Velocity Asymptotic

by liketheriver

Just because they’ve been sent back to Earth, doesn’t mean the adventures stop. John and Rodney run afoul of McKay’s new project in Area 51 and it’s just like old times. SheppardMcKay friendship. Complete!

3. Variable 3: Speed

a/n Once again, thanks to Koschka and Kodiak for the beta and to everyone that's taken the time to review. It means lots!

Variable 3: Speed

Life comes at you fast. But when you're a speed junky, sometimes it's not fast enough. I've never met a pilot yet that could drive under the speed limit, and I'm no exception. There's something about experiencing the world when it's passing by so fast that your brain can't register anything beyond a blur, a jumble of images that smear together into this amorphous form surrounding you and the dashboard, or even better, you and the cockpit. But then again, when you're a pilot, nothing else matters besides you and the cockpit. Sure, there's the mission, the rest of your team, the enemy you're being sent to destroy and the civilians you're being sent to protect. But in reality, they just become part of the amorphous form outside your window, too.

And if you forget that? If you decide someone is more important than orders, that they deserve to stand out in the blur? Well, you can find yourself going from hot sand to cold snow in the blink of an eye. Life is like that. It can speed past you so fast that you're lost in the blur, it can pick you up and carry you along, it can change you so fast you don't realize it has until you're sitting around a table at the SGC being given a new assignment with a knot in your stomach because the few people you did manage to hold on to are being scattered to the wind, as well.

But it didn't take a pilot to feel that same G-force gut punch of reassignment. Rodney had, too. But then again, Rodney was a pilot, at least in his mind. And there was nothing faster in two galaxies than Rodney's mind. Never mind that he'd nearly pissed his pants in the F302. Never mind he flew the Jumpers like he was skiing the slalom. Never mind that he didn't even need a craft to reach velocities mere mortals never would. He was motion and emotion, acceleration and agitation, altitude and attitude. He was as much pitch and yaw as he was bitch and moan. He was my polar opposite, a kindred spirit, and a damn good friend and I sat and watched with no power to stop it as he was being sent to Area 51.

And he wasn't the least bit happy about it.

"Why the hell is Bill Lee going to be running the Jumper program instead of me?"

General Landry had taken the outburst in stride. "Believe it or not, Dr. McKay, you aren't the only one that can study a Jumper."

"I can at least turn the damn thing on, which is more than Lee can do."

"We'll have Colonel Sheppard here if Dr. Lee needs assistance."

"Oh, so now Sheppard is going to be the SGC chore monkey?" McKay had sat back in a huff, looking to me for my opinion on the topic. Never mind that he had used me as his own personal ATA chore monkey more times than I could remember, this wasn't part of the McKay master plan. But then, nothing over the past several days had been.

"Rodney," Elizabeth had chastised quietly, which just set him off again.

"What, Elizabeth? You don't actually think it's okay what they're doing, do you? The way they're just pushing us out? You're just going to settle back into negotiating treaties in the Baltics? Carson is just going to become a member of the medical staff here at the SGC? Sheppard is just supposed to turn into a glorified light switch for anything ATA related? And I'm just supposed to scamper off to 51 because they think someone else should get to play with the toys for a while?"

"Colonel Sheppard is hardly going to be sitting around waiting for someone to need his help in the labs," Landry told him pointedly. "He's going to be assigned his own away team so he can work to protect his home galaxy for a change. And you, we feel, have more to offer in R&D in Area 51. But you are a civilian, so if you don't like that idea, you're free to pursue your own interests… outside the SGC."

McKay had blinked then, looked back at me and I had done my best to mentally will him to shut the hell up and just bide his time until Atlantis opened back up to us. If he removed himself from the program, they'd just send somebody else back to Atlantis when the time came and the look he gave me told me he knew it as well.

Clearing his throat, he had raised his chin and mumbled, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to review the projects that are ongoing at Area 51."

So he'd gone, and Elizabeth decided she'd take some time to decide exactly what she wanted to do, and Carson had settled into the medical team, and I'd exchanged Ori for Wraith, Air Force officers for alien allies, subordinates for friends. I also never laid a hand on the Jumper; I wasn't even on the access list to get into the same room with it. And I started thinking Rodney was right, they really were pushing us out.

I hadn't flown since we left Atlantis. I could only look up at the stars through the layers of atmosphere and wish I was breaking through into the openness of space. I could feel gravity pushing me down, feel the drag slowing my life to a crawl, feel the need for more. As Tom Cruise so eloquently put it, feel the need for speed.

I received three speeding tickets the first two weeks alone. When Landry hauled me into his office and threatened to install a governor on my car I decided maybe I should give it a rest. It wouldn't do me any good to get booted from the SGC. Besides, ninety miles an hour didn't blur the world enough for me to forget where I was or what I had lost. It took getting trapped in an energy field with McKay to do that. It took falling back into a routine of running for our lives and fighting for our very existence to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Or maybe it was a penlight shining in my eyes.

"Colonel, can you hear me, lad?"

A familiar voice. A voice that reminded me of home. A voice that had welcomed me back more times than I could count. But where were the other voices? The ones that were usually there urging me back right along with Carson.

Pegasus. Teyla and Ronon were in Pegasus. But I wasn't there. I was on Earth. I had lived the future we were doomed to miss if we didn't get back. We had moved so fast during the previous jump that we passed up our stop and moved on to the next one. And that brought to mind the other person that should've been there.

"R'ney?"

The light was back, as was Carson's voice. "It's Carson, Colonel. Rest easy, we're going to take care of you." But not McKay's. Where the hell was McKay? He had been there. He had said he understood. Didn't he jump with me? If he hadn't jumped, why? And if he had jumped, why wasn't he answering me?

Then the light vanished and I was flying again, lifting up, up, up and even in the darkness I could feel the movement, feel the speed increasing, the rush of the world around me, the voices blurring into the periphery, smearing into that amorphous form outside the cockpit.

Life comes at you fast, no doubt about it. But then again, so does death.

xxxx

Intelligence gathering was not exactly the most glamorous of assignments he could have been given. Then again, if it served the Hive, he would do as ordered by his Queen. But to sneak, to slither in the shadows instead of holding his head high and walking among these human herds like the dominant species they were, not to mention the frustration of having such succulent morsels before him and not being able to feed…well, it was more than wearisome.

And these humans here on Earth, they were beyond annoying. Why they would not simply accept their fate and stop struggling under the delusion that they would eventually defeat their betters was mind-boggling. It had been decades and still they resisted. And although the Hive would not admit it, the humans were making progress and recovering from the devastation the initial cullings had wrought on the planet. Many felt that they should just concentrate on the other worlds within this galaxy, leave Earth and its technology and advanced allies, and concentrate on those closer in development to the feeding grounds that they had left behind. But the Queens believed that as long as Earth resisted they could never truly rule in this galaxy, which had many wondering why they didn't just return to their own galaxy and reap the rewards of several generations of population growth there.

Moving among the rubble, he adjusted his night goggles so that he could read his energy detector. This pile of debris had been the primary research facility the humans had used to develop their weapons and technology. It had also been one of the very first locations they had destroyed. But the humans had maintained a presence here. Building houses from the wreckage, a small band had settled near the ruins, clinging to false hopes and shattered beliefs that they could rise once again to what they had been before.

As if they had even a sliver of a chance that that would happen. The Lanteans hadn't been able to defeat the Wraith millennia past. All they had done was bury their city at the bottom of the ocean and run like frightened children. The irony was that by running, they had lured the Earthlings to their city, which had in turn led the Wraith to the richest feeding grounds they had had in ages. No, the Lanteans couldn't defeat the Wraith, and their silly mechanical creations couldn't destroy them, nor could they hold their beloved city. Once the city was in Wraith hands, the trail to Earth was open to them and the fate of the humans of this galaxy was sealed. And yet, their fate was something they refused to accept.

It was so tiresome when the food supply exhibited delusions of grandeur, although it definitely added a certain delicacy to the meal itself. And maybe that's why they didn't simply destroy Earth– they had grown accustomed to the taste of resistance, the flavor of denial, the essence of a people that still had strength and the desire to fight seasoning the life forces they took from them. It was heady stuff, exhilarating to feed on that sort of defiance, almost intoxicating to take away the power these humans thought they held, to watch the fire fade from their eyes as he stood above one and proved it was nothing more than chattel for the feast.

But not tonight. Tonight called for stealth, and a snack, no matter how tempting, would only draw attention to the fact that they knew the humans were planning a counter attack, that they were working to develop a new weapon, and they thought it was a secret to the Wraith. Arrogant fools. He had already learned the location of their research facility, buried beneath the rubble of the one that had been destroyed all those years ago. But contact time was fast approaching and his transport would be arriving shortly, so it would take another trip to find the entrance and be able to see exactly what they were developing. He had scoured the entire debris field and found nothing, which made him wonder if they were using some sort of transport device to enter the base instead of a simple door.

So, it was with a bit of surprise that he heard the two men making their way out of the ruins that moments before had been totally empty.

"Where the hell are we?" The man speaking was leading the other one across the remains of the building, one hand on his arm to make sure he didn't fall, which he seemed to be on the verge of doing.

The weakened man stopped and studied the sky for a moment. "Earth. We're on Earth. See, there's Orion and Gemini. They're right where they should be if this is Earth we're standing on."

"Well, that narrows down the planet. But where exactly are we on Earth, and when? I thought that little trick to leave the barn would have brought us back to Area 51." The other man swayed where he stood, causing the one asking the questions to wrap an arm around his friend to keep him on his feet. "McKay, you need to stay with me here."

"Just need to rest a minute. Do you have some Tylenol in your pack, Colonel? I can't seem to find mine."

Colonel. The man was part of their military then. He had fed on more than his fair share of colonels since their arrival in this galaxy. They were some of his most memorable meals. And maybe one more human wouldn't be missed. Tempting. Very tempting.

"Sorry, Rodney, I'm all out." He tried to get the man moving again but his charge's knees wobbled on the first step.

"Seriously, Sheppard, I just need five minutes here."

Through the night goggles he wore, he could see the colonel frown before easing the sickly man, McKay, to sit on a large chunk of stone. "I guess it couldn't hurt to get our bearings before we get moving again." The other man simply slumped where he sat, pulling the dark cloak he wore a little closer around himself. "How's the arm feeling?"

"It was mauled by a cougar. How do you think it feels?"

"Look, this is reinforced concrete you're sitting on, which means we must be in fairly modern times here on Earth. If we can find any sign of a human settlement, chances are we can find some medicine… antibiotics, painkillers… and some food and water. I think we could both use that right about now."

"Not hungry," McKay told him. "Actually feel a little queasy."

"It's been over a day since you last ate, Rodney. Your blood sugar's down. The last thing we need is you having a sugar crisis on top of the injuries to your arm." The colonel climbed on top of the rubble McKay was sitting on and scanned the horizon, squinting in the dim moonlight and trying to make out any signs of life in the distance.

"Fine. You find a McDonald's and order me a Quarter Pounder with Cheese. I'll wait right here until you get back."

"I thought we weren't going to split up again."

Digging in his pocket, he fished out his communication device and handed it over. "Okay, call Pizza Hut, then and have them deliver a large Supreme."

Sheppard looked at the small mechanism with widening eyes. "Rodney, you're getting a signal."

Now it was McKay's turn to look up in surprise. "What?"

"You're cell phone is picking up a signal." Pulling out his own device, he smiled. "Mine is, too." Pushing a few buttons, he placed it to his ear.

"Who are you calling?"

"The SGC. Maybe they can find us using the signal and send help." He waited for a few seconds before telling Rodney, who was watching eagerly, "I got a recorded directory…something called the Strategic Earth Defense."

The Wraith almost laughed aloud at the name of the organization. It was Earth's attempt to hold off his race's advancing stranglehold on their civilization, little more than a ragtag band of military personnel from the various countries on the planet under one common command center. A last attempt to hold back the Wraith by an enemy facing utter defeat. And it seemed odd that one with the rank of colonel would be unfamiliar with the group.

A few more buttons were pushed and Sheppard was speaking again. "This is Lt. Colonel John Sheppard. I need to speak with General Hank Landry of Stargate Command." Evidently the person on the other end of the line was denying the existence of such a person because the colonel just shook his head. "Well, then who is in command of the SGC?" Another pause and he was insisting, "Look, this is an emergency, security breach tango alpha charlie, code word looking glass. Now, put someone on the line that can respond with more than just 'sorry there's no such thing.' Hello? Hello?" Flicking the device shut he threw up his arms. "Great. Either we're in an alternate universe or my security clearance was revoked."

McKay held up his own phone. "I get nothing when I call my office in 51. Wait…" He dialed again then sat in anticipation. "It's ringing," he announced triumphantly. "Hello? Jeannie?" The smile transmuted to confusion. "Madison? This can't be… oh my God, how old are you? No, no, no, don't hang up. This is your Uncle Rodney…Meredith… Rodney. Your mom's brother. Is she there? No, I'm not dead. At least not yet. Just let me talk to Jeannie… Sick? What's wrong with… wait! Don't…hang up." The last was obviously said after the fact that he had been intentionally disconnected.

"McKay?" Sheppard asked warily at the dumbstruck look on the other man's face.

"That was my niece. When you showed up at my lab she was a preschooler. That was a grown woman I was talking to, Sheppard. We're in the future."

Time travel. The humans had accomplished time travel. There had been rumors that the Lanteans were experimenting with the process before they left, but to have actually accomplished it, to be able to move freely from one time to another… They would be able to go back to the time before the invasion of Earth with the knowledge of what was to come and possibly stop it before it even occurred. His Queen would need to know this; they would need to take these men for interrogation and learn more about the technology they were using.

"Okay, there's no reason to get worked up about it." The words were in direct contrast to Sheppard's expression, however. "We've been in the past the last couple of jumps. What's the big deal about being in the future now?"

"Because I'm dead here! Madison said I was dead! That's a pretty damn big deal if you ask me."

"Rodney, you are not dead. Okay? Some alternate version of you may be dead, but you aren't. I know this because you're sitting right in front of me freaking out. I'm a little more worried that either the SGC no longer exists or never existed and exactly why that is."

"What does it matter? Either way it just means we're on our own again." He looked around at the destruction. "In the middle of a desert that's in the middle of nowhere."

"I don't think so. I see some structures off in the distance. Across the dry lakebed."

He had obviously made out the settlement in the moonlight. The humans had resettled the area given the available power and water and nothing more. It was secluded, a small gathering, barely worth the attention of the Hives. At least that's what the Wraith had thought for a while now. But if this was truly the reestablishment of their military base, then that ruse was soon going to come to an end.

Craning his neck to see off into the murky distance, Rodney asked, "How far do you think?"

"Couple of miles maybe." When McKay drooped in dread, Sheppard encouraged him. "Hey, if there are people they might have medical supplies and food."

"And if there aren't people?"

"At least we'll have some shelter from the desert sun when it rises."

Sighing, Rodney started to push himself up from his seat. "Well, if we're going to avoid sun stroke on top of everything else, we better get moving now."

Helping his injured companion stand, Sheppard gave a roll of his eyes. "There's that McKay never-say-die attitude I've been waiting for."

"Oh, shut the hell up. I'm dead, you're at the very best AWOL and at the very least wearing polyester, and Madison may have children of her own. Not to mention that my sister is evidently sick and I have no idea how serious it is and no way to even get to see her if I did. We've been bouncing around time and space like a couple of cosmic pinballs and if I decide to go tilt, then I think I'm entitled. And you're not exactly…"

But Sheppard stopped the rant with a shush as he looked up in the sky because he had evidently heard the craft that was coming to take their observer back to his Hive Ship that was waiting in orbit.

McKay's irritation turned to fear. "Is that… a Dart?"

"Down! Get down!" The colonel pulled him behind a piece of the structure just as the ship passed overhead.

And the last thing the Wraith heard before the beam transported him into holding for the trip was Rodney declaring, "Oh, this is so not good."

His Queen had been very explicit in her orders– no interaction with the humans under any circumstances. So, beaming them up as well, was out of the question. But once he briefed her, he was sure things would change. And he knew where the men were heading, and with that knowledge, he had no doubt they would be able to find them.

Perhaps he would dine on colonel tonight after all.

xxxx

Two-hundred and forty-three days.

That's how long Karen Sawyer had been living in her father's house again. Lying in the bed that had been hers when she was a teenager, she stared at the dark ceiling above her and listened to her children breathing. Two-hundred and forty-three days. That's how long she had been sleeping in this bed again. Rolling away from the leg of her two-year old daughter that was kicking into her rib, she tried not to think about the years she had managed to leave this house, had managed to leave the sorrow that permeated the walls like the smell of gun oil in her father's workshop, and had slept in a different bed with the sound of different breathing drifting across her.

Two-hundred and forty-three days. That's how long it had been since she packed up Ryan and Evie and returned to the desert with its winds whipping across the playa and the surrounding mountains hazy through the heat radiating off the hard-packed ground. Two-hundred and forty-three days. That's how long it had been since she branded the W on her shoulder, right below the tattoo of the goldfish that had had her father looking at her askance when she was nineteen and asking why in the hell she would choose a goldfish? Because it was the antithesis of the desert, because it brought to mind cool waters and lily pads and bubbling waterfalls and everything the baked earth of the dry lakebed wasn't. Because Evan thought it was sexy and reminded him of the koi ponds his mom had taken him to when he was a kid before the Wraith had destroyed most of San Francisco in retaliation for a counter attack her own father had orchestrated.

Her father wore his W on his forearm. She used to sit in his lap and run her fingers across the puckered skin as he read her a bedtime story. She had only been about four or five then, a few years younger than Ryan was now, when she had asked him what the mark was, her small hand barely able to cover the scar.

"It's a reminder," he'd told her, "of who we've lost."

"Mommy?" The woman wasn't even a memory; she was just an image in a photograph her dad kept on the mantle.

"Yeah, mommy," he'd answered uncomfortably. "Now let's read your book."

"Why don't I have one to remind me?"

"It's not for you wear. And, God willing, you'll never have to."

But she had. Two-hundred forty-three days ago she had bit her bottom lip until it bled against the searing pain of the red metal, but it was nothing compared to the pain in her chest whenever she thought of Evan. She wore the mark, like her father, like so many others. W for Wraith. W for widow. W for why the hell did this happen to me?

For two-hundred and forty-three days she'd worn the mark because two-hundred and forty-five days ago Major Evan Sawyer, United States Air Force, was culled while his unit was attempting to hold off a Wraith attack in San Diego while waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

Giving up on sleeping, she crawled out of bed careful not to wake the kids. Two-hundred and forty-five days ago they had slept in beds of their own in a house less than half an hour from the Pacific, but since Evan's death and the move, they'd been sleeping with her. At first she had wanted it that way, wanted to be able to reach out and feel their chests rising and falling in sleep, wanted to know that at least they were still there and, therefore, so was a little bit of Evan. But over time, it had become the norm and even though their grandfather had converted his office into a bedroom for them, they never used the beds for more than playtime during the day.

"They can't do this forever, Karen," her father had remarked just the week before when she tucked them in. "Eventually they need to learn to stand on their own."

"They're kids, Dad. They don't need to stand on their own just yet. That's what they have me for."

"And a few months ago that's what they had Evan for, too. And you see how well that's worked out for them."

Karen had simply shook her head and started down the hall. "I knew I shouldn't have moved back here."

"Karen, wait." A hand gripping her arm stopped her from going any further. "This is the safest place for you and the kids and you know it."

"Why? Because the all-knowing General is here and he won't let anything bad happen to anyone he cares about?" She eyed the stars on his shoulders spitefully. "Tell that to the other twenty-two families that lost someone in the San Diego defensive, because this widow isn't buying it."

"We got those reinforcements out as soon as the Western Gate started responding, and you know it." Releasing her arm he stood a little straighter. "Now, I'm sorry as hell about what happened to Evan. He was a damn good pilot and from everything I've seen an even better father and husband. But you have to remember that you are not the only one to have ever lost someone to the Wraith. And I am going to do everything in my power to make sure I don't lose anyone else, and that means you and the kids stay here with me."

He was right; it was the safest place to be. With the tunnels leading to the underground gate, escape was just moments away. And she had no doubt that her father had made arrangements for his family's evacuation should the situation arise. But it didn't make it any easier to be surrounded by the memories of Air Force life, to see a tall, light-haired man in a flight suit from behind and think it was Evan before she remembered it couldn't be. She had been one of the lucky ones, or so they said, since she had a body to bury. But how could anyone look upon that withered husk she'd seen in the morgue and consider that lucky?

Moving through the dark living room, she checked the clock. It would be dawn in less than an hour and her dad should be home by then. He had been overseeing an operation from the SED base in Montana but it should have wrapped up a few hours ago, if all went well. God willing it had and there were no more irons heating in the fires tonight. Beside the old mantle clock sat various photos of her family. The picture of her mom and dad, the only one she had ever seen, as they stood in front of the Grand Canyon; she and Evan and the kids at Evie's first birthday; Evan standing by his F406 giving a confident thumbs-up to the camera.

He had survived the crash. A dart had shot down his craft but he had evidently survived. The Wraith didn't feed on the dead. With a shake of her head to clear that useless thought, she made her way into the kitchen to start the coffee. Deciding she would finish up before the power feed died at dawn, she skipped the generator and went straight for the coffee pot. She was just putting the filter in the maker when she heard the front door open. Walking with the carafe in her hand, she called into the living room before she even stepped into the room.

"Dad? You want coffee or are you going to go to sl…"

The glass pot crashed to the floor when she saw not her father but two men dressed in civilian clothes who she had never seen before. She met eyes with one… taller, supporting the other… and he seemed as startled to see her as she did to see him. The gun. Her father kept a gun in his desk. Bolting for the writing table that now sat next to the door, she was stopped when the man pulled a gun of his own… an ancient thing that was probably as old as her dad… and stepped in front of her.

"Hey, whoa, stop." He raised a non-threatening hand. "Let's just talk about this now."

But she hadn't been coddled when she was raised; her father had taught her how to defend herself. The kick to the groin was swift and hard, as was the open-handed punch to his nose.

"Son of a bitch!" he wailed but she was already moving.

He made a grab for her ankle from where he lay on the ground and missed and she easily reached the desk and had the gun pointing at him.

"Easy," he coaxed as he tried to uncurl himself on the rug. "Christ. Why'd you have to go and do that?"

She was about to tell him exactly why she had done that and that she planned to do a hell of a lot worse if he and his friend didn't get the fuck out of her house when she heard a sleepy voice calling her.

"Mom?"

Across the room, Ryan was standing in the doorway to her bedroom, hair standing on end from sleep and one hand rubbing his eyes as he let out a large yawn. Looking down she saw the man on the floor now had his gun pointed at her son, blood running freely from his busted nose.

"Look," he said quietly. "I don't want to be pointing a gun at a kid. So, what say we just put both guns down and talk?"

If her heart had been beating fast before it was just about to burst from her chest now. "You first," she told him, willing her hands to stop shaking.

He slowly lowered his gun and she did the same before turning to the child. "Sweetie, it's early. Go back to bed."

"Grandpa said he was going to help me with my go cart today." Ryan showed just the slightest curiosity about the men in the living room.

"Grandpa's not home yet. I'll wake you up when he gets here. Just go back to bed, okay?"

"Evie's snoring," he protested.

Great, now the guy knew there were two kids and not just one. "Roll her over, she'll stop."

With another yawn and a silent nod, he finally went back into the bedroom. And so did her calm demeanor. "Who the fuck are you and what are you doing in my house?"

"Sheppard?" The voice of the man on the other side of the room was barely above a whisper as he sat heavily into one of the chairs around the small dining room table and put his head down on his crossed arms, one of which was wrapped in a makeshift bandage.

"Oh, shit, McKay." He stood then, wiping absently at his nose and ignoring the gun she was again pointing at him and staggered over to the other man. "We need food, preferably something sweet."

He couldn't be serious. Break into her house and threaten her children and then expect her to bake them a cake? "Does this look like a restaurant to you?"

The man, Sheppard… and why did that name sound so familiar… knelt down beside the other man, McKay… damn, those names; she knew she had heard them before. "Rodney, hang on a second, all right?" He looked back at her and asked, "Juice? Do you have any juice?"

"Like I'm going to waste oranges on you two." Who the hell did he think he was? She had no idea how her father had managed to get his hands on the case of oranges in the pantry, the crops in California had been decimated this year and transport across the country from Florida was reserved for only the most crucial commodities. But evidently there were perks to being the daughter of a General.

"Ah, hell, that wouldn't work anyway." Reaching up onto the table he grabbed the sugar bowl and looked inside. "I need water. Just a glass of water. Do you think you could spare that?"

"Look, I want some answers and I want them now." When it was obvious she wasn't going to fetch him a glass of water, he stood and limped his way into the kitchen, crunching the broken glass beneath his feet with little notice, opening and closing cabinets until he found a glass and filled it from the faucet. "You can't just come barging in here demanding to be waited on…"

"Evidently I can." He stormed past her again, grabbed a dishtowel and smeared his own blood across it before filling it with ice from the freezer, then headed back to his friend. "Where the hell did you learn to hit like that anyway?"

"My dad," she told him, feeling rather foolish for still pointing the gun at him when he couldn't have cared less about it.

Taking the sugar bowl, he dumped almost half of it into the glass of water then squatted in front of McKay again as he swished it around. "Here, drink this." Fevered blue eyes opened and looked at Sheppard in confusion as he pressed the sugar water into his hands. The liquid sloshed violently and Sheppard helped him get the glass to his lips and held his hands steady so he could drink deeply.

Once his friend was taken care of and had his head back down on the table, he placed the ice pack on his own nose. "Do you have a first aid kit?"

"Of course I have a first aid kit." Who didn't have a first aid kit as part of their emergency packs? When the Wraith could bomb your city at any moment, everyone that was smart enough to deserve to live had the basic necessities. When he just looked at her expectantly, she rolled her eyes. "I'm not getting anything for you until you give me some answers."

"Let me take care of my friend and I promise I'll tell you anything you want to know." When she just stood and considered her options he continued, "Look, I don't want to shoot you, and I honestly don't think I could shoot your kids. We're just lost and hurt and need some help. And you seem like a nice enough person when you aren't trying to break my nose and ensure I never have children of my own. So do you think you could put down the gun and bring me the first aid kit?"

With a sigh, she finally lowered the gun, but stuck it in the pocket of her bathrobe just in case. She went to the closet and began rummaging through the box of supplies to find the medical kit. Behind her she heard Sheppard moving McKay to the couch. Sheppard… McKay… God, she knew those names from somewhere. Someone her dad had talked about at some point maybe. She'd have to ask him when he got home.

"Is this your husband?" The voice was nasal from the ice pack he still had pressed against his face.

Glancing over her shoulder she could see he was checking out the photos on the mantle. "Husband, dad, kids, the entire family."

"A pilot, huh?" He seemed rather surprised by that fact, so she was surprised herself when he admitted, "I've flown the F302 a couple of times myself."

"You're Air Force?"

He didn't answer, just said in an awed voice, "McKay, look at this."

Glancing back again, she saw Sheppard showing the man lying on the couch one of the photos. Why the hell were they so interested in her family snapshots?

But then McKay asked in shock, "Is that… Colonel Mitchell?"

Retrieving the kit she stood and moved to look over the couch at the picture of her dad and mom. "In that photo, yeah, he was still was a lieutenant colonel. So, you know the General?"

"General? Cam's a general now?" He tested his nose, still found blood and returned the ice.

Sheppard's amazement was only outdone by her own. No one called her dad Cam except some of the other high-ranking officers. She snatched the photo out of his hand. "Yes, he is. Now, how do you know my father?"

"Cameron Mitchell is your father?" Sheppard demanded. When she nodded, he dropped the ice pack and pointed at the picture. "When was this taken?"

She thought for a second. "About a year before I was born, so about twenty-eight years ago." When his eyes widened at the news, she insisted, "So are you going to tell me how you know him or not?" The way the two men were looking at each other had the hackles rising on her neck.

Finally, McKay looked up at her. "Where are we?" When she simply stared at them in confusion he demanded even more desperately. "The town, what's the name of the town?"

"Dreamland. Dreamland, Nevada." How the hell could they not know where they were?

McKay dropped his head back down on the throw pillow. "My God, Sheppard, it worked. We jumped to Area 51. The problem is, the entire facility was destroyed."

Area 51? No one had used that name since before the Wraith first attacked. And then it all clicked together. Area 51. Sheppard and McKay. The stories her father had told her about the old SGC, about Atlantis and the home galaxy of the Wraith. "Holy crap! You're John Sheppard and Rodney McKay!" Shaking her head that these two were in her living room, she pushed the kit at Sheppard before grabbing the phone. "I need to call my dad."

"He's here?"

Dialing the phone, she answered Sheppard's question. "He was overseeing an operation to try and take out a Wraith base station. But he was supposed to be home any time now… unless he got caught up, like he usually does." Realizing she was rambling on and giving information that she probably shouldn't… but holy crap, it was Sheppard and McKay!... she looked up to see the two men smiling at each other in absolute relief.

"Mitchell here."

Her father's voice on the other end of the line recaptured her attention. "Dad, you need to come home."

The worry was instantaneous. "What's wrong? Are you okay? The kids?"

"Dad, we're fine but… you're not going to believe this… John Sheppard and Rodney McKay are sitting in our living room."

"Karen, it's been a long night, kiddo. Now is not the time to be fool…"

"No, Dad, I'm serious. Two men broke into the house and they're John Sheppard and Rodney McKay."

"There are two strangers in the house? Karen, listen to me very closely. I'm sending a security detail to the house, but in the meantime there's a gun…"

"Dad, I know about the gun, I disarmed Sheppard. They're not a threat. I really think they're Sheppard and McKay. The Sheppard and McKay." She held the phone up and asked the two men. "Give me something that only my dad would know about you two."

"He threatened me with a lemon once," McKay supplied.

"That's right! One I gave him," Sheppard added excitedly.

"You gave it to him?" McKay's eagerness turned to ire. "You are one sadistic son of a bitch."

Sheppard just grinned wider. "The sugar must have helped, Rodney; you're almost back to your old self."

"For someone that just had his ass kicked by a girl, you sure are smug. Although you're probably used to it by now given how many times Teyla's done it in the past."

Leaving the men to argue about the lemon, she put the phone back up to her ear. "Well? Did you hear that?"

"I'll be home in a few minutes," her dad told her dazedly and the line went dead as he hung up without even saying goodbye.

"He's on his way," she informed them then winced when she saw the red, swollen arm that was being exposed under the bandaging. "What happened to you?"

"Maybe we should save story time until your dad gets here." Sheppard's face twisted in disgust at the arm. He started working to clean and rebandage the wounds; what little color had returned to McKay's face as a result of the sugar boost quickly drained again as his friend patched him up. "Your arm's definitely infected. Maybe Mitchell can arrange for some antibiotics for you."

"We have some Keflex in the bathroom," Karen offered up. "Let me get it."

"How about pain meds?" Rodney asked hopefully. "Any pain meds?"

"I'm sure we have something," she called from the bathroom and started working through the various bottles they had. Yet another perk of being associated with the military was the access to various medications that could be scarce in the civilian population.

From the other room, she could hear Sheppard and McKay still talking about her dad. "Cam sure the hell wasn't married the last time I saw him at the SGC the day before Carson and I met you at 51. He wasn't even dating anyone. And if what she said about the photo is true, that means we're at least thirty years in the future."

"And Wraith here on Earth?" Rodney observed. "How did that happen?"

"Atlantis fell. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. Just like we thought you were." Glancing out of the bathroom at the sound of her father's voice coming in from the kitchen… he'd evidently come through the tunnels and up the hatch in the back to get there sooner… she saw him shake his head and smile in total awe. "Damn if you two don't know how to make a guy feel old."

"Cam?"

Given the grey hair, the thickening around the middle that wasn't on the lean frame in the photo on the mantle, not to mention the scar across his cheek and the pronounced limp from the crash he had survived, and wrinkles that radiated from his eyes when he smiled, which was rarer and rarer these days, it was no wonder Sheppard had to confirm it was really him.

At Sheppard's reaction to seeing her dad, he laughed. "Don't look so surprised. Some of us have aged in the past thirty-two years."

"What happened?" McKay asked as Karen handed him the pills she had found.

"I could ask you the same thing." Mitchell sat in his favorite chair before smiling fondly at his daughter. "Hey, kiddo. You okay?"

"Fine, Dad. You hungry?"

He shook his head exhaustedly and she could tell the mission hadn't gone as planned. "I'm good. But maybe our guests would like something. Preferably citrus free?"

Food. God, what was she thinking? That was the first thing Sheppard had asked for when they came in. "Oh, crap, I'm sorry. Let me fix you something." Karen all but sprinted into the kitchen and started pulling out a frying pan from the cabinet. "I used the last of the eggs on Wednesday. But I have bacon, some tomatoes from the community garden, and if Dad will give up his claim on the contraband avocado he brought home, I can make a mean sandwich."

"I guess I can share with a couple of old friends," Mitchell told them with a grin before sobering. "The Wraith have disrupted our transportation of supplies. We were pretty much at a stand still until a few years ago when Dr. Miller managed to link up a series of underground gates that we harvested from various planets around the solar system."

"Like the gate bridge," McKay concluded excitedly.

Cam nodded in confirmation. "Madison used your and Sam's plans and modified them for use at locations around the planet."

"Madison Miller? My niece? She works for the SGC now?"

"It's the SED these days, but, yeah, she's your niece through and through. She's a lot like you, McKay, except for the citrus allergies, which makes threatening her to do what I want a lot more difficult."

"She's a physicist." The man gave a contented smile. "I was afraid she'd be corrupted by her father and become a poet or writer or something useless like that."

"Too bad we haven't run into Shakespeare on one of our jumps, McKay, so you could have told him how useless he is."

At Sheppard's comment, Karen's father asked what she was thinking. "Jumps?"

"Yeah, jumps," John told him. "We've been hopping from planet to planet, time to time, thanks to the energy field Rodney was working on at Area 51. We have no control over it… well, very little, anyway. We've spent the past couple of days trying to get back to where we started."

"You know, Zelenka theorized that could be what happened to you two."

Rodney shook his head. "Radek went back to Prague when we were booted from Atlantis."

"He was brought back in when you two vanished," her father corrected. "All the top scientists that had even looked at anything Ancient were. They spent weeks trying to figure out what happened, how to get you back. But when nothing worked, they concluded that you had either been vaporized or there was no way to bring you back. They finally turned the energy field off the same day we received word that Atlantis was under attack."

"So the Wraith laid siege to Atlantis again. Didn't the Ancients hold them off?" Sheppard asked.

"Actually the Asurans took over Atlantis first. The Daedalus was destroyed by drones when it tried to deliver a nuclear strike and destroy the city. Unfortunately it couldn't penetrate the shields and the city returned fire."

"But there was a backdoor into the programming. I put it there. They could have easily changed the modulation frequency to allow Hermiod to beam a warhead in."

"Maybe so, McKay, but you were gone."

"I don't get it. Why destroy Atlantis?" John wondered aloud. "Why not take a strike force in and reclaim the city?"

"The decision was made at the highest level to nuke the city, so that's what we did… or at least tried to do. After we lost the Daedalus, Sam devised a virus to destroy the macro for the gate bridge and we lost contact with Pegasus. Then a little over a year later the Wraith showed up. Way we figure it, they took the city from the Asurans and found their way to Earth. We've been fighting them every since."

"For over thirty years?" Sheppard seemed amazed by the news and her father smiled with a bit of pride.

"We're pretty tough. But it's been a rough road; we've only been making gains in the past seven or eight years. Manufacturing has been restored in a few critical areas… munitions, pharmaceuticals, heavy machinery, some basic supplies… we've managed to keep the infrastructure up and running so that people have had water, power, and communications, even if the service is patchy. If the Wraith attack a key part of the grid, we can be down for a month or more. But we've managed. We've survived, and that's all that matters."

From her spot frying bacon, Karen glanced up to see her father looking at her meaningfully. She understood that in the long run, the survival of the human race was what was most important, but sometimes she couldn't help but feel a little selfish about her own loss. When she dropped her eyes back down to the frying pan, her father resumed his story.

"And Madison's been working with the notes on the energy bridge you and your sister developed, Rodney, to try to build a new weapon. One we think will be able to take out a Hive Ship in orbit from a base here on Earth. We're still a few years away, but progress is being made."

"Jeannie! Christ, I almost forgot. She's sick. Can you get me to see her?"

Cameron Mitchell furrowed his brow in confusion, causing his old scar to tug his eyelid downward. "How did you know she was sick?"

"Cell phones," Sheppard explained. "We tried to call for help when we arrived."

The General laughed at the thought. "That must have made for an interesting conversation."

"Madison hung up on me," Rodney grumbled. "But before she did, she said Jeannie was sick."

"Yeah," Mitchell sighed. "About twenty years ago the Wraith destroyed most of the nuclear power plants here on Earth. For the first couple of years we saw a lot of high radiation exposure deaths, now we're seeing more of the down-winders dying from chronic exposure. Jeannie has lymphoma. She's in the final stages. I'm sorry, McKay, but the doctors are saying it's just a matter of time. I can try to make arrangements for you to see her tomorrow if you want. She's still in Canada and the closest gate to her home is about five hours away."

Rodney simply nodded dumbly at the news. "Sure, if we're still here, I'd appreciate that."

"Why wouldn't you be here?" Karen couldn't help asking the question as she sliced tomatoes and avocado.

John looked back over his shoulder at her. "We're still jumping. Each jump is a little longer than the last but I still figure we'll only be in this time for about eighteen hours at the most."

"Eighteen hours isn't a lot of time to pick your brains, but I guess it'll have to do." When they looked at him in confusion, Cameron continued. "Back on Atlantis, you two probably dealt with the Wraith more than anyone else. Hell, you even had control of a Hive Ship for a time. There aren't many people left that have that sort of experience. All the others… well, it's been a while since we've had someone with first hand experience like that to talk to."

The early years of the attacks weren't something her dad talked about too much and Karen hadn't even been born yet. But she knew he had lost a lot of colleagues, a lot of friends, some that were like family to him. Chances were the same that it would have been true for Sheppard and McKay, as well. Only difference was they didn't know it, nor did they really have time to learn it.

Flipping the bacon, she listened to her father implore the two men, "Any ideas you might have, a fresh set of eyes on our plans, anything would be appreciated."

"What about Carson's retrovirus? The one that turns them human?"

Rodney's question had her dad shaking his head. "It was a short term weapon; if you can't hold them, all it does is buy a little time. They developed a vaccination against the effects within a few years and although Beckett was able to modify the virus slightly, it lost its effectiveness."

"We'll be happy to help any way we can, Cam," Sheppard assured him. "But do you think McKay here could see a doctor about his arm? He was attacked by a mountain lion. You're daughter was gracious enough to give him some antibiotics but a prognosis from a real doctor would definitely make me feel better about it."

Her father grinned proudly. "She did that to your nose, didn't she?"

"Hey, I've been shot by a staff weapon, hit by a car, and barely ate or slept in two days."

Sheppard's defense had Karen blushing at her actions but her father just gave her a wink. "Sounds like you could use a doctor then yourself, Sheppard. I'll have one of the base medics come by." Standing, he reached out a hand to shake Sheppard's. "It's damn good to you see you again, Colonel."

John returned the handshake and the smile. "You too… General."

"McKay?" Rodney didn't even seem to see the hand her father offered to him and blinked in surprise when Cam called his name.

"Oh, yeah, a doctor would be good," he said absently as he shook the hand.

The two Air Force officers exchanged worried glances before her father joined Karen in the kitchen to call the base. Placing the bacon on the slices of bread, Karen could hear Sheppard ask quietly, "You okay, Rodney?"

"Well, let's review, shall we? We're trapped in an energy field that we obviously never get out of, Atlantis falls, Earth is attacked by Wraith, and my sister is dying. What do you think?"

"Maybe we can't save this reality, but that doesn't mean we can't warn others. You said it yourself, there are millions of multiverses out there."

"Yes, millions. There's no way we can save them all."

"Then we save the ones we can," John stated simply.

"So this is what we do for the rest of our lives? Just jump from reality to reality warning the masses about their impending doom? And screw getting back to our own reality?"

"Maybe this is our reality, McKay." He sighed before continuing. "Adina told me I'd be faced with a decision soon. One where I'd have to choose where my loyalties rest. I think she was talking about Atlantis, protecting it. Maybe this is what she meant. Maybe we're meant to stop this from happening."

"If the Ancients want us to help them by spreading the word of Atlantis' imminent demise, why are they sending us all over the goddamn galaxy? Why not send us to Atlantis and let us stop it from there? Or for that matter, why warn us at all? Why have two people that aren't even allowed to go to Atlantis bear the responsibility when they could just warn their own kind that booted us out in the first place?"

Sheppard shrugged. "Hell, Rodney, I don't know. Why do the Ancients do anything they do?"

"Because they want to."

The snort of agreement from John told Karen what both men thought of the race. "Yeah, that pretty much sums it up."

Finishing up with the cooking, Karen made her way back into the living room. Her father was still on the phone, which meant the request for a doctor probably turned into dealing with some other crisis at the base. She handed over the sandwiches and a couple of glasses of water, which both men practically inhaled. Karen sat and watched them, trying her best not to appear too star struck by the fact that two time travelers were sitting in her house.

"Can I get you something else? Coffee maybe?"

"Coffee." McKay said the word almost dreamily as he let out a yawn. "That would be amazing."

"I'm not sure it would do you much good," she admitted with a grin. "Those pain killers you took pack quite a wallop."

Her father joined them again and agreed with her assessment. "Actually, you both look like you could use some rest. If you're going to jump again, you might as well take advantage of being in friendly territory. Who knows when you'll see it again?"

John already had his head leaning back against the sofa where he sat at Rodney's feet. "The doctor?"

"Will be here in a couple of hours. He's been deployed to a mass casualty operations right now."

Karen looked to her father, who was pointedly not looking at her. Things really had gone badly on the mission then. Sheppard simply nodded his head in understanding, slumping down into the sofa a little further in exhaustion. McKay already had his eyes closed where he lay curled on his side, twitching once in approaching slumber. She could only imagine what these two had been through the past couple of days and what they had to look forward to.

The two men were sound asleep almost in less time than it had taken them to eat their food, and the General left to report back to the base a few minutes after that, leaving Karen alone with a house full of sleeping people. Gathering dustpan and broom, she turned her attention to cleaning up the broken glass from the coffee pot. It would be a few hours yet before the kids woke up, and hopefully by that time her father and the doctor would be back. And maybe by then she could have a real meal waiting for them instead of a couple of sandwiches.

The first rays of sunlight were cutting through the windows when Sheppard jerked awake, looking around the room in a disoriented panic. "Colonel?" she called soothingly. "Are you all right?"

"Go. Take your kids and go. The Wraith are coming."

"What?" she demanded in alarm but he ignored her, shaking at McKay's leg instead.

"Rodney, wake up. We have to go."

The physicist simply pulled the blanket she had placed over him a little further over his shoulder and mumbled an incoherent protest to the interruption.

"McKay! Come on. We've got Wraith." He shook the leg a little harder and gained a confused and groggy scientist fighting to sit up.

"What's the matter? Something wrong with the ZedPM?"

"Not exactly." John stood, tangling briefly in his own blanket, and tried to pull McKay to his feet. "Karen, get your kids and take them to the tunnels."

Sheppard's reminder had her darting for the bedroom and grabbing Evie even as she shook Ryan awake. By the time she had them out in the living room, Rodney was swaying where he stood, trying to make sense of what was happening through the fog of the drugs he had taken. "How did they find us through the shield?"

"We're not on Atlantis, McKay. We're on Earth, remember? I need you to snap out of it."

"How do you know there are Wraith?" Karen asked even as she led the way to the back door, grabbing her cell phone on the way out.

He didn't have to answer. She could hear the whine of the Dart overhead and she stopped in her tracks in the doorway. The entrance to the tunnel was in sight, but there was a lot of open space between her and it.

"They're after us," John explained from behind her, his hand as firmly on McKay's arm as Ryan's was on her own.

"Why would they be after you? How would they even know you're here?" He was obviously still half-asleep. Flipping the phone open, she dialed her dad's number. "Come on, pick up," she pleaded frantically under her breath. Finally, he answered. "Dad, there's a Dart flying over the house."

"Karen, get to the tunnels. Security should be scrambling the F406s as soon as they detect them."

The Dart buzzed over their house again and she started to think maybe Sheppard knew something she didn't. "No, Dad, you don't understand; it is right over our house. Colonel Sheppard's convinced it's looking for them."

A bang on the front door had her jumping with a yelp. Sheppard turned and aimed the archaic gun he carried toward the door and her dad was calling to her through the phone. "They're at the front door," she whispered into the phone as blood thrummed loudly in her ears. Evie whimpered against her shoulder and she tightened her arm around the girl. They'd have to make a run for it. But if they were at the front door; chances were they had the back covered as well. "Dad?" As if he could do anything about it through the phone. But if he had been there, she would have been tempted to bury her face against his chest the same way Ryan pressed his into her hip.

"Ma'am, it's Sgt. Cole," a voice called through the door. "Open the door."

Releasing a sigh that passed down to her knees, she told her dad, "It's security." John unlocked the front door and a detail of armed men entered the house.

"They'll take care of you," her dad assured with an exhalation of his own. "I'll see you in a few minutes."

"Yeah, okay," she agreed, willing her breathing to regulate. "We'll see you soon."

"This way, ma'am." The sergeant and his men started to lead them outside, and she did her best to stop Evie from crying as the little girl clung tightly to her mother.

"Shhhh, baby, it's okay," she promised, her other hand clinging tightly to Ryan's. There was no way in hell she was letting the Wraith take another person she loved and it took her a second to realize she could let go of her son when one of the security detail picked him up to move them a little faster toward the tunnel entrance.

The Dart was directly overhead once again and she broke into an all out run, not daring to look back until they reached the door. One guard was already there, having entered the security code to open the large hatch. She handed Evie in then glanced behind her in time to see Sheppard, McKay and the guard bringing up the rear disappear into a Wraith culling beam.

"No!" she screamed as the three men simply vanished into the shimmering light. The guard in the tunnel pulled her forcibly back inside, triggering the door closed behind them. "No, we have to go back! We can't let the Wraith have them! We have to go back!" But what could they do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The look on the sergeant's face just confirmed what she already knew.

"Ma'am," the sergeant told her sympathetically, "your father will be expecting you."

Yeah, her father would be waiting. He'd be waiting to be told that he had lost two more people to the Wraith. Two more friends that he'd never see again. And she seriously doubted the fact that he had just found them again after thirty years would be much consolation this time around.

But she was alive, the kids were alive, and that's all that really mattered when you got right down to it. Be thankful for what you have. It was the world they lived in. The world she had been born into. The world her children would inherit from her if she could keep them alive that long. And two-hundred and forty-five days of mourning wouldn't change that. Her father had been mourning for over thirty years and that sure as hell hadn't change things.

Evie pulled in a hiccupping breath and Ryan ran to her as soon as the guard put him down. "It's okay," she assured them. And given the parameters of their lives, it was. That was something she was just going to have to accept. "Come on, let's go see Grandpa." He'd be waiting, he'd be worried. Besides, she had some news that he needed to hear.

xxxx

Danny Miller had pretty much screwed off the first eighteen years of his life, and he had pretty much fucked up the years between thirteen and eighteen. So that a week before his eighteenth birthday, when his mother was called out at two a. m. to pick him up at the police station, yet again, she gave him an ultimatum. On his eighteenth birthday, he could go enlist in one of the branches of the armed forces or go mooch off of his father, if he could find that sorry bastard, because she was done bailing him out of trouble.

"Mom," he had said in his most condescending tone as he pushed a strand of dyed jet-black hair out of his eye and back behind an ear with six small rings around the ridge, "people die in the military. We're at war, you know."

"People die in prison, too, Danny. They die on the street. They die in their beds. It would be nice that when you did die, your life had had some meaning beforehand."

A week later he'd found himself in the Air Force recruiters office. Why the Air Force? Because the white Navy dress uniforms made them all look like pansy-ass deliverymen, and who the hell wanted to be referred to as seaman anyway. The space marines in that old movie 'Aliens' all died horrifically and the Army ROTC kids in high school just seemed to do nothing but march around the football field all day. Besides, there were jets in the Air Force and the spacecraft– Intergalactic battle cruisers and the F406s that streaked across the sky in pursuit of Darts. He'd seen an old F302 at an air show once when he was kid and had thought that was impressive, but to see a 406 in action, even in the recruiting film, just about made him crap his pants. And even though he didn't have a chance in hell of ever flying one of those babies, just being near the runway and maybe finagling his way into one someday was good enough for him.

And now, eleven years after enlisting, his hair was back to its natural light brown, the holes from his piercings were empty, he still thought the Navy boys looked like pansy-asses, and he was finally up in orbit. Unfortunately, he was on an enemy vessel and chances were he'd never see Earth again. How's that for irony? Sitting up slowly against the ache that ran through every inch of his body, Danny surveyed his surroundings. He was in a cell, obviously Wraith in design, where he and the two other men that had been culled had been unceremoniously dumped. He had no idea who they were, but they had been in the General's house when the attack commenced so he had to think they were pretty damn important.

At least the team had managed to get the General's daughter and grandkids to safety; he had seen them make it through the doorway to the tunnels just as the culling beam took him and he lost consciousness. That had been their primary objective– save the General's family. Mission accomplished, break out the beers, and raise a toast to the dearly departed Danny Miller. Although getting VIPs and his own ass in the tunnels would have definitely been a better end to the story than waking up in a Wraith holding cell while your buddies back on Earth sang a few rounds of Danny Boy over a couple of six packs.

He crawled his way to the man nearest him, dressed in civilian clothes with a bandage on his arm, and gave his shoulder a shake. "Sir? Sir, can you hear me?"

Blue eyes blinked open, giving him a quick dismissive glance before looking up at the ceiling. "Goddammit, we're on a Hive Ship." The observation was much more of resigned annoyance than the all-out panic he was expecting from a civilian. And how in the hell had he realized where they were so quickly? "Where's Sheppard?" The man tried to sit, failed on his first attempt, and grabbed Danny's arm to hoist himself up. "The Queen hasn't taken him yet, has she? They tend to have a thing for him."

"Is he the one wearing the shirt with all the horses?"

"Mustangs," the man corrected as he squinted into the dark corner Danny had indicated to see the second man sprawled on the floor. He tried to stand, decided that was a bad idea and instead did as Danny had done and crawled his way to the other man. "Sheppard, rise and shine."

The man flinched away from the touch, relaxing slightly when he saw who had delivered it, then looked around himself. "Son of a bitch," he complained in the same irritated tone the first man had used. "We're on a Hive."

"Yeah, and we're not alone." The man sat with a loud yawn and leaned his head back against the wall of the cell even as he flicked a hand toward Danny.

"What's your name, Sergeant?" The man with the hor…mustangs asked as he rolled his neck against the pain from the beam.

"Daniel Miller, Sir." He felt that he should say something to reassure the two men; after all he was the one with the military experience here. But, really, what could you say when you were prisoners on a Wraith ship?

"Lt. Colonel John Sheppard," the man offered in way of introduction and Danny instinctively felt his back straighten in the presence of a ranking officer. The colonel waved a hand to indicate a silent 'at ease' before hitching a thumb at the other man. "This is Rodney McKay."

"Doctor Rodney McKay," the man stressed, although he kept his eyes closed where he sat. "If you get to claim rank, then so do I."

"He's not a real doctor," Colonel Sheppard explained in a loud whisper. "One of the physics PhD types."

Dr. McKay, PhD, simply flipped him off. "I've saved your sorry ass more times than Carson ever has."

"You two can compare notes when we get back on who has that honor." Sheppard stood, wobbling slightly, before he made his way stiffly to stand at the odd bars of the cell. Danny followed him, peeking over his shoulder into the deserted corridors of the ship. "I don't suppose you have a knife hidden on your person somewhere, do you Miller?"

"I'm not sure where you think I might have something like that hidden, Sir. But the implications are bordering on Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

The colonel looked longingly across the way at a panel in the wall and sighed. "Yeah, I was kind of afraid of that. But seeing as I've been MIA, KIA, AWOL, take your pick, for over thirty-two years, it would be kind of hard to report me."

What? Did the man join up when he was in first grade? As tempting as it was to ask the officer that question, he went with, "I take it you've been on a Wraith ship before."

"Several, actually." He grinned then. "Even flew a Dart once."

"So, you can get us out of here?" Danny couldn't keep the excitement from his voice.

Sheppard's wavered. "Normally I have someone with a lot more hair and even more knives with me. Or a Jumper or even the Daedalus waiting in the wings. This time might be a little trickier."

Jumper? Daedalus? The Daedalus was destroyed… Holy crap! The same time this guy claimed to have gone missing.

The colonel grimaced before calling behind him. "McKay, you have any ideas? McKay?" When he didn't receive an answer, he turned to see the man snoring against the back wall. "Christ. I knew those pain killers were a bad idea." He went and squatted by the scientist. "Rodney, come on. I need you to contribute here."

"Get Radek to do it; I'm taking a nap." The mumble earned him a flick to the ear and the glare in return was met with a scowl from Sheppard.

"A Hive Ship is not the place for a nap, Rodney." The sound of approaching footsteps, however, had McKay sitting up and taking notice. "Crap, here we go. Look," Sheppard told him quickly, "if I don't come back, you can still jump. All right?"

"Sheppard, we could jump right now," McKay insisted, grabbing the man's arm as he started to stand.

A quick but meaningful glance toward Danny had the colonel shaking his head. "No, I can't, not unless that's the only way out. But if they come for you and I'm not back, then you'll know I have, and you do the same."

He stood then, facing the Wraith that entered the cell, leaving McKay hissing an exasperated, "Sheppard!" behind his back.

Danny had actually never been this close to a real live Wraith before. The two faceless creatures behind the one obviously in command just stood menacingly with stunners across their muscular arms. The one in front tilted his head, showing the geometrical tattoo that ran across his temple and started to speak.

The colonel, however, cut him off before he could. "I know the routine. Let's get this over with; it's been a long day."

The Wraith in front bared his teeth in a bizarre combination of smile and silent growl, signaling the other two to bring the prisoner. They each grabbed an arm, yanking harder than was necessary but Sheppard managed to keep his feet. With a final glance over his shoulder, he told Dr. McKay, "Adina says we need to think of when. That'll send us home."

Another yank in response to his words had Sheppard stumbling and McKay on his feet. "Sheppard, goddammit, we can jump now!"

But the cell door was already closing and the Wraith and Colonel Sheppard were already disappearing down the hallway. McKay stood and shook his head in disbelief, asking no one in particular, "Why does he do that? Why?"

"Are they going to feed on him?"

Danny's question was filled with dread of what was to come and had the scientist snapping irritably, "In all likelihood, yes. And I seriously doubt the one that does it this time will be kind enough to undo the effect this time around."

"This time? It's happened to you two before?" Because that was just bat shit crazy.

"Not to me, but to Sheppard, yes, it did." He waved a hand and stared out the bars again. "Look, it's a long story."

"And you've got something better to do in the meantime?" There was something about these two, something pretty phenomenal if it were true and at least something to take his mind off of their predicament if it weren't. And Danny's curiosity was piqued. Besides, if it occupied him, it would occupy McKay, as well. And that seemed like the thing to do.

"You mean besides obsess about the fact that we're trapped on a Hive Ship, they just took Sheppard and we're next?" When Danny shrugged, McKay threw up his hands and sighed. "Fine. What do you want to know?"

Over the next hour, Danny heard tales of a time before the war in a galaxy across the universe and the two men that had lived there before they had become trapped in a bizarre time travel story that would have had H.G. Wells scratching his head. And the story that he heard that wasn't told so much with words, but with expressions and exasperation and emotions, was a story of friendship between these men, the people that went to Atlantis with them, and the people they met while they were there.

"Ronon could really hide knives in his hair?" Danny laughed at the thought.

"Are you kidding? He could hide a grenade launcher in that mess."

"Well, that at least explains Colonel Sheppard's comment to me earlier."

At the mention of the colonel's name, Dr. McKay did what he always did– checked his watch and looked toward the bars of their cell.

"Yeah," he recovered quickly. "I'm not entirely convinced, but I think Ronon might have carried one there, as well, because I can't think of where else that one would have been that he used to cut our way out of those cocoons the two of us were trapped in." He rubbed at tired eyes and stifled a yawn against the lingering effects of the drugs he had taken.

"You were in a cocoon?"

He ignored the question, instead standing and watching the door. Danny could hear it, too; the sound of feet striding purposefully down the hall, but even more importantly, the distinct sound of boots being dragged along with them. McKay's hands flexed nervously at his side and didn't stop until he saw Colonel Sheppard being brought into the cell and that he hadn't been fed upon.

The two of them caught the semi-conscious man before he hit the floor, moving him out of reach of their captor. "Sheppard, what happened?" They lowered him gently and propped him against the wall as his head rolled drunkenly.

"Queen." He licked his lips, trying his best to focus on McKay and struggling to speak. "Wants to know… how we jump."

"Bring him." At their commander's order, the guards each took an arm and McKay was lifted to his feet.

"Tell her," Sheppard mumbled before losing consciousness completely.

"Yeah, good plan." Danny watched as the physicist was taken wide-eyed from the room. He followed to the door, looking out the bars at the retreating forms as McKay tried to convey one last message. "When he wakes up… Ow! Watch the arm! Where are you taking me, anyway?" Then the voice cut off and Danny was left alone with Sheppard, waiting for the man to wake up.

It was a good half-hour before he did, groaning against even the dim light in the room and cradling his head. Danny turned from his post at the door when he heard the sound.

"Colonel, are you all right?"

"Is McKay back yet?" When Danny shook his head no, Sheppard leaned his back against the wall. "Fuck."

"Sir, what did they do to you?"

"That goddamn mind meld shit they do. Feels like they install an amplifier in your head, hammer it in place with railroad spikes using a sledgehammer, then turn it up to eleven." Pulling his knees up and turning a shade paler, Danny was afraid he might puke right then and there. Instead, he eased his head down again. "Goddamn, that hurts."

Unable to think of a proper response to that observation beyond, "Sorry, Sir," and having nothing to offer, not even some water, Danny simply returned to the cell door to watch for the return of Dr. McKay. He'd be next. The Wraith would come for him next, he was sure. And it wouldn't take long for them to realize he didn't know jack shit about time travel.

Time travel. No wonder the Wraith were interested in these two. If they could learn the secrets of time travel, they could stop every resistance that the Milky Way held for them. And if they couldn't, they could at least stop the men that could do it. Because what a threat that would pose. Knowing the attack was coming, being able to keep it from ever happening. The best offense was a good defense and, man, nothing could beat time travel for that.

"Colonel?" Danny asked hesitantly after several long minutes. "If you can get back to your own time, do you think you can stop this war from ever taking place?"

Sheppard lifted his head to peer at the sergeant across his knees. "You and McKay evidently chatted while I was gone."

"Yes, Sir. He told me about Atlantis and Teyla and Ronon and all the others there. And all the things you guys did."

"Really? Rodney told you about that?"

"He may have exaggerated a little bit. I mean, one man can't save Atlantis that many times."

"You'd be surprised," he admitted, deciding he was ready to try gaining his feet. Danny closed the distance between them and offered a hand, which he gladly took.

"So, do you think you could do it? Stop the war from ever starting?"

"Hell, Miller, I don't know. We've done a lot more with a lot less information than we have right now." He sat heavily on the bench in the room. "But I honestly don't know if we'll ever actually make it back to our time. We didn't in this reality."

"But you could in others?"

He seemed to consider how to answer that before finally responding. "Yeah, I think we could."

"This Adina person, she told you how to do it, didn't she?"

Eyes narrowed in contemplation of the sergeant. "Why are you asking me about this?"

"Because you should go, if you know how." Danny hadn't missed the look Sheppard had given McKay when the scientist was trying to get him to leave. He knew the colonel was hesitating because of him. Because they might be able to jump, but they wouldn't be able to take Danny with them, and that would mean leaving him behind to a death at Wraith hands with no chance for escape.

Danny had fully expected the bristling tone he received in response to his suggestion. "I'm not in the habit of leaving a man behind, Sergeant."

"No offense, Sir, but I don't think you're in the habit of bouncing around in time either."

"I'm good at adapting," Sheppard defended, sitting a little straighter.

"Colonel, we aren't going to win this war. The best we can hope is to maintain a balance for a while, but this war won't end. Eventually the Wraith are just going to get sick and tired of us fighting back and destroy everything and everyone here on Earth. Did you know that the average age of an enlisted man is twenty-seven? Way I figure it, I've had two years I never should have had."

"Odds were made to be beaten, Miller. Don't you ever forget that."

"What are the odds that I could have the chance to stop this war from ever happening? That millions of lives could be saved? That in some alternate reality I might have the chance to grow old when in my own I'm already cheating death every day." Sheppard just frowned harder but didn't say anything. "Me making it back to Earth isn't going to change anything. You and Dr. McKay jumping out of here and back to your own time could change an awful lot."

"This conversation is over, Sergeant."

But Danny wasn't willing to give in. He could finally make a difference. A real, honest to God difference. And he wasn't about to pass up this chance. "What are the Wraith going to do when they come back and take me and find out I know even less about this whole time travel thing than the two of you? That I'm just an Air Force sergeant that's never even been off world? They'll probably feed on me as soon as they find out then come back for the two of you. I'll be surprised if I last ten minutes in there. But that's ten minutes you two can use to get the hell out of here."

"Miller, what you're asking me to do… I don't know if I'm capable of doing it. I was nearly court-martialed once because I wasn't capable of doing it even when I was given a direct order."

He'd known Sheppard would be tough, but he'd have to pull his last ace out of the hole. "Colonel, Dr. McKay won't jump without you."

The colonel's eyes widened slightly at the revelation. "Did he tell you that?"

No, he hadn't. Not in so many words. But then again, hearing him talk about their adventures they'd had, the note of homesickness in his voice when he spoke of Atlantis and the others that he had left there, Danny was pretty damn sure of what McKay's answer would be. Just as he was pretty damn sure how Sheppard would answer his next question. "Would you jump without him?"

Sheppard growled, literally growled, deep in his throat. "I swear to God, I don't know who is more stubborn, you or McKay."

Danny couldn't help the smile, and even when he realized that he had probably just talked this man into letting him die, it didn't fade. It did, however, when the Wraith arrived back with McKay a few minutes later in much the same condition as Sheppard had been when they'd brought him back earlier.

"Are you sure about this?" the colonel asked when the scientist was shoved roughly toward them.

There was a split second where Danny considered saying, 'Fuck no, I don't want to die alone!' But he knew this is what needed to be done. And he could have died alone in the street, in his bed. At least this way, there was some meaning.

"Positive, Sir."

"Rodney." The colonel spoke quietly, under his breath, as he and Danny eased McKay down. Half-lidded eyes regarded him with a note of recognition that had Sheppard continuing on. "Rodney, I need your help here, buddy. You need to focus, okay?"

Cold hands clamped down on Danny's arms jerking him away and the panic set in. He was going to die. There was no getting out of this one. Then again, he felt this way going into every battle he had been in since joining the Air Force. But when he saw the distraught look in Sheppard's eyes, he squared his jaw before the man changed his mind.

The colonel drew a breath, nodded in acknowledgment, and turned his attention back to McKay. "Think about when we are in the solar system."

"What are you doing?" the Wraith in charge demanded and Sheppard spoke a little more desperately.

"McKay, do you understand what I'm asking you to do?"

The scientist nodded minutely and the two men… flickered. It was working! They were going to escape!

"Stop them," the Wraith ordered, and the two that had been holding Danny lifted their stunners and aimed for the men.

Danny knocked the gun away from one of the guards, but the beam fired by the other hit the two wavering images. Then he punched the second guard as hard as he could. The second Wraith simply looked at him before flinging him across the room where he slammed against the wall. Aw, fuck, that was going to hurt in the morning, he thought with morbid humor seeing as he knew he'd never see another dawn. On the plus side, there wouldn't be any more predawn training sessions either.

A pale face appeared when the stars cleared from his vision. "Where have they gone?"

Gone. They were gone. It had worked. And the terror he had felt before simply melted away. "They've gone to fuck you guys over but good."

The face sneered menacingly at the grin on Danny's face. "Bring him. The Queen herself will want to strip his being dry."

"A meal fit for a Queen. I'm flattered." The hands were yanking him back to his feet but once there he held his head with an arrogance to match the Wraith storming from the cell. The cell that no longer held Sheppard or McKay. Goddamn, that made it all worthwhile. It gave purpose to his impending death and meaning to the twenty-nine years he had spend leading up to it.

His mother would be so proud.

xxxx

TBC