Elizabeth Weir sat up in her bed, the darkness of Atlantis surrounding her like a shroud. She waited a moment, barely breathing, for what had woken her. Her radio sounded from the table by her bed. "Repeat, Dr. Weir to the control room. Unscheduled wormhole activation." She didn't recognize the voice, deep with a thick German accent. There was a pause, then, as she reached out to put the receiver in her ear, McKay's voice filled the room.

"Elizabeth, we need you up here. Now."

"I'm on my way, Rodney. What can you tell me?"

"Not much. Just…get up here."

She rushed into the control room to the expectant looks the two already there. "We're just getting the IDC now," the tech from earlier, a younger blonde man with a German flag patch on his arm, told her, looking down at the readout. "It's…" he trailed off, looking up at her, then over to McKay.

"Well?" he asked, the agitation evident not only in his voice but in his whole bearing. "Who is it?" he snapped.

"It's you, sir. Your IDC, that is," he added quickly, nervously.

McKay glanced quickly over at Weir, then held up the band on his wrist that held his IDC.

"Something's up, and I don't think we should let that something into Atlantis. We should keep the shield up."

She considered him a moment, then looked over at the tech, waiting anxiously for orders. "Drop the shield."

"What?" McKay was visibly upset that she was going against his judgment.

"You're right. Something's going on here, Rodney. We need to find out what it is." He wasn't pleased with her decision, but nodded after a moment and went over to the balcony. She heard the wormhole's characteristic whoosh, then McKay looked back at her, his pale face reflecting the blue light of the event horizon.

"Elizabeth," he said shakily. His mouth opened and closed a few times, but nothing escaped it. After a moment, he gestured her over with a wave of his hand.

She hurried out to look down at the new arrivals and did a double take at what she saw. The foursome she had come to know and worry over had come through the gate, followed quickly by a large blast that knocked them across the room. After a moment, their leader came back into her field of vision. "Great timing, Elizabeth. Another few seconds and we wouldn't've made it," John called up with a wave and a grin, the kind that said he hadn't smiled in a very long time.

"Oh, yes, yes, thanks ever so much for not getting us killed." Rodney stalked angrily out from under the balcony. He glared up at Elizabeth and McKay. "Call Carson, the blast caught Teyla and Aiden pretty hard. They're out and he's bleeding." He looked back at John. "Get over here and help me with this." They walked back under the balcony.

Elizabeth looked to McKay, then activated her radio. "Carson, we have a situation in the gate room. How soon can you get here?"

"Will I need a full med team?"

"There are two injured. I don't know how badly, but they're both out and at least one is bleeding."

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

She turned the radio off without acknowledging and turned to McKay. "Shall we?" she asked, gesturing toward the stairs that led down under the area they were standing over.

"No, no, you go. I'm staying here."

"Are you sure? A whole other Rodney just waiting…"

"No. Definitely sure."

"Alright," she said, turning to the staircase.

"Well, if you're going to beg," he said exasperatedly, following her down.

When they reached the bottom, Rodney was hovering over Aiden, a piece of cloth, evidently torn from his sleeve, poorly covering a gash in the young man's forehead. He was in the process of tearing another scrap loose. John was a few feet away, doing much the same for an unconscious Teyla. A deep cut ran along the side of her face from her temple to her chin. They both seemed too caught up in the task to bother noticing their presence.

She took a moment to watch them, so similar and yet so different from the four adventurers she knew. Teyla's hair was much shorter, and she was wearing the BDUs customary of the rest of the team. John…he was worn, harried. It was like the weight of a thousand planets had found themselves situated on his shoulders. Rodney seemed older, tired, and he had a one of a pair of dog tags hanging down on his chest. He had the starting of a beard and a scar running across his neck. Aiden, even lying unconscious as he did, seemed less the child she knew and more of the stereotypical soldier. He was chiseled, matured, but…different in another way, one she couldn't quite place. It took her a moment to notice his missing dog tag.

"Rodney," John called without turning, snapping her out of her reverie. "I think I've stopped the bleeding. How's Aiden?"

"I can't stop it. Pulse is growing thin. If Carson doesn't get down here soon, he might not make it."

"Don't talk like that Rodney."

A door behind them opened and Carson and four medtechs entered the room, the techs holding stretchers between them. "S'cuse me, Elizabeth, Rodneh." How he could always find the time to be polite when lives were at risk amazed her.

He never even stopped to notice that there were two Rodneys in the room as he assessed the patients. He helped load first Aiden, then Teyla onto the stretchers, then sent the techs back to the infirmary with instructions. He turned to Weir. "Mind telling me what's going on here, Elizabeth? I just left the Major in the mess, and while I don't doubt his ability to find trouble, I don't think he could have beat me here. And I know for a fact that Teyla and Ford weren't scheduled for any sort of mission today. And then there's the matter of the two Rodnehs."

"We don't quite know what's happened yet, Carson, but we were about to find out."

The two turned together to look over at John, then Rodney, who had gotten into an argument with McKay.

"Why didn't you drop the shield?"

"What, you mean when I got my own IDC through the reader?"

"Yes!"

"It could have been some kind of trick. I'm still not convinced this is all—" he gestured between them, over to John.

Rodney cut him off. "I don't care WHAT you believe. All I care about is that Teyla and Aiden are hurt, and you could have prevented it." His face was beginning to turn a dangerous shade of red when John came up from behind and half guided, half dragged him away from himself. The two stood on the other side of the room, Rodney with his back to himself and the two still standing in the doorway, John trying to convince him to calm down.

Weir took a deep breath and began to walk over to them. McKay caught her by the arm, a look of mingled question and warning on his face. She shrugged his hand loose and continued over to them. "Excuse me," she began loudly, still a few feet away as not to startle them.

"Yes, what?!" Rodney shouted, turning quickly on his heel to face her. He was fuming, and John put a hand on his shoulder and whispered something to him. Rodney took a deep breath and visibly calmed, seemed to shrink. "What?"

"If you don't mind the question…" she began.

"Who are we and why are we here?" John finished for her. Off her nod, he continued. "It's kinda complicated. Can we, uh—".

"Can we see Aiden and Teyla, make sure they're okay before we start in on this?" Rodney finished for him.

"Of course," she said with a small grin and nod. She turned and began walking toward the nearest transporter.

John called up to her. "What's today? By the, uh, Earth calendar, I mean."

She turned back to face him. "November 13."

He grinned. "Thanks."