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When the ‘gate activated, Kyle confirmed that it was Casey’s personal code coming through. Duncan, Jack and Teal'c were waiting at the end of the ramp. Not one of them could look at her without wincing. She looked as if she had been to hell and back. And she looked pissed. Dangerously pissed.

She looked at the Marines who stood behind them, weapons aimed at her. "Shoot me, and I’ll make your lives so freaking miserable you’ll beg me to kill you," she snarled. Her eyes were green flames of anger. To a man they lowered their weapons. She looked at the three men who stood staring up at her. "I am so pissed off right now that you’d better be damned glad I don’t have a sword!"

Jack grinned. Daniel had made contact. "Uh, Case-" he could say no more, because she shot him. In the chest. Three times.

Before Duncan or Teal'c could respond…or run…she shot them as well. She stepped over their bodies, dropped her pack and duffel. She found a chair, sat down and crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for them to wake up.

"Damn, that hurt!" Jack complained when he sat up, rubbing his chest. He knew that he deserved it. Deserved a lot worse, actually.

Duncan sat up, rubbing his chest as well. "That’s twice," he said.

She glared at him. "Wanna try for three?" she asked, aiming at him again. She ought to shoot him again just for lying to her about that damned non-existent drug!

He held his hands up in surrender.

Teal'c remained quiet when he sat up, although his eyes were full of relief. The Jaffa had not been pleased as he was forced to watch Casey slowly fall apart over a lie.

"I had a little conversation with my Husband. He still loves me, and there is no drug that counters the fire," she said, her voice calm.

Duncan grimaced. "Case, we had to make you think that this was for real, or you would have been back on that planet tearing Neferteri apart before Daniel could find out what we need to know."

She had to admit that he was right about the tearing that bitch apart thing. He wasn’t right that she would ever jeopardize a mission. "Which is?"

"Neferteri does know about the ship Anubis is building. We think it might already be finished. She's also privy to his plans…and what he's after. He’s already taken a dozen systems…now he’s heading right for Earth, and if we don’t stop him, we might not get another chance. The Tok’ra spy serving Neferteri found out that she knows about SG-1, and asked a lot of questions about Daniel. From what we were told, she was actually friends…as much as two snakes can be friends…with Osiris. When they were together, Osiris talked a lot about him. Evidently those conversations made Neferteri interested in meeting him. It was decided that she would be made to believe that he had ‘switched sides’ due to a procedure performed by the Tok’ra that ‘went wrong’. You, Jack, and Teal'c weren’t supposed to get caught. You never should have had to go through what you did. We were just going to tell you that he’d been captured, and that they had moved and we were trying to find out where. That would have bought us, and Daniel, the time we needed. But, when you got caught-" he broke off when he saw the anger flash in her eyes.

"Case, you didn’t see Daniel’s eyes when you collapsed in that throne room," Jack said softly. "It was all he could do to keep up with the act. Had he broken, we’d all be dead."

She shivered.

"If Daniel contacted you, then he’s ready for extraction," Duncan said.

She digested all of this information for a few minutes. "That was his signal, to contact me?"

The men nodded.

"Let me go talk to my mom and dad, and see Emmie for a minute," she said softly.

"Your folks know, Case. I told them the minute you disappeared. Pretty damned smart to wipe the computer memory when you left, by the way. Took us the rest of the day to get it back up, and we had no clue where to start looking for you," Duncan grinned.

She nodded. "I just have to hold my baby for a minute."

Jack looked at her, saw something - a different kind of hurt he thought, in her eyes. "Casey, where did you go, and why?"

"PY2-498. I was going to try and…end it there…in my mind…Once I got there…I thought that since that planet has very little land mass…I was hurting so damned badly…I just wanted to die…wanted to stay dead just to stop the pain…I wound up right back on the beach I had left a few days later. Just before Daniel contacted me I was packing to come home. I have a little girl who needs me. I was going to try to go on…without him," she replied softly. A single tear made its way down her pale cheek, the wetness glistened in the harsh light.

The men blanched, not realizing how deeply the entire episode had affected her, each of them cursing himself for not knowing, not seeing how much, how deeply she was hurting. Blaming themselves for not acting sooner, before she had reached that state. Not telling her sooner. In spite of orders.

"Uh, Case?"

"Yeah, Jack?"

"You can shoot me again if you want."

She smiled, although it was a small, sad smile. "Don’t tempt me."

"Okay, back here in an hour," Duncan said gently.

She nodded, then grabbed her duffel. "An hour."

A  A  A  A  A  A

Erin met her at the door. "Oh, Casey, where have you been? We’ve been so worried about you, darling daughter."

Casey hugged her mother, held her tightly. "I’m sorry, Mom, really I am. I just…" More tears fell down her pale cheeks.

"Shh, I know, darling, I know. Duncan told us everything," Erin said softly. Her heart ached at how tormented her beautiful daughter looked. This ordeal had cost Casey greatly, both physically and emotionally. She had a few things she was going to say to the men who had planned this mission. None of them pleasant. She was going to share with three other women who hadn’t known about this, either. All of them had suffered as well; they had all watched helplessly as Casey closed herself farther and farther away from them. Her grief had been so deep, so all consuming. that it had enveloped her in its dark clutches, and no one had been unable to reach her.

"Let me take a quick shower, then I need to hold Emily for a few minutes," she said softly.

Twenty minutes later she was in clean clothes, her damp hair brushed and pulled back into a ponytail.

Aaron walked up to her, Emily in his arms. "I take it that Daniel has contacted you?"

She smiled and nodded...it wasn't as wide as normal. The light was back in her eyes. Not as bright as it usually was, but it was there. It was a start.

"Mama-mama-mama!" Emily jabbered, holding her arms towards Casey.

Casey took her daughter into her arms, hugged her tightly, kissed her cheeks, the top of her light blonde head. "Baby, when your daddy gets home, you’re going to spend a couple of days with Gran’ma and Gran’pa. "Cause first I’m going to shoot him, and then I’m going to love him till he can’t see straight!"

Aaron grinned at his wife. Knowing his daughter, she was serious about shooting her husband. The man would be lucky if it was a quick and easy death. He had known about the mission, although he hadn’t been privy to all of the details.  Had he known, he certainly would have spared his daughter such anguish.  

"I have to get back, Daniel’s signal for extraction was to contact me. I just needed to hold Emmie for a minute."

Erin smiled. "I’m so glad that things have worked out. I couldn’t stand seeing you so broken-hearted." She hugged her daughter again. "You go. We’ll be here when the two of you get home. Together."

With a smile, she hugged Emily tightly again. "Love you, Emily Rose." She handed the baby back to her grandfather. "I don’t know how long we’ll be, hopefully not long."

"Be careful, my darling daughter," Erin admonished.

"Be extremely careful, daughter," Aaron added, kissing her forehead.

"I will be. Love you both. See you later." With a wave, she was back out the door.

Aaron and Erin stood staring after her, then exchanged smiles. It was the first time Casey had ever told them that she loved them. Arms around each other, tears in their eyes, they went back to what they had been doing.

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