Instinct, and a healthy dose of the power he controlled thanks to being The Chosen, told him that whoever was running down the hallway was not his Wife. It was her body, but not Casey. He hit the alarm, then ran after her. His long legs helped him to catch up with her just as she made it onto the elevator.

He reached for her, knew that he had to keep her from biting him, or kissing him, or going down on him…he mentally rolled his eyes. Just keep away from her mouth, bucko. Which wasn't going to be easy. Casey was in excellent physical condition, and she was strong at the best of times. Whatever was… possessing her…added to that strength. He struggled with her…managed to get her arms down at her sides and his around her…pulled her back up against his chest. "Stop it, right now! I don't know who you are, but I won't let you hurt her!"

She laughed, the sound icy…almost demonic. "You have no idea who you threaten, human!"

"Why don't you tell me?" He punched the level for the infirmary with his elbow. She began to struggle again.

"No! Take me to the Chappa'ai! I will destroy the mind of this one if you do not do as I demand!"

Cold fingers of fear wrapped around his heart. A nightmare he thought long over came crashing back into his memory. "No, I can't let you leave. I won't let you take her from me." He reached out, tried to touch her mind. Felt…chaos; then he was roughly shoved away. For just a few seconds, though, he had felt her. Casey was there, and she was fighting. That was a good sign.

When the elevator doors opened, armed Marines were there to greet them. Casey was shot, and then taken back into the infirmary.

She reanimated ten minutes later. "Daniel! Daniel!"

"I'm here, Angel, I'm here." He lifted her fingers to his lips.

"She…I can't…too strong…" Her eyes rolled back into her head. When they opened again, it was clear that Casey was not in control of her body any longer.

"Fight her, Angel, you can do it," Daniel whispered. "You're strong, Angel, you can beat this bitch."

"She cannot hear you, human!"

Bullshit. I can hear him just fine. Now…about that hand…actually, one finger, yeah, one finger is enough. Dash dash dash...dot dot dot...dash dash dash. Okay, slow and easy. Come on, Daniel, help me out here…keep the bitch busy!

"Who are you?"

"I am Lilith. High Priestess of the mighty god Nergal."

"Give," Casey's voice whispered.

He smiled. "I haven't been infected. Sorry. No, wait, I'm not sorry at all. Now, get the hell out of my Wife."

Another chilling laugh. "I think not. This body is quite…pleasing, is it not?"

"Casey is quite pleasing. Without her, the body is just a body."

"But you still love it. It is her, the body that you hold, that you make love to. That you yearn for."

"I love her body. When she's the one, and the only one, there," Daniel replied casually.

That's telling the bitch! Now, keep it up, sweetheart…almost there…Yes! Dash dash dash...dot dot dot...dash dash dash.

Dr. Montigue came into the room. "Casey's temperature is up. I don't know how that will affect the nanobots that are in her bloodstream. I'd like to sedate her, keep her under as much as possible."

No! Damn it! Not yet!

Daniel smirked at the entity that stared at him from Casey's eyes. "We'll talk later."

"I will not allow this! I will kill her! I will destroy her mind!"

Yeah, right, you and whose army, sister? Listen, cupcake, I'm a lot tougher than you think. Just haul your ass in here and find out!

Dr. Montigue injected her, and the eyes slowly fluttered shut. "I hope that keeps her out. It's a dangerously high dosage. I don't dare give her more."

Daniel nodded. He wanted to see a tape of this conversation. Something was nagging at the back of his mind. He needed to see…hear…the entire thing again before he could figure out what it was.

Jack and Duncan had joined him. They were watching the tape for the third time.

"Excuse me, sirs, but…look at this," one of the SF's said. He zoomed the camera in on Casey's slender hand. One finger continued to tap the entire time that Daniel had been talking to 'Lilith'.

"Almost looks like Morse code," Jack said. "O…S…O...break. O…S…O…" he cracked up. "That's Casey! She was always getting the dots and dashes mixed up."

Daniel grinned. "She's trying to send an SOS! She's in there, and she's okay!"

"You must have kept that Lilith distracted enough for her to get the message out," Duncan said.

"She said something…" Daniel closed his eyes in concentration. "She said she was strong…too strong…" His eyes flew open. "We've got to wake her up! We have to keep that bitch distracted, or she will kill Casey!" He was on his feet, running out the door.

Duncan called down to the infirmary and barked an order, then followed Jack and Daniel.

A  A  A  A  A  A

"So, you wish to speak to me," Lilith said smugly.

"I thought maybe you would tell me just how you managed to survive all of this time."

Thank the goddess! Took you long enough, sweetheart. I couldn't have held out much longer!

"I am strong. That is how I survived. I found several hosts on that planet, but they all succumbed to Nergal's plague. The plague didn't kill the women, their husbands did. In black rages brought on by the infection. When the men realized what they had done, the cowards killed themselves. It was quite a ceremony, all of them weeping brokenheartedly over their dead women. Although I suppose I should give them credit for having the courage to end their own miserable existence."

Keep her talking Daniel, I think I found a way…a zat should do it…energy against energy… yeah, that's the ticket…now, how to get the message to him?

"So you watched all of that?"

"With great pleasure. Zat. It was amusing to zat see them bleeding to death in great heaps."

Daniel looked at her, something about what she had just said sounded…odd.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Uh, Daniel, can you come here for a second?"

He followed the older man to the corner of the room.

"Did anything she just said sound weird to you?"

The young archaeologist frowned. He 'replayed' what she had said. "Zat?"

Jack grinned. "I think Case is trying to get another message to us. I'll go get one. You can even tell her that."

Daniel grinned in return. "Think I'll do just that." He returned to the bed where Casey…her body at least, was strapped down. "I suppose you enjoyed watching those women demand from their husbands as well."

A cold smile. "It was very amusing. I do so like rough sex."

"I figured that out. By the way, Jack is getting a zat."

Yes! I love you, you gorgeous hunk of archaeologist!

"And this means what to me?"

"Your death. Casey, babe, you'll have one shot at this."

Anger flared in the green eyes. "I have already told you, she cannot hear you! There is not much of her left. I was able to…subdue…her rather quickly. She is really a weak minded creature."

I'm a better actress than I thought! Just keep talking, cupcake.

"Casey is one of the strongest, most stubborn women I've ever met. She'll whip your butt before you even know what's happened.

"You are a fool. If I should choose to leave this body, there will be nothing left but a shell. Not even that attractive of a shell."

Jack walked back into the room.

"Welcome, back Jack," Daniel said.

Okay, bitch, time for you to go!

Once again her eyes rolled back into her head. Her body began to spasm on the bed as Casey fought against the entity that controlled her. Calling up the Fire, which Lilith hadn't recognized, Casey gave a shove, and the entity was literally thrown from her body.

Jack could just barely see a small 'cloud' hanging just above his young friend. He aimed the zat and fired. The 'cloud' began to glow, and a piercing scream filled the air. He fired again, and the 'cloud' exploded into tiny fragments of light, then disintegrated.

Daniel reached down to caress Casey's cheek. "Angel?"

"God, what a headache," she whispered.

"I know, babe. You're an amazing woman, Casey." He lifted her fingers to his lips.

"I knew you'd save me," she smiled.

"You're the one who fought her, Angel, pushed her out."

"I couldn't have done it if you hadn't kept her busy…if you hadn't known what I was trying to tell you," she insisted. She glanced over at Jack. "Thanks, boss. I owe you one."

"Consider it a payment on all the times you've saved my butt," Jack grinned.

She smiled wearily. "I think I'd like to sleep now."

"Sleep, Angel. I'll be right here," Daniel said softly.

A  A  A  A  A  A

Teal'c and SG-6 had returned with several gallons of the water from the subterranean cavern. Sam and Casey were both bathed with the water, and it seemed to make the nanobots dormant. Dr. Montigue continued to work frantically to find a way to destroy the microscopic machines permanently.

Erin brought Emily and Nicholas to the infirmary so that Casey could see and hold her children. Emily looked at her with wide eyes, but was comforted when she was able to lay beside her mother for a few minutes.

When they were alone again, Casey took Daniel's hand. "Okay, spill it. What's wrong?"

"What?"

"Daniel, you've been blocking me for the past hour."

He winced. "I…uh…"

"You didn't want me to pick up on the pain, did you? What happened? What has you so-" she stopped, her eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Daniel, you didn't!"

"I didn't what?"

"You watched the security tape of what happened," she said softly.

He lowered his eyes. "I beat you, Casey. I raised my fist and I hit you. Repeatedly."

"Do you remember doing it…not what you saw, do you remember hitting me? Remember your hand coming down against me?"

He shook his head.

"Neither do I. Come here," she said, holding her arms out. She wasn't satisfied until he was laying beside her, his head on her shoulder, his arm holding her close to his body. "Daniel, it never happened. If we can't remember it, then it never happened. What you saw were images…not real."

"Casey, they were real. The guys in the monitoring room saw me do it, Duncan and Jack watched me beat you-"

"Shh…my heart. No, they think they saw something. But it didn't happen." She took his hand, raised it to her lips. "The only memories I have of these hands are when they touch me with such gentleness, make love to me with such passion and tenderness, hold me when I'm frightened. These are the hands that first held my babies when they were born. These are the hands that hold mine when we walk side by side. These are the hands that discover new and exciting things in alien soil. These are the hands that I love. These hands have never hurt me. They never will."

He had tears in his eyes. "Love you, Angel."

"Love you, Sweetheart. Don't you dare blame yourself for anything that might…might…have happened. As far as I'm concerned, it was all a bad dream. What I can remember that is. Which isn't much!"

"I remember too much," he admitted.

"Then let me help you forget."

"I'd like that, Angel."

"But first…could I have something to eat? I'm starving!"

He chuckled. "I think that could be arranged. Anything specific that you'd like?"

"Well, one thing comes to mind, but I'll save that for dessert," she said, giggling softly.

He grinned. "You're going to try and kill me again, aren't you?"

"As soon as we get home, I'm going to give it my best shot," she whispered. "Until then," she said aloud, "I could go for some nachos."

"I'll see what I can do." He started to sit up, felt her arms tighten around him. "Babe, if you want food, you have to let me up."

She shook her head, and looked directly up into the camera. "Tell Duncan to haul his butt down here. I want food!" she said.

Daniel laughed. "Think it will work?"

"I'll tell you in a few minutes," she replied.

Five minutes later Duncan strolled into the room, his hands in his pockets, a smile on his face. "You called, oh mistress?"

Casey giggled. "See, it did work. Hey, you finally figured it out!" she said to Duncan.

"Don't push your luck. I'm just being nice because of that whole possession thing. I think the bitch left because you were tormenting her to death," the dark haired man teased.

Daniel laughed again.

"Oh, I will so get you for that, Highlander," she replied. "But not until after you get me some nachos."

The dark haired man nodded toward her husband. "Any reason he can't get up and get them for you?"

"Yeah. I'm busy holding him right now. And yes, there's a damn good reason," she added.

Duncan looked at her, frowned slightly, then nodded again. Jack had told him that Daniel had seen the tape of him beating her. "Okay. What kind?"

"Tyrone's Authentic. Large order."

"You got it. Uh…are the two of you okay?" he asked softly.

"I'm fine," Casey replied.

"I'm okay," Daniel said. He moved his head slightly and kissed her jaw. "We're fine."

Casey knew that it would take time for him to heal. He had to forgive himself first. She had to find a way to pull the images from his mind, or at least bury them so that he couldn't find them, or that would never happen.