"Here, ladies," Dodger entered with a tray laden with mugs. "I figured you could use a pick me up."

They had congregated in the briefing room a couple of minutes after Sam finished the call with Daniel. After Annika reported in the disheartening news that she hadn't been able to gain any insight to Jack's condition and Janet confirmed that the last of the Earth treatments was still having no effect, Sam added the news about the mystery Goa'uld's escape and Kinsey's abduction. The only consolation they had was that neither Daniel nor Teal'c had been injured during the shootout.

Annika breathed in deeply the scent of rich strong coffee from the mug passed to her. A hint of brandy tickled her nostrils. "Whose stash did you have to raid for this?"

"Lou will never admit it, but he's become a coffee snob." The captain handed out the other mugs. "Don't know where he picked that up."

"Thank you, Captain." Janet concentrated on gathering up the test results she had been going over from the table. She knew precisely where Ferretti had developed the taste for this particular brew. While he had been camping out on her couch they had shared many a brandy laced Kenya blend in the evening. Her question was automatic. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm doing fine, Doc. Still only have the sniffles."

The reply made Sam frown. Why is that? She and Annika had been staring pretty much blindly at the whiteboard list she had done earlier of able bodied personnel. The key was there, she was sure of it, just so far they hadn't figured it out.

She didn't realize she had muttered the question out loud until Annika asked, "Huh?"

Sam voiced her mind's ramblings. "Dodger is a man."

"So I've been told, Colonel." The captain raised an eyebrow at the acting CO's off the wall comment.

Sam gave a shrug taking a long sip of the coffee and directed her question at Dodger. "So why aren't you sick?"

As though to disprove her point the man had to clap a hand over his nose to stop a sneeze. "I've been sneezing and spluttering since the lockdown began."

"That's my point. You've been symptomatic stage one for almost twenty-four hours."

Janet's head swing up as the significance of that hit her. "Considering the time of exposure and the condition of your teammates, you should be at the very least in the early stages of phase three."

"Good genes?" Dodger shifted uneasily at being the focus of the three women, especially Annika who was scrutinizing him with even more intensity than the others.

Annika concentrated on Dodger’s aura, looking for anything that was out of place or different compared to everyone else. "What's in your top right pocket?"

The young man protectively raised his hand to his BDU shirt. "Nothing."

"You're embarrassed." Annika could see the distinct color change in the glow surrounding him. "Why?"

"It's nothing." He began to back away. "It's got nothing to do with the virus."

"Captain, don't make me order you to turn out your pockets," Sam's tone was sharp.

"Please, Dodger," Janet pleaded. "It could be important."

Blushing to the tips of his blonde hair, he reluctantly undid the button and pulled out something small and flat, and placed it on the table.

The three women's eyes widened. It was a two inch lock of hair with a thin yellow ribbon tied neatly around the middle.

"Is that Cassie's hair?" Sam eventually asked.

He nodded. "She gave it to me as a kinda keepsake." He cleared his throat. "So she'd be symbolically with me on missions."

"That's really sweet." Annika barely suppressed a sigh at the old fashioned romantic notion.

"When did she give it to you?" Janet's voice was thoughtful, her brow puckered into a frown.

"Um...at the end of our last date...the early hours of the morning of the lockdown." Dodger was warily watching for the reaction of the woman whose daughter he was dating.

Janet, in full doctor mode, picked up the lock of hair and gave it a tentative sniff. "Did she cut it while you were there?"

"Uh huh." Dodger nodded, still wary but now a little baffled about the specific question.

"Cassie came home the other day raving about a new shampoo range her friends have been using. She bought herself a bottle, started using it two days ago."

Now Sam and Annika were looking at her with the same perplexed expression as Dodger.

Janet hurried on. "She raved about it so much that she convinced me to try it, which I did, yesterday morning. It's not really noticeable but it's got coconut as one of the extracts in it."

Sam and Annika were still missing the point, however, Dodger bought a clue. "I'm allergic to coconut."

"Mildly so, yes," the doctor nodded, having memorized the allergies of all the personnel on base. "I didn't have a chance to tell Cassie not to use it unless she wants you to start sniffing and sneezing."

"So whenever I've pulled the hair lock out of my pocket..." he cut off, again blushing at admitting to doing a romantic lovesick act which did not go with his tough guy reputation.

"You've given yourself a dose of the allergen," Janet finished.

"Don't worry, Dodger," Annika patted his arm. "Your Rambo image is safe with us."

"If Dodger's symptoms are not virus related, then he's one of only three people who are not showing any symptoms." Sam drew their attention back to the virus. "What do Kasuf, Skaara and Dodger have in common?"

"It would have to be environmental," Janet concluded. "Anything genetic or in the blood work we would have picked up on by now. Captain, have you mixed socially with the Abydonians?"

He shook his head. "I've barely had anything to do with them since they've arrived."

"There must be something," Sam pressed. And it had to have been done on a limited basis otherwise others would also have the immunity. "Might have been innocuous at the time." Her mind scrambled to think of something, her eyes landing on the coffee mug still clutched in her hand. "Did you share some tea that they brought with them, or some food...?"

A memory from the day before poked at Annika. "Smoking."

Dodger's eyes widened. "Wow. I'd forgotten about that. Your hocus pocus is good."

Annika couldn't let her psychic abilities take credit. "Actually the Marine's topside mentioned it when I commented on the rank smell."

"Smoking what?" Janet jumped in.

"Some sort of tobacco." Dodger tried to think back to what Kasuf had said it was. "It's for some sort of solstice or prayer ritual or something. I wasn't really paying too much attention. It reeked but was really smooth going down."

"Captain, go and bring Kasuf and Skaara here," Sam ordered. "And bring what they have left of the tobacco."

"Yes, Ma'am." He hesitated a moment then snatched up the lock of hair where Janet had replaced it and hurried out to the corridor.

At the mention of the tobacco, Annika was filled with a sense of triumph and she could almost hear trumpets tooting in celebration. She knew they were on the right track and she gave her companions the thumbs up. Sam smiled back, cautiously optimistic. Janet on the other hand, appeared to be lost in thought.

The doctor's eyes seemed to be focused on the place where the hair had been, then a dawn of recognition hit her and she called the young man back. "Dodger!"

The captain poked his head back around the door. "Yes, Doc?"

"Cassie gave you a lock of her hair?"

Sam and Annika exchanged confused looks. Hadn't they just covered this? Janet's tone, however, was completely different. It wasn't doctor mode, it was 'mother on the war path' mode.

Dodger paled considerably as those brown eyes pinned him like a deer in headlights. "Er...yes..." He took a deep breath then blurted out in one big rush, "And no we haven't and I wouldn't kiss and tell even if we had and anything else you should ask Cass about and I really think I have to go get the Abydonians now." His head disappeared and the sound of his boots literally sprinting down the corridor echoed in.

"Why do I get the feeling that Dodger is more intent on escape than the cure right now?" Annika asked idly of Sam, sneaking a sideways glance at Janet who was thrumming her fingers on the tabletop. "And Janet's more pissed than impatient to get the tobacco?"

Sam agreed. "Um...Janet, something you want to share?"

The petite woman stewed silently for a few seconds then spoke. "Hankan culture is different somewhat to modern day Earth. On Cassandra's home world she would already have been married for at least two years. A sign of...commitment...intimate commitment is giving a lock of hair."

Dual 'Oh-s' mouthed from the blonde and redhead's mouths.

It was obvious that their friend wasn't in the mood to discuss it any further and Annika quickly searched for a change in topic. "This coffee is really good, isn't it?"

"Absolutely superb," Sam agreed, taking a gulp of the hot liquid. "We'll have to ask Ferretti what blend it is."

Janet sighed. Typical, she thought. The change of subject had switched to another issue she wasn't prepared to deal with. "Mocha Kenya. The coffee shop that opened last month in town sells it."

There was a repeat of the dual 'Oh-s', though this time Annika's expression was a little sympathetic. She understood why Whistler was a touchy subject for Janet right now. "So, nice weather we've been having lately, huh?"

Since Daniel and Teal'c had left, Keelah had been anxiously pacing the house. Her fears of how this day would end were leeching through her body like a cancer, to the point where she found herself trembling like a leaf on the couch, her eyes glued to the door waiting for Teal'c's return, her ears straining to hear the phone ring with an update from the base. When she heard the soft tinkle of a phone she'd reached for the receiver only to hear a dial tone in her ear. The bells repeated and she realized the phone that was ringing was in fact coming from the house across the street. With an almost hysterical laugh she dropped the receiver back into its cradle.

Without Teal'c here, the silence was becoming oppressive. There was nothing to stop the troubled ‘what ifs’ her brain was continually concocting. What if they couldn't find a cure on the base? What if things went wrong with the apprehension of the Goa'uld and senator? What if Teal'c and Daniel were injured or killed? What if all of her new found family died?

Keelah drew in a steadying breath. She had to find a way to distract herself, otherwise she'd go insane. Her quest for distractions started small, with fixing a cup of tea to drink while she contemplated. Her stomach growled at the idea of having something in it and she realized she hadn't eaten since early yesterday evening. Cooking. Cooking was a great distraction! She rummaged through the cupboards looking for something to spark her interest. Eyes locking on flour and the packet of chocolate chips in the pantry, she recalled that Teal'c had liked the muffins she had experimented with earlier in the week. Part of her duties in her former life as a slave had been to assist the cook in the kitchen and she had learned how to prepare a wide variety of dishes. When Annika had taken her shopping, between the two of them they had managed to find the equivalent ingredients and she'd tried her hand at baking. A chore that had been a mundane necessity while in service to her Master had surprisingly become an enjoyable one in her new life.

Unfortunately, since another thing she had learnt as a slave was efficiency, only a few minutes had passed by the time she slid the first two trays into the oven. Downing the last of her tea, she washed the dishes and after drying and putting them away she fervidly looked for something else. The damp dishtowel sparked the next idea. It had been a few days since it had been washed and she knew there were dirty clothes in the hamper in the bathroom. She set about doing a load of laundry and as the machine began its wash cycle, the oven timer rang announcing the first batch of muffins was ready. She carefully tested the muffins with a small skewer to make sure they were cooked all the way through, placed them on the cooling racks and added the last tray to bake.

The rhythmic chug-chug of the washing machine and the sweet smell of the freshly baked muffins were soothing to Keelah's frazzled nerves. Not wanting to lose the tenuous sense of calm she continued on with her frenzied cleaning. She loved the gadgets of Earth that made housework so easy and like a whirlwind she went from room to room, making beds, cleaning the bathroom tiles and vanity basin, dusting and polishing, though in actual fact there was little dust or dirt to remove. After the third tray of muffins was cooked, she ran the vacuum through the entire house and mopped the kitchen floor. She discovered a pile of clothes in the dryer that had been forgotten about from a couple of days ago and took them into the living room to fold. The freshly washed clothes were sorted and those that could, according to the small label of instructions sewn inside the garments, were tossed into the dryer, the rest were hung out on the washing line in the early morning sun.

Walking back into the house with the peg and washing basket tucked under her arm, she glanced at the clock and her heart sank. Only one hour and forty minutes had passed. Ruefully she thought she should have tried to pace herself to draw out the cleaning tasks. Scrambling for something else to do no matter how trivial, she hunted around in the cupboards for a decorative serving platter and arranged some of the cooled muffins on top. She was just carrying it to the dining table when she heard the key in the front door.

Angry and disgruntled as all hell about how unproductive and relatively pointless the last couple of hours had been, Teal'c muttered a curse when the key jammed in the lock. Jimmying it roughly he tried again and it blessedly released. Praise the Gods! Could I be any more useless on this day? He had failed to apprehend or kill the Goa'uld. Had not been quick enough to prevent Senator Kinsey from being abducted. The situation on base was growing more dire by the second and again there was not one damned thing he could do about it. He had never felt more useless in his entire life. He dumped the staff weapons into the closet in the study, closing the door with more force than was necessary and strode back out intending to head directly for the bathroom.

"Things did not go well?"

He stopped short at Keelah's concerned voice coming from the kitchen. "They did not."

Panic gripped her heart as it registered that he was alone, her hands clutched at the plate of muffins she was holding. "Where's Daniel?" Before he could reply she caught sight of the blood staining his shirt. "You're bleeding!"

"It is not my blood," he assured wearily.

"Daniel?"

"He is uninjured." There was a burning in his stomach at the relief on her face at the news. It was irrational, he knew that. That she had enquired over the archaeologist's well being before his own was logical given that he was standing before her and Daniel Jackson was not. It angered him nonetheless. He became suddenly aware of the scents wafting in the air. Recognized them as the cleaning products he had bought. Saw that the wood of the furniture had a bright sheen to them indicating they had been freshly polished.

Teal'c felt like he had been kicked in the gut, the wind totally going out of him. He thought they had been making progress with Keelah overcoming the slave mentality. And then the moment she had been left to her own devices she had reverted to cleaning and working her fingers to the bone as the rumpled and sweatiness of her appearance gave testimony to. He had failed in his task to release the chains of slavery from Keelah's mind. "You did not have to this." He gestured to the spotlessly clean house.

"I know..."

"And yet you did." He ground out. "You do not need to do my laundry." He snatched at the pile of clothes waiting to be folded on the couch and shook the item at her. "I do not require you to cook for me."

She was stunned by the outburst. "But I wanted-"

"I believed we had been making progress and yet you still act as a servant. Have I not shown you that there is no such thing as a Master in this house?"

"Yes." Keelah felt anger within herself begin to grow. She hadn't done the domestic tasks because she thought herself a slave and she felt resentment that Teal'c thought she had not taken heed of what he had taught. Tried to explain. "I did not-"

"You are not a slave anymore!" he roared.

"I know I'm not!" she yelled back, certain that the only way she would be able to get a word in was if she spoke louder than him. "You say there is no 'Master' in this house and yet you stand there dictating what you do not want me to do. How is that any different to my former Master?"

Teal'c's back stiffened. "It is entirely different."

"At least as a slave I knew my place, what was expected of me," she fumed with a desperate note of pleading in her tone. "I do not know where I stand with you."

"We are equals. We stand side by side." Teal'c knew his statement would have been more believable if he hadn't yelled it at her but he couldn't seem to lower his voice.

"That tells me nothing!"

"I do not expect anything from you." Teal'c gritted his teeth in an effort to rein in his temper. It only resulted in his words coming out stilted and stiff. "My greatest wish is to know that you are free from the mental chains of slavery that have been hung around your neck."

She gave a headshake of disbelief. "You are no more free from the mental chains Apophis locked around you than the ones my Master put around me."

"I am free," he insisted. "I have dedicated my life to fight against all forms of slavery."

"Yes you fight, but it is more than a physical fight. Mentally your slave history clouds your judgment. You deflect it, reading signs of submission where it is not the case." She didn't give him the chance to refute her accusation. "You want me to prove that I have listened to and learned from all that you have taught me?" She threw the plate of muffins to the floor and it shattered, the soft fluffy cakes crumbling into chunks. "There! Would I have dared do that if I still thought myself a slave?"

Keelah appeared as surprised at herself by her impulsive act as Teal'c was. They stood glowering at each other, neither knowing what to say or do next. The decision was taken out of their hands when the front door suddenly flung open and Daniel ran into the house.

When his cell rang Daniel had just stripped for his shower. He dove for the phone sitting on the vanity, sidestepping Hathor and Thor who had happily followed him in when he'd arrived home.

"Daniel, we have a possible cure."

Almost giddy with relief at the news, he juggled the phone as he reached for the clean clothes he'd brought in with him, the shower instantly forgotten. "Sam, that's fantastic-"

"But we only have a few hits," she interrupted. "I need you and Teal'c to standby to be transported to the Prometheus to get more."

"Okay. When will she be in range?" He tugged his jeans on while he grabbed Thor who was about to trot off with one of his socks.

"Two minutes. They'll beam you up directly from your homes."

"Where are we going?" He was hopping as he tried to yank on his rescued sock while moving into the bedroom for his boots. Hathor thought it was a great game and was trying to bite at the floppy end of the sock as it flapped half on his foot. "Hathor, stop that," he grumbled.

"Abydos."

Daniel almost dropped the phone in shock, which didn't help his current position of standing like a drunken stork on one leg with Hathor playing tug of war with his raised foot. He managed another hop and let himself fall backwards onto the bed and detached the dog. "Abydos?"

"I'll explain more when you're en-route."

"You're sure this cure is still there?" While he hadn't been back to the planet since Anubis had unleashed the weapon wiping out all of the tribal people who had been his family, he had read the follow up report. Everything including the Stargate had been destroyed. Sam's reply was a little distant as he pulled on a t-shirt but he caught most of it.

"No. We're hoping the crop was far enough away from the blast site to have survived."

"Crop?" He saved his second sock from Thor and jammed his foot into his boot before either dog could renew their game.

"Explanations later. Let Teal'c know, you've got one minute."

"I'm running out the door now." Daniel shoved on his other boot, not bothering with the laces, and bounded down the stairs two at a time. On his dash to the door he remembered to grab the coffee tin with the symbiote from the hallstand to take with him. His official excuse was that the Prometheus had containment vessels that would stop any degradation of the Goa'uld carcass. The truth was he simply did not want the creature in his home. Dodged the puppies who thought this new game of chase was an awful lot of fun, grabbed his keys and slammed the door behind him. Practically hurdling the side fence between the two properties his brain registered the sound of raised voices coming from his old residence and some sort of chinaware smashing. "What about Keelah?"

"Right." Daniel didn't knock on the door, just barged right in. "Teal'c, we're being beamed up to the Prometheus in a few sec-" He stopped short, nearly reeling back as the tension in the room hit him in the face. Keelah was near the couch, her expression angry and hurt. Teal'c was clutching a clean shirt in his hands, though he obviously hadn't showered. The Jaffa's face was a mask of fury and disappointment. Littering the floor between them were broken shards of a plate and crumbled muffins. Daniel had the absurd thought that the broken crockery and food were like land mines that neither of the couple could cross. "Everything okay?" he asked stupidly, since it was clear everything was not.

Teal'c visibly took a calming breath but he ignored the question. "You have news from the base?"

"Possible cure. You and I are going to get more."

"Keelah is to accompany us?" he asked brusquely.

"Sam's sending a car," Daniel replied warily. He looked to the woman who was barely holding back tears. "Unless you'd rather remain here?"

She gave a jerky shake of her head.

"Beam out in ten seconds." Sam's voice echoed from the phone still grasped in Daniel's hand, perplexed at the strained tones she'd heard.

"Okay, Sam," Daniel replied, more to break the uneasy silence that had descended in the room than anything else. Vaguely he heard a sharp yip coming from outside. "Damn, I've locked the dogs in the house."

"I'll let them out," Keelah offered, shooting a look at Teal'c, "if you would accept my assistance."

Daniel didn't have time to wonder at the undertones shooting across the room. He fished his keys from his pocket and tossed them to the former slave. "Always appreciated, thanks." Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, at least if Teal'c's expression was anything to go by, for the Jaffa's scowl deepened.

Keelah caught the keys, and visibly tried to smile. "Good luck." She directed her comment to Daniel, determined that she wouldn't look at Teal'c. Her eyes betrayed her, flicking to include him in her well wishes.

Teal'c opened his mouth to speak but before the words could emerge the two men were engulfed in the familiar white light of the Asgard beaming technology.