Freya said to Anise internally.
“Then I will cause the particular gene in myself to work faulty as well. It will not be easy but if you must know I will present you with the full procedure so you can see that I am in earnest. Then I will give myself the virus so I too will become infected and then I will try the antidote on myself,” Anise stated. Several Tok’ra gasped. Garshaw, Ohen and several other Council Members stood to their feet.
“You cannot do that!” Ohen argued.
“Yes, I can and I will,” Anise stated evenly. “If the Tok’ra Council must have proof then I will give you proof. There is no other way, surely you must see that. If I could work on the problem for ten thousand more years, I doubt that I would come up with a better solution. And even if I could, I must be frank, this war with the Gua’old limits the time we can take for one specialized objective, even if it is as important as Selmak’s life. We must have the conclusion now and I am willing to sacrifice myself if it will further the cause of the Tok’ra.”
This immediately caused an argument to break out among the Councilors. Anise just stood there calmly and watched. Finally, Garshaw clamped her hand down harshly. Silence immediately ensued. She said, “Anise, we have decided that you may try the antidote. Because this works on the natural healing abilities of the symbiote we can see why there is nothing, other than a living symbiote like yourself, that you can test it on. Selmak will either live or he will die. Dying is something that we accept in this war against the Gua’old. Besides, you are right, he would have already died anyway. As a matter of fact, I remember when Selmak transferred into Jacob Carter. Until the last moment we had no host for Selmak and she would have died with her host. Even then Selmak had to work hard if Jacob was going to live and with us evacuating the base because of Gua’old attack, it proved to be an improbable outcome. Fortunately for all of us, that worked out well. So, I will accompany you along with Ohen. We will help you and Jachan revive Selmak and watch as you give him the antidote.
*******
He awoke again, freezing. “I am definitely not in hell but heaven isn’t this cold,” he thought.
“I am healing us,” a voice said inside his head.
“What? Where is that voice coming from?” he asked himself. But the voice was soothing and he thought that it felt right, and that it belonged there. He remembered seeing his wife baking cookies as he came home late from work. He remembered her smiling at him as he walked into the kitchen.
“Yes, that is right; your wife. She was lovely and she loved you very much,” the voice said again inside his head.
Then he remembered a name. “Selmak?” he asked the voice inside his head.
“Yes, that is right. I am Selmak, and you are Jacob Carter,” Selmak said.
“I am? Yes, that’s right, I am,” Jacob said. Suddenly he became aware of other people in the room around him. One of them said his name over and over. “It’s a woman,” Jacob thought, but he couldn’t answer her.
“You finally forgave yourself not long after we blended,” Selmak said internally.
Jacob thought about the matter and said, “You’re right. You helped me forgive myself. Without you I never would have. It drove Mark and Sam away from me and would continue to do so until I died alone.” Jacob heard the voice outside his head saying something but he couldn’t yet answer her. “What are we doing here? I thought we died?”
“So did I,” Selmak said. “Although obviously I was wrong about that. I believe that we just woke up from cryogenic freezing. I have heard the experience is very much like this. That is why you are cold. I am a little bit cold too.”
“Sam? Mark? What if they’re dead?” Jacob panicked.
“I do not know,” Selmak said. “I am just as surprised to be here as you.”
He finally placed the voice talking to him— Anise’s. “Jacob, please if you can hear me, say something,” she pleaded.
Jacob remembered the disease and how Selmak couldn’t cure it. Now, however, the healing abilities were working. He would have to find out how later. “It’s working,” Jacob finally gasped weakly. He noticed Anise’s eyes closed and she looked relieved and at the same time, overjoyed. “What time is it? I mean how long was I frozen?” he whispered.
“It has only been a year and a half,” Anise said. “Do not worry your daughter is well. Although we did not tell her because we were unsure how long it would take to discover a cure. For all we knew at the time we froze you it could have taken us years.” Jacob nodded. “Rest now. I introduced a virus that caused the disease that you had. Only I changed a few molecules in this virus to cause Selmak’s faulty gene to overreact and that healed not only the virus that I introduced but also healed the original disease. When Selmak finishes you will be as strong as you ever were.”
“That’s good news,” Jacob whispered. “Thank you, Anise, I don’t know how you did it. It sounds complicated.”
“I will explain it to you in detail as soon as you are strong enough, which you are not yet. Go to sleep, Jacob,” Anise said.
“Yes, go to sleep,” Selmak echoed Anise’s sentiment. “Do not worry, I will continue to heal us.”
Anise placed her hand over Jacob’s eyes and gently closed them. “I think we need to leave him alone. I will stay and monitor his condition.”
“You did it, Anise,” a man’s deep voice told her.
“Jachan,” Selmak said internally. Jacob smiled inside his head at Selmak. “Sam will be so excited. All the people at the SGC will be when they find out we have survived.”
“Yes,” Jacob said. “I can’t wait to see her.”
“Thank you, Jacob,” Selmak told him.
“What for?” Jacob asked internally.
“For choosing to have me stay instead of having me leave you before I died,” Selmak said.
“That is no problem. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I had to have you if I were to give any help to Sam and the others; to get the weapon to work. Besides, you have given me all the wisdom of your many years and I cannot bear to think of how my life would have been different,” Jacob said. “I would have died of cancer alone in my hospital bed never coming to terms with my wife’s death, never building back a relationship with Mark and never having the connection I had with Sam. I thank you with all that is in my heart.” Selmak embraced Jacob as well as he could, letting him know that his words were not lost.
“Go to sleep now Jacob,” Selmak told him. “Let me heal us.” Jacob felt warm blankets covering him up. That must be Anise and Jachan. That warmth led him into a deep sleep in which he dreamed of his late wife.
*******
“We survived,” Jacob said to Selmak.
“Yes, we did,” Selmak responded.
“I think we both owe a real debt of gratitude towards Anise,” Jacob commented. “She wouldn’t give up even when the Goa’uld threatened the base at Giloul.”
“No, she threatened to die along with us rather than leave us behind,” Selmak said.
“I guess Anise’s perseverance really paid off for us this time,” Jacob remarked.
“Yes, I think that Jack O’Neill will thank her this time,” Selmak said.
Jacob noted, “Ah, yes, well she certainly didn’t win any friends on Earth the last time she was there.” Jacob could feel Selmak’s agreement with his assessment. “I wonder how Sam is doing?” Jacob thought.
“You told her that I liked Pete even though I was in a coma at the time,” Selmak commented.
Jacob frowned. “Hey, what else was I going to do? She’s my only daughter. I can’t just come out and say I like the guy even though I did. Pete made her happy and that is something I have never seen with Sam before him.”
“Too gruff even though you have made long strides of interacting with your daughter?” Selmak asked. Jacob frowned even more. Selmak knew everything. In fact, he became instrumental in causing Jacob to reconcile with his son, Mark, and make huge strides in dealing with his daughter. Jacob never admitted how much Selmak helped him. “But then I know because have access to all your thoughts, just as you do all of mine,” Selmak said.
Jacob nodded his head. “Yes,” he said. “And it is worth it.” He felt Selmak agree internally. Jacob sighed.
“Just a little bit longer, Jacob, and all will be well. I will have healed us completely,” Selmak told him. “Then we can go to Earth and visit your daughter. Meanwhile we should enjoy this planet. Garshaw was right in saying the setting sun will literally take your breath away.”
Jacob nodded his agreement. “And this lake provides a soothing place for us to rest,” Jacob told Selmak. For the next few moments they saw the sun set in all its glory, bathing the sky in colors of yellow, red and purple. The view captivated them. They saw a shooting star in the distance.
“Did you see that?” Selmak asked Jacob.
“Huh? Oh, sorry. I was thinking about Sam and Pete. How beautiful the wedding was, which by the way, I didn’t get to see,” Jacob answered.
“Sam will be glad just to have you back in her life,” Selmak said. “That you missed the wedding is ancillary. Besides, it is not the wedding that makes a good marriage. It is all the other things, both good and bad, that they encounter that will determine how strong their union will be.”
“Yes, I can see why the Tok’ra consider you to be one of the wisest among their ranks,” Jacob commented. “Have I ever told you I feel like the luckiest person there is because of having you around?”
“I know, Jacob,” Selmak answered. “It is in all your thoughts and feelings. Just for the record I am impressed with you to, Jacob. I listen to you even though the other symbiotes say I should not, but that is part of the wisdom that I have learned. All forms of human life are valuable. Even ones that come from a history free from Gua’old domination.”
“Wuth all my heart I truly thank you,” Jacob said. He smiled, as did Selmak internally.
“The other Tok’ra do not influence my opinion of you,” Selmak commented. Jacob nodded.
They sat there watching the sun set and the stars come out
in the night sky.
“I wonder if they’ve started having children?” Jacob wondered. Selmak smiled internally, or as near to it as he could get, and they just sat there in peace and harmony together.
*******
The alarm went off at the SGC as the Stargate started spinning.
“That should be the Tok’ra now,” Daniel said.
“Yes, although I would like to know what is so important that they called me to come back from Washington to be here,” Jack asked. “They wanted George Hammond but he was out of the country. He’s trying to come back as we speak.”
“Well, sir, I don’t know,” Sam answered. “They called for me too, so whatever it is it must be important.”
The seventh chevron locked-in place and the wormhole ‘whoosed’ out before settling back down into a glittering blue puddle.
“Maybe they are going to apologize and say how much they need us or some other crap like that,” Jack deadpanned.
“The Tok’ra would never admit even if they needed us,” Daniel whispered to Teal’c.
“Indeed,” Teal’c whispered back.
“It’s the Tok’ra,” Sergeant Davis said over the intercom. Jack turned toward Davis and nodded. He turned back just in time to see Anise come through the wormhole.
“Anise,” Jack said surprised, but Anise did not answer him. Instead she turned back to look at the wormhole as if waiting for someone else to come through. That someone did and it caused a reaction of surprise from Jack and all the rest of the people from the SGC, especially Sam.
“Dad?” Sam asked surprised and half-confused, half-elated at the sight of her father standing before them now.
“Hello, Sam,” Jacob said, then he rushed into her arms and pulled her close giving her a big hug.
“But you were dead,” Sam stammered. “I mean I thought…no, we thought…that you were dead. Now, you’re alive.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Anise can explain,” Jacob said, pulling back and taking Sam by the hands. “After all, I owe her my continued life.”
Anise bowed her head slightly acknowledging the truth of the statement.
“Anise, you go girl,” Jack said. Seeing Anise’s look of confusion Jack quickly added, “That is just an expression we use.”
“Yes,” Daniel quickly added. “In our culture it is complimentary and says ‘well done’ and ‘thank you’.”
Anise bowed her head. Then she explained, “The sickness that nearly took Selmak’s life, and thus your father’s, was a rare form that strikes one in ten thousand Gua’old or Tok’ra. Though Selmak is one of the oldest of the Tok’ra he was not nearly old enough for that to be a problem. After all, you have seen Gua’old that lived for more than ten thousand years. If he had become sick just five years ago, there would have been nothing that I or any other Tok’ra could have done to help him. However, because the zatarc technology had reached a stage of near perfection I then became free to work on this disease. Selmak knew he had contracted this for a couple of years and so I began to spend all my time working on it, not telling Selmak, of course. I did not want to distract him from the task at hand and to be honest I felt the time that he had left would not provide a cure. So it turned out to be. When the Tok’ra returned Jacob and Selmak to our base, he was still alive, albeit very close to death. He did have barely enough life so we could cryogenically freeze him. My research took another year and a half to get to the point where I could give him an antidote.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Sam asked, grateful to Anise but also affronted at her.
“Because I had not tested the antidote on anyone,” Anise answered. “Selmak would have to be the first and if it did not work on him he would have died. I did not feel that it was necessary to tell you because then you would have waited day-in and day-out while I worked on the antidote. If you had lost Jacob after waiting for all that time then it would have changed nothing for you except you would still have to deal with his death a second time. I could not subject you to that, something which I am sure General O’Neill will agree with me.”
“What?” Jack asked. He realized that Anise put him on the spot. “Well, yes, there is that,” he said. “Carter, I agree with Anise on this one.”
“I do as well,” Teal’c said.
“That makes three of us,” Daniel said. Sam nodded and sighed happily. She held on to her father with all her might.
“Good, you understand then,” Jacob said, returning Sam’s hug. “Besides, it was weird on me as well. Waking up and still being alive, you know when you think you’re dead and everything.”
“It’s good to have you back, Dad,” Sam said. Jack and Daniel both nodded and Teal’c tilted his head slightly to say that he agreed as well.
Jacob broke out of the hug and took Sam by the arms and started walking. “Now that I’m alive you will have to tell me what I have missed. So, how’s the marriage coming along? How’s Pete?” he asked. Jack and Daniel exchanged looks.
Sam bit her lip. “Uh, well, we…uh, I called off the wedding after you died,” she stammered. “Not that your death had anything to do with it, I just didn’t feel comfortable going through with it.”
Jacob stopped walking and turned to look at Sam. “You what!?” he asked. “Sam, we need to talk,” he said sternly. “Pete was the first guy that you had met who made you smile like that. He brought out the best in you. Now, you tell me that you broke up with him?”
Jack and Daniel just looked at each other exchanging glances that told each other that they had the same thoughts. Sam just looked down at the ground.
“Perhaps you would like to hear from me,” Selmak said.
“Selmak,” Sam said, surprised. She looked into her father’s eyes this time as Selmak looked back at her. She just nodded.
“Uh oh,” Sam thought. “Selmak is going to come down hard on me.” Her father knew the problem just as Selmak did. But more than half-of-the-time she became stubborn with her father, and wouldn’t listen to anything he said. Jacob knew that. Now a two-thousand year old Tok’ra Sam would listen to. She didn’t have any choice. She sighed and nodded. Sam continued out of the Gate Room with her father and Selmak, the symbiote by her side. They were going up to her lab to do some serious hashing out of her personal life.
“Well, I’m glad I’m not Sam right now,” Daniel deadpanned. Jack just rolled his eyes and Teal’c just stared straight ahead.
Jack turned back to Anise. Anise spoke, “General O’Neill, I hope that this will make up for everything that I did the previous times I was here.”
Jack asked, “Is that to me personally or your work with the SGC?” Daniel looked down, trying desperately not to smile.
“Both,” Anise said.
Jack offered his hand to Anise and told her, “Uh, well, it goes a ways in making up for it, but let’s not put the carts before the horses, okay?” Anise just looked at Jack. “Okay, it does,” he said. Anise reached out, took his hand and shook it.
Then she looked down for a second then back up. Freya spoke, “I want to say thank you. That means a lot to both of us. We both have felt bad since the last few times we were here and were hoping for a chance for redemption. Does this go any way toward that?”
“Yes, well you have done nicely, so I will say that, uh, well, you’ve done nicely,” Jack replied. “Now, Daniel, I don’t know about, he’ll…” Daniel cleared his throat loudly, cutting Jack off. Jack frowned, then said, “Now, if you will come with me you can share with us the details of what you did. Well, no I’m not interested but Daniel is. Hey, didn’t one of you like him at one time?” He glanced at Daniel, who frowned. Jack let a little smile curl the corners of his mouth. “Got you,” he thought and winked at Daniel where Anise couldn’t see him.
Freya looked confused. “That was a longtime ago,” she said. “Besides, as I told you then, Anise was interested on a more intellectual level in Dr. Jackson. I, on the other hand…”
“Well, why don’t we just go upstairs to the Briefing Room and you can tell all of us what you did in finding the cure for this disease,” Jack said. He led the human host Freya and the symbiote Anise out of the Gate Room.
“What was that? Freya liked you?” Daniel raised his voice knowing Jack would hear him. Jack ignored Daniel.
“Indeed,” Teal’c added.
Special thanks go to Helena and Cap’n Tiv for being my guinea pigs, uh, betas. Always I give thanks to my husband, who is the first line of defense in seeing my writings.
March 24, 2005 The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.
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