Author's note: So sorry it took me so long to realize that I posted the last chapter twice in a row. I cant believe I did that! Haha. Here is the actual chapter. I hope you enjoy.

I do not own Stargate. Italics indicate another language spoken. Shout out to Silverhawk88 for an idea for this chapter and their continued support. Stay lovely everyone.

Chapter Forty-Four

Mind Fire

Back on Earth at our home the Wedding reception was going splendidly. Despite not asking for any gifts we'd gotten many. Janet had bought us a new set of pots and pans. Jack had gotten Siberia, Cassie's dog, a new doghouse. Daniel had gifted Skaara with a set of vintage archeological excavation equipment. Skaara's eyes had gotten comically wide and he immediately sat down at the kitchen table to examine all the tools.

I pulled Daniel aside, "Are those your Grandfathers?" Daniel and his Grandfather has a tumultuous relationship. It was because of his Grandfather's obsession with his work that Daniel had been fostered with my parents rather than living with his only remaining relative. The last time we had visited his Grandfather it had been in a psychiatric hospital in Oregon. There had been a huge fight. This was well before the Stargate program. Just the fact that Nicholas had given Daniel his tools meant that they were on better terms.

"Yes, a few years back Nick helped our team on a mission and he went to a better place." He explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry." I said rubbing his back like I used to do when we were little and he needed comfort.

Realizing what I was thinking, Daniel was quick to correct me, "Oh sorry, no he's not dead. I did not phrase that well at all" He smacked himself on the forehead, "I meant that he is a lot happier where his is now. We found his crystal skull aliens."

"No way!" I was so surprised.

"Yes." He looked proud, "They wanted him as their ambassador to Earth. We check up on him every few months. He's been doing real good."

"Wow! Who would have though aliens would finally bring the two of you together." The pain I used to see whenever Daniel spoke of his Grandfather was no longer there.

When Skaara and I opened Teal'c's gift I giggled when I saw a boxed set of Star Wars videos. I loved watching those with him and Jack. Then I saw that there were six movies, not three.

"They made more Star Wars movies!" I gaped.

"Indeed." Teal'c gave his half smile with an eyebrow raise.

Jack took a swig of his beer and jabbed Skaara jestly in the ribs, "I know what you'll be doing later."

When I opened the video cases I saw computer disks, "How do I play these? On a computer?"

"No," Jack hefted up a largish box unto my lap, "With this."

I tore open the Simpson's wrapping paper, "Huh? What's a DVD?"

Jack rolled his eyes, "Skaara, what have you been teaching this girl?"

Skaara was in the kitchen with Janet and Cam, "What? I prefer VHS."

This only made Jack shake his head. Any harder and he would be giving himself a concussion, "You two need to start living in the 21st century."

"Never." I joked and hugged him, "Thanks for the gift."

Hanging out by herself was Vala.

"Hi." I said stepping up next to her.

"Well hello." Vala gleamed, her oddly British-like accent thick, "Again congrats on the wedding. Tried it myself a few times. Never could get it to stick. You and Skaara tho," she peered around me to appraise my new husband a little to long, "He's a keeper."

"Thanks. Don't do that. And put it back."

"What?" She was the picture of perfect childlike innocence.

"The lipstick. My bathing suit," I rattled off, "And the hairbrush."

"I was just borrowing them, and I was going to put them right back when I was done." She placed the objects in my hands.

"Or you could ask Landry about the account that was set up to pay you for your work at the SGC."

"Oh. Really." Her face lit up, "Well then you can have these back too." Vala reached behind her back. After struggling for a moment she pulled out… my roller skates! "Toodles." She flipped her hair and walked away.

"Wait." I frowned, turning my skates over and over, "How did you… where did you?"

In the corner of the kitchen where we had an ice chest with beer, I saw Cassie grab one. She jumped over the back of the couch and popped it open. Dumping my stuff on our coffee table I made a b-line for her. However, just as she was about to take a drink Skaara was there and effortlessly plucked it out of her fingers from behind the couch.

"No."

"Hey." Cassie groaned.

"When you are older." Skaara gently chastised, "And you said you were still feeling sick."

"How much older?" Cassie crossed her arms like the teenager she was.

"Twenty-one." Janet replied at the exact same time Jack said, "Ninety."

Things started to wind down as Sam, Cam, and Teal'c headed out. The sun was almost set. Jack and Daniel helped Skara clean up while I put the food away with Janet.

"So how are things with you and Cassie?" Janet said after a few minutes of silence.

"Complicated." I answered, "I'm trying to give her space."

"That's really all you can do. You know what I can finish up here. This was a party for you guys anyways." She said loading the dirty cook wear into the dishwasher.

"Thanks. I should see about having Cassie get to bed. She has a big test early tomorrow."

I found Cassie outside on the porch sitting in one of our outside wicker chairs, "Hi." I said taking a spot in the other.

"Mmm." Cassie just mumbled and hardly lifted her head at my approach.

Worry filled the pit in my stomach, "Are you still not feeling well?"

"I have a headache." She pressed her knuckles to her eyes.

"Maybe you should go lie down." I suggested.

"No," She threw her hair to the side and I saw dark circles under her eyes, "There was much noise inside."

"I can go get you some Tylenol if you want." I said slightly reaching for her arm.

"Just stop." She snapped, ripping her hand away.

"Stop what?" I leaned back from her outburst, sufficiently stung.

"Stop try to fix this?!" Cassie stood to fast her chair over-turned.

"Fix what?"

"Anything. Everything?"

"I'm sorry."

"I'm trying I really am. I know that you didn't choose to leave me. And I never wanted to make you choose between SG-1 and me. But a part of me can't help being angry. If you hadn't kept going through the gate, if you'd stayed… you wouldn't have broken your promise to me." She was walking back and forth across the small porch.

"I'm sorry." Was all I could say.

"Stop saying that." Her breathing was getting faster and faster "You promised!"

"Cassandra what do you need me to do?"

"Stop trying to fix this!" In the dim light from the porch light her face was ghostly pale and sweat was dripping down her brow.

"Oh my gods," I gasped. When she passed me I planted my feet in her path and felt her forehead, "You're burning up."

She shoved me backwards. "You left me alone! How could you do that?"

The light exploded over head, showing us in minuscule glass shards.

I heard her collapse to the wood floor with a heavy thunk.

I was on my knees over Cassie. Even shaking her didn't seem to do anything, "Cassie wake up." Throwing up the front door, "Skaara! Janet!"

Janet was at our side in seconds while Skaara and the others waited just beyond the door. As seasoned SGC members they knew to let the doctor do her work.

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Back at the SGC Cassie was in an isolation room. Just the sight of her lying there was giving me flashbacks to her first few days on Earth. I could only imagine how she felt being back in there. Skaara was tense beside me. He'd not been there when Cassie had been sick the first time, but he'd been her only parent for the last six years. The worry on his face was unlike any I'd seen there before. I knew it killed him to not be able to do anything.

Jack swung open the door and come to sit in the observation room with us, "How's she doing?"

"Janet says her fever hasn't gone down." I said.

"Any you said the light blew up."

"Yes."

"Do you think it had anything to do with." He gestured at Cassie laying in that damn bed hooked up to all those machines.

Janet and Dr. Lam finished their examinations. They waved for us to meet them out in the hallway.

From Janet's pursed mouth and hard eyes I could tell the news wasn't good, "Erin, Skaara, General. I'm going to need blood samples from you. In fact I'll I need to get a sample from everyone at the reception last night."

"What have you found?" Jack's tone was all General now.

Dr. Lam swallowed hard, clearly upset, "Cassandra's bloodwork shows the presence of a retrovirus."

"What?!" How on Earth could she have gotten that? Unless it wasn't from Earth. There wasn't much of anything like that on Abydos. But the Daedalus had just returned from Pegasus. Oh no! "Could this have anything to do with the Wraith Retrovirus that infected Colonel Shepard a few weeks ago? Maybe it came over on the Daedalus?"

Jack started, "Yeah that sounded nasty and contagious. Shepard got infected just from a wraith bite."

Dr. Lam shook her head, "I cross referenced this retrovirus with Dr. Becketts work and I already ruled it out."

"Thank god for that." Jack whistled. "Didn't she just get over a stomach bug?"

"Yes," Skaara confirmed, "We thought it was from something she ate on Abydos."

"Well, whatever this is it isn't food poisoning." Janet said.

Dr. Lam turned around her computer tablet. It showed waves of some kind of energy coming from inside Cassie's room, "We've also found a low-level EM field being emitted from her body. And look here," she tapped on a sudden upward increase and the lights over head dimmed slightly before returning to their full brightness, "the field has been periodically spiking."

"Could that have explained the exploding light on our porch?" I wondered.

"It's as good a theory as we've got right now." Janet crossed her arms, "It would also explain why none of the MRIs we've tried to run have worked. If you two want to go in a talk with her you can. Just keep your distance."

"Ok thanks." I took the paper mask from her, as did Skaara and we went in.

Cassie blinked her eyes as the door slid open, "Mom?" She called out. From how groggy she was, and the fact she'd hadn't called me Mom since I'd been taken out of stasis, I didn't think the was talking to me. She was talking to someone long gone.

"Cassandra." Skaara stepped as close to the bed as we were allowed.

Her gaze wasn't quite focused on his face, more so to a spot over his shoulder, "I couldn't finish the harvest." I could barely hear her.

Skaara and I looked at each other, both equally worried at the dazed nonsense coming from Cassie.

Skaara raised a placating hand, clearly wishing he could comfort her, "You do not need to worry about that."

For a moment she seemed to fall asleep, then she jerked awake. Startled. "I have to go into the forest." Then she truly fell asleep.

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"Do we have an outbreak on our hands?" General Landry sat stone faced at the head of the briefing.

Dr. Lam and Janet sat on one side of the large oval table while Skaara, Daniel, Jack and I were on the other.

"No. It doesn't seem to be contagious." Janet answered handing over her findings, "Everyone we've tested has come back negative for the retrovirus."

"Where could she have gotten it then?" I wondered. Cassie had only been off world once in the last six years.

Dr. Lam tilted her head, not happy with the answer she was about to give, 'We are thinking her home planet."

"How can that be? She hasn't been there for over half a decade."

"Well," She sighed, "Retroviruses can stay dormant in the body years before they activate. And now that it has emerged it has started to rewrite her DNA and replicate. We've," She gestured to Janet and herself, "Cross-referenced this retrovirus with everyone one we've had on record including records from Atlantis and Pegasus and there are no matches."

Janet continued, "We've also detected the virus in her cerebral spinal fluid. At this point I am concerned about brain damage if I can't get her fever down." Frustration bleed into her voice, "I began administering anti-viral meds but so far there's been little effect."

I gulped, tears pricking in the corners of my eyes. Just when we thought her home planet was done terrorizing the poor girl, this. This was always inside her and we never even knew it. Skaara had his chin in his hands, eyes hard. Cassandra's future was now completely out of our hands and it was terrifying.

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I'd lost count of the number of hours Skaara and I had kept vigil by Cassie's side. A few minutes at a time she would be conscious, and she would ask to go into the forest or other things that didn't make much sense. When she slept it was fitful, full of tossing and turning. Her forehead was clammy and cold and yet her fever was as high as ever. Occasionally the lights would dim during a few of the more intense moments.

Sometime around midday Daniel came skidding in carrying a laptop, "I found something you should see." He said quietly to not disturb her.

"Lets go up there." I said pointing at the observation deck, that way we could still be close and watch over Cassie.

Skaara took my hand and we all three headed up.

Once inside Daniel popped open the computer, "I just finished going through SG-7's reports from P8X-987, Cassandra's home world."

"What did you find Dan-yell."

On the screen was a still image of SG team footage "During their time on Cassandra's planet SG-7 saw two cases of teenagers with high fevers and hallucinations similar to Cassandra's. Apparently, this was not an uncommon occurrence." he hit the play button. A young teen boy was seizing on a bed of grass. He must have collapsed while working in the fields. His eyes had rolled into the back of his head and foam was running down his mouth. An SG member could be heard asking the villagers surrounding the boy what was wrong.

Oh that poor boy. I recoiled from the sight and dug my fingers into Skaara's arm. He patted my hand and I immediately realized what I was doing and immediately stopped, murmuring an apology.

"Its ok." His said so only I could hear.

Daniel hit pause on the footage, "According to the reports the villagers called the sickness Mind Fire."

"Have you shown this to Janet or Dr. Lam?" I asked, "How did they treat it?"

"Yes I did and as for treatment well…" He paused, his gaze flicking to Cassandra down below.

"Daniel!" I hated it when he would leave things hanging like that.

"Sorry." He cleared his throat, "As for treatment the villager elders refused all Earth medical intervention. Instead insisting that the children be allowed to go into the forest alone. Sound familiar?"

Skaara stood and began pacing, "That is what Cassandra has been asking to do. She keeps saying she has to go to the forest."

I fell back in my seat, feeling the exhaustion now more than ever. Janet and Lam weren't getting anywhere and now this. I tugged on the ends of my short hair. Now I knew I was super stressed; I hadn't done that in a while. "What happened to the children who went into the forest?"

"After many days they came back cured." Daniel brought up a readout of the old reports, "Here," he indicated, "Colonel Barton of SG-7 reported he tried to accompany the boy into the woods but was stopped by the village elders. They said he was touched by the gods and therefore must make the journey alone."

"Perhaps there was a natural cure," I said, "Maybe among the plants."

"It's worth checking out." Skaara said.

Daniel snapped his laptop shut, "I agree, I'm heading up right now to talk it over with Landry. And you two," He fixed with a no-argument expression, "Go get some food."

"Daniel…" I opened my mouth to protest.

He held up his finger, "No, I know you haven't eaten. Go get something to eat. Get some air, both of you. Cassie will be ok for fifteen minutes."

"Alright." If I didn't agree Daniel would probably send Teal'c in to carry the two of us out and make us eat at staff point. For the moment Cassie seemed to be in a deep sleep. Now seemed as good a time as any to slip out for a few minutes.

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The mission to Cassandra's planet had been green lit remarkably fast. Cam, Sam, Teal'c, Daniel and Vala had left after the malp had shown the disease that Nirrti released on the surface had long since died off.

At the moment, Skaara and I were carrying our lunch back to Cassie's room. Or was this dinner? Honestly, it could be breakfast given how little I'd payed attention to the time.

"Hey Campers." Jack's jovial voice broke into the haze that buzzed around my head.

"Hi Jack?" I greeted him with a yawn.

"Hot dogs at nine in the morning?" He eyed my tray and then Skaara's, "And salad?"

So it was breakfast.

"How's everything?" He asked falling into step with us.

"We think there may be a lead on Cassandra's homeworld." Skaara explained.

Jack's face darkened, "What about the disease that no-good-for-nothing-snakehead-overdressed-sonafa…"

"Jack." My tone lightly chastising him.

"Sorry I get carried away sometimes. Anyway," He never got to finish his sentence as we came around the bend.

At the far end of the hall, teetering on legs that trembled like leaves in a hurricane was Cassandra. She clung to the concrete walls for dear life. Her toes were already turning blue from the cold floor. When she heard us she whipped her head around, hair flung about unkempt and eyes wild.

"No no no nonono." Her hoarse voice crackled and she quickened her escape, hand and feet making slapping sounds as the struggles to keep the sick girl upright.

At the end of the hallway was the elevator that led down to the stargate, no doubt her destination. From her condition anyone in their right mind would know she wouldn't make it very far. There was no way she would get to level 28 much less the gate room. What worried me though was that Cassie was definitely not in her right mind.

Our food forgotten and spilled on the ground Skaara and I ran after her. He reached her just before me and caught her just as her legs gave out, his hand around the back of her head to keep it from cracking against the hard floor. Jack hit the base alarm and ordered a med team over the intercom. Help was on the way.

"Cassandra what are you doing?" Skaara tied to stand her up but it was difficult as she fought back, ripping her arms away.

"I have to go to the forest." She fell back on her butt and using a nearby half open door to pull herself up.

"Cassie you're to sick to go anywhere." I reached for her.

"You're not my mother." She slapped away my hand but it might as well have been a slap in the face.

I deserved that. I breathed in, attempting to keep my composure, "I know that, but I care about you and you need to come back with us."

She was still backing away towards the elevator. Her foot caught against the other and she began to fall. When Skaara again reached to steady her she wrenched her body away, "You're not my real family. They're dead."

Hurt blossomed across his face. While I understood and didn't blame her being angry towards me, Skaara had been the one there for her all these years.

Several air men who were passing by saw the commotion and immediately went on the defensive, reaching for their zats. Jack jumped out into the center of the hallway and waved them back, "Stand down." Then to Cassie, "Come on kid, let us help ya."

"You don't understand." Her face grimaced in pain and her pressed her palms to her temples as the lights flickered overhead.

Skaara watched the glass bulbs in fear, ready to snatch Cassie out of the way if they burst.

"Hey hey." I said inching towards her, "It's ok. Lets just get you back to bed. SG-1 will be back soon." She stilled, her hands coming away from her face, calming. "come one, lets have Janet take a look at you." I was so close now.

The second my fingers grazed her sleeve she shrieked, "No let me go!" The force of her yell threw me back, Skaara catching me.

She ran as best she could but she was no match for the airmen who surged down the hallway and seized her arms. She never even got close enough to the elevator to hit the down button.

"NONONO!" She brought her arms up and immediately tossed them back. The two airmen dropped her arms like they'd been shocked.

They held their hands in pain, the palms scorched. They HAD been shocked!

At seeing the damage, she had caused Cassie broke out a sob. She had been such a gentle, sweet child. Hurting anyone was never in her nature, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Her apology came in barely audible gasps, hands tangled in her hair.

The other airmen in the hallway broke out of their shock at seeing a petite teen take down two of their men, and sprinted at Cassie.

"Stay back!" Jack shouted at them, for Cassie's safety and for theirs'. They halted staring up at the ceiling.

The lights were flickering more violently than ever

"Stop it!" Cassie dropped to her knees. "You're killing me!"

She flung her arms outwards and every single light in the corridor exploded. The elevator emergency breaks clanged into place sending a small shock wave through the floor. Glass showered from above, sharp deadly raindrops.

And then the corridor was pitch black. No emergency lights, no alarm blaring. How much of the base had she just knocked out?

I don't know who activated their flashlight first. But when one of the beams came over Cassie unconscious form I raced to her side. Feeling her forehead, I yanked my hand away as if scalded. Skaara dropped down beside me.

"She's burning up." I brushed away a few glass shards from her flushed face.

"I've got her." He hoisted her up. The way she hung limply in his arms make my stomach churn.

"Get her back to her room." Jack said handing off a flashlight to me, "Sergeant escort them." He said to one of the uninjured airmen, "I'm headed to the control room to get a handle on what just happened. The rest of you," He nodded at the two men Cassie burned, "help them to the infirmary. Lets move people."

I took the lead with Skaara and Cassie sandwiched between me and the Sergeant. In the darkness the usually familiar corridors of the SGC had become a menacing maze. Along the way we encountered a few startled scientists asking about aliens and invasions. As was often the case when the SGC went down. After ensuring all that there was no impeding invasion we continued onwards. They didn't seem to believe us. Of course, they would believe that young girl Skaara carried as the real cause of all this even less.

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"What the hell just happened to my base?" Landry was mad, no he was pissed. He stood the head of the briefing table. Landry didn't allow time for anyone to answer him, "And can someone explain to me how a young girl was able to knock out the world's most secure facility?"

Janet flipped on a monitor with a life feed to Cassandra's new isolation room, "Her body has begun to generate an Electro-Magnetic field, it is interfering with all the bases systems and as you can see," she indicated the static that made the image blurry, "It's even affecting the cameras."

Dr. Lam spoke up, "We moved her into this new room. It is shielded and should offer the rest of the base some level of protection."

"What's more," Janet placed a tablet with live vital readouts on Cassie in the center of the table, "Her fever seems to have peaked, but her bloodwork says otherwise. There are no antibodies. No indication that her body's fighting this thing, just more retrovirus."

Landry then addressed the newly reformed SG-1 was still in their off-world uniforms. Their return had been delayed until the control room had regained power. There hadn't been any official reforming of the team and yet when the hour of need came, they came back together.

Daniel stood and hooked a mobile camera, wow it was tiny, into on of the monitors, "We followed the path detailed in SG-7's report of the Hanka homeworld." The footage showed a ring platform that transported the team into what was obviously a Goa'uld facility. "We believe we've found one of Nirrti's old labs."

Sam held another tablet that was interfaced with a Goa'uld data crystal, "From the data we've collected it appears that Nirrti was experimenting on the Hankan children much the same was she experimented on the inhabitants of P3X-367. However, the records indicate that she experimented over course of generations rather than on the individual scale with P3X-367."

"Yes yes!" Daniel excitedly broke in, "So long it appears that this 'mind fire' became a cultural rite of passage."

"What was she trying to do?" I asked reaching for the tablet which Sam handed over.

I was surprised when it was Teal'c who answered. He folded his hands and braced his elbows on the table, "Nirrti was endeavoring to create a Hok-tar. An advanced human host to increase her power." Raising an eyebrow at the camera monitoring Cassie, "In Cassandra it appears she may have succeeded."

At the mention of Cassie and Goa'uld hosts in the same sentence Skaara gripped the arms of his chair so tight his knuckles turned white.

"Why now?" I asked the room.

"What do you mean?" Janet furrowed her brows.

"After all this time why is the retrovirus activating now?"

"Could be any number of factors. Puberty is probably the biggest. Changes in the environment. Stress."

"She's been under a lot of stress lately." What if me coming back is what triggered Cassie? That idea suddenly made me feel like hurling. Just when I thought I could hate that Hathor witch for what she out us all through anymore.

Dr. Lam had a look of suddenly realization on her face, "These abilities she is displaying are similar in many ways to these Priors that Ori are sending."

"Where are you going with this?" If she thought I was going to let them experiment on Cassie…

She must have noticed how tense I'd gotten because Dr. Lam was very quick to respond, "What I mean is that we could use what we are learning to contain and protect the rest of the base from her abilities to build a cell to hold a prior. That is all I'm proposing. She is still our patient first and foremost."

Everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Cassie meant a lost to nearly everyone in the room. If it came down to it, I knew I could count on most to help me get Cassie off world if the need arose. Let's hope it didn't come to that.

Cam shook his head, "Oh man, can you imagine if a goa'uld was able to take a prior as a host?"

The thought sent a shiver up my spine. A goa'uld who could choke the life from people just by looking at them, who could set people on fire. I jumped in pain when my fingernails dug into my palm when a recent and unpleasant memory arose.

"At least Nirrti with dead." I said looking a Skaara, "She won't get her hands on Cassie."

He bowed his head solemnly. Skaara would never let her befall the same fate he suffered for many years.

"Yes, but" Daniel cocked his head, "Without her it'll be very hard to undo the genetic alterations in Cassandra."

I flipped through the report detailing Nirrti's death, "What about this device on P3X-367? I know the locals were going to destroy it after they reversed the genetic damage Nirrti caused but is there a chance that it could be repaired? Sam?"

She sat back a bit surprised, "Yes?"

"If anyone could do it. Its you."

"I can take a team and check it out," By the look in her eyes I could tell she was thanking me for my faith in her, "With your permission, Sir."

Landry agreed, "It's worth exploring. Go."