“I couldn’t tell him,” Adrienne said at the door, that now familiar look plastered across her face.
“Why in the hell not? Are you blind? You said he tried to get you drunk and bed you at that damn hotel. Just walk in there, get the sappy shit out of the way and take off his pants,” Vala retorted, blocking the entrance to her quarters. She’d had it with this, she’d had it with Adrienne, one of the bravest women on this planet, coming to her room every other night, every night that she wasn’t with him, sulking like a lost dog.
“Vala, I don’t just want to fuck him, we’ve been over this,” she whined, again, stepping forward to push past her friend, who relented, as she knew she would. Tossing her backpack onto the floor by the desk, Adrienne went to her now customary sulking position on the bed, curling up into a ball.
“He does,” Vala said simply, shutting the door and walking over to her desk chair.
“I know,” was her muffled response as Adrienne’s face was shoved into the pillow.
“He would,” she added, throwing her feet up on top of the cheap formica surface, streaked with nail polish stains, half of which were Adrienne’s fault from previous whining marathons.
“I know,” the reply was louder, still muffled, as Adrienne chose not to look up.
“You could just lie, don’t tell anyone, well, anyone but me of course, I want explicit details starting with how big -” Vala began, knowing how to push her buttons, halting her own words the minute Adrienne’s head shot up, her dark eyes cutting into Vala’s own.
“You’d nah be getting merde for details mon ami, so ya can stop dat ‘ope righ dere,” Adrienne hissed, the look on her face enough to make Vala laugh uncontrollably, popping her feet onto the floor and resting her hands on her knees...
“Oh Nicky,” Vala muttered out loud, bottle in hand as she fed the small human in her arms, the memory that slipped into her mind making her laugh, “your mom is such a baby and your dad, well, he’s worse. It probably a miracle that you were even born.” She was laughing at her own statement when the child moved his mouth away from the bottle, glaring at her, a sinister combination of Daniel’s frown and Adrienne’s glare.
“Don’t look at me like that. It’s true. That’s why you have me. Your auntie will get you through life in a much less confusing and backward manner than your parents, trust me.”
The baby took the bottle back and continued sucking.
Creepy kid.
She was imagining it, she knew, but sometimes it felt like the little guy understood what she was saying. He had this look, very young for his age, that Addy said was just genetics, well that and Daniel frowned so much that it had been passed on.
Daniel, on the other hand, didn’t find that funny.
“There wasn’t a whole lot left at that red rental box thing, but I did get some beer,” she heard a familiar low voice declare from her doorway, making her peer from the bed and smile at the tall Sateadan entering the room.
It had all worked out so nicely after all, she thought, Ronon Dex was honestly better than she could have ever imagined.
Teal’c had told her about the Odyssey, about how weak and docile she had become in an alternate lifetime with Daniel. He seemed to bring that out in people, vulnerability; she had never seen Addy cry except for over him. For months after the incident, Vala had pumped Teal’c for details, details that made her feel more and more pathetic. She’d apparently suffered a month long breakdown over the fact that having Adria has destroyed her reproductive system and she could no longer bear children, his children, which made her withdraw into their bedroom. She’d become his submissive little woman, doting all over him as he continued to work for fifty years, fifty years in which he had never told her he loved her, well according to Teal’c. She knew why, it was because he didn’t, for as often and open as he was with the words for Adrienne, Teal’c, properly intoxicated, could not remember once in fifty years Daniel saying it to Vala, not once.
Ronon, on the other hand, wasn’t about to make Vala his little woman and couldn't have been more, well, open.
“Thanks, almost done feeding,” she replied with a smile as he set the six pack over on her dresser and walked over, kissing her lightly before heading to the bathroom.
He was totally worth the trouble.
Adrienne was the one that had lost in this equation.
It wasn’t Vala that had ended their trial run; Daniel had been just as distant himself, admitting one night while they sat so very close to being together in this reality, in his apartment, in his bed, that he didn’t feel anything. She’d known it, known it based on Teal’c, she had been his project on the ship, an object of convenience and nothing more. Something things just weren’t meant to be and she left it at that, returning to the status quo of harassment until Adrienne came along.
Then she had watched Daniel change.
“He’s a cute little guy,” Ronon said as he took a seat at the chair of her desk, careful not to disturb the child’s feeding by joining her on the bed.
“He is. They don’t deserve him you know? They are too, well, them,” she said, in jest of course, but it was still hard for her to imagine Adrienne as anybody’s mother. No wonder the kid had peed in her mouth, that was still Daniel’s favorite Addy story to tell.
Laughing, Ronon sat back in the chair, turning on the TV.
“He sleeping in the playpen?” her lover asked, cocking his head over in the corner where Adrienne had set up the station earlier, one that Vala had amended as it had way too many unneeded things: the changing table attachment, three visual stimulators, playpen inner padding, about a half dozen stuffed toys and a few pacifiers. The kid only needed a blanket and to not be on the floor, but Vala had only lightly teased as Adrienne set it up, taking it apart quickly once she had left.
“Yeah, Addy said to try to get him down by nine, so I was just gonna let him watch something with us until then,” she answered, checking the bottle to see if he was done, which he was.
Definitely Daniel’s child, she thought, the kid could pack it away.
“Can I stay here then or is that not alright?” he added, cautiously, in that way of his, the quiet soft spoken unsureness of what was and was not socially acceptable on this planet. He had found that while Earth was very much like Sateadan in some ways, it was very unlike it in others.
“You realize this little booger was conceived outside of their cute perfect marriage, right? I think we can share a bunk,” she answered, setting the bottle on her nightstand to scoot over and allow Ronon to sit.
He’s such a gentleman, she thought, my perfect gentleman.
Thank the gods for him.
“When are they coming to pick him up?” he asked as he sat, kicking his flip flops to the floor.
“Tomorrow, a little before lunch,” Vala answered, the baby looking up at her again. So weird, she thought, it’s like he understands me.
“Yes little one. They need a break, which means all sorts of things that I can’t say in front of baby but trust me, they’ll be back. If there is one person that Addy can’t leave behind it’s you. You’ve replaced your father,” she joked, leaning back against the headboard, letting her head rest on Ronon’s shoulder, wondering what Daniel and Adrienne were doing right now...
*****
Daniel had Adrienne right where he wanted her, pinned down with nowhere to go.
“I’m gonna take you now,” he whispered, smiling, his eyes probing hers for a response.
“Keep dreaming Indy,” she hissed back just a slyly, her own back at his, daring him, taunting him, teasing him.
Trying not to smile, he was right, he was indeed going to take her, she looked back down at the board eyeing his rook.
He was just too damn good at chess.
“We’re pathetic,” she moaned, moving her pawn, hopelessly as Daniel reached across the board, laughing hysterically.
“No, you are. That’s three games. In a row. Care to try something you might be able to beat me at?” he joked, moving the piece to capture her king, Adrienne shaking her head.
“No, I mean us. First time Nicky’s away from us, for the entire night, and we play chess and drink expensive wine,” Adrienne grumbled, cleaning up the game and refusing to set up another.
“Ja-wer, for a moment, just one tiny moment be quiet and listen,” he requested, pausing dramatically as he could, throwing his hands into the air, “what do you hear?”
“Nothing,” she answered, eyes rolling.
“Right, nothing. Nothing to break my concentration as I beat your ass at chess, nothing to interrupt our discussion of what hints of what are in our wine, nothing, absolutely nothing,” he replied, sitting back onto the couch.
“He’s been better about the cryin’ cooyon,” she fussed, slipping into cajun with a wink.
“He has, but I’ve missed hanging out with my best friend. Sue me,” he said sweetly making Adrienne stop and smile, tossing the game onto the coffee table and crawling into his lap facing him.
“I’ve missed you too,” she whispered, pecking his lips softly before pulling away, resting their foreheads together. Breathing out softly, Daniel slipped his hands behind her neck, pulling her lips to his, kissing her passionately, holding her so close to his body as he felt her hiss in breath.
“I have an idea,” he murmured as he pulled away, Adrienne nuzzling at his ear.
“What’s that sha?” she asked, grinding down into his lap.
“Let’s get your computer and try to learn Elvish while watching The Lord of the Rings,” he suggested, Adrienne grinning from ear to ear.
“I’m so glad I married someone as dorky as me,” she answered standing.
“You get the DVD’s, I’ll get your laptop. And more wine. Red?” he asked, dashing up behind her.
“Of course.”
*****
She had to admit that it was nice, sitting here in Ronon’s arms, Nicky happily asleep in his playpen, fed, burped, and not crying. The two of them must be doing something wrong; the child barely cried for her even before that Ancient woman showed up.
Leave it to two geniuses to not be able to do something as simple as take care of a baby.
“You want a soda?” a low voice whispered in her ear.
Not really, she thought, I just want you to sit here and hold me and talk to me in that voice.
“Sure, what do we have?” asking a question she full well knew the answer to.
“Regular, diet, I have some of that grape stuff too,” he answered, sitting up slightly, pushing her forward to fulfill her request.
This is nice.
Normally on a night off, no teams coming in, no spy missions, just a night here on base, she and Ronon wouldn’t be on base, they’d be at a concert, a restaurant or some other event and then they’d come back here and...
Well, they’d act like Daniel and Adrienne is what they would do, so she really had no room to talk in that department but still, no one was complaining of screaming coming from she or Ronon’s quarters like they did from the Jackson’s.
It was disgusting.
“Diet,” she answered, making note of her sugar intake. Adrienne was right, it wasn’t about gaining weight; regular soda just made her feel like shit.
“Sure, I’ll grab that bag of popcorn too,” and he was up and getting something for her and he was hers and they were them and there was no flirting, no deceit, no tears.
Vala, stop worrying, I told you, I might not believe in God but I do believe that some things were meant to be...
Adrienne’s words echoed in her head as she willed her heart to stop racing with panic because nothing ever worked out this great for her, nothing.
She just didn’t want to get hurt again thinking that it finally would.
*****
“There’s no way in hell that that man wrote that language, no damn way. I’m gonna look into it; I bet you that some alien civilization is to blame. It had to be taught to him,” Daniel pouted from the bed, letting the notebook drop into his lap.
“So, you think that an advanced alien civilization visited Earth for the sole purpose of teaching Tolkien their language so he could put it into a fantasy novel,” Adrienne replied, desperately trying to keep from laughing hysterically right in his face.
“Shut up,” he laughed instead rolling his eyes.
“You’re just pissy you can’t figure it out,” she teased as he fell over onto her, burying his face into her thigh.
“I’m too tired to think about learning a new language,” he muttered as Adrienne slid the notebook from his hand, shaking her head.
“It’s nine o’clock sha and you switched back to coffee from wine an hour ago,” she joked, tossing the notebook lightly into the floor. He had done pretty well for a while, but then he started claiming that Legolas wasn’t speaking the same thing as Elrod and then all nerd hell had broken loose.
“I’m old,” he muttered slyly, rolling over into her lap, trying not to smile.
“You don’t even think that; it’s just become your damn excuse to get out of shit,” she accused, Daniel finally laughing.
“I liked you better when you were scared of me,” he teased this time, his eyebrows raised slightly watching to see if she was to grab her pillow to slam him in the face with it.
“I was never scared of you but if that’s what helps you sleep at night,” she lied, he knew she was lying; she’d admitted as much, that she had been so worried about pissing him off or losing her job in the beginning. He laughed, the memories coming back from when she had first walked into his life, how he’d wanted to ship her right back to the Bayou and now, here he was, lying in her lap, their son in Vala’s care.
“Did I ever tell you that I had a naughty dream about you?” she asked as she ran her fingers through his hair. She must have been thinking back too, and he paused, realizing what she had said. He sat up staring at her quizzically, that sly smile of his creeping across his face.
“No....when?” he pushed as she giggled, turning red.
Such a prude sometimes, he thought, that Southern raising making intimate moments like these that much more fun.
“A while ago, remember that time you took those stupid pictures of me asleep on the keyboard?” she replied, unable to believe that she was telling him this especially as he sat there in front of her with that goofy grin of his.
“You mean those fantastic pictures I hung around the lab for a month, yes, wait, that was what I woke you up from!?!?” he was cackling like a fool by the end, the pillow slamming upside his head as he expected.
“Shut up tchew,” she started to flee, a grab at her wrist pulling her back to the bed.
“You trusted me back then, that much?” he asked as she turned her head around to face him, no longer kidding, understanding what a dream like that really meant. Lips pursed, Adrienne just nodded.
“I was looking at your butt,” he admitted now, Adrienne’s somber glance changing back to a smile and then a giggle.
“I know, Ronon told me,” she said as she sat once more, Daniel’s jaw dropping.
“What?”
“Yeah, on the negotiation mission to that Inca world, whatever the planet code was, yeah, he told everyone,” she answered. This is too much fun, she thought.
“Ok, so you believed the word of a jealous ex-suitor?” Daniel changed his tune quickly, the look on Adrienne’s face so full of sarcasm she really didn’t need to say anything more.
“It was true though, so, yeah, try to backpedal ya way outta dat one,” she hissed as her husband tried to play it cool, lacing his fingers behind his head, leaning back into the pillow.
“Ok, fine, we’ll just clear the air. I changed the time I worked out so I wouldn’t drop a weight on myself. To be clear, I still wanted to choke you, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t admire the view,” he said so coolly, so snotty, that Adrienne couldn’t resist, crawling on top of him, pinning his arms with her knees.
“Ya cooyon, are ya kiddin’ me? Ok, wha else, verite, doncha be ‘oldin’ nuttin back,” she demanded, Daniel biting his lower lip.
“Not much else, but I had a dream too, when you came home with me after your first half marathon.”
“I knew about that one,” she shrugged, easing back from his arms to lay on top on him, her cheek resting against his chest.
“How?” he asked, confused as Adrienne began to giggle again.
“Where da ya dink da pilla came from?”
Daniel froze in their bed.
Oh dear god she saw....
“Oh...” he choked out, sending his wife into hysterics.
“Neva unda estimate me sha, neva,” she managed to tease, his arms wrapping around her tighter despite his sheer embarrassment.
“How did Teal’c see all of your tattoos?” he inquired the moment the question popped into his head, Adrienne picking her head up to peer at him, her chin digging sharply into his chest.
“I showed him.”
“All of them?”
“Yeah, we were having a conversation about tattoos so I showed him.”
“All of them?”
“Jealous much?”
“No,” he lied, she knew, making her rest her head against him again.
“It’s Teal’c sha, he’s like everyone’s big brother. Ishta was there too if that makes it better; I got mostly naked in front of two Jaffa,” she explained, her innocent tattoo show in the gym one late night not being that big of a deal.
Ishta herself had a gorgeous one of her backside, but she really didn’t think Daniel needed that detail.
For as much as he claimed to be open minded, he could be as prudish as she at times and he still didn’t totally understand the artistry in tattooing even though he now had one himself.
“Alright, I was just wondering,” he whispered, kissing her head.
“I miss him, I do, but I’ve missed you. I wish this could last forever,” she murmured as she nuzzled him, running her hands gently down his sides. He did too; as excited as he was to have a family, he wanted just more time with Adrienne, to chat with her, kiss her, love her...
“We can, I mean it can,” he sputtered, sitting up nearly knocking her into the floor.
“Uh, lying here,” she retorted, climbing off of him, frowning.
“Sorry, no we can, we need to get to work, now. I’ve got an idea.”
******
The sound was distant, so much so that Vala almost disregarded it when there was another sound, one closer, whispering in her ear.
“Should I get him?” Ronon asked softly, Vala coming to the realization that it was crying she was hearing, Nicky’s crying, in the same room. Sniffing in, her nose somewhat runny from the D.C. temperature swings lately, Vala rubbed her face, opening her eyes to look at Ronon.
“Give him a sec. He’s supposed to be sleeping through the night now,” she muttered, running Adrienne’s insane list of instructions through her head. Feeling a chill through her body, she curled closer to her sleeping companion, letting him warm her, the crying continuing.
“It’s his first night away from home,” Ronon reasoned as he held her, why was he always so reasonable, making Vala sit and push back the blanket, a gentle grab at her wrist.
“Stay. You’ve had him all evening. I’ve got him,” he added, standing from the bed, from her, lumbering his way over to Nicholas. Vala sat up, pulling the blanket to her neck, cold despite her long sleeved t-shirt, watching Ronon as he fetched Daniel and Adrienne’s child.
“Hey little guy, come on. What’s the matter? Do you need cleaning up?” he asked, leaning over into the playpen to scoop the boy into his arms, bouncing him lightly.
“He likes ‘The Wheels on the Bus’,” Vala figured she ought to mention, that being Daniel’s only instruction for their babysitting venture, when all else fails sing ‘The Wheels on the Bus.’
“What’s that?” he asked, Vala chuckling, remembering that he would have no reason to know that song in the least as he continued to talk to the little bundle in his arms. Funny, talking to Nicky was the most talking Vala had ever heard him do.
It was adorable.
“You like wheels? Yeah, I have to admit that cars, especially the old ones like Sheppard’s brother collects are cool. You like cars. Vroom vroom,” he continued, Vala herself now speechless. He was classic Ronon, calm, cool and collected, not upset for a moment by the wailing child, but at the same time absolutely adorable as he addressed Nicky, who was starting to calm a little himself at her boyfriend’s silliness.
“So a bus huh? I like trucks myself, but maybe that’s because I don’t fit in much else. You’ll probably have the same problem, your dad’s tall and your mom’s not too small herself.”
It was the most charming scene she had ever witnessed, the strong and normally quiet fighter carrying on a conversation with the small human in his hands.
Things really did turn out for the best, she thought, this is all truly amazing.
******
“Are you sure about this?”
“Yeah, Teal’c knows a lot more than we give him credit for and Rodney’s been working on this for a while.”
“Ok, and everything has to be in here?”
“Yes, bed area.”
“Indy, that sounds like you have one thing on your mind and one thing only...”
“No, I’m trying to limit this to a small area and I was trying to pick an area where if we choose to make love we’re in the best place.”
“That sounds so awful sha, you know this right?”
“Fine, it was just an idea. We don’t have to do it.”
“No, let’s try. I just need to get something first.”
“We’ve got Monopoly, Scrabble, cards, your computer, snacks, drinks, what else do we need?”
“Think bed Daniel...”
“Oh, in that case, carry on ja-wer.”
*****
“Come on Addy, this isn’t fair!” Vala shouted, feeling bad about her word choice even though the baby in her arms had no idea what she was saying. Ronon was parking the Miata, the only other person that she allowed to drive it, since both of Jacksons’ cars were taking up the entire tiny drive and the streets were lined with automobiles. Turning on the hall light, Vala kicked the door shut with her heel, pocketing the spare key her friends had given her before powering down the hall.
“Mommy and Daddy are taking advantage of Auntie Vala,” she explained to her companion, “not that I don’t love spending time with you Nicky, you’re adorable, but Auntie Vala is trying to get a big scary dog man and she has a lot of work to do today.”
Nicky didn’t respond, of course, Vala making for the living room, knowing that the second playpen would be there, and it was, the shine of the hall light against the vinyl making up for the fact that the living room light was off as well.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she grumbled as she set her human bundle into the playpen, Nicky thankfully not crying, before making her way to the kitchen.
“It’s almost one in the afternoon, I know Daniel has got to be up, you two could not still be sleeping,” she continued to rant, flicking on the lights as she stormed room by room, finding them in none of them, leaving only one room to be inspected, their bedroom, at the end of the hall.
“Please at least be under blankets,” she muttered, turning to knob and opening the door.
There was Adrienne, in a red nightie that Vala recognized, it was a wedding gift, from HER, crawling on top of Daniel who was thankfully mostly shielded from view by Adrienne’s body.
Mostly shielded, but there was enough showing where Vala put her face in her hands, leaving only her mouth exposed.
“I’m back and so is your kid and I’m out of pumped milk so can you two get dressed and come parent again?” she declared, hands on her hips, waiting for Adrienne to slink away slowly from her straddle of Daniel, who any moment would be ripping the blanket from where he had tossed it aside to cover himself...
...but he didn’t.
He didn’t move, she didn’t move, the pair frozen in time, mere moments before they....
“Addy? Daniel?” Vala said, stepping forward cautiously, peering around the bed looking at the scene, trying to figure out if they were joking with her, but why would they joke, especially like this, Addy was a bit of a prude and Vala now knew why, but they were just there, in front of her, not moving a muscle.
“Can you two hear me?” she asked, taking one more careful step forward when she slammed into a solid wall of nothing, blocking her advance.
“Shit!” she shouted out, dashing back into the living room to scoop up Nicky, tearing out the front door of the Jackson townhouse.
*****
Sam reached out carefully for her shoulders as Vala rambled on, Ronon standing back in the tight SGC office bouncing Nicky in his arms.
“Take a breath and slow down Vala, we’re sending a team there now but I need you to stay calm,” the general reiterated, but Vala had no intention of standing still, nervous energy making her dance around the room.
“It’s Anubis, I know it, he’s done this; he’s doing something awful to them. Galar, they’re a planet full of nerds, between that and Langara he’s figured out a way to encase them and kill them and we’re next, we’re all next, Nicky, he’s next and he’s just a child,” she sputtered, Ronon adjusting the baby to try his luck in calming her, to no avail as she swatted him away.
“Vala, we’re not sure what it is right now; it could be a host of things,” Sam lied, her stomach telling her that this was something awful, Anubis come to finish the job he had started with Adrienne that now seemed like such a long time ago.
“No Sam, it IS Anubis! What the hell else could it be?!?!”
“A time dilation device,” Cam said from the doorway, shaking his head, a tablet computer in hand.
“Wait, what?” Sam asked, herself certain that Vala was correct, but Cam was walking the device over to her, a grimace on his face.
“SG-7 combed the place, took pictures, everything and nothing was unusual but this,” the colonel explained, pointing to the picture of the screen, a picture that was of one of their nightstands a black gadget lying on top.
“I sent the images to Rodney, but I know you know what it is, time dilation, portable version. One of the many things that Rodney was working on...”
“...That Adrienne would have told Daniel about since she worked with Rodney as well. And it’s inside the field, Vala says that the field encompasses the bed, so that means that Daniel or Adrienne activated the device,” Sam finished, Vala pushing her way forward.
“No, that’s idiotic. Why would they do that? Daniel knows not to mess with those things,” she argued, Cam leaning over Sam to flick his finger across the screen.
“Idiotic yes, but that’s what they did. Take a look around the bed, they have about three days’ worth of food, water and entertainment. I think they planned this,” he added, sheepishly. He’d seen a lot more in that room, a lot more than he ever wanted to see, making sure no pictures were taken of that and the team was ushered out as soon as he figured out what was going on to help preserve his friends’ dignity.
“So, they’ve slowed down time, for themselves alone? Am I understanding this correctly?” Sam clarified, unable to believe what she was hearing. Daniel and Adrienne had done a lot of stupid things in their time together, as friends and as a couple, but slowing time to create their own personal child free vacation had to rank among the stupidest.
“A fuck fest. They dumped that adorable little boy with me to break into storage, steal that damn time thing and have themselves a fuck fest?!” Vala was now shouting, throwing her hands into the air in exasperation.
“There was Monopoly and a backpack there Vala, I think they planned on other things too,” Ronon added from behind, giving her a look no one else dared give her.
“Fine, whatever,” she spat, storming up to him to retrieve the baby, “so I just guess that I will hope that you all can figure this out before I run out of milk for Nicky.”
With that, Vala stormed out of the office, Ronon pausing before following.
“Can you get them out of this?”
He was concerned, those were his friends too, trapped somewhere in the confines of time by their own careless hands.
“I hope so,” Sam answered honestly, the Sateadan nodding before trailing behind Vala.
“Can we Sam? If I remember correctly we were inside the bubble with the device, not the other way around,” Cameron noted.
“I know. Call Teal’c and I’m gonna have Rodney beam over,” was all the reply she gave, Cam taking that as her signal to leave and do as he was ordered. Breathing out slowly, Sam walked over to her desk, grabbing the receiver, debating on calling Jack right away or just phoning Rodney, as either would have something smart to say.
They would start in with something she didn’t have time for, especially this morning.
Anise had dialed in just before sunrise, Sam summoned to work before she could even have her morning cup of coffee. The Tok’ra had new intelligence on Anubis, evidence that he was on the move, with help. Yat’Yir and his group of rebel Jaffa had joined Anubis, the former slave now begging to be back the service of his old masters. Teal’c was devastated, requesting to return to Chulac immediately, a request she denied fearing imminent attack. She hoped he wouldn’t be too angry, that he wouldn’t see the Jacksons’ poor decision making as something not worth his trouble.
She decided to dial Jack first, in case that’s exactly what he did.
*****
“That’s the last bottle,” Ronon informed Vala as she plopped onto the bed, inserting the nipple into the very loud awaiting mouth.
“I know,” she answered curtly, “which means Sam had better hurry this up.” She didn’t look up, peering instead down at the child in her arms, now silent, eating, the look of worry on her face unable to be hidden.
“She’ll figure it out,” he assured, walking around her room to pick up a few things, straightening the mess from keeping the baby, trying to give her space when he heard a sniffle behind him.
“Are you alright?” he asked, stopping what he was doing to glance over at her just in time to see her long fingers streak across her face.
“I’m fine, just, didn’t he know? The last time, didn’t he know? I mean, yes, it’s Addy, but he left Nicholas behind,” she started to tear up again, Ronon gently setting the boy’s belongings on the table, rushing to join her.
“Vala, stop, they didn’t leave anyone behind, they just wanted more time together. It’s hard to have a newborn,” his words were as soft and tender as the arm slipping around her, holding her to him.
“I know, I know, it’s just what if something happens to them? They aren’t even letting Addy take a full leave, as far as I know neither of them have any intention of cutting their hours. Did they even think of him?” she yammered, trying to retain her composure but unable to, Ronon reaching for Nicky to take the babe, continue the feeding.
“Yea. They left him with you with only enough supplies through this morning. This is just an accident; Sam’ll fix it,” he soothed, adjusting the child in his arms as he wriggled himself onto the bed.
“It was fifty years last time Ronon, fifty years...”
He would hear none of it, leaning over to kiss her head.
“Why don’t you go down to the mess, get us some grub? I’ll feed him and get him down again,” he suggested, more of an order than a suggestion really, Vala complying without complaint, standing to make her way to food.
*****
“Are the ships ready?” she stood at the screen her green eyes brushing over the layout of her fleet, a collection much more extensive than before. Yat’Yir’s Hataks were holding center, his Jaffa now bearing the correct mark, on their biceps this time rather their foreheads.
“They will be by nightfall ma’am,” Homer answered shyly despite the surge of confidence he had only a few nights before when Anubis had selected him and him alone to be more or less her personal medic. Granted, Homer was not much more than a microbiologist, but he knew enough of cloning to insure that proper care was taken of this body.
And his family’s.
For as long as Homer Khalen was in Anubis’ good graces his family would be alive and well, his now awakened family, housed in a secret location that he was not privilege to know. His only communication with his terrified wife had been via video when he had assured her that everything was going to be alright and that Anubis’ leadership really was what was best for the galaxy.
“Well done. Now, I’d like for you to report to Amuro’s lab. He will discuss your next task with you,” she ordered, turning on her heels, the shimmering green gown accenting those vicious eyes.
“Yes ma’am,” he sputtered, trying not to be trapped by her glare, by her beauty, by the temptation that was this person, was this god standing before him. It was wrong to want your captor, wrong to want to caress a body that you helped keep alive, and it made him nauseous that his body even felt that way. Not waiting to be dismissed, he turned to leave, heading for the science building and the trams to take him there.
*****
Teal’c stood in the Jackson bedroom shaking his head. Sam was lucky he had agreed to come, Cameron having found him in the gym, training more Jaffa cadets, cadets he was hoping would be awarded positions on teams very soon.
“This is most uncomfortable,” he stated with his arms crossed, Sam letting out a sigh as she looked yet again at the sight of her two friends getting ready to...
“That’s why I’m trying to avoid calling Rodney. It would be great if we could keep this between the team,” she explained as he nodded, his large booted feet padding their way around the invisible bubble examining the scene. She wished she could cover them up, afford them some privacy, because of course they started the device now, they couldn’t have just done it while they were playing Monopoly...
“Samantha, it seems the device is inside of the field itself, as is to be expected,” Teal’c noted, making his way over quickly to their nightstand pointing to the device sitting there, a device that itself was frozen in time.
“Yeah, I noticed that last time. I was just hoping that you remembered something, anything we could do remotely to reverse it,” she found the words hard to say, a part of her knowing that they would need to call Rodney, that she’d have to work with Rodney on this, something she was not looking forward to.
She was going to kill them when this was over.
“However last time it was not the field that needed reversal but time itself as well as the Odyssey removed from danger. If Daniel and AdrienneJackson were only to turn the device off themselves everything would continue as it was.”
Duh Teal’c, Sam thought, her very next being that she had been married to Jack too long, Jack that she hadn’t called just yet.
“Well, it was worth the try, Teal’c if you could just take a look at the device. I’m having Cam bring another over on the off chance that we can turn the thing off remotely,” she requested, the warrior nodding again.
“Of course.”
Sighing Sam slipped out of the room, heading down the hall, her phone to her ear before she made it to the front door.
“General O’Neill please. Yes, I’ll hold,” she said, of course I’ll hold, I need to figure out what I’m going to tell him exactly.
*****
“There’s still no answer. What’s taking so damn long?” Vala spouted as she slammed her cell phone onto her desk, regretting that move the moment she had as the crying had begun, yet again.
“He’s up,” Ronon remarked, standing quick to pick up Nicholas, Vala heading him off at the pass.
“No, let him cry it out. You’ll spoil him,” she fussed, smacking his hand gently.
WAAAAAAAAAAA
“Nicky, I’m sorry I was loud but I’m not picking you up right now, do you understand?” she now added, leaning over into the crib, Ronon’s puzzled face glaring at her.
WAAAAAAAAA
“You’re talking to him like he knows what you’re saying,” he remarked, cautiously, wondering how much experience with babies that Vala had. Must be enough for Addy to trust her, he thought, as she glanced up at him, still choosing to not pick up the child.
“It’s what Addy does,” she answered simply her eyes back on the screaming mound in the playpen once more, “Nicky, listen to me. Aunt Sam is doing the best she can to get your idiotic parents out of trouble yet again. Laying here wailing about it isn’t gonna do one good damn bit!”
No sooner had the words crossed her mouth than the infant just stopped crying.
“You shouldn’t yell at him,” Ronon teased, cutting his eyes over at Vala who didn’t seem as amused.
“It’s not yelling, it’s talking over the noise,” she muttered quietly, crossing back over to her desk, taking a seat and reaching for a small blue book, one of those vampire novels that she had been reading.
“You know,” she started before he could ask, shutting the book again, “they haven’t picked godparents yet.”
“What’s that?” he asked, taking a seat on the bed, keeping a safe distance from her just in case she needed to have an explosion of frustrated rage.
“It’s the people who take care of your kids in case you die. Daniel and Addy haven’t picked anyone, she was talking to me about it the other day at lunch. They want a couple and Daniel doesn’t seem to think that Jack will want to raise an infant at his age.”
Ronon sat quietly not knowing what to say. Sure, he knew that Vala was excited about the baby, after losing one of her own, and she had spent a lot of time in those early weeks helping Adrienne when Daniel returned to work. It wasn’t until this very moment, however, that he realized how much Nicky meant to her.
“Vala?”
“Yeah,” she grumbled back.
“We...” he was about to say when there was ringing at his side, Vala’s phone, Sam’s name flashing across the screen.
“Pass it over,” she demanded, standing, taking the call and stepping into the bathroom.
Sighing, Ronon stood, walking over to the playpen to check on the baby.
*****
“But I thought you were attacking?” it was too brazen a question he knew, but Homer couldn’t control himself, this was just something too risky, too insane; it would never work.
“I am. There are many intricate steps to this Homer to insure we all get what we want. Don’t you agree?” her voice was smooth even though it still chilled Homer to his core.
He agreed, more than anything did he agree, and he only wanted one thing.
“Yes ma’am,” he answered, slower than he probably should have.
“Do you doubt me? I thought we had an understanding but maybe Amuro is better suited for this...”
Yes he is; he doesn’t care about anything anymore and he buys your bullshit.
“No ma’am, I do not doubt you, never would I doubt you. It’s the technology. The Galarans have a tendency to use things before they are certain of their viability,” he half-lied, although in his time working with Amuro and the others he learned their arrogance was what had gotten them in trouble before with Jonas Quinn’s Earth friends.
“That is why you are going to test it for me,” Anubis let the words roll off of that perfect tongue, so slowly, they would be teasing were it not for the message they sent.
“Muh..muh...muh...me...but...ya..ya...you...s...s...said,” he stammered, laughter his reply, as she cackled evilly, that fear back, the emotional rollercoaster of being here becoming too much to bear.
“Not on you, why would I waste a perfectly good assistant, especially one that isn’t going to die on me in few weeks. And such a handsome one,” she was toying with him, she was what she was and even in this form, this cloned body, she could read him and never ceased to use it to her advantage.
“Homer we are not going to insert the device into you. You are going to take it to Earth and insert it into our test subject. Simple, is it not?”
He nodded, swallowing, his heart nearly exploding in his chest, because somehow he knew that this was a one way ticket and he would never see his family again.
******
“We should let them stay like that, they deserve it,” the smug face on the screen sneered, Sam peering over at her husband for support that she hoped he could give now that he had stopped laughing. He seemed to love to see Daniel in awkward situations, impending Anubis attack or not.
“Rodney, I realize that it was stupid and I plan on dealing with them just as soon as we fix this, but that needs to happen first, we need to fix this,” Sam replied, maintaining her cool, thankful that he was not standing right here because for the mood she was in she would have slapped him across the face.
“Samantha, do you realize that our technicians are still working on the elevator system? And with John and Ronon being pulled back and forth, it’s just me, Radek and Teyla left to order around a bunch of cadets that don’t even know the program,” and here came part two of the argument that she knew was coming, the ‘I don’t have time to fix this’ part. That was garbage too, he not only had every last science staff member from before that chose to return once more to Atlantis, but the best in the cadets that were training for work on the Gamma site, but no, as usual, the entire world was on his shoulders.
“Rodney, I realize that I need Daniel and Adrienne back under my command as soon as possible and that at this moment is my number one priority,” she responded quickly, giving him the look that dared him to question her. He went to scowl further, throw a fit, but he paused, reading her eyes through the view screen.
“Have the Odyssey beam me directly to their house. I’ve looked at the pics Cam sent and I have an idea,” he shot back, ending the transmission before Sam could reply.
“It’s gonna be so good to send him back through the cosmos,” Jack joked, squeezing her shoulder.
“And then he can backtalk someone else,” she agreed, a pang of guilt in her insides that she brushed away quickly. Right now, there were more important things to take care of then assigning a new commander to Atlantis and she needed to make sure that Anubis was no longer a threat before returning the base to the Pegasus Galaxy.
“Well, call Vala, let her know. She’s apparently flipping shit over having to play mommy for what, going on twenty four hours straight now? Might as well call her over in case this works,” Jack replied, passing Sam over her phone.
Glancing at the screen to dial Vala she noted that it was over twenty four hours now since Daniel had swiped his card on base, it was nearly midnight, putting it at twenty six hours, and for her two friends not even a fraction of a second. She sighed, slipping her finger across the unlock bar before dialing her number.
******
Ronon felt bad for the baby, he had just gotten quiet again when Vala burst from the bathroom babbling on about Rodney beaming over to Daniel and Addy’s place and Sam wanting everyone to meet over there. She seemed excited, hopeful, so he went to gather the boy’s things, stuffing the bag back with more supplies then a two month old child would ever need. They weren’t driving, she informed him, taking Nicky from his arms and leaving him with the gear, whisking herself out of her room and down to the transport area.
He paused for a moment, thoughts racing through his head that he hadn’t considered in years, had given up on, had stupidly brought up with Addy which she had taken the wrong way completely he knew but with Vala.
Vala?
Hearing her shout for him to hurry, he shouldered the bag and followed, wondering, just wondering...
*****
“By my calculations, we should be able to artificially speed up time in the bedroom itself by activating a second time dilation device, remotely, from this side of the bubble, shame Dr. Jackson didn’t think of using one of the remote devices because then we would just need the second remote, but, regardless, we can put up the second field, setting the time in that field to much faster rate than our own, effectively speeding up their pocket of time as well,” Rodney explained as he darted around Daniel and Adrienne’s bedroom, making tiny chalk marks all over the carpet, marks that Vala knew would send her friend through the ceiling if she couldn’t get them out.
Serves her right, she thought, peering over at Sam who looked concerned, as if she wasn’t buying this plan.
Vala wasn’t either.
Rodney had been rambling on since he arrived thirty minutes ago about time dilation fields and how they functioned relative to the time passing outside of them. In theory, by speeding up time in this second field, it should speed up time for Daniel and Adrienne, allowing them to deactivate the device.
Hopefully allow them to deactivate the device, Vala added internally, feeling horrible for putting Nicholas through this. Peeking at her phone she noted that it was nearly three in the morning, Nicky sleeping peacefully on the sofa in Ronon’s arms. The poor child had screamed his head off from the moment they were beamed in and, as Daniel had suggested, singing that stupid song about wheels and buses seemed to work to calm him.
She was just thankful that Jack knew the song.
“Why do I get the feeling this is bullshit?” a voice whispered in her ear, Jack’s, as if he could read her mind.
“Because it is, look at Sam,” she retorted. Jack laughed, peeking over at his wife to see that indeed she didn’t seem pleased with the idea.
“Alright, so will they be able to see us through the two fields? Will we be able to tell them to cut it off?” Sam asked, Rodney standing again scowling.
“Of course not Samantha, the distortion in shapes would be much more than they could handle, if anything, it would seem to be objects moving out of focus. It may startle them, but if we want to communicate to them what has happened we are going to need to hang up some signs within the second field,” he explained, walking back to his backpack and producing a pad of paper.
“Hang signs?” Sam asked, Jack deferring to her, because by the look on her face Vala knew she was thinking what they all were thinking.
“Yes, simple explanations of what's going on and that they need to turn off the device and drop the field,” he started scribbling on the paper, Vala shaking her head.
“That means they’re gonna have to turn around to see it,” Jack spoke up finally, a voice of reason.
“I don’t see that happening and we have no way to hang a sign on her boobs,” Vala spat, unable to keep it to herself, Jack laughing loudly.
“Samantha would you like this done or would you like these two to remain in pre-coitus stasis?” Rodney sneered at Sam, scratching away at the pad with a Sharpie.
“I’ll get tape,” Jack relented, unsure if Sam had any other idea. Vala watched him duck out of the room heading for their office when an idea hit her and she knelt at Rodney’s side, taking some paper from his hand.
“Don’t bother,” she muttered as she uncapped the pen with her teeth, setting the pad on her knees.
“Don’t bother what?” he was puzzled but Vala just smiled.
“With instructions,” she answered, “I’ve got it covered.”
The scientist sat back on his heels waiting to see what she would come up with, Sam leaning in to see as well when Vala recapped the pen and tossed it aside, turning to display her message.
Shut it off you dumbasses.
You’re stuck and we’re looking at you right now
“That should do it,” Sam sighed, stepping back to allow Rodney to work.
*****
Homer sat at the desk in his room, the elegant surroundings making him again wonder where exactly his family was. His eyes wandered, from the device in his hands to the pills in the vial, his instructions clear. He wasn’t to depart for another twenty four hours when he would be shuttled by that turncoat Jaffa from Galar back to Langara and activate the gate.
Then, he would send the distress signal that only high levels of government in Langara knew, a signal that SG1 would never expect Anubis to have given that he had executed all high ranking Langaran government officials. It was a signal that Homer only had, and merely by accident as he was fixing the presidents computer systems.
He now knew that was the only reason that he was still alive.
Jonas would accept him, he would remember Homer, Representative Quinn was very friendly with all of the staff regardless of his own rank. It would be the “in” that Anubis needed, someone they would trust. Homer was to tell them everything she had been doing, everything, she had made that clear. He wasn’t to lie to downplay anything.
Anything except for this and there went his eyes, to the device, to the bottle and back to his hands.
“I can’t do it,” he whispered into the dark, laying his head on his desk.
*****
“I knew it wouldn’t work but no one ever asks my opinion,” Vala stated from the sofa, Ronon stirring behind her. She’d left the fiasco that Rodney was creating in the bedroom hours ago, returning a sleeping Nicky to his own bed and curling up on the sofa with Ronon, who promptly slipped his arm around her.
“Hey, I’m just the messenger and I needed to get out of there,” Jack said, taking the seat across from the couple, rubbing his face in his hands.
“What time is it?” Ronon asked as he sat up himself, pushing his dreadlocks back behind his head.
“A little past eight. They’ve been at it for nearly five hours and the only movement we’ve gotten from Daniel or Adrienne has been, according to Rodney, that her leg has moved closer to Daniel about three inches but he’s full of it. They haven’t moved, not a muscle. Sam’s about to call it a wash,” Jack explained, a whine, a moan and then wailing beginning to creep in from the next room.
“He doesn’t like the formula,” Vala sighed, standing to head for the kitchen.
“Wants all natural like his mom, here, let me see what I can mix up for you,” Jack stood again, following to help just as Rodney stormed out of the bedroom.
“You’ve been married to Jack too long!” he was spitting over his shoulder, Sam trailing him making Ronon stay right where he was as the two geniuses were about to battle it out.
“Do you have a better idea, because we’re coming up on thirty six hours of two of my most important people stuck in bed!!” she shouted back, Ronon impressed to see his boss, of different work spaces now if you thought about it, finally showing some balls.
“No Samantha, because my idea is working just fine. Adrienne moved, you’re just too impatient to wait and let the field do what it is supposed to do,” he was walking as he talked, although he wasn’t headed for the front door so maybe he was going to the bathroom, but Ronon didn’t know.
“And while we sit here to see if you’re right, Anubis could be heading straight in our direction. Did we forget about him? I think the last time you saw him was right before the two people in there that you’re walking out on saved your ass!!”
Well played Sam, Ronon wanted to say but kept his mouth shut, waiting for Rodney’s reaction. He stopped, sighing out, yeah you got to admit they saved your ass Rodney, turning back around.
“What were you thinking?”
“A modified staff weapon, create sort of a Naquadah laser to cut through the field itself and blow up the device,” she replied, her phone already being drawn from her pocket to call for transport back to base.
“An explosion, exactly, just as I said, you want to blow us all up,” he now accused, marching back over, Sam standing her ground.
“If you choose not to help fine, I’ll do this myself. I need this taken care of and things returned to normal and if it takes destroying a bit of their bedroom so be it. But they’ll be fine, they’re far enough away from the device where they’ll be unaffected by the blast.”
“Fine, fine, we’ll try your way, but I’m not responsible if we blow up the block,” he relented, joining her as she dialed.
Ronon finally stood to find Vala.
*****
“It’s time,” the clone warrior announced from the doorway of the office, Homer standing slowly from the desk. He didn’t want to go, he wanted to run back screaming to her, to beg her, to hope that Anubis had chosen such an aesthetically pleasing exterior because he/she felt compassion like a woman would, that he/she would see the pain and agony in his face and allow him to leave.
Chances of that happening however were slim to none.
It wasn’t just the beating, they had to make it look like a genuine escape, it wasn’t just the live human experiment that they were expecting him to carry out, it was the outright murder of another human being that he was dreading.
He had done so much for their planet, Homer just didn’t see it as fair.
“Anubis says now,” the clone was more stern this time, the scientist walking slowing away, leaving his chair out and his desk a mess, headed for the gate area.
*****
“Fly in the sky like a puddle jumper! Do you like that? When you get big enough I’ll swipe you from your parents and take you up in one,” Ronon said as he lay in the floor, Nicky held in the air over his head, Vala unsure as to whether or not the boy was really enjoying the flight simulation. It was so cute, not only to hear what Ronon was saying, and he really wasn’t a man to say very much, but to watch him interact with the child. She felt a pang of guilt inside for being jealous of Addy, having a husband and a baby, something Vala knew she could never have, had never had in her one shot.
Here, however, was her second chance at happiness, rolling around on the floor like a giant silly child, having the best time entertaining Nicky.
Maybe I should just talk to him, tell him how I feel, she thought, crossing her legs as she sat back in the glider, the continual shouts of Sam and Rodney arguing almost as loud as Jack watching TV in the office. She was thankful that they had taken the boy back to his room to pay quietly, but this household was anything but quiet. Honestly, it probably wasn’t much quieter with Daniel and Adrienne here, with her loud music and, according to rumor, his general loudness.
I’m gonna do it, she decided, I’m gonna tell him how I feel right now and explain to him that if he wants kids we’d have to look elsewhere...
Wait?
Kids?
How I feel?
I love him don’t I, she thought, letting herself rock slowly back and forth in the chair...
I’m in love with Ronon.
“Dex?”
“Yeah, hang on little guy, what?” he answered, setting Nicky in his lap and rolling onto his side gazing up at her.
“Can, well, can you put Nicky in the crib for a bit, I’d like to talk,” she started slowly, her heart racing.
Why am I completely falling apart, she asked herself, waiting for him to do as she asked, setting the now quiet child into his bed.
“VALA!! I NEED YOU IN HERE!!” Sam was screaming from the other room, Nicky mimicking her shouts as soon as they started.
“I’ve got him, go see what she needs,” Ronon insisted, reaching back in for the screaming infant but Vala paused, standing slowly from the simple brown glider but not leaving, frozen at the doorway.
“You alright?” he asked, concern in his face and Vala smiled.
“I’m just glad to have met you, but we’ll talk later, I promise, once the two idiots are freed,” she replied, Ronon nodding as he set the baby on his shoulder.
“There’s a new place open downtown, I think we deserve a nice dinner after all of this,” he added, cocking his head at the clock. It was eight at night, they had been at this for two days now.
“Sounds good, I’ll be right back,” she answered with a smile, finally rushing to meet Sam.
*******
“Vala, I need you to check my aim since Rodney is refusing to do so,” Sam instructed, the rather large laser she had brought and modified from supply pointed at the nightstand, the time dilation device in particular.
“It’s not going to work Samantha, and you’re just going to blow us up,” Rodney argued as Vala did as Sam requested, checking behind her, the aim of the shot perfect as she would expect from the general.
“We’ve been over this Rodney, it is a concentrated Beta ray which will tear through the shield with just enough power to destroy the device and the device only,” she insisted, Jack peering happily over her shoulder.
“And the nightstand, it might blow up their nightstand,” he added, a cheery grin plastered across his face.
“Looks good,” Vala said as she stood, walking over to behind where Rodney still grumbling, Sam leaning into the device.
“Shield your eyes, this is concentrated radiation,” she ordered, peering into the eyepiece, “we’re a go in three, two, one...”
The red beam shot out of the end of the box-like apparatus, slower than a regular laser, concentrating the blast right at where the device would be, cutting through the field as if it were butter, slowly, cleanly, pausing for a moment before reaching the other side. The blast sped up once free from the restriction of the field, racing toward the black box, in an instant the small point of contact was just what Rodney said it would be, an explosion, the black gadget as well as most of the night stand.
“Boom! Told ya they’d be down some furniture!” Jack exclaimed like an excited child as the field shimmered away.
“We’re explorers right, lay back, I want to explore you...” Adrienne murmured out, crawling on top of him, leaning forward to kiss down his chest as she felt his hands pushing up the fabric of her negligee.
“Dear God no just stop, it’s bad enough we had to see all of that, but worse to find out you even talk dirty like dorky losers,” Vala spat from behind Adrienne freezing on Daniel.
“Using government resources are we?” Sam asked, no longer as angry as she was before, well, still somewhat angry, but also amused as she watched the two of them flush red and frantically reach for blankets, fumbling like fools trying to cover themselves.
“Um, well, Sam, we, uh, you see, it’s just that he’s two months old and we, well,” Daniel stammered, reaching for Adrienne as if she could provide some way out of here, his wife looking at him as if he were crazy.
“Come on Sam, cut him some slack. who hasn’t thought to try it?” Jack defended, everyone glaring at him.
“Really? If I were a fraction of the brainiac my wife is, I’d have been all over that,” he added, his own wife shaking her head.
WAAAAAAAAA
“Oh yeah, and Nicky,” Vala set right in, turning for the door, where Ronon was bringing in the screaming child, desperately singing the strangest version of “The Wheels on the Bus” any of the natives of Earth had ever heard.
“He doesn’t like milk-based formula, he prefers soy, and there’s an entire can in the kitchen, the instructions are on the side,” she explained, Adrienne frowning.
“Wait? Formula? What happened?” she asked as she reached for the baby, Daniel already leaning in to sing.
“You two have been trapped in that field, like that, for nearly three days. Nicky ran out of milk right after we found you,” Sam added, Adrienne now visibly upset.
“Nicky, boo, I’m so sorry,” the cajun whispered, tears in her eyes, holding the now quiet child close to her.
“We’ll leave you all alone to, uh, get everything back together,” Sam announced, the group taking her lead and leaving the bedroom.
******
“Colonel Mitchell, we have an incoming wormhole, unscheduled,” Walter shouted back to Sam’s office where Cam was running operations in her absence, happily falling in as second in command when needed.
“Who is it?” he asked as he stood from the desk, entering the observation room.
“It’s a Langaran call sign sir, executive branch,” he read from the screen, Jonas stepping over from where he was going over some intel Vala had left for him to translation while she dealt with the Daniel and Addy fiasco.
“Wait? What? Langaran executive branch, let me see that signal,” Jonas requested although he was already looking over the gate room commander's shoulder, shaking his head.
“That’s a top secret code, emergency, Walter open the iris,” he ordered, pointing at the screen, Cam rushing to read the screen.
“Mr. Quinn, I’m not sure if that’s a good idea,” Walter replied quickly, not moving one finger to heed the re quest.
“Walter, that call sign was only given to the highest officials, myself included. It’s top secret, they’re escaping, they must be, something must have gone wrong, you have to let them in. Cam?” Jonas was frantic yet hopeful, this being the first sign anyone has heard from Langara in so very long.
“Call SG-3 and open the iris,” Cam ordered, his eyes now up to greet their visitor.
“Sir?” Walter didn’t seem as convinced.
“Do it. We need all the intel we can get. He can’t attack through the gate, it’s too small, and we’re all vaccinated against anything he can throw at us, open the gate. We need the information, let them in,” Cam explained, Walter nodding slowly.
“SG-3 needed to the gate room, unauthorized off world activation.”
The announcement blared through the observation room, echoing through the base as well. Walter ended the transmission, his eyes peering through his glasses at the switch that would open the gate, his finger hovering until the marine unit arrived. A thumb’s up from their commander as soon as they had taken position, Walter hit the switch, the creak of metal echoing through the gate room as their only shield from intruders opens, the wormhole sparkling behind it.
For a moment there was no one and Cam’s heart stopped, wondering what biological weapon that he had allowed in this time when there was a shadow in the glimmer, a lone man staggered through the event horizon.
“Homer!” Jonas shouted, tearing down the stairs after the clearly injured man as he limped painfully down the ramp, falling to his knees, barely catching himself on his forearms before his head slammed into the metal.
“Representative Quinn,” he choked out, his voice course as if he had been tortured, lifting his gaze to Jonas as he raced through the armed guard, pushing and shoving to reach this person he recognized.
“Walter, call a med team down here,” Cameron ordered as he ran to see who this man was, this man that Jonas was now pulling to his feet, carefully. He was bent over, coughing, in pain, Cam catching his words as their guest cleared his throat.
“I escaped, Anubis is on Galar, he’s been making me work for him, do experiments, maintain the clones, but he left me to check on Galar. I killed my guard, but I barely made out alive,” there again was the hacking, Jonas helping him stand as Cam walked around the other side, placing the dangling arm on his shoulder.
“He’s coming, but I know how,” Homer added as he composed himself, swallowing, “I know how Anubis is going to attack.”
*****
“I am SO embarrassed,” Adrienne said from the shower the moment she heard the door open meaning that Daniel had given Nicky his final bottle and gotten him down. Vala was right, he did seem to like the soy formula, rejecting Adrienne’s more natural offer immediately.
If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought he was refusing to breastfeed because he was angry with her, but it was a dumb idea; what two month old child gets angry?
“You still had clothes on,” Daniel said quickly, leaning back against the counter, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Not many,” she argued, pulling back the curtain, “you gettin’ in?”
“Yeah,” he said as he stood, pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it onto the floor.
She let the curtain loose to allow him to finish undressing, the fabric pulled back as her still red faced husband slipped in with her, reaching for the sponge.
“Your face was priceless,” she let slip, erupting into laughter as he frowned.
“We’re explorers? Let me explore you?” he shot back smartly, Adrienne now blushing like mad.
“Tchew,” she hissed as he reached forward laughing, taking her into his arms.
“I love your lame come on lines,” he teased, her fingers tickling his sides, pushing back to steal the sponge.
“I’m glad, because you’re stuck with me foreva sha,” she replied, reaching behind him for the soap.
*****
Homer Khalen sat in the infirmary, a tray of hospital food across his lap, his eyes over at the pack of information he had brought.
This is for them, not me, for all of them, he thought, his eyes gazing down at his arm, still bleeding slightly...
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