CHAPTER 7 – SOLIDARITY
Jennifer moved over to the bed and picked up Todd's hand, feeling the tension that emanated from John's body at this gesture, she turned slightly to look at him and felt him calm at whatever he saw in her eyes. She raised the hand to her cheek and leaned in to the caress and watched the smile that played across his mouth, a mouth that had also begun to change.
John muttered behind her. "So Jen - the holy grail huh? Where do we go from here? You've unlocked the key to answers they've spent a lifetime trying to find. But which door does the key unlock?"
"Very profound Sheppard, especially for you..." Rodney entered the room, casting a curious look between the three players in the room, sensing the connection that bound these three people together and the centre of that connection appeared to be one very female doctor, who stood now effectively between two men of two worlds, each asserting a subtle right to lay claim to her. Standing back from it all, he noted the hand that Jennifer held and the smile that played across the mouth of the wraith, while Sheppard stood close to Jennifer with a hand hovering uncertainly near her waist.
The players are here thought Rodney but the rules have yet to be established. Should be one hell of a chess match. Who takes the queen? The rook in the corner or the horse standing three squares back... play on, boys... should be a good game.
"Jennifer, it appears you've managed to crack the code so to speak. But as Sheppard so eloquently put it, just where do you go from there? How do you stop an entire race of wraith from feeding on humans in order to get them to revert back to their human origins? That does indeed leave a substantial list of doors left to unlock. It may not be enough to simply possess the key."
"Glad you could join us Mr Glass Half Empty...now that the hard work is over?" John resorted to his usual sarcasm, generally evident whenever Rodney entered the field.
"Oh, and you've been instrumental in assisting with this hard work, Mr Glass is Half Full? You appear to be more concerned with the fact that Jennifer is holding the hand of a wraith... rather than the fact that Jennifer is... holding the hand of a wraith? Ok, that's just wierd. Jennifer?"
"Rodney. As usual, you arrive in time to make your innane observations and prepare to cast aspersions on my theories and findings. Well take a number Doctor McKay. I imagine that there'll be others who wish to line up to do the same. Afterall, how did I manage it, when an entire city of ancients could only find the means to turn them on, without knowing the means to turn them off. Jealousy Rodney, will be your downfall."
"I am not jealous Jennifer, and I would have been able to obtain the same information you did if I had been set the task to do so - fortunately I have far more important work to do that actually has physical application. How do you apply the information that you have found? By taking every wraith in this galaxy, locking them up and starving them? What do you think we have been trying to do since we got here - prevent the wraith from culling human worlds... and you know just where that got us... they turned their eye on earth..."
Jennifer had dropped Todd's hand and stepped away from the bed to turn and face Rodney. Fisting her hands on her hips, she glared at him, finding his usual arrogance more irritating than usual. "Rodney, damn it. If you've come here just to throw doubts and accusations at me, you can just leave... right now!"
"Ok children.. calm down. Jen, so not worth it, really... you hit the nail on head, Rodney's jealous you cracked the code first. And Rodney, stop being petty and play nice..Or I'll tell the chef to put lemon in your jello tonight..."
John moved so that he stood between them, a buffer against their antagonism and cracked a smile of his own when he heard Todd's laughter from the bed behind them.
"I had no idea that human's were so entertaining..."
"That's because you only see us as a food source..." Rodney, then paused, the look on his face showing the shock that he was actually entertaining the merits of arguing with a wraith, and it was John's laugh that sounded this time.
"Hey! I've got real work to do on base, and I can't stand around here acting like a damn kindergarten school teacher keeping you kids from taking pot shots at each other...I am going to leave... now. Promise me there'll be no throwing of inanimate objects while I'm gone. Jen? Rodney? Todd?" and still laughing he left the room wondering at the absurdity of including a wraith with an obvious sense of human amongst his human responsibities.
The words of the wraith echoed in his mind. Trust, Colonel Sheppard and he pulled himself up. Well damn, he thought. I might just be starting to...
