He opened his eyes. Darkness. Cold. Silence. He tried to move, found himself securely restrained, and naked as the day he was born.

'Daniel, please, talk to me!'

Judging by the tone of her voice, she must have tried calling him before. Thank god, she sounded all right, scared, but all right. "Casey?" 

'I’m here Daniel. Wherever here is.' The was the slightest of pauses. 'Oh lovely. I’m naked and strapped down in the dark.'

He couldn’t help but chuckle. A few errant thoughts skittered across his brain upon hearing her words. "Me, too, babe. I figure Jack and Teal'c must be in the same predicament."

'Except that they don’t have a way to communicate.'

"True." He was grateful for whatever it was that allowed him to ‘hear’ her, ‘talk’ to her. Knowing that she was okay made it easier for him to concentrate on a way out of this mess.

'Daniel, I’m really scared.' He could hear the quaver in her voice.

"It’s okay, Angel. I’m a bit scared myself."

'Daniel, there’s something I have to tell you…just in case...'

He wasn’t about to let her panic, not now. "Case, we’ll get out of this. When Duncan doesn’t hear back from us, he’ll send the Marines." 

'For all the good it will do! They…whoever they are, will just have more…test subjects. Sweetheart, I want you to know…I forgive you. I heard what…that thing…asked you. I know that you would never intentionally hurt me.'

He sucked in a breath. She hadn’t said the words since he had arrived back on Gamma, but she had tried to let him know in every other way. He felt a tear slide down the side of his face.

'Daniel?' He could hear the fear in her voice.

"Thank you, Angel. Love you." It was over, he thought, his heart pounding. It would finally be over, for both of them.

'Love you, too, sweetheart.'

"Other than being strapped down and naked, are you okay?"

'Yeah, I think so.'  He could hear her giggling. Such a sweet sound, whether it was ringing in his ears, or filling in his head.

He couldn’t help but grin into the dark listening to her. "Hey, what’s so funny over there?"

'I was just thinking, if I could get the keys to my restraints and a can of whipped cream, we might stay here for a few hours.' He could hear the seductive smile that he knew was on her face.

He couldn’t help but laugh, even as the mental image her words created stirred his body to arousal. "Great! Now I’m getting a friggin’ hard-on!"

She giggled again. 'Like that idea, do ya?'

"Almost as much as I like the idea of getting the keys to my restraints and using that whipped cream on you." And if they didn’t steer to a much safer topic of conversation, he was going to have the mother of all hard-ons!

'Maybe we should talk about something else,' she suggested.

"What’s the matter, Angel, getting hot?" he teased.

'Too hot,' she replied. 'Daniel! They just did something to me!' He could hear the terror in her voice.

He must have been pricked, injected most likely, at the same time. "Me, too. It’s okay, babe, I’ll still be right here." How close were they to one another? Were they all in the same room, side by side? No, if they were, they would be able to simply talk to one another. If they were injected at exactly the same time, perhaps they were in…His thoughts drifted as he lost consciousness.

A  A  A  A  A  A

Jack opened his eyes. Teal'c was laying on the sand beside the DHD. Whatever hit him must have been the size of a Mac truck, the way his head was feeling. He lay still for a moment, waiting for the Quickening to take care of the pain. This Immortal business wasn’t so bad, he thought again, a slight grin on his lips. When he could sit up, he looked around. "Daniel?…Casey?"

Teal'c was already getting to his feet. "I do not see them anywhere, O’Neill," the tall Jaffa said.

"Yeah, I kinda noticed that." He looked around. "Okay, whoever you are! What have you done to my people?"

There was no response, not that he actually expected one.

He looked at his watch. "Okay, let’s look this island over, make sure they didn’t just wander off to fool around."

"I do not believe they would do such a thing," Teal'c remarked.

"Me, either, T, but we have to do something," Jack replied. They picked up their weapons, and those of the two missing team members, and began walking.

A  A  A  A  A  A

He groaned and rolled over. He was on a cold, metal floor. Very cold. Still naked. But no longer restrained. He sat up, held his head for a minute, letting the Quickening deal with the pounding behind his eyes.

He heard a soft moan, looked around. There was light, from somewhere. Very little light, but enough that he could make out a shape against the other wall. "Casey?"

"Daniel?"

He stood up and crossed the room, sat down beside her and pulled her into his arms. The warmth of her body against his was a welcome respite from the cold. She was shivering. He pulled her onto his lap. If he could at least get her off the floor, he might be able to warm her up. She snuggled into his embrace. "Better?" he asked after several long minutes.

She nodded, wrapped her arms around his neck, leaned her head against his cheek. "What do they want from us?"

"I don’t know, babe."

"Maybe we should just ask them," she suggested.

"Good idea." He looked around in the dimness. "What do you want? Why are you doing this?"

Silence.

"Ever get the feeling you’re a lab rat?" she grumbled.

"Or a specimen on a glass slide?" he added.

"If I have to be compared to something, I’d rather be a rat than some germ under a microscope."

He chuckled. Her sense of humor was intact and working just fine.

"Hey, out there! We could use a little heat…or our clothes. Or both, preferably. We’re freezing in here!" she called out, her voice starting to shake from the cold.

They continued to cling to one another, trying to stay warm. There was a loud grinding sound, bringing them both to their feet. Before they could determine where it was coming from, it stopped. But laying against the far wall was a pile of…something. Investigation found it to be their clothes, and they dressed gratefully. Daniel sat back down, pulled Casey back into his lap and continued to cuddle her as their bodies began to warm.

"So, Doctor Jackson, any ideas about all of this?"

"Well, we’re probably deep under water, that would explain why it’s so cold. Whoever lives on this planet has obviously adapted to living in the water. It could be that…land animals…or people who live on the land, like us, are new to them. They’re probably curious about us. They obviously understand that we need oxygen to survive."

"Think you could get them to understand we need food and water, too? I’m really getting thirsty."

"Me, too. We’ve been here for several hours, at least."

"Well, since we’re not going to be going anywhere any time soon, what shall we talk about?"

He grinned. "Whatever you want to talk about, Angel."

"Okay, how about discussing those lilac bushes? I’d really love to have some against the fence in the front. I love the smell of lilacs."

His grin widened. She was going to carry on as if nothing was wrong. "I guess we could put some there. I think they’d look better up against the house, though."

She thought about this for a minute. "Okay, the lilacs against the house, and rose bushes next to the fence?"

"That would work. I noticed that you have the flowerbeds ready. What are you going to plant?"

"I love tulips and irises…and once they’re planted, I’ll only have to keep them thinned out, they’ll come back year after year. I’ll put in peonies and forget-me-nots too, maybe some violets. I noticed that Charlie has geraniums in," she said, referring to the owner of the plant nursery in Hope. "I’m going to get a few to put around the deck."

"Sounds nice, babe. So, have you thought about what you want for Christmas?"

She snuggled closer. "Already have it. I have you back in my arms."

He tightened his arms around her, kissed her forehead.

"What about you?"

"Can’t think of a thing. I have all I want, all I need."

"It'll be fun to watch Emmie. She’ll love the tree and the lights."

"Yeah, that'll give her something to focus on other than the bookshelves."

She giggled. The bookshelves that lined one wall of the living room, and all that was on them, fascinated their daughter. They had discussed the matter, and decided that rather than moving everything, they would teach Emily that there were things that she needed to learn to leave alone. Anything that could possibly hurt her was stored on high shelves or safely tucked away, of course. So far she wasn’t impressed with the lesson she was supposed to be learning. Most of the time it became a game, forcing her parents to pull her away from the shelves again and again. "She inherited her love of books, sweetheart," she said.

Daniel grinned. "I wonder what she’ll decide to study when she gets older?"

"Living with you? Archaeology. Linguistics. Anthropology."

"I don’t know, babe. She could grow up to be a drummer in a rock band."

Casey laughed out loud. "Would that be so awful?"

"As long as she’s happy, she can do whatever she wants," Daniel said.

"Right. The day she comes home, wearing leather and has multiple body piercings and a tattoo or two, telling you that she’s going to be the drummer for some group like… ‘Smashed Skulls’ or something, you will totally come unglued."

"I would not! If she chooses to have piercings and tattoos, it will be her decision. When she’s old enough. Do you know how many cultures use piercings and tattoos as marks of status?"

She giggled. "No, I don’t. But I’ll bet you do."

He dug his fingers into her ribs. "Quit being such a smart aleck," he chuckled.

She jerked, giggled, then settled back against him. She sighed. "At least they decided to let us be together," she said softly. "I wonder why?"

"I dunno, babe. Maybe the fact that we were talking to one another anyway had something to do with it."

"I’m so glad we can do…that. I would have lost my mind alone in the dark! Just knowing that you were there…somewhere…made it bearable."

"Same for me, Angel."

"Do you think they took that thing out of my head?"

"I hope so. They said they would. We have to show them trust if we want them to trust us."

"Not so easy to do when we’re being held prisoner," she replied.

"True."

Suddenly a hissing noise filled the air. Within minutes, they were once again unconscious.