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Someone mentioned that there were some errors in the text so I corrected them. If anyone sees any more errors, please tell me so that I can fix them. Thank you.


Part 2

Life soon fell back into place after the incident with Rodney. Some people began to notice how Ronon was beginning to get closer to the scientist, but no one commented for fear of retribution from the Satedan.

At the moment, Rodney was typing away furiously on his laptop, eyes scanning the computer screen. He was seated in the mess hall with Ronon at his side. The wild man was eating quietly at his side. Neither spoke as Ronon pushed his dessert towards Rodney. The scientist looked up and gladly accepted the sweet. Rodney had explained to Ronon that the only reason why he ate so much was to try to keep his blood level up. If his blood level lowered too much then he would need to feed and that always led to the chances of getting caught.

"Thanks," Rodney muttered as he slowly munched on the pastry that Ronon had given to him. Ronon looked over Rodney's shoulder and at the screen, trying to make sense of the Ancient words.

"What are you working on?" he asked.

"It's a way of improving the power throughout Atlantis. If we can somehow lower the power of the city and still keep enough to work every system that we need than we'd be able to save a lot of energy. This way we won't always be scrambling for power when we really need it," the scientist explained as the looked over the words on the screen. Ronon arched an eyebrow at him, but didn't comment.

Suddenly alarms went off throughout the base.

"Dr. McKay, Colonel Sheppard, please report to the control room immediately!" someone shouted over the intercom.

Rodney sighed and resisted the urge to slam his head onto the table. "There's never a moment's rest in this place."

Ronon patted his back in sympathy. He understood that Rodney was always under constant pressure. "Let's go see what life threatening situation we've gotten ourselves into this time." Ronon stood up from his seat. Rodney followed his example and then they began to make their way to the control room.

Once they arrived, Rodney was almost pushed off his feet by a bunch of people rushing out of the room. Ronon helped him stay on his feet and then they pushed their way through the crowd. They immediately spotted Weir and Sheppard talking rapidly in the corner of the room. Rodney and Ronon made their way to them and entered the conversation.

"What's happened this time and what do I need to do to fix it?" Rodney muttered angrily. He muttered a few other words underneath his breath, but their ears weren't able to pick it up.

Elizabeth sighed and turned towards the scientist.

"It's just the usual we're going to die because the enemy is heading here scenario," Elizabeth explained quietly. McKay blinked in annoyance.

"Do I look like a mind reader? I don't know what you're talking about," Rodney answered.

"The long range scanners have noticed a ship coming towards us. We believe it to be the Replicators. It's moving way too fast for it to be a Wraith ship," she responded quickly, making sure that Rodney understood everything.

"We were thinking of sending out the Dedalus and intercepting them, but the ship is under heavy repairs from its recent battles. Maybe we could take the Dedalus three quarters of the way there and then make the last jump with the puddle jumper. What do you think about that McKay?" Sheppard offered as he thought about the military strategies.

Rodney rolled his eyes at the colonel.

"It's a fine plan if you're trying to get us killed. The getting there would be easy part but how would be destroy the ship approaching. You're forgetting that the replicators have superior firepower and are much more capable at fighting in space then we are. So, what was your plan on that? Hm?" McKay stated as he glared at Sheppard. The military man shrugged tiredly and turned to Elizabeth so that she could continue speaking.

"Well…we were hoping that you could take care of that part," she said.

"Of course, leave all the hard parts to me," Rodney muttered. Ronon grinned, knowing that by the end of the day McKay would have a few plans. "I'll think about it and get back to you at the end of the day."

Without waiting for them to say anything, Rodney turned on his heels and stomped away. Ronon gave Sheppard a slight nod and then followed the scientist out of the room. He found the scientist muttering under his breath in one of the empty science labs, typing away on his laptop.

"Do you have any idea?" Ronon asked.

"A few, but none worth mentioning. The fact is that the Puddle jumper isn't built for war combat. It wouldn't stand a chance against an actual war ship. As long as it was cloaked then there's a chance that we can get close, but the problem would be how to destroy it. The only way to do that with the resources we have would be to infiltrate the ship and destroy it from within. It would be a suicide mission," Rodney explained as he continued to type away. He paused for a moment and then looked up at Ronon.

"Sounds like a job for us," Ronon commented.

"Ha, ha, very funny," Rodney muttered. He began to type once more and Ronon sat down quietly in an empty seat next to the scientist.

"I have a question to ask you," Ronon asked. Rodney looked up and Ronon took this as a sign to continue. "How old exactly are you? I know you've been living for a long time, but I don't have the slightest idea how old you are."

Rodney thought about it, slowly calculating the years he had been alive in the world.

"I've been alive for at least 9 centuries," he responded.

"Wow…you don't look a day over 30," Ronon answered in shock. He knew that Rodney had been alive for along time, but he had never imagined the vampire had been alive this long.

"Vampires age slowly…very slowly," Rodney answered. Although he had lived a long time and seen many things, he still felt young.


"I see you solved the problem," Sheppard said at the briefing that night. They were all seated at the respected seats and were looking at the papers that Rodney had handed out.

"What are we looking at here exactly?" Elizabeth explained calmly as she looked at the papers in her hands.

"These are the schematics of the ship headed towards us. The replicators use similar technology to those of the Ancient so we can safely say that the ship headed towards is of Ancient design. In all Ancient warships, the key circuit and consoles are always located at the same place. This prevented people from forgetting were they were. What we can do is infiltrate the ship and make our way to one of these key consoles, then download a self-destruct program. That way we'll have enough time to make it off the ship," Rodney explained. Sheppard smiled.

"See I knew you could do it," he announced. Rodney glared at him.

"I still think it's a suicide plan," he muttered. Teyla had to agree with the scientist for once. Although they had had more dangerous missions, she didn't feel comfortable wandering into such a dangerous place.

"So how to get on," Elizabeth said.

"I estimate that the ship will drop out of Hyperspace at this location," Rodney responded as he pulled out a map and placed it on the table. He pointed at a certain location on the map and showed it to Elizabeth. "They'll want to stop here and make sure that all their systems are operational before making the last jump to Atlantis. That will be our chance. We'll have about 1 hour to get in and out."

"That sounds like a plan," Elizabeth announced. "You'll be leaving tomorrow morning."

Rodney sighed. He would have to go see Carson for an early feeding. He wasn't going in enemy territory with only half of his strength. Carson wouldn't be happy about that.


"You want to feed earlier then normal because of this mission. It's quite understandable because of who you're facing," Carson answered tiredly as he slowly made his way to the small fridge where he kept all the blood. Ronon watched curiously as the doctor tossed a bag of blood into McKay's hands. He had never actually seen the vampire feed in person, so he was a bit curious about the process.

"Are you sure you want to watch laddie?" Carson asked. "It isn't exactly a pretty sight at first."

"I'll be fine."

Ronon shrugged and then turned to Rodney. The vampire ignored him and then opened his mouth. His canine teeth lengthened into fangs and Rodney sunk his fangs within the bag. Slowly, the vampire began to drink the blood that escaped from the bag. It wasn't long before the small bag was empty. Rodney retracted his fangs and his teeth returned to normal. He through the bag into the trash and then turned to Ronon who was looking a bit green in the face. Rodney licked the excess blood from his lips and grinned.

"Carson did warn you," he said.

"I'm not disgusted in the least, just surprised…" Ronon responded. Rodney shook his head and then silently thanked Carson before heading back to his own room. He might as well try to get some sleep before the mission the next morning. He and Ronon went their separate ways and headed towards their rooms.


The next morning, Rodney awoke early feeling a sense of dread tingling throughout his body. He had a few hours until the departure so he quietly got out of bed and silently made his way through the empty hall of Atlantis. It was too early for anyone to be awake so Rodney was alone. He wandered out into the balcony of the city and gazed quietly out into the open sea. The waves splashed against the edges of the city and Rodney felt a sense of calmness surround him. He could always find some peace of mind when he looked at the water.

"What are you doing awake at this god-awful hour?" someone said from behind Rodney. The vampire turned around and came face to face with Sheppard. The colonel was frowning at him for some reason.

Sheppard had spotted Rodney looking out towards the sea and had called out his name. As the scientist turned around, John could have sworn that he saw a flicker around McKay's body and he caught a glimpse of another person. A man with soft features and long black hair. When he looked again, all he saw was McKay so he placed the issue at the back of his mind thinking it was just his imagination playing tricks on him.

"Colonel?" Rodney questioned worriedly.

"It's noting important. I just could have sworn I just saw someone else standing on the balcony," he said. Rodney frowned. His illusion must have faltered for a moment.

"You must have imagined it," he lied. Sheppard shrugged and then turned his attention towards the ocean. They were quiet for an instant, but Sheppard decided to break the silence.

"So…you've gotten closer to Ronon lately," he commented. Rodney arched an eyebrow and then nodded. "I just wanted to know if he was bothering you are not. If he's always following you like that it must get annoying. If you want I can order him to stop," Sheppard offered. Rodney shook his head and smiled at the thought of the brown haired man that always followed him around.

"I'm so used to it now that it would feel like something was missing if it suddenly stopped," he explained. Rodney fell silent and then turned his back to Sheppard. He waited a moment for the colonel to speak, but when nothing came he walked away. His peaceful moment was over and it was time to get back to work.


"Have I mentioned yet that I still think that this is a horrible idea?" Rodney stated as they were beamed into the Dedalus. Sheppard ignored him, already used to his complaining. Teyla, on the other hand, sighed in exasperation at the scientist.

"Yes Rodney. You've already mentioned it 5 times. Even if you say it another time it won't change the colonel's opinion," she stated. Rodney silently glared at her and then headed towards the scientific area that was designated for scientific work. He heard the heavy footfall of Ronon behind him and knew that the Satedan was still going to follow him around even though they weren't in Atlantis anymore.

Once they reached the lab room, Rodney set up his laptop and began to type. The other scientists around him turned to look at him in admiration briefly and then quietly returned to their work when Ronon glared at them.

"How long until we need to make our drop off?" Ronon asked as he leaned on the desk, staring at Rodney with a smirk.

"About 12 hours actually and then from there another 3," he explained. Ronon groaned and then resisted the urge to slam his head on the table. He wasn't the type of person that could stay inert for such a long period of time.

"Do you have to work right now? Let's do something interesting," he asked.

"What do you have in mind?" Rodney questioned as he stopped typing and looked up. He softly lowered the screen of his laptop and then closed it completely. He could always work later.

"Let's spar," Ronon offered, "You said so yourself that you were stronger that normal humans. I want to test that."

Rodney lifted an eyebrow in amusement and then smirked at the thought.

"Let's do that," he said. They both exited the room and headed towards the training area on the ship. The managed to find an empty room and entered, closing and locking the door behind them. Rodney took a few steps away from Ronon and sat down on the blue mat on the floor. He removed his socks and then stood back up. Ronon did the same. When they were about to begin, Rodney closed his eyes and relaxed. The illusion around him simmered and then faded away leaving him in his original for.

Rodney tucked a stray strand of black hair behind his rounded ear and then fell into an attack position, his forearms skilfully protecting his chest. His legs got into a comfortable position and Rodney waited for Ronon to make his move. Ronon grinned and lunged forward with a sharp movement. Rodney back stepped the attack and jumped backwards. Ronon landed hard into the mat below and he grumbled incoherently in anger.

"There's a reason I hide my strength you know. If someone were to notice that someone like me, a scientist with no military skills, had super human strength then I would be immediately put under suspicion and then discovered. It's quite unnerving to have to hold back so much," Rodney explained as he relaxed his posture. Ronon quietly got back to his feet and lunged once more. Rodney took a step forwards and passed by Ronon just as he lunged. Ronon stopped before he could fall and then grumbled. He turned to face Rodney again.

"You're too damn fast," he complained as he tried to catch his breath. He was moving as fast as he could, but it was nothing compared to the speed that McKay could muster.

"I can go faster," the vampire commented as he gracefully approached Ronon. He smiled at the sweat covered Satedan and raised a hand to touch Ronon's face. The Satedan grabbed his limb and pulled the vampire to the mat and then jumped on him to keep him in place. Rodney, not expecting the assault, squeaked as he found himself with his back into the mat and Ronon hovering over him.

Rodney blushed as he realized the awkwardness of his position. He struggled slightly and then stilled when Ronon lowered his face towards the vampire's. Rodney opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly he got a good whiff of Ronon's scent and the scent of the blood beneath his flesh.

Rodney gasped as he felt an urge to sink his fangs within the Satedan's jugular vein. His fangs unconsciously lengthened and he arched his back, causing his body to slightly touch Ronon's. The Satedan froze. He looked down and then realized that Rodney's eyes were flickering between its usual blue color and then red tint that appeared when Rodney was using his vampire powers.

"Rodney?" he called out.

"Get off…or I might…" McKay began. He opened his mouth showing his fangs to show Ronon what he meant.

Ronon froze but didn't move. Rodney found his body moving against his will and his teeth were soon grazing against Ronon's neck. Just as he was about to bite down there was a loud banging from the door. Ronon jumped back and Rodney immediately replaced his illusion before collapsing onto the mat, taking deep breaths. They heard a key being inserted into the door and then the door swung open, revealing Sheppard. The colonel entered the room. His eyes shifted from the panting Rodney and the pale Ronon.

"What's wrong?" Sheppard asked as he frowned. He could sense that there was something wrong here.

"Nothing…I was just teaching Rodney a few moves, but I've decided that he's hopeless in any sort of combat techniques," Ronon lied easily. He just couldn't take his mind off of what had almost just happened. Rodney had almost bitten him. Sheppard gave the Satedan an unbelieving look.

"Are you sure? You look a bit pale," he commented.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ronon mumbled. John, not believing a word, shrugged and headed towards Rodney. He extended his hand towards the scientist so he could help him up. Rodney hesitated for a moment before he accepted the limb and stood with the help of the colonel.

"Some of the scientists said that they were having problems with some of the secondary controls. They were hoping that you could help them with it," John explained. Rodney nodded and immediately fled the room without another word. He didn't look at Ronon as he passed.

Sheppard gave both of them an odd look.

"Is there something between you two that I should know about?" he asked the Satedan. Ronon glared at him and then stomped out of the room. Sheppard sighed and made his way out of the room, heading towards Teyla so that he could tell her about the strange mood swings of his other two teammates.


Ronon wandered aimlessly through the halls of the Dedalus. He was still trying to grasp the concept that Rodney had almost bitten him.

"Ronon? Is there something wrong?" he heard someone asked. He turned around and came face to face with Teyla who was looking at him with a worried expression.

"Yeah…I'm fine," he murmured. Personally he actually wished that everyone would just leave him alone so he could think about what had happened. Teyla didn't believe him.

"There's no reason for you to lie to me Ronon. You'll probably feel better if you talk about it," Teyla answered. Ronon let out a grunt and headed towards the ships cafeteria. Teyla smiled and took this as a sign to follow him. Once they arrived at the cafeteria, they grabbed their meal and then headed towards an isolated empty table so that no one could hear their conversation. They sat down and silence passed between them. It was only a few minutes later that Ronon decided to speak up.

"What would happen if you were almost hurt by someone close to you?"

Teyla gave him an odd look, but silently thought about the question. After much thought she turned back to Ronon and smiled.

"That depends on what was done. What I find really matters is that italmost happened? This friend of yours stopped himself before this hurtful deed could be done. If you're really so close to each other then I believe that he wouldn't try to hurt you on purpose," Teyla explained. Ronon thought about what she said and then found a bit of truth there. He quietly picked at his food as he thought.

"That makes sense," he mumbled.

Teyla gave him an odd look and then reached out to touch Ronon's forearm in a comforting gesture.

"Did you and Rodney have a fight?" she asked.

"It's not important," Ronon whispered as he took a bite of his meal. Teyla smiled and then began to eat her own meal. She could tell that her advice had helped. With that thought in mind, a large smile appeared on her face as she ate.


Rodney, on the other hand, was panicking wildly. He was helping the scientists on the Dedalus in an attempt to force his dark thoughts to the back of his mind. His thoughts, however, were not so easily dismissed.

"Dr. McKay, there seems to be a problem with the shields at the moment. They don't seem to want to turn on," a scientist stated, snapping Rodney out of his thoughts. The vampire headed to one of the consoles and ran a diagnostic of the program. He sighed when he realized what was wrong.

"That's probably because the power usually used for the shields is being directed towards another conduit and isn't reaching the shield generators. You need to reroute the power so that it can go back on course," Rodney stated, annoyed these scientists had made such a simple error. "Why was the power redirected towards another piece of equipment?"

"Well, we were hovering over Atlantis and we needed to make repairs so we decided to use that power from the shield generator to help us with the area that were in most need of repairs. We must have forgotten to put them back online when we left the planet," another scientist stated. Rodney resisted the urge to strangle the scientist.

"Are you a complete idiot? Under no circumstances, I mean absolutely no circumstances, are you to disengage the shields. What would have happened if an enemy suddenly dropped out of hyperspace above the planet and opened fire onto the ship? You would have all died and it would have been your fault!" Rodney snapped coldly, letting his anger be directed towards this scientist.

"Well, we expected the long-range sensors to notice any dangers if there were any," the scientist said, trying to regain his honour.

"What would have happened if the sensors weren't functioning properly? You can never expect things to go as planned in this galaxy or else you'll find yourself losing you're life. Shields must always be active in case of an emergency. So, what have you learned today?" Rodney said in a condescending tone.

"Shield offline equals bad," the scientist mumbled. Rodney threw his arms up in the air.

"Thank god, there might actually be hope for him yet," he grumbled sarcastically. The scientist looked at his feet in shame and then left Rodney's side so that he could fix his mistake. Rodney, thinking that his help wasn't needed anymore, hastily left the room so he could go to his room to get some sleep.

Rodney opened the door to his room and stepped in without looking up. He closed and locked the door and then finally looked up. He almost jumped out of his skin when he saw Ronon sitting quietly on his bed.

"Ronon!" he shouted loudly in surprise.

"McKay," Ronon responded with a slight nod of his head.

"What are you doing here?" Rodney asked as he tried to avoid Ronon's gaze without seeming too obvious about it.

"I want to talk about what happened earlier," he explained quietly. Rodney froze and then an ashamed look crossed his face.

"I'm so sorry. I almost lost control and I came so close to biting you," he mumbled.

"What exactly happened?"

"Well, you got close and suddenly I could smell everything so clearly. I could feel the blood pumping through your veins and smell its sweet taste. That was the closest I'd ever been to you, so it was kind of overwhelming," Rodney explained. Ronon now understood Rodney's reaction when they had been so close to each other. He knew about the reaction Rodney had when they were far apart and it was only natural that that reaction would increase if the were closer to each other.

Ronon smiled and stood. He approached Rodney making sure that he stayed far enough and calmly reached out to pat Rodney on the shoulder. Rodney looked up in surprise.

"Don't worry about it. I was just surprised," Ronon said. Rodney placed his hand on top of Ronon's and a smile touched his lips.

"Thank you."

"Oh, I got this for you from the cafeteria," Ronon said as he pulled out a chocolate bar from his pant pocket. McKay reached out and gladly accepted the gift, his smile never leaving his face.


When the twelve hours were up, Rodney and the rest of the team were getting ready for their departure. They were currently seated in the puddle jumper, waiting for the Dedalus to drop out of Hyperspace so that they could exit the ship.

"We'll drop out of hyperspace in 3…2…1…" Rodney counted down. As he spoke, there was a slight turbulence around them, a clear sign that they had finally slowed down. The intercom came to life and the team was given the signal to proceed out of the hanger.

Sheppard immediately brought the Ancient device online and opened the hanger doors. He flew the ship out and thus began their long journey into space.

About 1 hour into the trip, McKay stood up from his seat and headed towards the back of the jumper to look at some of the operating panels. Sheppard turned his head towards him, but kept most of his attention towards his driving.

"What are you doing McKay?" he asked.

"I'm just looking over the power requirements of the jumper, we wouldn't want to make it there and not be able to make back," Rodney explained without turned to look at the colonel. Sheppard nodded and turned back to the front. Now it was Teyla's turn to turn to Rodney.

"How are things going back there?" she questioned.

"They're looking alright at the moment," McKay said as he stopped what he was doing and returned to his seat. Ronon yawned tiredly and then slouched in his chair.

"There's two hours left to wait right? So what are we going to do?" he asked.

Rodney stuffed his hand in his jacket pocket and then pulled out a deck of cards. He showed the item to Teyla and Ronon.

"How about I teach the both of you to play cards?" he offered. Ronon shrugged and Teyla moved closer.

"Sounds better than doing nothing," Ronon said.

Sheppard turned to them, a look of playful resentment on his face. "Not fair, you guys get to play while I have to do all the work."

"You are the designated driver so pay attention to the road," Rodney retorted back. The scientist turned his attention back to his two off world teammates and then began to explain the principal of certain card games.


When the third hour passed by, Sheppard slowed down the puddle jumper, activated the cloaking device and waited for the Replicator ship to drop out of Hyperspace at the location that Rodney had calculated. It wasn't long before the warship exited out of warp space and slowed down to a complete halt.

Rodney observed the Replicator ship in amazement. It was at least bigger than 100 puddle jumpers and it was covered in canons and other weapons. The entire ship was covered in thick steel plates that added protection to the entire vessel. It was quite a sight to behold.

"It's show time," Rodney announced. Sheppard nodded and started the engines of the puddle jumper and skilful made his way towards the ship, making sure he wasn't detected.

Now, the fun began.


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