The infirmary had been turned into a triage room. Half of the medical staff had been working on projects in the bio labs when the bomb on level nineteen exploded. Few of them had survived and those that had, had become patients themselves. More and more wounded were being brought in by the minute, and the remaining medics were doing their best to prioritize the injuries.

Jack and Daniel wove a path through the hall, being careful not to step on the bodies lining the walls. Nestled between them with her arms draped limply around their shoulders, Annika was being carried with the men’s hands cradling her under her legs and supporting her back. Ideally they would have made up a makeshift stretcher, but with the elevators out of commission they’d had to traverse the steep stairwells and they hadn’t wanted their precious cargo tilted at such a steep angle.

"Jenkins!" Jack bellowed, knocking open the flapping door with his boot since his hands were otherwise occupied. "We need a bed!"

Janet’s chief medical officer looked up from the marine he was assessing. He’d been stationed in Iraq in a MASH unit near the front lines before being handpicked by Janet for her team at the SGC. He was accustomed to working in a war zone and his efficient demeanor kept nurses and patients calm. He pinned a blue tag to the marine’s uniform, directing two able bodied MP’s who’d been reassigned as ‘injured crowd control’ to remove him. "Take him to twenty-two, he can wait until things settle down to have his legs reset." He strode over to the colonel, already visually assessing Annika.

"Concrete slab fell on her. Pinned by the waist."

"Can’t really feel my legs," Annika added softly, resting her head on Daniel’s shoulder.

Jenkins shone a penlight in her eyes, searching her pupils for evidence of shock. He’d become adept at reading hidden meaning beneath the pain of his patients. What he saw in her violet depths made his heart sink, however his voice didn’t show any indication. "We’ll set you up in here." He guided the men to the one remaining private room on the floor. Hoped they didn’t question why Annika was given that ‘luxury’. After they had gently laid her on the bed he ordered them out of the room.

"Like, hell!" Jack protested.

"I’m not going anywhere." Daniel shook his head.

"Only for a few minutes," Jenkins assured. "Just want to make Annika more comfortable. Do a general assessment." He was unobtrusively moving towards the men, sneakily intruding on their personal space, making them automatically step back.

Before they knew it, Jack and Daniel found themselves herded back out into the hall. They blinked at the door that was firmly shut in their faces.

"How’d we end up out here?" Jack groused.

"I don’t know but I have to get him to show me how he did it." Daniel hadn’t had any intention of following the doctor’s order and yet here he was on the wrong side of the door.

Jenkins turned back to the redhead to see a small smile touch her lips.

"Neat trick."

"It’s a talent of mine," he smiled back then began checking her vitals in earnest. "So what don’t you want your husband to know?"

"Janet never mentioned you could read minds." Annika’s quip was strangled as a shot of pain twisted through her.

The doctor waited patiently for her to compose herself.

"I’m bleeding internally." She drew in a shaky breath. Her mind couldn’t dredge up the names of the organs crushed by the slab that had fallen from the roof, so she simply indicated with her hand to her lower abdomen and her side. "Got squished pretty good." Sucked in another breath. "I’m managing to block most of the…leaks…with my telekinesis, but I don’t know how much longer I can keep it up."

"Doctor Fraiser is the only one left who can perform the surgery." He gently examined the areas that were already a mass of purple bruising and swelling. "We tried to get more med staff from topside, but I’m told the explosion on nineteen took out the elevator, stairwell and access shafts."

"Stargate’s cut off too. Access corridors are rubble," Annika sighed.

They were trapped in the bowels of the SGC until the rescue crews could dig them out. Teams had already been lowered through the retractable ceiling in the ‘gate room and were working on a way to remove the pile of concrete and steel safely. Other teams were doing the same from above the science labs and the SG personnel were also working from within.

"Any idea how long Janet will be with Sam?"

"Could be another hour, maybe two. The major is in as bad shape as you are." Jenkins paused. "Can you stave off the bleeding that long?"

"I don’t know."

"Have you really lost feeling in your legs or was that just the best you could come up with to distract the Colonel and Doctor Jackson?"

"It’s not made up." Annika had used her gift to examine all of her injuries. "I didn’t sense any broken bones and I’m pretty sure my spinal chord is intact, just bruised and swollen."

"So that will more than likely heal given time." He accepted her self-diagnosis. The truth was, her gift was probably a more accurate tool than anything that they had at the moment.

They both knew that was a long term diagnosis, only relevant if she survived her other injuries.

"And that’s what you’re going to tell those two mother hens out there," she said softly yet firmly.

He was about to object, but held back. "I should really tag you with one of these." He pulled a red card from his pocket. The color indicated the severity of her injuries. Red was a top priority.

"Please don’t." She weakly gripped his hand, her eyes flickering to the door. "Don’t worry them more than they are."

The doctor nodded. He didn’t necessarily approve, however he did understand. "I’ll give you some morphine for the pain."

Annika shook her head. "I need to be lucid. I can’t maintain my concentration if I’m doped up."

Again he nodded. "Okay. I’ll make sure that you’re first on the list for the next surgery."

"Thank you."

Jenkins admired the way she was able to mask the agony she was in.

"Okay, let them back in."

Daniel and Jack were hovering anxiously at the threshold.

"With the base running on emergency power we can’t take any x-rays of Annika’s back," Jenkins explained. "Even if we could, the films wouldn’t be accurate until the swelling around her spine goes down. However from what she’s told me, she hasn’t detected any fracturing."

"So she’ll walk again?" Daniel asked.

"There are no guarantees, but it is a good sign. Like I said, we’ll know more when the swelling goes down. For now we can only keep her comfortable." Thankfully that last statement also applied to Annika’s internal injuries, so the doctor technically wasn’t lying. Until the surgery could be performed there was nothing anyone could do. Another soldier was being carried on a stretcher and he stepped out into the crowded hall. "I need to get back to the others."

Daniel immediately moved to Annika’s bedside. Jack held back.

"Jenkins, any word on Major Carter?"

"Not yet. I’ll keep you updated, sir." He gestured to the private room. "You’ll be here?"

"I can coordinate from basically anywhere." He tapped the radio at his belt. "Here’s as good a place as any." His voice lowered and his eyes darted to the redhead in the room being fussed over by her husband. "Bad?"

The doctor hesitated. Despite Annika’s personal wish, Colonel O’Neill was the current commander of the base and he had asked a direct question. He gave a single nod. "She’s going in right after Major Carter."

Jenkins hurried on to the next patient and Jack tried to shield the worry from his eyes, but wasn’t quick enough.

Annika misinterpreted part of the reason for the look. "Sam’s gonna be okay, Jack."

"Hocus pocus or just words?" He pulled one of the chairs from the corner and made himself as comfortable as he could on the molded plastic.

Annika lifted a finger to her forehead and some of the tension eased from his shoulders. Well, that's four fifths of his team taken care of. He prayed that the fifth member would hold in there too. He tugged the radio from his waist. "Teal’c, what’s your status?"

"We are removing what debris we can to clear a path to the Stargate," the Jaffa’s voice crackled back. "We have uncovered the bodies of Captain Lyndermann and Nyan. It appears they were attempting to get to the Stargate when the bombs exploded."

Jack pushed the mixed feelings for his dead workmates aside. They were as much victims as anyone in this shit of a day. "I’ll organize another team to give you a hand."

"That would be inadvisable, O’Neill. There is limited space. Any more men would only impede our progress."

"Roger that." He hid his sigh of frustration.

"What is the condition of Major Carter and Annika Jackson?"

"Sam’s still in surgery. They’re hopeful that Annika will walk again."

"You will keep me appraised, O’Neill?"

"You bet." Jack moved on to check in with Colonel Reynolds and Major Pierce who were working on the other two blast sites on levels nineteen and twenty-five. Their response was the same as Teal’c’s. The colonel organized a rotating shift to relieve them after an hour. Jack gave Sergeant Harriman the task of accounting for all the personnel. Armed with the duty rosters he was marking off casualties, injuries and able bodied. He then sent a major to check on the status of the mess hall. If they were lucky they’d have access to either the Stargate or topside in a few hours, but since this day wasn’t exactly raining four leaf clovers, he was preparing for the worst. He needed an inventory of all the food they had, including the MREs from the supply room. Siler and the other tech sergeants were trying to get the base back to full power, fix the ’gate generator and the ventilation system. Everyone else was pitching in where they could even if it was just helping to set up temporary barracks on levels twenty-three and four, assisting the wounded to find a comfortable spot or staying out of the work crews’ way.

Daniel listened with half an ear to the progress of the disaster areas. His primary focus was on his wife. She was in pain, he could sense it through their bond. From his hips down there was a feeling of pins and needles and he knew she was shielding the majority of it from him. He gently held her hand, bringing it up to brush a light kiss over her knuckles. "You don’t need to block it."

Her fingers tightened around his. "No point in both of us hurting." He moved to get the other chair, but she patted the mattress. "Sit with me."

He hesitated, eyeing the narrow width of the bed. He didn’t want to exacerbate her injuries. "I’m not sure that’s a good idea."

"You close to me is always a good idea." When he still held back she added. "I always feel so safe in your arms." Her eyes looked out to the wounded and bleeding in the corridor. "Please, I need to feel that right now."

"Okay." The truth was Daniel needed it too. Needed more than just the contact of holding her hand. She was already lying slightly diagonal across the bed from when they had lain her there, and at her insistence he sat with his back against the headboard so his thigh became her pillow. His right arm draped around her shoulder and he interlocked her fingers with his. "Better?"

"Much," she sighed happily, sending a warm wash of her love through their bond. Feeling the strength of both his body against her and his love, made the agony of her injuries bearable.

Taking comfort from each other, they listened to Jack finish up with the status check.

The colonel radioed the marines posted outside one of the isolation rooms on level twenty-two. "How’s Ferretti doing?"

"He’s in and out of consciousness, sir."

"Let me know the moment the snake has healed his body," Jack ordered. "He and I need to have a little chat."

"Yes, sir."

Daniel beckoned to Jack to hand over the radio. "Has he spoken at all?"

The voice echoed back. "He’s mumbled a few things. Sounded something like ‘amnesty’."

"Amnesty?" Annika frowned. "After what he’s done he’s asking for a pardon?"

"Like that’s gonna happen." Jack gave a snort of disgust. "As soon as we’re able we’ll contact the Tok’ra to get that snake out of him. And give Ferretti the pleasure of snapping its neck."

Daniel’s fingers were absently dancing up and down Annika’s arm in thought. "Hmmm…amnesty…amnes…" He broke off and activated the radio again. "Is he conscious now?"

There was a pause while they peeked through the small reinforced window of the locked door. "Yes."

"Tell him that the brother he came to avenge died squealing like a stuck pig and begging for mercy."

"Excuse me, Doctor Jackson?"

Jack and Annika were just as baffled as the marine.

"Daniel, as much as I enjoy hanging shit on a Goa’uld," Jack’s brow furrowed in confusion. "What are you doing?"

"Identifying the Goa’uld." He innocently peered over his glasses. "We do want to know who he is, don’t we?"

"Well, yeah..."

Daniel looked expectantly at his friend, asking his permission to continue.

A soft chuckle escaped from Annika at Jack’s eye roll.

"You’re a pain in the ass," he grumbled.

The archaeologist grinned, then repeated his request. "Oh, and add Hapy isn’t so happy anymore."

Still bemused the marine did as asked. A moment later he reported back in. "That got a reaction. Eyes glowed and right now I think he’s cursing." The marine held the radio closer to the door so the yelling of the Goa’uld could be heard. "Did that help, Doctor Jackson?"

"Yes. Thank you." He handed the radio back to Jack with a satisfied smile.

"So share already," Jack demanded.

Daniel couldn’t help but launch into lecture mode. "In Ancient Egyptian mythology there were four gods. Brothers named ‘Protectors of the cardinal points’. Duamutef of the east, Hapy of the north, Imesty of the south and," he paused for dramatic effect just to irritate Jack. "Qebehsenuef of the west."

"The bitch-bastard that interrupted our wedding?" Annika tilted her head back a bit to look up at him.

Daniel nodded. "This was a revenge attack. It explains why they tried to destroy us instead of enslave us."

"But not how they fooled the scans," Jack muttered, referring to the full body shots all SG teams underwent whenever they returned from off-world.

"Ohhhh!" Annika’s eyes widened as something in her mind clicked into place.

"What’s the matter?" Daniel anxiously asked, immediately searching their bond for any new signs of pain within her.

She reassured him with a caress of her own and he relaxed slightly. "I’ve just realized precisely what I saw when I looked at Ferretti before the…"

"Boom?" Jack supplied helpfully.

She nodded. "Part of his aura was missing…well, it wasn’t Ferretti’s aura it was the Goa’uld’s. It was hidden, but it began to flicker into sight…like something was wearing off… an impurity being purged…" She rubbed her forehead in frustration, trying to find the words that were on the tip of her tongue.

"You mean like a drug?" Daniel prompted.

"Yes!" Her eyes sparkled up at him. "The Tok’ra, they gave you and Jonas something similar when you first Descended and went on that Goa’uld ship."

"The radioactive-isotope that shielded our body signatures from the sensors."

"They never did say where they got the idea for that stuff," Jack mused. "Gotta wonder why the snakeheads haven’t tried to use it before."

The three of them contemplated that for a few moments.

"Because with it the Goa’uld don’t retain full control of the host," Daniel concluded.

Annika agreed. "Whistler tried to warn us. Imesty wouldn’t have gotten off the elevator if he had a choice. Wouldn’t have sought us out."

Daniel corrected her modesty. "He wouldn’t have sought you out, My Angel. The one person on this base who would be able to see what was happening to him."

"But I didn’t understand in time." The men both heard her self-recrimination.

"Casper, only hindsight is twenty-twenty."

"I would have settled for ten-ten vision with a five minute heads up," Annika sighed. "I didn’t have an inkling of any of this."

"You yourself have mentioned that some things can’t be altered even with your premonitions." Daniel tried to help banish the guilt she was feeling. The selectivity of her gift was a frustrating issue with his wife. No one knew why she was able to predict one event over another. "Some things have to happen…"

Walter’s voice interrupted them with an update on the personnel. Thirty confirmed dead, almost double that figure injured, forty unscathed and twenty still unaccounted for.

Her violet eyes gazed up at him, pleadingly. "Why did thirty of our friends have to die?"

"I don’t know, yet." He gently tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"My husband, the eternal optimist."

Daniel felt an amused tickle beneath his heart followed by a wash of her love for him to which he immediately responded in kind. He had been trying to hide his immense alarm and worry for her. There was more to her injuries than she was letting on, but no matter how he probed their bond, he couldn’t figure out what it was. She smiled up at him and it settled some of his fears. Annika was alert and lucid, so it couldn’t be too serious, could it?

Annika wanted to distract Daniel away from her injuries. It was a lot harder to use her telekinesis on herself rather than on a third party. She didn’t have the energy to try to figure out why. All she knew was that it was taking twice the amount of effort and maintaining the constant hold was taking its toll. Was it wrong to hide the extent of her injuries from Daniel? Selfish of her? Probably, she admitted. But she wanted what time she had left to be as ‘normal’ as possible; to not have to say a heart wrenching goodbye, to not play the cruel waiting game of approaching death. She searched for a new topic of conversation. "What happened to Kinsey?"

"Don’t know," Jack shrugged. "Don’t care."

Daniel had a bit more information. "He hightailed it out of there after your offer to shove a boot up his ass."

"He just left us?" It shouldn’t have shocked her. Everyone knew that despite the senator’s loudly voiced declarations of acting for ‘God and country’, he was only ever concerned about his own butt. "He’s lucky I’m stuck in here."

"If it wasn’t for him you wouldn’t be in here like this." Daniel fought back anger. "The cowardly bastard."

"I’d better tell Walter to keep an eye out for him." Jack wasn’t exactly enthusiastic, however when the sergeant’s voiced echoed back through the radio it intrigued the three friends.

"Sir, we know where the senator is." There was a definite hint of amusement in his tone.

"Do tell." Jack released the button and they waited avidly for his response.

"Well, sir, the explosion created a kind of foxhole that at first glance seemed to be the obvious place to start digging us out. Senator Kinsey didn’t believe Major Pierce that the slab was unstable…"

"And?"

"He ignored the warnings and went inside to remove the rubble and…um, the slab gave way and boxed him in."

"Pierce is trying to get him out?"

"No, sir. Major Pierce is abiding by your orders of getting to the surface as our top priority. Would you like to belay that order, sir?"

"Is Kinsey injured?"

"No, sir."

"He’s got air flow?"

"Yes, sir, if his bellowing is any indication."

"No chance of another cave in?"

"Major Pierce doesn’t think so. That final collapse actually stabilized the rest of the area. They are currently using that slab as scaffolding to remove the debris from the ceiling."

"Then, no, my original order stands," Jack answered seriously. "Don’t want to destabilize the area again."

"I’ll inform Major Pierce."

When Walter signed off the members of SG-1 lasted all of a second before they burst out laughing.

"Now that’s poetic justice," Daniel grinned.

Annika gave a content little sigh. "I like the idea of Kinsey being stuck between a rock and a hard place."

"I knew there had to be some perk to this day," Jack smirked. "Our people walking all over Kinsey is it."

They shared another laugh and then the colonel did another round of status checks. They were making progress, albeit slowly. Jenkins reported in that Janet would still be at least another hour working on Sam.

Annika cleared her throat. "I’m a little thirsty."

Jack immediately reached for the jug of water that had been left by the bedside.

"Actually I really feel like a cup of coffee." She gave them a bright smile. "My second cup of the day kinda got interrupted."

"I think I saw one of the med staff with a pot." The colonel stood up but Annika shook her head.

"Pfft, they don’t know what a good cup of coffee is." She twisted a little in Daniel’s lap. "Can you find me a real brew?" She could see that he was reluctant to leave her. "Please?" she asked playfully, "It’s bad enough I’m stuck in bed, don’t subject me to that piss water they drink too."

"Okay," he chuckled, slowly slipping his leg from beneath her head, being careful not to jostle her. "Black as night and spoon standing up?"

Annika heaved a blissful sigh. "Sounds like pure heaven."

"Back soon." He bent down, placing a gentle kiss to her lips.

She brought her hands up to cup his jaw, deepening the kiss for a few sacred moments. When she broke it off, she tilted her forehead up against his. "Love you, My Love."

Blue eyes locked with hers. "Love you too, My Angel."

After Daniel left she let her head drop back onto the mattress. It took too much effort to hold it upright.

Jack had remained standing at the end of her bed studying her. She gazed back at him. She could see that her ploy to get Daniel out of the room hadn’t been lost on him. And from the sadness that filtered across his chocolate orbs he knew the reason why.

He thrust his hands in his pockets and drew in an unsteady breath, then asked the question he already knew the answer to. "You’re dying, aren’t you?"

She gave a slow nod, feeling tears prick the back of her lids. "Bleeding internally."

"Why didn’t you say something?" he demanded gruffly.

"Because there’s nothing anyone can do," she sighed. "I’ve been using my telekinesis to hold off the bleeding, hoping to hang on till Janet’s finished up with Sam…but it’s draining me, Jack." She drew in a shallow breath. "And there’s something I need to do," her voice cracked. "Jacob and Selmak let me examine their blending, I wanted to know if there was a way I could save a host if given the chance…The connection they share is not the same…but it’s similar in principle…" she was babbling, having trouble forming the words. Gods, I'm so tired. "…I’m not sure, but I think I’ve worked out a way to sever our bond."

Jack couldn’t mask his surprise nor his hope at the idea. He’d been resigning himself to the knowledge that he’d be losing both Annika and Daniel.

"I don’t want Daniel to die as well. He never signed up for that, doesn’t deserve it." She drew in a shaky breath. "I’ll try to do it slowly. Cutting it all at once will be too great a shock to his system…"

"Can’t you hold on just a little bit longer?" he pleaded, grabbing her hand. "Come on, Casper, where’s that mule we know and love?"

"How do you think I’ve lasted this long?" she clasped his fingers, and Jack could feel how weak she was. "If I wait any longer, I won’t have the strength to do what needs to be done."

"Daniel should be here with you, not me." He made towards the door, but Annika held him back with a tug of her hand.

"Jack, no."

"He’s your husband…"

"I want his last memory of me to be of me smiling, asking for a cup of coffee, that last kiss…not my last breath."

Jack’s head bowed and he reluctantly nodded. He could understand that. Whenever he thought of Charlie, in that split second before he remembered the smiling face of his son, the image that flashed in his mind was the moment in the emergency room when his little boy’s heart had stopped beating and the tiny hand in his had gone slack. "I’ll help Daniel get through this." It was a needless promise, they both knew he would, nevertheless it was one Jack had to voice.

"I know you will." A wry smile graced her lips. "He’ll fight you every step of the way."

"Gee, ya’ think?" he teased and the two friends shared a grin.

"Will…will you stay with me, Jack?" she asked softly. "I...I don’t want to be alone."

"Oh, sweetheart," he tenderly brushed the back of his hand against her cheek, fighting back the sudden stinging behind his eyes. "Wild horses couldn’t drag me away."

He snagged the chair with his foot and dragged it to him, not wanting to break contact with her. He sat down beside her and for a few moments only the sound of their breathing could be heard.

A strange feeling of calm surrounded Annika as she began to gather what reserve strength she had, focusing it on the invisible bond she had created with her soul mate. She didn’t have any regrets about her life, nothing serious that she would have changed. The last year especially, she had experienced more than any normal person, had used her gifts to help people and she had been ecstatically happy. She only wished that she could ease the grief that Daniel would go through. She was the one getting off lightly, it would be Daniel who would have to learn to survive and live again.

There was one final thing about her vision of Imesty that she had to tell. "Jack, the snitch list…"

"Don’t you worry yourself about that."

"You’re going to argue with me?" she teased.

"Of course I am," he grinned.

"It’s important," she turned serious. "SG-2 can be crossed off."

He colonel frowned. "I would have thought we just identified the spy. Three of them in fact."

Annika shook her head. "Imesty and co were working alone, in secret. They planned to be long gone before the bombs went off, but they overestimated the control they would have over the guys. Brooklyn reset the timers to go off early, and Ferretti and Nyan were able to change the location of the bombs slightly. They wanted to take out the ’gate room and the generator, not just the corridors where they were located." She paused to take a labored breath. "They were out for revenge, but they weren’t stupid. They inhabited SG-2 because none of them were the mole. They weren’t willing to risk the wrath of Ba’al by taking his spy as a host."

"So the snitch is Ba’al’s pet project, huh?"

Like so often with her visions, snippets of information slipped out that she didn’t even realize she had. "Looks like it."

Annika sucked in another controlling breath and Jack didn’t need to be psychic to know she didn’t have long left.

"Well, Colonel, it’s been a total blast knowing you."

"Very bad pun, Casper," he half choked on a laugh and a sob.

"It’s the SG-1 way, right?" She gave his hand a squeeze.

"Right." He squeezed back.

Her lids fluttered closed and for a moment Jack thought that was it, but after a long second her chest rose steadily up and down. The lilac star on her forehead began to glow, indicating that the psychic was focusing her will, using the last of her energy to give her soul mate life.

Daniel hurried down the corridor in search of Annika’s request. One look at the carafe being toted by Felger who was helping out as he could, and the caffeine connoisseur knew his wife would not be happy with that concoction. Hmmm…where can I get a real cup? His stash in his office was currently buried beneath a ton of rubble that used to be level twenty-five. And quickly? He wanted to get back to Annika as soon as possible. He couldn’t shake the feeling that she was hiding something. He didn’t doubt that she was doing it to stop him from freaking out, which was only serving to freak him out anyway. He wasn’t sure, but despite her ‘alertness’ she seemed to be wilting before his eyes. Coffee, coffee, coffee… Inspiration struck.

A quick glance to make sure no one was looking, then Daniel snuck into Janet’s office and slid open the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet. He pulled the files forward so he could easily reach the airtight stainless steel container hidden in the back. It was a little known fact that the doctor harbored an addiction to the beverage that rivaled Daniel’s. He had caught her out a few years back when he was recuperating from his appendix operation. Janet had entered the infirmary with barely a mouthful left in her mug, yet it was enough to make the archaeologist’s sensitive nose twitch at the aroma, instantly recognizing it as a rich exotic blend not found anywhere on the base. She had bought his silence with a promise that whenever he was laid up in one of her beds she’d make sure that his coffee would be her blend and not the base sludge. He figured that Janet wouldn’t mind if he raided her stash given the circumstances. Making an educated guess born of experience he tipped a generous amount of the grounds into the percolator filter kept on the shelf behind her desk. While he waited for the brew to drip through, he idly dusted the sealed packet of coffee sitting beside it. He’d have to remind Janet if she was going to keep up the charade of drinking the standard base supplied coffee then she’d have to keep her ‘props’ tidy.

He was just stirring in a spoonful of sugar when Annika’s love steadily begin to trickle through their bond. It engulfed him like a comforting blanket, moving through every muscle and pore, winding its way through his veins, spreading through his entire body. Strange, he thought. As wonderful as it was to feel the depth and purity of her emotions, it was different somehow. He automatically tried to send his own love to her but to his surprise it bounced back into him, not able to travel ‘upstream’ of what Annika was sending through. Something was wrong; very, very wrong.

The warmth pulsing through him, began to splinter off into tendrils, as though searching for something. Beneath his heart he felt a tiny tug, like a piece of cotton being snapped. What is she doing? He felt another tug and fear made his heart pound. No, this can’t be happening! Their magical bond was being broken, strand by strand. But that is impossible, it can’t be broken. It's a life bond! A gasp tore from his mouth as there were a half a dozen more yanks in quick succession and this time there was also a distinct drop of how much of Annika he could feel. Life bond…until death do us p…

"NO!" The full realization of what she was doing and why, made him stagger against the wall. He bolted out into the corridor, while at the same time trying with all his might to grip the remaining half of their connection, fighting off the gentle yet strong tentacles of Annika’s will that were destroying their link. "No! Don’t do this! You can’t do this!"

He only managed a few steps when the tendrils shifted to wrap around their bond, tightening like a string around a newborn’s umbilical cord. Pain, more excruciating than anything he’d ever experienced shot through him, causing his body to seize. Then a sharp slice severed the final threads. Just before he blacked out he felt a heart achingly familiar weave of air spiral around him, cushioning his fall to the concrete floor. A gentle brush against his lips and Daniel knew no more.

A  A  A  A  A  A

Annika’s fingers tightened around Jack’s for a brief moment and with a final sigh the purple light vanished, her hand going limp in his.

Jack allowed the tears to drip unheeded down cheeks. The radio at his hip crackled to life, but he ignored it. He wanted…no, needed a few minutes before he could face anyone. Had to take the time to privately mourn for the woman who had become such an integral part of his life, before he had to resume his duty as CO.

A few seconds later there was a pounding on the door.

"Not now!" he barked.

"But, sir." The door flung open and Walter rushed inside. "Doctor Jackson just…" He cut off when he saw the tears streaking the colonel’s bowed head and Annika’s lifeless body. "Oh, god."

Jack sucked in haggard breath. "Doctor Jackson just…what?"

"He collapsed in the hallway." The sergeant’s voice was thick with emotion, his gaze not shifting from the redhead.

"He’s alive?" Jack wiped a hand over his face to remove the wet trails. Annika hadn’t been positive that she would be able to break their connection.

"Yes, sir."

With infinite care he scooped Annika into his arms. "Bring Daniel in here." It was a cold harsh reality, that there simply weren’t any other beds available. "I’ll take care of Casper."

The sergeant hurried from the room.

When Jack stepped into the hall with his teammate cradled to his chest a solemn silence descended. Men and women shuffled against the wall to clear a path, almost like an honor guard. Two marines were coming towards him carrying Daniel on a stretcher. As Jack slowly walked passed, Annika’s arm dangled down, brushing against her husband. Even unconscious and without their bond, the archaeologist sensed her nearness and his hand latched on to her still warm fingers.

Jack couldn’t stop the fresh lot of tears that leaked from his eyes at the gesture and his ears caught the sound of a few sniffs from the others gathered around. He tried to gently pull away but Daniel’s grip refused to budge. "Can someone please separate them?" he asked hoarsely.

Silently one of the nurses pried Daniel’s fingers from his wife's and Jack strode down the hallway unable to acknowledge the help for the constricting lump in his throat. His knees nearly buckled when he saw Janet running towards him, coming to tell him that she was ready to take Annika in for surgery. Five minutes too late, Doc. Five minutes too late.