CHAPTER 3
A day passed, then two. She was bored, lonely. The nurses and doctors spoke to her when they checked on her, but otherwise had very little to do with her. Had they forgotten her already? Would they leave her here alone? When she was well would they return her to the lonely world? Silent tears slipped down her face at the thought of returning to the absolute solitude of that world.
It was evening and she very despondent when she heard footsteps coming her way. Warily, she looked up and saw Evan. He was talking to one of the doctors.
"Thanks, Doc." He clapped him on the shoulder and turned toward her. Evan had noticed during his vigil with Rikers that the girl received very few visitors. Rodney and Ronon once or twice, Teyla, John once.
If no one spoke to her, how did they expect her to learn to talk back. They had brought her here and then they had went on with their lives. Granted a lot was going on right now with Atlantis in an uproar over the newbies messing with McKay, but the poor girl had been practically deserted. He had decided over blue jell-o that he'd visit her, talk to her.
"Hey, Reanna." He smiled as he came up beside her.
"Evan," she said happily.
"Brought you something." He held out a container. "If you thought the jell-o was good wait until you taste these."
She looked at him quizzically only understanding a few of the words. Cautiously, he sat on the edge of her bed. She edged away slightly, warily.
He noticed, his smile slipping a little. "Guess it'll take awhile for you to get used to being around people."
He opened the container and held it out to her, leaning forward. When she looked at the contents and then back at him, he sighed. Reaching in he brought some of the food to his mouth. "Mmmmm," he closed his eyes as he chewed and swallowed.
He peeked at her and she met his eyes with a shy grin. He nudged the container at her. "Strawberries with sugar."
Tentatively she picked up a strawberry and took a tiny bite. Several layers of sweetness filled her mouth. Her eyes dipped closed as she savored the sensations.
"They're good, aren't they?" She opened her eyes to see him giving her a knowing smile.
"Good," she agreed reaching for another one. "Very good, sweet" she expounded swallowing.
He quirked an eyebrow at her. "You can talk, can't you?"
She bit her lip, studying him. "Forget."
"You've forgotten how to talk?"
"Words," she waved a hand at her head. "Gone. Alone…." he watched patiently as she struggled to remember the words, "so long, alone."
"You've been alone a long time then." He said sympathetically. He planted his hand on the other side of her legs leaning casually on it.
"Fourteen," she murmured reaching for a strawberry and eyeing his hand. "Mmmm," she smiled softly, shyly at him.
He noted the way she eyed his hand. Definitely wary of contact. "You've been alone fourteen years?"
"No," she shook her head frustrated.
He took a moment to think. He looked up at her understanding dawning. "You've been alone on that world since you were fourteen years old?"
"Yes," the word was filled with sadness. Her gaze darted past him, closing off, becoming guarded.
He looked around then jumped up off the bed. "Dr. Weir, Colonel Sheppard."
"Major Lorne."
He flushed slightly under their regard. "I was just getting to know Reanna."
"We noticed." Sheppard drawled, eyes twinkling.
"And getting her to talk, I see." Dr. Weir smiled encouragingly. She turned toward Reanna. "Hello, Reanna."
She scrutinized them intently. John and Elizabeth she recalled the names.
"Hello," she mimicked slowly.
"Has she told you anything yet?" She asked Evan, Major Lorne.
Reanna concentrated on the words trying to remember the meanings, knowing they were questions and wanting to answer.
"If I'm understanding her correctly," Major Lorne glanced over at her, "she's been alone on that world since she was fourteen."
"Fourteen!" Dr. Weir gasped, paling. "Carson is guessing her to be in her mid to late twenties. That would give her at least ten years alone perhaps even half her life."
John sat beside her bed and leaned forward. "Why were you alone?"
Reanna looked at Evan. He sat back down. "It's okay; take your time." he looked at Dr. Weir and Colonel Sheppard. "She said she's forgotten words."
"I guess go." Dr. Weir murmured sympathetically.
She looked back at John. "Others….family," she blinked, swallowed the grief of remembering, tears welled up, "died."
Elizabeth and John traded sharp glances. "Your family was on that world?"
"Yes." Tears trickled down her face as she remembered. A comforting hand laid on her leg. She looked up at Evan and saw he was sad for her. She swiped the tears away.
"What happened to your family?" Dr. Weir asked gently.
Images of bones and blood flashed in her mind, images she didn't want to see, to remember. She shook her head. "Tired." she mumbled, drawing a shuddering breath.
"Reanna." Evan coaxed her, gently.
"Tired," she wailed, turning away and burying her face in the pillow.
All three looked horrified at what they had learned. Dr. Weir took a step forward as if to comfort the girl.
"I'll stay with her, Dr. Weir." Major Lorne said quietly.
Dr. Weir laid a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you, Major."
"Not a problem."
Sheppard stood up quickly, uncomfortable around a crying woman and silently followed Elizabeth out of the infirmary.
"That poor girl."
"Yeah." Sheppard grimaced. "Whatever happened to her parents, I'd say it wasn't pleasant." He shuddered slightly at the thought of the predators they had barely evaded.
ooOoo
In the infirmary, Major Lorne sat quietly, his hand resting lightly on her calf as she cried. He hated to see a woman cry! He put the bowl of strawberries down on the bed table and sat down on the bed near her hip.
"Reanna," he said softly as he slid his hand down her arm. "I'm sorry. For whatever happened to your parents; I'm sorry you had to bear it alone." Gently, he rubbed her arm, comforting in the only way he could.
She felt his hand slid across her, heard the sympathy, the helplessness in his voice. Twisting toward him, she clung to him as he wrapped his arms around her.
Surprised at her turning toward him, he automatically wrapped his arms around her. He held her close as she cried, heart-wrenching sobs. "It's okay, it's okay," he murmured in her hair. "Let it out. I've got you."
She cried until she felt empty. Sniffling, she swiped at her face, embarrassed now that she didn't hurt so intensely. She pulled away and his embrace loosened, but he didn't let her go.
He slid his hands to her upper arms careful of the healing wound. "It's okay." He told her sincerely. He raised his hands to her face and wiped away the remaining tears. "There," he smiled tenderly, "you're all pretty again."
She gave him a tremulous smile and sniffed again. Her lips trembled and she clenched her jaw tight to stop them. She leaned back against the raised bed. Slowly, as the words surfaced she began to tell him the story.
"I was ten. We were hungry. Father...hunt...forbidden land. He was…caught. The Circle…," she frowned, chasing words. "Punishment."
"Where you originally lived, they sent you through the Circle to that world as punishment for hunting on forbidden land? The whole family?"
She sniffled, "Not sister. Married; own family." She looked down at her lap. Searching for the words, seeing the images of the past.
He reached out tentatively and pushed her hair back from her face. "You don't have to say anything else right now if you don't want too. It can wait."
She had flinched slightly at his touch, eyes wide at the unexpectedness of it. "No." She swallowed. Misery shadowed her eyes. "Fourteen. They go hunting; don't come back." She blinked rapidly. "I go searching; find them."
Her throat clogged, eyes filled and overflowed. She closed them and bowed her head. He pulled her into his embrace again. "Reanna, enough."
She shook her head stubbornly against his chest. "Not much left. Must be them no one else on world. I build fire for the dead. When fire gone, bo…bones…. I…I…bury next to cave."
He felt his own tears start at her story. To find your parents remains in that forest, knowing what had probably eaten them. To know it was them only by default. To live the next ten, maybe fourteen years alone. SGA-1 had barely survived three days!
"Don't want to go back." She whispered raggedly, hands clenching in his shirt. "Hate alone."
"We won't send you back there. I promise you that." Evan answered, his own voice ragged with emotion.
"Here now. What's this?" Carson had quietly came upon them on the opposite side of the bed.
Major Lorne looked up at him. "She's telling me how her parents died."
Carson's eyes widened and he took in the ragged sobbing and tense body. "Perhaps a sedative would help." He said kindly.
Major Lorne nodded slightly. He continued to comfort her as Carson got a sedative and returned, injecting it into her I.V. port. Within moments, her sobs quieted and she slumped limply in his arms.
They gently arranged her in the bed, lowering the front half of the bed until it was almost flat. Evan swiped her face with a tissue and gently stroked her hair. "It's a wonder she survived, Doc. It's more amazing that she's sane."
"Why don't we get all parties together and let you tell the story once?" Carson replied, seeing the horror and shared pain in the Major's face.
"Good idea. I don't relish telling it once much less several times over."
Twenty minutes later, Major Lorne was in the conference room repeating the story to Dr. Weir, Dr. Beckett, Colonel Sheppard, Dr. McKay, Ronon and Teyla.
When he was finished they all looked as horrified as he felt. Even Ronon looked unsettled.
"She found her parents eaten? Dr. McKay asked, looking decidedly green.
"Apparently." Evan felt queasy himself.
"Funeral pyre makes sense." Ronon interjected. "Bury the bodies and something would just dig them up." He looked over at Rodney. "And finish eating them."
"Did you have to go there?" McKay glared at him disgustedly.
Ronon shrugged, grinned.
"Enough." Dr. Weir frowned. "The poor girl was fourteen. It's not a joking matter."
"Sorry." Ronon rumbled actually looking chastised. "True though. They would have been dug up."
"And she said no one else has been there since then?" Teyla asked.
Major Lorne spread his hands. "She still doesn't have a lot of words, but that's what I gathered. Alone since she was fourteen."
"No wonder she's forgotten how to talk." Sheppard said, leaning back in his chair. "No one to talk to for at least ten years; knowing that those predators have great hearing. She'd be as quiet as she could to avoid detection."
Major Lorne cleared his throat. "Dr. Weir," he looked uncomfortable. "I may have overstepped my bounds a little."
"How's that, Major?" Dr. Weir turned her full attention to him.
He fidgeted nervously. "She begged not to be sent back and I," he swallowed and forced himself to meet her frank gaze. "Well, I sort of promised her we wouldn't make her go back."
"I see." She held his gaze. "Did you promise her she could stay here, on Atlantis?"
"No Ma'am."
"Then I don't think any harm was done. And you're right, in any case. There's no way I'd send her back to that world." She shuddered as she thought of the mission reports she had read.
"Thank you, Ma'am." Major Lorne looked relieved.
"Don't thank me yet, Major." Dr. Weir gave him a look that made most people groan. "Reanna seems to have come to trust you."
"Yes." Lorne admitted carefully.
"I think you should spend more time with her. See what else she'll tell you and when she's released from the infirmary I believe she'd feel more comfortable if you were the one to show her around. If," she quirked an eyebrow. "If, we decide to let her stay here."
"That won't be a problem, Ma'am. My team is grounded until Rikers is released for duty."
"And that would be a week yet." Carson supplied.
"Well, I think we're done here." Dr. Weir started to stand up.
"Elizabeth," Sheppard spoke up. "I'd like to inform everyone of something since we're all here."
Puzzled, Elizabeth sat back down. "Okay, John."
"The Daedalus will be here tomorrow as everyone knows. As of this afternoon, I have a few requests for reassignment back to the Earth." He glanced over at Rodney apologetically.
Rodney paled slightly then set his jaw mulishly. "If they can't handle the stress of being forced to work at their best, they shouldn't have come in the first place. This isn't a daycare."
"Dr. Martin was the only one from the Science Department." Sheppard gave that good news first and was rewarded by surprised delight on Rodney's face. Sheppard shook his head. After five years, McKay still was surprised at his people's loyalty. His department had been honed down to those fiercely loyal to him. Everyone else had transfer out or had been fired years ago.
"Three marines who think DADT applies to the entire expedition, a linguist, one botanist and two engineers."
"Names," McKay demanded, snapping his fingers imperatively.
Sheppard glanced at Elizabeth. "Rodney, does it matter?" She asked gently.
He thrust out his chin belligerently. "If it were just because of my demands for excellence, no, but some of it's personal. I don't hide what I am and I understand that some people have issues." He glanced at Sheppard.
"I don't have issues with you!"
"You did."
"Not that issue." Sheppard growled. "Crying over a papercut and we're going to die scenarios every time we went through the gate and perhaps your genius complex to begin with, but then I took time to know you."
McKay huffed and glared at him.
"Okay." Sheppard took a deep breath. "Anderson, Merchette," he looked over at Major Lorne, "Knox," Lorne nodded unsurprised. Knox was a sour-mouthed prude.
Sheppard continued. "Jorgenson, Vladmire, Porter and Kinzetti."
Sheppard cleared his throat. "There are of course several going back in the course of regular rotation." He fidgeted with the papers he held. "Among them, and I'm not releasing the list, will be the person who came to my office last night and confessed."
Rodney's head shot up. "Confessed. You know who spiked the coffee?"
Sheppard made his face impassive. "Yes."
Ronon surged up from the table, waves of rage radiating from him. "Tell me."
"No."
He hit the table hard. Everyone jumped. "Tell me, Sheppard." He snarled, eyes snapping furiously.
"The person thought Rodney would just get sick, maybe puke a bit. The person had no idea that he would react that violently to less than a teaspoon in a whole pot of coffee."
"Less than a teaspoon?" Carson repeated, startled himself at the reaction to that tiny an amount.
"I don't care what they thought." Ronon growled.
"Let it go, Ronon." Rodney said quietly, more subdued than anyone had ever seen him. More shook up than even after Doranda.
Ronon snarled, slammed his chair backwards, and stalked out of the room. Rodney put his head in his hands and sighed.
Everyone sat in silence until Teyla spoke up. "Perhaps I could talk to him."
When no one refuted her, she rose gracefully from the table, laid a gentle hand on Rodney's shoulder and walked out of the room.
Dr. Weir quietly arose and motioned for Lorne to follow her out leaving Rodney with Carson and Sheppard.
"He doesn't get that I just want to let it go. Get past it."
"He feels helpless, Rodney. In his mind, he's suppose to protect you and he didn't."
"That's stupid! Sure he's suppose to protect me from angry villagers and savage predators and Wraith, but what's he going to do? Be my personal taste tester? Check every dish and drink before I touch it?"
"I'd not be giving him any ideas?" Carson retorted.
McKay snorted, a short, harsh laugh. "He would, wouldn't he?"
Sheppard grinned slightly. "It was hard not to beat them to a pulp last night." He admitted. "While they were confessing, I kept seeing you on the floor, convulsing, and in the infirmary barely hanging on."
Rodney saw the raw fury and pain in his friend's face. "You really do care?" He snarked to defuse the situation before they were all embarrassed.
"Shut up, McKay." Sheppard stood up and walked toward the doors. He stopped as they opened and said softly without turning around, "I knew if I hit them just once I wouldn't stop. Ronon isn't the only one who wants to kill them."
Rodney just stared at Sheppard's retreating back. He turned toward Carson bewildered at the intensity in Sheppard's voice. "He loves you like a brother, Rodney." He stood up. "So do I." He waited for Rodney to stand before he started for the door.
