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They sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the fireplace, eating the hamburgers and french-fries picked up from the drive-through at Tyrone's. They giggled and laughed and talked, sharing their views on the events of the week.

"Admit it, Case, when you first looked into his mind, you were convinced he was on the up and up," Daniel said.

She smiled. "At that moment, he was. It wasn't until what he said about taking over Ba'al's territory registered in my brain that I realized that he was lying, at least about that. He wanted to sound more…important…than he is."

"Which is really stupid when in the next breath he has to admit that Ptah literally walked in and took over."

"Not when you take into consideration the circumstances that he allowed Ptah to do that." She linked her fingers with his, her other hand moving over his thigh. "Mom said that you did a lot of damage to the den," she said softly.

He stared into the fire. "I don't even remember doing it. Wade kept me from breaking the glass on the cabinet doors, or destroying the books inside. I'm grateful that he did."

"I'm so sorry you suffered," she whispered.

"Casey, we've talked about this. You have nothing to be sorry for."

She didn't reply. Instead she moved to straddle his legs, then rested her head against his shoulder. Smiled when his arms went around her and held her tightly. "I saw the folders you brought home."

"And?"

"Do you need to work on them?"

He sighed. There were three translations that needed to be ready for two teams, who were getting ready to negotiate with the people they had found on two separate planets, both of which were rich with naquadah. "Yeah, I do."

She smiled. "I'm going to take a nice long bubble bath. You can shower when you're finished."

He pressed his lips to her forehead. "I won't be long, I promise."

"Good." She pulled herself to her feet, gathered the remains of their meal. "Santa just might come a little early for you," she whispered. She took the trash to the kitchen and put it into the compactor. Without another word she walked down the hallway toward their bedroom.

Daniel grinned. Santa always got him a little something special that was never opened when family was near. It was for him, and him alone. Usually something sexy for her to wear. God bless Santa and Victoria's Secrets!

A  A  A  A  A  A

Casey ran water in the tub, added a generous amount of bath oil, and lit the candles she had brought in. She slid down into the water, a smile of appreciation on her lips. Oh yeah, she thought, leaning back and relaxing completely. This was exactly what she needed. It had been an intense two months. She was still dealing with the deaths of the men of SG-6. Still feeling guilty for not having seen more, blaming herself for not insisting that they remain on the base. She had visited Anita Parker, and the woman maintained that Casey had nothing to feel guilty about. But she did. Feel guilty. Very guilty. She had written letters to send along with the sympathy cards she had mailed to each family of the fallen men. Had received letters of thanks in return from all but Marvin Yates' mother. His sister had sent a brief note, thanking her, but asking her to please not try to contact the family again.

She sighed. At least the bastard responsible for their deaths was finally gone. After returning home from that mission, she had slipped away and crawled on top of her 'favorite' lookout tower on the firing range. From it was a perfect view of the mountains that surrounded Hope. She had 'talked' to her teammates, telling them that their deaths had been avenged. She even thought she felt them with her, for just a few minutes.

Another sigh as her thoughts moved on to Toren. She shivered slightly, sending the water around her into motion. She had never, never been attracted to a man like that. With Daniel, she had felt the lust, without a doubt. But there was also the deep, burning, all-encompassing love that filled every place in her heart. Toren brought out an animal lust that she wasn't even aware existed. She hadn't loved him. Hadn't even liked him. But her body had responded to him almost as ardently as she responded to Daniel. And that bothered her. Daniel didn't seem concerned about the incident. Especially now that Toren was dead. She shivered again. And sent up a prayer to her goddess that she would never experience anything like it again.

She took the loufa and slowly dripped water up and down her arms. Then there was Camulus. At first she had been convinced that he was so broken-hearted over the death of his Consort that he really had changed. Another brief foray into his thoughts, sans Daniel, something she would never admit to doing, had shown her otherwise. He was hurt, he was grieving, there was no doubt about that. But he was still a Goa'uld. One that was still more or less under their control. She feared that if given the chance, he would enlist other Goa'uld to move against the Tau'ri. She had shared her concerns with Duncan, Jack and Methos. The three men seemed confident that the spies would alert them to any possible alliances before the Goa'uld could actually attack. Methos also told her that to 'check' on him daily would probably be a good idea. She gave a quiet harrumph. Would have been easier to keep a check on him if he was still in their custody. If they needed a warm body on the throne to keep the Jaffa in line and the other Goa'uld from moving in, let Methos…she sat up in the tub as the thought that had been trying to form for hours finally did so. "Daniel! Daniel!"

He cocked his head sideways. Had he heard…?

'Daniel!'

He was on his feet and running toward the bathroom before she had finished saying his name. 'What?'

Casey was already drying her body, brushing her hair out when he darted into the room. "I have it!"

"What?"

"I don't know why you guys didn't think of it! It's perfect! Absolutely perfect! Keeps him under our control, makes Methos really look like a Goa'uld, it's perfect!" she exclaimed excitedly, pulling clean panties over her hips.

Daniel grabbed her by the upper arms, stopped the flurry of motion she had undertaken in her haste to get dressed. "What are you talking about?"

"I have to call Duncan, we have to catch Methos before he leaves!" She was already racing for the phone in the bedroom.

"Casey Renee, what are you…" he stopped talking when she waved at him. He listened as she breathlessly begged Duncan to stop Methos and call the team together. He put his hands on his hips. I should have just dragged her in here and made love to her until she was too tired to think, he thought grumpily.

She pulled on the jeans she had dropped earlier, glanced up at his face. "I promise, Stud Muffin, as soon as this is taken care of, we come home, and I'll make love to you until your brain turns to mush."

He couldn't help but grin. Given the way she made love, that wouldn't take much…or long. He managed to catch her, pulled her into a hug. "I'll hold you to that, Angel," he whispered in her ear, satisfied to feel the shiver move up and down her slender body.

"I promise," she whispered in return. She pulled her sweater on, already heading out of the bedroom.

A  A  A  A  A  A

Twenty minutes later the team, and Methos and Wade, were sitting at the conference table. Duncan hurried in, Richie in his arms.

"Sorry, but Mom and Dad are busy, and Tess is working tonight," the Scot said, settling down in his chair.

"No problem, Duncan," Jack said, turning his gaze to Casey. "I think all of us thought we were home for the night."

She blushed slightly. "Yeah, well if you guys were as smart as you think you are, you'd have already thought of this," she mumbled.

The men all took turns exchanging glances. Sam raised an eyebrow, a smile tugging at her lips. "What didn't they think of?"

"Methos should have taken over. He killed Ptah. He took Kinsey…Nefrim. He should be sitting on that throne. Keeps Cammy's Jaffa in line, keeps the other Goa'uld from moving in, gives him the perfect set-up…and keeps Cammy here under lock and key," she said in a rush.

Methos raised an eyebrow. "I'll be damned," he said quietly. Wishing that he had thought of this plan. Or at least one of the men sitting in the room had. The Brat would be unbearably proud of herself, and probably hold this over their heads indefinitely!

Wade was grinning from ear to ear. "Best solution to the whole damned problem."

Casey grinned in return. "That's what I thought. Perfect."

"Which is exactly why they didn't think of it," Sam said softly, her eyes on her hands, her cheek twitching slightly.

"Now wait just a damned minute!" Jack objected. He stopped, looked from Duncan to Daniel to Teal'c and back. "Why didn't we think of this?"

Duncan was looking at Methos. "Can you still do it?"

"All I have to do is ring into that throne room, zat Cammy, ring him up, and take over. To do that will keep the loyal Jaffa in the palace from causing any trouble. Especially if I replace them with Shakka. There are certainly going to be those who will wish to join the rebellion," Methos replied.

Teal'c nodded. "An attack on each outpost will render the Jaffa there dead, or willing to pledge their loyalty to their new master," he added.

"How soon can you do it?" Jack asked.

"Couple of hours, I suppose," Methos said. "We should have someone come along to bring Cammy back."

"The Persephone can follow, then stay cloaked when they get close to his territory," Jack said. "You can signal, and we can bring him up, and then come back home. Should be done by two, three at the latest."

Duncan glanced at Casey just before shifting his son, who had fallen asleep, onto his shoulder. "So where was this great idea of yours earlier?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Do you really want to go there?" she asked, her green eyes flashing.

"No," the Highlander responded quickly.

"He's going to be madder than hell," Daniel pointed out.

"So?" Casey asked. "He's a Goa'uld. He came to us. We just put his snake ass back in business. We'd better stop him before he decides to get friendly with other snakes and comes knocking."

Daniel studied her. Then grinned. Camulus had managed to have her believing he had changed. Even if it hadn't lasted long, Casey was madder than hell about that. He glanced at Jack. That man had figured the same thing out. "Okay. He's your Goa'uld. You deal with him."

She grinned. "Oh, I plan on it."

Sam giggled. "I almost feel sorry for him."

Wade gave in to the urge to laugh. "I do feel sorry for him. Perhaps execution would be kinder," he said, his blue eyes dancing.

"Not until we've used him all that we can," Casey retorted.

Teal'c's cheek was beginning to twitch. "Perhaps I should attend any…meetings…that Casey Jackson has with Camulus, to ascertain his safety."

Jack snorted, gave in to his laughter. "Probably a good idea, Teal'c."

Duncan grinned. "Do it. The sooner the better. Then, go home. Stay there until Monday. Except for you, Casey. You'll have to come in at least once a day and check on your Goa'uld."

Her eyes went wide. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope. He's gonna be madder than hell," Duncan said, repeating Daniel's assessment.  "You do understand that?"

She pulled her lip between her teeth, nodded slightly.

Daniel leaned forward. "Tell him it was my idea. Because I don't want to lose you. Tell him I insisted that he be kept here where we can keep an eye on him, and you safe."

She smiled, laced her fingers with his. "I think he'd believe that," she said softly.

He said nothing as he lifted her fingers to his lips. He would make sure that Camulus believed her. He'd tell the Goa'uld the same thing himself.

Jack nodded his approval. "Okay, kids, let's get this taken care of." The team, followed by Wade and Methos, made their way to the door.

"Casey!"

She turned and looked at Duncan.

"Think you can get these ideas and feelings during regular business hours from now on?"

She grinned. "I'll try. No promises."

He grinned in return, and carefully stood up to follow them as far as the control room. He glanced at his sleeping son. Just like his namesake, when Richie went to sleep, nothing seemed to faze him.

A  A  A  A  A  A 

Duncan decided to leave the Persephone in orbit around Gamma, just in case any Goa'uld took it into their minds to try to attack the colony again. The Phoenix II, which had returned to orbit as soon as Dagon had been killed, was waiting for the team to ring aboard.

Colonel Bailey was waiting by the rings. "Welcome aboard, sir, ma'am," she said, saluting Jack and Sam. Both returned her salute. She nodded at Teal'c, Casey, and Daniel. "I believe the quarters that you've used before are still available. Methos sent a message, that it would be better for us to follow at a slower pace, so that if we are noticed at any jump point, there will be no way to connect the two ships."

Jack nodded. "Sounds good. Seeing as how anything could happen, we're going to try and get some rest."

The redheaded colonel smiled and nodded. "That's what I figured you'd want to do, sir. It will be at least two hours before we're close."

Another nod. Jack looked at Daniel, then pointedly at Casey. Daniel understood exactly what he was 'saying', and gave the man a nod. Dr. Montigue was still working on the 'Hathor' serum that would keep him from suffering withdrawal symptoms if he was unable to…be with…Casey for longer than three days. But it wasn't ready yet. So he had to take the opportunity, just in case.

"Come on, Angel," the young archaeologist said softly. He led her toward the elevator.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"For what?"

"I guess I thought we'd send Methos off to get Cammy, and we'd go home," she replied.

Daniel grinned. "Don't worry, Angel," he whispered in her ear. 'I plan on getting my fix as soon as that door is closed.'

She glanced up at him. 'Might be easier if you wait until I’m undressed.'

He couldn't hold back the laugh that filled his throat. Jack, Sam, and Teal'c turned to look at him, then noticed the blush on Casey's face. They all chuckled, and turned back to face the door of the lift. 'Smartass.'

'Yeah, but you love my ass.'

He glanced at the other members of the team, then subtly let his hand move over her firm backside. 'Oh, yeah. Maybe even tonight.'

She shivered slightly. She was well aware of the fact that Jack would see to it that they were undisturbed until they arrived at Camulus' home planet. Two hours. That gave them an hour and a half for making love.

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