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Camulus settled his tall frame into a chair beside the captivating blonde who had taken a look into his mind. He had felt only the softest of touches, was not even sure she had really been able to 'see' anything. Until she began to list Ptah's assets, and the extent of his new holdings. He stared at her for just a moment. Realized that any information these Tau'ri wanted, would be readily available to them. She would be able to find it easily, no matter how hard he might try to hide it.

"So, you want asylum," Duncan said, studying the dark-haired Goa'uld.

"Yes."

Casey looked at him. "Tell them, Camulus. Tell them what you really want," she said softly.

Hazel eyes held green ones. "It is not easy for me to…admit…to such feelings," he said as softly, speaking to her as if they were alone.

"If you can't say out loud what you feel, what you want, how can we be expected to believe you?" she asked quietly.

He nodded. Turned his attention to Jack and Duncan. "Her name is-" he winced, closed his eyes for a moment, his hands clenched into fists on the table. "was Cara. Ba'al had captured her from a human settlement. One that had been free for centuries. When I found her - she… she had such fire!" He smiled as memories of that meeting played in his mind.

"She stood up to you," Casey said softly.

"Oh, yes! She fought like a little hellcat. Told me everyday what evil creatures Goa'uld are. I kept her near me, she…pleased me," he said. His eyes were misty as memories continued to fill his mind. "As time passed, we became…comfortable…together. I…I never took her forcibly. I…I couldn't…I wouldn't do that to her. It was difficult, she did so excite me! One day we were talking, laughing, and she looked at me, and asked me why I had never insisted that she come to my bed. I told her that I wanted her to come to me willingly. She smiled at me, and led me to bed. She…she gave so much, I had never felt such…love. I was as eager to please her as I was to be pleased."

"You'd never felt that way before," Casey said.

"No. But with Cara…with her it was…" he shook his head slightly. "I do not know when my world began to center around her…her love, her smile. Everything I did, was for her. If she wanted me to spare a world, I spared it. If she wanted me to kill a Goa'uld, I killed him…or her. Those who lived on worlds that I owned, she insisted be treated fairly. She said that if I was going to call myself a god, the least I could do was to behave like one, and take care of the people under my care. So…I did. Never before had I worried about whether or not the people who served me ate, or were too cold or too hot, ill or tired. Only that they served me. She…she made me see so many things I had never seen before," he said, amazement in his voice, on his face.

"So how did she wind up working for Ptah?" Jack asked.

Grief, anger, pain flashed over the Goa'uld's face. "I do not know. I have no idea when he would have been close to her."

Cocking  her head to one side, Casey frowned slightly.

"Casey? What are you seeing?" Daniel asked quietly, gently wrapping his fingers around her hand.

"Ptah never did 'meet' her. He never laid eyes on her. But he heard about her. Camulus' behavior was…odd. And when it could be traced back to the human woman in his bed…" Casey said, her eyes slightly unfocused, 'seeing' what had transpired. "Kinsey!" she hissed.

"Now why am I not at all surprised to hear that that bastard is involved?" Jack asked, of no one particular.

"His name…the Goa'uld in him is…Nefrim."

Camulus' face became red with rage. "He came to me, offered all that he knew of Ptah! Led me to that ha'shak's pitiful fleet! I destroyed it easily! I made Nefrim one of my advisors!"

"Well, that's the who," Duncan said quietly.

"He…every morning he had her…servant…take a chalice of fresh fruit juice to her," Casey said, continuing as if the interruption hadn't occurred. "It had something in it…and then, whenever he was alone with her, he…hypnotized?…yes, I think that's it. He hypnotized her. Planted the…instruction. This went on for weeks. Then, he made sure that the weapon to kill Camulus was within reach. He entered their quarters…oh god, the ass actually listened to know when they were…when they had finished making love! She had to be asleep…so he slipped in, watched them sleep for awhile, then gave her the final command. When she woke up, she tried to kill Camulus." Casey opened her eyes. The compassion she felt for the man sitting beside her was plain for all to see.

His face had paled, his eyes closed, and tears slid down his taut cheeks. "I will kill him!" he hissed.

Jack and Duncan both shifted uncomfortably, exchanged glances. What they were seeing - hearing - was the heartbreak of a man who had lost the love of his life. Not typical Goa'uld behavior. "Casey, if we trust this guy, it's on your shoulders. Can you handle that?" Jack asked.

She glanced at the Goa'uld beside her, then turned back to her friend. She understood that this was his way of asking if she were sure. Knew that she would indeed be held responsible if Camulus betrayed them. She was aware that the Goa'uld was attracted to her. She could, and would use that to her advantage. "If you betray us, they'll execute me as well as you," she said softly, looking up at the Goa'uld.

Her teammates were barely able to conceal their shock at her words. Duncan had to wipe a hand over his face to hide his own surprise. Luckily for all of them Camulus' attention was focused on Casey.

The Goa'uld frowned, studied her for a moment, then looked at Duncan, then at Jack. "This is true? You would kill her if I betray you? Simply because she trusted me?"

"She's a seer. If she trusts you, we expect it to be because you can really be trusted," Jack retorted with a casual shrug of one shoulder; still reeling from her comment. He knew what she was doing, and would have to tell her that he was damned proud of her! She was playing Cammy like a pro! "If you can't be, it's because she allowed herself to be tricked, let her personal feelings override the truth. And if that happens, she puts everyone on Gamma at risk. So yeah, if you screw us over, we'll kill you, and execute her as a traitor as well."

His jaw worked rapidly. "I have no intention of betraying you. Understand this…if any harm befalls this woman, because of any transgression I have made, you will not live to tell about it." The dual voice echoed with anger.

Sam studied the Goa'uld. She had watched his face soften, the slight smile in his lips, the look of love in his eyes as he spoke of the woman named Cara; the anger, the pain when Casey 'saw' what had happened. Her woman's intuition told her than no matter what had happened in the past, Camulus was one Goa'uld they could trust, at least, for the moment. "Then you should be very careful, shouldn't you?" she said firmly.

Casey glanced at Duncan and Jack, then subtly nodded toward the SF who was standing guard at the door into the room.

Jack waved the SF into the room. "Take Camulus to a holding cell."

"Yes, sir."

"See to it that he's fed, and give him a BDU," Casey added softly.

"And this is because…?" Jack asked.

"He's probably hungry. And he needs to get used to wearing BDUs, if he's going to work with us," she replied.

"For us," Jack corrected. He nodded to the SF. "Feed him. Get him a BDU."

"Yes, sir."

"I will see you later?" Camulus asked Casey, taking her hand, holding it gently.

"Yes," she said, smiling at him.

His own face broke into a smile when the light of hers warmed him from head to toe. He lifted her finger to his lips, then stood and allowed the SF to take him from the room.

She watched until she was certain the Goa'uld couldn't hear them. "I wish I'd had a camera!" she giggled.

Jack chuckled. "Execute you? You know that's not what I meant!"

"I know," she replied. "But he didn't. If he's attracted to me, we can use that. Besides, this man…this Goa'uld…although I think he's more man that parasite now, anyway, he's not your typical snake."

"I have to agree," Sam said. She shrugged when the men in the room stared at her. "Casey's right. Just a hunch," she said. "Besides, he used a trader's IDC to get through the 'gate. He went to some trouble to get here."

Teal'c frowned slightly. "As much as I do not wish to admit it, I find that Camulus' behavior is not typical of a Goa'uld. If Casey Jackson can sense no deception in him, then there is none," he added, letting everyone in the room know that he believed Casey's judgment, and backed her completely.

Duncan grinned. "Well, seems we're evenly divided on the issue."

"Not necessarily," Daniel said quietly.

"Danny?" Jack asked, one eyebrow going up.

"Jack, you don't…grieve…like that, unless there is a lot of love…a lot of…need. If he was willing to spare planets, or help people just because Cara wanted it, that's deep love. It was hard enough on him to have her try to kill him, but to be forced to kill her-" he shook his head. "Love alone can change a man. Add grief that deep, and you'd be amazed at what can happen."

Jack studied his young friend. Daniel had been a man possessed by grief, and a man nearly destroyed by grief. He had seen what the quiet, scholarly, gentle, kind-hearted archaeologist had been capable of when they entered Nergal's compound that day, convinced that the Goa'uld had beheaded Casey. The young man probably didn't even remember the Jaffa he had killed without breaking stride. Two he had shot in the face, point-blank range, something that Daniel, under normal circumstances, would never have done. Of all of the arguments in Camulus' behalf, this was the most convincing. Because Daniel knew, from experience. "Okay, Danny. We'll give him a chance," he said quietly.

Duncan nodded. He too, found more assurance that they were doing the right thing to trust Camulus in Daniel's words. Perhaps it was because he was a man in love, they were all men in love, and Daniel had suffered the same kind of all-consuming grief that Camulus seemed wracked by. It was easy enough to put himself into that position. "He has a guard, twenty-four/seven," the Scot said quietly.

All the heads around the table nodded in agreement. "I think we should probably assign a team to him. Not necessarily an SG team," Jack said. "Maybe we could find three or four people from Security."

"Good idea," Duncan replied.

"Make it four very tough men," Casey said.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"It will make him happier to see me," she replied, a wicked grin on her face. "And that will make it easier to…manipulate him."

Sam chuckled at the expressions on the faces around her. "And you all thought she'd gone gaga over him!"

The men exchanged uncomfortable glances. They had all thought that very thing.

"I'll start going through files. I'll have a list of 'babysitters' by the end of the day," Duncan promised.

Daniel was frowning, his gaze focused on the table in front of him.

"Hey, Earth to Danny!" Jack said.

Daniel blinked, looked up and around at the faces of his teammates. "What?"

"Okay, what's up?" Jack asked.

"I was just thinking…Methos is still pretending to be a System Lord. He was supposedly the friend of another 'deposed' System Lord, right?"

"Hathor," Sam said, nodding.

"Okay, what if Methos takes Camulus in, hell, they can claim kinship or something, we know that there are Goa'uld who are related," Daniel continued.

"If he did that, wouldn't he be expected to go after Ptah?" Jack asked.

Daniel grinned. "Exactly. If Camulus took over Ba'al's territory, he wasn't small time. Ptah isn't going to tell anyone that Camulus walked away. He'll let it be known that he defeated Cam. If Methos takes on Ptah-"

"Then the other snakes are only going to see a Goa'uld who could whip a 'major' System Lord on his own," Jack said, grinning at his friend. "With Cammy's help, he could do just that!"

"Right. And if Methos turns on Penatil-" Daniel started.

"Others who are afraid of Penny will rush to back Methos, and then vow their allegiance to him!" Casey finished, following his train of thought. "Do you really think it would work?"

"Will Camulus do it?" Duncan asked.

Casey nodded. "That's what he wants, Duncan. Revenge. And taking out Ptah will be his first priority."

"I'll get a message to the Old Man," Jack said. "With luck he can be here sometime today."

Duncan grinned. "Well, my friends, it seems that something is finally going right for us."

"Let's just hope that it continues," Daniel said.

"Amen," Jack said quietly.

The team followed Duncan out of the room, each drifting back to interrupted tasks. Nothing else could be done until Methos arrived.

A  A  A  A  A  A

Casey settled back down in front of the tablet. Smiled when his hands went to her shoulders, massaged them gently. She closed her eyes. "Mmm. That feels nice," she said.

"Like that, huh?"

"Mmmhmm."

He moved his hands gently over her slender frame, his fingers working the muscles of her neck, feeling the stiffness that proved she had been tense during the entire meeting. "You feel sorry for him," he said quietly.

"Yes, I do."

"Why?"

"I guess because he's suffering what you suffered…well, sort of. The death of the woman he loved very much. We got a miracle. He won't. He'll live with that pain, that emptiness, for the rest of his life. You know what totally weirded me out?"

He smiled at the phrase. "What?"

"His host. He was grieving as well."

"That's…disturbing," Daniel admitted.

"I know. I mean, the host can do nothing more than listen and watch. From his or her own mind. But what if…just…if…what if some of them live vicariously through the Goa'uld?" she asked.

"What?"

She turned around, took his hands in hers, kissed each knuckle softly, then looked up at him. "What if the host of a Goa'uld is really shy, or timid…not very well educated…low on the social ladder. Then boom, they're top of the heap…or at least, they are in a warped sort of way. They can see, and hear, and probably experience most of what the Goa'uld does. That's how the host becomes as warped as the parasite, well that and too much time in the sarcophagus," she said, almost as afterthought. "Anyway, Camulus' host didn't seem to be…suffering…other than from grief."

Daniel frowned. "I guess there has to be some truth to that. I think that it would be to the Goa'uld's benefit to take a host that wasn't strong mentally. It would make keeping them under control much easier."

Casey stood up, locked her arms around his neck. "You know what?"

"I don't want to talk about Camulus for awhile."

He smiled. "What do you want to talk about?"

She gave him a seductive smile. "I hear that you've been very bad. I think I need to have you assume the position so I can frisk you for weapons and any…contraband…you might be hiding. A very thorough pat down," she whispered.

He shivered appreciatively. "So, officer, what's the charge going to be this time?"

"I don't know. I think it depends on what I find."

"That's harassment. Probably even entrapment."

"Fight me, and I'll have to use the cuffs," she warned.

He grinned. "I'll have to think about how cooperative I'm going to be."

She giggled. "Five minutes."

"I'll be there."

She kissed his chin, walked to the door. "Any later and I most certainly will have to cuff you." She wiggled her fingers, then hurried down the corridor to the elevator. She had to make sure that no one was in the supply closet.

Daniel watched her, the sway of her hips making him hard and needy. He grinned at the thought that she suggested their trysts nearly as often as he did. When she suggested them, he didn't worry about her meeting him just because she was trying to please him. No, when she suggested meeting for a half-hour or so of pleasure, it was because she wanted him, as much as he wanted her. And that thought had his heart pounding, his body reacting, and his soul rejoicing. He glanced at his watch. Looked like he was gonna be cuffed this time. He couldn't stop grinning.

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