So I've had this idea in my head for awhile, but I've been too scared to share it with anyone. Here's the start of it. Please let me know in the comments if this is something you think I should continue.

Chapter Rated PG-13. Possible trigger warning, but I do not intend the story to come across in a dark way.

PS...Still working on Auction. Jack's being difficult.

———BEGIN———-

The expedition to P9X-789 was supposed to be a peaceful exploitation of the Ancient ruins, supposed being the operative word. As Major Samantha Carter stood with a staff weapon aimed at her head, it was obvious they might have been misinformed.

"Carter?" Colonel Jack O'Neill asked with irritation in his tone, "I believe Daniel said 789 was a peaceful planet."

"He did, sir," Sam confirmed, allowing those holding them at weapon point to see the disdain on her face. This wasn't the first time SG-1 had been caught unaware by a reportedly peaceful people; over the last five or six years they'd learned to expect the unexpected. Sam had also personally learned that showing her soldier side proved to be much more effective than pretending to be delicate and feminine when it came to dealing with aggressive societies.

"Wait! Wait!" Daniel hollered as he ran between the six armed men and his two teammates.

"Speak of the devil," Jack muttered under his breath, making Sam want to smirk. Instead, she glared at Daniel.

"These are my friends," Daniel held up his hands placatingly. "Please Gralen, Jack and Sam are the ones you said I could invite."

"They are late!" The man Daniel had addressed exclaimed as if that made it alright to hold them at gunpoint.

"Daniel," Jack said in the warning tone he saved exclusive for his favorite archaeologist, "you said 12pm. It's," he checked his watched in a slow and overt matter, "exactly twelve o'clock."

"I said be here before noon," Daniel said sheepishly. "Noon here is 10am mountain time on Earth. Did I forget to include that time translation?"

"Yeah, just a little bit," Jack rolled his eyes. "Look folks, we're very sorry we arrived late. I'm sure you've had misunderstandings in the past—"

"But noon marks the start of Dias de Amor," Gralen said as if that explained everything. When Daniel, Sam, and Jack said nothing, he continued. "The first virina through the Chappa'ai serves as the Dias de Amor sacrifice."

"Sacrifice!" Jack's eyes widened. "Daniel translation! Now!"

"These people speak English, but their ancestors spoke a derivative of Latin. Roughly translated Dias de Amor means day of love and virina means female," Daniel reasoned aloud. Sam watched Jack's jaw clench, but just as he was about to start yelling, Daniel held up his hand. "Gralen, I thought your people gave up human sacrifices several generations ago."

"Yes, we did," Gralen quickly nodded, "we are not barbarians. The Dias de Amor virina gives herself over to amor. She is a willing volunteer, selected months in advance. Tradition dictates that the virina must be the first one through the Chappa'ai on this day to bring us good fortune for another year."

Behind them, the Stargate activated as someone began dialing into the planet. The guards backed away allowing Jack and Sam off the platform before the wormhole engaged. Moments later a beautiful woman, Sam guessed to be around 21 years of age emerged, followed by a male attendant. They were all dressed in ornate robes and clearly ready for some sort of ceremony.

"The virina I presume," Jack murmured to Sam.

As soon as the woman saw them, a look of confusion appeared on her face. "Master Gralen," she called unsteadily, "have I displeased the gods?"

"No my child," Gralen said softly, "you have done nothing wrong, but I fear you will not be able to serve as the virina this year." Sam had to give the leader credit, he wasn't being unnecessarily cruel to the young woman. In fact, he spoke to the girl much like a father would. The woman looked devastated at his words; perhaps Gralen spoke the truth about the virina being a willing participant.

"Gralen," Daniel said calmly, "I'm sure there are rules the govern what happens during Dias de Amor. What happens when the virina is not the first to step through the Chappa'ai? This cannot be the first time a mixup has happened."

"It is not," Gralen said seriously. "When I was a young boy, the virina was not the first person to step through the Chappa'ai. Her younger sister, in youthful exuberance, ran ahead of her and emerged first. Of course the child was much too young to serve as the virina; therefore, my grandfather decided the original participants would continue."

"What happened?" Sam asked, already knowing it wasn't good.

"It was a disaster." Gralen shook his head. "The day after the ceremony a massive flood wiped out most of our crops. Two weeks later the ground shook as our homes crumbled before us. My grandfather tried to keep the peace, but the people screamed for a sacrifice to appease the gods. He held the people together as long as he could, but on the day the sun grew dark in the sky, he succumbed to the will of the people and ordered the virina and her younger sister be sacrificed. The moment their blood was spilled, the sun began to reappear."

"You know that was a coincidence," Sam argued, disgusted by the story. Those poor girls. "Solar eclipses don't just randomly happen."

"That is what my grandfather believed, but the people wouldn't listen to reason. The blood sacrifice worked in their eyes. I'm afraid there are enough of my people still living who remember the last time the virina was not the first to step through the Chappa'ai on Dias de Amor. They will not allow the chosen virina to complete the ceremony and instead call for your deaths to appease the gods. I'm sorry," he finished with a heavy sigh.

"Now see, I'm gonna have a problem with that," Jack said nonchalantly, but Sam saw his hand subtly move to switch off the safety of his P90.

"The virina has to be the first one to step through the Chappa'ai, correct?" Daniel rubbed his fingers together, a tell he was forming a plan. At Gralen's nod he continued. "The only reason the younger sister didn't serve was her age, right?" Gralen nodded again and Daniel turned to his teammates. "Jack, who stepped through the Stargate first, you or Sam?"

"I did," Sam answered, picking up on Daniel's reasoning.

"Now wait a minute," Jack took a step forward, but was cut off by a guard's staff weapon. Using a finger he gently pushed it downward as he took a step back. "I know where you are going with this, Daniel, and the answer is no."

"But Jack—"

"No one under my command is going to serve as a sacrifice. Not Sam. Not anybody."

"Jack, look at the alternative," Daniel argued.

"Daniel—"

"Sir, we should at least see what the virina's duties entail," Sam interjected, bracing herself against his glaring displeasure. "Remember what you had to do on 747? If all I have to do is eat some figs and do a dance," she trailed off as the look on his face darkened further.

"All I'm saying," Daniel quickly added, "is that it can't hurt to see what our options are." When Jack didn't immediately argue with their logic Daniel reasoned, "it is our fault their virina wasn't the first through the Stargate."

"Ack!" Jack held up his hand at Daniel. "I'm not agreeing to anything, but if Gralen agrees, we'll at least talk. Just talk," he pointed a finger at both Daniel and Sam. Turning to Gralen he added, "the final member of my team will be arriving in about an hour; will you want to sacrifice him too?"

"No," Gralen shook his head. "It is only the first person through the Chappa'ai that matters, your teammate will be welcomed."

"We've heard that before," Sam muttered under her breath as they all turned to follow Gralen with the guards close behind.

———POV———

Jack paced the small room as he and Sam waited for Daniel to return with information about what exactly the virina's role was during Dias de Amor. Surprisingly, Gralen had allowed them to keep their weapons, so at the very least he figured they could fight their way back to the gate. The village was only about two clicks away over fairly flat terrain, easy peasy for them. It also helped to know that Teal'c would be arriving at any point, then their odds for fighting their way out of this mess would go up drastically.

Sam hadn't uttered a word to him since being locked in the room. He could tell by the look on her face that she was nervous. Of course to anyone outside the team she just looked pissed, but after all these years, he could read her like an open book—most of the time.

Jack was about ready to rip the door open and demand his own answers when Daniel came tearing into the room. By the look on his face, Jack knew the news wasn't good.

"I think we can make it back to the Stargate with the least amount of casualties if we just make a run for it," Daniel said briskly, pulling on his tack vest and checking his sidearm.

"Daniel," Jack growled, alarmed, "information. Now." If Daniel, the diplomatic 'violence is not the answer', Jackson wanted to shoot and run, then they were in real trouble.

"Jack," Daniel cut his eyes toward Sam. The look of anguish on the archeologist's face made Jack's gut clench.

"Ok, we shoot and run," Jack said turning toward the door, understanding Daniel's silent message.

"Wait," Sam growled, "what exactly do they want me to do?" When Daniel said nothing she took a step forward, blocking the door. "Daniel, just tell me."

"The virina sacrifices her innocence during the ceremony," Daniel didn't look her in the eye. "Instead of a blood sacrifice, the virina is pleasured and taken. In front of an audience."

Jack watched as Sam took two quick steps backwards and whipped around giving them her back. He'd seen the shock and horror on her face, knew it mirrored the disgust on his.

"I'm sorry," Daniel said to no one.

"I'm not innocent," Sam said whirling around, her composure back in place. "If they want a virgin sacrifice, they're asking the wrong woman."

"I actually made that argument," Daniel said, his ears turning bright red. "Apparently, most of the virinas choose their partners well in advance and, ahh," he cleared his throat, "practice."

"Of course they do," Jack barked sarcastically, "that makes it so much better."

"I know it sounds barbaric to us," Daniel told him, "but to the women who volunteer, it's a great honor. Gralen and his people don't consider it rape and neither do any of the past virinas I spoke with." At the look Jack gave him, he quickly backpedaled. "Not that I agree with it. I stand by my first comment, we need to protect Sam and run."

"What happens if we run?" Sam asked. "What happens if I don't agree to be this virina and we escape?"

"I'd imagine Gralen will be forced to order the death of this year's original virina, but I'm not sure," Daniel looked pained at the thought. "The elders and women I spoke to were adamant that if there was no acceptable virina, blood had to be spilled."

"Not our problem," Jack grumbled, but he didn't like the idea of an innocent girl being slaughtered. While it gnawed at him, it still wasn't enough for him to put Sam at risk. His team's life and well-being would always come first.

"Sir," Sam turned to look at him.

"Dammit Carter," he knew what the look on her face meant. "Absolutely not! Get that damn notion out of your head. That's an order!"

"Daniel," Sam ignored his command, "you said the virina gets to choose her partner?"

"She does."

"Carter," Jack warned. He couldn't believe she was even considering this.

"Sir, I don't see any other sane option," she said too softly, belying the conviction she'd plastered onto her face.

"Prostituting yourself is not a sane option," he watched her flinch at his crude description, hoping she'd come to her senses.

"It would save several lives, including our own. We've been in worse situations and done questionable things to survive before. I don't see another viable alternative, do you?" She was right and he knew it, but that didn't mean he was ready to accept it.

"You expect us to stand there and do nothing while you're fucked by some stranger!" Jack jerked around. He'd become an expert at ignoring his feelings for her, but knew he couldn't hide the pain in his eyes at the idea of someone else touching her. He was seriously contemplating zatting her, then throwing her over his shoulder and making a run for the gate, when he felt her tentatively touch his shoulder.

"It doesn't have to be a stranger," she spoke hesitantly; she almost sounded—timid.

Schooling his features, he turned to face her. "What in the hell does that mean?" Jack's mind, still stuck on the idea that he was going to be forced to watch someone hurt her, tried to comprehend what she was saying.

"It doesn't have to be a stranger," she repeated, raising her eyes to his. Her pale blue eyes were swimming with vulnerability. His brain started screaming at him as she took a deep breath and released it slowly. "Jack," her voice softly trembled, "please don't let me do this alone."