Different Yet So Much the Same

“Ad!!” 

She hadn’t expected him tonight, maybe there was something she forgotten to do, she thought as she rinsed the shampoo from her hair. 

“In here Indy,” she called out, no longer caring about him barging in; he did that now and it just seemed to be the thing that they should do. 

“The shower?” she heard in reply, his voice uncertain, nervous. He should know better; she wasn’t Vala and with him it was just...different. 

Damn Vala. 

Damn Vala being right...

“Shug, it’s not like you haven’t busted in on me before,” she noted, really, how many times had he just yammered on from the other side of the curtain...

Too many...

“True...” she heard him sit on the toilet, making himself at home. 

“What’s up?” she shouted over the top this time not bothering to open the curtain and peek out at him.

“Nothing, just didn’t know what you were up to tonight.” 

A tinge of excitement fluttered in her stomach. 

Addy, you really need to stop listening to Vala.

“I brought some stuff down, gonna finish those lines of translation and get started on those slides for the briefing, why?” and she honestly wondered, maybe Vala isn’t insane; maybe there is something I need to see.

“Oh, ok.” 

He sounds disappointed...

“Did you need me to do something?”

“No, I was just wondering.” 

She smiled from the other side because she had to admit that she was glad he was here.  

“I can do my stuff tomorrow, are you alright?” she tested one final time to make sure that  everything was all right that he just wanted to be here. 

I want you here...

“Nothing, I had a headache, drank too much coffee.” 

Adrienne laughed. 

“I tell you to lay off of that, but you just keep chugging.” 

“Like you have room to talk,” Daniel spat back, but he was laughing and still in the bathroom, talking to her from the other side like it was nothing, “but anyway I went to take some Advil and there’s a giant warning label on the bottle. A handwritten warning label...”

Oh, that, she thought. 

“I care because we’re friends,” she answered back giggling. 

“Uh huh. So, as directed, I only took three and I still can’t stare at anything without it throbbing. Since you’re the one limiting my medication intake, I thought I would come bug you.” 

Damn cooyon....

“Pass me a towel,” her hand was out of the stall a towel quickly passed over as if he anticipated the request...

“Ad, leave the water on, I’m running late,” the curtain was pulled away as Adrienne finished up, snapping her back to the reality of the present. She couldn’t help but giggle at him as he staggered in behind her, his hair a disheveled mess. He’d been doing better lately, running the base, getting used to the reality of command, even being there for every one of Adrienne’s appointments to check her eggs and hormone levels. 

It had been twenty-one days of this, testing Teyla, both women synchronizing their cycles, taking the hormones, and he had yet to miss a single step. 

Like always, he was just there, and that was something she would never really stop appreciating. 

“What?” he asked as he reached around her, awfully close despite the gigantic size of their shower here on base, not that she minded in the least.

He was just in the shower now with her instead of chatting it up from the other side. 

“Nothing, I was just thinking,” she said with a smile, reaching out for his bare arm, her arm, the memory washing over her. 

“When did I make it to bed?” he asked, still out of it, not noticing her gentle touch at his bicep, Adrienne now reaching up to remove the sleep from his eyes with her wet finger, softly rubbing at one and then the other.

“Late, three, three thirty. I can’t remember, I got up to go to the bathroom and you were at your desk, so I got you moving and into bed,” she replied with a shrug, resting her hand on his cheek to peer into his eyes, making sure he wasn’t pushing himself too far. Better was relative and regardless of getting things better under control he was still Daniel Jackson, workaholic extraordinaire. 

“Thank you ja-wer,” he leaned in, Adrienne kissing him back slowly before rinsing off one last time, satisfied he was just groggy and leaving him to his shower. 

Some things change while others just stay the same, she thought, wrapping her towel around herself before going to get dressed and wake up their son.

*****

The past twenty one days had been so much better. 

Daniel had taken Adrienne’s advice, not only delegating but asking his department heads to submit all reports electronically unless it was a dire emergency, allowing him to review them at his leisure. It had cut down on unnecessary meetings, thankfully, but had also given him much more time to listen to Rodney bitch about unnecessary things. 

Some things just seemed unable to be eliminated completely. 

In fact, he had just about everything under control except for one very big problem. 

Todd. 

He knew he’d have to deal with him, but once he and Adrienne had taken the time to talk to Teyla, then Daniel had met with Radek and finally swung by the jumper bay to get Nicholas, who had been for a ride, once that he intended to NOT mention to his wife, he just didn’t want to deal with their uninvited guest. 

Instead, he just put it off, as he did the next day and the next day, no one bringing it up again. 

It was nearly a week later when John Sheppard had come strolling into his office, asking to speak to him about the Wraith once more, alone this time. He spun some story about how Todd was having dreams, telepathic connections with his Wrath brothers, something John claimed they had the research to uphold. The beast claimed that he had found people, men, humanoid men on a Wraith ship, walking around free and not as food, a Wraith ship led by a human man rather than a queen. 

It was utter bull

He’d found since he had denied their prisoner free reign around the base, John had been visiting with the creature regularly. It wasn’t that he particularly liked having a prisoner at all, but he also didn’t like what was pretty much a vampire being allow to walk around his city, around his family, like it was normal. 

To top it off, Daniel had to admit that he was bothered by the fact that given the situation John seemed to align his allegiance with that monster rather than his commander. John Sheppard was supposed to be his second in command and given the chance it seemed as if he would just allow the Wraith to join the crew. John was fighting harder for this abomination of Ancient technology than Daniel had ever seen him fight for anything before, and that worried him greatly. In fact, Daniel hadn’t told anyone, but he had made a change in the emergency plan of who would take over the base in case of he was unable to do so. 

He had changed all protocol to immediately recognize his wife as the commander of Atlantis after him and he hadn’t even mentioned it to her.

“Dr. Jackson?” his earpiece buzzed to life, Daniel looking away from the computer screen. 

“Yes Davidson, I read you,” he replied, scanning his schedule for today which thankfully took him around base checking on operations for most of the morning, even giving him a chance to pop in on Adrienne. 

He loved when he got to do that, sometimes even getting to work with her rather than just visit. He didn’t realize how bad he would miss working with her on a day to day basis.

“Supply ship’s arrived, shall I direct them to the docking bay?” the Lieutenant asked, Daniel noting that they were right on schedule as expected, his first stop of the day.

“Send them to east wing. A lot of the larger supplies are going to Botany so we can save Radek some trouble. I’ll be down there in a moment,” he replied, wanting to touch base with Cam as soon as possible, a list of his own things needed for the next round ready to go. 

“Yes sir,” and with that Daniel dismissed the thoughts of Todd and that insanity for yet another time, shutting the lid to his laptop to go down and greet Cameron. 

*****

“Hello Atlantis!”

The voice coming from the beams of light was definitely not the voice that he expected in a million years, not the voice he thought would be stealing his wife away for some insane workout, and it wasn’t until the glare was gone and he saw him, jeans, vest, t-shirt and a fishing pole that he really believed his ears. 

“Where’s Cam?”

“Oh thanks Daniel, I’ve missed you too. I’m feeling great, lost the walker and about ten pounds thanks for noticing,” Jack O’Neill started in right away, Daniel shaking his head as the man danced around proving his mobility. 

“Hi Jack. I’m sorry, it’s good to see you and you look great. How are you feeling?” Daniel replied sardonically, still wondering what was going on. 

“You don’t mean that,” the general replied, rolling his eyes. 

“Nicholas is gonna be offended that you don’t have the walker; he put a lot of time into that...” Daniel answered instead with a sly smile, Jack displaying his fishing pole with pride. 

“Nope, those little suckers peeled off no problem, transferred them right on over,” Jack replied only then Daniel noticing that the handle was covered in a plethora of hockey stickers. 

Of course he had, Daniel thought, shaking his head, why would I have expected anything less; Jack adored the boy.

Regardless, that still begged the question...

“Alright, sorry I was short. I’ve been waiting for these supplies for weeks and we need to get them down to Botany as soon as possible and I have a mountain of other things waiting for me. So, where’s Cam? I need to talk to him. And why are you here?” 

“Well,” Jack started and stopped, pointing up as a second set of beams came driving into the room, “there’ve been some changes...” 

Daniel was about to ask exactly what he meant by changes when the lights flickered away, Sam standing there smiling, wearing jeans and a t-shirt herself. 

“Hi Daniel,” she said, walking up and hugging him before he had the chance to speak, leaving him momentarily dumbfounded, looking back and forth between his friends. 

“Sam, wait, what is going on? Is everything alright?” he asked, confused.

Had there been an attack? 

It had been only three weeks since their last communication, albeit it wasn’t the friendliest conversation with Sam via the communication stones and she had been unavailable since for any sort of an apology. 

Being out of the galaxy kinda took away the option of ‘I’m sorry I exploded again’ flowers...

“Where’s the missus? I’ve got something for her,” Jack interrupted, displaying a paper bag in his hand that Daniel was just now noticing. 

“What’s in there?” his mind was still racing, trying to guess what tragedy had occurred in his absence while Jack just made a face.

“Cheese pies, Greek cheese pies,” the general clarified, opening the bag for Daniel to see, whose hand was already in front of his face, covering it in disgust. 

“Jack, those things have got to be three weeks old!” he shouted out, stepping away as Jack stuffed the bag closed again. 

“Yeah,” Jack replied, rolling his eyes, “and Sam stored them in some doohickey that kept them fresh, so where is Dr. Perky?” 

“Our quarters are down the west wing, first suite outside of the main control room, right off the central tower, or she could be in the lab, depends on how fast she got Nicky moving after I left,” Daniel relented, too concerned still as to why they were here to radio Adrienne himself, Sam giggling.

Ok, they seem happy so Earth must still exist... 

“See, how hard was that?” and he was off, headed across the expansive storage room and toward the back exit. 

“How’ve things been?” Sam asked the moment Jack was away, Daniel reaching to shove his hands into pockets that weren’t there. 

Maybe Adrienne was right about these stupid uniforms; he missed pockets.

“Good, an adjustment but good,” Daniel started to reply deciding quickly to cut to the chase, “really is everything ok? Did something happen?” 

Sam, however, was already shaking her head. 

“No, everything’s fine, good even, but I came to talk to you and not through the stones,” her words were cautious, Daniel frowning but looking ahead to the exit himself, motioning for Sam to follow.

“Let’s go to my office, we can talk there,” he said, worry still troubling his stomach. 

*****

He was hunched over the sketchpad, trying the best to recall his latest dream, the one from only hours before. They came nightly now, long and haunting, his sleep fitful and restless. This time the man, this human, hadn’t spoken to him, instead raced around the ship shouting orders to both the Wraith and the other humans on board as the hive led an attack on what appeared to be another hive. 

It had been quite the battle, at least the part to which he bore witness, the ship rocking violently in space both in its assault and the hits it was taking. 

John had come down late last night, bringing him a human snack, those candies, and his drug/energy cocktail, assuring him that Daniel was going to come around soon, that the supposedly compassionate human commander was finally getting used to his new post. 

Todd didn’t care. 

He wasn’t here to impress Dr. Daniel Jackson nor was he here to impress Colonel John Sheppard for that matter. That man in charge seemed to have no intention of freeing him or even expanding his prison to a more humane space, the tight confines of his cell starting to press on him now that he was home again and tormented. He didn’t care what that human thought of him, he could drop dead and Todd wouldn’t think twice, feeling somewhat the same about John to an extent for just allowing this to continue. 

The point was, he didn’t want to be here at all. 

He had understood when Sheppard and the blond woman, O’Neill her name now was, had come to explain to him that they were on Earth and what was to be done with him. He knew that he needed to stay confined to Atlantis because humans would never understand what he was and the Earth government didn’t want to take the risk that he would take the drug needed to survive without human energy if he was set free. He chose not to become human as other Wraith had before him; he liked who he was and had no desire to look like one of them. 

But then months turned into years and more years, some of them darker than others as the ZPMs were slowly drained, until the day this supposed perfect commander had taken the city to fight its next battle. 

He’d been relieved, not that he would return to a hive ship once they made it back to the Pegasus, but he would have at least left this base and made his own way across the galaxy. 

That now, on the other hand, seemed an impossibility. 

Besides the thought of accepting his fate, that he would spend the rest of his existence in this cell, this fake apartment John had created for him, were the visions themselves. Todd didn’t particularly care one way or another who in the hell the man was that had somehow taken control of a hive, so much so that other Wraith were following his lead, but sleep or even rest had become an impossibility as each time he closed his eyes his subconscious was flooded with these images, these ridiculous visions of insanity. 

No Wraith would ever submit to the rule of a human. 

But, then again, he had. 

Frustrated, Todd reached for the small sharpener to his left, widdling the tip to the level he wanted before continuing his task. 

*****

There was a knock at the lab door, which was odd because Adrienne never had her door closed and hoped that her staff knew they were all welcome. Then again, they were very young cadets and graduate students who were finishing their doctorates and seemed somewhat intimidated that their boss was married to the commander of the entire base. 

She understood it to an extent, but she at least hoped she was a friendly face. 

After all, they were essentially her newest batch of students.

“Dr. Perky, I come bearing gifts!!” 

No way...

“UNCLE JACK!!!” and Nicholas was up and tearing across the room, Adrienne not even needing to look up to confirm the identity of her visitor. Nevertheless she did, to see General Jack O’Neill come strolling into her lab seemingly ready for a vacation.

“Jack what are you doing here?” she said hoping her tone didn’t seem rude but it was so surreal; he was the last person she expected. Cam yes, had even hoped to see her dear friend, wanted to pick his brain about an alternate training schedule, maybe even borrow a jumper to work out a trail run together on the mainland, but not Jack. He was walking correctly as well, no walker or even a cane, there was even a swagger to his step that made him seem as if he had never suffered a stroke at all.

The sight couldn’t have made her happier. 

“Why is that the first thing everyone says to me?” he joked, kneeling on the floor to catch the boy barreling toward him into his open arms, “and when did you start walking munchkin?” 

“Almost two months ago! Uncle Jack are you gonna stay? How long? My birthday is coming up, please stay until my party!” Nicholas was babbling and it was adorable; Adrienne really only saw her son act like this with Jack and sometimes Ronon. As much as she loved her son and enjoyed his intellect, there was a part of her that was saddened at the fact that he would never enjoy a real childhood.

“Well, we’ll have to see...” Jack trailed, Adrienne curious but reading in his face that this wasn’t something he wanted to discuss in front of the boy. 

“I got you something,” he redirected on his own, standing and grabbing a paper sack from the floor, holding it out in front of him toward her, a proud grin plastered across his face. 

“What is it?” she was hesitant, a part of her still wondering if she had fallen asleep at her desk and was dreaming all of this. 

“Tyropita,” he said with a smile, Adrienne ripping the sack from his hand and peeking inside. 

“Oh my gawd ya my ‘ero!!” she shouted out, diving into her treat, walking to grab coffee mugs as she chewed. 

“Your mom slipped into that swamp talk of hers; I musta done good,” Jack said to the boy, reaching into his pocket and kneeling again. 

“Yeah, and she won’t share. She says that I still can’t chew anything like I should, but I have seven teeth,” he said with a smile, flashing his small white treasures. 

“Well, I brought you something too,” Jack said with a smile, handing the small child a few packets, making Adrienne smile as she prepared two cups of coffee. 

“What are they?” Nicholas asked as the turned the foil casing around in his hands, frowning much like Daniel did when he was investigating something. 

“Baseball cards. We need to start talking baseball,” the general stood as the boy ripped open the packets awkwardly with his tiny hands. 

“Baseball...” Nicholas was trailing as he walked away, heading to a small desk in the corner. 

“So what are you doing here?” Adrienne couldn’t resist asking again as she passed the mug over, Jack rocking his head quickly from side to side as he took his cup.  

“Please tell me you don’t drink it as sweet as he?” Jack asked before taking a sip. 

“Lord no, I would like to not go into diabetic coma,” Adrienne laughed, Jack nodding as he drank.

“As far as what we’re doing here, it’s a long story. Sam’s in with your man, I’ll let them work that out,” seemed to be all she was gonna get out of him, a part of Adrienne wishing that telepathy was the gift she had gotten from her husband, not this stupid useless healing, “How are things going around here? Daniel hasn’t managed to burn down the place?”

Redirecting again Jack, clever...

“It’s Rodney we have to worry about burning the place down, not Daniel,” she answered in jest.

“Ok, I see that Daniel has managed to make sure that Rodney hasn’t burned down the place,” he amended, taking another sip.

“Indeed,” she giggled, motioning for Jack to take a seat as Nicholas was now completely engrossed, his small face shoved into the stats on the cards, “No, it’s going pretty well. There was an adjustment period, it’s an entire city, little more than co-running a team or leading a department, but he’s really got it now.”

“I told them I thought’d he’d do a good job, just about damn time someone listened to me,” Jack spoke up, Adrienne smiling, knowing his words to be true.

“I can’t say that I don’t agree, but then again I’m kinda biased,”  she said as she sat herself, pushing her work away so she could visit with their guest. 

“How are you holding up?” he now asked, Adrienne puzzled; Jack should know better than anyone that Daniel was making sure this wasn’t hard on her as well. 

“Good, why?” she asked, wondering if there was something that she did need to worry about.

“Uh, well, Sam told me about the baby...”

“Oh,” her voice trailed, slightly embarrassed, but Sam was like Daniel’s sister, of course he would have told her. It wasn’t a secret; while Daniel had thought she didn’t tell anyone that they were trying to conceive, Adrienne had been too excited not too. Now that that wasn’t going to happen, she had admitted just as openly what was the outcome of their efforts. 

Telling Vala first of course, much to Daniel’s chagrin. 

“Yeah, when Daniel came to talk about, well, Todd...” Jack kept going as if he felt the need to explain, Adrienne nodding her head. 

“Oh Todd...my favorite new topic of our marriage,” Adrienne tried to joke, when a thought popped into her head.

Might as well tell Jack everything, everyone else on the base knew...

“Well, did she mention that...” Adrienne started with a smile, Nicholas disregarding the cards as his head darted up.

“Teyla’s gonna have Mom and Dad’s baby!!”

Ok thanks Nicholas...

“What!?!?” Jack exclaimed, nearly falling from his chair.

“Guess he didn’t...” Adrienne giggled as she reached for her husband’s oldest friend, making sure that he wasn’t going to go collapsing into the floor.  

“It’s true!” Baseball cards momentarily forgotten, though Adrienne did see some math that had been scrawled out onto Nicky’s notebook, the boy was up and explaining, his hands frantic just like his father would do, “Mom’s gotta go down today and they’re gonna extract her eggs and then fertilize them with Dad’s sperm and make a bunch of little embryos and then see which one takes!”

“Honestly?” Jack was asking Adrienne, but the boy didn’t seem to notice.  

“Yep, I looked it up,” he announced proudly, pointing to his small tablet computer. 

“Yes, honestly,” Adrienne agreed, Jack now looking over at the boy. 

“Nicky, you seem pretty excited.”

“Eh,” and Nicholas was back over at his desk, trying not to look enthused at all. 

“He’s excited; don’t let him fool you...” Adrienne assured, peering up at the clock, “Speaking of which...I actually have to go down to that very appointment, so Nicholas let’s get you down to Uncle Ronon. And I’m not kidding young man I want you out of those damn jumpers...” 

“I’ll watch him,” Jack spoke up, surprising Adrienne so much she knew she made that ‘Daniel face’ as she stood, peeking back at the general.  

“Are you sure?” she didn’t mean to sound rude, but he’d just arrived, she still didn’t know why he was here in the first place.

“Yeah, I’ll watch him! I’m walker free and ready for action,” Jack stood now, quicker than she expected, doing a little dance in place. 

He did look up to the challenge, physically at least...

“Jack I don’t want to dump my child off on you,” her next worry escaped her lips, Jack again shaking his head.

“Addy,” wow not Dr. Perky, that’s something, “you’re not dumping him off on me. I haven’t seen the little guy in what, two months, we need to catch up.” 

“If you’re sure,” she stood there, trying to read his face as she read her husband’s, failing this time, miserably, did he mean it, “I mean really sure...”

“Dr. Perky if you ask me if I’m sure one more time...”

Ok, he said Dr. Perky. That’s normal enough. 

“Ok, ok. I’m going,” she agreed, grabbing her things and shutting down her laptop quickly, stopping only to look over at her son, “Nicholas...”

“I know Mom. Behave,” the head was up for the acknowledgement and back down into the cards, his tiny finger flicking away at the tablet screen as his eyes darted between something there and his notebook. 

Great, something else for the child to obsess about...

“Right, ok, I’ll be right back. Love you!” and she was off, smiling, heading for the appointment, Jack watching as she disappeared around the corridor. 

He gave her about thirty seconds before peering down at Nicholas. 

“Alright Nicky, you ready to show me where the cool stuff is?” the general whispered to the boy who was already looking up at him, mischief on his face. 

“Absolutely.”

********

Daniel noted that Sam didn’t have a lot to say on the walk from the supply room to his office, not that he would have been able to say much considering there was some question asked of him either in person or communicator about every ten steps he took. He was proud at first, his dear friend getting to see him in action, that he had figured out how to run an entire city, but by the time he had gotten to the bridge he was afraid that they wouldn’t get to talk without being interrupted. 

“Davidson,” he tapped his lead control room tech on the shoulder, the young man looking up to receive orders, “I need to have a private meeting in my office, can you keep the jackals at bay?” 

“Yes, sir,” the young man answered with a smile nodding and returning his attention to his console. 

“Now let’s just hope that Rodney can take go away for an answer,” Daniel joked, leading the way, Sam smiling and following without a word as he let himself in, closing the door carefully behind them. 

It was only then that she spoke. 

“I hope you’re less upset...” she led, Daniel almost able to anticipate her words. 

“I am,” he answered quickly, knowing that was what was most likely bothering her and glad she was here. He had tried to use the stones to get a hold of her since but each time she was unavailable. Daniel had no way of knowing that the reason she was unavailable was because she was headed here, “I understand you were in a bad situation, it was a bad situation for everyone involved. Considering everything, I don’t know what else we could have done with him.”

“Where is he now?” she dove right in, Daniel looking down at his hands, moving over to his chair in a way that was becoming automatic. 

“Still in the brig, have a seat,” he replied, Sam pulling out the chair. 

“Do you think that’s wise?” she muttered softly, Daniel only shrugging, none of those other tell-tale things he knew made him look less sure of himself. 

“I can’t have a Wraith walking around on this base. Not only does it put the lives of my personnel in danger but we have children on this base, we have my child on this base,” he answered, calmly and clearly. 

“No, no I understand,” she spoke quickly because in truth she did; she would hate for anything to happen to his son, or anyone else’s for that matter, “But I’ve met with Todd a few times over the years and John seems to have...”

“John’s relationship with that monster is none of my concern.” 

He felt a pang of guilt at the harshness of his words, Sam looking away for a moment as if she was expecting a fight. 

At least he could do flowers here, thanks to Radek. 

“That’s honestly not why I’m here though,” she said instead of continuing her argument, looking up at him carefully. 

“Is everything alright?” he asked, her expression changing, not that business face he had gotten used to over the past few years as she led the SGC but Sam, really Sam, something weighing on her heavily. 

“Yeah. Jack’s recovered very well from the stroke. There are some minor motor skill issues, but he can easily compensate given that he’s stayed is such good shape over the years. It’s all turned out much better than we thought,” she began, sitting back more comfortably in the seat now that the Wraith was no longer the topic of discussion. 

“But...” Daniel led, Sam shrugging. 

“But it’s all a bit much for him. He gets headaches, there is some residual pain in his right leg, and his tolerance for, well, bureaucracy in general is all but gone. If you think he was bad before, well, let’s be glad I took that zat out of his office,” she joked, Daniel laughing as his eyes darted to his very own weapon, stored here in his desk at his wife’s suggestion.

I could always zat Rodney...

“It’s not just that,” she continued, “There’ve been a lot of changes since you left, not bad, just different and the IOA, while still remaining out of our hair for the most part is back to being a part of things and,” she paused again, sighing, “honestly Daniel we’ve had it. Jack’s retired, really retired this time, and I have resigned my position as the head of the SGC.” 

Daniel wasn’t sure if his jaw dropped or he swore, but Sam was nodding either way to confirm his surprise. 

“Wait, who’s running Command!?!?” 

Now he was completely confused, worried what bureaucrat had taken over with Woolsey deceased for months, who in the world he would be reporting to now at his monthly check-ins.

“Telford has taken over Homeworld Command and Cameron was promoted to general. He’s running the SGC,” she answered, seeming happier about the last assignment than the first. 

“Oh wow,” he said, because really what else could you say to that... 

“Jonas has taken over SG-1, he was pretty excited about that, and he serves with Ry’ac, Ann Mardsen and Lt. Hailee. Leita has stayed on in the lab, she works it when Jonas is away. They’re a good team and I’ve been letting Cassie tag along as well, it’s all working out better than I could have expected,” she added, Daniel shaking his head, especially glad that Cassie seemed to move up as well. 

“Sam I just don’t know what to say...”

“Nothing, there’s nothing to say. It’s what was best, what needed to happen, but to the point,” she kept talking, the archaeologist’s curiosity at full throttle, “Daniel, I’ve come here to ask you for a job. I miss researching, I miss having a lab. I want to get my hands dirty and do something again, make a difference again.”

Well, that was unexpected...

“But Sam...”

“And I understand if you need to think about it, talk to command, meet with Telford, but I don’t want to serve on the team because it’s not our team anymore and I don’t want to run supply runs. I feel of all of our programs this is the cutting edge in the next stage of our research.”

She had a point, a good one at that. With Atlantis at full power and the Wraith not banging down their door, this was the place to be for advanced studies in the area of human origins and space exploration. 

Plus, it’d be nice having her and Jack around; he’d missed them, even if he would never tell Jack. 

“You do realize you’d have to work with Rodney,” Daniel was cautious, trying to make sure she understood what she was asking. 

“Yeah, Jack pointed that out,” she laughed in reply. 

“There’s no cable here,” Daniel added, his thoughts now on Jack who he wasn’t so sure had really thought through this idea, “I’m really lucky that Adrienne hasn’t gone into a complete and total meltdown as it is...”

“We understand and Jack has added recordings of his favorite shows to the supply runs, and I think he included Adrienne’s shows to sweeten the deal,” she said with a grin.

Of course he had, with cheese pies to boot. One good shot of a blond viking vampire and Adrienne would be his supporter forever. 

“The ‘deal’ doesn’t need sweetening Sam; of course you can stay. There are some things that we need to take care of but of course, we welcome you,” he said standing, walking around the desk to catch the hug that was coming towards him.

“Thanks, Jack needs this, we need this and, well, it’s just not the same without you there,” she muttered, Daniel squeezing her tightly, feeling exactly the same.  

“I know what you mean. Besides, Adrienne needs more positive influences in her life. With as many hours as I work sometimes, she spends a LOT of extra time with Vala...a lot...” he added as he pulled away, directing Sam to his computer system to locate them appropriate lodgings.

***** 

He sat in the chair, looking at the picture in his hands. He had never seen this man before other than in his dreams and he had no idea why he felt it was so important, but there was something about the man, something wrong. 

He was an abomination. 

Infuriated, Todd tossed the pad aside, slamming himself back into the recliner, this stupid chair John got for him over a year ago for some stupid Earth holiday. 

He was done. 

He wanted away from humans, their stupid holidays, that overeducated idiot that was supposed to be his savior and this hell hole. More than that, he wanted these damn visions out of his head, away from the man that was haunting him day in and day out. It didn’t seem that John cared to hear about it anymore and this Dr. Jackson wasn’t planning on ever letting him out of this cage. 

He needed to face this man, figure out why he was leading a hive, figure out why not ONE hive had not been seen near the city, figure out what had happened in his home galaxy. 

If there was one thing this Dr. Jackson did not understand was that something was very wrong, whether or not he chose to recognize it. 

Reaching under his bunk, Todd grabbed one of the pencils from his case, the wood sharp and the lead broken away. Peering behind himself for just a moment to make sure he was alone, thankful John had said he didn’t need guards in the vicinity, Todd looked down at his wrist, knowing what he had to do. 

******

Daniel had locked his office door at five, like a normal person heading down for a normal procedure. Carson called down only forty minutes ago to say that the eggs had been extracted successfully, Daniel almost skipping all the way down to the infirmary. 

He was gonna be a dad. 

Again. 

Everything here really was going exactly as he had dreamed. He had the perfect job with the woman he never had imagined could ever exist, and an amazing son. His friends had arrived and he hadn’t realized how much he missed Jack and Sam until they’d shown up, Jack who he hadn’t even spent more than a brief moment with. The general, no retired general, apparently scooped up Nicholas as soon as he arrived, and the two of them were taking a tour of the city, Daniel knowing that the boy would have his pseudo-uncle to the jumper bay first thing. 

Adrienne was gonna have a fit, but the boy’s obsession with flying was something Daniel found hilarious. 

After making a note to use the communication stones to make his way to the Destiny for a meeting with Telford, Daniel had taken Sam straight to the next set of quarters closest to he and Adrienne’s, another large set, thankfully closer than Ronon and Vala. Not that he wanted to shove in Vala’s face that Sam and Jack were closer, but he kinda liked the barrier that they gave them, maybe even keeping Vala out of his bedroom activities. 

She knew enough about that as it was.

He rushed into the main infirmary, Adrienne sitting on a stool beaming, her procedure evidently not as invasive as he had worried. 

“Hey Indy! We’re ready for you!” she was beaming, making his heart skip a beat. He couldn’t help himself, it had just been such a wonderful day, racing to take her into his arms, kissing her, Dr. Beckett standing there and all. 

“You seem happy,” Adrienne giggled as he pulled away, but letting go, his arms resting lightly at her waist. 

“Just a great day, I’ll fill you in later. Ok, I’m here, let’s get started,” he announced, his wife pulling away from his loose embrace to reach behind herself. She turned with a smile, Adrienne placing a cup into his hand, the commander pausing, his eyes wide.

He’d forgotten about this part. 

Dammit.

“All right Daniel, we’ll be working on getting the dishes started for the incubation just bring that out when you’re done,” Carson directed, pointing to a complicated array set up behind him, an array that hopefully would bring their second child into this world.

Oh dear lord....

Her focus on the set-up as well, Adrienne started to walk away with Carson, Daniel grabbing her wrist, his face in a panic, pulling her to him.

“Can’t you come in there with me?” he asked, feeling so stupid asking but even more stupid having to go into an exam room with everyone on the outside knowing what was going on. Adrienne made a face, blushing, shaking her head at his request.

“No Daniel, just go in there, do your business and come back. We’re nowhere near you,” she assured, pulling away, trying to escape this situation he was sure. 

“Ad, I can’t,” his voice was low, his eyes everywhere but on hers.

I am such an idiot...

And my wife thinks that too right now based on the look on her face...

“Daniel, gawd, you canna expect me to believe that ya never...”

“Dammit, Ad, of course I did, but that was, well, before YOU...”

“Sha, listen just go in there and pretend...”

“Pretend what?” 

And her hand was to her nose, pinching the bridge, shaking her head.

“Indy, did you expect us to just have sex and magically Teyla would get pregnant?” she questioned, so calmly, Daniel frowning at her in response rather than saying a word...  

“She CAN go in there with him if he’s that upset about it, no one cares...” Jennifer whispered quietly to Carson who was doing everything in his power not to erupt into laughter. 

“Oh, of course not, none of us care, but it’s funnier to watch them argue over it for a while,” he responded, bringing his hand to his mouth as Daniel continued. 

“Adrienne, don’t make me beg,” he hissed now, knowing that there were eyes on him making him feel that much dumber. 

“Daniel Anthony, get in dat gawh damn exam room and do whateva it takes ta get us ah baby. Got it?”

Cajun, she’d slipped into Cajun; there was no getting her in there now. Frowning, he squeezed the cup in his hand, storming off to get the doctors what they needed. 

“Everything ok?” Jennifer asked as Adrienne returned to the counter, blushing furiously, her Southern prudishness finally coming to a head. 

“Yeah, just kind of an awkward thing to do you know?” she replied, Carson laughing. 

“Just gotta think of the whole thing as science, it’s about getting everything started to get you two another little one!” He was so sweet; his words soothing, making Adrienne feel instantly better. 

Nicky was gonna get a sibling. 

“Speaking of, I’m gonna go try to hunt down my son, although I don’t think it’s gonna be that difficult,” Adrienne announced with a smile, Carson chuckling. 

“I’ll radio you as soon as he gets out in case you want to be here to see how this goes but otherwise, it’s a slow process. We’re gonna be here a while.” 

Nodding in thanks, Adrienne marched out of the infirmary to find her son, see how his afternoon went when there was a buzzing at her ear, a private communication. 

“Ja-wer?” it was Daniel, of course, whispering, his voice echoing in the empty exam room. She giggled and kept walking, heading for the transports to take her to the jumper bay.

“What sha?” she asked even though she knew the what. There a pause, shuffling in the background and for a moment she almost stopped to go back and try to make him feel better, maybe even...

“It’s too awkward,” he mumbled, Adrienne halting mid-stride. Sighing out, she glanced around her to make sure she was alone, jetting into a little alcove to her left just in case anyone were to approach.

“Alright, think about last week, on your desk, when you were working late on those energy reports...do you remember that?” she whispered, her heart racing itself at the memory of his gentle kisses and the coolness of his office in contrast to the heat they were making.

“Yeah...” and she could tell by the tremble in his voice that he did too. 

“Remember what I did in there...with the ice,” she said, taking a breath trying not to get herself worked up right here in the hall. There was a click, the communication ended, Adrienne trying to calm herself while suppressing a giggle.

“I married such a dork,” she said to herself, readjusting her uniform before heading once more to the elevators, trying desperately NOT to think about ice cubes and dark offices... 

******

In the past it wouldn’t have hurt so badly, but it had literally been years since he had fed off of a human and as much as his drug and energy cocktail worked it didn’t afford him the same regenerative powers that a real feeding would have. He was bleeding inside his sleeve, the liquid thin and weak, as weak as he was now. 

It was sheer luck that the halls of the base were quiet, probably because they had brought a smaller crew than before, though John Sheppard had not told him this; he felt the presence of fewer minds in his head when he reached his senses out. But now, he had a need and while he didn’t want to carry it out it didn’t seem like he was going to have much of a choice in the matter. 

He noted the differences in the ship as he powered through the halls, small trees growing in alcoves, each and every light on rather the emergency ones he had grown accustomed to in the final days he was allowed to venture through the ship before being cast aside like he had done nothing to help them. It was a slap in the face but he hadn’t been angry about it, until now, until he was home after years of proving his loyalty.

And they had done this to him. 

Todd staggered slightly, his vision woozy, knowing the deed had to be done. No longer avoiding the main corridors, he scanned the area seeing a lone human come skittering toward him, face buried in some piece of Alteran technology. Taking a breath he stepped out, reaching for the young man’s throat and silencing him before he could scream out for help. 

He just needed a little bit to keep going. 

*****

“You know, grounding is something that can start at any age as long as the groundee has the cognitive ability to understand why and how he is being punished,” Adrienne tried to play serious as she saw Jack standing over the pilot’s seat of the jumper, knowing her son was in the captain’s chair. 

“This one is broken Mom, Ronon has been taking it apart for two days. I was just showing Uncle Jack how to read the control panel and Ronon said he’d be right back,” Nicholas answered, not smart but carefully, as if he had been taking lessons from his father. 

“Your brainiac can read Ancient I see,” Jack noted over his shoulder, Adrienne shrugging as she leaning against the back hatch. 

“And French, Unas, Elvish from Tolkien, English, am I missing any?” she teased her son, his adorable little face popping around the corner. 

“Latin,” he amended. 

“How could I forget?” she laughed in reply, about to ask if anyone wanted to head down to the infirmary and watch the miracle of life happen when there were shouts behind her and blasts, zat blasts. 

It was then the world slowed...

Jack was shouting, Adrienne ordering him as if she were in charge to cover Nicholas, the general complying as he threw his body over the boy. She turned, glancing behind to see a security officer fall, not Ronon, where WAS Ronon, Nicholas said he’d be right back, a figure with his hand stuffed into his jacket pushing past, zat gun in hand. 

A blue figure, one that was not totally a man. 

It was Todd. 

Without thinking about anything other than the safety of her child, both the one in front of her and the one that was hopefully being made downstairs, Adrienne slammed the button on the back of the pod, the latch closing slowly, slower than she would like as there were more shouts and blasts, the Wraith running toward the jumper furthest from her. 

“Addy don’t!” Jack was screaming as the door closed, trapping him inside with the equally as loud child, shouting ‘MOM’ from the captain’s chair. The door shut, secure she hoped, Adrienne turning to see the bottom of his robe-like shirt dip around the corner. 

“Stop!” she screamed, racing after him, another young woman falling at her feet. He turned aiming his weapon at her for just a second but not firing, pivoting on his feet to continue to dart in the direction of a ship.  Without hesitation he raced past Apollo, droplets of black blood flicking onto the yellow paint of the beetle as he dashed past. 

He’s injured, she thought, severely injured and trying to escape.

Picking up her pace she dashed forward, this thing knew secrets, he could come back here, bring a hive, kill her family, kill them all and she had to stop him. He was running up the ramp of an open jumper, one she knew was operational, one that because of that John had separated the fleet, Adrienne making it to the bottom seconds after. 

“Don’t move!” she ordered realizing only in that moment that she didn’t have a zat, a staff weapon or anything, not even her stupid wool uniform jacket, standing in front of this threat with only her fists to protect her. 

“Let me go,” it hissed, it’s voice both human and not, chilling Adrienne to the core. 

“I can’t do that,” she said, stepping forward, her husband’s voice, her conscious, screaming in the back of her head for her not to go any closer. 

The last thing Adrienne remembered was that wounded hand, no wounded stump, heading for the direction of her face. 

*****

He was leering, he knew he was, but the entire process was fascinating. He watched carefully as Carson extracted a part of him from a cup with a very small syringe, inching it toward the petrie dish for his DNA to hopefully find the egg as easily as it had nearly twenty months ago. 

He was so engrossed in fact, his heart racing, his mind chanting that it needed to work, that there was just a part of him that felt this second child was meant to be, that he didn’t notice the alarms at first, Ronon’s voice echoing in his ear.

“DANIEL!!” the Sateadan was repeating over and over until even Carson glanced in his direction, hearing the shouts, “Todd’s escaped!” 

It didn’t take more than a second to register once that name was uttered before Daniel was racing out of the infirmary, heading for his security officer. 

*****

“Ow!” Adrienne shoved his hand away from her face, the first thing he grabbed as he sat down on the edge of the infirmary bed. 

“Ad, let me look at it,” he scolded, Adrienne smacking his arm harder.

“It’s a black eye Indy, dammit, stop poking at it. I’ve had plenty, hell Teal’c’s given me plenty,” she argued, Daniel finally pulling his hand away. 

“Why did you go after him?” and now it was time for the scolding to commence, Adrienne already drawing her face into a frown. 

“Because I didn’t think having a Wraith who knew the base dancing around the Pegasus was a great idea, sorry,” she snapped back, Daniel eyeing Jack who still had Nicholas in hand, seeming to refuse to let him go. 

“I told her to stop and she locked me in a jumper,” Jack added, the Cajun glare, puffy as it may be right now, directed his way.

“Adrienne don’t ever do something like that again,” Daniel continued, Sam reaching for his shoulder to make him stop, lest the woman lash out at him, which, given her current battered condition was quite likely. 

Luckily, she just grumbled. 

“He didn’t want to kill me. It was weird, he didn’t try to hurt anybody. He just zatted one person and ran,” Adrienne explained instead, Daniel cutting her off quickly. 

“No, he fed Ad, on two people,” he corrected, a throat clearing behind him. 

“Actually Daniel, he didn’t get that much. Granted, he fed, but we are only looking at a very small level. If Adrienne was right and he was injured then it looks like he only took enough to get himself to the jumper and flee,” Carson explained, bringing over the medical record on the young man and woman, both of which were in private rooms behind them. 

“See,” the Cajun argued, “there was something else. That injury, it was his hand I think, he flung blood everywhere and kept stuffing his arm inside his shirt. I actually think he hit me with a stump, but he was just trying to get away, not hurt me.” 

Daniel sat back, still angry with her for endangering herself and vowing to have this discussion later, in private, his mind filled with a dozen questions at least. 

If only two staff members were injured, three if you counted his foolish wife, why in the world did he escape? 

Was there a hive he didn’t know about? 

“He did,” John’s voice was shouting from behind, a blue hand held in his own, “it was a stump all right!”

“Dear God...” Sam sputtered, John walking, the still moving appendage clasped in his own. 

“He hacked it off, with a pencil by the looks of it. Must have known it would be able to crawl over to the control panel and hit the release,” he continued, tossing the hand onto a medical tray, the fingers opening and closing, the hand trying to escape.

“He cut off his own god damn hand,” Jack said, trying to hide Nicky’s eyes but the boy leaned out of his arms, curious. 

“That HAD to hurt,” he noted, his small eyes wide. 

“No shit,” Jack replied as the hand continued to dance and thrash.

“How long does it stay like that?” Adrienne asked, equally as mesmerized, tempted for a moment to reach out and touch it but refraining, Daniel noting her movement. 

“Indefinitely,” he replied, reaching carefully for her leg and running his hand up and down it lightly, “when the files says vampiric species Ad they aren’t kidding. THIS is your real life Eric Northman.” 

His wife didn’t reply, she didn’t need to; her face said it all, in a split second realizing her error in facing the creature alone and unarmed. Reading it as he did, he scooted forward on the bed, taking her hand lightly into his own. 

“There’s more,” John said, looking back over his shoulder where Ronon and Vala were approaching, the former holding what looked like a sketch pad in his hands. Daniel frowned, standing, leaving Adrienne to collect the notebook, not liking the look on either face as they approached him. 

“What’s this?” Daniel asked, John crossing his arms, shaking his head in frustration. 

“His sketch pad, among other things, he taught himself how to draw,” John replied, taking the pad from Ronon instead, flipping through a few of the pages. Daniel caught images of a hive ship, his room, some TV characters but John only lingered there for a moment before turning to the last page, the words “HIM” scrawled at the bottom. 

“Do you recognize the face?” John asked, Daniel finally directing his attention to the page. 

He did, it had been a long time but he knew exactly who he was looking at. 

In his hands, John Sheppard was holding a hand drawn sketch by a Wraith prisoner who hadn’t seen the light of day in years, who had never met the man in the picture. 

Because the man in the picture was Lieutenant Aiden Ford.