Midnight had come and gone and Jen was beginning to wonder just how much longer she was going to be able to stay awake. Right now her half-drowned body wanted nothing more than to lay down in the corner of Woolsey's office and go to sleep. Even with the raucous discussion going on around her.

With a blanket tightly wrapped around her body, and another to sit on so she wouldn't leave a big, sopping puddle on the floor, she tuned back into the conversation and tried to ignore her body's order to just close her eyes where she sat.

"Look," Rodney was saying. "Atlantis is a space ship. It doesn't have to land in water… you can land the damn thing just about anywhere flat, including land. Just because we've chosen to float around the ocean like a giant mechanical lily-pad, doesn't mean it's not possible. It has… legs… supports… somewhere… we just don't need to engage them with a bazillion gallons of water to support us."

"Okay fine." John held up his hand to stop McKay's rant. "It's a ship. We get it. But if it's able to land in water, why are there doors at the end of the piers that can let in the ocean?"

"There aren't." Rodney rolled his eyes. "Those are doors to get outside when you land on… well, land. Some overzealous idiot who was probably looking for the transporter, overrode the security protocols and opened the outer doors. Woosh! In comes the water. The city closed off the inner doors, but not before a hell of a lot of the sea got in."

"How the hell can someone just open outer doors?" Ronon growled, turning Jen's head towards where he stood in the back corner, arms crossed and looking pretty amazing for a man who'd been half submerged. She shook her head with a sigh, knowing she looked, and felt, exactly like a drowned rat should. Yet he looked… well… he looked… exactly like he always did. Strong. Powerful.

Figures.

"Well, obviously the Ancients knew better. And until now…" Rodney shrugged, tugging her mind away from Ronon. "It didn't require anything higher than an entry level access code."

"And now?" Evan asked, from his perch on the edge of Woolsey's desk.

"Now us, and Zelenka."

"Do we at least know who it was that opened the doors?" John asked hopefully.

Rodney shook his head. "As far as we know, no one is missing."

"Could it have been done remotely?" Woolsey asked, pulling his glasses off and rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Jen felt a tinge of remorse for dragging the poor man out of his bed. Actually she felt a little guilty for dragging everyone out of their beds. A little guilty, a little bit more tired, and a hell of a lot more frightened over what happened.

If Ronon hadn't been there…

Her body jerked just thinking about it.

She tuned out Rodney's explanation of remote access and fell into her own thoughts. Everything had been, well, pretty normal – if you could call it that – since she'd had her embarrassing conversation from hell with Ronon in the infirmary. If you could consider what she'd said a conversation, because you couldn't really, since she'd done all the talking, and he'd well, he'd left. But apparently he had agreed. Because he'd come. He'd been there.

She'd felt it again. Right before the water. The sudden tingling in the back of her neck. The feeling that someone was standing beside her. But there was no one there. She'd argued with herself that it could have just been Ronon – but the fact that A) she didn't know if Ronon had even agreed, and B) all the other times it had happened he'd been off world, left her with pretty much the only answer she could admit.

It was happening again.

And then she'd felt the vibration in the floor.

Heard the rumble.

Saw the water.

Felt its power as it slammed her down underneath the surface.

"Doc?"

Jen's head snapped up and she jumped.

Five pairs of eyes watching her – concern, worry, concern, confusion, heat.

She snapped away from the directness of Ronon's gaze and turned towards John, who was asking her a question.

"I'm sorry." She shook her head. "Could you repeat the question?"

John gave her a half smile. "I was just saying that there's nothing more we can do tonight until we've cleared those levels." He angled his head towards the door. "Why don't you get out of here?"

Jen nodded and stood quickly, feeling the soppy material sliding across her skin as she moved. "Right. Okay. Well, good night then."

She was halfway down the stairs before she realized she wasn't alone.

Ronon didn't speak.

He merely walked with her through the empty corridors towards her quarters.

When they reached her room, she hesitated, turning towards him, wanting to say so much, but having only words which seemed too little. How did you thank someone for saving your life at such a great risk to their own? And he'd done it without question.

She could see it in his eyes – he was fighting to ask. She knew she owed him an explanation. An explanation for a situation she couldn't explain, and couldn't describe as anything more than an expected shadow, an unnerving feeling, and a terrifying touch.

And that – was the whole problem.

She could feel her senses taking over again and wanted desperately to shut them out. Her trembling hand reached for the door access, and was immediately surrounded by the warmth of his fingers.

"Jennifer."

She looked at the floor, then her hand firmly enveloped in his, then to his chest, and finally his eyes. He called her Jennifer. It never ceased to amaze her how completely unusual her name sounded when it rolled of his lips. It made her forget pretty much everything except the inane desire to hear him say it again…

"We need to talk."

She snapped back, and struggled to focus her mind. Exhaustion, adrenaline crash, and lack of sleep left her stuttering out a messed up explanation even she couldn't understand. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"I just…" can't. "I don't know…" how to even begin. She shook her head. "You'd never…" believe it. "It just doesn't make any sense."

"Hey."

She slowly raised her head.

"You can talk to me you know."

She nodded. "I know. And…" She bit her lower lip before continuing. "I know I owe you an explanation. I do. And thank you for not telling the others why you were there. Because if you hadn't been there…"

"I was."

"But if you hadn't…" She shook her head, furiously blinking against the burning behind her eyelids. She pinched her eyes closed with her free hand.

He released her fingers and placed his hands on her shoulders, spinning her around. "You're tired."

She let out a half laugh, and swiped at the panel. "Oh yeah." Her door slid open and she stared into the brightly lit interior, forgetting for a moment she'd purposely left all her lights on so there'd be no darkness to come home too.

Leaning slowly forward, she felt a sharp prickle on the back of her neck and sharply inhaled. Ronon's hands were still on her shoulders and she could feel the tension suddenly radiating off him.

His fingers jerked against her collarbone and he pulled her back into the hallway. Pushing her against the wall in the corridor, he held up his palm and motioned for her to stay.

She didn't have to be told to keep out – there was no way she was going to be going in there at the moment. Not like this. Not with that in there.

She was so intent on keeping herself breathing she barely registered his movement… then he was suddenly standing in front of her and she shrieked, jumping to the side and nearly falling over.

His arms caught hers and held her upright.

"It's empty."

"I know." She nodded, earning her a sharp, narrowed stare.

With a deep breath, she prayed she'd hear the answer she'd hoped for, and asked the question she'd been too terrified to even consider posing before now.

"You felt it too, didn't you?"

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A/N sorry to hang it there but there's more coming! I promise! And I hope you're going to like how dark and twisted it's going to get! Hang on to your hats!