Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mariah had always been different, probably from birth, but it became obvious to her parents when she was just four years old. But let’s start at the beginning….

Mariah Eleanor Gray was born in November 1975 to Dr. James Gray and his wife, Ellie (nee Bauer) Gray. Her father was an engineer, who did extensive work with the U.S. Government and held numerous patents for inventions that helped further American Military supremacy. Her mother had been a data analyst for the Department of Defense (DoD), but when Mariah was born, she gave up her career. Not that James had asked Ellie to give up her career, but simply because Mariah was their miracle child.

James and Ellie met in the winter of 1964 at the Pentagon and it was love at first sight. They were both in their mid-20s and their families were about to give up hope of them finding someone. Theirs was a whirlwind romance, getting engaged in the spring and married in the summer. They both loved their work, but were eager to start a family and have a physical symbol of their love. But slowly the years passed and they felt it would never happen. Then fate stepped in. Ellie discovered she was pregnant in the summer of 1975 and Mariah was born a couple of days after Thanksgiving.

With big brown eyes and a full head of hair, her parents fell immediately in love with her. Ellie doted on her and was more than happy to stay home and take care of her baby. Mariah was a calm child, rarely fussing and she developed quickly. By 8 months old, she had said her first words and taken her first steps. At 12 months, she was able to walk and explore on her own and by 16 months was stringing words together.

James was a proud papa, seeing the bright, shining star his daughter would become. He dreamed that someday she would follow in his footsteps, eager to learn engineering at her father’s side. When he wasn’t at work, he talked to her about basic engineering, hoping that on some level she would remember and be eager to learn more as she grew.

However, fate again intervened and set Mariah’s path on her ultimate course. When she was about four years old, her parents were busy discussing their upcoming family vacation and had parked Mariah in front of the television in the den as a distraction while they talked. They were in a room nearby and in passing realized that the channels on the television had changed a few times, but paid it no mind. About an hour later, they entered the den to discover that Mariah was watching a show in Spanish and seemed utterly enraptured. They asked her what she was doing and she answered them, in perfect Spanish. To say they were shocked was an understatement.

But ever the scientist, James decided to perform an experiment. He was able to get recordings in German, French and Russian, both on audio and video tapes. He left Mariah alone listening to the tapes for an hour or two each and each time he returned, she was able to speak to him in the respective language. He was astonished and so very proud. Maybe his daughter wouldn’t be an engineer, but she was smart and her gift for languages would open many doors for her.

James mentioned in passing to his boss, Rear Admiral Jerome Allen, about Mariah’s remarkable ability and his boss’s interest was piqued. The Admiral was always interested in people with extraordinary skill sets and looked for ways to utilize them to the best of his ability. A child could be molded and formed into a useful asset as an adult. He could not pass up this opportunity.

The Admiral finagled an invite to James and Ellie’s house and he had the great pleasure of meeting Mariah. He discovered she was a bright and articulate child, well beyond her four year of age (or four and a half as she proudly stated). Not only was she gifted at languages, but she had amazing physical abilities, as she was already taking gymnastic classes through a local gym. Jerome saw this potential and did what he could to help bolster it. He became a constant guest of the Gray family and Mariah’s number one fan (after her parents).

As the years passed, Mariah’s language abilities grew to encompass the ability to translate oral and written languages as well as deciphering codes. She became proficient in not only gymnastics, but several forms of martial arts and could handle a variety of weapons.

But fate was fickle and the good times needed to be balanced out by the bad. The Gray family was out for a Sunday drive, enjoying the scenery and the quiet company of each other. Mariah, now 12 years old, was in the back seat of the family car, right behind her father. She was daydreaming while looking out the window, when suddenly she felt strange and let out a quiet, pained gasp. Her parents, ever mindful of their child, heard her and immediately asked what was wrong. However, she didn’t really hear them as she felt an odd warmth spread through her body. This refusal to respond concerned her parents enough to distract them at the very moment a large truck was coming from the opposite direction, causing her father to turn the wheel just enough to drift into the oncoming lane of traffic.

Mariah’s parents were killed instantly in the crash that followed. Their bodies almost vaporized as the front section of the car was crushed and wedged under the cab of the 18-wheeler they had hit. Mariah was knocked around and hit her head against the side window as the direction of the car suddenly did a complete reversal. The driver of the big rig slammed on his breaks and was able to stop after a few hundred feet. He leapt out of the passenger side door of his cab and went to look at the wreckage. It was obvious that no one in the front seat could have survived, so he looked in the back seat. He saw Mariah with her head against the window and tried to raise her, but received no reply.

Hurrying back to the cab of his truck, he called for help over his CB radio and grabbed a wrench that was shoved behind the seat. Getting back to the vehicle, he smashed open the back window, dislodging as much glass from the frame as he could. He climbed on the car trunk and wiggled through the window. He released the seat belt holding Mariah in place and pulled her out of the car. Getting a few feet away from the car and off to the side of the road, he gently placed Mariah on the grass and checked for breathing and a pulse. She wasn’t breathing and had no pulse. Immediately, he began CPR and thankfully after just a few breaths and compressions, she gasped for air. She was alive… again.

Mariah’s life was turned on its end at this point, but as with most circumstances in her life, she adapted. She mourned for her parents, but only in private, preferably behind closed (and locked) doors. Her parents were both only children and her grandmother, on her father’s side, was her only living relative. Sadly, her father had been estranged from his mother, but he had left provisions in his will as to who would take care of his beloved daughter, Rear Admiral Jerome Allen.

The Admiral and his wife had three grown children of their own, so they were no strangers to raising a child, but Mariah was different. Studious and sharp, she only talked as needed after formulating her response in her head. Now some people may think the Admiral was using Mariah for her abilities and skills, but he was honestly fond of her and cared about her wellbeing.

Mariah adjusted easily to her new life with the Allens and continued in her language studies. She also began working harder at her physical pursuits. It was almost like overnight she had become faster, stronger and more agile. Such was her life for the next four years. She mastered language after language and gained a reputation as a linguistic expert. She beat martial arts experts left and right and kept herself in prime physical shape. She was a force to be reckoned with.

On her 16^th birthday, Mariah applied to be an emancipated minor and after six months of legal hoops, the courts granted her suit. Admiral Allen was quick to hire Mariah on as a DoD consultant at this point and her training began in earnest. Each branch of the military has their own elite force used for the most dangerous and high profile missions. Jerome made sure she got training from each. She went through Ranger, SEAL and Black Ops training, though of course not with the actual soldiers.

At the same time, Mariah was finishing up her advanced degrees in Linguistics (PhD), Psychology (PhD) and Biochemistry (MS). By the time she was 19, she was done with school and all her combat training and was ready to be forward deployed as needed. The Admiral was in some ways sad to see her go, but at the same time, excited to see what she would do. He had her assigned to Naval Operations in Norfolk, VA, to be deployed as needed with the SEAL Teams.

It was a hard transition for Mariah as she was an unknown entity to the big bad Navy SEALs. After a few missions, she quickly proved herself an asset not only for her linguistic abilities but her prowess on the battlefield. At the age of 25, she lost her second father, Admiral Allen, to a heart attack. She distanced herself from his widow, not wishing to feel the pain of personal loss again. And about 3 months before her 26^th birthday, the whole world changed as the second Gulf War started on September 11^th 2001. She was swept up into Operation Enduring Freedom and for 2 years, she was on the front lines.

But in 2003, her world went haywire once again as a frontline mission went sideways. She was captured, held and tortured for 10 days before she escaped, getting vital intel back to base. Mariah was finished at that point, the torture had been a breaking point for her. After 6 months of recovery, she fell back upon her education and went from warrior to academic.

Over the years, she had made contacts with people across all branches of the military. As she recovered from her injuries, one of her closest contacts (a friend really) was a constant presence in her life and introduced her to one of his best friends, another academic. The friendship of these two men helped her find her balance and through them, she found new purpose. They helped her to get her clearance raised and then be read into the program they were a part of. She was given the chance to show off her mental acuity rather than be a weapon.

And then one day, an opportunity of a lifetime came around and who was she to pass it up….

Chapter Text

“How come you’ve worked for the SGC the last 18 months and this is your first visit to the Mountain?”

“Well, that would be due to the fact that my boss sends me all my work through secure channels and never invited me to come to the mountain. Also why work 20 levels underground, when you can have a room with an ocean view?”

Daniel smiled at his friend and colleague. He had been ecstatic when Jack had mentioned his friendship with this woman who was renowned in her field. Dr. Mariah Gray was a beautiful young woman. Big, brown eyes and deep chestnut brown hair were paired with a fit and trim body, hidden under business clothes and a professional manner. Thankfully, a bit of her true colors broke through her facade when she was with people she trusted and cared about. Daniel was one of these trusted people and another trailed right behind her.

Dr. Jackson decided to play along. “I don’t really think it was your boss’s fault. I think you never got invited to the SGC, because its director at the time enjoyed having an excuse to go enjoy that ocean view of yours.”

A light laugh escaped Mariah as she glanced over her shoulder at said director. “Are you saying General Jack O’Neill, with two L’s, had ulterior motives when he delivered the boxes of material to my house?”

“I always have ulterior motives when it comes to you, Mar.”

“Don’t call me that, Jack. If you don’t stop, I’ll be forced to call you Jonathan.” Mariah winked at Daniel.

“Please don’t….” It came out as a whine.

“Then call me Mariah, never Mar.”

“Fine.”

The young woman turned to face Daniel and Jack. “So why did I get invited?”

Daniel smiled at his former team leader. They had been plotting and thought this was the best solution to both their issues. Dr. Jackson grabbed Mariah’s arm and turned her back around to continue their walk to his office. The two men remained silent as they entered the room and Jack quickly shut the rarely closed door. Mariah took in the office, though that was being generous as it more closely resembled a cozy study. There were books and artifacts piled on every surface. Whiteboards displaced a variety of languages in various stages of translation. The young doctor watched as Daniel quickly cleared a chair off and offered it to her. She took the seat and waited patiently for one of her friends to begin.

The General wasn’t the best at explaining things, but decided to start off and let Daniel take over once he got frustrated with his bumbling. “You’ve been briefed all about the Stargate and the history of the program, plus I know Daniel’s been including some mission reports in with the boxes of materials to translate. Thus you have a fairly good idea of what is done here. Also, you're aware I’ve been reassigned to Washington, to head up the new Department of Homeworld Security.”

“Yes, Jack, and again, congratulations.”

“Thanks.” O’Neill cleared his throat. “However, there’s a part of the program we haven’t shared much about with you. What do you know about Atlantis?”

With a tilt of her head, Mariah stared at Jack for a minute before she responded. “Well, I read the reports from Antarctica and have completed a few translations for Daniel that reference it. I also know it was found, supposedly, and an expedition was sent through the Gate.” Another pause. “That is about it.”

Taking over for Jack, Daniel continued. “A month or so ago, we were contacted by the expedition and informed of an impending attack. It appears over the last year or so, they’ve been fighting for survival against a species known as the Wraith. They’re basically space vampires and feed off the life force of humans, through openings in their hands. A few of their ships were heading to Atlantis to destroy them for their interference and to find a way to Earth.”

“Sounds frightening.” Mariah’s eyes had gotten large.

“You don’t know the half of it.” O’Neill responded. “These guys make the Goa’uld look like pussycats.”

“Thankfully, we were able to send reinforcements through the Gate and get the Daedalus, our new shiny spaceship, out there to help with the battle. Our people came out victorious and while there was a loss of life, a good portion of our people survived.” Daniel paused to let Mariah digest what she had just heard.

With a glance at each of the men, Dr. Gray plainly asked. “What does any of this have to do with me?”

O’Neill walked over to Mariah and squatted down next to her, though his knees protested. “The expedition’s senior staff is back on Earth and are working on hiring replacements. They are upping their overall footprint, as well, now that there’s a way to go back and forth between galaxies.” Jack looked at Daniel to see if he wanted to continue, but Daniel just shook his head. It needed to come from Jack. “The leader of the expedition, Dr. Elizabeth Weir, has requested a translator go back to the City with them. She thinks if there had been one with the original group sent through some of their troubles wouldn’t have happened.”

Daniel interjected. “Jack won’t let me go.” Mariah smiled at him.

“Yeah, Danny’s not going outside of the Milky Way, if I have anything to say about it, which thankfully, I do.” Jack paused again and cleared his throat. “But after talking it out, we agreed it was a perfect opportunity for you.”

Mariah looked at him skeptically.

“Come on, Mar…iah. You’re one of the best linguists on Earth and can take care of yourself, if things get dicey. Not that I think you are going to need to do any fighting, but it’s a good skill set to have that far from home. Plus we have some really good people out there who will do everything in their power to keep you safe.”

“Jack, I’m not worried about my safety. I’ve survived a lot of impossible odds, all on my own.” A touch of fear crept into her eyes. “Say I agree to this, what will be required of me?”

Dr. Jackson smiled. He knew she would agree, when all was said and done. “Dr. Weir has requested to speak with you. Typically, the scientists report to Dr. Rodney McKay, but you would probably kill him after a couple of days if you had to work directly for him. Dr. Weir has agreed to be your supervisor, for lack of a better term, while you’re in Pegasus. In the end though, I’m still your boss and you know I give you free rein to do as you see fit.”

“What about the work?”

“You can come up with your own procedures, nonetheless, you’ll be responsible for translating document requests from the different scientific departments as well as the military, plus I’ll send you queries I’d like completed in the Ancient Database.”

Jack looked back at Daniel and waved him over to help him up. He then turned to Mariah. “This would give you a fresh start away from the ghosts of your past.”

“Who would have to know about my past?”

The General grimaced. “Dr. Weir will have to know and it would be a good idea if their CMO knew, at the very least, about the injuries you’ve previously sustained.”

“Agreed.”

Daniel smiled at his friend. “Does that mean you’ll do it?”

She nodded. “I was getting a little tired of my ocean view.”

A deep belly laugh came out of Jack. Mariah looked at him confused. “Atlantis sits in the middle of an ocean.”

“At least it’s a different ocean.” Mariah smirked. “On an alien world. So do you want to brief Dr. Weir on me before or after I talk to her?”

With a look at his watch, Daniel shook his head at Jack. Jack quickly helped Mariah rise from her chair and got the office door open. “After…. She’s waiting to meet you in the conference room, right now.” Daniel’s laugh followed them down the hall as he opted to stay out of the firing line.

A sideways glare hit Jack. “Awful sure of my answer, weren’t you?”

“I know you like new adventures and this is a hell of a crazy one.” 

They hopped into an elevator and headed down a few floors. When they approached the conference room, the door was open and Mariah could see a woman, who was a few years older than her, yet she stood as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders. The woman in question turned turned towards them as they approached and smiled.

“General.”

Jack smiled. “Dr. Elizabeth Weir, I’d like to introduce you to Dr. Mariah Gray….”

Chapter Text

What a mind trip the last couple of months had been for Mariah. After a very successful meeting with Dr. Weir and a painful briefing about her past, she had officially joined the expedition. She had a few weeks to pack, review mission reports and put in equipment and supply requests as needed. Then she was beamed up on to the Daedalus for a three-week journey to another galaxy.

Dr. Gray mainly kept to herself during that time, yet she was still able to make a couple of friends, sort of. She discovered she quite liked the company of Colonel Steven Caldwell, the commander of the Daedalus. He reminded her a bit of Admiral Allen and she was able to chat with him without feeling any unease. Also, it turned out they were pretty evenly matched at chess and were able to play a few games during the trip. She suspected Jack had asked the Colonel to keep an eye on her, which irked her, but in the end, it was a godsend as it helped to pass the time.

It was unclear if the other ‘friend’ she made was really a friend or if he simply tolerated her presence and questions. Hermiod was the first alien-looking alien she had met (she had enjoyed meeting Teal’c immensely, but he wasn’t that different from humans) and was a member of an intellectually superior race. He had agreed to meet with her on several occasions to discuss the Asgard people, their history and most importantly their language. She learned so much during her three weeks on board.

As to the rest of the occupants of the ship, she had steered clear. She did enjoy people watching the senior staff of the expedition and felt she gained some insight into their dynamics, especially during the incident with the Wraith computer virus.

But all of that was over and in a few short minutes, she would be beaming down into the great City of Atlantis. Mariah hadn’t been this excited in a long time and couldn’t wait to do a little exploring. The city’s senior staff beamed down first, followed soon after by groups of new personnel. She was going at the end when Colonel Caldwell beamed down since he was supposed to introduce her to someone Jack trusted, a Major Lorne. The General had handed her a letter to give to him as a means of introduction and she was to go from there.

“Ready for your first look at the City of the Ancients?” Caldwell smiled at Mariah as she entered the bridge.

“More than ready.” She stood next to the Colonel and waited. She had a duffel bag in her left hand and a satchel slung across her body. The rest of her gear would be beamed down with the supplies for the City.

“Marks, two to beam down.” A white light surrounded Caldwell and Dr. Gray and suddenly they had left the grey of the ship and were in a room filled with lights and colors.

They had been beamed down to the balcony beside the Control Room that overlooked the Gate. Mariah slowly turned trying to take in as much of the room as she could. There were stained glass windows from floor to ceiling, broken up by greenish-blue metal which almost seemed to change colors as the angles of light altered. A soldier slowly approached them and she turned back to give him her full attention.

Colonel Caldwell took care of the introductions. “Major Evan Lorne allow me to introduce you to Dr. Mariah Gray, the City’s new linguist.”

Blue eyes were filled with delight as they met brown and the two quickly shook hands, exchanging pleasantries.

“I was informed of your arrival in the last data burst and General O’Neill personally told me to make sure I took special care of you.”

“The General is a worrywart and gave me a letter for you.” Mariah reached into her satchel and pulled out an envelope with Lorne’s name written on it in Jack’s scrawl. She handed it over.

“Major, Doctor, if you’ll excuse me, I need to make arrangements for the supplies to be beamed down.” Caldwell bowed his head and headed off.

“Let me read this letter, then we’ll get you settled.”

Mariah smiled. “Sounds like a plan.”

*****

Atlantis was a wondrous place and alive in more ways than one. Mariah was startled when she felt a presence brush against her mind, but she didn’t recoil. She simply greeted the presence and let it wash over her.

*Hello….*

*Greetings Chosen.*

*Chosen? Who are you?*

An ethereal laugh sounded. *You are the Chosen and I am Atlantis.*

*I’ve read about the city’s AI, but this is more than I could’ve imagined.*

*I am so happy you are here. My Protectors will be pleased, as well.*

*Protectors? Please explain….*

A voice penetrated through the fog. “Dr. Gray, are you all right?” Major Lorne was looking at Mariah with concern.

She shook her head. “I’m fine, Major. The City’s AI reached out to me. It was a little more than I anticipated from the briefing packet.”

Evan smiled. “She’s a surprise. General O’Neill mentioned you were an ATA gene carrier and it would seem you’re a strong one. We’ll put you on the list for light switch duty and arrange for Jumper lessons.”

“I’m not sure learning to fly is a good idea. I do better with my feet on the ground.”

He smiled again. “We’ll talk about it later.” He clapped and rubbed his hands together. “If you would just follow me, I’ll show you to your quarters and give you the nickel tour.” The Major grabbed her duffel bag from her hand and motioned her towards a door.

As they walked, Major Lorne explained how to navigate through the hallways and how the transporters worked. Mariah thought it was fascinating and was sure she would learn more as she began her translation work. She had been concerned she was taking the base XO away from more important duties, especially with the influx of new personnel and voiced this to her escort. But he assured her a Sgt. Stackhouse was handling the ‘Welcome to Pegasus’ briefing for all the new military officers and that he was all hers.

Her quarters turned out to be in a secluded hallway that housed a majority of the senior staff. The seclusion allowed for quiet when things were going smoothly and it was just a short transporter ride and walk to the Control Room in an emergency. Her neighbors turned out to be the Major and Colonel Sheppard, who she had met very briefly on the Daedalus.

“Did O’Neill arrange this?” She was suspicious that she just ‘happened’ to be assigned quarters between the military commanders of the City.

The Major really must have found her amusing because he chuckled again. “The General requested you be housed with the senior staff, after all you fall into that category, but it was just chance that there were two empty rooms next to the Colonel, one of which I took and the other I assigned to you.”

Mariah felt a little better as she entered her room and looked around. It was spacious and airy, with a twin-sized bed, desk & chair and large glass doors leading out to a balcony with an epic view of the ocean. The door to the bathroom slid open as she approached and she was impressed with the huge shower as well as the fact there was a Jacuzzi-sized tub taking up one corner of the room.

“This is nice.”

“All the rooms in this section are about this size. However, General O’Neill arranged for a larger bed to be installed and I’ll have a couple of the marines get it up here once the Daedalus finishes offloading.”

Mariah muttered under her breath. “I’m going to kill Jack.” She raised her voice and added for the Major. “Thank you. Let’s continue the tour.”

From her quarters, he showed her the way back to the Gate and Control Room, where she picked up her radio and was registered in the system. Next, they popped into the Jumper Bay and swung into the Mess Hall. He pointed out the sparring rooms and gym and mentioned there were a number of running paths through cleared sections of the City, which could be shown to her, if she liked. There was one last transporter ride, where the Major showed her on the map where the pier access points were and added people liked to visit them to get some space away from the masses. Their final stop was the Infirmary since she had to have her initial physical completed so the medical staff would have a baseline for her in case of injury.

Just as they entered, Major Lorne received a call over his radio. While he addressed the issue, a man with warm blue eyes approached the duo and smiled.

“Dr. Gray, I need to go handle a matter. This is Dr. Carson Beckett, our Chief Medical Officer (CMO), he’ll take good care of you. And if you need help getting back to your quarters, just radio the Control Room and they’ll help you out.”

“No worries, Major. I’m sure I’ll be able to find my way.”

“Doc, take good care of her.” And with that, Evan was gone.

Mariah followed Carson into his office and took the seat he motioned to as he went behind his desk and sat down.

“Welcome to Atlantis, lass. I hope you’re not too overwhelmed.”

Mariah smiled. She had a feeling she was going to like the Scottish doctor. “It’s been wonderful so far. The only overwhelming thing was interacting with the City’s AI.”

“Aye, she can be a little bit of a surprise.” He looked down at a folder on his desk and flipped it open. His head came up and he met her eyes. “As you know, I was briefed about you back on Earth and I’ve reviewed your medical history. It was very shocking to read about and see all the injuries you’ve endured over the last 14 years. But the last exam you had done at the SGC shows that you’re in excellent health now. Also, you’re a strong ATA gene carrier, almost as strong as Colonel Sheppard-and that is saying something.”

“I was made aware of that fact.” Mariah paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to word her next statement. “I assume you’ll still need to conduct your own baseline exam for my file here.”

Carson’s eyes twinkled. “Aye, lass. I’ll do a full work-up on you. However, I’ll be noting in your file only I’ll be authorized to treat you. I promised Dr. Jackson and General O’Neill.”

“That really isn’t necessary….”

“I know, but they mentioned your dislike of being touched by strangers and dinna want you to feel uncomfortable coming here.”

“Well, thank you very much for your considerations.”

Carson rose from his chair, grabbing Mariah’s file. “Let’s get to it then.”

*****

Over the next few days, Dr. Mariah Gray worked on acclimating herself to her new environment. She practiced getting to different locations in the City and looked for spots that would be ideal for her to hide away and work on her translations. On her second day in the City, the Major got her new bed installed in her room and it was a really nice bed. Jack may have been an interfering busybody, but he had good taste in mattresses and beds. Also that day, her boxes and bags were delivered and she started to unpack and make her room her own.

As she had on the Daedalus, she mainly kept to herself, though Major Lorne checked on her at least once a day to make sure she wasn’t having any issues. The only other people she interacted with were Dr. Beckett, who smiled and waved when he saw her, Dr. Weir, with whom she exchanged head nods and Teyla Emmagan. It had come as a surprise to her when Teyla walked up to her in the Mess Hall and introduced herself. Hesitantly, Mariah offered her a seat and after a few short minutes of conversation, they were like old friends. Teyla was so very open with herself and her emotions that it was hard not to like her. And from what she saw of how Teyla moved, she was a fellow warrior, though she would refrain from sharing her observation.

Dr. Gray was also able to start working on the queries Daniel had requested since no one really knew about her existence yet, so she had not received any translation requests, save one from Major Lorne, regarding the Puddle Jumpers and their defensive systems. However, that was all about to change on the morning of her fourth day in the City. Mariah was going to attend her very first senior staff meeting.

It was a bit like organized chaos as the different department heads entered the room. Mariah had gotten there early to be sure she got her preferred seat (away from the doors) and to make sure she had plenty of time in case she got lost (she had not). She recognized a large number of the faces from the three week trip to the City, but a few were new. It was hard to miss when Dr. McKay and Colonel Sheppard arrived since Rodney was talking loudly and gesturing wildly with his hands.

Dr. Weir was the last to enter and quickly called the room to order. She started off the meeting discussing a number of ongoing issues following the siege, then went around to each department to get updates regarding repairs and any new projects that were underway.

Dr. McKay must really like the sound of his own voice and Dr. Zelenka has the patience of a saint for putting up with the man. Mariah thought after the physicist went off on another tangent.

Once all the science departments completed their updates, it was time to hear from the military side of things. Colonel Sheppard immediately handed things off to his XO, who mentioned a proposed mission from Dr. Parrish, the head of the botany department, to investigate some plants that shouldn’t be on a certain planet. There was a bit of back and forth and eventually it was decided Major Lorne’s newly formed team would be given escort duty.

Finally, the time had come. Dr. Weir was going to introduce her. “Our final bit of business is introducing the newest member of the senior staff.” Elizabeth gestured to Mariah, who raised her hand. “Dr. Mariah Gray is our new linguist, handpicked by Dr. Jackson and General O’Neill. Doctor, would you like to say a few words?”

Mariah cleared her throat. “Thank you, Dr. Weir. I just want to say that I’m very excited to be here and I wanted to mention that translation requests can be sent to me through the internal email system. All translations will be completed on a first-come, first serve basis and…”

Suddenly, she was interrupted by Dr. McKay. “No, no, no. Translations should be prioritized based on mission-need and subsequently all translations from my department and more particularly me, need to move to the head of the line. Since I’m in charge of all the scientists, I make the rules and procedures and-.”

Dr. Gray quickly returned the favor and interrupted him. “I do not work for you, Dr. McKay. Dr. Weir is my supervisor as long as I’m on Atlantis. Dr. Jackson is my boss and has given me the authority to set up the translation procedures as I see fit. It’s a first-come, first-serve basis with a single request per person at any given time. As soon as you get a translation back, you may request another. Dr. Weir is the only one with override authority regarding moving translations up in priority.” Mariah looked very pleased with herself, until she saw him rise from his seat.

Rodney McKay started sputtering and raised his voice to say. “That’s completely unrealistic. My requests should take precedence as I’m the person who more often than not saves us from hopeless, death-inducing catastrophes. All my translations need to be marked as priority one and moved to the head of the line. I’M THE MOST IMPORTANT PER-.”

“Rodney….”

As Dr. Weir attempted to interject into Rodney’s tirade, Dr. Gray just stared at him and finally shouted, “ENOUGH!”

The whole room went quiet and focused their attention on the linguist. “Dr. McKay, if you’re done acting like a prepubescent child, will you please sit down and shut up?” Rodney’s eyes grew large and he slowly retook his seat. Dr. Gray continued. “I’m in charge of all translation requests for this expedition and as such, have complete control over how those requests will be handled. I do not report to you and frankly, I am neither frightened nor intimidated by you. You may normally browbeat people into submission, but I’m not like your colleagues. Any person who feels it is necessary to bitch, moan or whine about my procedures will see their translations moved to the end of the line. And if they continue with such childish behavior, no translations from them will be accepted. EVER. PERIOD. End of sentence.” Mariah paused for a second and took a quick glance around her. Everyone was giving her their undivided attention “Finally, if you feel it necessary to enact some form of inane retribution, such as giving me cold showers or locking me out of my quarters, let me remind you, I’m a natural gene carrier and a strong one at that. I will simply request the City undo your paltry revenge and go about my day.” She stared right at Rodney. “Do I make myself clear?” McKay slowly nodded, his eyes wide with disbelief that someone had stood up to him. Mariah turned back to Elizabeth. “I apologize Dr. Weir. I believe you were about to say something when I interrupted.”

A small smile graced the expedition leader’s face. “That is quite all right, Dr. Gray. I think you handled that situation better than I could have.” She glanced at the other members of the senior staff. “If no one has any other matters to discuss, I believe that concludes our meeting. See you all next week.” With a quick nod, Dr. Weir stood up and exited the conference room.

With her head down, Mariah took a deep breath and started to collect her stuff. She turned her chair and looked up to find Major Lorne standing in front of her. “Doc, I’m amazed. Not only did you shut McKay down completely, I think you out talked him, too.” The Major grinned, showing off his dimples. “I’m not sure why the General asked that I keep an eye on you. I think you’re going to do just fine on your own.”

“I appreciate your willingness to look out for me, Major. And it’s best to just do as O’Neill asks, otherwise, you’re just asking for trouble.” A light blush stained Mariah’s cheeks as she rose. “I do believe, you promised to give me a more detailed tour of the City since our last one was cut short.”

“Sure thing.”

Chapter Text

The last couple of weeks had been hell on Colonel Sheppard. First, there was the mission to P3M-736, where they found and lost Ford and ended up bringing Ronon back to the City with them. Then there was the whole debacle of Cadman getting stuck in Rodney’s body. John wished he could un-see Cadman kissing Beckett while still in Rodney’s body. And finally, there was the mission he had just gotten back from. Being stuck on that prison island and held hostage by the prisoners was horrible. But at least his decision to add Ronon to his team had worked out. Thankfully, Lorne and Elizabeth had rescued them at the last moment.

Sheppard was now heading back to his quarters after debriefing Dr. Weir and reporting on how Ronon had worked as part of the team. He was tired and it was late. Just as he reached his door, he noticed his neighbor’s door opening and watched as a hooded figure emerged. It took him a minute to recognize the new linguist, Dr. Gray, since he had only ever seen her in a suit or one of the standard uniforms. She was currently in a hoodie and sweatpants. He’d been meaning to find her and commend her for the way she handled Rodney, but it kept slipping his mind. He noticed she was stumbling a bit as she headed towards him and grew concerned.

“Doc, you okay?”

Mariah jumped and peeked out from under her hoodie, just realizing the hall wasn’t empty. “Oh, Colonel, I didn’t see you there.” She closed her eyes for a second before she continued. “Can I ask you three questions?”

John was confused, but answered. “Sure.”

“Do I have on pants?”

He chuckled. “Yes.”

“Do I have on a hoodie?”

Another chuckle and another, “Yes.”

“And am I heading in the right direction for the Mess Hall?”

By now, John was grinning. “Yes, but why are you even up? It’s late and you seem half asleep.”

Mariah grumbled and rubbed her right eye. “Stupid Atlantis prodded me awake. It’s the third time she’s done this. The last two times, I went for a run, but this time, I’m going to try some tea.”

“Why don’t you just go back to sleep?”

“I can’t. When I wake up in the middle of the night, I either have to do a physical activity to wear myself out or have a cup of tea to calm me. So I’m off to the Mess to get myself some tea.”

Sheppard was torn. He really wanted to go to sleep himself, but he couldn’t let Dr. Gray wander around the hallways half asleep. “Come with me, Doc. I’ll make sure you get to the Mess without getting lost.”

Mariah had started to shuffle forward. “Not necessary, Colonel. I’ll be just fine.”

She began to stumble at that moment and John rushed forward, grabbing her arms to steady her. Once he was sure she won’t fall over, he let go and moved to her side. “Not a problem.”

With a gentle hand on the small of her back, Colonel Sheppard slowly guided her through the empty hallways of the City to the Mess Hall. It was well known the Colonel did not like to touch or be touched, but for some reason, he couldn’t seem to help himself right now.

They discovered the Mess Hall mostly empty, just a few people scattered about. It was pretty late after all. John took Mariah to a table near the windows and got her seated. “What kind of tea would you like?”

“Green tea, please. I’d prefer ginger, but I doubt they have it. Also, make sure you bring a fork and a plate.”

Sheppard was baffled, but went to do as she asked. He noticed Mariah was sitting in the chair with her feet curled up under herself and was resting her head on the table in front of her. He brought back the tea and other items, touching her shoulder before he took a seat across from her. Mariah looked up at him with tired brown eyes, then looked down at her tea. She started to dunk the tea bag up and down in the hot water. After a few minutes, she lifted the bag up, set it against the tines of the fork, which she was holding in her other hand and wrapped the cord around the tea bag and the tines, squeezing all the excess water into the cup. She then set the fork and all on the plate.

Mariah looked back up at the Colonel. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome. I’ve never seen anyone do that with a tea bag.”

“My mother did it that way. Didn’t want to lose any of the tea.” She took a sip of her tea and let out a sigh. “Very nice.”

“Sounds like an interesting woman.”

“She was.”

Sheppard may not always be the most situational aware person, but the tense she used was obvious. He decided to change the topic. “Why are you sitting on your feet?”

The linguist gave him a look. “Awful nosy for this time of night.” She sounded perturbed, but gave him a grin, which he returned. “If you must know, I’m barefoot and my feet are cold.”

“Why didn’t you put some socks on before you left your room?”

“When I’m this sleepy, my fine motor skills are crap and I doubt I could’ve even gotten socks or shoes anywhere near my feet. Hence my questions about pants and a hoodie.”

“Point taken.” John contemplated what she said for a minute, then surprised himself when he added. “Give me your feet.”

“Excuse me….” Mariah was confused.

“Under the table, give me your feet.”

Mariah was still confused, but uncurled and extended her legs under the table, placing her feet in his lap. Sheppard rubbed his hands together, then rubbed them against her feet. She shuddered a bit as her feet were like blocks of ice and his hands were nice and warm.

What the hell has gotten in to me…? Sheppard thought.

Taking another sip of her tea, Mariah sighed and snuggled down into her chair. She watched the Colonel as he warmed her feet. He was a good looking man, probably five or more years older than her. His hazel eyes were very expressive and his hair appeared to have a mind of his own. Dr. Gray had heard some comments in passing about him and his Casanova reputation. She didn’t put much stock in rumors and what she had heard did not match the man in front of her. He seemed almost shy.

“So Colonel, you know why I’m up. What about you?”

“I just got back from a mission and after medical checks, grabbing some food and debriefing Elizabeth, I was just getting to my room when I bumped into you.” He continued rubbing.

“How did the mission go?”

“It was a bit of a cluster f, but we all made it back alive and no real injuries. Though if you ask McKay, he has a plethora of new issues from going to that planet.”

Mariah shook her head and smiled. “Dr. McKay’s a very special person in many different ways.”

John nodded. Rodney was a good friend, but sometimes it took all his patience to put up with him. “You don’t know the half of it.”

“I don’t think I want to know.” She laughed. “What exactly happened?”

Colonel Sheppard began to share in great detail about their arrival on the planet, the attack and meeting with the weasel-y Magistrate after being rescued from what turned out to be a prison island. He had felt something was off with the Magistrate, but Atlantis needed all the allies it can get. Finally, he told her about the crash, being captured by the prisoners and their eventually rescue by Weir and Lorne. The detail he shared was greater than he had put in to his report and even more than he told Dr. Weir.

“Sounds like a really sucky day.”

“It was.” John had stopped rubbing her feet and was looking down at his hands for a few minutes.

Mariah nudged him with her foot and he looked up at her. “What’s wrong, Colonel?”

He started rubbing her feet again and looked her in the eyes. “I should’ve trusted my gut about the Magistrate and told Elizabeth we shouldn’t deal with him.”

“Did you have any evidence something was truly wrong or just your gut feeling?”

“Just my gut.”

Dr. Gray sighed. “Dr. Weir is a very smart woman. She would’ve trusted you, Colonel, but you and I both know she would’ve wanted to meet with him herself either way to be sure there was no chance of working things out.”

“I’m sitting here rubbing your feet… call me, John.” He smiled at her. “And you’re right, Elizabeth is the trust, but verify type.”

“As long as we are alone, call me, Mariah.” She drank the last of her tea. “And be happy she’s that way or you might still be on that prison island. Or worse, on a Wraith Hive ship waiting to be fed on.” Mariah pulled her feet out of his lap. “Don’t beat yourself up too much, everything worked out and you live to fight another day. Now, I think we both could use some sleep.”

“You’re right on both counts. Let’s get you back to your quarters, Mariah.”

“Just keep me from walking into any walls, John, and we’ll be golden.”

They both rose from their seats. Sheppard grabbed her mug and the plate and put them in a bin for cleaning. With a gentle hand at the small of her back once again, he led her out of the Mess and back down the quiet halls.

*****

Fucking Rodney…. Why the hell did I believe him when he said he could do it? Colonel John Sheppard rubbed a hand down his face. I should’ve known better. Plus now we have to explain blowing up 5/6th of a solar system. It had not been a good few weeks, dealing with McKay’s ego and the whole Project Arcturus. Rodney may have realized his mistake, but far too late to make any real difference. He had apologized to Sheppard, however the trust was damaged.

The Colonel had spent the last few hours trying to calm down. He had found a place on the other side of the City where the sensors wouldn’t pick him up. John had wanted to avoid having to deal with anyone and had lost track of time. Now it was very late and he was just making his way back to his room.

With a quick glance up and down the hall, Sheppard waved open his door and right before he entered his room, Dr. Gray’s door slid open. As had happened a few weeks earlier, a hooded figure emerged and he couldn’t help smiling.

“She wake you up again?”

A death glare was thrown at him from under the hood, followed by a sigh. “I think I may have to blame you since this is the second time we’ve met like this.” Mariah paused and added. “Same three questions as last time.”

John chuckled. “Yes, you have on pants. Yes, you have on a hoodie. And I’ll help you get to the Mess Hall again. Don’t want you messing up the paint when you ram into all those walls.”

This time she growled as she shuffled forward and John hurried to her side, once again putting his hand gently on the small of her back, to help guide her, he reasoned. The journey was made in silence and when they got to the mess hall, it was empty save a couple of marines who had probably just gotten off shift. Upon seeing their CO, they quickly made themselves scarce.

The Colonel steered Mariah to the same table as last time, then was off to get her tea, plus something for himself to snack on since he had missed dinner. When he got back to the table, her feet were curled up under her and she was resting her head on her right arm on the table. Her tea, a plate and a fork were set down in front of her as he set an apple down in front of his seat.

As soon as John was seated, he said to her. “Feet.”

Mariah whipped her head up, surprised he had already returned. “What?”

“Your feet, give ‘em here.” He rubbed his hands together.

She extended her legs out under the table and placed her feet in his lap. This time, instead of just rubbing them, he massaged a bit. Mariah let out a contented sigh. “I think you missed your calling, Colon… er, John.” A laugh was his only response and she slouched down in her chair. “Why are you up so late, again? Not that I’m complaining.” She started the process of preparing her tea.

Sheppard sighed and kept rubbing for a couple of minutes while he collected his thoughts. “You hear anything about my team’s last mission?”

“I know there was a death about a week ago and some type of emergency earlier today. But not much else. I avoid gossip as much as I can, though it can be useful at times.”

“Probably a good idea to ignore it.” He had been looking down at his lap, but opted to look up, meeting her eyes. Colonel Sheppard didn’t know why, but talking to her last time had really helped him feel better. Mariah didn’t judged him, simply let him have his say and offered her own thoughts at the end. Her brown eyes were soft and full of curiosity as they stared at him and he felt himself fall a bit.

Then he began his retelling. He mentioned the planet with the destroyed Wraith ships in orbit and the untouched Ancient energy facility on its surface. He told her about Rodney and his assurances he could do what the Ancients couldn’t. How he had asked for John’s trust and help to convince Elizabeth the death of Dr. Collins had been a problem with the original equations and not the overall theory. Finally he shared about how the experiment had gotten out of hand, destroying the majority of a solar system, which he and Rodney had only been able to escape with help from the Daedalus.

John had kept his eyes locked with Mariah’s as he spoke, but he broke contact when he finished his tale. She took a sip or her tea, before she spoke. “You’re angry.” It was a statement, not a question.

“No shit. Rodney let his ego get in the way and I got taken along for the ride.” He raised his voice as he spoke and slammed his hands down on the table.

Mariah didn’t even flinch. She knew he wasn’t angry at her, or even really at Rodney, mostly at the situation. “Dr. McKay always leads with his ego and responds in the extreme when something needs to be done. He either can absolutely do it or states it’s impossible. We both know he’s never right about either. He overcomes the impossible all the time and fails to a degree when he’s absolutely certain.”

John smirked at her. “You’ve got him pegged. You sure you’ve never worked with him before?” He resumed his attention to her feet.

“Good Lord, no. I would’ve killed him long before now.” She smiled back. “McKay needs a leash, for lack of a better term. Give him lots of slack when he’s afraid, so he can pull everyone’s asses out of the fire. And pull it tight when he doesn’t think there’s any way he can fail.” A pause. “You gave him just a little bit too much slack this time. Thankfully, you can live and learn from the experience.”

“Are you saying I shouldn’t be too hard on him?”

“Hell, no. Milk the situation as much as you can in the hopes he learns something.” She chuckled when he broke out into a grin. “We know he has no filter, but he‘s teachable and can be guided to make the right decision in the end.”

“How are you so good at this?”

Mariah was puzzled. “Good at what?”

“Talking me down and analyzing the situation.” He stopped rubbing her feet for a minute to take a few bites of his apple, setting the half eaten fruit on her plate.

“Means I got my money’s worth.” John gave her a puzzled look. “I don’t only have a PhD in linguistics. I also have one in Psychology, plus a Master’s in BioChem.”

“You’re a shrink?” He gave her an incredulous look.

“No… I just know how the mind works.” Mariah finished off her tea and withdrew her feet from the Colonel’s lap. “You need to get some sleep, John. You’ve earned it and need to decompress from dealing with Rodney for such a long period of time.” A small smile graced her face.

Sheppard collected the dishes and put them in the bin, before helping Mariah up. “I hope this becomes a tradition.”

“What?” Mariah shuffled along beside him as they exited the Mess.

“The City waking you up so I can talk to you after a crap mission.”

Mariah shook her head. “You had better hope not. If this keeps happening, I’m going to get cranky and you won’t like me then.”

“I doubt that.”

“You doubt I’ll get cranky?”

“No, I doubt there’s anything that would stop me from liking you.”

Dr. Gray stopped and smiled at the Colonel. “I think that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

John smiled back at her, then got her moving again with a gentle touch to her back. “Don’t tell anyone. Might ruin my cred….” Mariah’s laughs echoed through the empty hallways.

Chapter Text

Major Evan Lorne was really enjoying his job as XO for the expedition. It had been quite a promotion from his job as a team XO at the SGC. Then he had only been in charge of three or four men; now he was in charge of the safety of the 300+ members of the expedition and had command over 120+ military personnel from multiple countries. But being an XO was being an XO, no matter the number of people. He was good at organization and had excellent time management skills. Also he rarely lost his temper and was willing to find a compromise as needed.

Evan also really enjoyed serving under Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, though he was different from his past COs. Sheppard was laid back and very informal, while taking an interest in every person who worked under him, or at the very least, remembered all their names. He only became the fierce military commander when one of his own was threatened. He led by example, leading a front line team and he had not needed rescuing in the last few weeks, which was always a plus. 

On top of that, Lorne had a team of his own, as well as going off-world, meeting new people and finding resources to make their position in Pegasus stronger. Today, his team was on a mission, but not off-world. Dr. Gray had submitted a request to see if they could find an auxiliary Control Room, which was supposed to allow direct access to the Ancient Database. She was confident that if the room was found and functional, translations could be processed faster and more accurately.

Thinking about Mariah made Evan smile. Per the request from General O’Neill, he had been touching base with her on a regular basis. She was smart and kind and didn’t mind the constant check-ins. He counted her as a friend, even though she was always very professional when they interacted. It wasn’t rational, but he really valued her friendship, more than he probably should. It wasn’t like he didn’t have friends. There was Lt. Cadman, who he knew from back at the SGC, his team, who he relied on without question, Dr. Zelenka, who was quick, smart and very funny if you gave him the chance and even Colonel Sheppard, who he served with years ago when they were both Captains. But most of those folks were military and they either served under him or commanded over him.

He thought back to the previous day, when he had taken Mariah, Teyla and Ronon to the mainland. Lorne had done it under the pretense of giving Dr. Gray her first Jumper lesson. On the way out, he demonstrated how everything worked and showed off the mental components of the little ship. Once they arrived, Teyla visited with her people and introduced Mariah around. She had made friends with one little boy, who the other children had been picking on. Scooping him up, she had sat down on the edge of the meeting circle and under the guise of practicing her Ancient, began to tell him a story. As she spoke, more and more of the children (and adults) gathered round to hear the tale. Halling had acted as translator for Lorne since his Ancient skills were lacking and it was enthralling to watch how everyone was drawn to her. Too soon, it had been time to go. Mariah’s new beau was sad to see her leave, but after getting a kiss on the cheek, had been the most popular of all the children. The flight back to the City had gone well. It took her a couple of minutes to get the hang of it, but then it was smooth sailing (though not quite straight). 

Evan shook his head. He needed to focus on the matter at hand. His team, sans Dr. Parrish, were going to escort Drs. Zelenka and Gray to a lower level of the City. Radek was there to assess the viability of getting power to the closest transporter as well as getting the Control Room operational. Mariah needed to see if the room did what she thought it did and if she could access the Ancient Database from there.

They were having a pre-mission brief before they headed out. He, Reed and Coughlin were geared up as with any mission, but the doctors were not, since it didn’t seem necessary. Just as he was about to enter the Conference Room, someone called his name and he turned to see his CO approaching.

“Sir, can I do something for you?”

John smiled at his XO. “Was wondering if you could use another set of eyes?” Evan gave him a quizzical look. John bowed his head and scuffed a foot on the floor. “Rodney is busy on some project, Ronon is beating up marines and Teyla is meditating. I don’t have anything to do until our mission tomorrow afternoon.”

“Don’t feel like having Ronon beat you to a pulp, sir?”

“Not particularly. Plus this exploration mission could turn out to be interesting.”

Lorne grinned at Sheppard. “Always happy to have you along, sir.”

Grinning back, John added. “This is still your mission. You’re in charge. I’m just along for the ride.”

“Of course, sir.”

The two men quickly entered the room and quickly realized they were the last to arrive. Everyone was startled to see the Colonel in attendance, but no one questioned it. Dr. Gray was standing at the head of the table next to the display screen. Once everyone was seated, she nodded at Dr. Zelenka and a section of the City appeared on the screen.

“Our objective today is to determine the viability of accessing and utilizing this room.” She pointed to a portion of the map on the left-hand side of the screen. “It’s listed in the Database as an auxiliary Control Room and was used by ancient researchers to input, modify, archive and delete entries in the City’s Database.” She drew her hand along the map on the screen. “The closest transporter is down this corridor and around the corner.” She pointed to another section of the map. “This entire section of the City is without power. We need to determine if main City power can be utilized to get it up and running or if we'll need to patch into portable generators.” 

Mariah paused for a second before she continued on. “Because of the lack of power, the closest operable transporter is roughly a 15-20 minute walk away, but it’s a straight shot. We merely have to go down two levels from the operational transporter, make one turn and then follow the corridor to the transporter we need to fix.” She gestured to Radek. “Dr. Zelenka has collected a variety of control crystals to bring with us and procured a generator we can work with. The Control Room is standing by to bring power online to this section of the City when requested.”

Scanning the group, she added. “Any questions?”

It appeared there were none, until Sheppard raised his hand and asked. “What’s so special about this room?”

Dr. Gray grinned. She knew the Colonel was going to be surprised by her answer. “This room has direct access to the Database, allowing for faster query results as well as the ability to index the Database as you go. From what I’ve read, this room also has its own control chair.”

Sheppard sat up straighter. “What?”

“Yes, it has its own control chair. It doesn’t work like the main one for the City. It only interfaces with the Ancient Database. From what I’ve been able to gather, the Ancients used it to add entries directly from their minds into the Database.” Her eyes sparkled as she stared John down. “All of this was in my mission proposal packet.”

The Colonel blushed and ducked his head. “This was a last minute thing. I’m just along to lend a helping hand.”

“Well, I'm sure Dr. Zelenka would be most appreciative for the assistance carrying all his gear.” Whipping his head up, John glared at her.

Ever the diplomat, Evan interjected. “Well, if there’s nothing else, let’s grab the doc’s gear and head out.”

They quickly collected all their supplies and waited for the Colonel to return, all geared up. It was a short transporter ride from the Control Room, then assignments were handed out. “Reed, you take point. Coughlin, you take our six.” Evan then looked at the two doctors and reminded himself the Colonel had left him in charge. “Sir, if you’ll take Radek, I’ll take Dr. Gray. “ It almost looked like Sheppard was going to argue, but he quickly closed his mouth and went to help the Czech doctor with his gear.

Dr. Gray smiled at the Major and moved to walk alongside him as they followed Lt. Reed. Behind them were Colonel Sheppard and Dr. Zelenka, with Sgt. Coughlin bringing up the rear. “You may have taken a bit too much enjoyment from that, Major.” The young woman whispered.

“Maybe a little.” He smiled back at her. “But it serves him right for being bored, when he should be working on personnel reviews.” He paused for a second and added. “Call me, Evan, not enough people do.”

“Then, please, call me, Mariah.”

They had already made their way down two levels and found no issues in the hallway they were walking down. There was no debris or visible damage to the walls or doors they passed. It didn’t even look like this section had flooded like other sections of the City. Before it seemed any time had passed, they were at the transporter they needed to fix. 

“Coughlin, get up here and help me pry the doors open. Doc, why don’t you take a look at the door mechanism and see if it’s in working order. Reed, get some of those work lights turned on, so we can put our flashlights away.” Everyone started to do their assigned duties, as the Major added. “Sir, could you take watch?”

“Sure, Major.” Sheppard stepped to the other side of the hall and kept scanning the corridor.

Mariah sidled up to Zelenka as he worked, handing him things when he asked. It didn’t take long to get the doors open and verify the door crystals were all intact. Radek radioed the Control Room and had them bring the power for this small section of the City online. The corridor lights fifty feet in each direction came on and the transporter sprung to life, however the interior map console was glitching.

“It looks like there was some damage to the interior or it might just be normal wear and tear.” Dr. Zelenka shifted the box of crystals in his hands, but suddenly he lost his grip and the box started to tumble. 

Before anyone could even react, Mariah caught the box with lightning fast reflexes. It barely fell a few inches. “Let me hold this while you work.” She smiled at her colleague.

No one said anything. Major Lorne was mulling the incident over in his head. Her reflexes were amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone move that fast, especially as she was a few feet away from him. He shook his head and decided not to think about it too hard.

Soon the transporter was all fixed and once they radioed the Control Room to advise them of that fact, they continued down the hall and around the corner. It wasn’t a far walk from the transporter to the door they needed. Once again, they all fell into the same roles as before and got the doors open and confirmed the state of the door crystals. The Control Room initiated power for the room and it was a sight to behold.

As the power came on, it was clearly visible that the wall just inside the door to the right was covered, from the waist up, by a massive screen, which had a console with chair just below it. This was obviously the manual access point to the Database. Once inside the room, off to the left, was the control chair. Not quite as grand as the City control chair and a touch smaller, it called to the ATA gene carriers in the room.

Colonel Sheppard made a move towards the chair, but a hand on his chest stopped him. “Dr. Zelenka and I need to confirm the chair is in working order before anyone sits in it. There could be errors in the system which could seriously hurt you, if you sit down right now.” Mariah caught John’s eyes and gave him a hard look. He gave her a small nod in return.

The two doctors spent the next twenty minutes accessing the console and reviewing the coding for the system. It appeared to all be in working order, but Radek wanted to check the chair, as well, and hooked his pad directly up to it for a review. Another twenty minutes passed before he nodded.

“Everything appears to be in working order, Colonel. If you just sit and initialize the chair, I will review the subroutines for a final check.”

“Sir, are you sure you want to do this? I can initialize it just as well as you.” Evan was worried about his CO being hurt by a machine that hadn’t been used in 10,000 years.”

“I’ll be fine, Lorne. Just a quick check and we can call this a win.”

As he moved forward to the chair, Mariah put her hand on his arm. John looked at her. “Just remember, this chair is not like the one you’re used to. It only interfaces with the Database. You’ll probably see lots of Ancient text and be prompted for query words.”

John nodded and took a seat. It was trippy how different the interface was and after five minutes, he was happy Zelenka declared he was finished and everything looked good. He sat up and looked at the assembled personnel. “That was really weird. I don’t envy you interfacing with this thing regularly.”

“I’ll probably only use the chair once or twice a week. The console will be just as useful.” Mariah tried to hide a grin. He was worried about her.

“So, Doc,” Major Lorne interjected. “Can we come up with another name for this room, besides auxiliary Control Room?”

*****

The newly dubbed Mainframe Room had been a godsend for Mariah’s work. It made it so easy to access entries and correlate references. The Ancients were not known for their ability to index in a manner that anyone but they could understand and reindexing would be one of the first tasks Mariah addressed. She had gotten so much work completed since it came online a week ago. Plus it was her new home away from home since she spent more time reviewing the Database in the Mainframe Room than sleeping in her own bed.

Major Lorne was hesitant to allow her down in the Mainframe Room by herself, especially as radio reception was spotty once inside. However, she assured him she would let someone know when she was going down there for accountability and that appeared to have appeased him. Currently, though, she was returning from an unauthorized visit, since everyone else was busy dealing with Colonel Sheppard turning into a bug and she hadn’t wanted to bother anyone.

It had been such a shock when she heard about what was happening since she had not seen the Colonel in person since the mission to find the Mainframe Room. Mariah had contemplated going to visit him, but with armed guards standing outside his room, she thought it would lead to more questions than she wanted to answer. She was definitely attracted to the Colonel, but after her last failed relationship (with a military man), she was wary of making any overtures or showing any interest, period.

Mariah was just putting her radio back in her ear when she rounded the corner that lead to the transporter. Looking up, she stopped dead in her tracks. There was somebody standing just outside the transporter in the middle of the corridor. It looked like Colonel Sheppard, but his face was covered in blue scales and his eyes flashed yellow.

Crap. I should’ve bothered Evan after all. Mariah kept completely still, then slowly raised her right hand to hit her radio.

“Control, this is Dr. Gray. Do you copy?”

“Yeah, Doc.” Chuck’s voice sounded in her ear, a bit less formal than normal. “We’re a little busy right now, so if it isn’t an emergency, can it wait?”

Mariah plowed ahead. “Was there by chance a citywide message I may have missed?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Chuck seemed puzzled. “Why?”

With a minuscule shrug, she responded, trying to sound calm. “I went down to the Mainframe Room on my own and took out my radio.”

There was some noise on the other side of the line and a new voice asked. “Mariah, where are you?” Evan sounded mad.

The linguist sighed, keeping her eyes on the unmoving figure down the hall. “I just turned the corner to get to the transporter and Colonel Sheppard is between me and it.”

There were shouts in the background of the call and Lorne tried not to yell at her. “You need to stay calm and get away from him, if you can.”

“My only escape route is in an uncleared portion of the City.”

“I'm on my way. Try to get some place safe and we’ll be there in a few minutes. Lorne out.”

The radio in Mariah’s ear went dead. Her eyes flicked to the side and Sheppard was moving with inhuman speed towards her. All her training came flooding back as she turned on her heels and ran around the corner. They were both fast, but he was gaining. Once she was sure John was moving at full speed, she suddenly changed directions, running straight at him. Just before they would have collided, Mariah dropped to her knees, sliding under him and knocking him down. She got her feet under her as she slid and was running back down the corridor before he could get back to his feet. She turned the corner and the transporter was almost in reach, when she felt a weight tackle her from behind.

The duo grappled on the ground, but Dr. Gray didn’t stand a chance as he had weight, strength and position on her. She stilled once she was on her back under him. He pinned her arms above her head and moved his face down to hers. An up-close look at his new appearance was unsettling and entrancing at the same time. Bug John sniffed at her, then rubbed his right cheek against hers.

He’s scenting me. Mariah thought. She didn’t think he was going to hurt her as he had had ample opportunity thus far and hadn’t. But she wanted to make sure it stayed that way. “John, you don’t want to hurt me. I’m your friend. Please, let me go.”

Sheppard made some clicking noises and rubbed his left cheek against hers. A reptile-like tongue licked his lips and as he moved in, to do what she didn’t know, an energy blast surrounded him and he passed out on top of her.

Suddenly, there were people everywhere. They must have come the long way since the transporter next to them had not engaged. Ronon pulled the Colonel off the young doctor as Major Lorne helped her to her feet. Evan looked torn between yelling at her and hugging her.

He went with the hug. “Are you all right?” He asked as he pushed her back, keeping a hand on each of her arms.

“I’m fine. He just tackled me. I don’t think he wanted to hurt me.” Dr. Gray shrugged her shoulders and Lorne released her. “I think we need to get some security cameras down here.”

Evan nodded. “I’ll talk to Radek when this is all over. Now, you’re going to the infirmary to get checked.”

Mariah sighed. “I’m fine, Major. He didn’t hurt me.”

He held up his hand. “No arguments.” He grabbed her arm and led her to the transporter. Ronon and some of the troops had gone ahead of them to get Sheppard installed in the isolation room, under heavy guard.

When Mariah entered the infirmary, she scanned the room. It would appear there were either very few wounded in the City or they had cleared the room due to the Colonel’s presence. She was leaning towards the latter as she saw Carson exit the isolation room and head towards her and her escort. He scanned her and didn’t see any obvious signs of injuries.

“Mariah, love, to what do I owe the pleasure?

“Major Lorne insisted I get checked out, even though I assured him the Colonel did NOT hurt me. He tackled me and we grappled for a couple of minutes, before I realized I probably shouldn’t provoke him.” Mariah glared at Evan and added for Carson’s benefit. “I believe however that the Colonel was trying to scent me, which gave me an idea.”

Carson escorted Dr. Gray and Major Lorne over to an exam table and drew the privacy curtain around. He began giving her a brief medical check. “Go ahead, lass.”

“If he was scenting me that means he’s releasing pheromones related to his new form, which means, in theory, he could go into the cave and get the egg sacs you need to create a cure.” Evan and Carson exchanged a look as she continued. “I would recommend keeping him unconscious until you get back to the planet. Then dosing him with as large a quantity of the inhibitor as is safe. He can be directed to go into the cave, get the eggs and you have Ronon stun him again to bring him back here.”

Dr. Beckett looked at her in amazement. “That might just work. How’d you think of that?”

“Masters in BioChem and it was just a thought.” She shrugged.

“Major, go talk to Dr. Weir and Colonel Caldwell. I’ll get my stuff together.” Carson smiled at Mariah. “Good work, lass.”

*****

My whole body hurts, but thankfully I’m me again. Colonel John Sheppard thought as he headed back to his quarters. He had been released from the infirmary after several days of transforming back into himself. Carson had waited until almost all the scales were gone before letting him go. There was one final patch on his arm where he had originally been hurt, but as long as he kept his sleeves down, no one would notice. He had spent the last few hours apologizing to Teyla, Ronon, Lorne, Elizabeth and a slew of others he hurt or attacked while part bug.

His team had eaten dinner with him in the cafeteria as a show of support but most of the expedition steered clear. He didn’t blame them, but he hadn’t been himself and he knew it would take time for everyone to come to terms with what he had done.

There was one weird memory that kept repeating in his head while he recovered. When he had been reviewing the After Action Reports (AARs) with Lorne, he had asked his XO about it. He kept remembering Mariah’s voice and a sense of calm that had washed over him at the time. Lorne was hesitant to share the story with him, but since he would see it in the official reports, opted to answer. It was very confusing when he heard the full story. After attacking all those people and trying to escape, Bug John seemed to have sought Dr. Gray out, but hadn’t hurt her.

John had asked the Major where he could find her, but he was informed she had been sticking to her quarters and having her meals delivered to her there. He felt compelled to seek her out, yet she seemed to want her privacy. While he’d been recovering, he had hoped they would have another late night meeting so he could talk about the incident, but it didn’t seem likely.

As he approached his door, Mariah’s slid open. John smiled, maybe Atlantis was helping him out after all, but no one came out the door. John moved over to look into the room and found it dark. 

“Hello?” He called. When he received no response, he crossed the threshold and the door shut behind him.

He thought the lights up a little just so he could see where he was going and took stock of the room. It looked pretty much like his, save some personal touches and the big bed pushed up again their shared wall. He was wondering where it had come from when he heard a discontented noise come from that direction.

John slowly walked forward and saw Mariah laying on her stomach, the sheets around her waist leaving her bare back exposed. Her upper back was covered in an intrinsic tattoo, while another one peeked out from under the sheets. She was tossing her head back and forth, in the grip of a nightmare.

The Colonel cautiously touched Mariah’s shoulder and she reacted immediately. She instantly awoke and shifted to the opposite side of the bed, obviously cognizant of her nudity. Sheppard stepped away from the bed and held his hands up. 

Dr. Gray rubbed a hand over face and focused on her intruder. “Colonel, what are you doing in my quarters?”

“Your door opened when I was going back to my room. When no one came out, I was concerned.” A smile began to form. “And I thought I told you to call me, John.” He had hoped to lighten the mood, but all he got was a glare.

To say Mariah was perturbed was an understatement, but she was happy to have escaped her nightmare and to see John back to his normal self. She had a brief internal debate and said. “You have me at a disadvantage, JOHN, as I’m not dressed for company.”

“I think that’s an understatement.” He glanced at her back again. “That’s a really cool tattoo, what’s it of?”

“My interpretation of heaven and hell. I got it after a bad time in my life. It was a nice distraction.”

John hesitated for a second and asked. “Can I take a closer look at it?”

“Sure.” Came the soft reply. The lights brightened and Mariah slid back across the bed. 

Stepping forward, John sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at the tattoo. It was very beautifully done, with bright colors and immense detail. Without even realizing it, he had moved his hand to trace the images and only pulled his hand back when a shudder ran through Mariah’s body. 

“Sorry.”

“No problem.” A blush crept up Mariah’s cheeks. “Could you turn your back for a second and I’ll put a shirt on?”

Sheppard quickly turned away and he heard the rustle of fabric as she turned over and pulled on a shirt she had under her pillow. She tapped his shoulder when she finished and he turned around. Her hair framed her face and she smiled when their eyes met. John knew she had her hair down during their previous late night encounters, but with her hood on, hadn’t realized how lovely it was. Her reddish-brown tresses hung a few inches past her shoulder and was thick and fine at the same time

“I am really sorry for intruding, but I was worried when the door opened and no one came out.” He paused and made a move to leave, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“It’s okay. I appreciate the concern and being woke up from my nightmare.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

“Okay….” They descended into silence, but surprisingly it wasn’t awkward. “I did want to talk to you about what happened while I was changing.”

“John, you don’t need to-.”

“Please, let me.” Mariah nodded at him. “I don’t remember exactly what happened. Lorne had to share the details about what he saw. He said I had tackled you and pinned you to the ground. I'm sorry about that. What I do remember is your voice and how it seemed to calm the wild side of me. That is probably what led to my capture and I'm very thankful for that.” He smiled at her.

“First off, you have nothing to apologize for. It wasn’t you. Second, I’m happy I could help. And finally, I’m glad you’re you again. You’re a much better conversationalist than your bug counterpart.”

“Can you not say that word?”

“What word?”

“The B one.” Mariah grinned at him. He quickly added. “Carson said you came up with the solution to get the egg sacs out of the cave. I probably owe you my life.”

Dr. Gray shook her head. “You owe me nothing. If I hadn’t thought of it, I’m sure someone else would have. No one was giving up on you.” She took his hand in hers and squeezed.

Right then, John Sheppard knew everything was going to be just fine. He squeezed her hand back and went to stand. “I should let you get back to sleep.”

Mariah laughed. “You mean laying in bed and staring at the ceiling?” She released his hand and laid back. “I’ll either need to go for a run or get tea.”

John thought for a second. “Do you have any lotion?”

“In the bathroom. Why?”

He smiled at her, a devious little smile. “Take off your shirt and lay back down on your stomach. I’ll be right back.” As he left for the bathroom, she looked concerned, but decided to do as he asked. He called out from the bathroom. “You ready?”

“Yes.”

Sheppard came out and saw her in a similar position to the one he had found her in when he entered her room. He kicked off his sneakers (he was off duty after all) and climbed on to the bed, straddling her waist. He sat back and opened the bottle of lotion, squeezing some into the other hand. After closing the bottle, he tossed it on the bed and rubbed his hands together, warming the lotion. Then he started to rub her bare back.

Mariah sighed and tried to relax. This was more than she could’ve asked for. “Have I mentioned you missed your calling, John?”

He laughed. “Once or twice.” He started on her shoulders where she was especially tense and worked his way down her back, getting more lotion as needed. 

“Where did you learn to do this?” 

“I took a class before I got divorced. My now ex-wife had a high stress job and I liked to do this for her when I was between deployments.” 

Sensing his divorce might be a sour topic, Mariah stayed silent after his admission and let him work his magic. He massaged one knotted muscle after the next. John took in the deep detail of her tattoo again as well as getting a peek at the three lilies and connecting vine she had at the small of her back. He also felt and saw the scars that littered her back and arms. While he wanted to know where they had come from, he knew it wasn’t his place to ask. If Mariah shared, he would listen, otherwise he would be content with the friendship she offered. John had a feeling she was just as attracted to him as he was to her, but voicing his thoughts would ruin a friendship he now cherished. As he sensed she was becoming more and more relaxed, he lightened his touch. Eventually, he knew she was asleep. He carefully moved off the bed and slipped on his shoes, then returned the lotion to the bathroom and thought the lights down to their lowest level. He shut them off completely as he opened the door and quietly returned to his own room. 

Chapter Text

Dr. Mariah Gray was bouncing up and down on her feet while she got ready to head out for her day. It had been a long time since she was this excited and scared at the same time. It was finally happening though; she was going on her very first off-world mission. While she did live on an alien planet, she had never actually gone through the Gate to another world, having come to the City via ship. She was accompanying Major Lorne and his team back to a planet they had recently visited where there were some Ancient ruins. They needed help figuring out what used to be on the planet. Also, Dr. Parrish wanted to go back because of some interesting flora he had found. It was agreed that it should be a nice easy mission since the planet was uninhabited and a good trial run for Mariah.

She could handle herself, but it wasn’t like she could or would share her background with Lorne’s team. That was her business and only became other people’s if Mariah or Dr. Weir deemed it necessary to inform them. Evan had been hesitant to go on this mission since Colonel Sheppard and his team had been missing for over a week, but Elizabeth insisted they needed to continue the business at hand, while the other teams kept an eye out for AR-1.

Once everything she needed was packed in her backpack, Mariah headed to the armory to gear up. As she walked, she thought about the last time she had seen John and smiled at the memory. She was worried about him, but knew he had a way of coming back from impossible odds. When she arrived at the armory, Lorne helped her into her TAC vest, then she strapped on her issued 9 mil handgun. She and most of the civilian members of the expedition were not cleared to carry P-90s.

If they only knew…. Mariah mentally quipped as she chuckled in her head. She had a few small knives on her person as well as a couple of Bowie knives strapped to her back. Her motto was that you could never be too prepared.

“Mariah.” The Major stated firmly and she gave him her undivided attention. “Promise me you’ll listen to all my commands and if there’s an emergency, do only as I say.”

She suppressed an eye roll and nodded. “Of course, Major.” The quintet then headed into the Gate Room, where the dialing sequence had already started and Dr. Weir was waiting to see them off. 

As the Gate sprang to life, Elizabeth bowed her head to Major Lorne and said. “You have a go and be safe.”

“Yes, ma’am. Let’s move out.”

*****

Two hours later, alarms were going off in the Gate Room as the Stargate sprang to life. Dr. Weir hurried from her office and over to Chuck at his console.

“We have an IDC, ma’am. It’s Dr. Parrish and we have audio. They’re coming in hot.”

“Lower the shield and call for a medical team.” Elizabeth yelled as she went to the steps. As soon as the shield was lowered, Dr. Parrish came through the wormhole, carrying an extra pack and hurried off to the side, looking anxiously back at the Gate. Next through was Sgt. Coughlin, who was helping a semiconscious Major Lorne. A minute later, Lt. Reed came through followed by several Wraith stunner blasts. An eternity seemed to pass before Dr. Gray dove through the Gate, curling into a somersault as soon as she touched the floor, landing on her back. Power to the Gate cut off.

A medical team rushed into the Gate Room, scooping up the Major for treatment, with Dr. Parrish steps behind. Sgt. Coughlin followed them, leaving Lt. Reed and Dr. Gray behind to explain. Mariah did a hands-free kip up and was standing in no time. The Lieutenant gave her a look, then turned to the expedition leader.

Dr. Weir looked at them both and noticed Mariah wouldn’t meet her eyes. “What happened Lt. Reed?” She wasn’t sure she’d have liked the linguist’s answer.

“Everything was fine for the first hour or so, then we detected movement near our location. We investigated and came upon a landed Wraith cruiser. The Major thought they may have stopped for repairs. He ordered us back to the Gate, but there was no cover the last click, save a few rock outcroppings. As soon as we broke cover, Major Lorne was hit by a stunner blast and went down. We came up with a distraction so we could retrieve the Major and were able to get back to the Gate and dial out. We came back under fire.” The marine seemed to be specifically vague.

“Good work getting everyone home safe. Go have your physical. We’ll have the debrief tomorrow morning, once the Major is feeling better.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Reed turned and left the Gate Room.

Dr. Weir looked at Dr. Gray again, but she could not catch her eye. Mariah quickly turned and followed the marine. Elizabeth was worried about the linguist, but would give her some space for the time being.

Mariah hurried after Reed and called to him. “Lieutenant, please wait up.” He paused in the hallway and soon she was walking alongside him. “Thank you for trusting me and doing what I asked. I only wanted to make sure we all got home alive.”

Reed smiled weakly at her. “I know, Doc, that’s why I trusted you.”

“What happens now? Will we have to put what really happened in the mission report?” Mariah was so nervous. She needed time to think, but she also needed to know what the others would do first.

He shrugged. “That’s up to Major Lorne.”

She stopped in the hallway as he continued on. Major Lorne was her friend, but she had kept things from him. Now her fate was in his hands. There was a slim chance she’d get out of this okay. She continued on to the infirmary. Major Lorne was being tended to by Dr. Beckett and the rest of his team were in the beds next to his. Mariah went to the other side of the room and hopped on a bed to wait.

Dr. Beckett kept sending glances Dr. Gray’s way, but her head was down. If she was concerned about the Major, he knew she didn’t have to worry. He was already completely conscious, just numb over most of his body and he had asked Carson to direct each member of his team to speak with him before they left the infirmary.

Dr. Parrish was the only one who seemed any worse for wear, but that was mainly nerves. He was still clutching Mariah’s backpack, even as he was cleared and went to talk to Evan. As he got ready to leave the room, he walked over to Mariah, returned her bag and gave her a huge hug.

The post-mission exam of Sgt. Coughlin found nothing wrong and he stopped by to see his CO on the way out. Their conversation lasted a little longer than the one with Parrish, but ended with a nod and a smile. Coughlin also swung by to see Mariah, but simply patted her shoulder and headed out. Lt. Reed followed the same pattern until it was just Dr. Gray who needed to be checked out.

Carson approached her with a kind smile on his face, but she didn’t notice since her head down. “Love, are you okay?”

All he got was a “Yes.”

“Lass, I need you to look at me.” Sad brown eyes met kind blue and the Scottish doctor could see that she was beyond upset. “Are you sure?” She nodded. He went through the motions of the exam and found no issues. “You’re all set, Mariah. The Major would like to have a wee word with you before you leave.” Another nod and she hopped off the bed. Swinging her pack onto her back, she headed slowly over to Evan. Carson shook his head and went to his office.

*****

It had all happened so fast. One minute he had been laughing with Mariah as she worked on her translation and the next they were running to evade the Wraith. Evan had been so sure it was going to be an easy mission: visit the ruins, figure out what had been there and let David collect some more of the flower samples he was interested in. Then Coughlin had noticed some movement and they discovered a Wraith Cruiser. He had ordered everyone back to the Gate, putting Coughlin on point with Dr. Parrish, then Reed was paired with Dr. Gray and Lorne brought up the rear.

Before they knew it, there were Wraith in pursuit and when they reached the tree line. It was such a risk to move, but they had to. The Major had felt the stunner blast as soon as he was out in the open. He had no idea how much time passed, but as he came around, he saw his team had taken cover behind some rocks. Coughlin and Reed were trying to pick off as many Wraith as they could. Dr. Gray had been eyeing him and he wanted to give them a sign he was conscious, but he couldn’t move a muscle. 

Mariah started to argue with Reed and she got very serious. Handing her pack off to Dr. Parrish, she said a few words to him, patted Coughlin on the arm and pulled two huge knives from behind her back. She shouted “MOVE,” and everything happened at once. She came out from cover, heading right for the Wraith, while Coughlin grabbed Parrish and made a break for the Gate. Reed was by the Major’s side in no time and had him upright as quickly as he could, but then he paused and Evan followed his line of sight. Mariah was on fire as she ducked a stunner blast and quickly slit the throats of the two closest Wraith drones. As they fell, she kicked the next one in the head and tossed one knife into the neck of another. Even as he dropped, she pulled the knife free. She kicked, she flipped and she slashed. And the Wraith fell.

Then Lt. Reed was moving him towards the Gate as fast as he could. Just as they arrived, the Gate connected and Coughlin hustled Parrish through. Reed handed him off to Coughlin and ordered the Sergeant through the Gate. The Lieutenant was going to wait for Mariah and as Major Lorne slid through the Gate, he could see Mariah running at breakneck speed towards them, Wraith stunner blasts hitting the ground around her, motioning them to go.

Evan hadn’t seen Dr. Gray’s return since he had been whisked away to the infirmary as soon as he was back in the City. As Carson and his nurses got him situated, he kept his eyes on the door and breathed a sigh of relief when she entered. Mariah was upset and it broke his heart when she took a bed across the room from him and his team. Lorne had whispered to Beckett that he wanted to speak with all his teammates and Mariah before they left and had gotten a nod.

As Lorne spoke to his team, he told them he wanted to review each of their reports before they were sent to Colonel Sheppard and Dr. Weir. He advised them to keep their reports high-level and brief. Parrish had still been shaken and quickly agreed. Coughlin had been happy to hear his orders and Reed was stoic as always, but his CO could see he was pleased as well.

The Major’s eyes stayed on the linguist while Beckett examined her and he watched as she slowly approached him, head down. He was starting to get some feeling back in his arms, so he did he best to motion her closer until he could grab her hand and pull her towards him. She finally looked up and the shattered look she had made him squeeze her hand as tight as he could.

“Thank you.”

“What?” Mariah hadn’t expected him to say that.

“You fought those Wraith so we could escape. If you hadn’t, we’d probably all be dead now.” A nod. “I’d like to know how you were able to do what you did, but I can see you’re upset.”

“I don’t like talking about it.” She whispered.

Evan smiled at her. “I get that. I told the guys to keep their reports high-level and to make sure I look at them before they get sent up. I advise you to do the same.”

“Thank you.”

He smiled again. “You’re welcome.” He squeezed her hand again so she would look at him. “Mariah, you did well today and I want you to stay on Atlantis. But eventually, you’re going to need to tell me the truth.”

A sob came out of Dr. Gray and she wrenched her hand free from his. Turning her back to him, she whispered. “I can’t. I’m sorry.” And she walked out of the infirmary. 

*****

Three days after Dr. Gray’s first mission through the Gate, the young linguist was a woman on a mission. She had been hiding since she left Major Lorne in the infirmary, only coming out once for the mission debriefing. AR-2 had kept their promise though and the mission details were kept to a minimum, but Dr. Weir knew something was wrong.

The last three days had been busy in the City. Two days ago, Dr. McKay had sprung through the Gate hopped up on Wraith enzyme, courtesy of former Lt. Ford and his gang of addicts. He had detailed Ford’s crazy plan and the Daedalus had been sent to rescue them. Then AR-1 had been presumed dead only to come through the Gate. Rodney, Teyla and Ronon were all still in the infirmary, going through a brutal detox. Colonel Sheppard had been a constant presence by their sides as they recovered.

The general chaos of the situation had kept everyone occupied and Mariah was able to hide without anyone seeking her out. It had given her the chance to come up with a plan of action. She was going to bite the bullet and request General O’Neill brief select members of the expedition about her past. Also, she had drafted a detailed mission report for Dr. Weir and the General to review so they would understand why she was doing this. She had even gone so far as to schedule a meeting with Dr. Weir so they could discuss everything, which was where she was headed now.

Dr. Gray slowed as she entered the Control Room. She wanted to steer clear of both Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne and thankfully, the military command office was dark. She waved her hand over the chime of Elizabeth’s office and was immediately admitted.

Dr. Weir rose from her desk and motioned Mariah to one of the chairs in front of it. Soon they were both seated and each waited.

The expedition leader broke first. “Dr. Gray, I was a bit surprised at your request for a formal meeting. I do hope everything is all right.”

“We both know that everything is NOT all right. You’ve known that since I returned from PM9-284.” She cleared her throat. “And while I did request a formal meeting, I’d like to cut the formalities and the pretense.”

“All right, Mariah, tell me what’s going on.”

“Major Lorne and his team are aware of my abilities… in combat. The distraction that was mentioned in the official reports was actually me. I was the distraction. I made the Wraith focus on me, which allowed for the retrieval of Major Lorne and for us all to make it through the Gate.” Dr. Gray paused a minute and continued. “Lorne advised me of what he had asked his team to do and told me he wanted me to stay with the expedition, but that he would need the truth.”

“That explains why you’ve been remaining in your quarters as much as possible.”

“Yes. I wanted to avoid being forced to share my past and I needed time to think. However, I’ve come to a decision.”

The diplomat leaned forward on her desk. “And?”

“I’ve submitted a formal request to General O’Neill, via you, of course, to brief a select number of people regarding my past and I included a detailed mission report with exactly what happened and what I did.”

Elizabeth was taken aback. “Mariah, you don’t need to do this.”

“I think I do. I’d like to brief you about the report, now. It should be in your inbox, if you’d like to follow along.” She gave Dr. Weir a minute to bring up the documents and waited for her to acknowledge she had. “The mission report I previously submitted is accurate up until the point Major Lorne was hit by the stunner. I heard him gasp and got a glance of him going down. Immediately, I knew we needed to take cover. I grabbed Lt. Reed’s arm and pulled him behind some rock as I called to Sgt. Coughlin to do the same. As soon as we were behind the rocks, I did an assessment. Major Lorne was 50 feet from our location and there was no way to get to him without someone being exposed to the enemy.” 

Mariah paused and cleared her throat. “Coughlin and Reed were already laying down fire and were able to pick off a few of them, but we had to act quickly. I told the Lieutenant I would create a diversion while he grabbed the Major and Coughlin took Parrish to the Gate and dialed Atlantis. He asked me if I was crazy. I told him I wasn’t and added there was no way I could move Lorne on my own. He needed to do it and the Sergeant could protect Dr. Parrish. I gave my pack to Dr. Parrish, told him he could do this and to radio me when he got the Gate dialed. I patted Coughlin on the arm. I yelled ‘move’ and engaged the enemy. I killed two Wraith almost immediately, then took down a few more. Reed got Lorne away from the fighting and I waited for the radio call. Once I received it, I headed to the Gate and dove through.” Mariah bowed her head.

Dr. Weir had taken it all in as she scanned Mariah’s new report. She realized Lorne and his team would’ve all been killed or taken if the linguist had kept her secret. But it pained Elizabeth that she felt she had to disclose the truth. Yet the decision was Mariah’s and she had made it.

“Thank you for telling me what happened and for providing a full report. Once we are finished here, I will review the report as well as the request to General O’Neill. Who have you recommended be told?”

Still looking at her lap, Dr. Gray responded. “Well, you'll need to be there as will Dr. Beckett. He deserves the full story. I also feel that it’s necessary both AR-1 and 2 be present due to the level of interaction I have with them. The others are Dr. Zelenka, Lt. Cadman, Sgt. Campbell and Sgt. Stackhouse.”

“I see no issues with that list, though I am a bit surprised about Chuck. I’ll send the request and the report through with the data burst this afternoon. Is there anything else?”

“No.” Dr. Gray rose from her seat and went to leave. She paused at the door. “Thank you, Elizabeth.”

“You’re welcome, Mariah.” Dr. Weir rose from her chair and wanted to go to her colleague, but refrained. “Again, I’m sorry it’s come to this.”

The linguist nodded her head and exited.

Chapter Text

Jack hated it when his people were backed into a corner. Deeply and passionately. No one should ever be forced to do something they didn’t want to. Well, except when it was an order. Maybe….

Lots of thoughts went through the General’s head when he received Mariah’s request and the full report of the incident she had been involved in. DAMN was the first one. Well, actually, it had been the first five. Then he alerted Daniel about both and he had said DAMN. Jack had flown to the mountain and they discussed what they should do. He still wasn’t letting Danny go to Pegasus, plus he had Ori to deal with. So it was agreed Jack needed to go, but he would need back-up. After a few calls to his contacts in the Navy, he had found the person he needed. With approval from the President, he had the Navy Commander ordered to the mountain, where he signed an NDA and got ‘the briefing’ about the program.

O’Neill had been impressed with how the guy had handled the news and he knew the President wanted more involvement in the program from the Army and the Navy, so this was a good first step. The Commander had been a little hesitant when Jack explained why he was getting read in, but this guy followed orders to a ‘T’ and agreed to all Jack’s conditions. But since he outranked him (Navy Commander is the equivalent of a Lt. Colonel), he knew things would go smoothly.

Now, there was the matter of getting the two of them to Atlantis. Thankfully, Mariah had actually taken care of this. A translation she had completed for Dr. Jackson mentioned an Ancient facility, so a mission was planned and SG-5 had brought home an 80%-charged ZPM. So just four days after getting the request, Jack and his new Navy Commander associate were standing in the Gate Room, bags in hand, waiting to head through to another Galaxy.

I thought I was done with this crap. Jack thought. I’m really getting too old for this. He turned his head and saw Daniel standing in the Control Room beside Sgt. Harriman.

“Dial us up, Walter.” And the Gate began to spin.

*****

Unscheduled Gate activations were not out of the ordinary in the city of Atlantis. Dealing with the Wraith and the Genii made it pretty common, but it still was guaranteed to get people moving. With no teams due back for hours and all of them up-to-date on their check-ins, the alarms had Dr. Weir, Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne all running for the Control Room.

“What do we have, Chuck?” Colonel Sheppard barked. He had been out of sorts since returning from the debacle with Ford and the Wraith Hive ship.

The Canadian tech turned to his CO. “Eight Chevrons, Colonel and the SGC’s IDC.”

“Lower the shield.”

A minute later, General Jack O’Neill and another man came through the Stargate and into the city of the Ancients. The trio in the Control Room hurried down to greet their visitors.

“Jack, I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Hello, Elizabeth. After the request I received, I had to come.”

John and Evan looked at each other and said in unison. “Request?”

The General laughed. “All shall be explained, gentlemen. Let me introduce my guest.” Said guest was looking a tad bit overwhelmed. “This is Navy Commander Derek Allen. Commander, this is Dr. Elizabeth Weir, the head of the expedition, Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, the Military CO for the base and his XO, Major Evan Lorne.” Handshakes were exchanged.

Since he was aware of John’s bad mood, Evan took control and turned to the General “Sir, why don’t we get you and the Commander settled?”

“Sounds good, Major. We just need a place to bunk for a night or two, a tour can wait until after the meeting. Which reminds me….” Jack searched through his pockets and pulled out a sheet of paper. He handed it to Elizabeth. “I need all those people called to the Conference Room in the next… 45 minutes.”

“That should be ample time, Jack. We’ll get everyone together. Major, please see to our guests.” Elizabeth watched as the Major led the General and the Commander away. She turned to John. “Colonel, could you help with the list of people?”

“Elizabeth, what’s going on?”

“Patience, John. Everything will become clear.” Dr. Weir smiled. And hopefully your mood will improve.

*****

Lt. Colonel John Sheppard was in a foul mood and had been since he returned from his last mission. The whole episode with Ford and his new “team” had been painful. His team had been prisoners, yet he still tried to get his friend to return with them to Atlantis. Ford had been too far gone to help, his mind corrupted by the Wraith enzyme.

Then he had gotten back and found out about the Wraith attack on Lorne and his team. They had all survived with only Lorne having to spend any time in the infirmary, but when he reviewed their reports, it was just so vague and no one would provide him with more detail. They just repeated what was in each of their reports.

Finally, he had sought out Dr. Gray, one, to check on her after hearing her first mission had gone sideways and two, to see if he could talk to her about what happened to him, but she was impossible to find. John was sure at one point she was hiding in her quarters, but she didn’t answer and asking Atlantis to override the lock would not have looked good. From what he had heard, no one had seen her since she attended the mission debriefing. He had asked Atlantis to check on her and the City said that she was well but troubled.

Now, he was sitting in the Conference Room with his team, who had finally been released from the infirmary, AR-2, plus Stacks, Chuck, Cadman and Drs. Zelenka, Becket and Weir. They just needed the General and the Commander to show up and get this show on the road. John would’ve much rather been figuring out a way to get Mariah to come out of her room.

General O’Neill cleared his throat from the door and all the military officers stood at attention. “At ease, boys and girl.” He tossed a thumb drive to McKay, who almost missed catching it. “Upload the files on that drive and be prepared to bring them up when I ask.” Rodney looked like he was about to argue, but a glare from Jack prompted him to mutter under his breath and do as the General asked. “For those of you that weren’t in the Gate Room earlier, this is Navy Commander Allen. He’ll be helping me since he has firsthand knowledge regarding the topic of discussion.”

Several people tried to ask questions, but Jack held up his hands. “Just let me get through this and you can ask questions at the end. I’ll try to make this as brief as possible. In the last data burst, I received two documents. One was that everyone present here be briefed about a specific matter; the other was a detailed mission report from what happened on PM9-284.” 

Parrish gasped and the military members of AR-2 sat up straight. “Yes, I’m aware the official reports from the mission were kept vague on purpose.” O’Neill noticed that Sheppard was glaring at his XO, but pressed on. “Both documents were sent by Dr. Mariah Gray. Though she discussed them both with Dr. Weir before they were sent, so there was no subterfuge and no intention of getting anyone in trouble. The Commander, Elizabeth and I, and to a lesser degree Dr. Beckett, are all aware about the contents of this briefing.”

“And I know you’re wondering why Dr. Gray isn’t present. Well she didn’t want to be and I don’t feel she needs to be here. After Major Lorne showed me to my quarters, I stopped by to see Mariah. She knows this briefing is happening.”

“I need to give you all a little background about Dr. Gray so you'll understand why certain things happened the way they did. Mariah is the daughter of Dr. James Gray, a well-known engineer who did work for the DoD and specifically the Navy for over 20 years. He and his wife were killed in a car crash when Mariah was 12. She was also injured in the accident, but survived. Following her parents’ deaths, Rear Admiral Jerome Allen, the Commander’s father, was given guardianship. When she was 16, she became an emancipated minor and the Admiral hired her to work for the Navy. Over the next three years, she finished three advanced degrees and completed training with the Army Rangers, the Navy SEALs and in Black Ops tactics.

“At the age of 19, she was assigned to the Navy SEALs, where she was forward deployed to multiple theaters of combat. They utilized her linguistic skills as well as her military and battle training. Mariah is adept at gymnastics, fencing, numerous automatic weapons and multiple forms of martial arts. After September 11^th, she did three 6 months tours of duty in Afghanistan, but in June 2003, a mission went to hell. Dr. Gray and the SEAL team she was with were overwhelmed by a group of fighters. They expected less than ten and ended up in a firefight with almost 50 men; all heavily armed. Sadly, there’s no video of the incident, but relying mainly on Mariah’s report, more on that later, we know she attempted to use the weapons’ fire as cover to enter the building and retrieve the intel they were after. As she entered a 2^nd story window, she took two bullets to the vest and was knocked to the ground. She lost sight of her team and was captured by the enemy. When she heard the call to fall back and the shooting died down, she knew she’d been left for dead.”

Jack paused and took stock of the room. There was stony silence and everyone was looking right at him. He continued. “She was held and tortured for ten days. Then she escaped. She escaped by killing over two dozen men, one by one. She got the intel, then blew up their safe house. It took her two days to walk back to base. When she arrived there, everyone was shocked to see her alive. She turned the intel over to Commander Allen, as he was the officer in charge of her assigned team, decked her team leader and reported to the medics.”

Motioning to Rodney, images started to appear on the screen. Images of a broken and bloody body. Mariah’s body. “We'll start at the top. She suffered a concussion, a broken nose, a broken cheekbone and her jaw had to be wired shut. One shoulder blade was broken as were 3 ribs. Her left arm was broken in two places, her left hip was dislocated and her right ankle was broken. She also had burns and cuts all over her body. The doctors were amazed she survived at all, let alone 10 days plus two more walking back to base. I met Mariah long before this all happened and had grown to like her. I introduced her to Dr. Jackson during her 6 months of rehab. She fought to get better every day. Once she was recovered, we got her into the program as a linguist.” Jack tapered off as he seemed to be fighting with his emotions. “Commander.”

“Thank you, General. As General O’Neill mentioned, I was the Commissioned Officer in charge of the SEAL team Mariah was assigned to. I also knew her from the 4 years she lived with my parents. She and I did not get along, but she was brilliant in battle. Not like anyone I have ever seen or even heard of. When she was assigned to my team, I kept my distance since I didn’t want to make matters worse. Because of this distance, I failed to notice that she and the team's leader, Master Chief Cochran, were involved romantically. When he failed to bring Dr. Gray back from the mission, he informed me she’d been killed and his team covered for him. When she returned, Mariah shared with me exactly what happened, that the Master Chief had ordered the team to fall back and leave her. The other members of the team eventually backed her up and one even stated he had heard the Chief mention that it beat having to break-up with her. Cochran was dishonorably discharged and sentenced to prison time. The United States Navy failed Mariah. I failed her. Once she was recovered, she canceled her military contract and went back to her academic life.”

Jack had gotten himself together at this point and added at the end. “You’re being told this because Mariah has decided to trust everyone in this room with her secret. Also, she showed off her skillset on PM9-284 and people are now aware of what she can do. I’m only going to tell you one more thing. Mariah is a kind, warm and generous soul, she is not a weapon, she has never been a weapon and she will not be treated as such as long as I have oversight of the Stargate program.”

The room was somber at this point and Elizabeth realized that no one was going to ask any questions. She decided to conclude the meeting. “I know this is a lot to take in. I kindly ask that none of you treat Mariah any differently than you have been. That is her greatest fear. I’m hoping, since she knows this briefing is happening, she’ll emerge from hiding. Try to show her nothing has changed and her trust was not misplaced.”

At that point, everyone started to depart until John was alone in the Conference Room. He knew he needed to see her, but he wasn’t sure how to approach it. Since meeting her, he had gotten better about talking things through, yet he wasn’t sure if he was capable of being her sounding board. He needed to think things over and come up with a solution. Maybe after the mission his team had planned for the day after tomorrow.

*****

Dr. Gray was almost feeling normal again. She was still a bit raw around the edges, but she was much improved. Jack had been by before the briefing to let her know it was happening and of course, to let her know he was in the City. Following the briefing, he had come back and told her how it went. They spoke for over an hour and it was cathartic. It had been great to have him in the City.

He had dragged her to lunch after their talk and she was surprised no one was looking at her weirdly. Drs. Zelenka and McKay had joined their table and they had a lively discussion (as if a discussion with McKay could be anything but lively). Jack didn’t even threaten Rodney once. 

The rest of the day had gone just as well. After eating, Mariah opted to do some work in the Mainframe Room and Major Lorne had accompanied her. She had been told by the General about Dr. Weir’s orders to act like nothing had changed, but she had expected Evan to say something when they were alone. He hadn’t, but he did stop her as they were returning to the main part of the City and gave her a hug. She hugged him back with all her strength and had basked in the care of her friend.

Mariah had hoped to see Colonel Sheppard after the briefing, but he didn’t seem to be around. She knew through Atlantis he had rung her doorbell a couple times and had checked on her, but only prior to the briefing. She opted not to dwell on it.

She was sad when Jack left the day after the briefing, stating he had to get back for a meeting at the White House. But at least that meant Commander Allen would be leaving as well. He had cornered her at one point and a very awkward conversation had followed. He tried to apologize for what happened, yet her heart said it was too little and too late. She couldn’t deal with it.

It was now two days after the briefing and life was back to normal. When she had swung by the Control Room earlier in the day to see Dr. Weir, she was informed Elizabeth was off-world, handling an emergency. Knowing the matter could wait, Mariah didn’t think anything of it. It was after dinner, which she had eaten with Dr. Parrish (boy, did that man love his plants) and she had just changed into her comfy clothes to read a book and listen to some music, when her door chimed.

Not thinking anything of it, Dr. Gray thought the door open. Colonel Sheppard took two steps into the room and let the door close behind him. His appearance surprised her as he was not in the standard uniform, but some homespun garments and crude boots. He was also sporting the start of a beard and his hair was on the longish side. 

“John, are you all right?” Mariah got off her bed and started to approach him.

Before she could truly react, the Colonel had crossed the room and taken her into his arms. He kissed her like a man dying of thirst and only her lips could quench him. Mariah fell into the embrace, it had been so long since anyone had held her like this. She kissed him back, fighting for control. Soon, they had to part to breathe, but John only withdrew far enough to rest his forehead against hers, eyes closed and breathing deeply.

Dr. Gray allowed him to keep his hold on her, relishing the warmth. She brought a hand to his face and stroked his beard. “This is a new look for you.”

He chuckled. “You don’t know the half of it.” He kissed her again, much more softly. “I’ve been thinking about doing this for six months.” 

She chuckled. “I haven’t even been in the City that long.”

Sheppard pulled back so he could get a good look at her. “You don’t know?”

Mariah shook her head. “I guess not.” She removed her hand from his face and stepped back. Sitting down on the bed, she patted the space next to her. He sat beside her, placing his hands on either side of her face, and drew her into a slow, deep kiss, but she pulled back. “Tell me what’s going on.”

John sighed and flopped back on the bed. He bounced a little. “This is an awesome bed. Where’d you get it?”

“It was O’Neill’s ‘Welcome to Pegasus’ gift and stop changing the subject.” She twisted so she could look down at him.

“You know I went on a mission this morning, right?”

“Right.”

“Well, we found this doorway and Rodney was getting strange energy readings from it. We tested it with a ‘MALP on a stick’ and everything was fine. So I tried to go through the doorway and it sucked me in. They tried to pull me back but it hurt, so they let go.”

“Were you all right on the other side?”

“Yeah, and then I waited for the others to come get me. Eventually, they sent through supplies, but they ran out so I followed a path to investigate the area. I got attacked by a ‘beast’ and was rescued by some local. Turns out all the people there were trying to ascend. All of them were on the ‘path’ so they had abilities. Healing, telling the future and so on. I spent six months with them and every day they tried to urge me to follow the ‘path.’ Then Rodney and the others came for me. The beast was defeated and they all ascended.” He sighed and rubbed his hands over his face.

Mariah shifted back on the bed and looked down at John. “I still don’t understand. If you left this morning, it can only have been a few hours that you were there.”

“Turns out the energy readings were a time dilation field. Six months on the inside, six hours on the outside. The locals let us out before they ascended.” The Colonel reached up and cupped Mariah’s face again. “Come here.” He pulled her down into another kiss.

“John, stop.” She put a hand on his chest and pulled back. “Not that I am not enjoying the kissing, but I need to know. Have you been to the infirmary? Have you briefed Dr. Weir? Did you tell your team?” She smiled. “Have you even been back to your room?”

“Yes, Beckett cleared me. Yes and yes, I briefed them on the Jumper ride home.” He smiled up at her. “No, I wanted to see you first. I actually wanted to see you when I got back from my last mission, but you were hiding. Then after the briefing with O’Neill, I decided to wait until after today’s mission. I wanted to think about everything.”

Dr. Gray turned away and distanced herself from him. “Oh.”

Sheppard immediately sat up and grabbed her hand, pulling her against him. “No. I wanted to see you, but Elizabeth and O’Neill mentioned having people know about your past upset you. I wanted everything to get back to normal. Then I could talk to you about your mission and the whole situation with Ford.” He dipped his head and kissed her. “Your past makes no difference to me. I have my own ghosts and I can’t judge you for yours. Knowing more about you makes you all the more interesting to me. It doesn’t change a thing.”

There were tears in Mariah’s eyes when she pulled back and she smiled. “Thank you for that. Can I make a suggestion?”

“Sure.”

“Take a bath, you stink.”

John recoiled in mock horror. “You wound me.”

She laughed. “Go hop in the shower. I’ll get you some clothes and a razor, then we can burn what you’re wearing now.”

“Okay.” John gave her quick peck and jumped off the bed, heading to the bathroom.

Mariah shook her head and hit her radio. “Gray to Lorne, come in.”

“What can I do for you, Mariah?” The smile was evident in the Major’s response.

“I need your help. Could you come to my quarters?”

“On my way.” The line went dead. 

The sound of the shower starting woke Mariah from her contemplation. She moved around the room, tidying up. After a few minutes, the door chimed and slid open. Major Lorne walked in and smiled at Dr. Gray.

“Hey, Mariah. This is a new look for you.” He gestured at her t-shirt and sweats.

She sighed. “I wasn’t expecting any company, then I ended up with a guest.” She pointed over her shoulder at the bathroom door.

“Guest?”

“Colonel Sheppard showed up about 15 minutes ago to chat after his mission.”

“And he is using your shower, why?”

“I told him he smelled and since he didn’t seem inclined to leave, told him to get in my shower.” Dr. Gray rubbed her hands together. “I need you to go get some clothes for him and a razor, because I am planning to burn what he had on and the whiskers are scratchy.”

Evan arched an eyebrow at that. “I’ll go see what I can dig up next door.” He left and came back a few minutes later, just as the water cut off in the bathroom. “Do you want me to give this to him?” He indicated the duffle bag in his hand.

Mariah blushed. “Please.” He laughed at her. While Lorne went into the bathroom, she sat on the bed, back against the headboard and started reading her book. 

She looked up when Evan exited the bathroom, the homespun clothes and shoes in his arms. “I’ll take these to be disposed of. He was surprised when I walked in there. I think he expected you.” He laughed when she blushed again. “Good night, Mariah.”

“Good night, Evan, and thank you.” They smiled at each other, then he was gone. 

Dr. Gray delved into her book, just a mindless mystery book Jack had brought her during his visit. She didn’t look up as the bathroom door slid open, but felt the bed jostle.

John crawled up to the head of the bed and cozied up next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and looked down at what she was reading. “Any good?”

“Yes, it’s very enjoyable.” She kept reading and Sheppard read along with her. After 30 minutes, Sheppard started rubbing his right cheek against her left one and Mariah shut her book. She pulled back so she could look at him. “Do you need something?”

“Just you.” John leaned down and kissed her.

“Well if you’re not going to let me read, I’d like to go to sleep.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He grinned and hopped off the bed. He had changed into track pants and a t-shirt after his shower, but quickly stripped to his boxers. He had the chagrin to blush and looked away. “This okay?”

“Of course. “ Mariah then took off her sweats and slipped into bed with just her t-shirt on. She turned on her side, facing him and thought the lights down.

He slid in from the other side and gathered her into his arms. John kissed her soundly and tucked her head under his chin. “So, I can stay?”

“Yes, John, you can stay.”

“For how long?”

She smiled. He was such a little boy. “For as long as you’d like.”

The Colonel smiled and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll hold you to that.”

Chapter Text

Mariah was happy to get back to a normal routine after spending the last few days entirely in the company of Colonel Sheppard. He had needed the human contact after he was forced to process that he experienced 6 months in the sanctuary, while only 6 hours passed outside. They had known the attraction was there, but neither felt compelled to mess up a good thing until one of them really needed the connection. They had constantly been in each other’s company since his return to the city, but now it was back to work.

Not that Mariah hadn’t been working. She had worked on translations in her quarters and gone to the Mainframe Room with John by her side. But this morning, she had insisted he take Teyla to the mainland like he promised and she was going back to the Mainframe Room so she could make progress on some more technical requests she had received. Her schedule for the morning was a bit off since she had gotten roped into light switch duty by Dr. Zelenka. But now that she had extradited herself, she was headed to Major Lorne’s office to arrange an escort.

It was ridiculous that she needed an escort to a cleared part of the City, but after the incident with the bugified Colonel Sheppard, it was the new rule for access to the room. Mariah sighed. It wasn’t like she needed anyone to protect her, but opted not to make waves about such a minor issue. Dr. Weir, Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne all insisted they couldn’t play favorites and needed to make policies that applied to everyone in the expedition. She understood that and would obey the rules and regulations that were in place.

Ringing the chime for the military command office, Mariah entered the room once the doors slid open. Major Lorne looked up as she entered and smiled.

“Mariah, what can I do for you?”

Dr. Gray smiled back. “I want to head down to the Mainframe Room and am here for an escort.”

“The Colonel get tired of watching you do nothing for hours on end?” He chuckled and leaned back in his chair.

“No….” She was fighting a laugh of her own. John did have the attention span of a gnat. “He took Teyla to see her people. And I have some engineering translations I need to complete for Dr. Zelenka. These type of entries are always easier when I can directly interface with the system.”

“Sure, I get it. Let me see who’s available.” Lorne grabbed the duty roster off the corner of his desk. Most of his team was available, but he decided to see if one of the new marines was a good fit. “How about we try someone new today?”

“Shouldn’t be an issue, just make sure they bring a book or something. I’m not very chatty after the first thirty minutes or so.”

He grinned again and hit his radio. “Lorne to Napier.” He waited a beat until he received a response. “Report to my office. I have an assignment for you.” Evan looked back at Mariah, tapping his radio off. “Have a seat, he’ll be up here in just a minute.”

Mariah took the offered seat and waited. The Major knew she didn’t need to be entertained, so he went back to the report he was reviewing. About five minutes later, the door chimed and in came a marine. He was young, in his early twenties, stood over 6 feet tall and was built like a linebacker. His hair was strawberry blonde and his brown eyes were hard.

“Corporal Napier, this is Dr. Gray. She needs an escort to the Mainframe Room in the lower levels of the City. When she interfaces with the chair, she isn’t aware what’s going on around her. You’ll be there to make sure nothing happens to her.”

The Corporal nodded his head. “Yes, sir.” He shook hands with Mariah.

He’s got a good grip. Mariah thought. But he’s a little stiff. She couldn’t fault him for his professional manner. He was standing in front of the base XO and probably just wanted to make a good impression.

“Hope you don’t bore easily, Corporal, this isn’t the most stimulating of assignments.” She was hoping to get some type of reaction from him.

He merely stared at her and replied. “Won’t be an issue, ma’am.”

“Well, let’s go then.” Mariah tried to smile. With a nod at Evan, she led the way. This is going to be a fun three hours. Little did she know….

*****

Chuck had been in Atlantis since the expedition’s arrival, but it was his first assignment as part of the program. However even after that short a time, he was already developing a sixth sense for when something wasn’t right. He spoke weekly with Walter back at the SGC and had mentioned it as soon as he noticed it. The SGC Sergeant had laughed and explained his own “Radar-like” abilities. It was natural he said given the stuff they see and to embrace it. Chuck was happy he could help beyond his standard Gate technician duties, but right now his sixth sense was saying something was wrong and it shouldn’t be.

They only had two teams off-world, plus the Colonel had taken Teyla to the mainland since he was still off duty following his stint in the time dilation field. There was nothing amiss in orbit and both teams had dialed in recently for their scheduled check-ins. Chuck was baffled and about to get Major Lorne, when the radio came to life.

A sound of a scuffle came through, followed by “HELP!”

Chuck yelled for the base XO, then responded. “This is the Control Room. Who is this?”

Lorne loped up to Chuck as he switched the radio over to a speaker. There was more sounds of a struggle, then a voice came over the radio, obviously not directed at the Control Room. “Get off of me, Corporal.” More struggle. “What do you think you’re doing?”

A faint voice replied. “Just having a little fun, Doc.”

Elizabeth had approached during this as had Ronon, coming to see when Sheppard was due back. Evan knew that voice and immediately hit his radio. “Coughlin, Reed, Stackhouse, meet me at the Mainframe Room.” He was already moving towards the closest transporter, Ronon on his heels.

“Who was that, Chuck?” Dr. Weir asked.

“I think it was Dr. Gray.” Chuck turned back to his console and reached for the long range radio, switching the system over. “Colonel, this is Atlantis. Do you copy?” He paused, listening for and getting a response. “We need you back in the City. There’s been an incident….”

*****

A million thoughts raced through Evan’s head with the most prominent one being that this was his fault. Why had he thought sending a newbie was a good idea? Most of the people Mariah trusted were in the City and would’ve been happy to help, but he had thought it would be good to see how one of the new marines handled scientist-sitting duty. He rubbed a hand over his face as he and Ronon transported to one of the lower levels just a corridor away from the Mainframe Room. As they started to run down the hall, they heard the transporter engage again and Reed, Coughlin and Stackhouse were there behind them.

They rounded the corner just as Corporal Napier stumbled backwards into the corridor; Dr. Gray steps behind him. The corporal took a swing, which she dodged. Then as he swiped at her with his left hand, she caught his left arm with hers and struck down with her right, an audible crack echoing through the hall. With two quick elbow jabs to the face, Napier stumbled backwards again and Mariah stomped down on his left knee with her right boot. He screamed in agony, but she wasn’t finished yet.

A quick roundhouse kick to the head followed, knocking him on his ass and as Mariah circled him with plans to end him, Major Lorne found his voice. “MARIAH… STOP.”

The young woman looked up, her eyes wild with fear and anger, and realized she wasn’t alone. She assessed the situation and was appalled at what she had almost done. Backing away until she felt the wall, she slid to the floor and buried her head in her knees.

“Reed, Coughlin, get him out of here. Stackhouse, help them, if they need it, and go get the brig ready.” Lorne barked orders and hit his radio. “We need a medical team to the brig. And Doctor Beckett, please come to the Mainframe Room immediately.”

“What’s the situation, Major?” The Scottish doctor asked, responding to the call almost immediately. He must have sensed the urgency.

“Corporal Napier has been seriously injured, but is heading to the brig. Your team can treat him there.” Evan paused before continuing. “I need you here to check out Dr. Gray.”

“On my way.”

Lorne looked at Ronon. “Could you wait for the Doc by the transporter?” A quick nod and the Satedan was off. Evan looked at his friend and could see her shoulders shaking. He approached her slowly and slid down the wall next to her, being sure to not touch her. Lorne could hear her sobs and wanted to comfort her so badly. “Mariah, it’s okay. He’s gone and you’re safe.”

Mariah lifted her head and turned it to face him. Tear tracks were running down both cheeks, she wiped her arm across her face. “I didn’t mean to hurt him, but when I disengaged the system, he was on top of me and I reacted.”

“You did nothing wrong.” Evan smiled weakly at her, then suddenly he had his arms full of linguist as Mariah threw herself at him. Sobs racked her body as he wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back.

It seemed like seconds and hours at the same time, when Ronon and Carson rounded the corner. The Doctor’s heart broke to see Mariah so upset and he careful walked up to crouch down in front of the pair. “Mariah, love, can you tell me if you were hurt?”

“He only hit me across the face. I did all the real damage to him.” Her response was muffled as she was still buried in Evan’s arms.

“Lass, let me see.” Beckett touched her shoulder and she swung around so he could see her face. A large dark bruise was forming on her right cheek, obviously from a backhand across the face. He gently prodded her cheek and didn’t feel any fractures. “I don’t think it’s broken, but I’d like to get you under the scanner to be sure. Can you stand up for me?”

Major Lorne and the Doctor helped Mariah stand, but when she tried to move forward she couldn’t because the adrenaline crash had zapped her body of any energy. Ronon noticed how frozen she looked and quickly came around, scooping her up into his arms.

“Ronon, I really don’t need to be carried.” She said softly.

“Relax. I got ya.” And the former runner headed down the hall to the transporter with Evan and Carson steps behind.

*****

Colonel Sheppard was worried. Chuck had radioed just as he and Teyla were sitting down to eat with the Athosians. He said there had been an incident, but wouldn’t provide any more details beyond the need for him to return to the City. He gave Teyla the option to stay on the mainland and someone would come back for her later, but the radio call had rattled her as well and she wanted to know what had happened.

The Puddle Jumper was going at maximum speed back to the City and in no time, they were landing in the Jumper Bay. John was moving from his seat and lowering the hatch before the tiny ship had even finished landing. Teyla was steps behind him. They were met by Sgt. Stackhouse.

“What’s going on, Stacks?”

Stackhouse would not meet his CO’s eyes. “There’s been an incident, sir…. Um….”

Sheppard was angry now. “If I hear that one more time without further explanation, people are going to start losing stripes. What happened?”

Seeing no reason to beat around the bush, the Sergeant answered. “One of the new marines attacked Dr. Gray while she was in the Mainframe chair.”

The Base CO was visibly upset by this news, but pushed forward. “And…?”

“Dr. Gray responded with force. The marine in question has multiple injuries and is currently being held in the brig.”

“And Mariah?”

“She was taken to the infirmary. She has a nasty bruise on one cheek, otherwise she’s unharmed. Though she became extremely upset after she realized what she had done. Dr. Beckett gave her a mild sedative and wants to keep her overnight in the infirmary.”

This was not what John wanted to be dealing with. Mariah and he were just starting a relationship and he needed to be unbiased in the proceedings that were about to happen. He wiped a hand down his face and simply stated. “Stacks, get the security video from the Mainframe Room, the corridor and the closest transporter, plus any audio files Chuck may have. I also want anyone with first-hand knowledge of what happened and the aftermath in the main Conference Room in 30 minutes.” He paused and added. “Find someone who isn’t involved to take a statement from the marine in question. By the way, who was it?”

“Corporal Napier, sir. He got here a couple of months ago and has mainly been on City patrol duty. Gunny Caitz is handling the statement from the Corporal. He’s had minimal interaction with Dr. Gray since her arrival and is unaware of what happened.”

He knew it wasn’t the time, but John smiled. “Good work, Stacks. You better get to it. Teyla and I are headed to the infirmary, then we’ll meet everyone in the Conference Room.”

The Sergeant saluted his CO and was on his way. Sheppard looked at Teyla, who nodded and they all but sprinted to the infirmary. The room was relatively quiet when they arrived, just a couple of minor injuries being treated. One bed had the privacy curtain drawn around it and Ronon was standing guard outside.

John approached his teammate and smiled. “Chewie, I assume you were involved.”

Ronon shrugged. “Only at the end. She was pretty upset.”

“I can imagine. I want everyone involved up in the Conference Room in 25 minutes to review what happened. I’ll be up there by then.” Ronon nodded and pulled the curtain back to let his friend enter.

Teyla stood at the opening and saw the linguist was asleep. “John, I will visit Mariah after the meeting, now that I see she is well. I will offer my assistance to Sgt. Stackhouse in collecting the requested materials and people.” Teyla touched Ronon lightly on the arm. “And Ronon shall assist me.”

The two aliens quickly left and John turned back to Mariah. She appeared asleep, slightly propped up and Major Lorne was sitting by her bed, holding her hand. Evan quickly stood and backed away as his CO approached and John grabbed her hand between both of his.

It was almost as if she knew he was there, as she sleepily opened her eyes and met John’s. “You’re back early….”

“Of course, I came as soon as I heard.”

“I’m sorry I beat up your marine.”

He squeezed her hand tighter. “You have nothing to apologize for.” He touched her right cheek with the back of his right hand and she flinched. John withdrew his hand as if burned. “Sorry.”

Mariah could see John was upset, just as she knew Evan blamed himself for what happened. She squeezed his hand back. “It’ll heal in no time and this will be a distant memory.”

Sheppard smiled down at her, before leaning forward and giving her a light kiss on the lips. He spoke to the Major over his shoulder. “This isn’t your fault, Evan. We both know Mariah can take care of herself and she did. Thank you for being here with her.”

“Of course, sir.” Lorne looked down at his feet, he felt like he was intruding. “I’ll just report up to the Control Room. See you in a few, sir.”

As Evan turned to leave, Mariah called to him. “Evan.” He turned back and met her eyes. “Thank you for coming to my rescue. Please know that none of this is your fault and I in no way hold you responsible.” She smiled at him.

“Thanks, Mariah. I needed to hear that.” He gave a pained smile and left.

Dr. Gray turned back to the Colonel. This was quite the reversal from a few days ago, when she was comforting him. She pulled him forward to sit next to her on the bed. Cupping his face and pulling his face down to hers, she initiated a much deeper kiss, trying to convey without words she was okay. But then things turned sour as tears began to flow down her face and she recoiled. John pulled his head back and moved to wipe the tears away.

“I’ve got you. No one else is going to hurt you.” Sheppard wanted to take her away from Atlantis and find a way to keep her safe, but he knew that wasn’t realistic for either of them.

Mariah shook her head. “I’m not upset about him attacking me. I can handle that. I’m upset about what I almost did.” She looked him in the eyes. “I was prepared to kill him. If Evan hadn’t brought me to my senses, I would’ve snapped his neck without a care.”

“And you would’ve been justified.”

She shook her head. “No. He was subdued and no longer a threat. I was just so scared and angry.”

John leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “It’s okay. You didn’t and everything will work out.”

“You have to be impartial and look at the facts, the evidence.” A torn look passed over her face. “You need to go to the meeting Teyla mentioned and take Dr. Beckett with you.”

Now it was Sheppard’s turn to look torn. “I don’t want to leave you alone.”

This provoked a smile. “If I know Lorne, he’ll have taken care of that.”

And as if on cue, Dr. Parrish came through the curtain, carrying a large tome. “Oh, sorry. Evan asked me to come sit with Mariah, while you went to a meeting, Colonel.”

Another quick kiss was placed on Mariah’s temple and the Colonel rose from his perch. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He nodded and went to fetch Dr. Beckett. It was going to be an interesting meeting.

*****

The Conference Room was almost full when Colonel Sheppard and Dr. Beckett arrived. Sgt. Stackhouse, Teyla and Ronon were all present and had done a good job getting everyone assembled. Drs. McKay and Zelenka were huddled together, looking at a laptop as they reviewed the security tapes. Major Lorne, Lt. Reed and Sgt. Coughlin were sitting together, but not talking. Chuck and Dr. Weir were also present. The one big surprise was Dr. Heightmeyer sitting beside the expedition leader.

Sheppard took a seat by the door and waited for Dr. Beckett to get settled, before he began. He really wanted to know why the psychiatrist was present, but he was sure Elizabeth would let him know when she felt the time was right. “Major, why don’t you start us off and people can interject as they have things to add.”

“Yes, sir.” Evan cleared his throat and began. “Dr. Gray arrived at my office just before 1000 hours, requesting an escort to the Mainframe Room. I believe she had been helping Dr. Zelenka prior to that since she usually starts her work earlier in the morning.”

The Czech doctor nodded. “Yes, I bumped into her in the Mess and requested her assistance turning on a few items. She was very helpful.”

“Continue, Major.” John wanted to keep things on track. He had seen that Sgt. Stackhouse had set up a video camera in the room to record the proceedings for the official report back to the SGC.

“Most of Dr. Gray’s usual escorts were available, but I thought it would be a good test for one of the new marines to see how they handled scientist-sitting duties.” Lorne cleared his throat, again. “I asked if it would be an issue. Dr. Gray assured me it would not be. Since Corporal Napier was on duty, but had no specific assignment, save patrolling the hallways, I ordered him to my office. I made introductions and they left. About an hour later, Chuck, I mean Sgt. Campbell, called me to the Control Room.” The Major stopped speaking and turned to Chuck.

Chuck started speaking as soon as the Major stopped. “I’d been having a bad feeling for about ten minutes or so and was about to call Major Lorne out to speak with him, when the main radio channel came on. I heard a scuffle and a call for help. I yelled for the Major and he, Dr. Weir and Ronon all approached my console, as I asked who was speaking and switched the call over to speaker and began recording.”

Lorne took over at this point. “The voice I heard was Dr. Gray’s. She was asking the Corporal what he was doing and to get off of her. We heard a faint reply which I recognized as Corporal Napier’s voice. I immediately called for Reed, Coughlin and Stackhouse to meet me at the Mainframe Room and Ronon followed me to the transporter.”

Colonel Sheppard held up his hand and Evan stopped speaking. “Lt. Reed, tell me what happened next.”

“Sir. Coughlin, Stackhouse and I were together in the gym when we got the radio call and we arrived just seconds after Major Lorne and Specialist Dex in the lower levels of the City. As we rounded the corner that leads to the Mainframe Room, I saw Corporal Napier stumble out of the room with Dr. Gray right behind him. She quickly subdued him and backed off at Major Lorne’s command. The Major ordered Coughlin, Stackhouse and I to transport the Corporal to the brig where he would be treated by medical personnel.”

“Major, continue.” Colonel Sheppard ordered.

“Yes, sir. I called for a medical team to meet the prisoner in the brig and asked Dr. Beckett to come tend to Dr. Gray. She was extremely upset and I worked to calm her down while we waited. When Dr. Beckett arrived, he assessed the bruise to her cheek and requested she come to the infirmary to be scanned. Ronon carried her since she was still upset. She was sedated upon arrival.” Everyone sat back and processed what they had heard.

Dr. Weir turned to Rodney and Radek during the lull. “Gentlemen, have you synced up the video and the audio?”

Dr. McKay nodded. “There are only a few seconds of audio, but it has been synched, plus we synched up the three cameras, so we can follow the action.” Video started to play and Rodney added one additional comment. “The first fifty minutes are uneventful. It seems Dr. Gray tried to make conversation, but the Corporal was uninterested. Then the conversation stopped.”

Everyone watched the video. Mariah laid in the chair for a bit and the Corporal was leaning against the control console watching her. About a minute into the video, Napier set his weapons down on the console and took off his TAC vest. Next, he removed his BDU shirt and his belt.

It was truly disturbing to watch as he straddled Mariah’s lap while she lay prone in the chair and he started kissing her. This went on for a couple of minutes, before the linguist disengaged from the interface to discover a person on top of her. They saw her hit her radio, heard her cries for help from the radio call, then she struggled against him. At one point, she got a hand free and pushed against his face.

The Corporal then backhanded her across the face and Mariah responded. She kneed him in the groin and head-butted him. Napier stumbled backwards through the suddenly open door and out into the hallway. They watched the arrival of her would-be-rescuers as she broke his arm, stomped his knee and kicked him in the head. Mariah paused and backed away, then the video ended.

The video was deeply upsetting, but it was obvious to everyone in the room the Corporal was in the wrong and the linguist had been defending herself.

It took a couple of minutes for Colonel Sheppard to calm himself, but once he was, he addressed the CMO. “Dr. Beckett, please apprise us of Dr. Gray’s condition as well as her attacker’s.”

Carson cleared his throat. “Dr. Gray’s only physical injury is the bruise to her face, which will heal in a few days. However, her mental state is very fragile as she must contend with what happened to her as well as what she did to defend herself. I’ve given her a mild sedative and would like to keep her overnight, but would be willing to release her to her quarters if someone stays with her.” The doctor paused and gave Sheppard a poignant look.

He continued. “As to Corporal Napier, Dr. Biro reported he has numerous injuries. His left arm is broken and his left knee was shattered. His nose is broken and they had to wire his mouth shut as his jaw was dislocated and broken. He’ll need months of treatment when he returns to Earth. I was also advised he gave his statement regarding the incident and was then sedated since he was in tremendous amount of pain.”

Good. John thought. He looked around the room. “If no one has anything else to add, I request everyone write up and submit a report as to what they saw and heard and send it to Sgt. Stackhouse to include in the official report back to the SGC. I intend to send Corporal Napier through the Stargate during the next data burst since I want him out of the City as soon as possible.” Sheppard heaved a sigh and added. “Thank you all for being here.”

Sgt. Stackhouse turned off the video camera and retook his seat. No one spoke as they processed what had happened.

Dr. Weir cleared her throat and addressed the assembled group. “I’d just like to say I believe everyone handled this situation admirably and don’t believe anyone will question the impartiality of this proceeding or the evidence presented.” Heads nodded all around the room. “I asked Dr. Heightmeyer to attend this meeting so she could give us some insight into what Dr. Gray may be feeling and to share some suggestions on how best to treat Mariah going forward.” Elizabeth saw John’s temper rising, but he held his tongue.

“Thank you, Dr. Weir. From what I’ve gathered talking to Dr. Beckett, Mariah is not upset about the attempted sexual assault, but about how she reacted to that assault. I know some of her background and I believe that this response is very healthy. My recommendation for all of you is to remind her she was defending herself and it’s okay if she’s upset. Do not ask her to talk about the incident, but if she decides to share what she’s feeling or wants to talk about the incident, listen, but do not try to empathize. Mariah has experienced a lot of trauma in her life and is probably more than capable of coping with this situation.” The psychiatrist looked around the table. “Treat her like normal. If you treat her like she’s fragile, she’ll feel fragile.”

“Thank you for that, Kate. I think we’re finished here. Thank you everyone.”

Slowly the room emptied.

*****

Colonel Sheppard had been the first person out of the meeting and hurried back to the infirmary. When he arrived, he heard Mariah and Parrish laughing behind the privacy curtain. He slid through the fabric and saw them bent over a tome in Mariah’s lap.

“I told you my Portuguese was rusty. Not a language the US Military highly prioritizes.”

“I was hoping you could help me figure out what this thing says. Dr. Pereira left it when he returned to Earth and I love all the photos.” David scooped up the book when he saw Sheppard had returned. “We can work on it later, when we both have time.”

“I’d like that. Thanks for sitting with me.”

“Any time.” He nodded his head at John. “Colonel.” And he departed.

Once they were alone, John retook his seat on the edge of the bed. He gave Mariah a kiss on the lips and another on her forehead. “I see you’re feeling better.”

“Laughter can heal most things.” She met John’s eyes. “How did the incident review go?”

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea to talk about it. I don’t want you upset.” He took her hands in his and stared at them.

She squeezed his hands and got him to meet her eyes. “Just tell me. I need to know if this is settled or if I’m going to have to be interviewed.”

Sheppard sighed. “Everyone at the meeting agreed, Corporal Napier was the aggressor and you defended yourself. Their statements line up with that, as does the video and audio evidence. I haven’t seen Napier’s statement and told Stacks I shouldn’t since I’m too involved. But either way, he’ll be leaving through the Gate with the next data burst. I don’t want him here any longer than necessary.”

“Thank you.” Her eyes started to tear up a little. “How is he?”

“Mariah….”

“I need to know.”

“Beckett says he’s going to need tons of treatment and will have a long recovery period.”

“Aye, love.” The Scottish brogue startled the couple. “You nay need worry about that. You need to focus on yourself.” He smiled. “There are a few people out here who’d like to see you, if you agree.” He got a nod. “Good. After they’re all gone, we’ll get you all unhooked and you can go back to your quarters with supervision.”

John grinned. “Not a problem, Doc.”

“I didn’t think it would be.” Carson shook his head and went to let Mariah’s visitors in.

They came in ones and twos to check on her and chat. Teyla shared about her visit with her people and how Kieran, her young beau, had asked after her. Ronon asked if she wanted to spar when she was feeling better, but John glared at him before Mariah could respond. Rodney and Radek started off asking how she was doing, then somehow got off on a tangent about wormhole physics. Sheppard kicked them out of the infirmary, even though Mariah has laughing at their antics. Coughlin, Stackhouse and Reed told her to feel better and quickly left, feeling uncomfortable with their CO sitting there.

The last to enter was Major Lorne. He was still visibly upset about what had happened and his role in it. Knowing they needed a moment alone, Mariah asked John to go get Beckett and that Lorne would stay with her. Once he was gone, she patted the spot vacated by John and got the Major to sit down.

Mariah grabbed his right hand. “Stop this.” He looked at her confused. “You’re letting the guilt eat you alive. So stop it. You’re my friend and I care about you as much as you care about me. You did nothing wrong. The only person who should feel guilty is that SOB Napier.” She pulled him down into a hug.

He hugged her back. “You're going to start yelling at me if I don’t shape up, aren’t you?”

“Hell, yes. I need to do my drill sergeant proud, after all.”

Evan pulled back. “Thank you for being my friend.”

“Always. Now get out of here. The sooner you leave, the sooner I can go sleep in my own bed.” She smiled at him.

Giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, Lorne departed.

Carson bustled in with John and after a few minutes, had her all unhooked and ready to go. Mariah hooked her arm through Sheppard’s and slowly they walked out of the infirmary. It was nice to know she was loved.

Chapter Text

The entire City was abuzz with activity as the Daedalus had just arrived. There was a large group of new arrivals, military and civilian, plus a huge supply order. So people were running around, getting personnel settled and collecting the items they had requisitioned as well as any mail they might have been sent.

Most people avoided the Control Room immediately after the Daedalus arrived in orbit since the senior staff were usually inundated with things that needed to be completed. However, Mariah was a woman on a mission. Colonel Sheppard had kindly signed off on a request for ginger tea for her and she really wanted it. She knew it wasn’t a pressing matter, but it was the little things that made life better.

On arriving in the Gate Room, she had to dodge a crate of what appeared to be MRE’s, which made her shudder. Dr. Gray scanned the crowd and found someone she thought could help her, though it was a bit below his pay grade.

Colonel Steven Caldwell was standing on the balcony that overlooked the Gate Room and smiled when Dr. Gray appeared. She took the steps two at a time, but slowed as she approached him. He noticed that she stopped for a second and started rubbing the left side of her stomach.

The Commander of the Daedalus approached her. “Doctor, are you okay?”

Mariah nodded and stopped rubbing, though her face still showed a little pain. “Just a stomach cramp.” She smiled at him. “Good trip?”

“Uneventful, which I count as good, but others might disagree.”

“How many hiccup episodes did Novak have?”

Steven laughed. “Just two and before you ask, Hermiod only grumbled under his breath at her once.”

“Then I’d say that’s a great trip. No emergencies and no intergalactic incidents.”

Dr. Gray started to bounce on her toes a bit, though there was still some pain in her eyes. “So, Colonel, would you be willing to help me find something I requisitioned?”

He smiled at her and leaned down, picking up two medium sized boxes off the floor. “The box on top is the tea you wanted. From what I hear, Dr. Jackson had to help the Quartermaster at the SGC find it. The box on the bottom is an electric kettle, there’s a card attached.”

As he handed the two boxes over, her hand touched his arm and the pain in her stomach went from throbbing to stabbing. Mariah fought to not react. “Thank you so much.” She forced a smile on her face. “Well, I need to pop in and see Major Lorne. Maybe we can grab a chess game later, if you’re not too busy.”

“If there’s time. This is going to be a shorter visit.”

“No worries then. See you later.” The linguist moved quickly away from Caldwell and headed for the military command office. With every step she took, the pain in her stomach lessened. She rang the door chime and stepped inside. She thought the door locked, set her boxes on the edge of the desk and sat in one of the guest chairs, putting her head down between her knees.

A hand on her back roused her and she uncurled. Evan was kneeling down next to her, concern all over his face. “What’s wrong?”

“I just had the weirdest reaction to Caldwell. Something was just off.” She rubbed her hands against her temples. She smiled at him. “Maybe I'm just sleepy.”

Lorne was still looking at her with concern, but stood and leaned against the desk. “Are you going to be okay?”

She smiled and it reached her eyes. “Of course.” She gestured to her boxes. “I got presents.” Mariah grabbed the top box and opened it to see what kind of tea she got. “Daniel did well.”

Evan took the box from her to see and smiled. “That’s a lot of tea.”

“I love ginger tea.” Grabbing the second box, she looked for and found the card. She pulled it off and read it. A huge smile broke out on her face. “Thank you for the kettle, Evan. You shouldn’t have.”

The Major blushed. “Sheppard mentioned his late night run-ins with you and your need for tea, so I thought it would be helpful. Plus you were requesting tea….”

“Well, thank you.” Mariah gathered up her boxes. “I should get out of your hair. You have to be busy with all the people running around.”

“You’re welcome any time.” He stood and went to the doors with her, thinking them unlocked and open. “You better now?”

She nodded. “Yes, but keep an eye on Caldwell. My spidey-sense is tingling.”

This elicited a chuckle. “Will do. See you later.”

*****

Dr. Rodney McKay needed to get some air. He took a step out on to a secluded balcony near the Control Room and looked out over the water. Most people would think he was crazy to be willingly gazing at the ocean, but he was on the right side of it now. Being trapped in a sinking Jumper had been one of the scariest experiences of his life. Between Griffin sacrificing himself to save him to hallucinating Carter, it had been hard on him.

But his new ‘whale’ friend had saved him with Sheppard and Zelenka’s help, of course. The Colonel had picked on him earlier about his affinity for the creature, but he wouldn’t be swayed even under the threat of ridicule. But Sheppard had become bored and had gone to look for Ronon.

“You all right, McKay?” A voice called out from behind him.

He spun. “Jesus, don’t sneak up on a person.” He squinted into the shadows to see Dr. Gray sitting on a bench.

She chuckled. “If you were a little more aware of your surroundings, you would’ve seen I was here first.”

“Oh, right. Sorry. I’ll just go then.” Rodney pointed towards the door and started to make a hasty retreat.

“McKay, come sit with me.”

“Why?”

“Why not?” She could see he was getting huffy so she continued. “Because I’m worried about you. Plus your best friend is my boyfriend, for lack of a better term, and I think we should be able to have a discussion without one of us fleeing.” She patted the bench next to her.

“Right.” Rodney sat down as far from Mariah as he could get.

She sighed at him. “I don’t bite, unless you want me to.” He gave her a scared look and she shook her head. “I’m joking, McKay. Relax.” He tried to and shifted a little closer. The linguist took it as a win, then asked. “How’s your head?”

“Better. Carson released me from the infirmary after all. I’m just supposed to take it easy for a couple days.”

Mariah leaned closer. “How are you handling what happened?”

McKay got defensive. “Who told you what happened? Did Sheppard tell you?” He stood to go. “I’m going to kill him.”

“MCKAY.” He stopped and retook his seat. “You need to calm down. I can only imagine what your mood swings do to your blood pressure.”

“It’s a little high, but-“

“Stop…. Please.” She spoke softly. She could see he was nervous and tightly wound. She opted to be more direct. “I heard about the Jumper crash and Captain Griffin dying to help you stay alive. Plus about the Jumper filling with water and you having to fight for survival while dealing with a concussion.”

“Oh….” He placed his hands in his lap and stared at them. She hadn’t heard about his hallucination of Sam, which was good. “Griff didn’t just die. He killed himself closing the forward hatch.”

“To save you?”

“I didn’t ask him to do that.” Rodney’s voice rose.

“Of course not. He chose to save you.” The linguist knew what she had to do to get through to him. “Don’t belittle his choice with your anger and self-doubt.” She knew her words came out harsh, but he needed to snap out of this cycle of blame.

The physicist had the decency to look remorseful. “Oh.”

“People don’t always do what we would have, but Captain Griffin made the logical choice. You had the better chance at survival with your engineering knowledge. He couldn’t fix the Jumper on his own. You had to survive and there wasn’t time to fix the closing mechanism.”

“He didn’t even give me a chance-.”

Mariah tilted her head. “McKay.”

“Fine.” He crossed his arms and pouted. They sat in silence for a few minutes. “I hallucinated while I was trapped down there.” Rodney didn’t know why he shared that.

“Really? Means your brain was helping you survive.” He gave her an incredulous look. “We both know you do better when you have someone to feed off of and argue with. And before you argue with me, you know that’s true. It allowed you to forget about being trapped in a tiny metal box and focus on the problem.” She paused for a second and continued. “So who or what did you hallucinate?”

“Sam Carter….”

“Good choice. From everything I’ve heard, you two have quite the rivalry and she was the best person to fuel your brilliance.”

“Why are you being so nice to me?” Rodney looked at her with confusion and sorrow all over his face.

Mariah slid over to sit closer to him. “Like I said before, you’re John’s friend. He cares about you and therefore I care about you. You were kind to me after hearing about my past and again after I was attacked. I just want to show you a little kindness, too. But if you prefer, I can go get Dr. Zelenka and see if you want to start arguing about those power equations again. I heard him muttering under his breath, in Czech, about arrogant Canadians and savior complexes.”

“Why that little….” Mariah started laughing and he stopped. “Oh, you’re joking…. Good one.” He nodded his head. Then a little smile broke out, followed by a laugh. “Thanks. I do feel better.”

“Happy to help.” Mariah patted his leg and stood. “Enjoy the view. I better go save Sheppard from the beating he’s probably getting.” Just as she reached the door, she turned to him. “If you ever want to talk, just come find me. I’m happy to listen or to get you so riled up that you forget about what was bothering you.

They grinned at each other, then she was gone. Rodney turned back to look at the ocean and kept an eye out for his ‘whale’ friend.

*****

Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, brave Military commander of Atlantis, was scared, petrified, to be exact. He really hoped Mariah hadn’t heard about his last mission. He had just gotten medically cleared and had his debrief with Weir, so he didn’t think it was possible that the details had spread yet. Another princess had flung herself at him. It was the first time it had happened since he and the linguist finally got together. Not that he ever acted when alien women threw themselves at him.

Well, except Chaya. John thought, then pushed that out of his mind. He hoped if he acted like nothing had happened, she would just go with it. His fear was she would ask about the mission and he would just tell her everything like he did normally. Why do I never see it coming? Rubbing a hand down his face, he let himself into Mariah’s quarters.

There was water running in the bathroom and the door was open. He dropped his pack down by dresser, planning to deal with it later. Without really intending it, Sheppard had moved into the linguist’s quarters. But she did have the better bed, so it made more sense than going to his room with a twin-size. He took a seat on the side of the bed.

John had just gotten his boots off when he looked up to see Mariah leaning in the doorway of the bathroom, in just a t-shirt, one of his to be precise. He could see the bottom of the phoenix tattoo on her right thigh peeking out as she leaned her left side on the jamb. He swallowed hard, knowing he would tell her EVERYTHING.

Mariah pushed off the doorframe and made her way towards him. “How was your mission?”

“Good… um….”

“Anything interesting happen?”

“Deceit, betrayal, murder and a minor rebellion.”

“Sounds downright boring.”

Sheppard’s laugh was halfhearted at best. She stopped in front of him, standing between his legs. His body seemed to have a mind of its own as he placed his hand on her hips and pulled her close. One little kiss couldn’t hurt. It was a chaste kiss in comparison to some they shared, but it still helped to get him even more wound up.

Dr. Gray moved to sit next to him and the t-shirt rode up a little, letting him see the tattoo on her other thigh, this one of a rose. “So what all happened?”

“Found an Ancient Atlantis-style city that had been mostly buried over time. And it was controlled by the Lord Protector, who had the ATA gene.” He became distracted as she climbed behind him on the bed and started to unbutton his BDU shirt.

“We don’t bump into many people in Pegasus that have the gene.”

“Um, no. We met this Otho guy in the village and he took me to the “Tower” to meet the Lord Protector Then we had dinner and the Lord Protector got sick, so I called for Beckett to come. Turns out the guy was being poisoned and he wasn’t going to survive.” His BDU shirt was now on the floor and Mariah was rubbing his shoulders.

“And?”

“Um… I tried to make a deal with Otho to give people the gene therapy in exchange for Jumpers and drones, but it turns out he was the mastermind. He poisoned and eventually killed the Lord Protector and Beckett had already given him the gene therapy so he could control the throne, aka the control chair.”

“You’ve covered everything but the minor rebellion.” Her hands were at his waist, unbuckling his belt and pulling it off.

“Otho was going to destroy the village because Ronon saved one of the villagers, killing a royal guard in the process, and in essence, started a revolt. McKay was underground in the City and got to the secondary Control Room. He powered up the stardrives and drained the last of the energy from their ZPM. I then had to tell the nobles the throne chair was useless and they didn’t have to bow to Otho or anyone. Finally, Otho tried to kill me and I stabbed him with his own knife, which just happened to be poisoned.”

“You’re quite the revolutionary.” Mariah was working his t-shirt up and over his head, sliding her hands up and down his bare back.

“Yeah…. We still got the Jumpers and the drones in exchange for medical supplies and a way to contact Atlantis. They even offered to make me king, but I declined.” Suddenly Mariah swung around him and straddled his lap. John quickly put his hand low on her back so she wouldn’t fall.

“Good, I don’t think I could handle you being king of an alien world.” Mariah kissed him. “Anything else?”

“Uhh… can’t think of anything.”

“You sure?”

“Yup.”

The linguist pushed him back on the bed and laid on top of him, giving him another kiss. “I think you may have forgotten to tell me about Mara….” There was an evil look in her eyes.

Sheppard’s eyes got as big as saucers. “How…? Who told you?” He started sweating. “Nothing happened, I swear. She tried to seduce me on the urging of her father, to strengthen the bloodline. I stopped her and said no.”

A huge grin broke out on Dr. Gray’s face. “I know.” She kissed him again and rolled off of him. “Just wanted to hear you say it.” She got off the bed and went back into the bathroom.

John sat up on the bed and glared at her retreating form. “You knew this whole time and were just torturing me?” He stood up and stripped off his BDU pants. He went to the bathroom door.

She smiled coyly at him. “Yup, but I thought you deserved to sweat a little when you skipped parts of the story, just because you thought I’d get jealous or angry with you. I’m not that kind of girl.”

He growled at her and swept her into his arms. He gave her a deep kiss. “What am I going to do with you?”

“I can think of a few things.”

*****

The last 24 hours had been crazy. Dr. Weir and Colonel Sheppard had been imprinted with the minds of two aliens who were the last surviving opponents in a devastating war and were determined to kill each other before they finally died. They each wished to win for their side.

Once the imprinting faded and they had been cleared to leave the infirmary, Elizabeth had returned to her office. There she could hide and collect her thoughts. It had been weird and she assumed it was similar to how the host of a Goa’uld felt. The loss of control had been terrifying; to watch yourself do horrible things to people you cared about and have no ability to stop it.

The doors to the office chimed and for a minute she was tempted to ignore it, but she was the leader of the expedition and wanted to set a good example. Letting the doors slide open, Dr. Weir rose to meet her guest and had to stop herself from blushing when Dr. Gray entered.

“Mariah, what can I do for you?” Her voice didn’t tremble as far as she could tell.

The younger woman smiled. “Just came to check on you. Heard it was a bit of an intense day.”

“Definitely an understatement. Please sit.” Dr. Weir indicated one of the chairs across from her. Mariah quickly sat and gave her an apprising look. She tried not to squirm, then realized. “You know?”

“Of course. John’s learned that trying to keep things from me is not good for his blood pressure.” Mariah smiled. “You are no way at fault. You were possessed by an alien mind.” The smile morphed into a smirk. “Plus who wouldn’t want to kiss John.”

The tension left Elizabeth and she smiled back. “He does seem to get a lot of offers.”

“Every time they go off-world from what McKay says.” They sat smiling at each other. “It has to be hard on you though.”

Weir tilted her head and questioned. “How so?”

“You’re in charge of everyone here so that leaves you no one to even be interested in, let alone date.”

“Very true, but I knew what I was signing up for when I chose to lead the expedition.” She squared her shoulders.

“Doesn’t make it any easier.” Mariah looked down. “I was made aware of the relationship you left behind to come here and how he moved on while you were gone.”

Now the diplomat looked angry. “That is none of your business.”

Dr. Gray looked up and met her eyes. “I know that. What I’m trying to say is I know how it is to give up what you want in order to do what you feel you need to. That’s basically been the story of my life. Until I came to the SGC and met Jack and Daniel. Finally, I get to use my intellect for something I wanted, instead of being the pointy end of the spear.”

Elizabeth had the decency to look embarrassed. “I’m sorry I snapped.”

“You’ve had a rough day and I took the conversation and turned it all serious, so my bad. I just wanted to offer you a sympathetic ear if you ever want to talk.” Mariah rose from her seat and backed up towards the door. “Have a good evening Elizabeth. Don’t be too hard on yourself. We’re all just human.”

Then she was gone and Dr. Weir was left alone with her thoughts again. It was nice to know she wasn’t alone in feeling the way she felt. But the linguist got to have romance in her life now and she was happy for her friend. Maybe someday she’d get the chance again. But for now, she’d stay in Atlantis as long as she could and enjoy the ride. A smile graced her lips.

Chapter Text

Being in charge of a company of marines was a test of one’s patience. Most days as long as there was something going on, some activity, everything was fine. But the minute they get bored, it was like dealing with toddlers. They got up to mischief, played pranks, and made the civilians nervous.

Major Lorne rubbed a hand down his face as he transported to a recently cleared corridor of the City. Sgt. Stackhouse had taken a team to this hallway, looking for a lab at the bequest of the xenobiologists. Sadly, they hadn’t found it, but they still went ahead and cleared the area. One of the rooms discovered appeared to have been an auditorium of some sort. It had a stage at one end and the rest of the room was large and wide open. Today, he had overheard a couple of the marines talking about the possibility of turning this room into a ‘fight club’ space.

Fighting was discouraged outside of the sparring rooms and Evan could not afford to have anyone under his command getting into brutal fights with one another. It set a bad example and hurt morale. So instead of prepping for his next mission, he was going to see what the room looked like and what could be done to avoid it being misused.

As he approached, he heard the faint sounds of music and when the door opened, Rob Thomas’s ‘Lonely No More’ washed over him. He walked just inside the door, letting it slide shut behind him and immediately saw what was going on. An iPod was hooked up to a portable speaker and someone was doing an intrinsic gymnastics/dance routine in the space.

Lorne smiled when he realized it was Dr. Gray. It was amazing to watch her move in harmony with the song. Hand-springs, flips and jumps were combined with precise dance moves. It was breathtaking and he itched for a sketch pad to capture just a moment of it.

As the music stopped, so did Mariah. She went to her iPod and shut it off, turning to her friend with a blush creeping up her neck. “Sorry, Stacks mentioned finding this space and when I saw it, I was reminded of some of the gymnastic studios I trained at. I sneak down here when I want to work out.”

“No problem. I just came down here to make sure the place hadn’t been turned into a cage-match arena.” Mariah gave him a quizzical look. “Never mind.” Evan took in her appearance. She was dressed in leggings and a sports bra. During her routine, he had noticed that she had several tattoos. “I didn’t know you had ink.”

She blushed again. “Yeah I have a few. A half-back of heaven and hell, three lilies on the small of my back, an orchid around my right breast, the words “Be Still” in Greek over my left and a couple others.”

Evan moved a little closer. From what he could see, they all looked really well done. “They’re amazing. I just have a couple of tribal designs.”

“I'm sure they’re just as nice.” She paused for a second. “Don’t you have a mission you should be prepping for?”

“Yeah, but the marines are bored and I have to make sure they stay out of trouble.”

“I don’t envy you. So what’s the mission?”

Lorne thought for a second. “A couple of the newer guys and I are taking Dr. Lindsay to M1K-177. She’s an anthropologist and has been getting to know the locals.”

“A milk run in essence.”

He nodded. “I hope so.” He paused, working up the nerve to ask a question. “When I get back, would you be willing to let me sketch you while you do one of your routines down here?”

A huge grin broke out on the linguist’s face. “I’d love that.”

“Well I better go get ready.”

“Be safe, Evan.”

*****

The tears didn’t seem to want to stop coming as Mariah gripped Evan’s dog tags in her hand. John had come by earlier and told her the news. Dr. Lindsay had called for help because Lorne and his men were under attack. When AR-1 had arrived at their last known location, they found smoking rubble and three bodies burned beyond recognition. But all three had dog tags. He had given her Lorne’s, temporarily, because once they knew what happened, they would be sent home to his family… on Earth.

Mariah had asked Sheppard to leave her alone, wrapped herself in a blanket and gone out to her balcony. She had collapsed against the railing and just started crying. She knew she had John and all her other friends, but Evan was special. He had been her friend from the start. Although, he had been nice to her at the start due to orders from O’Neill, but it grew from there. She could joke with him and share her secrets. He made her feel safe and cared for.

She could feel Atlantis reaching out to her and trying to soothe her mind, but who she really wanted would never be coming back. No more bear hugs or dimpled smiles. Mariah knew John was hurting too since he had known Lorne for many years and truly trusted and relied on him.

But she couldn't think about that right now. She needed to get the tears out, so anger could take their place. As soon as Teyla and Ronon figured out who had done this, Dr. Gray would turn back into the warrior and lay waste to them, making them feel the pain of her loss.

The night’s air was chilly and even with the blanket, she was getting cold. Then John was there, helping her up and wrapping his arms around her. He almost carried her inside and sat her on the bed. He walked away for a minute and came back with a warm wet cloth. Tilting her head up, he wiped the tear tracks from her face and kissed her forehead.

Having set the cloth down next to her on the bed, Sheppard gently grabbed her hand which was still clutching the dog tags and started to pry it open. Mariah struggled for a moment and he said to her. “I promise I’m not taking them away.” Slowly, she let them go. Picking them up, he took the wet cloth in his other hand and cleaned the soot off of them and the chain. He looped the chain over her head and let the tags hang down around her neck. Next he grabbed her hand and cleaned the soot off it too.

John tossed the cloth towards the bathroom and picked up a mug from the bedside table. He placed it in her hands, making sure she had a firm grip before he let go. Mariah sniffed at the contents and smelled the ginger tea she had gotten a couple of months ago, which made her think of Evan’s gift. She fought not to start crying again and took a sip.

After a few minutes, she felt the blanket being lifted from her shoulders and he was back in front of her. Mariah looked up at him. “Finished?” She nodded and he took the mug from her hands, putting it back beside the bed. A soft nudge to her hip had her sliding off the bed. John pulled the sheets back and helped her remove her sweats. Once he got her into bed, he disappeared for a few minutes, getting himself ready for sleep. She burrowed under the covers and tried to keep the tears from coming back.

The lights dimmed and Sheppard joined her. Mariah moved to kiss John, who let her take the comfort she needed, before she turned over and he spooned her, wrapping his arms around her.

“We’ll figure this out, baby.” He whispered and nuzzled her neck. “We’ll get him justice.”

Mariah nodded. “I know. I just want it to stop hurting.” She fought a sob.

“It will. I’ve got you.”

Mariah snuggled back against him and gripped the dog tags hanging around her neck, before closing her eyes and letting sleep claim her.

*****

Waking up was much more painful than it normally was for Major Lorne, but then he realized he was lying on the ground. He pried his eyes open slowly and took stock of his situation. He was lying on the hard, dirty floor of what appeared to be a warehouse. There were cell bars in front of him and as he slowly pushed himself up, he looked down to see he was no longer in uniform, but some dingy natural fiber-looking clothes. Evan felt his chest and realized that his dog tags were also gone.

Crap. What the hell is going on here? Lorne was baffled. The last thing he remembered was the firefight and sending Dr. Lindsay to the Gate to get help. Then nothing. Slowly, he got to his feet and looked around his cell. It was much bigger than he thought it would be and it was set away from the walls, making escape all the harder. He saw the two new-ish marines he had been with on M1K-177 and they looked like they were just starting to come around, too.

Lorne knew this meant something bigger was going on since they had been captured and not killed outright. He was happy to see Dr. Lindsay had apparently gotten away as she wasn’t in the cell with them. Then a realization struck him: everyone here had the ATA gene, both natural and artificial, which he assumed meant they were needed for their abilities to access Ancient technology (Dr. Lindsay was neither). He checked on the status of his men and they both seemed to be all right, just a little battered around. Neither man had seen who their abductors were, but the Major had a sneaking suspicion.

It proved to be true when two Genii soldiers appeared through a door at the end of the room, followed closely by the man Lorne knew to be Ladon Radim (from photos). The soldiers pulled Lorne from the cell and when his men tried to help him, he ordered them to stand down since Ladon had a gun pointed at them. He spent an hour being questioned about the ATA gene and the therapy Beckett had developed. When Ladon tried to get him to activate some Ancient gadgets, he refused. Even when the soldiers hit him over and over, he still refused. They tried to take a blood sample and he fought. Eventually, they sliced his arm open and took the blood that way. He was dragged back to the cell and they repeated the scenario with his men.

The marines and their CO stood strong, but they all knew that the routine would be repeated ad nauseam. While Evan recovered from his session, he thought of Atlantis and knew Sheppard would come for them. The Colonel did not leave people behind. These thoughts led him to think about Mariah Gray. She may have been involved with Colonel Sheppard, but in some ways, she was closer to Evan. He felt more for her than he should. She had become a bright spot to every day he was in the City. When she stopped by his office, he found himself smiling non-stop and laughing often. Mariah put him at ease and was just so easy to talk to. It could be because of what she had experienced in her life, but he was tempted to say it was simply magic.

He thought back to the morning of his capture and remembered her doing that gymnastic routine. He had sworn he saw her fly and imagined that what she felt when she jumped and tumbled was what he felt in the cockpit of a plane. It was exhilarating and freeing.

These thoughts were what helped him through each interrogation session and he stayed as stoic as possible on the outside, so his men would remain strong with him. Evan could survive this, because he knew help would come and his friend would be waiting for him.

*****

Dr. Gray was walking up the steps to the Control Room just as Colonel Sheppard and Dr. McKay were leaving their impromptu meeting with Dr. Weir.

“I wanna help.” She stated simply, her eyes locked on the military commander for the expedition.

The Colonel gave her a look and spoke to the others without takes his eyes off her. “McKay, boys, go get everything ready.” Once they were gone, he spoke to the linguist. “What are you talking about?”

“The raid. I heard you talking.”

“Not happening. You’re staying here.”

“Sheppard, you have to let me do this. I need to be able to do something right now. Lorne is probably alive, but I’m not allowed to help with the investigation. This is something I can do.”

“Mariah….” John looked torn. He wanted to keep her safe, but knew she would be an asset on the mission.

“I NEED to do this.” She straightened her shoulders. “Think of me as the backup plan. Leave me by the Gate and check-in with me every fifteen minutes. A double click, nothing more. If I don’t hear from you, I can mount a rescue.”

He was still unsure.

“I need this, John. Please….” She wasn’t going to give up and he knew that.

“All right, but you’re just the backup. You won’t be going with the strike team.

“Deal.” She was pleased with herself. Getting her way did that. Hurrying away before he changed his mind, Mariah went to prepare.

When Dr. Mariah Gray reentered the Gate Room, every man stopped what they were doing. Some even did double takes since that couldn’t be the expedition’s linguist. She wore tight leather pants, heeled black boots, a black corset top and a black leather jacket, several knife hilts were visible, in different places. If someone had looked closely, they would’ve seen a chain was looped around her neck and disappeared into her corset. She looked up to the Control Room and nodded at Dr. Weir.

The expedition leader nodded back and elbowed Dr. McKay so he would shut his mouth and join the assembled team. Sheppard looked at his girlfriend and found himself incredibly turned on. When she approached, he sidled up to her. “Any chance you’d be willing to wear this outfit later… when we get back… and are alone…?”

“Focus, Colonel.”

John snapped back to the mission at hand. “All right, boys and girl, let’s go get ourselves a ZPM.”

*****

Stupid men, always thinking they're smarter than the other guy. Sheppard should’ve known this whole thing was a trap. Everything the Genii do is a trap. Mariah had stayed by the Gate even when John had missed his check-in. She watched as more and more Genii troops arrived on the planet. When she heard the radio call from Cowen back to Atlantis, she knew she had to act since she only had 15 minutes.

Darting from building to building wasn’t hard as the bad guys thought they had gotten everyone that was a threat locked up. She paused and held herself flat against a wall when she saw the Colonel being escorted by a single Genii soldier to one of the buildings. She knew she could get Sheppard free, but she couldn’t abandon the others. So she waited for the soldier to leave and slipped into the building. Thankfully, the interior was relatively dark and she could move amongst the shadows.

Eventually, a cell came into view and she could see the people inside were slowly coming around. John and a few others were already awake. And one of those was Lorne. She kept herself calm since she couldn’t dare be emotional right now. There was no key in sight, so she would have to wait for them to return… for them to return to kill John.

The time passed quickly and she got herself into position. The soldier from before returned with friends. He swung open the door and pointed his gun at Sheppard. She didn’t wait for him to speak, just moved. Mariah came up behind him before any of the other soldiers could even react. She forced his gun arm up with her right hand, twisting him so he was against her front and her back was against the cell. Her left hand came around his waist, pressing a knife against his genitalia.

“No one move or your friend here will very much wish that you hadn’t.” She looked at John.

“Do as she says.” Ladon stuttered, very afraid of what she might do.

“Sheppard, get his gun.” John did as she said. Mariah slowly released her captive’s arm and came around him, the knife still firmly in place. “You’re smarter than you look.”

Ladon looked at the woman holding his family jewels hostage and smiled at John. “Your new compatriot is quite effective, Colonel. I wonder what would have happened if she had been around during our previous encounters.”

“You’d be dead.” The military CO fought a smile. “Dr. Mariah Gray meet Ladon Radim, chief scientist for the Genii.”

“A doctor of what?”

“None of your business.” Mariah looked at John. “I assume I have to let him go, intact.”

“Would make things go a little easier.” He did smile this time and as she slowly withdrew her knife from Ladon’s crotch.

As John and Ladon spoke, Mariah moved to stand next to Lorne. She was so happy to see him, but she kept her emotions in check.

Evan whispered to her. “Have you ever actually… you know?”

There was an evil glint in her eyes. “Twice. I’ve found that men usually stop chasing you if their ability to have children is threatened or removed.” She nudged his shoulder with hers, winked at him and they started moving.

Exiting the warehouse and getting off the planet happened in a blur. It appeared there was a coup going on after all and Atlantis had simply been a pawn in the game. Ladon and his men stayed armed until everyone was through the Gate. Then they surrendered peacefully. Lorne and his men were whisked off to the infirmary and after a brief chat, Ladon went to see his sister. The mission was a success and everyone came back alive.

Mariah caught John before he went to debrief Dr. Weir. “Thanks for letting me go.”

“Glad you were there. Wouldn’t have missed you threatening Ladon for the world.”

She smiled. “That was kinda fun.”

Sheppard smirked. “So will I see you in this outfit… later?”

“Don’t push your luck, fly boy.”

*****

Major Lorne was so happy to be home. He and the marines had returned to Atlantis and for the most part they were none the worse for wear. Ladon had been pleased his sister could be saved and had asked for Atlantis’s help in treating others. Dr. Weir had agreed and off he went to continue his coup, which turned out successfully. Lorne had to stay in the infirmary overnight because Beckett was concerned about his cuts getting infected and had treated him with some heavy duty antibiotics.

But now he was free and had the next few days off to recuperate and let everyone see he wasn’t dead. As Carson had been unhooking him, the Scot had handed the Major a card. All it said was 10:00am and when he asked the doctor who it was from, he had just smiled.

It had taken him almost an hour to figure out what the card meant and when he did, a huge grin appeared on his face. He swung by his room and collected some supplies, before hopping in a transporter. As he approached the auditorium, he didn’t hear any music and was concerned he had guessed wrong. But once inside, he knew he was right since Mariah was sitting with her back to the door and her iPod set up next to her. He saw a chair just inside the door and sat. When she heard him settle down, she rolled to her feet backwards, bending her back to get to a handstand and continuing to land on her feet. Then Gary Jules’s ‘Mad World' started to play.

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for the daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere

Evan opened his sketch pad as she started to tumble and dance with the sad strains of the song.

Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head, I wanna drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow

His pencil moved on its own as he watched every move she made.

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very, very
Mad world, mad world

She hadn’t come to see him in the infirmary, but he knew she wanted to have their reunion in private and this was perfect.

Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy birthday, happy birthday
And I feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen

He wanted to capture every twist and flip. He knew he could watch her for hours.

Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello, teacher! Tell me, what's my lesson?
Look right through me, look right through me

She danced across the mat. Each move precise and enchanting.

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very, very
Mad world, mad world

His eyes never left his friend and he was again so happy to be home, to be watching Mariah fly.

Enlarging your world
Mad world

As the music died away, Mariah stopped moving with her back to her friend. Evan set his pad and pencils down beside the chair and slowly approached her. A hand on her shoulder had her turning and tears were streaming down her face. It was unclear who moved first, but they just knew they were hugging and holding on tight to each other.

“I’m here. It’s okay.”

A sniffle sounded. “I thought I lost you.”

“No. I’m too tough to kill.”

She chuckled and stepped back. Lorne hadn’t noticed before that she had something looped around her neck, tucked down into her sports bra. She tugged on the chain and a pair of dog tags popped out. She took the chain off her neck and put it over his head, letting it drop around his neck. She touched them briefly again and withdrew her hand. “I kept them safe for you.”

Evan touched them and smiled. “Thank you.” His eyes met hers and they fell back into each other’s arms. He was sure he was home now.

Chapter Text

It had been two weeks and Mariah was still mad. Mad and so upset. She was mad at John for suggesting it, at Carson for allowing his work to be used and at Elizabeth for agreeing to the whole thing. Fighting an enemy in combat was one thing; using biological agents to change them into something else against their will was another. Plus of course, lying to them about what was perpetrated against them.

As soon as all parties agreed to the plan, except Dr. Gray (and Ronon), the linguist had requested to go to the mainland for the duration. She was ethically and morally opposed to what was going to be done and didn’t want to be in the City. Dr. Weir had grudgingly agreed to her request, however Colonel Sheppard had been upset. That led to an argument between the couple and their tempers had risen and they said things they probably didn’t mean.

Mariah had been happy to get out of the City at that point. She had a bunch of documents for translation on her laptop and Dr. Zelenka rigged up a mini-portable generator for her so it would stay charged, plus she had physical documents from the SGC to complete. John came out once to visit her about 3 days after she fled the City, but she was still angry about what he had said and he left without seeing her. Lorne was coming by every few days, to check on her and bring supplies. He also took completed translations back to the City, for distribution and to be sent back to the SGC. Thankfully, her friend had not mentioned the reason for her residence on the mainland, simply shared gossip from Atlantis and asked after the Athosians.

Today was a supply day and Mariah looked forward to seeing her friend. Evan arrived just before mid-day meal and he joked with Halling and played with the kids. After a while, he asked Mariah to join him for a walk.

Once they were out of earshot of the village, he spoke. “You doing okay?”

“Yes, the Athosians are gracious hosts and are happy I’m here with them. Though Keiran gets upset when I disappear for hours on end to do my work. He wants to spend all his time with me.”

The Major laughed. “I know how he feels.” He winked at her.

Dr. Gray pushed him away from her and laughed. She really missed being in the City. “How’s everyone doing?”

“Not bad. Sheppard’s in a bit of a mood. You still mad?”

“Yes. At John and the whole situation.” She sighed.

“Want to tag along on a mission?”

Mariah stopped walking. “What?”

“Stacks and his team are going to M9X-426 to check in on the villagers there. See if they need anything and so forth. He thought you might want to go.

She broke out into a smile. “That would be great. I love the Athosians, but I’m going stir-crazy. When?”

“If we leave now, you’ll get there in time for the pre-mission briefing. They plan to leave first thing tomorrow.”

Dr. Gray turned back towards the settlement. “This is going to be great.”

*****

This is really bad. Mariah though as she returned to consciousness. She squinted her eyes and took in her surroundings. She saw something like bars in front of her and the walls seems to be alive. So this is a Wraith hive. Joy. She assessed her person and determined things may not be as dire as they could’ve been.

The mission to M9X-426 had such promise. True, she had to go to Atlantis briefly before the mission, but avoiding John and most of the senior staff was easier than she had thought it would be. They seemed to be busy with the ramifications of their project, so she had been able to attend her briefing, sleep in her own bed (John was thankfully using his own quarters again) and gate out the next morning with minimal drama.

The planet was beautiful with lush green fields and the village was quaint with friendly people. The visit was going well since Sgt. Stackhouse and his team (Corporals Moore and Pullins and SSgt. Garrison) were well-liked and the villagers were all happy to meet Mariah. They had just had tea, then Garrison and Moore were going to help repair a leaky roof, when the sound of Wraith darts filled the air. They laid down cover fire to let the villagers escape into the forest and Stacks had called for them to retreat as well. Mariah had been right behind Moore when she heard Pullins cry out.

She turned back to see him on the ground. His foot had fallen into a ‘rabbit’ hole and he was struggling to get free. Dr. Gray ran back to help even as Stacks screamed at her to keep going. A Wraith dart was bearing down on the Corporal’s position and she thought she could get them both out of the way in time, but she’d been wrong.

Now, they were both in a cell on a Wraith Hive with about 8 of the villagers. She made her way to her companion’s side and sat next to him on the floor. His head was hidden in his knees and she knew he was terrified. Corporal Connor Pullins may have come from the SGC and dealt with all the Milky Way had to offer, but the Wraith were something else.

“Pullins, look at me.” He snapped his head up and stared at her. His eyes were wild. Mariah grabbed his knee. “You need to get it together. You’re a United States Marine and can handle this.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He took a deep breath and sat up straighter.

She smiled. “Good. They’re probably going to come for someone soon and I’m going to try to get them to take me.” Her hand came up to stop him before he protested. “I’ll be fine. I need you to get ready and prepare these people to move when I get back. We’re going to get off this death ship and go home.” Hearing footsteps approaching, Mariah rose and went to the cell entrance.

A drone and one of the more evolved males were standing at the door and the bars disappeared with a few touches of the panel across from the cell. The leader hissed at her. No words were spoken, she simply stared him down. He grabbed her arm and pulled her from the cell. The bars slid closed and the linguist looked back. The Corporal was standing and gave her a nod as she disappeared.

The stabbing pain she had experienced when Caldwell was possessed by a Goa’uld was back with a vengeance and she wanted to double over, but she fought through it. She had experienced worse and would survive. Keeping track of the path they took through the ship was hard, but she thought she had it before they got to what could only be called an audience chamber. There was a throne on a dais to the left of the door and a large open space in front of it.

On the throne sat a Wraith Queen. In many ways, she was scarier than the males. Such elegance of movement with such ugliness of appearance. With a wave of the Queen’s hand, the male and the drone left her alone with Mariah. The young woman took a few steps further into the room as the Wraith came down the steps. They stared at each other.

“You are different than the others.”

“How so?” Mariah was trying to not shake as the pain in her stomach started to become overwhelming.

“Your resolve is much stronger. I sense your pain, however you stand tall. Rarely has someone stood up to me.” She came closer, pointing a finger at Mariah and motioning down. “Kneel.”

Mariah gave her an odd look. “I’d rather not. Floor doesn’t look very clean and I just washed these pants.”

“Insolence.” Before Dr. Gray could react, the Queen had a hand around her neck and was lifting her off her feet. The Wraith tilted her head and looked at her prey oddly since she wasn’t struggling. “You are a child of the old ones….”

She didn’t know what that meant, but she reacted quickly. Bringing her left arm up and around, she broke the chokehold and dropped to the floor. At the same time, she reached under her shirt with her right hand and pulled a knife out from against her back. She drove the knife with all her strength into the side of the Queen’s head and twisted. The Wraith dropped to the floor, dead on impact. Mariah left the knife there for a moment and headed to the console on the far side of the dais. It was a control console, thankfully, and she could access all systems from there. Her Wraith had been slowly improving and she could read enough to cause some havoc. She first looked for where their gear might be stored and found a storage room near the cells. Then she found where the engineering rooms were and began overloading some of their systems. Finally, she figured out how to get from the cells to the dart bay and she was set. As soon as the alarms started sounding, she pulled her knife from the dead Queen’s head and moved to the door.

Getting through the ship unseen was a hard task, but after two close calls, she found the storage room. All their gear was there. After she resituated all her things and grabbed the Corporal’s stuff, she headed back out into the corridor. The alarms were still blaring and she made it to the cells without issue.

Corporal Pullins rushed to the door when the bars slid away and grabbed his equipment from her. Mariah addressed the villagers. “We need to move fast and stay together. They’re going to eventually get the systems under control and the alarms will stop. I’ll take the lead. Corporal, you’ve got our six. Only fire your weapon if you must.” Then she was moving again.

Everyone stayed quiet and they were about half way to the dart bay when the alarms cut out. Their pace picked up, but Mariah was distracted, making sure she didn’t lose anyone, and rounded the corner right into a Wraith drone. He was holding a Wraith stunner rifle and since she was too close to fire at, he stabbed her in the left shoulder with the sharp end. The linguist resisted screaming and pulled her trusty knife free again and stabbed him in the neck until he dropped.

Pullins rushed up to her side and whispered. “Can you move?”

“Just a second.” She knew she couldn’t pull it free, because she would bleed heavily. “Grab the far end.” He did as instructed while she grabbed the portion near her shoulder with her left hand and swung her right arm around and down on to the rifle. She had to do it a few times until finally the tip broke free from the rest of the rifle. “Get his other stunner. We’re almost to the dart bay.”

The rest of the journey to the bay was a blur, but once inside, Mariah leaned against the wall by the door and calmed herself. The villagers were still petrified and the Corporal looked at her with worried eyes. He’s probably concerned about getting his CO’s girlfriend killed. She pushed off the wall and took the stunner from his hand. She fired two blasts at the access panel and took stock of their surroundings.

Fate was once more on her side, because there was a dart just a few feet from the edge of the platform, down a ramp. “Corporal, I’m going to get in that dart and see if I can fly it. Once I’m in the air, I’ll come beam you and our friends up.”

“Then what?”

“I find a Gate, fly through to PM9-284, beam you all down and try to land.” She paused shifting so the stunner tip wasn’t quite as painful. “They can gate to a planet of their choice and we dial the Alpha Site.”

Pullins nodded. They heard energy blasts hitting the door and started moving. He gathered up the villagers and stood between them and the door, while Dr. Gray painfully climbed into the Wraith Dart. It took a few tries, but she closed the canopy and got it up in the air. A little more trial and error and she had everyone beamed up. She flew towards the bay door, then brought the dart around. She started firing at every dart she could see, causing a cascade of explosions.

Then they were off. The ship’s maps were good and they weren’t far from a solar system with a Gate. Mariah could only imagine the reaction of the locals on that world, when a Wraith Dart sounded in the sky above them, but she didn’t stick around to look.

PM9-284 was just as she remembered it, however the Wraith cruiser was long gone when she flew over. Turning back towards the Gate, she rematerializing her passengers. It was much easier than sweeping them up. As the adage says, flying was easy, landing was hard. The dart didn’t so much land as crash. Mariah screamed as her shoulder was jolted around and she just sat there until someone started banging on the canopy.

With the push of a button, Corporal Pullins was visible and started pulling her free. Once back on the ground, he supported her on her uninjured side and started them towards the Gate. “The villagers said thank you and gated home. They wanted to check for survivors and start rebuilding as soon as possible.”

Mariah merely nodded, talking took too much energy.

“Ma’am, you were amazing.”

“Call me… Mariah.”

“Connor.” She nodded at him. “Let’s get you to the Alpha Site.”

The next hour passed in a fog. When they arrived at the Alpha Site, Captain Ramirez was shocked and hurried to help get Dr. Gray situated on a cot in the medical tent. He called for the medic, Lt. Lance, who quickly gave her a shot of morphine. Atlantis was contacted and the situation was explained by Corporal Pullins. Once he had all his gear ready, Dr. Beckett, a medical team and Colonel Sheppard came through the Gate. John wanted to see Mariah, but Carson ordered him out so while he made his assessment. It was decided she needed surgery as the stunner tip was in the joint and every movement was causing more damage. She was rushed through the Gate back to Atlantis.

*****

Steady beeping was the sound that met her ears as she fought the cotton wool she appeared to be wrapped in. Then someone was saying her name. She wished they would stop since she wanted to go back to sleep. A second voice joined the first and suddenly there was a bright light in her eyes. She tried to get away.

“Mariah, love, I need you to wake up.” The second voice was warm.

“…No….”

The first voice chuckled. “Let me see those big, brown eyes.”

“Go... away….” Why wouldn’t they let her sleep? Then she noticed the pain was gone and she was snug and warm. Maybe she could wake up for just a minute. Mariah blinked what felt like a hundred times and turned towards the first voice.

Hazel eyes met brown. “There she is. How do you feel?”

“Fuzzy and… cozy….”

“Aye, love.” She turned the other way and met soft blue eyes. “The fuzzy is the pain medication and the cozy is the warm blankets we wrapped you in. You lost a lot of blood and you need to stay warm.”

“Home?”

The owner of the first voice squeezed her right hand. “Yes, you’re home.”

“Pullins?”

Hazel eyes smiled. “He’s fine. Singing your praises and planning to start a Mariah fan club. I think I already know who will be signing up.”

She turned back to the second voice. “Sleep?”

“Aye, you sleep, love. We will be here when you wake up.”

Mariah snuggled down in the warmth and let her eyes close. She was safe.

*****

The steady beeping was still there when she woke up the next time. It wasn’t so hard to open her eyes this time and she felt a hand squeeze her right arm. When she tried to move her left arm, it appeared to be held in place and she struggled for a minute.

“Mariah, stop. Your arm is strapped to your body so it can heal. The end of the stunner did some serious damage.” A hand cupped her face and turned it, John was smiling down at her. “I’ve been waiting two days for you to open your eyes again. I was starting to worry.”

“Two days…?” Everything was so fuzzy. Then the face of the Wraith Queen popped into her head and she shuddered.

Concern filled John’s eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Just remembering what happened…. Did Stacks, Moore and Garrison get home okay? What about the village?”

“Stacks, Moore and Garrison came through the Gate as soon as the Wraith left. From what they told me, a majority of the village escaped into the woods. Lorne has already sent through three teams to help them rebuild.” He leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers. “When you didn’t come back…. I am so sorry for what I said before. It turned out you were right. The whole experiment went to hell. All the lies….”

“I’m sorry for what I said too and refusing to see you when you came to the mainland. I let my distaste for the entire thing cloud my feelings.” She changed the angle of her head and kissed him. “I like our relationship, but there’s still so much we don’t know about each other. Let’s spend some time getting better acquainted.”

“Are you asking to cool things off?”

“No, just we need to talk more. Communicate better.”

John stood up and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not good at that.”

“Are you willing to try?” She tried to grab his hand, but the IV restricted her reach and she sighed.

He took her hand gently in his and stroked her face. “Yeah, I can try. I want to make this work.” He leaned down for a deep kiss.

“Och, enough of that.” Carson came bustling through the curtains. “She needs rest and you’re not helping, lad. Step out while I check her.” He pointed his finger to where he had come in.

Sheppard gave her one more quick peck and hurried out. Dr. Beckett did a quick exam and informed her the incision was healing nicely. He stated he was going to start weaning her off the morphine and to just tell him if she was in pain or uncomfortable. He patted her arm and left.

The Colonel slipped back in. “I’ve asked Stacks, Lorne and Elizabeth to come down here so you can brief us on what happened. You need to focus on recovering and I want this whole thing to be behind us.”

She nodded and they waited. John perched on the edge of her bed and stroked her face until she was getting sleepy again. Mariah roused when the stroking stopped and she heard chairs moving around. Getting her eyes open, she saw Dr. Weir, Major Lorne and Sgt. Stackhouse had all arrived.

Stacks had an audio recorder which he handed to his CO. “Start whenever you’re ready.” And he started recording.

Mariah told her tale of defiance and daring in as much detail as she could. But there were certain things she skipped, like about giving Pullins a pep talk and the Queen’s comments. Sheppard and Lorne laughed when she told them about her struggle to get the dart to do what she wanted and quipped that she might be rethinking her dislike of the Jumpers. Everyone grimaced when she told them about getting stabbed and having to crash land the dart. Soon her voice died away and the recorder was stopped. Elizabeth and Stacks quickly said their goodbyes, but Evan spoke to her for a minute and gave her a kiss on the forehead before he left, too.

When just the couple remained, he looked down at her and gave her a sweet kiss on the lips. “Go to sleep. I’ll be here when wake up.”

“Thanks, John. Love you….” Her eyes fluttered closed and she was asleep.

Her words had startled him, but they also made his heart swell. He kissed her temple. “Love you too….”

Chapter Text

Her shoulder itched, but it was trapped inside the brace and she couldn’t get to it. It had been almost a month since she escaped from the Hive ship and Carson insisted she needed to keep the brace on for two more weeks. At least he had released her from the infirmary after being there a week, however she was instructed to continue to rest and all translations could wait. The whole senior staff was in on the conspiracy, too, since she had not gotten a single request since her return.

Her first week of freedom saw her confined to her quarters. John was there as much as he could be, but since he was treating her like she was made of glass, she had to kick him out once a day, so she didn’t murder him. Some of her other friends came by to visit as their days permitted. The linguist ended up spending quite a bit of time with Teyla and grew to like the Athosian leader even more. 

During the second and third weeks, she was able to wander the halls and visit people herself. Her favorite spot was in the physics lab with Rodney and Radek. Watching them argue was the most entertaining thing she’d seen in ages and she always left laughing. Being there though led to her having to turn on Ancient devices for them, but she didn’t mind.

Her other hangout spot was the sparring room. Ronon was a hell of a fighter and watching him kick John’s ass was almost as fun as watching the two physicists argue. But she had been banned from the sparring rooms at the end of her second week of freedom because Sheppard caught her sparring, one-handed, with the Satedan. The military commander of Atlantis was being overprotective and it was getting to her. She knew he was doing it because he cared, but he knew she was an active person. They sat down that night and had their first real “talk.” It had been nice and John wasn’t nearly as bad at it as he thought he was.

Right now things were crazy in the City since there was a Wraith Hive ship in orbit. These Wraith wanted to strike a deal with the expedition for the retrovirus and Mariah tried not to let her blood boil again. John had wanted to discuss what was going on, but she stated she'd rather not. He had more important things to be doing than getting all emotional while there were Wraith in the City. Many people in the expedition had been standing in doorways as the Wraith walked by, having never seen one in person. Dr. Gray had seen enough Wraith to last a life time.

Dr. Beckett was off in one of the BioChem labs with one of the Wraith so Mariah had commandeered his office as a quiet space to do some work. Finally, she was getting back to work and that would hopefully make the next two weeks of not-scratching go by faster. 

She sensed some movement outside the office, but ignored it, since the document she was translating was rather interesting. She worked for about ten more minutes and finally looked up. There was someone standing in the doorway, watching her.

Mariah knew who it was right away. The mix of Wraith and human characteristics was hard to miss. Dr. Weir had let her watch some of the recordings from the experiment. It repulsed as well as fascinated her (she blamed the scientist in her).

“Hello, Michael.”

“Hello. I do not believe we have met.”

“I was outside the City during your time here, but I was briefed on you and what happened.”

“You still have me at a disadvantage. You are…?”

Mariah stood and fought the impulse to offer her hand in introduction. “Dr. Mariah Gray.” The marine standing behind the Wraith was nervous. “It’s okay, Sergeant. We’re just having a chat.”

“Are you a medical doctor? I would assume so since you are in Dr. Beckett’s office.”

She smiled. “I’m not. I just came here for a quiet place to sit and work. With Beckett elsewhere, I thought his office was ideal.”

“Your work?”

“I’m a linguist.” She looked down for a moment, then met his eyes. “I’m sorry about what was done to you. I objected to the entire experiment, which is why I wasn’t in the City when you were.”

“You are the first to apologize and apparently mean it.” Michael sniffed the air. “You are the Colonel’s mate. I always thought he and Teyla were….”

She had the decency to blush. “I’m not sure I’d use that word, but yes, we’re involved. Teyla and Sheppard are just friends, very good friends. Some may even say family.”

He nodded and quirked his head at her. “What happened to your arm?”

“I had a nasty run in with the pointy end of a Wraith stunner rifle.”

“They can be rather dangerous. How…?”

“Escaping a Hive ship. You should see the other guy.” Mariah paused again and smirked. “Oh, wait, he’s dead.”

Michael started to step towards her and his marine escort started to bring up his weapon, but a hand wave from Mariah stopped him. “You must be quite formidable to have not only survived a visit to a Hive, but also escaped.”

“I like to think of it as stubborn.” Her eyes got hard. “Why are you in the infirmary? I didn’t think you or your colleagues would have need to come here. Thus why I selected this spot.”

Michael dipped his head. “I came to see where I was changed and to speak to Teyla away from my colleagues.” Disgust coated the last word. It would seem that Michael didn’t like his fellow Wraith, or maybe it was the reverse.

“I have some idea of what it’s like to have something done to you without your consent. That’s why I objected to the whole thing. I’m sorry for the betrayal you must feel and for the lies you had to endure.”

“Why? I am your enemy.”

“I may hate your species and what they do for survival. But you’re just following your natural instinct to survive. I can’t fault you for that.” Mariah came around the desk and leaned against the front edge. Only a few feet separated the two. It was odd, but the pain in her gut was nowhere near as strong as it had been with others of his kind. “Killing you in combat is one thing. Changing you biologically, physiologically isn’t right, especially without consent, or at least advising you of what happened after.”

The Wraith grinned. “Such compassion from someone we see merely as cattle, how refreshing.”

The linguist didn’t even flinch. She could see the marine talking into his radio. He probably called the Colonel. Just great. “The day will come when our tentative alliance is over and if I ever see you again, just know, I’ll kill you with no compassion and no regret.”

“As will I.”

“Good, glad we agree.” She stood. “I believe it’s time you rejoined your Hive mates. I have work to do.” Dr. Gray walked back around the desk, not even pausing when her back was to him.

He bowed his head to her. “Goodbye, Dr. Gray.”

“Goodbye, Michael.”

And he was gone. It had been an odd conversation to be sure, but it was over. Now she’d have to deal with the fallout.

*****

Shortly after Michael’s departure from the infirmary, Dr. Gray finished up her translation and opted to head back to her quarters. If Colonel Sheppard had been on the radio with Michael’s escort, she’d much rather be yelled at someplace private. Back in her room, she set up her laptop on the desk and went back to work. 

Hours passed and when she heard the door open, it was late. She looked up startled when Sheppard came in, carrying a tray. He approached her and set the tray down. He smiled at her and gave her a quick kiss before stepping away.

“You missed dinner. I grabbed something for you. You need to eat.”

Mariah was confused. “What time is it?”

“2000. I had the kitchen staff make you a grilled cheese and grabbed some of the fruit of the day for you.” John started to change out of his uniform.

She sniffed the food and her stomach grumbled. She glared at the Colonel when he laughed. She picked up the sandwich and took a bite. “I got a little absorbed in this translation.” He returned to her side. “Why aren’t you yelling at me?”

He smirked. “Why would I be yelling at you?”

Mariah took another bite of her sandwich and popped a couple of ‘grape’ like fruits in her mouth. “I’m sure Sgt. Weiss apprised you of the little chat I had this afternoon… with Michael.”

“He did.”

“That’s all I’m getting?”

John leaned down and gave her a deep kiss. “Yup.” He walked over to lounge on the bed.

“Yup? This from the man who has wants to put me in a bubble and won’t let me do anything since I escaped from a Wraith Hive.” She stood to follow him.

He pointed at the tray. “Finish eating first. Then you can complain about me not yelling at you.” He smirked again and picked up his copy of ‘War & Peace.’

Dr. Gray sighed and sat back down. She picked at the tray while she finished up a final review of her translation. Her food was all gone by the time she sent the translation off to the botanists. She stood, kicking of her shoes. Mariah went through her nighttime routine and when she started to struggle to get the brace off, Colonel Sheppard looked up at her and closed his book.

“Let me help.” He hopped off the bed and slowly helped her get the brace off, so she could change. He then helped her put the brace back on and gave her another kiss, before returning to his position on the bed.

A few minutes later, she climbed on to the bed, too. She sat in the middle of the bed, staring at John against the headboard.

 Setting his book down, John said. “Are you just going to stare or are you going to finish complaining about the lack of yelling?”

“So you aren’t upset with me?”

“Nope. Weiss said you had the situation handled, and while he was nervous, I assured him you could take care of yourself.” He grabbed her hand and threaded his fingers through hers.

The linguist quirked her head to the side. “Why the 180 from the last few weeks? I know things are crazy right now and you have better things to do than yell at me, but still….”

“Our talk a couple weeks ago, after the sparring incident with Ronon. You’re more than capable of handling yourself in a bad situation, but I’m going to take care of you when I can. Michael wasn’t going to try anything. Weiss would've taken him out before he could or you probably would’ve stabbed him with one of your numerous knives.” He gently tugged on her arm so she would come sit next to him. 

Mariah smiled at him. “Thank you.”

He smiled back. “Wanna watch a movie?” She nodded at him as he quickly grabbed his laptop and sat back down.

As the opening credits started to play, John put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, dropping a kiss on the top of her head.

*****

Colonel John Sheppard was beyond exhausted. The Wraith had double-crossed them and tried to get to Earth with the information they stole from the Atlantis computers. Thankfully, the combined firepower of the Daedalus and the Orion was able to stop that from happening. But the Orion had been destroyed and the Daedalus was critically damaged. A little ingenuity had led them to releasing the gas version of the retrovirus on the remaining Hive and when air became a serious issue on the Daedalus, they beamed people to the Hive. Their plan had worked, save on the Queen (but she had been taken care of), and they got back to Atlantis, with their very own Hive ship.

The debriefing had been long and now repairs would begin on both the Daedalus and the Hive Ship, plus they had the newly ‘human’ Wraith to deal with. They currently had them in stasis, but that was just temporary until they figured out what to do with them.

Sheppard was desperately in need of food, but he was too tired to even contemplate not going to bed. He stumbled down the halls and got to the senior staff hallway. The door to Mariah’s quarters opened before he even tried to swipe the crystal. Atlantis was on the ball.

The room was dark when he entered. He tried to be quiet, but when he dropped his bag in its normal spot, it knocked something over. John cursed under his breath.

“John?” The light level slowly brightened and Mariah was sitting up in bed. She rubbed her eyes and looked at him. Before he could even react, she was out of bed and was wrapping him in a hug. A choked sob escaped from her. “You’re back. Thank God. I thought you were dead.”

“Shhh.” He rubbed a hand up and down her back. “I’m fine, I promise.”

“They said they lost you, then Atlantis lost contact with the Daedalus.” The sobs continued to come and Mariah struggled to get herself under control.

John pulled back and lifted her chin so he could look into her eyes. Tears streamed down her face and her eyes were bloodshot. “I’m good. We saved Ronon and Rodney. The Daedalus and the Orion were able to destroy one of the Hives and seriously damaged the other. We lost the Orion.” When he saw her start to lose it again, he kissed her as a distraction. “We beamed everyone off. Evan and the others are good.”

Mariah backed up a little and wiped the tears away with both hands. “Sorry. I don’t get like this often.”

“Hey, what happened to the brace?” He caught her arm before she could escape his reach.

She smiled weakly. “Carson took pity on me and said I didn’t have to wear it anymore. Says I need to be careful and start rebuilding my strength.” She grabbed his hand and led him to the bed. Mariah made him take a seat and slowly got him out of his boots, BDU shirt and pants. She then stood between his legs and gave him a deep searing kiss. “Tell me the rest.”

John pulled her close and shared. “Well, the Daedalus was severely damaged and life support was taken out so we didn’t have enough air. We sent the retrovirus canisters to the remaining Hive. We turned them all human and beamed over. The Queen wasn’t affected, but we dealt with her. All the ones still alive were human with no memories. We commandeered the Hive and had ample air. We put all the former Wraith into stasis. Rodney and I are going to discuss what to do with them more tomorrow, after we get some sleep.”

“Everyone’s okay?”

“The Daedalus lost some fighters and some of the crew in the fire fight, but mainly, yes.” He kissed her again.

“Okay.” She pulled back. “You need sleep and probably something to eat, but sleep first.” She pulled his t-shirt off and gathered up his clothes to be put with the laundry.

John wearily climbed into bed and waited for Mariah to join him, before thinking the lights down. He gathered her close and kissed her once more. “There’s something I want to say.” She laid quietly in his arms, letting him speak. “You said something to me back when you were still in the infirmary and heavily medicated, and I’ve been thinking about it. While I was stuck in my F302 trying to think up a plan, I knew if I got back, I wanted to say my piece, too.”

“I'm not sure what you’re talking about, John.”

“You told me you loved me.” Mariah let out a small gasp.” And I wanted to say to you while you were still conscious and not drugged, I love you, Mariah.” She pulled back from him and he took the opportunity to kiss her again.

“I am tempted to blame the drugs, but that wouldn’t be the truth.” She smiled at him. “So let me say it again. I love you, John.”

Mariah Gray then burrowed into the arms of the man she loved and let him hold her. Fate had often been cruel to her, taking much and giving little. But it seemed fate was on her side for once and she had found her place to belong in the universe. She would cherish what she had for as long as she could and she would love this brave, wonderful man as long as he would have her.

The End?