Annika leant into the warm comfort of the body beside her.

"Tired?" Daniel asked, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, holding her closer.

"I don’t think I remember what it’s like not to be tired," she yawned.

It had been a month since they had learned of the spy within the SGC. A month of long days and restless nights where they had conducted countless interviews and watched the security tapes over and over again, searching for any scrap of evidence. Annika had taken the issue personally. She was madder than hell that whoever it was, had managed to slip past her radar. She had examined every person’s aura repeatedly, seeking any sign of guilt or deception. So far she had uncovered three men having affairs, two officers involved in a homosexual relationship together, (which she kept to herself,) and one person who had falsified a mission report to cover up an act of stupidity. But there was no hint of the spy.

"You didn’t get much sleep last night."

Both knew he wasn’t referring to their late night love making.

"Funny dream." Her mind was zoned on the almost hypnotic light of the elevator button blinking down.

"Funny ha-ha or funny odd."

"Odd." Another yawn escaped. "Some sort of message is trying to get through, but it’s fuzzy. I’ve got three phrases being mumbled in my head. None of them make any sense."

The lift ground to a halt on level eleven and they switched cars to continue on to the hub that was the SGC.

"Another language?" Daniel hit the twenty-sixth button.

"One possibly is." She sighed, "Does the term ‘shopus’ mean anything to you?"

Daniel racked his brain searching for a translation from the two dozen languages he could speak fluently and the other twenty or so he could read. "Doesn’t sound familiar. Can you put it in context?"

He felt her shake her head against his chest. "Nope, it’s all I’ve got."

"What are the other two phrases?"

Annika hesitated. "You’ll laugh."

"I won’t," he promised.

"Okay…" She didn’t believe him, but she told him anyway. "‘Hell-arse’ and ‘tree-bums’." Annika could feel through their bond how hard it was for him to not chuckle. "I told you."

His mirth was forgotten as the lift doors slid open and his gaze settled on his office door. "Did you close the blinds before we left last night?"

"Nuh uh," Annika kept pace with her husband as they walked.

They approached with an ounce of trepidation. With the knowledge of a traitor within their ranks, seemingly innocent anomalies were being treated with suspicion.

Daniel tested the handle and it twisted open easily. "I’m sure that I locked it."

The couple peered warily inside without going in.

"You did."

The familiar drawl from within nearly made them jump out of their skins.

"Jack! What are you doing here?"

"Paperwork." The colonel was sitting at Daniel’s desk with a half a dozen mission reports scattered in front of him.

Neither could mask their surprise.

"You’re doing paperwork?"

"In my office?"

"I think we should sound the alarm," Annika was half serious. "Clearly this man is not Jack O’Neill."

The older man didn’t look up from the notes he was scribbling down. "As the acting OIC you realize that I could have you both reassigned to latrine duty."

"That’s right," Annika ignored the ‘threat’ and perched herself on the larger table in the centre of the room. "General Hammond’s in Washington today."

"So why aren’t you doing your paperwork in Hammond’s office?" Daniel didn’t quite believe that his best friend was really doing what he claimed and peeked over Jack’s shoulder for confirmation.

"Because people would know where to find me."

"People?" Daniel pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Well, one people…er…pers…one rat, specifically." Jack snapped shut the folder he was working on and leant back in his chair. "It’s KBS day."

Annika’s lips twitched. "Kinsey Bullshit day."

"Yep. I’m sure Hammond contrived his meeting with the President just so he could get out of Kinsey’s visit," he grumped.

"So you’re down here because…" Daniel left the sentence hanging for Jack to explain.

"Because Kinsey won’t come down here." Jack wore a triumphant smirk.

"But he always demands an inch by inch tour of our finds," Daniel contradicted, moving to the far wall to start the coffee percolator. "Pretty sure he does it just to irritate rather than any anthropological reason."

"Nope," Jack denied. "Since Houdini squirted him he hasn’t set foot on this floor."

"I don’t see the connection," Annika frowned, wondering why the man would avoid the archaeological level. The weasel incident had occurred in the ‘gate room, not here.

Daniel chuckled. "Kinsey doesn’t want to risk being in the same room as you in case you pick up on any more of his shady deals."

Jack nodded, rather proud of his logic. "I stick to you, my psychic wonder," he wiggled his index finger at Annika. "And Kinsey won’t come within ten feet of me."

"I’m glad to be of service," Annika giggled.

"Where’s Sam?" While he was waiting for the coffee to drip, Daniel dug out the translation he’d been working on the day before from under one of Jack’s folders.

"Babysitting Kinsey around the science labs."

Annika quirked an eyebrow. "You two have a fight or something?"

"No."

"Jack, I predict that you are going to be sleeping on the couch for the next few nights."

"Huh?" The colonel blinked in confusion.

"You lump Sam with Kinsey and you don’t see a problem?"

Before Jack could respond, Teal’c appeared in the doorway.

"Good morning Daniel Jackson, Annika Jackson." He tilted his head in greeting. "O’Neill, do you wish to box this morning?"

Jack frowned. "How’d you know I was here?"

The Jaffa blinked at his friend, his face impassive. "Where else would you be, O’Neill?" His gaze surveyed the room. "Has Major Carter not arrived as yet?"

"Jack gave her the job of giving Kinsey the nickel and dime tour," Annika piped up, accepting a mug of coffee from her husband with an added kiss thrown in.

Teal’c’s eyebrow shot upward. "Are you and Major Carter experiencing discord within your relationship?"

"No!" the colonel denied again.

"Yes!" Sam stormed into the room, her arms folded across her chest. "You, buster, have a lot of explaining to do."

"What?" Jack’s eye’s widened at the sight of his pissed-off lover.

"Palming Kinsey off on me!" she fumed. "You had better have planned for tonight one seriously long session of make-up sex, otherwise do not bother coming over."

"But, Sam, honey," Jack quickly shifted into salvage mode. "You are so much more diplomatic than I am. You’re at least able to be civil to the slime ball."

"Colonel, you are going to have to do much better than that," the blonde warned, but allowed herself to be tugged onto his lap.

Janet’s head peeked around the door. "Sir, I’ve just got the x-ray results from SG-2’s post mission check."

The secondary team were temporarily down to three men until Dodger’s shoulder completely healed. Hopefully it would only be a couple more weeks and he’d finish up his physiotherapy to restore full movement to his damaged muscles. The team had just returned from a two day scouting mission.

"For cryin’ out loud!" Jack exclaimed. "How’d you know where I am?"

The doctor gave a perplexed frown. "Where else would you be, sir?"

Daniel was the first to allow his snort of laughter to escape, followed quickly by his wife. "So much for nobody finding you, Jack."

"I need to come up with a better hideout," the colonel muttered.

"How about your actual office?" Annika suggested.

"Perfect. Except I don’t know where it is."

"Colonel?" Janet hovered in the entrance.

"Duty calls," Jack sighed. "Come in, Doc, and tell me your woes." He beckoned the diminutive woman in.

Janet couldn’t stop her grin as Jack swiped an arm across the desk, pushing aside the stack of reports including the rest of Daniel’s notes with it. The archaeologist grumbled loudly about colonels mucking up his ‘filing system’ as she took a seat next to Annika. "This is an x-ray of Captain Lyndermann’s femur taken from his last mission." She held up a leg film. "This one’s from today." She placed a second plastic sheet next to the first.

They all looked from one shot to the other.

"Doc, just tell me what I’m supposed to be seeing," Jack pleaded.

Sam pointed to the newer film, she’d already spotted the difference. "There’s no sign of calcification on Brooklyn’s leg from where he broke it a couple of years ago."

Janet nodded her confirmation. "Major Ferretti and Nyan’s films show similar ‘recoveries’. Any signs of old injuries have vanished. And," she added quickly before anyone could ask. "There’s no evidence of a Goa’uld." A third x-ray was held up to the light, this one clearly showing the upper torso free from snake infestation.

"Did SG-2 encounter any Goa’uld with a sarcophagus on their recent mission?" Teal’c enquired.

"No." Jack shook his head. "Standard recon of an uninhabited planet. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"That should have been the first clue something was wrong," Daniel couldn’t help the smartass comment and smiles touched the other’s lips.

"SG-2 are still on base?" Jack asked.

The doctor nodded. "SOP pending the results of the med tests. "

"Okay, people, let’s round ’em up and get them to the isolation rooms."

They all got to their feet. When they trooped out into the corridor it was just in time to see the elevator doors shut on Brooklyn and Nyan on the way down, leaving Ferretti standing in front of them. The major stood stiffly and when he started to walk towards them his legs jerked drunkenly, as though he was forcing himself to move.

Annika’s eyes narrowed as his aura flickered strangely. "Hey, Whistler, how’re you feeling?"

The man just blinked blankly.

"Ferretti, we need you to go up to the infirmary with us." Jack motioned for Teal’c and Daniel to flank their friend.

The major paid them no mind, his eyes fixed on Annika, his dark depths begging with her.

The three phrases pounded her brain, but this time they weren’t mumbles. The words were clear as a bell.

‘Hell-arse’…Help us…

‘Tree-bums’…Three bombs…

‘Shopus…Stop us…

"Goa’uld!" Annika cried out, a tinge of panic in her voice. "Three of them, each planted a bomb."

Daniel slammed his fist against the emergency switch on the wall, causing the klaxons to screech their warning.

"Order an immediate evacuation," Jack barked.

Sam was already ducking back into the office to contact the control room to make the base wide announcement.

The colonel plucked the radio from the clip at his waist, adjusting the channel to the marines at the ’gate room. "Detain Nyan and Captain Lyndermann at all costs. We have reason to believe they have been taken over by Goa’uld."

Ferretti’s eyes flashed yellow, though he made no move to try to escape. It was like his body was battling for control. Goa’uld versus man.

The marines radioed back confirmation when the lift pinged its arrival to reveal Kinsey, his face an expression of anger and fear. "What the hell is going on, Colonel?" He barged out knocking into Ferretti.

The jostle broke the major’s concentration and the Goa’uld now in control sprang towards the elevator’s closing doors.

From above and below came a deep rumbling that shook the walls and floor, throwing them all to their knees. A split second later a deafening explosion sounded from directly above them. The ceiling burst into a thousand pieces of concrete and steel.

Annika reacted instinctively, blocking the deadly shower in its tracks, extending her telekinetic reach as far as she could. As the dust and smoke settled, she tried to blink the grit from her eyes to find out whom she’d been able to protect.

They began sounding off to check that everyone was okay.

Jack, Teal’c and Daniel were carefully sliding out from beneath a hunk of concrete and twisted metal rods hovering a few centimeters from their heads.

"Nice catch, Casper," Jack congratulated, knowing full well that without Annika’s ability they would have been crushed.

Kinsey was cowering from the jagged edge of metal sheeting that was precariously close to his jugular, while cringing away from Ferretti. He’d been thrown back into the Goa’uld when the first of the bombs had exploded. Ferretti had been knocked unconscious, a stray piece of debris slipping by before Annika could use her telekinesis. Janet was scooting out of range from a number of fist sized fragments that were aiming for her upper body.

Annika eyed the chunk of ceiling she was holding motionless above herself. She didn't dare move, not until everyone else had gotten themselves away from the direct path of the flying shrapnel. It was taking all her effort to hold back the ton weight of the decimated level twenty-five.

"Carter, you okay?" Jack coughed, trying to clear his lungs.

The blonde didn’t answer.

"Sam?"

From within the office came a low moan.

Jack and Janet crawled to the entrance.

Annika wasn’t sure how much longer she could maintain her grip on the weight bearing down on her. "Everybody better move out of range," she warned.

The SGC personnel immediately began moving faster, with Daniel and Teal’c dragging Ferretti’s still body with them. Kinsey however had frozen with fear.

She could feel her hold start to waver and bits of grit and pebbles began raining down on them.

"Kinsey, don’t make me shove my boot up your ass," she gasped.

Daniel turned back, intending to grab the senator by the shirttails, when another shower of rubble spurred the man into action. Paying no attention to his actions, Kinsey scrambled towards the access shaft, his only concern to get away from the unstable area. Unfortunately Annika happened to be in his direct path. He barreled into her, knocking her off balance and breaking her concentration.

Daniel managed to grab her hand and yank her towards him. A second later, with an almighty crash the rest of the roof collapsed down on top of them.

"Kinsey, you son of a bitch," Daniel growled, half choking on the new cloud of concrete particles. He managed to catch a glimpse of the senator as he disappeared into the stairwell.

They once again started calling in to see who had survived the second ‘cave in’.

All responded except for Sam and Annika.

Daniel could feel her hand gripping his tightly and he slid closer trying to see through the haze. "Annika?"

"Kinda have a little problem."

Though his heart soared to hear her voice, it plummeted at her words. Before his eyes could comprehend the result of Kinsey’s panic attack, he felt a throbbing ache across his lower torso. He tried to mask the fear that coursed through him. Annika was pinned beneath a slab of concrete. The only thing stopping her from being completely squashed by the weight were a few chunks of brick that had fallen to the side of her. "We need help here!" he yelled, wiping the film of dust from her face. Her violet eyes were wide with disbelief at the turn of events.

There was a scattering of smaller rubble being pushed aside and Janet appeared. She immediately began checking Annika over.

"Can you move under there?" the doctor asked. "Wiggle your toes?"

Annika swallowed and tried to do as bid. After a few seconds she shook her head.

Janet spoke to both of them. "Sam’s got a rod of steel through her stomach. I’ve got to get her up to the OR…" her gaze flickered upwards and she grimaced. "If there’s still an OR."

Whether it be shock or the nature of her injuries, Annika was blessedly numb for the moment. Not having to fight off any pain, she was able to read the dilemma in her friend’s eyes. Both women of SG-1 needed her medical skills. She didn’t want to make Janet choose between them. "If Sam’s not trapped, take her first."

The doctor reluctantly agreed, eyeing the unstable ‘jack’ keeping the slab from squishing Annika. She directed her next comment to Daniel. "I know your first instinct is to shift the slab, but try not to remove it until I’ve finished with Sam or until I can send another doctor down. Right now we don’t know how badly Annika’s hurt. If she’s bleeding internally, then the weight of the slab is acting as a stop gap."

Daniel nodded in understanding.

Teal’c and Jack were carefully picking their way through the carnage with Sam’s unconscious body cradled between them.

"We’ll be back as soon as we can," Jack promised.

Both men looked like they had aged twenty years. Faces that less than five minutes ago that had been creased with mirth, now haggard with worry.

"I’ll just wait here, shall I?" Annika quipped, causing a smile to twist the men’s lips.

"A wise course of action, Annika Jackson."

"Well, as I live and breathe, Teal’c’s becoming a smartass," she teased.

With a low chuckle they headed for the stairs with Janet leading the way.

Now alone, the silence that surrounded the couple was eerie.

Daniel brushed aside some rubble to clear a patch of floor and settled beside Annika to wait. "I don’t suppose you could astral travel to Thor and have him beam you out?" He had no qualms about calling on the Asgard for help. A lot had changed since he denied the similar request two years ago when he himself had been dying of radiation poisoning.

Annika focused her thoughts on the grey being. After a few moments she shook her head. "He’s got his own problems right now. The Replicator’s have launched an attack on their new home world."

"And the Prometheus is still under repair," Daniel sighed. "I guess that would have been too easy."

Minutes seemed to take hours as they waited for Jack and Teal’c to return with help. From the hole in the ceiling the sounds of anguished moans began to filter down to them. That level, besides housing the ‘gate generator which they presumed was the target of that particular bomb, was the general staff quarters.

"I wonder how bad the rest of the base is."

Daniel didn’t comment. They’d find out soon enough.

Annika could feel the pressure on her abdomen increasing with every breath that she took. With the shock wearing off, the adrenaline rush that flooded her system was also diminishing. The natural survival agent that made people have unnatural spurts of strength in times of crisis also temporarily blocked the pain of any injuries, but now the numbness was quickly being replaced with bolts of pure agony, strong enough to make her see stars in front of her eyes. Before it got too bad she managed to focus her will around her lower torso, shielding the hurt from traveling through their bond to Daniel. She didn’t want to cause him pain, didn’t want to alarm him more than he already was. His blue eyes had darkened with enough concern as it was.

A strange cracking noise made both of their hearts leap into their throats. They looked down at the bricks supporting the bulk of the rock chunk on top of Annika. Already weakened by the blast, the bricks were unable to bear the weight and began to crumble before their very eyes.

"Shit."

The exclamation left both mouths simultaneously.

"Can you lift the slab slightly so I can pull you out?" Daniel did a good job of hiding the panic he was feeling. If that roof fragment shifted any lower then it was a very real possibility that Annika would literally be severed in half.

"I…I should be able to…" her voice trembled. "I’ll have to."

"On the count of three." He scrambled to his feet, firmly gripping her beneath her arms.

Annika nodded, splitting her already focused will from herself to the grey rock.

"One, two, three…"

She pushed the slab up a few centimeters and Daniel swiftly dragged her clear. A second later when he was sure they were entirely out of range he gave her a single nod.

"Okay, let it drop."

Annika had intended to ease it to the ground slowly, but the effort to maintain the two weaves was too much.

The floor shuddered beneath them as the slab crashed down causing another shower of gray dust to cover them.

Removing the ‘stop gap’ did just as Janet had feared and Annika stifled a groan as a whole new set of injuries became apparent. Everywhere around her hips felt like it was on fire. Using her gift she carefully probed beneath the skin, felt trickles of blood leaking through vessels and organs that had burst from the pressure.

Daniel saw the sudden sheen of sweat coat her face and his stomach constricted. "Annika?"

"Just give…me…a second," she gasped, trying to work passed the pain and redirect her telekinesis to blocking and ‘bandaging’ her damaged organs.

He watched helplessly as her face creased with pain. He didn’t try to examine what she was doing through their bond, not wanting to distract her when she obviously needed all of her concentration. After a few heart pounding minutes her breathing became less haggard.

"I’m okay for now," Annika managed to hide the lie from her voice. "My back is just in more serious shape than I thought."

Before he could ask any questions there was the sound of boots crunching over the gravel littering the floor. Daniel’s head swung up to see Jack and Teal’c making their way back to them.

"Thought the Doc said not to move," Jack frowned taking in the couple’s new position. Janet had warned him of the possible complications of Annika’s injuries while they were transporting Sam.

"No, choice." Daniel picked up a handful of what remained of the shattered bricks.

The colonel nodded in understanding.

A loud groan escaped from the crumpled heap from the far wall, drawing their attention to Ferretti, who in the commotion had been temporarily forgotten. He was beginning to drift back to consciousness. His eyes blinked open and while his expression was dazed the yellow glow of the Goa’uld could not be missed. In one swift move Teal’c planted a hard punch to his jaw, knocking him senseless again.

"T, will you be able to manage on your own to get him to one of the isolation rooms on twenty-two?"

The Jaffa nodded.

"Make sure that he’s locked in with guards posted at the door."

Teal'c hefted the smaller man over his shoulder. "Shall I then assist in clearing the rubble to the ’gate room?"

Jack nodded. "Getting through to the Alpha site or topside is our top priority." He was already kneeling by Annika ready to lift her with the help of Daniel. "Grab a radio from anyone down there and keep channel two open for updates."

Again Teal'c nodded and strode confidently across the uneven floor, Ferretti’s arms swaying across his back with every step.

"Okay," Jack turned his attention back to Annika. "Let’s get you to the infirmary."