Title: Area 43- Access not so restricted.

Author: Mikla

Pairing: Kowalski/Male

Rating: R, for bad language and m/m if you are underage or this makes you want to hurl please vacate the premises, this story will self destruct in 10 seconds....

Warnings: This is an AU, to fit in the SG1 theme, Ray used to be a pilot, no arguments OK? He did! Just accept it. This is also slash, but as my first ever fic (please be gentle), I ain't going to go too wild, no graphic m/m sex, or any other sex for that matter, unfortunately! Oh, not beta'd all mistakes are courtesy of moi. Also I think I made up a lot of medical and scientific facts, I apologise for things which are likely to be drastically wrong, but I did need some of them to make the story work. Oh, I also fear that this story will be cheesy, severely so, so if you don't like Edam, get out of the house.

Spoilers: Quite a few, but they are only diddy ones. Mostly from seasons 3 and 4 I'd say but probably the whole shebang. Oh, and there's probably also some from Stargate, I'm not a diehard enough fan though to tell you from where.

Disclaimer: Definitely not mine, I'd have noticed if they were. Written purely for my own amusement and anyone who may actually want to read this. I would like to humbly thank Alliance who did create them, I am eternally grateful (you have no idea how grateful!!) Stargate SG1 are the wonderful inspiration of Gekko, Glassner/Wright, Anderson Greenburg, MGM, Showtime and Double Secret, probably missed out a hell of a lot who should also be on that list, if you own part of Stargate and I haven't mentioned your name, just know you are one lucky puppy. I also don't own The A Team, Pot Noodle, the Hawks or anything else I've mentioned in this story.

Notes: I think you need to be a big Kowalski fan to read this, because he is the main character (drool)! Ya also need to know a little bit about Stargate SG1, if you've never seen the programme I think it should still make sense to you, although it could be a little confusing.

Summary: What would happen if Kowalski joined SG1? How many ways could he get the team into trouble? Lots I'd imagine.

Finally TYK for even attempting to read this, I ain't the greatest writer ever, so please be gentle.

Area 43- Access not so restricted.

"I feel the magic all around you,

It's bringing me to my knees,

Like I wannabe,

I've got to be chained to you."

Chained to You- Savage Garden.

"Well, de-ja vu, that's just greatness, no really it is, I really enjoyed this last time too!" Ray Kowalski ranted as he struck out at the numerous persons restraining him. They already had a bag over his head and his hands tied behind his back, but it didn't stop him flailing himself around wildly in a futile attempt to get away.

"Jack, are you sure this is really necessary, I'm sure if we had just asked him he would have come with us." A soft gentle voice reasoned.

Kowalski stored this little bit of information away, who knew when he may need a friend, if only he could see what his potential ally looked like, but they had been waiting at his apartment for him, and he had not even got a quick glimpse at his attackers. He had made a dumb ass, damn stoopid mistake, man he sucked.

"Yeh, sure, he looks, reasonable and more than willing to help us doesn't he?" obviously in reference to Kowalski's continuation of struggling and recent bout of shouted obscenities. Then he felt a hand clasp over his mouth from behind the bag covering his head, and the same voice hissed into his ear,

"SHUP UP will you? You're going to wake the entire apartment block."

"Exanmphtleee," Ray declared defiantly through the rough hand of his captor.

Ray was pushed in, what he guessed was the direction of his door, and stopped suddenly, this was no random mugging or burglary. He was being abducted. Oh man was he in trouble, where was Fraser when you needed him?

Another rough shove got him moving again, He felt himself being almost kindly led down the stairs by the man behind him. Well, he thought their orders must be plain; he must be wanted alive for whatever reason. Well whatever it was he was wanted for, he was not going to make this easy for them.

As he reached the outside, the cold air him and he wished once again that Fraser was here, he'd help him, get him out of trouble as always. He then felt himself being pushed downward in to...... what.....a trunk of a car? ..NO... a trunk of his car, they were going to steal his beloved goat, man he was going to kill them if there was even so much as a scratch on the paintwork. He heard the lid shutting with a loud clunk, oh man, he was claustrophobic, this was gonna kill him. Despite his best effort a small whimper escaped him as he was left alone in the darkness. This brought back too many memories of Saudi Arabia, and the week and a half he had spent there. WAY too many memories! He closed his eyes tight, and was horrified to discover a single warm tear trickle down his cheek, it felt as if it was burning a path down his skin as it taunted him with his weakness. Not that he gave up in Saudi Arabia, far from it, he never gave them a single iota of information that they could use, no matter how many ingenious ways they came up with to inflict pain and mental anguish.

"Is that really necessary?" the kind voice repeated, muffled by the enclosure of the trunk of the car.

"Sir, I have to agree with Daniel. He's scared, do we really need to lock him in the trunk?" A woman's voice interrupted. Oh man, had that whimper really been that loud? That's embarrassing, you should never show your weakness' to your enemy, he may as well of just led belly up in front of them and wait for them to do their worst.

"Carter, he's a cop, give him a single chance and he'll take all of our heads off, then eat us for dinner, he's a member of CPD's finest, and we're the entrees." The voice growled back, "and besides we have our orders,"

"O'Neill, I really must side with Daniel Jackson and Major Carter, was it not your people who taught me the value of freedom, should we not show the same respect for Stanley Kowalski?" A deep voice intoned, 'your people' Ray mused quietly in his head, was he having some kind of whacked out dream? They also knew his name, his real name, so for whatever reason they wanted him for they obviously went through a lot of trouble to get him.

"Get in the car and stop complaining, its only a two hour drive, he'll survive." Then silence, then the opening of the car doors, then they slammed shut again. Another whimper escaped Ray, louder this time, two hours, that was going to kill him, in Saudi Arabia they kept him in a tiny dark room for five days, not having enough room to even stretch out as he sat huddled for five damned days sat in his own piss, drinking poor quantities of stale water, just barely clinging onto life and sanity. Horrible, Technicolor images of his imprisonment came rushing back at him; maybe he wasn't quite over that particularly nasty episode of his life as he thought. He didn't know if he was strong enough to go through all that again. Well he apparently wasn't the only one to make stupid mistakes; he still had his gun, kidnapping an armed sharpshooter, then leaving him with his weapon, was either particularly foolish or brave, either way he was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He pulled his bound hands down, and slipped his ever flexible legs through, so he had his hands tied in front of him. Then he reached up and undid the cord holding the bag on, it eased his claustrophobia greatly to get the bag off. He also managed to loosen the ropes around his wrists enough to get them off. Well whaddya know, the Mounties not the only one to be able to do the Hudini trick. He reached for his gun, getting ready, even though he knew he would have a long time before he could do anything about his predicament, but it made him fell a lot better to have his gun in his hands.

After about two and a half hours of Ray furiously cussing under his breath about the lack of driving skills the wheelman possessed, the car came to a stop, and the engine cut out, the silence was eerie and his grip tightened painfully around the butt of his gun as he quietly flicked the safety off. He heard the car doors open and shut once more, he heard a few more minutes of slightly heated discussion. Until, it was silenced by an authoritative voice.

"Colonel, how did the mission go?" Odd terminology for the kind of miscreant scum he was expecting would kidnap someone like him.

"Peachy." Came the sarcastic reply.

Ray felt himself coil like a spring, getting ready to pounce and take out whoever was out there.

There was a click as the trunk was unlatched, this was his chance, he leapt, knocking a surprised man to the floor with a yelp of shock. He wasted no time in pressing the gun to his head; maybe he could negotiate his way out yet.

"CPD" he growled "one move an I'll jump Bogart all over you!" He growled

As his eyes slowly adjusted to the bright light of the open room, which looked disturbingly like a car park, and the dozen or so military personnel that were surrounding him brandishing weapons that looked a hell of a lot bigger than his in his direction. Oh shit, maybe this was not going to be as easy as he first thought.

"See, Carter, this is your poor defenceless cop that you were trying to protect, he look like he needs protecting?" the man in his grasp ground out between clenched teeth.

Ray looked bewilderedly around the circle of guards surrounding him and his captive, he looked warily from one to the other, this was real bad, he'd have to surrender, but boy did it look as if he had pissed them off real good. Probably just earned himself the 5 star treatment at castle fun here.

"Put the gun down, son," ah, that calm authoritative voice that sounds vaguely familiar from somewhere, until he eyes rested on the owner of the voice, a small round bald man in a white USAF uniform.

"Colonel Hammond?" Ray asked quietly, rather unsure, OK things were really strange now, he'd met Hammond a few times in his career in the air force before he became a cop, from what he'd seen and heard he was a good guy, and maybe he wasn't as dead as he first thought. But what did the USAF want with him now? He had retired from that career nearly four years ago, he loved being a cop, surely all this wasn't just to ask him if he wanted his old job back. Hadn't these people ever heard of telephones?

His grip on his gun slowly released and he shot the Colonel an unsure glance, who just nodded his approval at him. He let his arm fall to his side as his gun clattered noisily onto the concrete beneath them. The circle of guards raised their weapons as one, in an aggressive stance now that all danger from a particular cop was now out of the way.

"That's General Hammond now." The man he had just released supplied in a rather smug tone, as he raised his hands in the universally submissive posture.

One of the guards approached him and continued to cuff him and remove his other gun from his ankle holster.

Ray slumped his head till his chin rested on his chest in resignation, he was at their mercy now, and he certainly hadn't made any friends, even his possible allies were probably selecting their implements of torture at this very minute.

He was led down many corridors, standard military grey paint on the walls, it all looked the same, he wouldn't be able to find his way back out of this place even if he did get a chance.

He finally came to a room, nothing special about the room; you know same old, same old, nothing special about it, a table in the middle, chairs around it, he was roughly pushed into the nearest chair, by his new "buddy". No point letting them think he'd gone soft he plainly growled and threw a disgusted glare into the airman's direction. He twisted around to see he'd had an audience to his rather primal and hostile behaviour, not that that bothered him, it would do them good to learn not to underestimate the enemy.

Five other people took seats at the table and the guards backed off slightly, Hammond at the head of the table, his previous captive to Hammonds right, a big dark man, built like a wrestler next to him, and opposite was a man who couldn't have looked less military if he tried, and a woman with short blond hair, very attractive, a little like Stella in the looks department, oh he was not going to go there right now.

"OK," Hammond addressed the guards "I think you can go now,"

"Sir?" His previous captive questioned, good he must have scared him, ha.

"Colonel?" the General requisitioned,

"Well are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Jack," the General's tone became mocking, "He is one man, were all military trained here, with the exception of Dr Jackson, what do you think he's going to do, now he is unarmed?"

I shot them all my best "who, lil' old me?" look, and I must have won because all of the guards retreated out of the room and the door quietly clicked shut.

"Lieutenant Kowalski," the General now addressed me "this is Colonel Jack O'Neill, Dr Daniel Jackson, Major Samantha Carter and Teal'C," he said indicating with his hands who was who.

"That's Detective Kowalski now General, and I really am very pleased to meet all of you, under such nice circumstances as well," he shot back sarcastically, we'll he'd never been very good at learning to keep his big mouth shut, and now he was on a role. " Teal'C, what the hell kind of name is that? Did yer parents hate ya or summit?" he insulted the building of a man next to him, expecting to get pummelled to death, the big man just turned to him and raised his eyebrow quizzically at him. "Mister, unmilitary man," Ray turned on the doctor guy "Whatcher doin' outta da hospital? Thought you guys liked to stay in there and torture people?"

"I'm a doctor of Anthropology and Archaeology," the doctor guy replied calmly

That's weird Ray thought to himself, what would the air force want with a science geek? Could this get much weirder?

"Ah, so ya kill them first before torturing them, or do you just torture everyone else with boredom?"

This got a small chuckle from O'Neill; no way was he getting outta it that easily.

"Don't ya even possess a single brain cell somewhere in that thick head of yers?" Ray demanded at him "you nearly got yerself and everyone else killed, cuz ya made a dumb ass rookie mistake, ya may as well av jus' handed me the gun to shoot yer head off!"

The Colonels face dropped as he heard the insult, and tried to think of a witty comeback when the General interrupted.

"As colourful and fun as that was, we have business to attend to" the General said wryly. The Colonel took on a face not dissimilar to a sulking child.

"Well, sir, we may have found someone who can replace you in the sarcastic championships," Carter suggested brightly.

"I do see now where you got the nickname," the General added. Ray looked at him speculatively, what nickname? and isn't this the part where they should start beating the crap out of him or something?

At that moment a young airman came rushing into the room, rushed up to the General and said "General we have a situation,"

"Can't this wait?" the General demanded impatiently

"NO, sir, offworld activation, sir," Wait a minute did he just say offworld activation, does he mean, as in the moon, and if so activating what?

"Any SG teams due back?"

"No sir, not for another 7 hours, and only SG11 are currently offworld," OK there was that offworld word again, he was soooo dreaming, that would explain it all Ray surmised.

"Any signal?"

"Negative Sir,"

"Close the iris, lieutenant, standard procedure," The General demanded irritably.

"Sir, the iris will not close,"

Suddenly all five of them jumped out of their seats, and hurried for the door, Ray was apparently forgotten, until Colonel O'Neill turned round pointed at him and demanded

"You, sit! Do not move from this room, do not touch anything, we will be back" Ok so whatever it was it was bound to be bad for them to trust him alone in this place, high security passes were clipped to every one of them.

And so he was left deserted for around for around ten minutes until gunfire rattled around the corridors, OK now he really missed his gun, they were under attack, shit. After pacing for another 2 minutes, wondering whether to go out and join the battle, or stay here safe, well he wasn't a coward or anything, but he'd probably be wanted from both parties, not good odds in his opinion. Then just as suddenly the gunfire stopped, OK, one side has won, but whose? God, he wished he hadn't been grounded to this room. A loud crash as the door was blasted in by something, a tall man strolled in dressed in old fashioned robes, made of very expensive silk, he had more gold jewellery than BA Barracuda from the A Team.

"Uh, Hello?" Ray knew it sounded dumb the moment it came out of his mouth, but he'd had to say something.

The important guy, flanked by two guys built like brick shit houses, who could squish Hulk Hogan with their pinkies, stared at him menacingly. OK so these were the bad guys, he could deal with that, he was a cop right? He'd been in worse situations. Then the important guy stepped up to him and ran his hand seductively up his arm, Ray blinked, had he just imagined that? If not that was a blatant come one. Well he was not above using that to his advantage, he had no illusions about his looks, but hey, if Mr Important guy don't get out that often, then, hey why not. He was an undercover cop after all.

0o0o0

In the control room all of SG1 and a few of the most of the SG command, had been disarmed and were being guarded by a dozen Jaffa, who had their staff weapons aimed and ready for anyone who could be stupid enough to try anything. At the back of the room Jack grumbled to himself, it was the end of the world and they had barely put up a fight, it was all over, unless they could find some way of starting up the autodestruct sequence. He and the General surreptitiously glanced at the security monitor panel, to see Apophis wandering around as if he already owned the place, he met a few SGC soldiers who had not already been captured or killed, but between his force field type shield, and his personal Jaffa, all resistance was disposed of quickly. Tinny sounds of gunfire and staff weapon blasts echoed ominously out of the consoles speakers, until a human voice took him by surprise, "Uh, Hello?" echoed around the room, a few of the others turned to the console, there was only about a dozen left, at least it was night-time so they were on skeleton staff, so not too many personnel had been slaughtered.

Jack waited for the eminent sounds of blasts from a staff weapon, and for the end of the feisty little shit in the debrief room, he waited and nothing happened, he chanced a glance at the monitor, Apophis was actually running his had along the kid's arm. OK maybe the kid could get them out of this, he was pretty inventive with the way he nearly killed him. Jack sighed, he was so desperate, he was actually expecting a single Chicago policeman to save the planet, "get a grip O'Neill" he berated himself.

"Uh, My name's Ray," Jack glanced at the monitor again; the kid didn't even know he was in trouble, let alone everyone else on the planet.

"My name is Apophis, I am here to take over your planet," came the chilling deep reply.

"OK, well, sure ya are, anything I can do to help you?" Jack couldn't believe his ears, the kid was actually making nice to Apophis, Mr Evil himself. If he ever got out of this he was going to kill Kowalski. "Thought you said he could be trusted," Jack hissed at General Hammond.

"While he was in the Air force, he could be trusted with anything, how was I supposed to know how a few years on the streets of Chicago would change him?" The General defended "not that it matters much anyway," he added in a voice devoid of hope. Then they turned back to the monitor as Apophis slowly circled Ray like a predator would circle prey.

"Why would you wish to help me rather than your own people?" Apophis enquired, disbelievingly.

"My own people?" Ray demanded incredulously " ya mean the ones who kidnapped me, stuck me in this room, tied me up and put a bag over my head? Why would I help them, I got rope burns all over my wrists, and I got a headache the size of Japan, ya can hardly do me worse than they have, so I may as well at least be on the winning side," Jack growled at the figure on the screen, how could someone just turn their back on their race and give up, just cuz we scared the kid a little.

"Why would I allow you to join my side?" Apophis enquired, sounding smug "what could you add to our cause?" Much to Jack's dismay Kowalski jumped straight back in with an answer.

" I know 'bout world leaders ya could kill, an' a few that ya could bribe inta workin' fa ya," Kowalski supplied "plus I'd be very grateful....." he practically purred.

"Besides we're all after personal survival, aren't we?" the Kid argued, "I'd be a fool to die with them, jus' fa tha sake of it."

"I'll kill the bastard," Jack groused, the kid's come-on was so obvious, he was nothing but a slut, using his body to save his life, but a slut none the less. The worse thing was he was actually starting to admire Apophis' taste. Not that this was the best time to notice, but the kid was wearing pretty tight jeans, accentuating his slim but lithe form to the best advantage. Mind you if he was going to die, then he may as well die enjoying the view, even if the scenic beauty was a traitor on the inside.

Apophis practically danced with glee at what was being offered to him, Jack watched with a sick kind of satisfaction as Apophis roughly claimed the kid's mouth with his own, Apophis' groping hands were everywhere at once, roughly pulling, prodding and exploring his new toy. //be careful what you wish for Kowalski//

They heard a small squeal of pain from Kowalski, as the Goa'uld roughly mauled his crotch.

"How would you like retribution for what they did to you?" Apophis asked as soon as he'd had to come up for air.

"I'd like that very much, very much indeed," Ray agreed grinning slyly whilst gasping for breath.

"Very well, revenge shall be yours," Apophis beamed as he ordered one of the Jaffa to hand over their staff weapon to Kowalski.

Everyone in the control room looked raptly at the control panel, as they watched Kowalski leave with Apophis, a few seconds later they were at the control room, Jack held his breath, the kid was actually going to kill them, for his own gain.

"Holy shit," he breathed.

"I concur O'Neill," Teal'C gravely added. Oh man the colonel thought, if Teal'C had given up then we must really be in the shit.

"We can't just give up," Carter interfered. Damn she's always too optimistic, why doesn't she realise were all doomed? The Colonel thought irritably.

At that moment they all swung around to face Kowalski, his eyes were stone cold, his grin an evil sneer, his stride unfaltering as he walked up to them.

"Eeny," he hissed as he pointed the staff weapon at the Colonel,

"Meany," he continued as the moved the staff weapon to rest pointing directly at Daniels chest, a small whimper of protest escaped the lips of the Doctor.

"Miny," he swivelled so that the staff weapon was now pointing in the Colonels direction, then continued.

"Mo?" he said as he pointed the staff now at Carters chest, the bravely stood tall, and took a deep breath and awaited death.

He whirled around and prodded the weapon at Apophis' chest now,

"Hey, yo, buddies if ya wanna see Mister Fancy Pants here again, I suggest ya lower ya weapons, otherwise I think I'll redecorate this room Apophis Red, whaddya think guys, this room could do with a bit of colour, don'cha think?" He turned to grin triumphantly at the stunned members of the SGC "well don't jus' stand there guys, I gotta do all the work here?"

The Jaffa looked at each other confused, they do not really understand the concept of surrender, but they cannot endanger their God. So they slowly lowered their weapons, which were quickly taken by the confused people, which were the only surviving members of the SGC.

"How 'bout we don't kill 'em, we jus' shove 'em back where they came from?" Kowalski questioned, no longer sure what he was meant to be doing.

"You will pay for your betrayal," Apophis threatened.

"Oooh, quaking in my boots already, ya try anything an' don' forget I'll kick yer ass again!" Kowalski growled back at him.

The gate then began to activate, a bright flash of blue illuminated behind the blast screen. Jack reasoned that it must be the new remote diallers the Goa'uld had developed, suddenly all aliens, except for Teal'C made a dash for the gate room, Kowalski stood looking at the shimmering blue event horizon, with a look of child like wonder on his face. His captive long forgotten, as he watched in amazement as all the Jaffa and Apophis dashed through the gate. The remaining members of the SGC took off in hot pursuit, armed with the staff weapons commandeered from the enemy. The event horizon, dissolved into thin air, and the SGC members stopped running, they had no chance to catch them.

"Missed the coordinates, sir" Daniel irritably informed the General after rushing to the screen, trying to make out which chevrons had been encoded.

The room once more turned into a room of hustle and bustle, and airmen, hurried around trying to repair the iris, and do a body count. Ray was once again forgotten, as the General began to bark orders at various members around the room. Ray stood, transfixed, staring at the stargate; a low whistle of amazement escaped him, as he took in the expanse of the ring, and the fact that those people had just 'disappeared' through it.

The Colonel was busy trying to reengage the iris when he heard an unusual whistling sound coming from the other end of the room. He looked round to discover the Kid engrossed in the activity in the gate room.

"Uh, Sir?" The Colonel directed at the General, as he waved in the direction of the detective.

The General approached Kowalski, flanked by the whole of SGC1, Ray spun around in fright as he felt them move around him, not that he was going to make this easy for them, he knew they were gonna be pissed, he'd just discovered something, he wasn't quite sure what, but he reasoned it must be pretty high level security, hey, he wasn't a detective for nothing right?

"Colonel, could you please escort Detective Kowalski back to the debriefing room?" the General asked,

"Sure, no probs," Jack replied.

Jack and Sam led Ray back to the room, they shut the door behind them, and Kowalski quickly reclaimed the chair he had before. He noticed the others exchange, confused glances, he reasoned, unauthorised personnel must not always get such a thorough tour guide of the complex, they obviously had no idea what to do now they were all here. Well, he supposed, that made three lost people.

"Uh, pretty exciting stuff, don't ya think?" the Colonel tried. Ray shot him a disgusted look for his efforts, the aftermath of the adrenaline was getting to him now, and he realised he hadn't actually had any sleep for over a day, thanks to a particularly sensitive surveillance operation. Man, he could do with some sleep, or failing that a very strong coffee. Ray scrubbed a hand through his short spiky hair, and a loud yawn destroyed his glower.

Both the Colonel and the Major stood near the door dumbly, not sure what to do, then the General saved them fro worrying about it, by entering the room, followed by Daniel and Teal'C. They all positioned themselves the way they were arranged earlier in the night.

"We would like to apologise for keeping you waiting," the General began awkwardly "we would also like to thank you for your assistance," Hammond paused and lifted his gaze to meet Ray's.

"Greatness," Ray started sarcastically, "Yer sorry and grateful, that's jus' peachy, can I go home now?" he demanded.

"Unfortunately, that is not a possibility at the moment, you have just witnessed an extremely sensitive incident, you neither have the correct security access, or an understanding about what has just happened," Hammond paused, checking to make sure the information was being absorbed. Ray just nodded dumbly. "You will need to stay at this base until we contact the President and discuss with him how he would like us to proceed with this breach of security."

"So, I'm, like, a prisoner?" Ray demanded

"Not as such," the General tried

"Well am I free to go then?"

"No," Hammond replied bluntly

"So am I a prisoner?"

"Yes. If you choose to define prison in that sense, no you are not free to leave," Hammond replied grimly "do you mind me asking, what made you change your mind about joining the Goa'uld?"

"Huh?" Ray stated confusedly, "I never planned to join the Goa'uld, presuming by Goa'uld ya mean the dude in the expensive threads,"

"I thought you were only after personal survival? And if that is the case the odds were definitely against the SGC," Ray sat there thinking, wasn't that exactly what he said to the important guy? How could they know that?

"You were going to add to their cause," the General prompted

"How could you...?"

"There are security cameras all over the complex, all monitored in the control room,"

"Oh....? OH!" Ray started to blush as he realised that that rather intimate confrontation with the enemy was actually witnessed by all the people in that room, Ray groaned and lowered his head onto his hands resting on the desk in front of him.

"I, uh..." he started "that is, I. What I'm trying to say is that, well, I never was on their side, I, um," he paused, raised his head to look at the people now watching him interestedly around the table. "I'm a detective, one that specialises in undercover assignments, no different than taking down bad guys in Chicago, find their weakness, use it against them, and Pow, no more bad guy." He graced them with a shy smile before returning his head back onto his arms.

Colonel O'Neill could not believe what he was hearing, they had kidnapped this man, locked him in the trunk of his car for hours, and he did that to save them, he'd actually planned it, now he was even embarrassed that they knew, maybe he wasn't just scenic beauty, he thought. Oh, that is so not the time to be thinking of that he berated himself.

"Hey, seeing as ya all know now anyway, da'ya think I could maybe brush my teeth, or aren't prisoners allowed to do that?" Ray asked cheekily

The guy was actually joking with them now, if that sly grin was anything to go by, he was going to make sure that they'd have a bad as time as he was having.

"Of course," The General motioned in the vague direction of one of them, to emphasise that he was not to be left alone, Daniel started to rise, and the General threw a glance at Carter. OK, I need two escorts wherever I go, greatness, Ray thought to himself. Ray jumped to his feet with his usual vitality, and bounced across to the door.

He was led down, yet another identical corridor, then into a lift. Carter pushed the button for the fourth floor Ray noticed, he was a detective after all, and he had to at least try to escape, before some government shmoe decided his fate for him. The tension in the lift was unbelievable, in fact it was unbearable Ray mused.

"Hey, yo Doctor!" Ray quickly grabbed Daniels attention, "Wha'sa air force want with a scholar?"

"I, um," Daniel stalled

"Don't tell me, its 'need to know', and I really don't need to know, right?" Ray decided to put him out of his misery of stalling; he obviously didn't feel comfortable lying or telling him to shove it. Maybe he was a bit like Fraser.

"Hey, you from Canada?"

"Excuse me?" Oh right, must be resident flake, even had the innocent 'who me' look right, Ray thought amusedly. The elevator stopped and the doors shuddered open. Carter broke the silence,

"I really am sorry for what we put you through," Ray snorted in disgusted response. Then stopped, maybe he could use their help, both of them were like Fraser in a way, had to help if they could, he wasn't quite damsel in distress material, but maybe if he grew his hair....

"Hey don't sweat it," his tone softened in remembrance of the look in her face when she thought he was going to kill her, she had guts, he didn't know if he could be that cool faced with a death like that. His respect for her went up a few notches. "It's really OK, ya were jus' following orders, and I used to be in the military, I understand orders." She gave him what seemed like a grateful look for his understanding. She stopped, opened the door to her right, and motioned for him to go inside.

"We'll be outside if you need us," she said as she turned to leave.

After they'd gone, Ray suddenly felt very alone, not that he would ever admit that, he'd made a big enough idiot out of himself already, no way was he going to give them more ammo, for the jibes that are bound to come. After all, this was the military, and he had just been practically making out with a guy in the debriefing room, he'd be lucky to survive the night if some of the horror stories he'd heard were true. At least then they wouldn't have to worry about their breach of security he laughed humourlessly, it came out a hollow rough sound in the silence. Great he thought, now they probably think he's a few buns short of a picnic. He looked around the room, typical military, grey wall, a single cot in the corner, not very comfy looking, and a small steal sink in the corner, the place could do with a bit of colour //or furniture// he thought wryly, Fraser would probably be at home in this room, he thought sadly, he hoped his friend was looking for him.

After he'd practically disinfected his mouth, he found himself yawning wildly, as he stole a quick look at the bed, surely it wouldn't hurt to have a quick lie down, he'd earned it. Before he knew it he was practically in a coma, snoring softly in a thankfully dreamless sleep.

0o0o0

Outside the room, Daniel and Sam exchanged worried glances; surely it didn't take that long to brush your teeth? As they pondered what to do next, Jack joined them.

"Where's Kowalski?" he inquired

"We thought we should maybe give him some privacy, sir," Sam supplied

"Although that was nearly half an hour ago," Daniel added

"Great!" the Colonel groused, "he's probably made a deadly slingshot out of a toothbrush and dental floss and planning an ambush as we speak." He stated as he pulled his handgun and flipped the safety off. "You can never be too careful," he justified as he saw the horrified looks on Sam and Daniels faces.

"Your still sour that he managed to jump you in front of everyone," Sam added mercilessly, although the huge grin on her face took the sting out of her words.

Jack slowly turned the handle and pushed the door open, he stuck his arm into the room, gun first. After no initial attack, he pushed the door open fully. As he stepped into the room, still weary of an attack, he took in the sight in front of him as he pointed the gun at the slumbering man on the bed. He put his gun away sensing no immediate danger. Ray was led on his front, his hair in a state of more disarray than usual, his eyes closed, his lips slightly parted and pouting a little, one arm carelessly thrown off of the side of the cot. Legs splayed wide, in an instantly seductive stance, drawing attention to his perfectly rounded ass, clad tightly in denim, which caused the Colonel mind to wander, thinking of things he would like to do to said ass.

Sam and Daniel followed him into the room, shortly followed by Teal'C, who had obviously wondered where everyone had disappeared. They all stood transfixed, staring at the peaceful beauty of the slumbering man, whom had barely an hour ago risked his life to save theirs. In his sleep, Rays face was innocent looking, making him appear even younger, aspiring to all of their protective sides. Lying there he appeared so vulnerable and lost, Jack reminded himself one more time to keep his mind out of the gutter, although it wasn't easy. As if Ray could sense them there in his sleep, he curled himself into a small protective ball on the bed.

"I think we should let him have some sleep in peace, sir" Carter suggested

"Yeah," agreed the Colonel, barely able to tear his eyes away from the man on the bed.

SG1 silently filed out of the room.

0o0o0

Ray woke several hours later, feeling a lot less grouchy, and ready to face the USAF, he felt invincible, he was going to demand answers, he may as well be kept prisoner for a reason.

He got up and stretched until he could feel all the little bones in his back make impressive popping sounds. He realised he must have been out of it for a while; according to his watch it was now morning. He had his usual morning craving for caffeine, although he wasn't sure if he was just allowed to wander around the base in search of caffeine based substances. Well considering that he couldn't function without it, he thought he'd take his chances. Besides it was probably a moot point, there were dozens of guards outside his door. Whoa, optimistic there Kowalski, he smiled grimly to himself.

He stuck his head around the door, surprised to find the entire corridor empty; he casually walked down the corridor to the elevator at the end. He got in, and once again it was empty, man, they don't care much for security do they, Ray thought to himself. He pushed the button for level one, he really was a detective, he notice Carter pressed four, and they went up three levels, four minus three, equals one, he wasn't a detective first grade for nothing.

As he stepped out into a vaguely familiar corridor, although he couldn't be certain, he thought this was the right level, he figured if he wandered around for long enough, someone //probably a heavily armed guard// will come and lead him somewhere, and he guessed that was better than wandering around aimlessly.

As he continued to wander, he stopped as he reached a closed door, behind which he heard raised voices, although Ray knew morally eavesdropping was wrong, he couldn't dampen his naturally curious nature //curiosity killed the cat// his subconscious warned annoyingly. Well, Ray thought, things could hardly get much worse for him, so he quietly crept up to the door. He recognised the voices of General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill immediately. They appeared to be arguing heatedly about something, no wait, make that someone. If they realised how much trouble I'd be, Ray thought, they probably wouldn't have touched me with a ten-foot barge pole.

"We can't keep him here forever," the Colonel demanded

"I know, but what do you suggest we do with him?" The General shot back,

"He saved our asses, sir, if you'd pardon the expression." Ray could not believe his ears; O'Neill was actually defending him to his superior officer. Of all the people, he was the last he thought would be willing to help him, considering he threatened to kill him, and all those wise cracks he made. "We could keep him at the base as a pet, sir," Ray hoped he heard sarcasm in that last comment. He was well and truly pissed off about not being involved in this discussion about him.

"You heard what the secretary of defence said," the General said in a defeated tone.

"I know, but how long did he mean to keep him under close observation?" Not close enough smirked Ray.

"Until new developments are made, you heard the man, orders are orders, and we must follow them whether we agree with the decision or not."

Ray was shocked, just how long were they planning on keeping him here? He had to find a way to escape somehow, although getting out of a high security base was as hard as getting in.

"Fine," the Colonel replied "but if they don't do something soon, I will be bringing this up again," he paused "sir!" he added as an afterthought.

Shit, though Kowalski, they're going to come out of the office and catch him here, he had to get out of there, and fast.

"Dismissed Colonel," the General concluded.

Ray abruptly swung around in panic, only to run straight into that Teal'C guy. Ray felt as if he'd just ran into a wall, well, he supposed, he was practically a human wall.

Jack stepped out of the Generals office to discover Ray stood in the corridor with Teal'C.

"What the...?" O'Neill asked

"I discovered Stanley Kowalski, outside of the General office, and he ran into me in an attempt to retreat without being found eavesdropping on your conversation, O'Neill," Teal'C helpfully supplied.

"That is so not what happened," Kowalski demanded

"Well, how does your version of events differ from the point of view that Teal'C put across?"

"Well, I, uh," Ray paused looked defiantly at Jack "guess that was pretty accurate, only I wasn't eavesdropping, I was tactically listening to you."

"Not tactically enough, it would appear," Teal'C added. Jack was shocked, was Teal'C almost making a joke? Was that almost a smile on his lips? Couldn't be, Jack surmised, he must have imagined it, although Teal'C would never intentionally insult someone like that. Ray shot an angry glare in Teal'C's direction.

"Hey look buddy, I didn't see you guys anywhere near when I was tactically kickin' ass last night," Ray shot back.

"We were otherwise indisposed of at the time,"

"And I think you were more kissing ass last night," Jack added, regretting the words the moment they flew from his mouth. Jack could see the anger and embarrassment fly across Rays face, Jack honestly thought he was going to hit him, not that he didn't deserve it, the kid only did that to save their lives, he should be grateful, not insulting him. Yet for some reason he couldn't just let it go.

"Whassa matter? Ya jealous?" Jack could not believe it, surely the kid couldn't have worked out what he was thinking, could he? Although there was so much venom in his voice, Jack realised, he defiantly wouldn't have to worry about anything-untoward happening between them. The kid well and truly hated them, and with good justification. That nasty jibe about last night probably just enforced the hatred already glowing in the kid's eyes. Jack began to wonder just when he began thinking of Kowalski as 'the kid'.

"Now if you'll be kind enough to excuse me I'll be off to have a friendly little discussion with the General," Kowalski remarked sarcastically as he pushed his way past Jack. 'Oh God' he thought, Kowalski obviously doesn't have any respect for authority, if he goes in there he will never leave this base //alive// Jack thought wryly.

"Wait!" Jack demanded as he grasped the kid's arm, "why don't we give you the guided tour of the base first," Jack added almost pleasantly as an afterthought.

"Well OK, I guess," the Kid looked at him speculatively, obviously trying to figure out the real reason for the sudden offer of niceness.

0o0o0

Ray couldn't understand it, was the Colonel being 'nice' to him? Why would he do that? Especially after that nasty innuendo, he was surprised that he was still alive after that one, he'd regretted it almost immediately, but as always he opened his mouth before engaging his brain as usual.

They'd walked down loads of corridors, all looking identical, and the tense silence was beginning to annoy him, both O'Neill and Teal'C were walking in silence, until every now and again they informed him of something they believed would be interesting, 'these are the toilets,' 'this is the infirmary,' 'this is the canteen, and so on. Ray was beginning to fear being put into a coma of boredom, when he suddenly sniffed the air, caffeine. Man, he needed coffee, badly, he stopped dead in the hall, sniffing wildly, trying to discover which direction to take to get to his favourite beverage.

0o0o0

Jack wondered what Kowalski was up to. Sniffing as if he was dying to sneeze, then the aroma hit him, coffee. Jack remembered the conversation with Ray's superior officer; he'd said the kid had been on a 24-hour surveillance stint, which he had apparently just wrapped up and they'd caught him as he just walked into his apartment.

"When was the last time you had something to eat or drink?" Jack found himself enquiring.

"What day is it today?" the kid replied patiently,

"Uh, it's Thursday," Jack replied, confused at the relevance of the question.

"Ah, it woulda bin, Tuesday den," the kid replied,

"Tuesday?" Jack exclaimed dumbly,

"Yeh, Tuesday," the kid replied absently, his attention still on the aroma, but he still patiently accepted the Colonel's questioning.

"Why wouldn't you eat for two days?"

"Wha.." Kowalski brought his attention back to the conversation, "Well it's only really one day, cuz, I ate summit Tuesday afternoon, an' it's only Thursday morning, so that's nearer to one day," Kowalski answered then deeply inhaled again, the aroma must either be getting fainter or he was growing used to it, the kid looked annoyed that it could be either option.

"Don't they let you eat on operations?" the Colonel questioned

"Yeh, sure," he replied absently, "wait a minute, how'd ya know what I was doin'?" he demanded angrily, he full attention focussed at the Colonel, and for some reason Jack wished that Teal'C would answer this one. He was sure the kid would not be pleased to discover they had inquired his whereabouts with lieutenant Welsh.

"Ya bin talkin' ta Welsh?" Ray answered his own question, in his usual nasally accent. Jack was kind of shocked, the kid didn't look either angry or suspicious, he just looked accepting. "Well if ya did, then ya should already know da answer ta yer own question."

"He didn't tell us what you were doing, we didn't ask either, and we only wanted to know where you were." The Colonel answered,

"Ya musta wanted ta find lil' ol me pretty bad, I ain't always da easiest person ta find." Perceptive kid, Jack thought, but he really did not want to have this conversation now, especially in a corridor, and without General Hammond. "So whatcha want me fa in da first place? I presume dat ya didn't jus' want me ta make out with da bad guy, right?" Ray grinned triumphantly; apparently all embarrassment was long forgotten.

"Sorry we really can't tell you that right now, I'm sure the General will tell you later on today if he has time."

"OK, I unnerstand dat, I get dat, ya ain't got da responsibility of freakin' me out, I geddit," Kowalski added.

"So why haven't you eaten anything?" The Colonel gladly reverted back to their old subject of conversation.

"Oh, me 'an Frase were hiding in a cupboard, we ended up in 'dere after bein' chased by da bad guys, anyway, after dat, we had no choice but ta stay put, da bad guys were in da warehouse, ya know, doin' da usual, bit o' arms dealin' bit o' drugs, same old, same old. Well anyway, we sat tight, kinda like sardines, or ducks, whicheva way ya wanna look at dit. After nine hours in hell, starving, and badly needin' ta strain the snake, dey got a bit distracted and, bam, nine less bad guys on da Street." Kowalski took a deep breath and raised his head "anyfing else ya wanna know?"

"Why would you sit in a cupboard with snakes in?" Teal'C asked confusedly in his deep voice.

"Dis' guy fer real?" Ray asked pointing his thumb at Teal'C, smirking.

"I can assure you that my reality is as real as either you or Colonel O'Neill" Teal'C informed.

"Ya from Canada?"

"I can also assure you that I do not come from, or have I ever been to this place you call Canada, I come from a planet called The Land of the Light." Teal'C informed helpfully.

"Planet?!?" Ray croaked

"Teal'C, maybe that was not the most tactical moment to bring that up," the Colonel directed at the Jaffa.

"Maybe we could continue this discussion in the cafeteria?" Jack asked hopefully. Ray just followed him dumbly down the corridor sending the odd surreptitious glance in the direction of Teal'C.

0o0o0

Jack was practically forgotten in the discussion as Kowalski 'refuelled', which was the only way Jack could describe the amounts of food and gallons of coffee that disappeared into the skinny man. Teal'C explained about his race and the Goa'uld, the kid was taking it better than he would have imagined someone as volatile as him would accept that there is life on other planets, and that it was possible to traverse the universe using the Stargate, although he'd probably already guessed some of it so it wasn't as much of a shock. The Colonel also knew that they shouldn't be so willingly sharing top-secret information. But one look at the rapt wonder on the kid's face, and both of them were more then willing to divulge any information that they knew. Jack for the most part of the morning just sat there as Ray asked endless questions about Teal'C culture and his wife and son, he listened with interest to the answers Teal'C gave. He also accepted when Teal'C did not wish to discuss some aspects of his life, like what it was like to be the first prime of Apophis. Ray instantly noticed the short concise, emotionless answer and quickly steered back to the subject of family. Jack could see the relief on his friends face, and he was grateful that Kowalski could be discreet and tactful. Perhaps being a cop was good for him. Teal'C for most part was greatly enjoying the fact that, he was not being treated as an 'alien' and that Ray was still treating him as if he was human. Ray also apologised for the crack about his name, although Teal'C could not quite understand why it was offensive, and what gave him the impression that his parents did not like him, but graciously accepted the apology. Teal'C was happy about the fact that Ray was interested in him, for who he was, he was not usually subjected to such intense concentration unless it was from Doctor Jackson asking about Goa'uld technology and customs. Jack could see the instant rapport form between the two. Jack had never seen the big guy form such an easy camaraderie with someone so quickly.

Eventually as lunchtime came Sam and Daniel joined them. They seemed confused by the obvious friendship between the detective and the Jaffa, especially when Ray began to explain what 'strain the snake' meant, he also filled Teal'C in on a few of his other choice colourful phrases. He agreed with Teal'C that if he taught him Jaffa, he'd teach him enough street slang to convince anyone he was a homeboy. Jack began to feel slightly left out when Sam and Daniel joined in the conversation, Ray seemed to alter the subjects to individually include each of them, it was surprising how much they seemed to like him after such a short time. He somehow had a way of making people feel individual and coaxed them to trust him; Jack concluded he must be a very good undercover detective. He talked with Daniel about his scholarship and his time in India, he also gently inquired about Shau'rai after Daniel mentioned her name when talking about his time on Abydos. Daniel also seemed to really like him, and Ray once again apologised for being a bastard in the debriefing room. Ray then talked to Sam about her career, congratulating her to have got so far in such a traditionally mans world, she was flattered and blushed, Jack absently wondered if she'd start physically drooling when he started asking her about how the Stargate worked, normally she got cut off or ignored whenever she got sidetracked onto a science related subject. Jack couldn't believe it; he was actually beginning to feel jealous that he was hardly involved in any of the subject topics. So he began to sulk, of course that only made it worse, because Kowalski, sharp as ever noticed, and decided to keep his distance.

"Hey, don'tchu guys actually have jobs to do? Or does yer new job description include babysitin' the Chicago detective?" Ray enquired as he realised that they had been sat in the cafeteria for hours.

"Well as of this morning SG1 have been grounded, so we have nothing pressing to do," Sam supplied,

"Yer sure, I mean, I don't wanna get ya all inta trouble or anyfing."

"No, we really don't have much to do, only some research into some artefacts we discovered on P3X 362," Daniel added,

"Well if yer sure," Ray added speculatively, he suspected that they had been told to keep a close eye on him, just like the General had mentioned. "Hey look, is dere anywhere I could get a shower round here? I mean I've bin rummaging round dumpsters in these jeans, before being cramped into a cupboard for nine hours, then sleepin' in dem, I'm really sorry, I think I stink, I don't normally smell dis bad," he added with a sly grin.

"Dumpsters?" Daniel inquired

"Do not go there," Ray put up his hand to wave off any more questions on that subject, "apparently if yer Canadian ya always think there are clues in dumpsters, I spend more time in dumpsters than I do at my apartment," he added by way of explanation, "and don'cha dare laugh Sam, I can see that smile, I am a detective after-all," he added good naturedly. Sam barely suppressed a giggle, and despite Ray's best intentions he nearly joined her.

"Sure, there are showers in the lockers room," Daniel added as he got up to escort him there, O'Neill raised a speculative eyebrow at Sam.

"What?" she asked,

"He's worried I'm gonna off the anthropologist, an he wants ya ta come an' hold his hand to save him from big bad Ray," Ray added with a huge grin. Sam actually laughed when Ray added in a worried voice to Jack "Hey, dey don't actually gotta escort me inta da shower 'av dey?" They he placed an assessing glance over both of them and added in a leer, "well maybe dat wouldn't be soo bad!" Right on cue both Daniel and Sam blushed.

0o0o0

Ray raised his face into the scorching blast of water, washing away the grime and sweat that had accumulated over the last day and a half, as he stepped out of the shower he felt a lot more human. He still could not believe what he'd heard today, although it did explain a lot of questions he'd had. Finally abandoning the urge to stay there for the rest of the day, these were communal showers and he probably wouldn't have the luxury of having it to himself for much longer. He was also surprised at how well he got on with all of SG1, with the exception of the Colonel, what was with that guy, he kept staring at Ray as if he wanted to kill or maim him. Perhaps the guy really hated him, or maybe he thought he was corrupting his team. He realised he'd have to leave his watery haven because Sam and Daniel probably had to wait for him to finish, he felt guilty, he'd noticed their pathetic lies, oh, SG1 had been grounded but it was because of him. They'd obviously been given the unfortunate job of baby-sit the prisoner. He kind of felt sorry for them, if he was them he'd be itching to go find someway to stop the Goa'uld, destroy them for once and for all, get Earth out of danger, he'd hate that he might not be able to do that because he had to look after some ex-soldier.

He stepped out of the shower and instantly began to shiver at the loss of the scalding water; he wrapped the towel Daniel had thoughtfully supplied, around his waist. Had padded into the locker room, where he was right in his assumption that Daniel and Sam had to wait for him. He walked in, in the middle of their conversation, apparently Sam didn't think it was fair of the Colonel to expect her to escort men to the showers, that it wasn't fair on either of them, he cut off their discussion by clearing his throat loudly. They both spun around to stare at him; Sam stared at the tiny rivulets of water trickling down his smooth chest, and was pleased to find that he didn't appear skinny; he had a good layer of muscle on him too.

"Umm, clothes?" Ray prompted. They both glanced at the pile of discarded clothes Ray had left dishevelled on the bench. "Ya connot be serious, dey stink! Dat was da whole point in da shower," Ray complained.

"Of course," Daniel started, "I've got some spare clothes in my locker, I'm not sure if they'll fit.." he said as he noticed Kowalski's narrow hips. He pulled out a pair of army issue combat pants, and a black tee-shirt, and tossed them in Ray's direction, "sorry, that's all I have," Ray realised he must be referring to the lack of underwear,

"Dats no problem," Ray eased him, it definitely would not be the first time he'd gone without boxers, to be truthful he only wore underwear these days if he was wearing jeans with a zip, ouch. As he realised they were not going to leave to give him privacy, he turned round, quickly slipping the pants on under the towel, he did up the buttons, removed his towel and begun to towel dry his hair into its usual spiky style, then he pulled on the tee-shirt, he figured he and Daniel must be about the same size, his clothes, although a little big around the hips and shoulders, were a pretty good fit, if he was going for the 'baggy' look. He turned around shucked on his leather jacket, tugged on his boots and led his babysitters out of the room. They followed, at least they're well trained thought Ray.

They made their way back to the cafeteria; Ray had promptly given up trying to lead, after he realised he had no idea even which direction to go in. So he was content to slowly saunter along behind Daniel and Sam, although both of them appeared to be quite quiet, Ray realised he must have made them uncomfortable with his underwear comment. They returned to discover the Colonel and Teal'C still seated at the same table. They both looked up as they saw them approach.

"You smell, nicer," Jack commented as they shifted up to make room for them to sit together.

"Har de har har," Ray groused, "I know I stunk, but so would you if you'd had the crappy day I'd had."

The silence around the table began to feel uncomfortable. "Look, ya know, it don't take all four o' ya ta keep an eye on me, an' I'm sorry fa keepin' ya away from ya real jobs, I don't get why da General makes all o' ya waste ya time watchin' me."

"No, in fact, this is kind of our punishment," Sam started, "the General was not pleased at the way we brought you here," she sent a smug glance in the Colonels direction.

"I think maybe I'd better have a nice chat with our friend the General in a minute," Ray suggested, "besides, it was his orders that got me here, I think he's got some 'xplainin' ta do, oh, and O'Neil ya ain't gotta feel guilty, ya were right, if ya'd given me half the chance, I'd 'av popped ya one." Ray got up ta leave, "well ain't one o' you gonna follow me?" he joked.

"You want ta speak to him now?" O'Neill questioned

"No time like da present, don't wanna procrastinate, pitter patter..." he made exasperated signs with his arms, eventually all four of them got up to join him.

0o0o0

"Sir," Colonel O'Neill started after he'd walked into his superior's office, "I think we have a, um, situation?"

"Damn right we have a situation," Kowalski complained as he pushed past Jack and sat in the chair by the Generals desk, propping his feet on the desk. "Mind if I sit here?" Kowalski asked innocently.

"I suppose I was expecting this," Hammond began, "what is it I can do for you?" While he signalled for SG1 to enter, they gathered around his desk, unfortunately there were no other chairs so they had to be satisfied with standing.

"I think the question is more, what you can do with me," Ray corrected "ya abducted me, from my place of residence, I wanna know why? What can I possibly do to help this project, I know squat 'bout languages, recon missions, cultures or science type stuff, it's all way over my head, and yer team seems ta have all the angles covered, so unless ya went ta all dat trouble fa a super security guard, which I don't think ya'd do, I can' think of a single reason fa a Chicago cop ta be 'ere, so please enlighten me," he groused sarcastically.

"While you are correct, SG1 are a very good team, and I'm aware that you possess no PhD's, no one else here on the base has such a skill for flying planes,"

"Dere are plenty 'o good pilots out dere, in case ya missed it I'm a detective now, not a pilot."

"I realise that, but you had a natural ability to fly a great number of different aircraft, more diversity than anyone presently in the air corps."

"While I appreciate dat, ya gotta unnerstand dat I got an undercover gig goin' on, I'm sure ya'll know bout da Vecchio assignment,"

"That has been covered, it would appear that Mr Vecchio was not progressing as planned in his assignment, and we needed you, we're the military, obviously we get first choice in personnel and the like, Vecchio is on his way home as we speak,"

"Let me get this straight, ya rearranged my life, then forgot to tell me, ya presumed I'd stay, decided dat Vecchio needed to come home too, have I got dat all correct?"

"Well that is not how we planned it, we planned to ask you first, and then you became a threat to security and will need to remain here, so it became inevitable that Vecchio would need to return, to protect himself as well as you." The General reasoned.

"OK, I can accept dat, I'm a very acceptin' and understandin' person, what I have difficult accepting though is the fact dat yer punishing SG1, making' dem act like high paid babysitters when dey should be out savin' da planet or whatever it is dat dey do, ya could just lock me in a room fa all I care, dey were only followin' orders George," Rays voice rose as he continued his speech. The General slowly turned a slight shade of red. Oh, God Jack thought, he's going to get himself killed, and us at the same time.

"You haven't changed a bit," the General replied almost civilly, "so can I assume you will take on the assignment?"

"Depends on how long yer plannin' on punishin' SG1,"

"How about if I was, to say, revise the length of their punishment?"

"Then I'd av ta say, damn right I'll take it on, I'll kill those bastards if they ever come near Earth again!" Ray declared.

"Haven't changed in the slightest," Hammond said warmly, "but if you ever talk to me like that again I'll have you up on a court-martial," he warned.

"Uh-uh ain't gonna happen, I ain't military, an I ain't ever gonna be again, I've had a lifetime of dat crap,"

"Fair enough, you can stay here as a civilian, just like Dr Jackson."

"Greatness."

"SG1, you are to be reactivated, effective immediately." Ray grinned in triumph.

0o0o0

The next week passed as usual for SG1 they did two straightforward recon missions and unusually enough no one was injured, except that their activities in spare time included Ray. Ray, however was still under base arrest, although they had been back to Chicago so he could collect some things, Ray felt bad that he was not allowed to say goodbye to Fraser, apparently he still could not be trusted to talk to outsiders and was a liability to security, hence the base arrest. Ray felt bad for Fraser, now both Rays had deserted him without a goodbye, although he was comforted by the fact that he had the real Ray back, Ray thought Fraser was probably happier because he had his real friend back, not just a stand-in. Ray was trusted however with all the details concerning the death glider that SG7 had recovered on P38 something, something, something. Although damaged, engineers at the SGC believed they could fix it, which was the reason Ray was here, so he could learn to fly it once it was operational. Although the actual fixing was taking longer than first expected, so Ray had to occupy his day with paperwork and learning off be heart the instructions from Teal'C about how to fly it. Ray hated paperwork with a passion, and there was plenty of it, dozens of forms, to be completed in triplicate, for the most mundane reasons, Ray wished Fraser was there, he was a wiz at paperwork.

0o0o0

The following Thursday, two weeks after Ray had been brought to the Cheyenne Mountain, SC1 plus Ray sat in Ray's measly quarters, eating pizza while Ray attempted to teach Daniel and Teal'C how to play poker.

"Ah, man, how many times have I gotta tell ya dat a pair 'o twos ain't gonna win ya nuthin'? Ya guys should give up, da only one who's givin' me any competition here is Sam," Ray groused, Jack glared at him indignantly, Ok so he wasn't having the greatest run of luck at the moment, but that didn't mean he couldn't play poker, even if it had been a few years. "Ya guys goin' anywhere good next week?"

"Actually we don't have any missions next week, we've been given some down time, so I can catch up on paperwork and reports," Sam replied, still pleased with the compliment on her poker skills, although she was still a long way off from being able to beat Ray, he was practically indestructible.

"General Hammond has been kind enough to allow me three days on The Land of the Light, to visit Dra'uak and Ry'ak," Teal'C added, "Daniel Jackson and Colonel O'Neill will also be accompanying me,"

"Why aren't ya goin' wit dem?" Ray questioned Sam,

"Well the General does not want all of SG1 off world for a vacation in case any questions need to be answered about our missions last week," Sam answered.

"That is da biggest load of bullshit, excuse the language, I have ever heard, well maybe not ever heard, cuz I have heard some crazier crap dan dat," Ray laughed, "Wots da real reason?" he demanded suddenly sobering "he don wanna leave da new kid alone, right? An ya pulled da short straw, wots he think I'm gonna do without my own personal prison wardens, right? I think I'll go have a word with the General, yeh, we'll have a nice chat, maybe some bark tea,"

"I do not think that is advisable," Teal'C warned, "General Hammond was quite adamant on the fact that one of us remain."

"Oh come on, whasshe gonna do ta me? He may bark, but he sure as hell don't bite as bad as most," Ray noticed the others sharing slightly apprehensive looks,

"Maybe that..." Daniel started.

"If ya worryin' dat I don' know bout da bug dat was hidden in da light fittin', don' sweat dit, I found dit, an I hope da General is listenin' right now, cuz it'll save me havin' ta go all da way up dere ta bust his ass,"

0o0o0

Ray waited outside the Generals office the next day, apparently his message had been passed on, he just hoped he hadn't made things worse for Sam or any of the others of SG1, he was even beginning to regret some of the things he'd said, sometimes his mouth just runs away from him, and the rest of him only catches up when he's about to get his ass busted for it.

"Ah, Kowalski," General Hammond noted as he stuck his head around the side of the door, "if you would like to come in, and shut the door behind you," he said in a deceptively mild manner. Kowalski sauntered into the office and promptly shut the door, no point in having his ass busted in public. Ray sat in the seat opposite the Generals desk.

"It would appear that although you have only been here for two weeks you apparently know how to run the SGC better than me, would you care to enlighten me as to how you have acquired this knowledge, I would be very interested." Hammond questioned, his tone betraying his underlying anger.

"Well, I don't, um, know how to run the SGC, but I do know that it is not fair to punish Major Carter just because I am here, don't you think I could cope three days without them, cuz I'm a big boy now, I can live without them."

"I thought that you would appreciate having some familiar company around, seeing as you are not yet free to move about the base yet,"

"I do appreciate it..." Ray started

"but..." Hammond interrupted confused, he appreciated it, but he didn't, this man was an enigma. Ray flapped his hands to wave off any more interruptions.

"I said I did appreciate it, I appreciated the thought, but I don't appreciate it enough for it to be at Major Carters expense, sir." Suddenly Hammond understood, he wasn't doing this just to be awkward, or because he wanted all of them to stay, as Hammond first suspected, Kowalski was actually angry because he believed Sam would rather be with the rest of SG1, just as he had been angry when he had grounded SG1, even though they had fully deserved it. He couldn't quite fathom that this man would go so far out of his way to help the very same people who had brutally abducted him from his home, or that such a deep bond had formed between them all. Hammond truly believed that no one would fit into the SG1 team well enough to work with them, although in reality all teams should have five members, he never placed anyone with them because he was afraid that it would break the solidarity of the team. He believed that he could have found a double purpose for Kowalski, SG1 could benefit from having another experienced death glider pilot. General Hammond decided that he would have to give this a shot; it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

"And I'll apologise for those rather nasty comments that I made yesterday, if you promise me that you won't take this out further on SG1, cuz I know yer a fair boss, an ya wouldn't take my mistakes out on others, right?" Oh yeah, Hammond mused, he'd fit in all right; he was already defending 'his' team.

"How would you like to go to The Land of the Light with them?"

"Whaaaa?" Ok, now Ray was confused. He was expecting an A grade bollocking, and now Hammond throws him the complete curveball and offers him to go there, wherever it is exactly, as much as he understood it was on the other side of the known universe, which was pretty far, and pretty exciting and scary at the same time. Although he couldn't go, no wouldn't go, SG1 had been really nice to him, but there was such a thing as overstaying his welcome //obviously not when you're a prisoner// he couldn't intrude on there time like that, Ray had been in many teams, and they all need time off duty, the best teams always work and play together. "Uh, sir, much as I appreciate the gesture, once again I have to say no, I think SG1 has earned a little vacation time, ya know they're a team, I'd just sorta be da tagalong, ya know might make it kinda stained fa dem."

"Do I have to make it a direct order?" Hammond persisted.

"If you put it like dat, sir, yes you do," Ray challenged.

"Fine, I'll clear it with SG1 and you will depart at oh nine hundred hours tomorrow, I'm sure Colonel O'Neill will brief you on what you need to bring, I expect you to be in the gate room on time and prepared to go." Hammond finished, quickly returning to his paperwork, a not so subtle sign for Ray to leave.

0o0o0

"What do you think the General is up to?" Sam questioned, "not that I mind him coming, I think we all get on pretty well, considering the circumstances that we met under."

"I'm not sure," Jack mused "he doesn't normally order civilians to go off world, especially not for a vacation, something is definitely up, he's planning something,"

"I still can't believe he ordered him to go, I got the impression that Ray had refused to go, I noticed the General use the specific word 'ordered', I don't get it, maybe Ray doesn't really like us," Daniel sounded disturbingly like a small child complaining that his new playmate didn't want to play with him anymore.

"Danny, come on, if he didn't like us, he'd hardly be hounding us every time he has some spare time, would he?" Jack reasoned, trying to relieve the ever-present guilt from the space monkey.

"Well it's not exactly like he's spoilt for choice of company is it?" Sam wondered aloud, she quickly shut up again when she caught the warning look form O'Neill, "oops," she apologised at the guilty expression on Daniels face.

"Hey, yo, knock knock." The object of their discussion called out to them as he opened the door, "hey, not ditubin' anything am I?" he asked cautiously, noting the sombre expressions of SG1, crap, he thought, General Hammond must have told them the good news, they obviously didn't want to take the prisoner on their vacation with them. "I guess Hammond told ya the good news, huh? Hey look guys if it makes ya feel better, I told him no-way, then he goes ahead an' makes it a full blown order, I 'spose I could not turn up tomorrow, but 'dere are only so many places ya can hide in a complex ya not allowed ta leave." He stopped as he took in their horrified faces; well all except Teal'C's who's was as impassive and stoic as usual. "Wassit summit I said?" he blurted, man they must really be pissed with him, they hadn't been this weird with him since the first day, after that he thought they were pretty accepting considering he had been constantly forced on them as a punishment, he began to idly wonder what they could have done that was so bad Hammond saw fit to ruin their holidays.

Jack couldn't believe it, the first chance the kid got to leave the base, and he refused it because he'd have to spend it with them. He'd seen the way his face had lit up like a kid at Christmas when he saw the gate activate for the first time, and you could see he couldn't wait to try it out, the way he peppered Daniel, Teal'C and Sam for information, Jack realised belatedly that he had never really asked him anything, not acted interested in him as he had with the others, Jack had first thought it was because Ray clearly knew about the military, and he had just put it down to the fact that he wanted to absorb new information, but he hadn't asked if he was married, or Canadian, as was his favourite question. That actually hurt Jack, the kid couldn't like him, all that crap about just wanting SG1 reactivated, was just a ploy to get rid of them, of him. That hurt more because of the way the Colonel had begun feeling about Kowalski, sure he was great looking, and was funny and boy could he stand up for what he thought was right, but he also had the right security clearance, he would actually be able to discuss his work with him, and that would be great, in the kind of work they were in, it really helped that you had someone you could talk to about it, sure he could talk to his team, but he just felt sometimes he could talk to someone, someone he could trust to be non-objective yet understanding and sooth the bad experiences away, //whoa there Jack you sound like your nearly ready to propose to the guy// Jack couldn't remember exactly when he began to feel attracted to men, but working on the stargate project kind of opens your eyes, broadens your prospective. Love came in many forms and when it came your way you had to grab it, because in Jacks experience it was like a damn bus, the one you want never comes along. Jack took a long look at the figure now stood nervously in the doorway, he looked so lost and vulnerable, he didn't look as if he hated any of them, he looked more worried that somehow he'd just said something to offend them. Although he was still a nervous ball of kinetic energy, he looked different; Jack had many dreams of that body, putting all of that energy to good use. Suddenly Jack wanted nothing more than the kid to come with them to The Land of the Light, at least there they could all keep an eye on him, who knew what trouble he would get into if he was left to his own devices.

"Don't you want to come?" Daniel asked sulkily,

"What?" Jack was almost amused the kid actually looked shocked that they'd asked his opinion, he felt an overwhelming urge to protect him from whoever it was that had caused the kid to have such low self esteem that he believed his opinion didn't count, that he was doing this because he thought they didn't want him there, it all became clear, it wasn't that he didn't like them, he was only doing this because he thought that's what they wanted. "Well, I don't know," the kid sounded stumped, unsure what to say, what to say to please them.

"Yeah, sure it'll be good, you must be getting cabin fever stuck in here all the time, the weathers nice there too, oh man, I sound like a travel agent, please kill me!" the Colonel put in good humouredly.

"Well sure, I mean if ya'll want me dere, den I'll come," Ray continued unsure. What did the kid want, a written invitation? Jack wondered.

"You may want to pack some clothes, warm weather gear, you know the usual,"

"I've only got jeans here, and a few pairs of army trousers I convinced Daniel an' Sam ta swipe fa me, will dey do?"

"Yeah sure, take it we'll be seeing you on the ramp in the morning, right?"

"Yeh, sure, wouldn't miss it fa da world, well dis world anyway," Ray replied before making a hasty retreat from the room and finding his way back to his own quarters.

0o0o0

As SG1 waited patiently on the ramp in the gate room, for there late tagalong, General Hammond was actually beginning to wonder about the effectiveness of even his direct orders on the wayward detective, he had spoken to Welsh recently, and the man had nothing bad to say about Ray, he said he never directly disobeyed orders and that he was loyal and quick on the uptake, the General had remembered this information when he had ordered Ray to go to The Land of the Light, he was beginning to think maybe he had made a big mistake, SG1 all liked him, an respected his skills ever since the first day, maybe he was taking it for granted that Ray would like them.

Ray burst into the gate room, lugging his pack over his shoulder.

"What ya gotta do ta get a cup of coffee in dis place?" he grumbled, SG1 promptly broke out into smiles as they realised he actually wanted to go with them.

"What, I got summit on me face?" Ray demanded at their dopey grins. Although this only caused them to grin further. "Freaks," Ray grumbled.

General Hammond was pleased that his plan seemed to be working, they just all needed to survive this little jaunt, and depending on how things progress SG1 +1 might equal 5.

The low murmur of the technicians could be heard above the engaging of chevrons on the gate, Ray watched in wonder, he'd seen the gate activated a few times now, but never so close up, as the blue, watery event horizon materialised, Ray looked nervously around the room, they actually expected him to go through there. He'd had sketchy descriptions from both Carter and Daniel, but that's nothing like experiencing it first hand. He walked slowly up the ramp, flanked by Daniel and O'Neill; he carefully prodded the event horizon with a finger, surprised when it just 'disappeared' it felt oddly cool to touch, he glanced around at SG1, they all nodded with a mixture of encouragement and understanding, before he could rethink his actions Ray jumped forward, gasping at the rush, this was better than any adrenaline high.

Jack shot an amused glace at Daniel after Ray had disappeared, Jack was mesmerised at the pure amazement and wonder on Ray's face as he so cautiously poked at the shimmering ness.

SG1 quickly followed suit, not wanted to leave Ray alone for to long on an alien planet.

"Wow," Ray demanded, breathing heavily, his eyes wide and darting around, "did'ya see dat, that was, I don't even know what dat was, but it was summit," he declared excitedly.

"Yeah, give it a few hundred times, the excitement wears off," Jack reasoned,

"So where'd ya live Teal'C?" Ray scanned the edge of the wood like an experience soldier.

"It is a few miles north of here, we should be there before the sun s have fully risen,"

"Suns, as in plural?" Ray chanced a look at the sky, "cool, why have one when you can have two right?" He practically bounded off the dais and made for the trees, stopping whenever something unusual caught his eye, while he was doing this Jack thought he looked similar to the anthropologist, curiosity causing them to turn in excited little circles, aimlessly wandering, touching, prodding a things.

"Alright campers, Teal'C and Carter take point, Daniel you watch Kowalski, make sure he doesn't wander off anywhere," Ray took a moment out of his investigations to throw Jack a disgusted glare, "and I'll be at the back, in your own time," Jack persisted, motioning for them to move out. Jack hoped that Teal'C, although probably excited about seeing his family again //well, as excited as the Jaffa ever got// would keep the pace slow, after all the kid was only street fit now, and trekking through the jungle would be quite hard going, after spending four years on the streets in Chicago.

To Jacks astonishment, Kowalski almost seemed annoyed at the pace they were moving, he was zig zagging across the path, practically humming with the barely suppressed energy. "Hey, come on guys, up the pace," he finally protested, and they sped up the pace to a more agreeable level with their new friend. Kowalski couldn't believe that a completely different planet could be so similar to their own, apart from the trees //Chicago wasn't the most foresty place in America// he could be just in another country, maybe one of those ones quite far away, Fraser would know which one of course, Ray could only guess, maybe the other side of the world. All of a sudden that statement sounded small, the other side of the world always sounded so far away, but at least it was the other side of the same planet.

Jack was enjoying the scenery, well not so much the undisturbed woodland, but the small denim clad ass that was nipping around excitedly with its owner. Eventually, they arrived at a small clearing, and they all hunkered down behind a bush, Ray was a little confused, wasn't this Teal'C's planet, shouldn't they be welcome here?

Teal'C and Jack knew that Apophis was the other side of the galaxy, and according to Bra'tak, was not due back for a few weeks, but then being in the military, you learned you could never be too cautious, he looked around for his team, hoping they were following their example, they all were he could see, except for Ray, who was no-where to be seen.

"Shit," Jack hissed "the kid goes off planet for an hour, and gets lost, I do not want to explain to the General that we just lost his new golden boy!"

"He cannot have gone far O'Neill, he was behind us a few minutes ago."

"Hey, guys," Jack gritted his teeth, he was going to kill the little pissant. "hey!" the voice came louder this time, they looked around, then Jack noticed that the kid was sat in a large tree looking out over the clearing, "Dere's no-one home, well no one with glowing eyes at least,"

"How the hell did you get up there?" Jack demanded, "never mind, just get your ass back down here and follow orders for once," Gracelessly Ray flopped from the tree and landed heavily on his feet.

"Teal'C," a voice from behind them greeted them before Jack had the proper chance to remind Kowalski about rules and regulations, and the fact that they should be obeyed.

"Master Bra'tak," Teal'C responded.

"Colonel Oh Neill, Major Carter, Daniel," Bra'tak continued his greetings, until he noticed Ray, assessing him with interest, "I do not believe we have been acquainted,"

"Ray," he replied succinctly, as he stuck out his hand to the stranger, although he realised that he couldn't be an enemy because the others seemed to be completely relaxed in his company. Bra'tak took the offered hand in a vice like grip; he glared warningly at the man inflicting unnecessary pain on his digits. Bra'tak chuckled, and smiled warmly at Jack.

"Decided to bring some entertainment this time did you?" Bra'tak chuckled, as he cast an appreciative glace over Kowalski.

"Excuse me!" Ray demanded,

"Master Bra'tak, I think you have misunderstood, Ray is here, uh, as a member of our team," Daniel clarified,

"Are you trying to tell me this is a warrior," he asked disbelievingly as he once again glanced at Kowalski's narrow hips and shoulders. "I do not believe he could fight an insect, although I'm sure he is very useful,"

"This?" Kowalski mouthed in disbelief, this guy had practically called him pathetic, and a slut.

"Um, actually he is a warrior, although he specialises in flying planes," at least Jack was willing to stand up for him he thought relieved, he really didn't know what to do, this wasn't his planet, was he mean tot just take this shit, or was he meant to kick this guys ass. So for the moment, he opted for controlling his temper and let the others handle it, otherwise he'd end up popping the guy in the head, and that probably wouldn't go down very well with the local indigenous people.

"I believe Major Carter would be a far more formidable enemy than he," Bra'tak exclaimed.

"Hey, look buddy, ya'd better rethink some of the shit ya've bin sayin' cuz otherwise I'm gonna 'bang bang' put a cap in ya an' ya'll be down on a 1-87!" Ray howled.

"What language does it speak?" Bra'tak questioned, pointedly ignoring Ray's outburst.

"IT?" Ray demanded, "Hello, I'm a livin' human being, not an IT!" Ray's eyes flaring with hatred fro this man he'd never met before, Ray realised he had a terrible temper and this man would do well to acknowledge it before Ray made an issue about proving his threat.

"Feisty little thing isn't he?" Bra'tak mused. Ray made a show of tearing off his jacket, throwing it to the floor, rolling up his sleeves, hanging his shoulder holster on a convienient branch, taking on an instantly aggressive stance, demanding,

"Hey, ya don't think I got da balls ta punch ya light out, den come on, I have given ya ample warnin', all I got ta do is say, 'look buddy, I'm gonna punch ya," as he started a quick rally of punches to the guys torso, OK, this was one of Rays less clever ideas, the guy was deceptively solid. Bra'tak looked amused, he silently questioned O'Neill.

"Sure, just don't hurt him too much, we'll have to explain a broken civilian to the General." Jack winced, he'd fought the old guy before, and he doubted Ray could stand up to that kind of punishment, after all Bra'tak was right in his assumption, Ray wasn't really built like a warrior.

Bra'tak's first punch to Ray's stomach sent him reeling, but the doubt in the Colonels voice drove him on, how dare they doubt him, after all he'd been through for them, and for the air force in general. He'd beat the hell out of this son of a bitch if it killed him //and it probably will// he thought wryly as another powerful blow threw him back onto his ass on the dusty floor, he bounced back up, only to get knocked back on his ass, //man that really hurt// he was not going to get anywhere carrying on like this, he had to think like Fraser //logically// what would he do in this situation, well he would have taken a pre-empted strike and not got into a fight with a man who resembled a rhino the little Fraser voice in his head informed, great help! He needed some ammo, not he literal kind, something like the element of surprise, he could do that, sure no probs.

SG1 winced in union as Ray took another particularly hard blow and re-landed on his ass, Jack really thought the kid wouldn't have taken that much punishment, he was sure most people would have surrendered by now, but he kept bouncing back, Jack mused idly about that song about the rubber ball coming bouncing back for more. Man, did this kid have a death wish. Jack was brought out of his reverie by a particularly hard thud of Kowalski literally biting the dust again; he waited for the bouncing motion as he got himself psyched again, as he did after every trip to the floor, but nothing happened, the kid led there, in the dust, flat on his back, not moving at all, Jack's first thought was, how the hell he was going to explain this to the General, and his second thought was why he was stupid enough to let the kid under his well built defences and let him care about him, the kid was dumb enough to get beaten to a pulp, just to prove a point, he'd met mules less stubborn than that guy, now they would have to explain why he came back from a 'nice' vacation resembling a punch bag.

"Sir!" Sam was alarmed, "He's not moving." Ah crap, he was dead? No, he couldn't be, could he? Jack felt a burning rage build inside him,

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" He demanded in a menacing tone, "You saw the kid stood no chance, you did not have to kill him," just as they prepared themselves to dash to his rescue Ray lashed out violently, kicking Bra'tak's legs out from under him in surprise he flailed around as he lost his balance then he landed hard with a thud next to Ray with a grunt. Ray, noticing his better position quickly sprang back to his feet, twisted Bra'taks arm backwards while wiping away a stream of blood flowing from his lip onto his sleeve.

"Do not do that again, or I'll kick ya in da head!" Ray hissed, Bra'tak struggled for freedom, but it was useless, Ray just shoved his arm higher up his back until it was painful for him to make any movement. Eventually he stilled into an embarrassed defeat. Ray grinned despite the fact that it hurt to move anything, he was going to be sore later he thought wryly, but then he looked back to his team, saw their looks of pride, astonishment and relief and he thought it was definitely worth while. Although he wasn't quite sure why he'd just thought of them as his team, he had to stop becoming so attached to them, it would only hurt more when they decide to dump him for the next, more interesting abductee. He carefully rose to his feet, letting go of Bra'tak who also scrambled to his feet, gracing him with a dirty look.

"Teal'C you choose your friends well," he stated simply.

"Thank you master Bra'tak," Teal'C replied with a glint in his eye.

"Ya had us a little worried there for a minute, thought we were going to have to explain to general Hammond why only four of us came back." Jack commented.

"Well fought, " Bra'tak directed towards Ray his voice devoid of sarcasm, "your combat methods are a little.... unusual, if effective,"

"Yeah, thanks, look, can we find somewhere to sit down before I fall down?"

0o0o0

Kowalski felt as if he'd just gone ten rounds with Tyson, although he was almost sure that guy could give Tyson a good try out. He tried to walk as normally as possible, even though his leg hurt like hell with a red-hot poker. He was also pretty sure he'd have some impressive bruises by this afternoon. Although despite his sudden urge to make the dusty ground his bed for the night or even his grave, he made it to Teal'C's families hut. For the fortieth time he thought Fraser would feel at home here, Ok it wasn't a log cabin, but there was undoubtedly no hot water or toilet, that should be sufficiently uncomfortable to make his friend happy.

0o0o0

O'Neill kept a close ye on Kowalski for the remainder of the trip. He almost made them stop several times for a rest for the guy after he winced particularly badly when he came heavily down on his leg. He admired the guy for not showing the pain he was obviously in, he took a lot of punishment, despite being the victor of the round. Bra'tak however was utterly unharmed, perhaps he'd been taught that at the police academy. Dra'auk and Ry'ak were just as friendly as the last time he was here. They both took quite a shine to Kowalski; maybe it was sympathy for the wounded, or maybe just that cute experimental blond hair, cute? Where the hell had that come from? They spent the rest of the day with Teal'C and his family, whilst Ray taught Ry'ak the finer points of the yoyo that he'd brought with him. The sleeping arrangements were also rather primitive; it consisted of rugs on the floor. Ray seemed too tired or too sore to care, he collapsed into a deep sleep early while the others sat in their equivalent of a kitchen talking in hushed tones.

"I wasn't completely wrong was I?" Bra'tak questioned O'Neill,

"Wrong about what?" Jack reflected,

"Ray, he isn't just a member of the team?" Bra'tak shot a knowing glance at Jack.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jack protested.

"You and Ray are more than just team-mates, no?" Bra'taks voice was a little over a whisper so the other members could not possibly hear them, "Not that I blame you, if I was a hundred years younger, you may have a little competition on your hands," he chuckled at the shocked expression on the colonels face.

"I mean, no, we're just friends, if you could even call it that, and besides, he's a guy," Jack could hear the hollow lies echoing in his ears, he was pretty sure that Bra'tak would also pick up on his pathetic excuses.

"Ahhhh," he replied knowingly "it hasn't happened yet has it? Not that you haven't wanted it," he waved off the protests he knew would follow that, "I have seen the way you have looked at him, you are also unnaturally possessive of him, more so than you are with the rest of the team."

"No, I'm just looking out for him, he's never been through the stargate before, he's younger than the rest of us, ya know it can be a little scary on another planet for the first time," the Colonel protested,

"Did he look scared to you, or like he needed protecting, I thought he would need it as well, until he taught me that he was tough, the hard way, he didn't even look scared when he was fighting me." Bra'tak countered, "Look me in the eye and tell me you do not want him and I will drop the subject immediately," he promised.

"I.." The colonel dropped his eyes, he couldn't lie to this man, he was so shrewd and knowledgeable he would see straight though his lies anyway. Bra'tak smiled, he had gotten all the answer he needed in O'Neill's silence.

"You chose well my friend, " Bra'tak patted him on his shoulder, as he left.

0o0o0

Ray woke up early the next day, that's what you get for falling asleep early the night before he mused. He wasn't nearly as sore as he expected to be. He left the small room and sat in a small copse near the Teal'C residence, watching the sun, no make that suns rise. He sat there bare-chested slouched in his jeans underneath a tree in the light of dawn, eating another one of the chocolate bars he'd thought to bring along, hell he wasn't all that keen on food from other countries let alone other planets. He noticed with amusement an hour later as the rest of SG1 came rushing out of the hut, exasperated looks on their faces as they frantically began scanning the surroundings, they looked dishevelled, as if they had gotten dressed in a hurry, Ray realised, and almost burst out laughing.

0o0o0

Jack awoke with a start, he looked over to where Kowalski slept last night to check he was Ok after his beating, but he wasn't there, he jumped up, pulled on the uniform he was wearing yesterday, yelled at the rest of his team to get their asses out of bed on the double. They pelted out of Teal'C's house, assuming the worst; maybe he was kidnapped, or wandered off and got lost, eaten by a wild animal. They all relaxed suddenly when they all caught sight of him, half naked, lounging against a tree, watching them with obvious amusement. Jack felt his heart leap in his chest as he took in his beauty, the smooth chest, the wiry, yet perfectly in proportion muscles in the perfect golden light of a new day. The rest of SG1 sent annoyed glares at Jack for rushing them out of bed at such an early hour on their vacation. Jack however, made his way up to where Ray was sat; he was still smiling with barley-suppressed humour, but spared Jack from a full blown laughing fit. Jack gracefully flopped down next to him, taking in the flushed colour of Ray's skin, and the chocolate around his mouth.

"You should put on some sunscreen before you fry," he commented wryly.

"Hey, whatever," Ray mumbled with apparent disinterest, "Ya jus' scared dat Hammond's gonna kill ya over getting' da new kid beaten up and sunburnt," he grinned.

"That was some impressive fighting yesterday," the colonel retried,

"Yeh, which part, the bit where he kicked my butt, or the bit where he kicked me onto my butt," Ray feigned interest.

"I was actually talking about the bit where you kicked his butt,"

"Yeh, whatever, it was pretty crappy, an' I had ta resort ta trick tactics, hardly a fair fight, he kicked my ass from here back to Earth, fair 'n square,"

"Did you learn that move in the Academy?"

"Never went ta t'academy," Ray replied.

"You never went?" Jack was confused.

"Yeh, never read me file have ya?" Ray grinned fiendishly.

"No, actually you can't for some reason access your file without a password, and even General Hammond doesn't have it."

"Well, ya know, after Saudi Arabia, they offered me a placement wherever I wanted, instead of doin' the sappy thing like on Top Gun, I said 'I wanna be a cop' an' I also want me file secured, dey didn't put up too much fight, woulda bin too embarassin' fa me ta go public, so dey let me have zactly what I wanted, so I was made detective real quick, got on a load of interesting undercover gigs and here I am," Jack couldn't help but notice he had got rather defeated and lifeless during his little speech.

"What happened in Saudi Arabia?" Jack questioned innocently.

"Read it in me file," Ray snapped.

"You said it was inaccessible," Jack stated confusedly.

"Zactly, it's over wit, dot it, file it, stick it in a box marked 'done'!" Ray mumbled miserably. Jack noticed it was definitely time to change the subject, although he was having a little trouble concentrating on the conversation with the kid sat there in so little clothing. But Ray had the sense to save the conversation by himself.

"So why'd ya join da air force?" Jack was pleased to be on more familiar ground, although he was aware that Ray was only happy if they were talking about someone else's life, not his own.

"My father was in the Air Force, he fought in Nam, I suppose I just grew up to only know the military, so it became the only thing I wanted or knew how to do," Jack knew it sounded corny, but it was the truth, "So why'd you join up?"

"Me? I, uh, joined because that was what my parents wanted, well ma didn't really want me to go, but Dad, he wanted me to join, said it was the only thing I could be good at, said I wasn't college material like my brother James," Ray delivered his speech emotionlessly, Jack suddenly realised why he felt so unsure of himself most of the time, why he had little confidence, unless it was false confidence as a defence mechanism.

"You don't really talk about yourself a lot do you? You probably know the names of every country Daniels visited, the names of everyone in Teal'C's village, Sam's family history, and my entire career, yet none of us even knew your brothers name,"

"Well, dat is because my life ain't a very pretty place ta be, besides if ya'd wanted me brothers name ya could ov jus' read it in me CPD file, dere was nothin' stoppin' ya from doin' dat," all traces of Rays previous good mood were long gone, he sat there sullenly in the morning light, like a kid that had just been told Santa doesn't really exist. Jack was at a loss, he'd really wanted to bond with the guy the way the rest of the team had done so easily, of course he wanted to bond with the guy in other ways as well, but it is usually best to try and start with a little friendship, although Jack was even having trouble establishing that, it seemed every time he spoke to the guy, he put him in a bad mood.

"You want me to go?" Jack asked quietly.

"What? Nah, sorry jus' a bit caught up in some bad memories, not the best place to go, especially when you're on vacation, even if it is a compulsory one," Rays hundred watt smile was back, and Jack couldn't help but grin back at him.

0o0o0

The rest of the day Jack mainly spent with Ray, they talked a lot, although they stuck to safe subjects like hockey, and discovered they had a mutual appreciation for the Hawks. Ray even groused to Jack about curling, telling him about the time he'd been at the consulate under asylum, and was forced to watch, what, in his opinion was housework. Jack realised over the course of the day that it was actually really easy to get along with the guy, but it only made him want him more, at first he thought it was just lust but as time went on he realised it could quite possibly become much more than that, he hadn't fell for even Sara that quickly.

0o0o0

The next two days flew by as a blur for Ray. He'd learnt so much about Teal'C and his family, he'd also became great friends with O'Neill, which made things a lot easier, he felt at home with these people, more so than he'd done before in his life, with the exception of Fraser. He did notice that O'Neill and Bra'tak had been talking in a kind of code to one another; everyone noticed something odd was going on, but no one had the faintest idea what it could be. The time to leave came too fast for Ray, and for everyone else apparently, they walked back to the gate slowly, accompanied by Bra'tak, Ray, having made piece with the man who had kicked his butt, asked him to take his yoyo and give it to Ry'ak. He knew the kid would be thrilled with it, he'd meant to leave it behind earlier, but he and the Colonel had gotten engrossed with sport talk again and he'd forgotten.

0o0o0

The colonel was right; going through the gate the second time was not as exciting. Although he was quite sure it must be a pretty exciting job, he'd had to constantly remind himself that he not a member of SG1, although he found that pretty challenging sometimes. He was almost sad to come back, because that would mean they wouldn't be together anymore. Although little did Ray know how much that was about to change.

0o0o0

General Hammond met the team on the ramp upon their arrival. He was pleased to see them all smiling and relaxed, although the purplish bruise on Ray's cheek did not escape his notice.

"SG1 welcome back, I'll see you for debriefing at 0900 hours tomorrow, I hope you had a nice holiday."

"We have to debrief our vacation?" Jack added sarcastically, as they all began to shuffle out of the room.

"Standard procedure, and Detective Kowalski report to Dr Frasier immediately." Ray stared at the General incredulously.

"Sir, I feel fine, I don't need ta go ta da Doc, I'm good ta go," Ray argued.

"Then why are you bruised?" the General requisitioned patiently.

"Misunderstanding wit a tree, but don' worry I got 'im good, ain't gonna be no more tree related assaults on that planet." Hammond stared at him un-amused.

"You will go straight to the medical bay, I will require a full report, and then come to my office," the General ordered in a tone that dared Ray to refuse again, Ray, for once, decided against the idea of maddening the General further.

0o0o0

By the time Ray had been examined and been told what he already knew, he was bruised but nothing was broken. He made his way up to the Generals office, having finally learnt his way around the complex. He knocked on the door and quietly let himself in. The General appeared to be in a pleasant mood as he smiled at him.

"So, how come you came back looking like a bad impression of a punch bag?"

"Probably had something to do with me doing a bad impression of a punch bag, sir," Ray quipped, and then stopped as he saw the sour expression on the general's face. "OK, look, it was a misunderstanding, completely my fault, Bra'tak insulted me, I reacted, shall we say badly and you can see the results, sir." Satisfied he had been given the truth, he decided to get onto the real reason Ray was here.

"How did you get on with SG1?" Ray studied him with narrowed suspicious eyes.

"Sir, I told ya how I got ta resemble Tyson's opposition, an' if ya think af one second dat SG1 had anything ta do wit dis, den ya unhinged, uh, sir," The general finally caught up to where Ray's over suspicious mind had taken him, apparently he was always expecting to get tricked into saying the wrong thing, maybe that's true when you are an undercover cop.

"No, I do not believe that SG1 had anything to do with your injuries, although I'm sure they could have prevented them," waving off any protest he continued, "how would you feel about accompanying SG1 on some of their recon missions?" Ray stared at him in shock, what could he say to that?

"Does the rest of the team know about this?" he asked, "cuz if they don't, don't ya think dat dey should be told bout it before it happens?"

"I spoke to them while you were at the medical bay, they think it's a good idea,"

"Dey do?" Ray asked incredulously.

"Yes, do I take it you are also pleased?" The General was quite sure this wasn't the reaction he was looking for.

"OK, I'm good ta go." Ray replied grinning.

"This also means that you will be allowed to leave the base with the others, also your cell phone has been driving everyone crazy, apparently it can't be switched off and someone has started ringing you every five minutes for the past hour.

0o0o0

Ray rushed to collect his phone, who would want to get hold of him that desperately? It had to be really bad news.

When he finally got hold of it from holding, where all his stuff was, he frantically listened to the message that had been left. It was poor quality, with lots of background noise, the message was also short, but devastating.

"Stan, big red and pard'ner are in deep, Zuko's skipped prison and wants payment, ya'd better get ya butt over here before its goodnight Mountie."

"Shit," he hissed, grabbed his keys off the guy behind the desk and hightailed it to the door. He ran smack into SG1.

"Hey, where's the fire?" Jack joked.

"Chicago," Ray replied as he dipped past them and ran along the corridor. They followed in pursuit.

"What's going on?" Jack demanded.

"Tell ya on the way," he replied as he dragged the dust covers off of his beloved goat and ushered SG1 inside. "Yer coming with me cuz ya haf ta OK? Ya not gonna stop me, or get involved yerself goddit?" He demanded as he gunned the engine and sped towards he surface. He paused slightly at the security clearance post, but the sped down the mountain in a maniacal manner. The others tried not to think about how it would feel to die falling off of a mountain in a car, and gripped onto their seats tightly. Ray violated every traffic regulation he knew, and some he didn't, as he sped towards Chicago.

"Where are we going," Jack questioned for the tenth time.

"Told ya, Chicago."

"Why?"

"Cuz the Mounties got himself in more shit than he can dig himself out of, even with his RCMP standard issue shit shovel."

"OK, we've got that, but why?"

"Frankie Zuko," Ray grated as he made yet another dangerous overtake on the freeway, "They were stupid enough to cross a mobster, not just any mobster, but a fucking insane one! He got inta a lot of trouble with the cops when everyone thought he'd offed Gardino,"

"Gardino?" Jack interrupted; he'd never heard of this guy, he thought they were rescuing the Mountie and Vecchio.

"Quit interruptin'. Well turned out he didn't do it, he wasn't too pleased 'bout the crap he'd got over it, went for a little revenge, Fraser stopped him, he spent a little time inside, now he's out, and got a thirst for revenge."

"And, you're going to face up to a mobster?"

"'Solutly, Fraser'd do da same fa me," Ray glanced at the others, "Ya guys are gonna stay in da car, dis is my particular field of expertise, and my problem, you stay out of this mess goddit?"

"We're a team," Jack replied, "we all look out for each other now."

"My problem," he repeated, "I know how ta play these guys, ya can help me, if my plan fails, OK?"

"Fine," they all chorused.

The rest of the journey was spent in silence, although it was quite short, due to the speed that Ray was driving. Just as suddenly he stopped, slammed the car into park and hopped out.

"Stay," he ordered the others, noticing their looks of panic he added, "relax, just gonna go get some stuff,"

0o0o0

Ten minutes went past; the others were beginning to worry.

"You don't think he's gone without us do you?" Daniel asked.

"You think mobsters hang out in hotels to kill people?" Jack snapped.

Just as they were thinking about following him a man, wearing a very expensive suit and trenchcoat rapped on the window of the car. Jack opened the door and looked at the mans deep hazel eyes, there was something familiar about him, although he'd never met anyone look so sinister, his dark hair slicked back and a thin moustache added to the eyes, which made this man resemble a snake. It also did not escape Jacks notice that he had a rather ornate gun tucked into his waistband. The man grinned evilly at him exposing a gold tooth.

"You must be Jack," he drawled in a perfect Italian accent. Jack was surprised, he knew Ray said he'd gone to get something; he just never assumed that 'thing' would be a Mafioso wise guy.

"And you are?" he demanded, refusing to be intimidated by this guy.

"Hey, maybe ya would make it in the mob after all," the cheeky grin that had become so familiar over the last few days was plastered over the wise guys face; the Chicagoan accent was also back.

"Ray?" they all demanded simultaneously.

"Hey guys, meet Mario, big important mob guy, although he disappeared a year and a half ago after half the family was brought down, what a coincidence, eh?" Ray grinned triumphantly at the stunned expressions on his teammates faces. He hopped back into the drivers seat and sped off again for the other side of the city.

"What's with the disguise?" Sam asked.

"Here I'm meant to be a guy called Vecchio, there's already one Vecchio, even dumb criminals may work it out, I seriously doubt that Hammond wants me to speak to anyone I know out of the SGC, don't think he trusts me. I also think it might psyche him out too." They all had to agree with his logic. "Plus everyone's shit scared of Mario the Merciless, he was one formidable guy, ya do not want to ever meet, in an alley, wherever, dark or light."

0o0o0

Ray slowed the car and brought it to a stop at their destination.

"Basketball courts?" Jack probed.

"Vecchio humiliated da guy here once, typical mob justice, too predictable for their own good sometimes," Ray stood and scanned the area; he was dismayed to see the other Rays Riv already parked down the road. "Stay here, if ya hear gunshots, phone da police," he said as he tossed his cell phone to Jack, "Dere's a gun in the glove box, it is to only be used in emergencies, geddit?" SG1 weren't sure if it was the menacing outfit or the way these orders were given, but they found their selves nodding along, agreeing to what he'd just said. Kowalski turned and coolly walked right in through the door.

0o0o0

Vecchio struggled pointlessly in his restraints. He couldn't believe Zuko had escaped and was bent on getting revenge. They were now tied to their chairs in the middle of Zuko's court, waiting to die.

"Fraser," he hissed so not to alert their captor's attention, "any luck?"

"Negative Ray, although I have discovered that these are polyethylene ropes, with a metal wire core,"

"That's great, you can get us out of them right?" Vecchio was practically bouncing; he was so sure they were going to die.

"No Ray, these ropes are virtually indestructible to bare hands, and do not give enough slack to be able to remove them, a sharp metal object would be required to cut through them, we do not have any such implement in our possession. However I'm sure if we reason with him, we can convince him to let us go." Fraser was trying hard to stay optimistic, although he knew that negotiation was not an option with this sadistic maniac. Ray apparently also knew this as he caught the look of dread on his friends face.

"We're dead guys Fraser!" he wailed. This brought Zuko's attention back to them from the phone call he was making at the end of the court, he gestured animatedly to the hired hit man, who promptly hit Ray harshly over the face, his head smacking into the back of his chair, causing stars to flash before his eyes.

Zuko hung up and approached his captives,

"Any last requests?" he asked snidely as he began loading his gun.

"Yes one, I would like to request that you let us go," Fraser tried calmly.

"Good one Mountie, I'll remember that, that's real funny!" maybe for that I'll kneecap you both before I kill you, I was going to let you go with a single shot to the head, nice, quick and painless, but seeing as you are going to insult my intelligence perhaps you need to be taught a lesson."

"Fraser, shut up!" Vecchio whined, death was bad enough, but an agonising, bloody death was altogether worse.

"They will hunt you to the ends of the Earth," Fraser continued.

"I'm already wanted by the law, may as well get a bit of enjoyment out of it!" Zuko chuckled.

"Pleasure knowing you Benny," Ray stated simply.

"Likewise Ray."

Zuko raised his gun to the height of Fraser's left kneecap and cocked his gun. Fraser gritted his teeth, he'd heard how they'd used kneecapping in the Northern Ireland conflict as the most painful type of torture they could find, course when he'd read this he'd never expected to experience it first hand. At least death would be welcome after that he thought. He closed his eyes to shield out the look of pure horror on Ray's face he didn't want his friend to panic, but he couldn't deal with him staring at him like that. Fraser had almost forgotten his own mortality, it hadn't been a problem before, sure he and both Ray's had got in some bad situations, but there had always been a possible way out, not now, not ever. Then he heard the door open, Zuko spun around to point the gun at the intruder.

"Well, well, well, Zuko, having a little party are we? Wasn't I invited?" the perfectly sinister Italian accent echoed across the empty hall.

"Mario? Your dead." Zuko's gun never wavered.

"No, not dead, just waiting," came the equally menacing reply.

"Waiting for what?" Zuko demanded.

"Christmas," Kowalski flicked his glace over to Ray and Fraser, relieved they were still alive, "although I see Santa came early this year," indicating to the two men tied to chairs, "don't let me interrupt," Zuko relaxed as the mob boss came and stood next to him, he re-aimed his gun at Fraser. Kowalski, looked at them both, apparently they didn't recognise him, if the looks of hatred were anything to go by, although that was a good thing; they wouldn't give him away. He had expected Fraser to recognise him straight away, he was almost hurt by the way he was looking at him if he was the scum of the universe, but then faced with a death like that, even Fraser's mind probably wasn't at its best.

0o0o0

Just as Zuko was about to cap him Mario held out a hand to stop, then looked patiently at Zuko.

"Although," Mario paused to undo his coat, push it back, and rested his hands on his hips, showing his gun. Great Vecchio thought, they're going to argue over who gets to kill them. "Maybe this isn't such a great idea." Fraser was shocked, was this guy trying to stop them from getting killed.

"What's it to you anyway?" Zuko demanded, although he was practically petrified of Mario, everyone in the mob with any sense was, "either enjoy the show, or leave," scared as he was, he wasn't allowing Mario to ruin what he'd dreamed of for seven whole months in jail.

"I can't do that," Mario replied, ice cool, defiantly staring at Zuko.

"Why not?" demanded Zuko in return.

"Lets just say I made a promise to a guy, a promise that I intend to keep." Fraser was confused, who could possibly have made a mob boss promise anything, let alone to look after two cops, he glanced at Ray, maybe he was behind this, made some valuable allies in the mob. Ray looked just as stumped as he did. Maybe he wasn't doing this to save them; maybe the promise was that this other man was allowed to kill us, which made a lot more logic for a mob boss than the theories he'd been coming up with. Although this could prove to be invaluable, if they continued their dispute, perhaps they could escape, or at least notify the authorities. Mario began to circle them, very much like a predator would do to its prey. Fraser sensed that he stopped behind him, smelled the expensive cologne as he leaned closer in, he felt something hard and cold being pressed into the palms of his tied hands, Fraser could tell instantly it was a knife, a heavy and expensive with a ornately decorated handle. He began to quickly work at his ropes as Mario moved around to their front again, Fraser tried to convey his gratitude in his expression, Mario's face was blank, as if nothing had transpired, Fraser thought it was probably for the best, they shouldn't make Zuko suspicious of anything.

"This guy who you promised, he'd better be pretty important,"

"Sure," Mario sneered, "He's also dead, all the more reason to honour his last wishes,"

"Who is he, I might reconsider killing them if I know, perhaps I'll just maim them."

0o0o0

//Shit// thought Kowalski, he'd never thought that he'd be drawn this deep into his own lies, but he had only one card left to play.

"Stanley Kowalski," he stated, he watched the horrified expression pass over Fraser's face and felt a pang of guilt, but he really didn't know what else to say. "He was killed a week ago, wasn't a pretty sight, as he was dying, you know the last thing he said to me? Look out for the Mountie, try denying a dying man one last request, so I promised him, here I am keeping that promise."

"Rays dead?" Fraser croaked.

"Yeah, sorry I know you two were partners."

"How did you know Ray?" //double shit// now the Mounties getting in on the inquisition, didn't the guy know what was good for him? He had to think of something, something Fraser wouldn't question, a flash of him and Apophis flashed through him and he had the perfect answer, well maybe not quite perfect, but close enough.

"We did each other favours," was all he said.

"Really?" Fraser asked unbelievingly, he couldn't imagine Ray being around mob people.

"Sure, he gave me information on police activities, and in return I gave him what he wanted." Fraser shook his head vehemently; Ray would never betray the police force for his own gain. "How do you think I escaped capture when the rest of the family were caught? Ray warned me, he told me not to turn up to the arms deal, and he was right. So here I am, I had to lie low for a while, but it's better than a life sentence." Although this all made perfect sense, Fraser couldn't believe that one of the men he'd considered a good friend had been selling information to one of the worst members of organised crime.

"What did he want?" Fraser ground out, resenting the man, even though he was saving them.

"Who, Stanley? He wanted sex, well I like to flatter myself that he wanted sex, but I'm afraid that was me." Hey, Kowalski thought, no point making them think it was my //as in Rays// idea. They'd probably hate me after that.

"Ray wouldn't do that," Fraser stated

"Wouldn't he? Didn't you even notice how lonely he got?" Ray felt bad as he watched a looked of absolute guilt overtake Fraser, no doubt he'd blame himself.

"That isn't a good enough reason," Zuko demanded.

"Well I'm sorry but it's going to have to be." Mario drew his own weapon.

"Your friend was a shirt lifting traitor?" Vecchio asked in disbelief, he'd always thought the Mountie was a good judge of character. Kowalski heard the whispered insult, and it hurt that Fraser didn't offer any protest to the statement, he'd forgive him though, that's what he'd intended them to think.

"You going to stop me Mario?" Zuko challenged.

"Yes," Mario snarled in reply.

"Stay out of my business," he warned as he took three steps away, turned and aimed at Vecchio's head.

Four shots rang out, echoing around the hall ominously. Vecchio opened his scrunched up eyes to see Mario writhing on the floor in pain.

"Shame I had to kill him, but he shouldn't have stepped into the line of fire like that."

Fraser was close to cutting through the ropes; there were two strands of wire to get through, although it didn't look as if he was going to get enough time, as Zuko aimed his gun at Fraser head. A howl of rage erupted from the floor as Mario howled and dragged Zuko to the floor, where he promptly punched him and hit the gun from his hand. Kowalski felt himself being hauled up by Zuko's hired muscle the muscles in his chest complaining from where they'd been assaulted by the bullets through the vest. But Fraser jumped to the rescue, promptly handcuffing all of them, Ray included, just as Jack and the rest of SG1 decided to make their entrance. The newly released Vecchio pounced them, and seeing they couldn't shoot back to protect themselves, they were also handcuffed. Vecchio, suddenly had the urge to lose the contents of his stomach, nearly being killed had that effect on him. Fraser, now all the criminals had been disarmed and secured, followed his friend as he rushed out the door, but he couldn't shake the horrible feeling that one of his best friends was actually as Ray would put it, a 'dirty' cop, homosexual and dead.

Seeing his chance Kowalski immediately took his spare handcuff key out of his coat pocket and freed himself, he then chucked it to Jack, continuing the Italian accent for the sake of Zuko and his goon said, "I'm going to make a run for it, they'll come after me, Fraser's bound to think I had something to do with my own death, he'll want to avenge me, it's a very Canadian thing to do. You haven't committed any crime so they should leave you for patrol to pick up, course by then you'll be long gone, take the Goat," he said tossing his car keys as well, "I'll catch up with you." He abruptly cut off as Vecchio and Fraser re-entered the room. They walked up to them all and stood there silently, trying to psyche them out, typical cop trick. Ray waited till they were significantly relaxed and bolted for the door, and just as predicted Vecchio and Fraser were not far behind. At least this part of the plan was working, imaging trying to explain that Teal'C's place of residence is millions of light years away //good luck, it'd be the loony bin for all of us// He'd pelted it halfway down the road when he became aware that he was only being chased by Vecchio, knowing Fraser he'd probably gone the back way hoping to jump him at the end of the road. Ray thought this was a major advantage of knowing Canadian tactics, he'd be able to escape most of his tricks, although he doubted that he'd get away altogether, it would be unlikely that Fraser would give up. Ray crossed the deserted road and continued away from where Fraser would come out hoping to surprise him. Ray was so close to lake Michigan that he could smell it, he'd missed that city smells while at the SGC, even if it was the smell of pollution and urban decay. He really thought about a load of crap when he was being chased didn't he. He zipped up the nearest fire escape of one of the tall buildings by the lake shore, very like the one he and Fraser jumped off of at the start of the whole Henry Anderson //Allen, the little Mountie in his head corrected// adventure. He made it to the roof, a little out of breath, but otherwise fine, until he realised this roof didn't actually adjoin to anything, wasn't even in jumping distance of any other buildings. //shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit// Ray hushed mantra was all that could be heard, still in his phoney Italian accent, it sounded funny even to Ray, he ran up to the side of the building, overlooking the lake, it was a long way down //the water quality alone will probably kill you//Ray spun around to see Vecchio and Fraser closing in on them. Make like the Mountie, negotiate.

"Hey, come on, I saved your lives, a little bit of gratitude wouldn't go amiss."

"I don't think so, we're very grateful, but Mario the Merciless, do unto others as you would have do unto you," Vecchio, with his gun trained at Rays chest shot the Mountie a look, daring him to correct his inaccuracies, to Ray's shock it looked like Fraser hadn't even noticed, he was just glaring at him with a look of pure hatred, his mouth twisted up into a grim line.

"What did you do to Ray?" He demanded.

"I did nothing to him," Ray thought maybe this would be a good time to come clean, he'd also prepared for this eventuality, he had his 'I hurt my back' badge that Fraser had hand sewn for him, he reached into his pocket.

"Freeze!" Demanded Vecchio, as he discharged his gun, the slug grazing Ray deeply on his right arm, the momentum knocked him off balance, his arms flailing wildly as he fell a step back and his foot connected with air and fell from the building //3,2,1// he counted to himself as he felt the painfully sting of the impact with the murky water. His lungs screamed as he was submerged in the water, blinding panic overtook as he dimly remembered to head for the surface. //bloom, close, kick 'em in the head// when he made it to the surface he was delighted to see the goat there, and Jack and Teal'C running towards the edge of the dock, then he was dismayed to see Fraser and Vecchio close behind them. He splashed ungracefully to the shore and hauled himself out with help from Teal'C.

"The lot of you, freeze, I ain't gonna warn you again!" Ray was in a lot of pain, his entire chest throbbed from where the bullets had hit his vest, his arm hurt and was leaking an impressive amount of blood, he was also pissed off, and before Vecchio had the chance to shoot, Kowalski grabbed his gun from Jack, shot the gun from Vecchio's hand and demanded that the pair of them put their hands where he could see them. Vecchio rubbed at his hand angrily.

"Lets get out of here," Jack ordered.

"Good plan, I like dat," Kowalski responded his accent suffering in his breathlessness. "Where do'ya think yer goin'?" he demanded as Jack and Teal'C made there way back to the car, "Ya think I'm goin' to ruin the upholstery with sludge out of the lake we call Michigan then you have got another thing coming." Ray realised he'd said too much as he watched the look of confusion intensify on Fraser's face. He decided a hasty retreat was in order and motioned to Jack to hurry up.

"Ray?"

"What?" demanded Vecchio irritably, "Fraser in case you haven't noticed, now is the time you do your Mountie magic and catch the international mob guy and get me a big promotion, get it?"

"Ray?"

"What?" Vecchio turned to Fraser, whose attention however wasn't focussed on him, but on the back of the retreating mob guy.

"Ray!" he said a little louder.

Kowalski shot an apologetic glance to Jack before having an internal debate about whether to leave or not, but Fraser had apparently worked it out, he couldn't just ignore him.

"Frase?" he turned around, his eyes softer, as he plucked off the fake moustache. He was pleased with his decision as Fraser's face lit up; Vecchio was still stood there looking confused. He walked back to where Fraser stood.

"Still wanna kill me?" he asked cheekily, his voice back to the normally husky slur everyone was used to. Fraser thumbed his eyebrow in embarrassment.

"I, um, Ray I thought maybe Mario killed you, or was at least somehow involved in your death," Fraser offered as a means of explanation.

"Kowalski's a mob boss?" Vecchio asked incredulously.

"Yeah, my biggest achievement, took out a good part of the family, got me a good promotion, it was so secretive that even I didn't know most of the details,"

"I thought you were dead," although most people would hear that as a simply stated fact, Ray could hear the hurt underneath.

"Sorry buddy, but it was imperative that I lie to you in order to maintain my cover," Ray grinned.

"That was..."

"A beautiful sentence, I know." Ray finished for him.

"I think we should really get going, Carter and Daniel are going to be wondering where we are." Jack interrupted, feeling a small pang of jealousy when he saw Rays face light up when Fraser said his name //maybe they were more than friends// Jack instantly stopped that thought, they really should get out of here before the rest of the cops turned up.

"Constable Benton Fraser RCMP, I first came to Chicago on the trail of the killers of my father and for reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture, I have remained attached as liaison with the Canadian Consulate." He recited as he offered his hand to O'Neill and Teal'C in turn. "I would like to apologise for handcuffing you, although I'm not sure how you all escaped,"

"Zuko!" Vecchio made to run back to the basketball court.

"The police came and picked him up a little after you left." Jack informed them.

"Thank God," Vecchio sighed.

"Amen," Kowalski added, "Hey look, if he starts going on about seeing a phantom mob lord, Fraser I ain't asking for an outright lie, but maybe one of those little ones, ya know the white ones, or the ones of omission?" Kowalski started hopefully.

"So your not in love with a mob boss," Vecchio clarified.

"Well, no, but if I was going to be, I'd be with Mario, he's so sexy," Kowalski joked.

"Thank you Ray," Fraser continued, "and if I'd have known for one second who you really were, I wouldn't have allowed Ray to shoot you."

"You OK?" Ray asked him.

"Oh, yeah, just peachy," Ray grimaced at the pool of blood that had grown on the floor, "Just a flesh wound, I've had worse."

"While I am sure that is true, you really must go to the hospital."

"Nuh, huh Fraser, I hate hospitals, 'sides I gotta get back, otherwise I'm goin' ta have more ta worry about than being shot, Hammond'll castrate me." Before leaving he enveloped Fraser into a tight hug.

"Will we see you again?" Fraser asked uncertainly.

"Course Frase, the next time you're threatened by the mob, I'll be right round," he teased, then seriously he added, "sure ya will buddy, tryan' keep me away. Oh and you should have a shower, ya got sludge all over ya."

0o0o0

By the time they all got back to the base, Jack was driving and Ray was zonked out on the backseat, sprawled over Daniel and Sam, his arm in a makeshift bandage that Fraser had insisted upon before they left. They barely scraped enough time to escape before backup swarmed all over the area. Hammond was going to have a field day when he heard about this, Jack thought, he'd been easy on the kid until now, but after this his opinion of Ray was probably going to fall rapidly to somewhere between pond scum and pot noodles. Ray had insisted upon leaving the scene on foot, to avoid getting anything on his seats, they met up with Sam and Daniel back at the Basketball courts where they'd kept an eye on Zuko to make sure he didn't escape.

0o0o0

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Hammond demanded.

"I wasn't thinking sir, I got the message that some shit was going down, scuse the language, and getting a bollocking off of you didn't seem as bad as the alternative at the time, sir," Ray replied meekly.

"The alternative being?"

"Fraser and Vecchio being killed by the Mob, sir," Ray cleared his throat, "If you ask me if I regret my decision, the answer is no, I'd do exactly the same in a heartbeat, for Fraser, for SG1 or for the SGC," Hammond sighed, how come Kowalski always knew the exact thing to say to ruin his bad temper, in future he'd have to make Ray be silent as he yelled at him. No real harm was done, Kowalski was a bit battered, but nothing that wouldn't be mended in a week or so, no sensitive information had been leaked, only two people apparently even knew he was there, and according to Kowalski he'd trust either of them with his life, had trusted Fraser with his life, many times, in wildly bizarre ways.

"Dismissed, Colonel O'Neill has offered you his spare room so you don't have to stay at the base, I do not want to see you again for forty eight hours, when you are to report for light duty, and by that I mean paperwork duty, I expect you on time and to enjoy your week of paperwork."

0o0o0

Kowalski yawned wildly as soon as he got inside Jack's house.

"How can you still be tired? You slept for over an hour in the car." Jack enquired.

"These happy pills the Doc has got me on, they are strong," he broke off as another jaw cracking yawn erupted, "and dis damn sling can come right off," he groused as he struggled to pull they material over his head.

"Leave it on, you heard Janet, you've even got to wear it to bed, leave it," he demanded as he struggled as he tried to keep Ray inside the confines of the sling.

"You a doctor?" Ray scrutinised, "Thought not, well if ya don't tell 'er then I won't either, deal?" Ray suddenly broke out into a bout of giggles as if he'd just heard a hysterical joke, "sorry," he continued once he'd sobered, "I wanna know where ta get some more of dese pills, dere excellent!" he exclaimed excitedly. Jack groaned; it really was going to be a long night. Jack sighed when he felt Kowalski lean in sleepily, his hot breath grazing against his chin. Jack froze, never wanting the moment to end, but simultaneously it was sweet torture. He felt the pants of hot breath speed up as limp arms were wrapped around him and a pair of warm lips attached to his neck. Although Jack thought, morally, he should stop this, Ray was doped up on an impressive concoction of pills, and this could be described as taking advantage, he just couldn't bring himself to, especially when said warm lips navigated themselves to Jacks jaw line. As the lips became bolder, finding their way to Jack's mouth, a strong tongue demanding entry, which was immediately granted, Jack released a moan of pleasure. Kowalski's hands also found themselves in on the action as they began to enthusiastically wander over Jack's back and down to his ass, Jack was more than eager to repay the favour. It was only when Ray stopped this kiss to yawn wildly that Jack came to his sense and ordered him to go to bed.

0o0o0

Jack got up early the next morning, he was in a good mood, and he'd experienced more of Ray than he had ever hoped to, although Ray would probably have no memory of it, although that could be a good thing.

"Hey," Ray appearing in the doorway to the kitchen snapped him out of his reverie.

"How's the arm?" Jack enquired half-heartedly.

"Oh, ya know, it was shot," he put in jauntily.

"I'd noticed, you could have been killed,"

"Yeh, well, lots of people could be killed every day, I just get lucky,"

"Lucky, you call that lucky?"

"Sure, you even kissed it better!" Jack's good mood immediately disappeared, the kid remembered, at least he didn't look angry, in fact he looked more hungry. Ray advanced on him as if he were prey, Jack gulped nervously, he had to be dreaming.

"Ya don't think that's lucky?" Ray chuckled.

"Very," Ray's lips cut off the rest of Jacks sentence. This kiss was more passionate and urgent than the night before. It quickly proceeded into the removal of clothes and Jack finally having reengaged his brain suggested they should move it into the bedroom.

0o0o0

The next day flew past for Ray and Jack. Neither of them left the house at all. Jack was immensely relieved when Ray, finding the energy between their bouts of lovemaking, washed the brown die out of his hair, Jack didn't like the fact that he looked like he was fucking a mobster.

0o0o0

Both Ray and Jack turned up for work the next day exhausted, having slept very little. Ray started on his huge pile of paperwork that the General must have found for him to do for his punishment. He hated paperwork; no doubt the General knew that and was purposely making it difficult for him for so heinously breaking the rules. Ray didn't find it too bad though because the rest of his team visited him every so often, breaking the monotony. He reported, as he was told, to Hammond's office in the early afternoon.

0o0o0

Hammond looked up as he heard Kowalski quietly rapping on his door.

"Sir?" He questioned as he stuck his head around the door.

"Come in," Hammond replied.

"Whassit ya wanted? I got a mountain of forms ta fill in," Kowalski asked, it should have sounded cheeky, but Ray made the sentence just sound curious.

"I wanted to ask you a question,"

"Shoot," Kowalski propped himself on the chair opposite General Hammond.

"Why is your file encrypted? It looks very suspicious, I realise I should have been concerned with this earlier, however we had more pressing affairs to deal with,"

"It was 'encrypted' because I requested it to be,"

"Why?" The General hadn't expected such uncooperative answers, he'd tried and tried, but could not find anyone willing to grant him the access code, even the people from the pentagon wanted secure knowledge that he was a risk before they could even consider relaying that information, they'd said it would result in a lot of hassle if it wasn't for a legitimate purpose, they also informed him there was nothing untoward or strange about the file, this only piqued his interest further.

"Fine, the password is 'turtles' ya want me file that badly go ahead," Ray shot him a defeated glare, "Don't trust me? Fine, open the file right here right now, and if it don't work you have my consent to keep me at desk duty for the rest of my life." Hammond brought the relative files up onto his computer screen, typed in the word 'turtles' and waited, to his surprise the 'access permitted' icon flashed on the monitor.

"OK, can I ask you a question?" Ray demanded.

"Of course, though depending on what it is, I may not be able to answer."

"What was the nickname I was given? I never even knew I had one."

"Pit bull."

"They called me pit bull?"

"Only the officers."

"They called me pit bull?" Colonel O'Neill knocking on the door interrupted Ray's disbelief.

"Sir, I was wondering if you had a minute," Jack said as he entered the room.

"Not right now, Colonel, Detective Kowalski and myself were discussing something."

"Nah, he can stay, if he's gonna have ta work with me, at least he should know how screwed up I am." Ray interrupted. Jack was confused, he had no idea what was going on, he took a seat next to his lover //lover, yeah, that sounded good// and waited for Hammond to continue. The General printed off three copies of Ray's file and distributed one copy to each of them. Both Jack and Hammond read quickly through the pages, while Ray sat staring at his set of sheets as if they didn't exist.

0o0o0

Jack and Hammond sat rigid in shock after they had completed the file. Ray had been captured and tortured for a week and a half in Saudi Arabia, they were after the code so they could decipher messages they had intercepted from the USA, Ray of course knew this code. Specific details of what Ray endured were not included, however independent researchers had compiled evidence to prove that the commanders of the aircraft carrier Ray was stationed on knew the plane Ray was due to fly was not fully operational. So when Ray crash-landed on enemy ground, to cover their tracks they did not mount a mission. Rays co-pilot had been killed on impact, and had led trapped next to his friend's corpse for over a day before he was captured. Ray was rescued nine days later when ground troops from the UN invaded. The guilty officers were caught and dishonourably discharged, but through fear that Ray would create bad press for the air force he was offered any placement he wanted, as far away as possible.

"Bastards," Jack growled.

"Hey, it's all in da past, fergeddit." Hammond could not believe that such bestiality was alive in the USAF; he could not believe that anyone could be so callous and cruel.

"Dismissed," Hammond directed to the two of them, having a sudden urge to be alone.

0o0o0

Ray put his hand companionably on Jacks shoulder as they walked down to the corridor, it must have been a shock to discover all of that about your new lover, but one look into Jack's eyes seeing the love reflected in them, Ray knew everything would be OK, they'd get through this. They walked down to the canteen where they met the rest of SG1, they joined them sat around a small table having a heated discussion about the mirror connecting alternate universes, Daniel was claiming that it could be possible to discover a world, one where there was no Goa'uld, where the inhabitants of Earth never existed and evacuate the planet, carter claimed, in theory it was possible, it was undoable, you couldn't evacuate six billion people. Ray instantly felt at home and secure in their presence, both he and Jack relaxed, letting the idle chatter about the victory of Earth over the Goa'uld, he finally found something he could call home. They'd defeat the Goa'uld he thought with sudden certainty, if anyone could do it, it was SG1, and they would. They'd have to. He shifted his chair closer to Jack and basked in the hopeful knowledge that they would win, no matter what, he looked into the eyes of his teammates and saw exactly the same emotion reflected in them. They'd win. They had no choice.

Finis.

TYVK.