Baby Grand by AndromedaMarine
Of John and Elizabeth Sheppard
"John is so going to kill me..."
"Go on," Katrina insisted, leaning forward. "Please?"
Her uncle sighed. "Kat, I wish it were easy enough to tell in a few words, but the truth is – it's not." He stood and turned so his back was facing her. "We were ashamed of how she died – at the time it seemed so trivial that it killed her, because she'd survived through so much before..." Unexpectedly, he gave a small laugh, causing Katrina to frown. "I'm sorry, Kat... But the truth – the truth is that no one knows what happened to her."
Katrina's jaw rested comfortably on the floor. "What?" she gasped.
Rodney grimaced. "I told you John'd kill me..."
"Rodney, get back to the 'Gate, NOW!" John yelled, firing his P90 at the renegade Wraith closing in on their position. "Take her with you! I'll cover you – go, now!" He fired another round at the Wraith closest to Rodney and Elizabeth, panicking about the beast's proximity.
He failed to notice the Dart zooming towards their position, and only heard it at the last second when Rodney screamed, "Scatter!!" He shoved Elizabeth away from him as Darts normally headed for groups of humans, barreled towards the tree line near the gate and didn't take a second glance back.
It seemed the Wraith had accomplished their mission because they dialed the gate and left rather quickly, eliciting a sigh of relief from Rodney but a cry of anguish from the General. "Where the hell did they go?" he screamed at Rodney, who poked his head out from behind a tree.
"What? How should I know?"
John's eyes were dark with anger. "Don't you tell me you didn't look at the DHD, you idiot!"
Rodney sputtered, scanning the clearing. It dawned on him: Elizabeth wasn't there. The pin dropped with a rather large echo. Elizabeth had been taken by the Wraith and they had absolutely no idea where she'd been taken. John had fallen to his knees, shuddering with tears. Teyla dropped to his side and helped him back up.
"John, we must return to Atlantis before they come back."
"Why would they come back?" John demanded. "They got what they came for. They took her. And now we can't track her – who knows where they've gone?"
Teyla didn't have an answer for him. He still had two children on Atlantis, waiting for their mother and father to return – but only one would. John's worst fear had come true. He'd lost Elizabeth.
Rodney couldn't speak, let alone remember how to breathe. Ronon had an irresistible urge to slap the back of Rodney's head with as much force as possible, but a glare from Teyla prevented him. It wasn't Rodney's fault, but the scientist would always blame himself.
Lorne and SGA-2 sped into the clearing from the east. Seeing only four of the original five they'd been separated from, Lorne's face went stiff. "Where is Elizabeth?" he asked, and Ronon shook his head. "Oh my God..." he muttered. "What address did they go to? Rodney!"
McKay couldn't bring himself to look at the Colonel.
"Rodney?"
"There isn't one," he practically squeaked. "They left before I got a look." He was telling the truth.
Lorne's eyes widened with shock and he could feel the tension in the team behind him. "She's gone and you don't know where they took her?" he asked incredulously. "McKay, how in the hell could you let that happen?"
Ronon advanced on Colonel Lorne; a warning that it wasn't Rodney's fault but that the Wraith were to blame. "It was an ambush, Lorne. It's no one's fault."
"What can we do to find her?" Evan asked, his temper slightly more under control. "Rodney, can't you figure out the last address dialed?"
The scientist nodded, his face sickly pale.
But no matter what, John could not be consoled.
Katrina's face was red and streaked with tears. "But...but why didn't you find her if you got the address?" It seemed like a tale of fiction rather than reality.
Rodney shook his head. "The address led to a space gate, with no residual radiation – which meant that the Hive had jumped a while ago. Believe me, Kat, we tried everything possible to find her – recon missions to known Wraith bases and labs, we scanned every Hive we came across before destroying it... In the end it was John's vengeance that got the better of the Wraith... his refusal to stop looking and the fact that Earth supplied us with more ships gave us the upper hand in the war, yet despite every scan for human life signs and or her subcutaneous transmitter we found nothing. John's never given up hope that one day she'll turn up somewhere we haven't looked. We were also unbelievably lucky to have Sam Carter as the replacement – if anyone from IOA had been shoved in, we wouldn't have been allowed to search for her at all."
The clearing of a throat at the door made Rodney jump. "Rodney," came John's deep voice. "We've discussed this." His tone was dangerous.
Katrina jumped up from her seat and placed herself between her uncle and her father. "Dad – don't. It was me who wanted to know. Don't get mad at Rodney for telling me."
John placed a firm hand on Katrina's shoulder. "There was a reason I didn't want you to know," he said lowly, his eyes unreadable.
Rodney's eyes went as wide as dinner plates. "Don't... you can't be... why the hell didn't you... John!"
Katrina was very confused, her eyes flickering between the two men as John and Rodney had a major staring contest.
"How in the hell... what... well, aren't you going to... bloody hell, John... don't just stand there, you genius, get your flyboy ass over here... I'm sorry, Katrina, but I'm afraid you'll have to leave now," Rodney said in very detached sentences.
He shooed Katrina Sheppard from the lab and closed and locked the door, sealing himself and the General inside for what seemed like eternity. Katrina, confused beyond belief, wandered back to the family quarters before the pin dropped with an echo that sounded as loud as a Mark IX blast.
