Chapter 2: You are gonna follow the speed limit?

It was very disorientating to step through the wormhole back into the Gateroom at the SCG. I couldn't help but tighten my hold on John's hand as I caught sight of the guards stationed around the room. My heartbeat actually accelerated in fear or nervousness ... I'm not really sure what. All I knew was that I felt insecure at the most basic level – a feeling I hadn't experienced for many months.

"Why was this a good idea again?" I quipped to John in a shaky whisper.

"Relax," John said, almost dragging me down the ramp behind Doctor Weir.

"Doctor Weir," a middle aged man in uniform greeted us. "I'm General Hank Landry. General O'Neill sends his greetings and said to tell you he'll try to get down from the Pentagon while you're here."

"Thank you General," Doctor Weir replied in a confident voice. "It's good to be home."

Their conversation continued as we all walked from the Gateroom into a familiar corridor heading down to one of the conference rooms. I barely registered the pleasantries as I contemplated what Doctor Weir had said. 'Home' ... did I even know what that was anymore? We had all referred to Earth as home the whole time we'd been on Atlantis but now I was there I just didn't get that rush of familiarity and comfort a real home should evoke. I was drawn from my internal pondering by Doctor Weir's introductions of everyone who'd made the trip from Atlantis.

"And this is Sabina Scott," she finished with my introduction last.

"Ah, yes," the General looked at me closely. "I've heard a lot about you young lady."

"And some of it was probably even true," I quipped with a nervous smile, wondering how soon I could find a way to disappear into the background again.

"I'll be meeting with all of you individually while you're here," the General said, still looking at me. "We can work out the truth or otherwise of what I've heard about the Atlantis mission then."

I could almost feel the headache coming on as I registered what he'd said. I was going to have to talk to the General by myself? Casting a panicked look John's way, I wasn't reassured by the surprised and somewhat worried look on his face.

"For now," General Landry continued, "I'd like all of you to report to the infirmary for the standard medical checks. You can make yourselves at home here ... cars and escorts have been arranged for anyone wanting to leave the mountain. Private Evans will escort you all to the infirmary and then on to your assigned quarters."

My head snapped up as soon as I heard Greg's name mentioned. I glanced across and saw that he was carefully maintaining a disinterested face almost as though he hadn't recognised me. Since I was trying to put the whole 'stowing away on an intergalactic trip through the gate' thing behind me I decided right then that I would ignore him too. Besides, I'd never actually told John the name of the person who'd gotten me onto the base and I wasn't exactly sure what he'd do to Greg if he found out it was him.

The infirmary at the SCG was quite similar to the one on Atlantis apart from the absence of all the cool Atlantis toys. John was whisked away to one side of the room while I had the dubious pleasure of being the centre of attention for two doctors – oh joy! To be fair, Doctor Lam was both personable and professional as she conferred with Doctor Beckett about my recovery from using the Wraith weapon.

"We don't know for sure," Carson said, not really even looking at me "but we think Sabina was technically dead for at least a few minutes. To be honest I don't know how the lass survived without any permanent damage ... apart from some lingering tiredness she's suffered no ill effects at all."

"We'll do some detailed blood work here," Doctor Lam frowned as she wrote some things down in my chart, "but I don't expect we'll find anything the Atlantis systems haven't already picked up."

One of the nurses came over and took some blood, as well as doing blood pressure, temperature and all the other usual measurements they do for a general check up.

"I wouldn't mind your opinion on some aspects of Sabina's blood results," Carson continued.

"DNA based?" Doctor Lam asked

"Aye," Carson nodded. "Some rogue strands ... plus some blood proteins I've never come across."

"Hey," I spoke up for the first time. "You never mentioned proteins before!"

"It's just a medical curiosity," Doctor Beckett dismissed my concerns lightly. "Nothing for you to worry about."

"You said that about my mutant DNA and look how that turned out!" I glared at him in annoyance.

"It's not mutant DNA lass," Carson protested.

"Mutant ... rogue" I waved a hand in the air, "it sounds like the same thing to me ... bad!"

Before I could get worked up Major Sheppard appeared at my side. "Ready to head out?" he asked, apparently oblivious to the tension between the doctors and myself.

"More than ready," I jumped from the bed quickly, careful not to look at Doctor Beckett as I smiled up at John.

"Can I go now?" I hesitated to just leave without getting cleared by Carson.

"Yes lass," he said, still frowning slightly. "Just remember you're still recovering from a huge shock to your system. Make sure she doesn't overdo it Major," Carson directed that one at John.

"No problem Doc," John agreed easily, before grabbing my hand and whisking me away from the infirmary.

It was a strange feeling to head for the lifts and make that slow journey up 28 floors to the surface. We cleared all the security points until we were finally stepping out into the open air ... I felt the tension leave me almost immediately. Breathing in the crisp fresh air and turning my face up to the sun I felt a smile coming on that started down in my toes and travelled all the way up to my lips.

Finally I felt a rush of happiness to be back on Earth – I turned to look at John and saw a similar look on his face.

"Where're we going?" I asked, looking around the parking lot curiously.

"Does it matter?" John asked with a smile.

"I guess not," I replied thoughtfully. "I wouldn't mind going somewhere where everyone doesn't know who I am."

"That we can do," John agreed. He guided me through the parking lot until we reached a shiny red 1968 Corvette. "I borrowed this from one of the guys - wanna drive?" he asked, dangling a set of keys in front of me.

"Do I!" I laughed, pleased that he'd remembered the one thing I'd said I missed about Earth. Quickly nabbing the keys before he could change his mind I jumped into the driver's side and started it up.

"Ready?" I turned to look at John who was now sitting somewhat nervously in the passenger seat.

"You are gonna follow the speed limit?" he asked, buckling his seat belt.

"Occasionally," I replied gleefully as I revved the engine before screaming out of the parking lot. It really was nice to be home!