Disclaimer Stargate Sg-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author.

"What happened?" one of the paramedics asked, gently pushing Sam aside after giving her a cursory look.

"I got shot," Jack complained, grimacing as the two men started to examine him. She got to her feet and stepped back, watching as they began to push aside his clothes. Hearing footsteps, she turned to see two police officers making their way down the dark, wet subterranean passage. They walked past her, either not seeing the gun in her hand, or not deeming her a threat. Feeling a sudden wave of panic wash over her, she ducked into the first alcove she could find; surprised to discover that it was a narrow stairway. Her sneakers making no sound, she climbed the stairs, relieved when no one seemed to notice her departure.

She exited the stairwell, pausing to look up and down the empty halls. At a loss as to where to go, she slowly walked down the hall. In the back of her mind, she knew that it wasn't the smartest thing she could do. There were doubtless police still searching the building and a goa'uld on the loose, but she didn't care. All she knew for sure was that she needed some time alone. If she were down there, they'd ask her questions. Questions that she had no answers for, at least not answers that she could give to un-cleared civilians.

Wandering down the hall, she sighed and tried to quell her fear. It was ok, she was ok. She absently rubbed her right wrist with her left hand…mostly ok; she amended, studying the darkening bruise. Nothing that wouldn't heal.

Coming to an open doorway, she paused and looked, surprised to recognize the room. Frowning at the two unconscious men handcuffed to the bed, she slowly walked in, quickly scanning the room. Maybourne was gone. That certainly wasn't a surprise. What the hell had he been doing here anyway? The last she knew he was hiding out somewhere with more beaches than extradition laws.

She walked over to the table by the bed, giving the shiny stainless steel instruments a cursory look. She didn't quite know the exact use for each item, but the scalpel and the bone saw were pretty self-explanatory.

The syringe was still lying where the 'doctor' had set it down and she picked it up, studying it curiously. There was a small air bubble in the clear plastic tube. It floated in the fluid, reminding her of one of those silly souvenir pens. "One hell of a poison pen," she muttered, tipping the syringe back and forth to make the bubble dance.

Impulsively, she placed her thumb on the plunger and squeezed, watching the fluid arc through the air. It rained down on the sheet-covered mattress, turning the thin cotton material transparent.

All too soon, the rubber tip of the plunger reached the base of the syringe and the miniature shower came to a stop. She set the syringe down, picking up the large bottle. Holding it up, she read the label. 'Concentrated Potassium Chloride. Warning - Direct intravenous use of this solution can result in fatal cardiac arrhythmias. Must be diluted.'

So she had read it right, she hadn't just panicked. Idly she held the bottle up, watching as it glinted in the faint light seeping in through the dusty windows. It didn't look like poison. In fact, it just resembled water. There should be a rule, anything poisonous should be…hot pink, bright red…something to warn a person that what they were dealing with was as dangerous as a loaded gun. The rattle of metal on metal made her gasp, her hand snatching the gun from the small table.

She stepped back, her eyes going to the only other people in the room. Her heart pounding, she met the bleary gazes of the two doctors, both looking up at her from their positions on the floor.

The fat one brought his free hand up, rubbing the faint shadow of a bruise on his jaw. "Your friend packs quite a punch," he complained. "I should file charges."

"Shut up, Neil," his friend said. "Major, I'm sorry. I…"

"I don't know why you're wasting your time," Neil interrupted. "It's not like she's going to have to testify on our behalf. In fact, Major, if you would be so kind as to just let us go…" Sam remained silent, an incredulous look on her face, her hand tightening around the grip of the gun. "Don't look so surprised, Major," Neil continued. "Do you really think there's going to be a trial? The Air Force won't risk it. All they have to do is ask 'Why' and the whole program is blown wide open. Not to mention your very unique physical condition and…"

He prattled on as she stopped and thought. He was right. They were civilians, Conrad was a civilian. They'd kidnapped her while she'd been off duty and off base. The Air Force didn't have any jurisdiction. And they wouldn't risk a trial, the secrecy of the program was far more important than what had happened to her. She'd just be a footnote on a report somewhere. 'Major Carter was AWOL, but it was later learned that she had been held against her will. Suggest that we don't dock her pay.' It would all just go away. They'd kidnapped her, experimented on her, were going to kill her in cold blood…and they were going to get off Scott free.

It wasn't fair. She deserved…something. An apology, justice, some sort of reparation. Giving into a sudden wave of anger, she knelt before Neil, her movement cutting him off in mid sentence.

"You wanted to know about my experience with Jolinar?" she asked quietly, her voice cold and calm. "She had a reputation among the Tok'ra. They called her ruthless, even for one of them. There was this one time, she was told to assassinate a system lord. She slept with him…so she could slit his throat while he slept." She punctuated her words by drawing the barrel of the gun across his throat, hiding her satisfaction when he paled and swallowed convulsively. "That was a thousand years ago. If you EVER come near me again, you'll have the thrilling experience of finding out what ELSE I remember."

"Sam? There you are. Jack's having a fit downstairs. You just vanished and…is everything ok?" he asked, his tone changing from relief to caution as he took in the sight before him.

Sam ignored her friend, instead staring Neil in the eyes until the man blinked and looked down. Satisfied that she'd gotten her message across, she lowered the gun and got to her feet, stepping back.

"Sam?"

"Everything's fine," she reassured him, mustering a small smile. "We were just…having a little talk." Daniel shot her a skeptical look, his eyes darting to the gun in her hand.

"Well, if you're finished, Jack and Teal'c are downstairs, he won't go to the hospital without you." Sam sighed quietly and shot the two men one last look before turning on her heel and leaving the room.

Daniel watched his friend walk towards him, frowning a bit at the pistol still in her hand. Sensing that her demonstration had more to do with making herself feel better than to really intimidate the two men, he waited until she was out of line of sight of them before sliding off his jacket and offering it to her, both for warmth and to cover the scrubs she was wearing.

She took it with a smile, carefully securing the weapon before handing it over to him. "Are you really ok?" he asked, taking in the paleness of her face.

"Yeah. I'm just…tired. The colonel is ok, isn't he?"

Daniel reassured her with a rueful grin. "Nobody's that's really hurt is as big of an ass as he's being right now. I think I overheard one of the paramedics asking for permission to sedate him. He's gonna be fine."

She nodded and waited as he called the elevator to take them downstairs. Leaning against the wall, he watched her hold something up in her hand, studying it in the dim light of the hallway.

"What is that?" he asked as the doors groaned open.

"Poison," she said as the doors closed. "They were going to give it to me when…" She trailed off and again looked down at the bottle in her hands.

"They didn't, did they?" he asked, feeling a shaft of concern shoot through his chest.

She shook her head. "No. The colonel and Maybourne got there just in time."

"You want to go back up there and kick their butts?" he offered as the elevator door opened. "We could get Teal'c in on it, he could do a little Jaffa revenge thing…maybe go toss them off the Space Needle…see if they bounce at the bottom…"

She chuckled slightly, which was exactly the effect he'd been aiming for. "No. Thanks though."

The elevator opened and they walked out, greeted immediately by the sound of Jack's loud complaining echoing down the empty hall. Sam met his gaze and shook her head slightly. "Wait…Space Needle?"

"We're aah, we're in Seattle," he said, wondering how she'd deal with finding out that not only had she been kidnapped, she'd been whisked a few states away as well.

She nodded. "So, we have a three hour flight back to Colorado…with him…complaining?"

"Yeah."

Sam stuck the bottle into his left coat pocket and reached into the right one, pulling out the zat he'd concealed there. "He gets too obnoxious, we're going to use this," she said with an evil grin.

Daniel chuckled and shook his head. "You might have to wait in line. Let's go home," he said.

~Fin~

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