Prologue ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The woman barely had time to shove the girl into the hole and throw a blanket over her before the Wraith soldier stomped into the room. The woman's eyes lit with fear as the Wraith took a step forward and slammed its hand to her chest. She screamed as the Wraith fed, draining her life's energy from her body. The scream abruptly stopped seconds before the woman fell lifeless to the floor.

Chapter 1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rodney stepped around yet another husk. He tried, but failed, not to look down at it. This was the worst culling he had ever seen. The Wraith hadn't even left survivors this time. They were getting so desperate that they were feeding in the streets of the villages. It disgusted and irritated him because he could do nothing about it. With a sigh, he ducked into a hut in hopes of avoiding more death.

No such luck.

The corpse on the dirt floor was a stark reminder that he could not escape death in the Pegasus Galaxy. Her face, if it was a woman, was contorted in eternal pain and suffering. Her hands were stretched out to defend herself from her attacker. Obviously, she hadn't been successful.

Rodney up-righted a chair and sat heavily. He cradled his head in his hands and sighed deeply. He was an astrophysicist, damn it. Death and destruction were not supposed to be on his list of things to deal with daily. Even after more than a year, he was still unsettled by the death around him. He hoped he never found it commonplace.

An unexpected sound brought him out of his reverie. At first he thought it was his imagination playing tricks on him. But he heard it again: the distinct sound of sniffling. He stood slowly and looked around the room. A slight movement under a pile of blankets in the corner catch his eye.

"What the…?" he whispered as he slowly drew his side arm, hoping he wouldn't have to use it. He approached the blanket slowly with his gun held out in front. He peeled back the corner to find big green puppy-dog eyes wet with big fat tears staring back at him.

Rodney dropped the blanket corner and the gun at the same time. He looked at the blanket in complete shock.

"Sheppard," he said into his radio, never taking his eyes from the blanket.

"What, McKay?"

"I think you'd better come to this hut I'm in," he paused. "I found something."

"Wraith?"

"If it was a Wraith, would I be radioing you about it? Please, Colonel," Rodney retorted. Of all the stupid questions Sheppard could have asked.

"On my way," Sheppard confirmed after a moment.

Rodney took a deep breath. "It's just a child." He grabbed the blanket and pulled it away to reveal a small girl tucked in an impossibly tiny space. Her eyes were puffy and her lips were trembling. Her clothes and hair were filthy and there was the unmistakable smell of urine. Rodney wondered how long she'd been in the hole. Probably since the Wraith attack who knew how many days ago.

"Hello," he tried, realizing it was a pretty lame way to start. She just stared at him. Rodney hoped she wasn't mute, or worst, completely dumbstruck.

He knelt down. "Want to come out of there?" he asked as he reached out to her. She shied away and backed farther into the hole. She looked at him with terror in her eyes and Rodney couldn't help feeling bad for the kid.

He rocked back on his heels. He needed to think and he thought better with food. As he pulled out a Power Bar®, the thought hit him. He cracked open the foil and broke off a piece, which he offered to the girl. She leaned forward a little and sniffed at it before a grubby little hand shot out and grabbed the piece from Rodney. She ate as if it was the last morsel of food she might ever have. Rodney frowned at her. It was a pathetic site.

"You can have some more. You just have to come out of there." He offered his hand again. She hesitated before that grubby hand came out again and latched on to his hand as if she'd never let go. Her eyes darted this way and that like a skittish animal before she hesitantly crawled out of her hole.

Once she was out of the hole and standing, Rodney realized she was older than he originally thought, although certainly not older than 7 or 8. She was taller than he thought would be possible given the size of the hole, with the top of her head resting at about his lowest rib. But she was skinny in a sickly way. She clutched at his hand as she looked slowly around the room. Her eyes stopped on the dried husk. She took a step forward and knelt and placed her other hand on the woman's forehead.

She rose when Sheppard entered the room. She eyed him wearily as she took two steps back so that Rodney stood between her and Sheppard. Sheppard looked up to Rodney, his eyes wide with questions.

"A kid?"

"Your powers of observation never cease to amaze me," Rodney snipped back. "What are we going to do about it?"

Sheppard ran a hand through his hair. "We'll take her back to Atlantis, I guess." He knelt down in front of the girl. She clutched at Rodney's hand tighter and shuffled closer to him, practically hiding behind him. Sheppard reached out to her, but she recoiled away. Her other hand darted up to grip at Rodney's wrist. Sheppard withdrew his hand with a reluctant sigh.

"Maybe Teyla will have better luck."

"Maybe," Rodney replied. He hoped she would. The kid smelled.

It only took Teyla a few moments to show up after Sheppard radioed her. She eyed Rodney then the child, her surprise clearly etched in her eyebrow raise.

"She is the only survivor." It wasn't a question, but Rodney nodded anyway. Teyla took a deep breath before she knelt before the girl. The girl watched, obviously curious, but she did not move from behind Rodney.

"I am Teyla Emmagen," she introduced herself. "This is Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard and Doctor Rodney McKay," she pointed to each man in turn. The girl followed Teyla's finger with her eyes, but did not otherwise move.

"What is your name?" Teyla asked sweetly. The girl just looked at her. Sheppard sighed.

"Let's get her back to Atlantis and have Beckett take a look at her," he stated. "Maybe Heightmeyer, too," he added as an after thought.

Rodney was losing feeling in his hand where she clutched at him. Surprisingly, he didn't really mind. Well, he hardly minded…okay, he was silently panicking that he would never have feeling in that hand again, but he decided to keep his fears to himself. He did have some filters.

Teyla extended her hand to the child. When the girl did not relinquish her hold on Rodney, Teyla sighed and stood.

"I suppose you will have to bring her to the Stargate, Doctor McKay."

"Looks like I don't have much of a choice, do I? Unless I can somehow pry her off of me," he grumbled. A burning pain shot up Rodney's arm. Rodney jumped and did not scream and looked at the girl. She was looking back up at him with her big doe eyes and her trembling bottom lip. She didn't need to say anything for Rodney to get the message: "Please don't leave me."

He sighed, his resolve softening. "All right, you can hold my hand, but no fingernails," he compromised. The pain immediately stopped as the girl relaxed her grip.

Rodney regarded her for moment. She stared back at him with puffy green eyes that flashed with fear and panic and idolization toward him. There was something else in her eyes as well, something calculating and determined. It was a moment of relief for Rodney. The girl didn't look stupid, just scared, and she seemed to understand everything that was said so far. That, at least, was a good thing. Rodney hoped it was a good thing.

"Let's go," Sheppard announced. "There's nothing else here. Ronon," he said into his radio as he turned away, "meet us at the Stargate. We're going home." He walked out of the hut without looking back. Teyla glanced at Rodney over her shoulder with sympathy as she followed Sheppard. Rodney sighed loudly. Why the hell did he always get stuck with the kids? He started to follow, but the girl held back.

"Do you want to be left behind?" Rodney asked a little more harshly than he intended. The girl flinched and her eyes started to tear, but she managed to shake her head. She followed Rodney to the threshold where she stopped again. She looked back into the hut as the tears poured down her face. Rodney never would have guessed that one little girl could cry so much.

Very slowly the girl released Rodney's hand and took a step back into the hut. She looked over her shoulder as if Rodney might suddenly disappear.

"What are you doing?" he demanded. "I thought you wanted to come with us." She hesitantly nodded her head before she turned back to the room. She sniffled and hiccupped as she sobbed. Rodney stopped just behind her and hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and shivered a little under Rodney's touch. Rodney was at a complete loss about what to do.

"It's, um, okay. Well, not okay, but, what I mean is-" Rodney wasn't sure what he meant. He didn't know how to comfort the kid when she obviously needed to be comforted.

"Look, um, take your time," he offered instead. "I won't leave." The girl took another step and looked back again. Satisfied that Rodney would keep his word, she dashed to a small bed and pulled out what Rodney could only describe as a dragon with four wings and two tails. Rodney really did not want to meet the animal the toy mimicked.

The little girl clutched the toy to her chest and ran back to Rodney. Rodney tried to act annoyed at having to wait as she clutched his hand again. He could hardly be annoyed at her, though.

"So, um, I'm Rodney. But I guess you already knew that, didn't you?" She glanced at him, but didn't reply. "Yeah."