"Family Ties"
Ch. 4
(Eppes House, Rose's Room)
Rose went back up to her bedroom. She placed the saltines and water bottle on the bedside table. Her whole body ached. She slumped back into bed. Rose laid in bed, listening to the stillness of the house. Normally, she would welcome the quietness of the house. But now. She would rather prefer the constant bickering of Rodney McKay and John Sheppard.
She fell into a restless sleep. Waking up every hour in a cold sweet and panting. Her mind kept replaying the horrible events of the night before.
(Eppes House,)
The sun had finally risen and Rose could hear her father waking up. Rose had slowly got up out of bed and got dressed. She walked downstairs a half an hour later to find her dad and brothers drinking their morning coffee.
"Morning, Sunshine," Allen greeted.
Rose yawned, "Morning."
She plopped into a chair next to Allen and Charlie.
"Hey, how did you find out you were pregnant so early?" Allen asked Rose. "I only just realized, we don't posses that kind of technology yet."
Rose and Charlie exchanged looks, knowingly.
"Work," she mumbled.
"How are you feeling?" Charlie asked.
"Tired and achy. I had a terrible nights sleep," she told him.
"Nightmares about the other night?" Allen asked.
Rose nodded. She took the cup of hot herbal tea from her father as Charlie spoke to Don in a very business like way.
"I worked on an algorithm last night. It should help narrow your search,"
He passed the paper to Don.
Don looked at it as Charlie went on, "I managed to narrow it down to five know suspects."
"All of them were in the Air Force. They all worked at the same place as all of the other women," Don looked up from the file, shocked.
"What?" Allen and Rose said at the same time.
"Give," Rose outstretched her hand.
Don obeyed. They watched as Rose looked over the file.
"I can't believe this,"
"What?" the three Eppes boys echoed.
Rose looked up and told them, "I have a phone call to make. I'll meet you down at the FBI in a few hours, Don."
With that, Rose excused herself from the kitchen table.
(FBI)
Megan and Don waited in one of the rooms in the FBI. They could see Rose walking, followed by two men Don and Megan had never seen before. The two could also hear what they were saying.
"I didn't ask for McKay!" Rose said frustrated. "What the hell is he doing here?"
"Col. Carter has been assigned to Head Atlantis. Dr. Weir stood down as leader," Sheppard told her, calmly.
"I am so not getting my memos," she groaned.
"Such a pleasant little thing you are," McKay said to Rose sarcastically.
"Pregnancy hormones," Sheppard whispered.
"Why is it men are always blaming women's hormones? Why can't they just accept that we get angry with men because they've done or said something stupid?" Rose shot both men a dirty look before walking into where Megan and Don were.
"I have to say, I agree with her there," Megan grinned.
Rose introduced everyone.
"They are here on behalf of the USAF. These five men," she pressed a button on a remote and five faces popped up on screen. "The victims, Sheppard, McKay, and Myself are all part of a classified project. What we need to figure out it what were our suspects trigger points, if any, that would cause them to get violent. Seeing as how these men were part of the same classified project, John, McKay and I will go deep into their profiles."
"What about us, Miss Boss?" Don asked, pointing to Megan and himself.
"You get to handle the Non-classified part of their profiles and narrow the five guys to one," Rose told him. "And call me Miss. Boss again and see what happens."
They all gathered the profiles and sat down.
Megan whispered over to Don, "Is this how she deals with traumatic events?"
"She was like this when our mom got sick. Rose was angry at everyone for no reason. When she's sad, she gets mad," Don answered, gazing over at Rose, who was starring at a folder moodily.
To be continued . . .
(A/N: I hope this answered some of the comments I've been getting. I'm glad that you took the time to tell me. It let's me know just how much your paying attention. )
