A/N Thanks, Viv, for the inspiration to knuckle down and write more of this. I can't believe I didn't run spell check on this before I posted it! I have now, so I hope it's better.

Chapter Two

Leah sank into her body like sliding into a warm bath. She relaxed backward into a reclining position, grunting slightly as she unbent her legs. She stretched out silently for a few minutes, then looked around. The room was empty, and the clock on the wall showed sometime between 3 and 4 am. She groaned and climbed to her feet. Bending over to pick up her mat and blanket was a herculean effort. She shuffled off to her bunk and fell across it, asleep before she could pull covers over herself.

In the morning, no one woke her and she slept until 11. She woke, noticed she had not moved at all in the night, and that someone had put a blanket over her. Crawling out of her bunk, she felt every crease of the covers she'd lain on etched into her skin. Her muscles ached, and she spent several minutes stretching.

It was only after she had worked the kinks out of her body that she recalled what had sent her into her stuperous sleep. She froze. She'd spent most of the night conversing with a person in another galaxy. She began to giggle and had to sit down on her bunk and hold herself for long minutes. When she finally caught her breath, she realized that even with the information Dr McKay had thrown at her, she had the problem of using a satellite phone to try to contact people who knew nothing about her. She shook her head. There had to be a better way. McKay had mentioned an outpost here on the seventh continent. She would have to find out what she could about contacting them before attempting a very expensive telephone search.

Leah had a huge breakfast and spent several hours searching the computer network for information about the outpost. She found references to several, but couldn't seem to find any way to contact them. Frustrated, she bundled herself up and went outside.

The blinding whiteness gave her a headache, and she quickly returned. Pacing the halls, she gave monosyllabic answers to her friends who inquired after her health until her assistant Matt stopped her.

"You've got a sat call," he said. "Your sister."

"Thank you." Leah hurried to the phone. "Hey, what ya doing miss bigbucks, calling me like this?" She smiled as she spoke. Talking to her twin, Jordan, always made Leah feel better.

"I heard through dad you had an accident yesterday, I wanted to know you were okay."

"I'm fine. It was quite an experience, actually…I would really like to tell you about it, JJ, but I don't know how much I can get into on the phone. Hey, didn't you say your new job was in Colorado Springs?"

"Yeah. I can't talk about it, though."

"I know." Leah's mind made a leap. "Do you know someone named Dr. Daniel Jackson? Or Samantha Carter?"

Her sister was silent for almost a minute.

"Why would you possibly ask me something like that? How could you…" Her voice was strained.

Bells went off in Leah's mind. "Yes! You do. Thank you, universe! You have got to tell them something for me. Tell them… I found a piece of Ancient technology under the ice here, and I've been to… Pegasus. Tell them I have the gene and I spoke with Dr McKay." Her mind whirled. She wanted to say more, but she knew how unsecure sat phones were. The message she had just given her twin sister would be cryptic enough for anyone listening, but she thought it would get a quick response.

"Elf, do you know what you're saying?" Jordan asked carefully, using the family nickname from running the first initial from Leah's fist and middle names.

"I do, sis. I went there. I'm not joking. I promise. Please, tell them. I hope they won't suspect you, but it's really important."

"I—I'll do it. For you, sis. I…shit. I could get in so much…Okay. I expect you'll get some heavy attention pretty soon, so I hope you're ready."

"I know. I love you, sis. Maybe I'll see you sooner than we expected…"

"Just don't tell anyone what you just told me. This is so high sec—"

"I know. I'll zip my lip. Promise."

Leah broke the connection. She wondered what time it was in Atlantis. She wanted to try to go again to be certain she could before the military showed up. She hurried through the corridors to the quiet room and settled into a comfortable chair. She'd had enough of the pretzel legs last night.

Quicker than she could have imagined, she was floating into the beautiful city. She moved around, trying to find the sense of someone who would see her. She returned to the lab she'd spent so much of the previous night in, but McKay was not there. She felt a tug of the sense down the hall from the lab, though, and she followed it.

She moved through the walls and into another room. It was living quarters, with a bed and small sitting room, but the sense was one more room away. Unthinking of the room which might be one off a bedroom, she went through the wall and into McKay's shower, with him in it. She was practically in the same space he was, and he instantly saw or sensed her. His mental voice was an inarticulate squeak that nearly matched her own.

'Sorry!' she cried, fleeing. She was back in the bedroom, wondering if her white colored energy self would actually turn pink with her embarrassment.

As she waited for McKay to emerge, her memory caught up to her, and she found herself analyzing what she'd seen of the scientist. Glad she hadn't 'looked' down and only had a memory of his bare, wet chest and face, she decided he was really quite attractive. His stockiness was obviously muscularly based rather than portly. He had a pleasantly hairy chest, and his surprise had been the first unguarded reaction she'd sensed since first startling him. She imagined her psuedopsychologically obsessed younger brother Ian would say McKay had probably been hurt before, and was guarded as a defensive mechanism.

McKay seemed genuinely outraged when he emerged, however.

"Just because you can does not mean you should!" He exploded. He had hurriedly donned clothing, which clung to his damp body.

'Dr McKay, I swear, I didn't mean to barge in on you like that. I was eager to find you and didn't even consider where you might be. I'm very sorry.' Leah hurried to address his concern. 'I really didn't see anything. Don't—' She found herself struggling with the urge to laugh, but knew that would be the very worst possible thing to do. 'Don't feel self-conscious. I didn't, um, look… down.'

His face was a mottled red and he seemed at a complete loss for words.

'I, uh, have a message heading for Carter and Jackson, so I should be speaking with someone from Stargate Command soon. Did you, hmm, have a chance to work out what I should tell them?' Leah decided that to ignore the problem might be the best course. She tried to lead him into business talk, and he smoothly made the transition. His head rose and he answered briskly.

"I discussed it at some length with Dr. Weir and Major Sheppard last night. They want to see you. Rather, Major Sheppard and I will see you and we will relay your words to Dr Weir." The flush was lessening in his face as he obviously blocked what he'd experienced from his mind.

'Very good, Dr McKay,' Leah said, still feeling as if she needed to hide her amusement. 'Shall we?' McKay marched out the door, and she followed after. She tried to think about what questions she would need to answer when interviewed by the leader of the expedition, but the image of Dr McKay's wet body and startled squeak kept popping into her mind. She felt like she was going to bubble over with giggles, and she choking it back with difficulty. Twice McKay looked back at her with suspicion in his demeanor, and she hung back from him, not wanting to inadvertently project her thoughts or to be accused of trying to hear his. His emotional state was apparent to her, however he tried to mask his embarrassment. He was attempting to forget the incident, but seemed to be having the same problem Leah was. His emotions would be stable for a bit, then embarrassment would whaft out from him, only to be cut off abruptly.

The halls were much more populated as they moved toward what McKay had referred to as the operations tower. The familiar feeling of a person or people who would be able to see her grew as they moved into the heart of the Atlantis administration.

They entered a conference room, and the feeling permeated Leah completely, then seemed to fade into the background of her awareness. Three people awaited them, and all three looked past McKay straight at Leah. The Scottish doctor was there, and Leah decided he had a kind face. Sheppard was still handsome, his lean frame one she would have found attractive if she hadn't been on the receiving end of his military defensive training.

"Ms Elton, I believe you have met Major Sheppard and Dr Beckett," McKay gestured to the two men. "May I introduce Dr Elizabeth Weir, head of the Atlantis expedition. Dr Weir, Ms Elton is here beside me, in the incorporeal form I described to you last-"

"I can see her, Rodney, thank you. Welcome to Atlantis, Ms Elton," the woman firmly cut McKay off.

"But, how—" He stammered.

"I received the gene therapy this morning, compliments of Dr Beckett," she informed him. McKay seemed crestfallen. His shoulders slumped and to Leah, his emotional state seemed very childlike in its disappointment.

"Of course you did," he said quietly.

Leah moved further into the room. 'Thank you for welcoming me, Dr Weir. It's nice to speak with you as well, Dr Beckett, Major Sheppard. Please, I'd prefer to be called Leah, at least till I finish my doctorate and get that appellation.'

Dr Beckett seemed to be uncomfortable still, but Major Shappard was guardedly curious in place of being openly hostile as he'd been before. Weir was calm and confident. McKay took a seat at the table, and Leah settled over a chair next to him. He glanced at her and a flush bloomed on his cheeks for a moment with his concern that she would read his mind before his chin lifted as he focused on the moment and he cleared his throat.

"Leah has made contact with Stargate Command and hopes to hear from them shortly, so we need to figure out what our report through her should contain."

Dr Weir nodded to him. "Of course, Rodney, however I'd like to spend a few minutes getting to know Leah. For example, how did you get in contact with Stargate Command so quickly?"

'Well, I have a message that's probably going to Colonel Carter. My sister called me yesterday after she heard about my, uh, accident under the ice, and it kind of clicked, an intuitive leap, I guess. She just started a job with high security clearance in Colorado Springs. She didn't precisely say she was working on the Stargate program, but I told her to tell Daniel Jackson or Samantha Carter that I have the gene, and I found a piece of Ancient technology, that I've been to Pegasus and spoken with Dr. McKay. I figured that should be cryptic enough if anyone picked up the sat phone transmission, but detailed enough to get the attention of whoever Jordan talks to.'

"Your sister? That sounds like a strange coincidence," Weir said, glancing at the others.

"She may have the gene also," Dr Beckett said thoughtfully.

Logic clicked in Leah's mind. 'Oh! Of course, yeah, she does.'

"Just because you're sisters doesn't mean she has the gene. Genetics is more random than you might think, so you can't possibly know that definitively." McKay scoffed, his need to reassert some superiority pushing him to say it rudely.

'I didn't think to tell you before, Doctor, I'm sorry. We're identical twins, so she definitely has the gene if I do.'

"Still it seems like an unusual coincidence that you both would end up in contact with these situations."

'I don't believe in coincidences. Could there be a…well, kind of a psychic component to this Ancient stuff? Maybe she and I have both been brought to this somehow.'

"We have found a mental component to much of their technology. I don't suppose it's much of a leap to imagine that an effect of the technology might be to attract those with the gene," Beckett said. McKay snorted scornfully.

"There is no evidence of Ancient technology having some kind of innate psychic connection," he said. Leah turned to face him and concentrated, trying to only let him hear her.

'Well, there's some evidence,' she said into his mind. He jumped as if she'd goosed him.

"Except that," he said, his face flushing.

"Except what?" Sheppard asked. Leah was relieved to learn she could use her mental voice in a 'private' mode.

'I'm sorry, Major, I don't want to frighten anyone, but I seem to be able to read thoughts and emotions. I'm still trying to understand this and I just 'spoke' to Dr McKay in private, so now I know I can do that as well. Actually, when I first came here and you saw me in the hallway, you seemed to have had some sort of power over me. We should check that out, see if those who have the gene also have a tendency to psychic abilities on their own.'

"I'm not psychic," Sheppard said skeptically.

"I really don't think I am, either," Dr Beckett said. Both seemed uncomfortable. Leah wasn't discouraged, and her mind raced forward into amazing possibilities.

'Well, how advanced were these Ancients?' She asked.

"Far beyond our current comprehension, although I have been making good headway in discovering—" McKay began.

'So they could have learned the science behind manifestation and how the universe responds to the needs of sentient beings. That's so cool!' Leah interrupted, excited.

"What kind of mumbo, new age, crap are you talking about?" McKay snapped.

'Hey, our science now is starting to prove some spiritual truths that have been known for millenia. Look, the Ancients were advanced enough to make a machine cause me to astral project, to use the new age term, because of our known science of genetics. This situation seems to open up a whole new line of scientific questioning, in my opinion.'

"Scientific questioning, not wild guesses involving ridiculous religious ideas," McKay sneered.

Leah laughed. 'Dr McKay, I hope we get to work on this together. You would keep me honest.'

McKay seemed nonplussed by the comment. Weir hid a smile behind a cough, and Leah sensed her amusement.

'Okay, I suppose we should address the matter at hand. What kind of response can I expect from the military? Will they shut down the research we're doing in Antarctica to study this Ancient panel?' Leah asked. Sheppard leaned back in his seat, slumping like a teenager.

"With the level of security the SGC employs, I think that's a valid concern for you to have. They'll probably come in and force everyone to pack up and move to McMurdo. I'm pretty sure they'll keep you there for questioning, or they may take you to the SGC," he said.

The discussion went on for nearly an hour. Leah explained that so far it had been a fairly simple prospect for her to travel to and from Earth and Atlantis. The only difficulty they ran into was Leah trying to memorize all the information the Atlantis expedition had to report.

'Okay, then, I'll try to come back tomorrow at the same time,' Leah said as they concluded their discussion. Her head swam with all the new facts she'd learned, and she thought uneasily about sleeping, recalling the descriptions she had of the Wraith. Sheppard and Beckett left, and a tall man entered and took Weir with him.

Leah turned to McKay. 'Dr McKay, I'd like to do some research on those ideas regarding Ancient technology and get back to you with it. You certainly have the theoretical and practical knowledge to help me figure out if I'm just wishful thinking.'

"I've been running through some possibilities regarding what you said, actually, and—"

'Is that what those equations I heard you doing in the back of your mind were about?'

He froze, and she listened and sensed his intellectual curiosity warring with his self-consciousness.

"You can sense different levels of thoughts at the same time?" He finally asked.

'Yes, although with you, I don't really understand all the technical information you've got constantly simmering back there.'

"That makes sense. You're only a biologist," he said.

'Only, huh?' She chuckled. 'I bet I could baffle you with the things I know about marine ecosystems,' she teased.

"But that's hardly a science."

'Oh yes, those enormous equations of yours are the only science you acknowledge, but consider this; anything can be described mathematically. That makes your apparent definition of math based, quantifiable science as the only true science useless.'

He frowned.

'I deal with quantifiable, scientifically gathered evidence every day. So nya, nya, nya,' she laughed.

"Oh, okay, very mature, thank you," he snapped.

She started to laugh again, but stopped when she sensed what he was feeling. The top layer of his emotions was scoffing and frustrated at her, but there was a deeper layer which seemed childlike again. On that level, he was hurt by her teasing. She suddenly realised the awesome ability she had to sense his innermost self.

'Doctor, how do you expect me to feel when you negate the profession I am very successful in, essentially calling it inferior?' She said gently.

That stopped him cold. His mind whirled and she felt guilt surface in him. He finally looked squarely at her.

"I'm sorry," he said. His voice was brusque, but she sensed how heartfelt the apology was, and she was moved.

'Thank you,' she replied. 'Now, I'd really like to hear what you started to say about my ideas.'

He slid right back into his comfort zone. His chin rose and he launched into a technical explanation involving subspace.

'So I get the feeling that what you just said boils down to 'maybe, but I need more information,'' she summarized.

He seemed exasperated, but paused, ans she saw him run through all he'd just said in the space of a few seconds.

"Well, um, yes. Essentially," he agreed.

'So, what can I do to help?' she asked.

"I'd like to run some tests using some equipment I found here on Atlantis."

'In your lab?'

"Yes."

'I'm probably good to stay another hour or so, if you'd like to start today,' she offered.

His eyes lit up. "Certainly!"

They went back to his lab and she waited while he set up his laptop and called Ancient panels to life.

"Okay," he said, rubbing his hands together briskly. "I'm ready here. Go ahead and do something…psychic," his mouth twisted with the word, but his practical mind thought they didn't have a better word yet. Leah laughed, and he frowned at her.

'Well, come on! I barely know anything about what I'm doing, and you demand I perform on command. It's kind of funny.'

She sensed his frustration level rising, but he smiled a tight-lipped smile at her.

'Okay, there is a real concern in this, though. The only psychic things I've been doing is read minds and emotions. With you being the only person here, that kind of limits me to you as my subject, unless you can get a guinea pig to volunteer,' she said seriously. His discomfort warred with his scientific curiosity. Curiosity won.

"You've been reading my mind anyway, right?" He asked.

'I've been mostly getting your emotions because I've been tying to respect your privacy.'

"That's fine. I'm not an emotional person, and right now I'll be focused on thinking about the experiment. Go ahead." He turned to his instruments, and she moved closer to him so she could hear his conscious thoughts. Technical observations of the data he gathered filled his mind.

"I'm hardly getting anything. Take it up a notch," he stated. She pressed closer, concentrating, and found her self in the 'back' of his mind. She was amazed he was already extrapolating ideas from the experiment. Equations, theorems and analyses made her head spin. She forced herself to relax her own consciousness into an observation mode of thought as she did when conducting her own research. This went on for several minutes.

"Good. These readings are steady. I've got enough at this level. Can you do more?"

'Beyond where I am in your mind, I think it's going to get personal. Is that okay?'

"I said it's fine, so do it," he snapped. She marvelled at the difference it made to be able to sense his fear along with hearing the harsh words. She reached out her 'hand' and touched his shoulder. She flashed again to the shower, but forced her thoughts back to the task. She felt herself move through the technical analysis at the back of his mind and felt resistance. It released with the feeling of a bubble bursting, and she was in a memory.

(A beautiful blonde woman Leah knew through McKay's recognition was his mother, slapped him across the face, hard. Leah was shocked; her parents had never laid a hand on any of them. "You're just like your father! You're worthless!" She yelled, and slapped him again. The child McKay began to cry, and was slapped a third time. Leah's heart ached.)

(A pretty blonde woman with glasses frowned at McKay as a young man. He held out a ring in a box.

"We've had some fun together, Rodney, but I I don't want to marry you," she said. Leah felt the disbelief, anger, and self-pity he'd felt in that moment. The woman's dismissal of him felt so much like the end of her own college romance when Marcus abandoned her to her problems and the paparazzi had started following her when her father had run for his US Senate seat.)

(A series of images followed of misery in school with torment from bullies and the ensuing self-loathing. She saw how McKay began to use sarcasm and hostility to keep people from getting close enough to cause any more hurt.)

("—said you were never going to get married, Ted, that being my roommate was what you wanted. How am I going to finish my thesis if you move out?" A bit older McKay asked another man with dark blonde hair and piercing blue eyes.

"I've been watching out for you for years, man. I'm gonna have my own life now. You'll just have to take care of yourself. You're almost finished with your doctorate, it's not like I have to keep the bullies from kicking your ass like I did when we were in high school!"

Leah heard the thought the younger McKay had had, 'why does everyone leave me?' His emotions swung from a terrible abandonment to sick resignation. If Leah could, she knew she'd be crying in sympathy by now.)

(McKay was a young teenager, and his father, an athletic, dark haired man, clapped his son on the shoulder as they stood by a packed car.

"You'll be fine with your mother. Just don't make her mad. I'll write, I promise," the paternal McKay said, and then he drove away. Leah knew through McKay's associative memory that he'd never received a single letter.)

("All your research here at Area 51 has been invaluable. After you help the SGC with this little problem of losing their Jaffa in the pattern buffer of the gate, I promise you you'll go far," Colonel Simmons said. McKay smirked in satisfaction, knowing he deserved every reward he was sure to earn.)

("—your plane leaves for Russia in an hour," General Hammond said flatly.

"Wh-sa-Russia?" McKay stammered, confused.

"Your new assignment is to supervise the development of Russia's naqueda generator program."

"I am not going to Russia. Do you know what the food is like in Russia?" Again through his association, she vaguely recalled a series of unpleasant incidents in the cold, unfriendly situation at the base in Russia, as well as extreme frustration and stomach upsets due to the food.)

(Child McKay's mother slapped his hand away from the serving platter, leaving a red print on his pale wrist.

"Meredith! I said no, you may not have seconds. Go to your room!"

She felt the sickeningly familiar feeling of McKay hating himself and his mother, all the while wishing she would just love him. He obviously hated his real first name, though Leah thought it was nice.)

(McKay as he looked now, heard a male voice talking to someone else.

"It's okay, he's just upset 'cause you're smarter than him." Leah sensed McKay's face flush hot with anger and humiliation.)

Leah drew back from the painful memories she'd encountered. She pulled her 'touch' away from Mckay's shoulder and moved part way across the lab. He turned to her in surprise.

"Are you leaving? You aren't…glowing as bright as you were," he said.

She stared at him, uncertain what to do with all this very personal information. She wanted to wrap him up in herself and make it all better, but she didn't really know how to. What could she possibly say to address this intimate knowledge of the prickly scientist? So much made sense about him now, and so much was like how her own painful inner life had been.

'I'm just…sad,' she said quietly.

He frowned in confusion and impatience. "Sad?"

'I…when you said go deeper, I went past the back of your mind thoughts into…memories.'

Discomfort rose dramatically, and she backed further away to lessen the impact it had on herself.

'Doctor, could we leave off the research for a bit and just talk awhile?' Leah's mind was churning with the possible consequences of this situation. He was just like her. He could understand the alienation and ache of oversensitivity, if he tried.

"Why?" His voice was biting.

'I'm not comfortable knowing so much about you when you don't know me at all. Don't you want to know anything about me?'

"I don't know that's necessary," he said uncertainly.

'It is to me. Please.'

He sighed. "Fine." He pulled his chair out and sat down.

'My father is a U.S. Senator,' she began. He seemed startled. 'He was a veterinarian when I was little, then he got involved in local politics. He's a very charismatic and eloquent man. There's been talk about a presidential campaign.' She thought about him for a moment. 'So life was pretty normal for us until my sister and I turned 11. Our younger brother was 4. Home became campaign headquarters, and I…I withdrew. I became very shy and studious. Dad was always the one who bandaged our scraped knees and celebrated our victories. Mom was...distant. She was active in all the social groups and events around Denver. She's distantly related to the Kennedy's and I think it was she who pushed Dad into running for office. She just always seemed too busy for us. It never seemed to bother Jage but I just wanted her to be like the other moms I knew; loving and supportive. And after Dad started into government he just didn't seem to have time for us anymore.'

"Why do you call her Jage? Your sister's name is Jordan, right?" McKay asked.

'Oh, that's a family thing. She's Jordan Jean- Jayjay. Run it together enough and you get Jage. I'm Leah Francesca—Elleff: Elf. Just pet names, you know?'

She let her mind wander, wanting to give back some of her own associative memories, wanting to let him see they were alike, without scaring him with the knowledge she had gained. 'I always loved animals. I figured I'd be a vet like dad. Then we went to Chicago, to the Shedd Aquarium. The array of marine life there is astonishing. I'm from a landlocked state, and what I saw there positively enchanted me. Thus marine biology.'

'I…fell in love in college. He was in the master's program, a TA. unfortunately, Dad began his Senate campaign at that time. His competitor tried to dig up dirt and had photographers follow me for a while. That scared my boyfriend off. It was the first time I'd had a relationship when my sister wasn't around. She went into the Army after high school. It was a really rough time for us. You know, the first boy who every asked me out had me mistaken for her? That pretty much set the stage for most of my romantic encounters.'

McKay stared at her, and she sensed his complete uncertainty. He obviously had no idea how to react to her confessional monologue.

"I don't know why you're telling me this," he said.

'I've always thought that if people understood each other better, they would function better together, in love, friendship, or professionally. Well, now I have the chance to understand others more than I ever thought I would, but the only way you'll understand me is if I tell you,' she replied. But she felt her energy waning. 'However, I'm running out of steam altogether. I'll try to come tomorrow at the same time I came today. I'll…wait in the lab, here.'

"Oh! Alright. I'll see you tomorrow, then."

'If I can't make it tomorrow, I'll try every day at this time. I don't know how long the Air Force will want to check me out for before they let me come back.'

McKay nodded, and Leah let the feeling that was drawing her away take her. She opened her eyes back at the research base. Grabbing pen and paper, she made notes on everything she could recall about what those in Atlantis had wanted her to report to the SGC.

She found herself hungry and tired. She wondered what this out of body experience was doing to her body chemistry. She decided it would be good to have as much data as possible about her experiences, just in case. She made more notes, this time about what she had seen, and how she felt. She went to the kitchen and ate the first thing she laid hands on, then yawned hugely and went back to her bunk. She fell asleep the moment she put her head down.

A/N Can you tell 'The Secret' was big when I wrote this? Ah well, it's an enduring idea. Thank you for the reviews. I hope you'll continue to check it out. And hopefully I'll be posting weekly.