John Sheppard was watching the cars driving on the Golden Gate Bridge and enjoying the view of the San Francisco bay. He arrived only an hour ago from a meeting between Mr. Woolsey, Teyla, General O'Neill and the President. He was glad that at least the President and General O'Neill agreed that Atlantis should return to Pegasus. Unfortunately the only thing they achieved at that meeting was that they don't have any good ideas on how to convince the IOA. So after another rather useless meeting he just needed some air to clear his head.

They have been trying to get Atlantis back where it belongs for the last month, mostly unsuccessful. There are a few people in the US military and government who realize that sending Atlantis back to Pegasus is preferable to the silent fight which is going on for control of Atlantis. Sadly they are a minority and can't help them much.

At the moment Atlantis is the most powerful weapon system in the known universe and definitely on Earth, so whoever controls Atlantis basically can control the entire planet.

Thanks to all the hidden factions in the international governments and militaries who are fighting for control, none of them managed to win yet and if it was up to basically everyone on the expedition no one ever would. The problem is the IOA is slowly convincing the others that everyone would get a piece of the cake under their supervision with the argument that that is what they were doing in the first place when they sent the expedition.

So Mr. Woolsey and himself were getting concerned that when everyone finally agrees that Atlantis should get under IOA control – which it seems will be inevitable – they will never be able to return to the Pegasus Galaxy. The fact that the expedition was allowed to resume working on Atlantis and that they have a steady supply of fresh food and even satellite TV were the only good news they had these last few weeks.

He was worried about the IOA and he neither likes nor trusts these damn politicians, they are just cowards who wants to hide behind the protection Atlantis provides for Earth. Even worse he is sure some of them want to get access to the Ancient technology for their own ends, whatever they may be. But he is pretty sure they aren't good and would feel a lot better when Atlantis wasn't directly in their grasp.

Not to mention that Ronon and Teyla are stuck with them back on Earth. They would easily be able to send them back through the gate, but as soon as they landed they had been ordered to cease all gate activities and even disable their gate. He understood of course, because the Pegasus style gate on Atlantis takes precedence over the Milky Way model at the SGC, which would have effectively shut the SGC down.

He already talked to Rodney and they agreed that in the event that Atlantis will be grounded for good they will send Teyla and Ronon back against orders if they have to. But they tried talking him out of it, at least for now. Ronon doesn't have anything left in Pegasus and admitted he'd rather stay with Sheppard than return and Teyla wasn't ready to give up on Atlantis just yet. She knows it is the best hope for her people and the entire Galaxy to defeat the Wraith although Sheppard could see that she missed Kanaan and her people.

Sheppard still wasn't completely sure how to handle his feelings for Teyla. When he first heard she was pregnant he went through a mixture of jealousy, anger, confusion and sadness. Since then he tried burying all these feelings and thoughts and thanks to his busy job that wasn't much of a challenge.

To his dismay that were not his only problems. Since coming back to Earth Atlantis has been 'more active'. He didn't really know how to describe it, then again he never really was very good at describing the connection he felt to Atlantis. Since the moment he set foot on Atlantis when he came through the gate five years ago he always felt some sort of presence in his mind. He never really talked about it to anyone although he knew that Carson and Dr. Kusanagi told Rodney that they felt something similar when using the Ancient weapons chair, but it seems as if Sheppard was the only one to feel it without any direct interface. Sometimes he even felt it when flying in orbit in a jumper although very faint.

Up until now he wasn't really worried about it because this presence felt warm and calming and every time when he returned after a mission and felt the presence again he was happy and he thought he felt happy feelings coming from this presence. It was a constant companion for him and it became familiar and soothing and sometimes he missed it when he was off-world.

What started to worry him now was the fact that he felt this presence basically everywhere on Earth and sometimes he felt like it was sending him pictures in his mind. He didn't understand what they meant because he was barely able to recognize what kind of pictures he received. Over the last few weeks it has become a more and more routine occurrence and he was thinking about talking to Teyla about it. He figured she knows about telepathic connections more than anyone and she might be able to help him make sense of this. Not to mention that despite his conflicted feelings she would be the only one he would feel comfortable with talking about this.

While he was thinking about how to breach this subject with her without sounding like he was crazy someone touched him on his arm. With a start he realized that it was Teyla and he didn't notice her approach so deep he was in his thoughts.

"Are you alright Col. Sheppard?" she asked.

"It's John when we're off the clock" he responded with a slight smirk.

"Of Course… John" she replied with a smirk of her own "But you didn't answer my question"

He sighed "I'm fine. It's just I don't know what else we can do anymore"

"We will find a way John, we always do" she reassured him.

He gave her a small smile while he remembered his thoughts about the presence in his mind.

"There was something I wanted to talk to you about" he started cautiously

She gave him a small smile "You know you can trust me John"

"I know it's just this might sound a little crazy or rather I might sound a little crazy"

"I do not think there is much you can tell me that would sound crazy or unbelievable after all we have seen" she responded with a teasing glint in her eyes.

He smiled back at her "True, but even for our standards this is a little weird" he answered before taking a deep breath.
"You remember that everyone who used 'the Chair' sensed some sort of presence and Rodney that Carson said that it felt a bit like another person's mind?"

She gave him an encouraging nod and waited for him to continue.

"Well I kinda could sense this presence the whole time I was in this city and it started to become more active since we landed here on earth"

"What do you mean 'more active'?" she regarded him with curious expression

"Well the last five years it's always been like a warm, comforting presence in my mind, nothing more, but now I sometimes receive pictures although I can't decipher what they mean it's just a blur"

He saw her deep in thought for a few seconds before she answered

"Maybe the city itself is trying to tell you something"

"So you don't think I'm nuts or something?"

"No I do not. Like I said we have seen a lot of strange things. Maybe we should talk to Rodney and Carson about this, they might know something that can help you determine what this presence is"

"Well I haven't talked much to Carson since he came for a visit, but we wanted to meet for dinner later and Rodney's probably coming, too"

"Alright then I will see you at dinner and we can discuss this further with the others" she said before she gave his arm a light squeeze and left the balcony they were on.

He looked after her before he turned his gaze back on the view and again found himself deep in thought.

Few Hours Later

"I think it sounds like you're schizophrenic" Rodney said with half a sandwich in his mouth

"See that is why I didn't say anything" Sheppard grumbled

"Is it not possible that the city has some sort of consciousness? Would that not explain the presence the people who use the chair feel?" Teyla asked in an attempt to defend Sheppard

"Well I guess the city's operating system is so advanced that it could be a kind of an artificial intelligence that could use the neural interface, we still don't understand several parts of it, although I don't believe the neural interface works without direct contact" Rodney countered

"Aye I would love to know what I always felt when using that bloody chair" Carson spoke up

"Maybe I can help Col. Sheppard connect to this presence or entity the same way you helped me the first time I connected to the Wraith" Teyla suggested

"Well I guess it is the fastest way to find out more" Sheppard said and Rodney just shrugged and dug in his food with renewed vigor and Sheppard turned back to Teyla and Carson

"So you want me to meditate and see if I can connect to the city?"

"Well before Teyla started using her telepathic abilities she could just sense a Wraith nearby and after the practice she got she was able to defeat a queen's mind. If I remember correctly Dr. Heightmeyer thought she had some sort of mental barriers that prevented her from directly connecting to the Wraith maybe you have something similar regarding the city" Carson replied with a shrug

"Only one way to find out" Sheppard said trying to be upbeat although the whole thing scared him.

The Next Day

After they had a similar conversation with Mr. Woolsey as they had the night before; Teyla, Carson and Sheppard met in his quarters. Mr. Woolsey seemed doubtful at the beginning, but after Sheppard confessed that he felt this presence for the last five years he even became a bit angry that Sheppard never said anything before. At the end of their discussion Mr. Woolsey agreed that it was at least worth a try to see if they missed something right under their noses the last couple of years.

When Teyla entered Carson was attaching several cables to Sheppard to monitor his vitals. She saw him lying comfortably on his bed, but she could see the nervousness in his eyes.

Sheppard was usually someone to hide his feelings from others but after all they've been through Teyla knew him well enough to get a sense of what he was thinking.

"All set, we can begin whenever you want" Carson spoke up and pulling Teyla out of her musings about Sheppard.

Carson was sitting on one side of the bed and Teyla moved to the other and sat on the edge of the bed. She looked at John and started instructing him.

"Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Now think about the presence in your mind and try and concentrate on it."

Sheppard close his eyes and took a few deep breaths.

"OK it's definitely there"

"What do you feel when you concentrate on it?" she asked him in an almost whisper

"It feels... good... kind of like a warm breeze... and... wait..." he suddenly stopped

Teyla and Carson looked at each other worriedly, but before anyone of them could do anything Sheppard started to stand up with his eyes still closed. Teyla and Carson became confused and worried.

"Col. Sheppard are you alright" Carson asked before he checked his monitors and looked back at Teyla

"His vitals are all okay, I don't know what is happening"

Meanwhile Sheppard was sitting on the edge of his bed and slowly started detaching himself from Carson's monitors.

Teyla stood up and rounded the bed to stand in front of Sheppard

"Colonel, can you hear me? Are you alright?"

Again Sheppard didn't answer and continued to detach the last of the monitor until he stood up and started walking towards the door. Teyla blocked his way and put a hand on his chest to stop him while Carson scrambled to his feet to stand next to them. Teyla and Carson looked at each other and Carson asked again if Sheppard was alright. This time he turned his head to Carson and gave an almost imperceptible nod before he tried to walk around Teyla and get to the door. But she stepped to the side and blocked his way again.

"Colonel, what are you doing?"

Carson looked at her with a thoughtful expression

"Maybe we should let him go, love. We can follow him and see where he is going and make sure he doesn't get hurt wherever he is going"

Teyla looked at Carson with worry before she gave a nod and stepped out of Sheppard's way. As soon as she was out of the way Sheppard walked out of his quarters and down the corridor with Teyla and Carson on his heels. They followed him a few minutes until they came to a transporter which opened its doors as soon as Sheppard was near. Teyla and Carson followed him inside and waited for him to point on a location on the map on the wall. Instead the doors closed automatically and they heard and felt the sound of the transporter activating.

When the doors opened Teyla and Carson were confused. Not only did the transporter activate on its own but outside the transporter it was dark although it was the middle of the day and the areas without windows are usually sufficiently lighted.

When Sheppard stepped out lights began to turn on and Carson's and Teyla's confusion only grew when they didn't recognize the room they found themselves in.

It was a small corridor that lead to a door about 30 feet away. But other than these two doors there was nothing else in this corridor. Before Sheppard could get too far Teyla and Carson quickly followed him on his way to the door. Sheppard stopped directly in front of it and did nothing. Carson and Teyla looked at each other and they could see the worry for their friend in each others eyes and the confusion about what was going on.

Suddenly the door opened to a small circular room with a skylight directly above a small round pedestal. Before they could say or do anything Sheppard stepped into the room and they saw a force-field separating him from them.