Kathy jerked upright, panting heavily. Overheated and clammy, she shivered, trying to shake the nightmare from her mind. With a groan, she fell back onto her sheets.

Kathy's eyes kept blinking, trying to clear her blurry vision, and finally out of sheer exasperation she wiped the rheum away with her fingers. Her room was still dim, so it must be early. She turned her head to the left, seeking out her clock. The glaring red letters mercilessly told her that it would 4:00 a.m. in two minutes.

Kathy sighed and hit her blankets irritably. She didn't bother going back to sleep: she'd tried that before, and it hadn't worked. Besides, she was in no mood to return to the place of her nightmares.

"Well, might as well get up," Kathy muttered to herself.

She pushed her blankets to the side and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She let out a monstrous yawn and stretched, listening to the loud poppings coming from the area of her back. She stood up and walked over to one of her windows.

The dawn had not yet come, and the city of Atlantis shone its golden light upon the waters it rested on, prettier than any jewel in existence.

"Home, sweet home," commented Kathy.

For a large portion of her life, she had been the only child with too-busy parents. As a result, she had made a habit of thinking aloud; as a kid it had helped her feel less lonely. Although no one would have guessed that she had been lonely in the first place.

Kathy smiled at the view one more time before heading off to get ready for another workday. She chuckled as her hand moved for a doorknob - even after four years, she still caught herself looking for a handle instead of a motion sensor. She shrugged at her mistake and swung her hand past the blue light beside the door, and walked through after it opened.

Later, decked out in her medical personnel uniform, Kathy shuffled into the mess hall - or was it the cafeteria? Dining room? Whatever, it was the place people went to eat.

Restaurant? Kathy found herself wondering.

She headed towards the smell of brewing coffee. She poured herself a steaming mug of the energizing brown liquid, inhaling the fragrance appreciatively as she spread cream cheese on a bagel. She placed the coffee and bagel on a small tray and scanned the mess hall for occupants, more out of habit than anything else.

There was no one that she could see, but why would that be surprising? It was four in the morning. No one in his or her right mind - Oh wait, there's someone. A man was sitting at a table by one of the many large windows in the cafeteria. He was dressed almost completely in black, and since Kathy was still about half-asleep, she hadn't noticed him until now.

She walked over to the table, looking at him curiously. Black meant he was a military guy. She didn't know many of them personally, but most she could identify on sight. She didn't recognize this man, but he still seemed familiar somehow.

"Hey," Kathy greeted him as she approached his table. The man looked up from the book he was reading, a hand holding an almond freezing halfway up to his mouth.

"Hey," he repeated, looking at her with surprise.

Kathy knew what he was thinking: You're one of those science geeks; you shouldn't be lucid until 0900 hours!

"You mind if I join you?" Kathy asked, nodding down at the table.

The soldier glanced down at the chairs on the other side of the table, uttered a soft "oh" of comprehension, and removed his propped-up boots from the top of the table and nodded at Kathy.

"Sure," he said, "Go ahead."

"Thanks." Kathy smiled and sat down on the opposite side of the table, not quite across from the man. She stared out at the City, her fingers wrapped around her warm mug of coffee. She felt more than saw the man's assessing gaze move off her, and she assumed that he had gone back to reading his book. Obviously, he wasn't the chatty sort.

Kathy took a sip of her coffee, surreptitiously glancing over at the man. She had been right, he was back to reading his book again. Kathy looked at him carefully; she wanted to remember him if they ever bumped into each other again.

He had dark hair, maybe black or a very dark brown, spiking all over the place in a ridiculous cowlick. It looked almost rebelliously non-military, and Kathy liked that. He wasn't too stiff, she was sure of it. It was hard to tell since he was sitting, but she didn't think that he was a very short or tall guy. And his ears were shaped in very odd way; nearly pointed.

Now where have I seen ears like that before? Kathy wondered. Other than in Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, and every Santa Claus movie ever made.

Kathy's mind drifted off somewhere. Aware that she was looking in his direction, the man's eyes lifted from the pages of his book and looked over at Kathy. He seemed to recognize her far-off expression, and he may have smiled.

"Thinking of something?" he remarked.

"Huh?" Kathy snapped back into reality, unable to remember what exactly she had been thinking of. "Uh, no. I don't remember."

The guy didn't say anything, but Kathy thought that the squint in his eyes was caused by a smile he had hidden with his book. Face warming with embarrassment, Kathy looked back out over the City, taking another sip of her coffee. Since neither she nor the soldier said anything, Kathy's mind slowly drifted away again. Getting less than five hours of sleep when it wasn't completely necessary did not agree with her.

Another man entered the mess hall, wide-awake as could be. He spotted his fellow militant and walked over.

"Mornin', Colonel," he greeted the man.

"Morning, Crawford," the colonel replied without glancing up from his book. "I see you're still afraid of drinking coffee."

"Just because I want to avoid unwanted addiction doesn't mean I'm afraid of caffeine," Crawford protested.

"Oh? You got another name for it?"

"Yep: wisdom."

The colonel rolled his eyes and closed his book.

"Crawford, you have no idea how many times I've wondered how a guy like you made it to the rank of Major," he said. "Or for that matter, what a guy like you is doing in the Marine Corps."

"I'm not going to answer that question for you."

"Why not? You don't like the answer?"

"No, I just like to watch you Air Force gents stand around and scratch your heads."

The colonel glared at Crawford. "I think McKay does that enough, thanks," he said dryly.

"McKay confuses you? I'm sure he'll love to hear that."

"McKay confuses everyone," the man said with finality. "Now shut up and go drink some coffee."

"Over my dead body!" Crawford said decisively.

"That can be arranged," the colonel replied mildly, opening his book again and returning to his story.

"Very funny, Colonel," Crawford said. "But I've got too many friends to just vanish without notice."

"Really."

"Really. So, sorry, you won't get - hey." Crawford pointed a finger at Kathy, who was still staring out the window blankly. "Who's the zombie?"

The colonel tried not to snort, but he hadn't been expecting Crawford's comment, so he did anyway. Both men froze, much like a pair of rascals caught dipping the girls' pigtails into the inkwells when Kathy said in sarcastic tones:

"The zombie is still in possession of its brain and ears, and her name is Katherine." She looked over at Crawford, who was looking at her with unmasked surprise. "G'morning. Crawford, wasn't it?"

"Major," Crawford added.

Kathy looked up and wondered why it was that people never believed in first names anymore. "Ah. Does Major Crawford have a first name?"

"No."

"So your mother named you Major. That's a bit… different."

"Mom always did have a thing for singularity."

Kathy's eyebrows rose. "Singularity. Big word for a Marine."

Crawford shrugged. "Stereotypes don't apply to everyone."

"Obviously," Kathy nodded. "I never heard that Marines were so… humorous." She switched her gaze onto the colonel as his eyes crinkled up while he hid the rest of his face behind the book. He was definitely grinning this time. "Care to enlighten us with the reason for your smile?" Kathy asked.

If the colonel was surprised by the fact that Kathy knew he had been grinning, he didn't show it. He simply lowered his book and offered a smirk. "Oh, I was just wondering whether or not I should tell you Major Crawford's real name…" he allowed his voice to trail off, merely expanding his smirk to a grin as Crawford directed a look of murder down at him.

"Really?" Kathy's eyebrows rose again, and she watched the two men curiously. "That's very… interesting."

Crawford muttered something about court martials and assaulting superior officers under his breath. The colonel chuckled.

"So what is it, then?" Kathy asked.

The colonel slid a look up at Crawford, as though weighing the options, but Kathy already knew what he had decided. Crawford shook his head emphatically and the colonel grinned in response. "Sammy L. Crawford, Major."

Crawford wilted. Kathy's head tilted and she looked at him with puzzlement. "Sammy's not a bad name," she said. "It makes you seem more… approachable. Yeah."

Crawford looked at her pointedly. "That's the point, Doctor."

Kathy paused for a moment, then realized. Right. A Marine would not appreciate having an 'approachable' name when they're supposed to be big tough soldiers. "I promise I won't tell," she said.

Crawford seemed doubtful. Kathy decided that he'd had enough humiliation (but Sammy still wasn't a horrible name. He could have been named Methuselah or worse) and turned her focus onto the man she was sharing a table with. "So what's your name? I never got it."

"Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard," the man said without missing a beat. "You new here? Don't think I've seen you around before."

"No, actually, I've been here since the beginning," Kathy informed him. "Almost four years now, isn't it? Are you new?"

"Nope. Been here the whole the time, too."

"And we've never seen each other." Kathy shook her head and chuckled. "The universe has the weirdest sense of humor."

Sheppard shrugged noncommittally. "And what about you?" he asked after a moment. "What's your name?"

"Oh, it's..." Kathy's reply dropped off as something occurred to her. She stared at Sheppard in astonishment. "John Sheppard?"

"Yeah. You remember me now?"

"Maybe… S-H-E-P-P-A-R-D?"

"Yeah."

"John with an H?"

"Mm-hm."

Kathy blinked slowly.

"Oh, good grief," she said. "This has got to be the weirdest thing ever."

Sheppard looked confused by statement, and maybe a little hurt. "Weird?"

"I think I know you."

"That isn't really weird," Crawford pointed out. "Sheppard's the Chief Military Officer. You've probably heard of him dozens of times"

"No, that's not what I'm thinking of. Colonel Sheppard, have you ever been to Arizona?"

Sheppard stared at Kathy. "What?"

"Flagstaff, to be specific."

"Maybe…"

"1980-1984?"

Sheppard's eyes widened, and his mouth opened slightly. A hand came up and pointed at Kathy. "That," he said, "is creepy. How the heck did you know?"

Kathy swallowed nervously. She was wide-awake now; in fact, she was starting to think the shock would keep her awake for the next week.

"I know that," she said slowly, "because I was there." She rushed on before Sheppard had a chance to say anything else. "You don't recognize because I died my hair black and I'm a lot taller and older and everything, and I was eleven last time we saw each other, oh, twenty-five years ago? Anyway, I never would have thought that I would find you here, and aren't you supposed to be in Oxford or something by now?"

Kathy stopped and stared at Sheppard expectantly. Sheppard blinked. His mouth hung open and closed abruptly, then fell open again.

"Died your hair…" he said slowly after a pause.

"Uh-huh." Kathy nodded rapidly, willing the man's thinking gears to rotate faster. Crawford looked back and forth between Kathy and Sheppard multiple times, obviously intrigued - and possibly amused - by the whole thing.

"Flagstaff, Arizona…" Sheppard said, still speaking with about 0% comprehension.

"Yeah. I lived across the street."

"1980…?"

Kathy sighed, her shoulders slumping. "You don't remember, do you," she said unhappily. "That or I've just freaked out a guy I've never met."

Crawford snorted at that comment. Kathy glared at him, and her fingers drummed the table's surface. Sheppard glanced down at her hand, then back up at her face. Realization was certainly taking its sweet time to dawn.

"Across the street…"

"Yeah."

Sheppard stared at her incredulously.

"Kathy Sanders?" he asked.

Kathy's eyes snapped wide, and she jumped to her feet, arms raised in a gesture of triumph.

"Yes!" she exclaimed, "That's me! Katherine Sanders! Kathy Sanders! Doctor! Whatever!"

Sheppard still looked confused. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

Kathy's arms swung down. Her visage made it very clear how suddenly awkward she found this situation.

"You know, I could ask you the same thing," she said. "Aren't you supposed to be a history teacher by now?"

Crawford guffawed and Sheppard glared him down into silence. Kathy's head suddenly tilted up, and her brow furrowed. "Is it just me, or is brighter in here?"

"It's brighter," Crawford nodded. "Sun's coming up."

He looked over at one of the entrances to the mess hall as several Marines entered. "Oh, there's my team." He saluted Sheppard, and nodded at Kathy. "Colonel. Doctor." Then with a sharp turn the man was walking away to join his fellow Marines.

Kathy watched him leave, shaking her head. "Someone didn't jump on the bandwagon to maturity," she commented.

"As I recall, you weren't too desperate to do that either," Sheppard said with a peculiar smile.

"True," Kathy admitted. She looked back out the window. "Crawford was right, the sun is coming up. Must be sometime after five, then."

Sheppard glanced down at his watch. "Five twenty-eight."

Kathy smiled. "A couple minutes and the lightshow begins," she said.

Sheppard said nothing. He had seen the lightshow Kathy was talking about for about four years now, and if her love for the sun's daily sinkings and risings had endured through her adulthood, she wouldn't appreciate him interrupting.

Soon the glorious golden globe of Lantea's sun appeared on the watery horizon, lighting the world with a new day. Kathy's eyes drank in the glorious colors blossoming around the orb.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to this," she commented quietly.

"I guess some things never get old," Sheppard replied.

Kathy started, having forgotten about Sheppard for the moment, and turned back to him. "So where were we?" she asked.

"Wondering what we're doing here."

"Ah, right. You're supposed to be a historian, an archeologist, or a history teacher…"

"And you're supposed to be a painter or a pianist."

Kathy shrugged. "Stuff happened. What about you?"

"Stuff happened, too."

"A lot, I'm guessing."

"Yep."

Kathy glanced out the window again. "What time did you say it was again?" she asked.

"Five twenty-eight. It's five thirty-four now."

"Five thirty-four?" Kathy grimaced. "Oh, I just remembered! I have to go take care of some really important things." She stood up. "Sorry," she apologized, "I have to go now."

"Oh." Sheppard's expression was a mixture of disappointment, relief, and indifference.

"Hey, we could meet up later today and have twenty-five-year recap over lunch," Kathy suggested. "That work for you?"

"Sure."

"Great." Kathy started to walk away, but paused and turned back to face Sheppard again. "Oh, and another thing: could we have a table to ourselves? I don't know your team really well, and I'd feel pretty awkward around them."

"Okay."

"Thanks. See you then."

Kathy started to walk away again, but paused once more. "You know, you still don't talk very much," she commented. "I guess some things never change."

Sheppard shrugged. "I guess so."

Kathy shrugged back and walked out of the mess hall. As she went through the corridors and halls of Atlantis, she found a friend of hers, Dr. Jennifer Keller.

"Jennifer," Kathy greeted her with a smile, "You're up early."

"I was about to say the same thing to you," Jennifer smiled. Although she was Kathy's superior now, the two had been good friends for a while, having many things in common. "We were meeting for coffee today," Jennifer said, "remember?"

"Oh…" Kathy looked away from Jennifer. "About that. Can we do it some other time? I need to talk to you about something, alone and preferably where we're less likely to be interrupted."

Jennifer looked surprised by Kathy's request. Kathy was usually completely at ease to talk about almost anything in front of anyone. "Is something wrong, Kathy?" she asked.

"No. Yes. I don't know. Your quarters or mine?"

"Well, if you don't want us to be bothered, your quarters are a little further off from everyone else than mine…"

"Great. Let's go."

Kathy headed for one of the transporters.

"Kathy, what's bothering you?" Jennifer asked, following as Kathy stepped inside.

"I just ran into someone I last saw twenty and some years ago," Kathy said in a strained voice.

"Oh. One of the doctors?"

"No. Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard."

Jennifer stared at Kathy in shock as the doors slid closed. "Who?"