Chapter Seventy

"Teal'c's fine, Cassie. Sam's...well..."
Cassie's eyes widened at the silence, her chin starting to tremble.
"She's not..."
Janet illegally crossed two lanes against opposing traffic and parked in a small lot.
Daniel stared at her, still gripping the door handle as she turned off the engine.
"No, honey, she's not dead or hurt."
A rickety sob broke from Cassie, her earlier excitement gone.
"Then why did everyone go solemn and quiet like you do when someone dies?"
Janet and Daniel exchanged looks.
"Honey, Sam just looks a little different right now. We can't really explain..."
"Why not?"
"Daniel..."
"I'm serious. Who's going to see us here? No one's in that building and not many people are going to be checking out a walled parking lot."
Cassie just looked more and more confused.
"Did she shrink?"
Janet laughed at that.
"In a way. Cassandra, she's inside me."
Cassie looked from Daniel to Janet, trying to figure out the joke.
"Sam's..."
"...inside Janet."
"Like a goold?"
Daniel pulled Cassie into his lap.
"Do you remember when we told you we found good goolds...called Tok'ra?"
"Yes, but Sam's not a goold anymore...is she?"
Janet bit her lip.
"SG1 went to a world where something happened to them to change them. Then, on another mission, Sam was killed."
"But you said she..."
"Shh...listen. We thought she was dead, when she was just outside her body. But then her body turned to dust so there was no way for Sam to go back to it. So she's sharing mine, now."
Cassie just stared for a moment.
"So she's trapped?"
Janet's eyes flashed and Cassie tried to bolt out of Daniel's lap.
He'd been prepared for that, though and held her still until she calmed down.
"It's okay. It's me, Sam. I promise. I know this is weird, but I really need you to be calm and believe us...okay?"
Cassie's eyes were huge.
"How do I know you're not a goold that took over Janet and is just pretending to be Sam?"
Sam leaned back for a moment.
"Cassie, when Jolinar was inside me, you were able to sense her. Right?"
Cassie nodded a bit and then her eyes brightened.
"I can't sense you, so you're not a goold."
"Right, although Janet and I are willing to call ourselves Tok'ra since we are in a symbiotic relationship and we fight the Goa'uld, but I'm not a little slug in Janet's head."
Cassie smiled at the Jack O'Neillism and began to relax.
"Okay, so I have both of you in one."
She turned around in Daniel's lap, an impish smile on her lips.
"You're still you, right?"
Daniel smiled.
"I'm still me, but I also have a friend sharing my body, too, now. The same thing that happened to Sam, happened to Jolinar. So she's in me."
Cassie just sat down.
"Am I gonna wake up with someone in my head?"
Daniel snorted under his breath.
He could see her point.
*Should I speak with her?*
*I'm not sure. She's not hysterical, but that shifting in her legs means she may try to bolt again.*
"Cassie, do you want to talk to Jolinar?"
"I thought Jolinar died. That's why Sam was so sad for all that time."
"Her body died, but she was trapped inside of Sam and no one knew. So when Sam left her body, Jolinar was freed from the trap and then joined me."
"And she's a good goold."
"Yes."
"She said she'd kill me."
*I should.*
*Okay, but remember, gentle.*
Jolinar took over, trying not to flash Daniel's eyes, but the way Cassie inhaled, she knew she hadn't been successful.
"I apologize for the fright I gave you. I was being hunted and I believed you could get me captured."
Cassie frowned.
"But I didn't..."
"By telling O'Neill, you started the chain of events that lead to me being captured and tortured by the Ashrak."
Daniel took over, mentally nailing Jolinar in anger.
Cassie's widened eyes were watering and she shook a bit as she pulled herself into the corner of the seat.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean."
"Cassie, don't listen to her. It's...oh Cassie."
Daniel groaned inwardly, as tears began running down her cheeks.
Sam mentally agreed with every word in the long stream that Janet was screaming.
*How could she do that? We just sprung it on Cassie that we're not what we were. Then she goes and pulls a guilt trip on her. An Twelve-year-old girl...how could she?*
Sam tuned Janet out, realizing Cassie wasn't crying anymore and was, in fact, looking at Daniel.
"It's not my fault. You took Sam without her permission and started everything that led to you being hurt. Jack told me it wasn't my fault."
Daniel smiled at the way Cassie said Jack's name and automatically began to reach out only to freeze when Cassie shrunk away a little bit.
She wasn't separating him and Jolinar.
He felt sick and pulled his arm against himself, refusing to listen to Jolinar's reasoning.
He ignored all of them as Sam let Janet take over and console Cassie until she moved up to the front seat, away from Daniel.
Janet looked back again, wishing she could kick Jolinar out of Daniel.
Sighing at the quiet girl beside her, she started the car.

Cassie looked in the side mirror outside her car door.
She could see part of Daniel where he'd laid his head against the window.
He hadn't made a sound since she'd moved up.
She knew he couldn't control the goold inside him, but she just couldn't shake the fear she felt when she remembered the way his eyes flashed.
When Sam had made Janet's eyes flash, it was a whitish blue glow.
Daniel's flash was just white.
Really white.
It was just frightening the way his soft blue eyes became hard, almost mean.
She'd never thought Daniel would look at anyone that way...especially not her.
She shivered, pulling away a bit from Janet's comforting hand.
"We're almost there."
She looked over and smiled at Janet, knowing she was worried.
"I'll run the film into Snap Photo while you get the videos."
Cassie had started a bit at Daniel's soft voice.
It didn't echo like it had when Jolinar had spoken.
In fact, the contrast was made stronger because to Cassie it seemed...flat.
She unbuckled her seatbelt and tried to beat Daniel out of the car so she could talk to him, but he had grabbed the bag and was already striding into the studio.
She stood there, a bit uncertain until Janet took her hand.
She was too old to hold her hand, so she just squeezed it and let it go.
Sometimes adults just needed that extra comfort.
She tried to get excited about the videos, but Daniel was hurt and she missed Jack.
He'd only missed one other time when she'd come home from a trip.
He'd been in the infirmary then, too.
He'd broken something.
Since then, he'd tried to be there even if she just spent the weekend with a friend.
She picked up one movie after another, not paying attention and so was surprised by a sharp "Cassie!" from Janet.
She grinned when she realized the movie was "Alien Bikini Babes in an LA Strip Club."
"Cassie, put that back."
She turned just enough that she could get a good look at Janet's face.
Trying to look innocent, she said loudly.
"But it's Daddy's favorite!"
Two women in the aisle started chuckling.
Janet looked perfectly mortified and took the video out of her hands, practically shoving it back onto the shelf before dragging Cassie to the Children's section.
"I was going to up your permission to PG movies, but obviously G is just right."
Drat.
Well that backfired.

To Next Chapter