Disclaimer - MGM/Gekko/Double Secret own them.

A very, very short 'Frozen' episode addition.

*

Pain.

Heat.

Aching, throbbing bones.

Screaming joints.

Plastic, over his face. Confining. Giving him life - but not for long.

He knew that much.

Everything else was...faint. Distant. Nothing outside the pain was defined.

Dark, vague, movements.

Mumbling voices.

"Sir, I don't know if you can hear me..."

Carter. 2IC. Friend.

*Her*.

Her.

Pain.

Hard to concentrate...

Tok'ra? *Tok'ra*? Snakehead?

"Sir, are you getting any of this?"

No. No way. NO.

"Carter..."

Agony in his throat.

Inches away, in that - even in his state - highly unattractive suit.

"Yeah, I'm right here."

Good. "Over my...dead...body."

Disappointment.

He's sorry for that; he really is, but he won't change his mind. Maintaining his individuality, not losing who he is...that was something worth dying for.

She continues: important information, sacrifice itself, only chance.

He's unmoved.

He knows she's stopped talking; the sounds have ceased. Ridiculously, he lets his guard down.

"Sir, *please*."

Damn.

This isn't for the Tok'ra, or for himself.

This is for her.

He nods minutely – it's the most he can muster – before he realises what he’s doing.

He thinks he sees a smile before his eyes close. Even that small movement was too much effort, and he lets the darkness he's been fighting take him.

He tries not to think about the other darkness, of what he'll be facing when it happens. As long as he sees that smile again.

Pain.

Heat.

Aching, throbbing bones.

Screaming joints.

Something worth living for.

Her.

~FINIS