DreamKeepers

Author's Note: Another Mitchell Files! I hope you like it, because it should be interesting - at least in my humble opinion.

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters I didn't create, I'm just using them - and not making money off them!

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

The stargate wooshed open, was immediately met by the Atlantis shield – which was almost immediately lowered as the identification codes were received and confirmed. A moment later, Doctor Elizabeth Weir emerged from the stargate, followed by a tall lean blonde – who despite the very casual and well-tailored clothing he was wearing was obviously not the same species as the good doctor.

"Your world is amazing, Elizabeth…" Kale told her as they greeted the armed security force that was the last line of defense against invasion. A force that was primarily human, but had two Jaffa as well.

Weir smiled.

"You didn't see all that much of it," she replied. "There's a whole lot more to it."

"The city was amazing. I still cannot understand how so many of your kind can live in the same place without becoming uncomfortable."

"Most of us like having people around them. Not necessarily that many, but there are many cities that hold even more than those you saw in Colorado Springs."

It had been the closest city – and although he would have fit in far better in a place like New York, with its diverse crowds and jaded population, Jack O'Neill had decided Colorado Springs was far enough away for now. Not that Jack didn't trust Kale – he did – but it was better to subject him to Earth slowly, in manageable pieces. Kale and Weir had both agreed, luckily, and even better, once Kale had seen the amount of people simply living in Colorado Springs – more humans than even lived on his entire planet – he was more than willing to wait to see the full extent of a very large city such as they'd described New York.

Both smiled as Peter Grodin and Radek Zelenka walked down the steps from the control area and approached them.

"How fares the city?" Weir asked casually, expecting smiles in return since she hadn't received any alerts the entire time she'd been away.

"The city is fine," Grodin told her. "Colonels Mitchell and Sheppard are off world."

Weir lost her smile immediately.

"Why?"

"One of Captain Nikolai's team fell ill on their rotation," Grodin explained. "Colonel Mitchell said she'd go – and Colonel Sheppard said he'd take his team with her if she wanted. Teal'c's with them, too."

"Have they been gone long?" Weir asked, feeling a little more at ease since it hadn't been an emergency that pulled the team away. And even more relieved to hear that Teal'c had gone, too. Elizabeth was well aware that there was very little that could sneak up on Teal'c – much less take him by surprise.

"No. And they've made every check in on time."

"Good. When are they due to check in again?" she asked, looking at her watch. It was set to Atlantis time, as always, even though she'd been gone three days.

"It's night time there," Zelenka said, looking at his watch as well. "They'll check in in the morning. About five hours from now."

Weir nodded. That would give her time to send Kale back to his planet, and maybe get a nap – or something to eat.

"Let me know when they call."

Grodin nodded.

"Will do."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The small cave had none of the comforts of home, but it really wasn't all that bad. It was warm and dry, and gave them shelter from three of four directions, which made it incredibly easy to defend in the event of an attack or something like that.

They'd found decent weather when they'd arrived that afternoon – a pleasant change from the few times they'd gated into the middle of a rain storm, and once a monsoon – and had only decided to use the cave for sleeping because it afforded them with some protection against creatures that may or may not exist there. You never knew what was going to come looking for food in the dark, after all, and having a roof over your head was a good idea if you could swing it. Mitchell and Talon had both agreed with Sheppard on that score, and Rodney had been positively relieved when they'd mentioned not sleeping out in the open.

So they'd checked in, letting Atlantis know that they were going to be bedding down for the night – with guards posted, of course – and had gone to bed. Since there were six of them, they'd separated into three watches, with Rodney McKay and Ronon Dex taking the first one, Sheppard and Mitchell on the second, and Teal'c and Teyla volunteering for the last. Teams of two would keep each other from dozing off – and it wasn't that hard to watch the entrance of a cave and the cleared area around it.

Teal'c and Teyla alternated watching those who slept and watching the darkness outside the cave, both quietly watching for any sign of anything that might pose a threat to their teammates – or in Teal'c's case, the goddess of his people. Occasionally they'd move around, both knowing full well that staying still was a good way to fall asleep, but the night was quiet and still and nothing presented itself as a threat.

A hand slid up her bare arm, sliding around her and pulling her against the warm, solid form that was behind her. She smiled, sleepily, and tilted her head, knowing even as she did it that his lips were going to seek the spot on her neck she'd just bared. Sure enough, a moment later she felt the roughness of his day's growth of facial hair brush her skin, immediately followed by the brushing of his lips. She murmured something unintelligible and turned toward him, even as his hand slid further down.

"That was nice," she said, her voice clearly satiated.

He chuckled, and she shivered at the sensation of his warm breath on her sweaty neck.

"It was better than nice."

"A compliment?" she asked, pressing against him, lazily.

"Mm-hmm."

He kissed her softly, and she sighed in pleasure, more than ready for round two. Obviously, he was also. His hand slid along her side – and lower.

Colonel Melony Mitchell sat upright, startled. She had barely made out the sleeping forms of Ronon Dex and Rodney McKay when Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard sat bolt upright as well, looking around wildly. He saw her looking over at him and flushed, even with the heat of the fire that was between them.

"What the hell was that?"

Since she felt just as out of sorts as he looked like he felt, she almost instinctively knew that he'd just had the same dream that she had. There had been absolutely no doubt who the man had been in her dream, anyways – and it wasn't Carson Beckett.

"Did you just have a dream?" she asked, feeling her own cheeks heat up a little.

"Um… yeah…"

"And did we…"

He nodded.

"I'm pretty sure we did…" he frowned. "We didn't, though. Right?"

She shook her head.

"No."

She didn't think so, anyways.