Sam sat in her office studying the strange device,

it was a cylinder, made from Naquda, she'd picked up a small EM spike, when Teal'c had come in earlier, but besides that, it seemed to be dormant.

Apparently it had zapped the lutenant whom had found it, but it didn t appear to affect him apart from some raised synaptic activity, witch only lasted an hour or so, but Sam thought it was worth studying, seeing as it was found in the holy temple on P3K-186, a small deserted planet that seemed to be of roman appearance.

This cylinder seemed as if it should open, but Sam couldn t release it, there wasn t a button or leaver, it didn t respond to touch or electricity. I looked goa uld-ish but even with the Naquda in her system it didn t seem to respond.

It was getting late, she looked at her watch, 12:36pm. that s eight hours that she d been working on it, somehow it didn t seem that long, but now her eyes were growing heavy, and she finally dropped her hand in her arms, lazily waving the cylinder, not the kind of carelessness she would usually treat an artefact with, but it was probably to much of Vala s influence that inspired her neglecting attitude. Within moments she was asleep.

General O'Neal entered the room , leaning on the door frame, hands in his pocket, he smiled to himself, yes this was the Samantha carter he knew, always spending her free time playing with some strange alien thing, until all hours of the night. She looked so peaceful sleeping, although he chuckled at the slight snoring noise he heard.

Pulling out a rolled up chewy wrapper from his pocket, he casually threw it at Sam s face. She snorted as it hit her nose but she didn t move.
He slowly wondered over to her and leant across the counter.

'saa-am' he whispered sing song into her ear.

Her grip on the cylinder object in her hand tightened but there seemed to be no other response.

'saamm' he tried again 'Sam, Sam Sammy? Sam!' frustration broke in his voice and he tapped her on the head with a pencil.

She snapped awake with a gasp and sat upright instantly.

'sir?' She questioned groggily

'yes, me, no, your not dreaming' he smiled word by word.

She chuckled and wiped her eyes,

'so what's this doo-hickey?' he asked cheerily

'oh um, its uh, hmm when did you get back?'

'just now, what s the?' he tried again gesturing towards the object in her hand.

'I don t know sir'

'what carter doesn't know? Feeling well?'

'no its, uhh inactive' By this time he had moved around her side of the bench,

'c'mon carter bedtime, got a big day tomorrow' he placed his arm on her shoulder.
'yes sir.... no wait'

'no carter, your not doing that. bed means bed no'

'sir look' she held up the cylinder as a strange green glow now protruded out of it.

'Ahh, look it likes me' he smiled as he attempted to take it from her hands.

Suddenly they felt a small charge run up their arm simultaneously. and Sam pulled away dropping it on the bench.

'ouch!' Jack complained holding his hand,

carter was hurt too, not as vocally as he was but the small wince as she gripped her hand, told him whatever had happened to him happened to her as well.

'you alright carter?' he asked

'yes sir, you?'

'yeah well it hurts, but ..' he opened his hand to find a small but deep gash along his palm, Sam opened her hand to find a matching wound.

Sam watched as the generals face twisted and contorted between emotions, some she recognized and others she didn t.

Jack felt his stomach turning, and his pulse rise rapidly, Sam s unreadable expression, seemed to drive him insane, until he allowed the emotions playing on his face to commit themselves to action.

He leaned forward placing his good hand on her cheek before pulling her into his warm embrace, for a moment she stood still, her arms wrapped around his shoulders, she felt him nuzzle his face into her hair and she sighed, before pulling her face back, and locking her lips onto his.

'I missed you sir' she mumbled in between soft kisses

'I still miss you' he replied as he moved down her neck,

He rested his chin in her shoulder, and moaned contentedly. Running her fingers through his hair she felt some strange lightness in her body, he chuckled and moved back towards her lips.

'no Vala!, Its not about that, it s the morality of the why am I dignifying that with an answer' Daniel complained frustrated

'bu-ut dan-ie-l' she whined

'Vala have you packed yet?' he distracted her

'oh yes so Daniel, tell me, what items of clothing do I require to go fishing.?' she questioned

'I don t know Vala, but well be gone for a week so make sure you have ohh, three or four suitcases' he smiled teasingly.

'oh yes well I ve packed already, but I have some shoes I was hoping you could take'

They arrived at the entrance to Sam s office and stepping into it,

Daniel began 'so Sam you packed ye .t . uhh?' Daniel stammered as he caught her and jack in the middle of an intense kiss.

'Yeahp, looks like shes moving in already' Vala smiled widely as Daniel cleared his throat obviously, with no response from either Sam or jack.

'maybe we should close the door and walk away?' Vala tugged at Daniels arm.

'Vala you know they can be court marshalled right?' he pulled against her.

'so, as long as they having fun right now' she smiled now watching jack who had pushed Sam against the bench, oohh, is that blood? Vala pointed to Sam s neck as she bit her bottom lip.

Daniel decided it was time to break them up, he made his way around the bench and kindly pulled them apart.

'jack, Sam, what's goin on?' He questioned. folding his arms and rocking back on the balls of his feet.

Sam blushed as she looked at Daniel and fiddled with her sore hand

'uhh, hi Daniel' jacks voice broke nervously.

'watcha doin jack?' Daniel huffed

'hey I didn t start it' jack defended Sam looked nervously at him 'did I?' he questioned with uncertainty.
'I-I don t know what happened' Sam shook her head. As Daniel picked up her hand to examine the wound. she began staring dreamily at jack again.

'what's this?' Vala questioned picking up the cylinder

'I don't know, but I bet its got something to do with these two' Daniel huffed.

'C'mon' he pulled Sam along and jack followed no more than half a step behind 'looks like another long night in the infirmary.'

'yay!' Jello Vala interjected.

Sam sat next to jack on the infirmary bed, practically on his lap, as cam walked in followed by Teal'c.

'ok, what s so important that we get dragged outta-woah!' colonel Mitchell chuckled at the sight of his two senior officers staring dreamily into one another's eyes, he laughed more heartedly as jack lifted Sam s hand to his lips.

'this is most unusual behaviour' Teal'c hummed, a small hint of a smile playing on his lips.

and yet it seems so right, hey muscles Vala announced dropping the artefact on a small portable table and bouncing on the bed alongside cam.
Carolyn finally returned ready to stitch up general O Neal and colonel carters hands.

Small talk seemed to be dominating the room, until the question was raised, what was it that had changed their behaviour so quickly. Daniel eventually headed to the artefact, noticing the difference in it, since he'd seen it earlier that day.

Turning it over he noticed the inscriptions that weren t there before.

'To see the truth of the heart,
a true gift from the gods.'

'well what's it say? Vala questioned as she seen Daniels brow furrow.
uhh, to see the truth of the heart, A true gift from the gods...... But that doesn't, it doesn't its in ancient, on a...'

'it looks gou'ald-ish' Mitchell remarked

'I concur' Teal'c added.

'well it doesn't sound like a goa'uld thing, unless the truth in the heart is some evil massacre, but they don t really look deadly, unless they're going to grope each other to death' Vala sarcastically added nodding towards jack and Sam.

'ok well they'll be down soon' Carolyn prompted Mitchell and Vala of the bed moving it closer to the other bed she laid Sam down, as jack dropped his head on the bed he was on.

'the sedatives wont take too long' Carolyn added.

'sedatives?' Daniel questioned.

'they're blood works a little off, nothing to worry about, but their behaviour concerns me, perhaps with a good night sleep they ll return to normal.' she explained.

'aww, normal, that's no fun' Vala complained.

Before too long Sam and jack had drifted off to sleep, Daniel had disappeared to research, and Teal' c, Vala and Cameron had found their way to the mess hall in search for jello.

Carolyn stood alone watching over the two officers.
They both seemed to be in a dream like state, a deep sleep, but their eyes flickered back and forward under their lids and every now and then they d thrash around a little, or mumble something incoherrant.