Jamie sighed as soon as they were three hallways down. "I know, I know, Kelsha has a flair for the dramatic heroine." She muttered before Taurus could say anything.

A deep chuckle emerged from Taurus' chest and he rested his hand on her shoulder. "As a matter of fact, I was expecting something even more poignant than that."

"Don't give her any ideas." Jamie stopped and fixed Taurus with a deadly-serious stare. "Do you really think this is worth sending one of our people? If they're lying and this is just a trap to get rid of us, why even bother?"

"There's a sizable risk, yes," Taurus conceded, glancing out a small window high up in the wall. "However, if this is true, then not only are our outposts in danger of being wiped out or discovered, but we'd risk turning our backs on a new threat to the galaxy if we don't send someone. We made a promise when we started this operation to not let any new Wraith activity go unchecked, Jamie, and like it or not, we have to follow every plausible lead we receive, weather or not it ends up in a trap."

Jamie knew that Taurus was telling the truth, though a part of her didn't want to admit it. "The only one that's available for this is Draco," she whispered, dread seeping from her bones.

An equally disturbed look crossed Taurus' face and he shifted uncomfortably. "I know. We have no other choice, though."

"But he just managed to pull of a simulated mission without getting overeager."

"I know!" Taurus barked, a rare display of anger transforming him into the feared persona he used to be. He realized his tone and he controlled himself with a visible effort, hand squeezing her shoulder. "I know, Jamie. We're going to have to trust that he'll keep his head on this one until one of the others returns from their missions."

Having seen the schedule herself, Jamie knew that wouldn't be for another day or two. Drawing herself up, she nodded. "Okay. Do you want to tell him, or should I?"

Taurus shook his head. "I will. I know you're close to finishing the translation on that tablet we recovered from the last outpost raid; go finish that. I'll send one of the others to keep you company in case...in case something else happens."

Making a face, Jamie knew there was no way out of getting a bodyguard for the duration of Sheppard's team's stay. "If you have to." She placed a palm on Taurus' chest and looked deep into his eyes, telling him things she would never dare say aloud.

Taurus' face softened and his hand grasped hers gently. "I do," he murmured and briskly strode away.

With a smile on her face, Jamie went the opposite way, trying to control the butterflies in her stomach before anyone saw her and asked about it. Three years ago, she hadn't thought she and Taurus would end up as close as they were; he hated her so much that he wouldn't even talk to her. Every day since, then, however, despite all the opposition and disapproval of the others, they'd been drawn ever more closely to each other until not a day went by without at least a short conversation or two. Conversations weren't all that happened, of course, but they were both still embarrassed about their relationship that they kept those moments between the two of them. There were four others they trusted implicitly with everything else, but they didn't think they would understand...in fact, they would most likely never speak to them again. Jamie used to believe in getting the truth out from the start; there was less chance of people hating you that way. With something as volatile and...forbidden as her and Taurus, though...she was willing to bend the rules.

She reached her study lab before she realized it. The golden walls were contrasted by the scattered Wraith technology around the room. Several tablets were piled on the large table with one placed prominently in front of a chair. With a sigh, Jamie sat down and scrolled through the Wraith characters to find where she left off. It was a journal from a Wraith Queen, of all things, and she grinned remembering how excited they'd all been when they'd found it. Not only did it offer clues to the Hive's movements, but it also gave them insight into how Queen thought...and Jamie had only finished two tablets out of seven so far. The one she was working on right now was written so fast an in such an obscure dialect of Wraith that she was having a bear of a time translating even the simplest of words. Normally, she would prefer working with one of the Wraith, but they still had an ingrained taboo against reading the Queen's writings that no amount of influence could change. Once she translated it out of Wraith into Ancient, though, they had no qualms about it.

Probably because I'm the one who wrote that, she thought in amusement and got to work. The last passage, the one she was working on, started with the Queen ranting about how a Commander had crossed her regarding a denial to perform studies on the humans of a particular planet. It was the most anger-filled entry yet and Jamie was beginning to feel sick with the Queen's ever more descriptions of what she'd do to the Commander if he ever crossed her again. Sheesh, no wonder everyone's scared of a Queen. Take away her mental powers and her feeding hand and she'd still be someone I'd be afraid to cross based on temper alone.

She didn't know how long she stared at the tablet, crossing and re-crossing out her translations, when the door slid open and someone cleared his throat, startling her into looking up. "Leo, how long have you been standing outside the door?" She quipped with a smile.

He smirked and shrugged uncomfortably. "You looked like you were concentrating hard enough that I was worried that I would break your concentration," he admitted and took a seat on the other side of the table. Despite his calm tone, Leo's body language screamed of suppressed anger.

Great, Taurus probably sent him to me so I can let him rant away from everyone else. Chewing her cheek, Jamie straightened and set down her pen. "What's wrong, Leo?" She asked quietly and rested her arms on the table.

Face contorting, Leo slammed his fists down on the table. "Draco is not ready for a solo mission!" He snapped from between clenched teeth. "He's too young, he's hotheaded, he lets his curiosity distract him, he..." With a roar, he swung out and knocked a whole stack of old datapads off the table and into the other wall. An extra one remained and he viciously grabbed it, hurling it at the empty patch of wall with such force that it shattered into dozens of sparking pieces. He stalked over and systematically began kicking the remaining pieces.

Jamie bit her lip and let him, understanding his fear all to well. Leo and Draco were literally brothers and, like all siblings, Leo was very protective of Draco, since the later was younger and, hence, impulsive. They were hardly ever seen apart and it had taken a spectacular feat of persuasion to convince Leo to let Draco receive the basic training for solo missions. She was sure that Leo hadn't thought that Draco would be sent on one so soon. Still, Leo was tied up with helping orient the latest batch of new arrivals and couldn't be assigned something else until they were all confident that they could be trusted to walk alone. Her own heart was aching for them both, but she knew that there was no other choice.

Eventually, Leo calmed down and slumped on the chair, head in his hands. He didn't say anything and Jamie didn't expect him to. She returned to her translating with a more subdued frame of mind.