Chapter 7: Intergalactic Airport
The quarters they had been shown to were sparsely decorated and perhaps even less welcoming than those in their own time but Sheppard had apologized profusely and shown them to their rooms personally. Despite the indignant protestations of one airman who apparently was rubbing elbows with people in the IOA for he firmly believed that it was 'not the General's place'. Needless to say Sheppard ignored him and shrugged off any questions from his guests as to why he had not rebuked the young officer more firmly.
The fact that there had been some effort to make the drab rooms more welcoming was obvious however some what ad hoc; a painting had been roughly stuck on the wall, slanted, BDUs were folded neatly on the unmade bed along side sheets, pillow cases and a mattress that was half a foot too short for the bed; one would have thought that they were standard issue but apparently, not anymore.
"I hate this," Vala said, as Daniel flicked on the light, studying the room with a swift sweep of his eyes.
"I know," he had little idea as to what else to say, there was so much to think about, so much on his mind, it was small wonder he was able to reply to her at all.
"Lexy is the only one that knows,"
What did that mean? Or more importantly, what did it imply? He didn't want to think about it too deeply. The knot in his stomach that had formed at the news of his death had not dissipated. He had died before, too many times, but he had, why was this time any different to him? He was still alive, he hadn't actually died, at least not yet... but in this time line he had. Seven years ago. Seven years ago he and Vala had died, no one would tell them how or by what means. Just that they had, leaving a nine-year-old girl to fend for herself in a world that was falling apart.
There was so much that wasn't being said and it was frustrating, it really was. They needed answers, not even to their original question any more, everything was about Lexy. Lexy was the key. She didn't just have the answer, she was the answer but they couldn't get near her. She almost… she was scared of them and that was just so inherently wrong it made his head spin.
His baby, his beautiful little girl was grown up. She'd been standing less than twelve feet from him and… she had moved so gracefully, so purposefully, each action carefully measured, calculated in her head before executed. Then she had stopped, turned, sharp eyes growing wide and darkening almost beyond recognition. Her lithe body tensing and backing away, unable to tear her eyes off of them but with such terror in her eyes it scared even him. Her voice outstanding, fresh but so filled with anger and despair and horror it was shaking, cursing magnificently as she stared before all but running from the room. It had taken everything he had not to go chasing after her.
Daniel jumped when he heard a loud thud and the toiletries stacked neatly on the dresser clattered to the floor, the pillow following suit a moment later. He turned to Vala who was sat on the end of the bed, head in her hands, breathing hard, moving seamlessly over to her he sat down, touching her back; "Vala…"
She shrugged him off. "Don't," she snapped, then calmer as she looked up "just don't," she got to her feet and picked up the pillow, shoving it roughly into a pillow case.
"Hey," he tried to attract her attention.
She ignored him as he stood up.
"It's okay," no it wasn't, they were dead, the world was going to hell and their own daughter hated them, of course it wasn't okay. "We'll fix-"
"Oh for goodness sake Daniel!" she snapped, glaring at him. "We're dead!"
"We're not dead!" he exclaimed because they weren't, they just had to find out how they died in this timeline so they could stop it, do something different, stop the siege and all the dozens of other things that had evidently gone disastrously wrong in the passed sixteen years… or the sixteen years to come… or… whatever.
"Yes we are!" she answered, moving around the bed to him, "yes we are dead, we," she poked him the chest and pointed at herself, "may not be, but to everyone else in this time we are. To Lexy we are,"
"But we can stop it,"
She snorted derisively. "How are we supposed to stop something we know nothing about? We came here to find out how to stop Adria and as it turns out, she can't be stopped," she threw the pillows down on the floor and shook out the sheet, barely even noticing when Daniel went to help her tuck it around the mattress; "they aren't going to tell us anything,"
"Lexy might," he replied, even though he knew how fruitless trying to talk to the teen would be.
"Oh yes," she sniped, "because it went so well the last time we saw her,"
It hurt. It hurt so much she could barely breathe. She was dead. She'd left her little girl to grow up without her mother. Her first born was the biggest evil they had ever had to face and her second was sixteen years old and watching her entire world crumble at her feet. It was so overwhelming. There was so much more to know, so much more they had too, but at the same time, could they handle all that information if, by some miracle, they did manage to wheedle it out of these obstinate people who called themselves their 'friends'?
Daniel watched helplessly as she wrestled with the duvet a moment before tossing it on the bed with huff. "I'm going for a walk," she announced, stalking over to the door, flinging it open; an airman instantly standing in the frame.
"Anything I can help you with ma'am?" the young woman asked politely.
Vala glared at her; "excuse me,"
"I'm sorry," she sounded genuinely apologetic, "I'm not allowed to let you leave unaccompanied,"
Vala made an irritated sound, coming just short of screaming before slamming the door in the poor woman's face and making for the bathroom, slamming that door behind her also.
"Morning," Sheppard greeted, glancing absently over his shoulder as they filed into the control room, he smiled sympathetically at them "I'd ask you how you slept but…"
Cam was the only one to smile back at him.
"What're we waiting for?" Mckay asked, peering through the window and seeing nothing other than the empty 'gate room below; the iris closed; he presumed that was the constant state of being for the shield now.
Sheppard just nodded in the direction of the 'gate and Mckay huffed loudly but got no reply.
"Incoming wormhole!" Walter declared as the klaxons roared "Atlantis' IDC,"
The iris swished open and the Kawoosh burst through the 'gate with its familiar roar before stabilising into the somewhat soothing pool of blue. The ramp rattled as two people emerged; one a young woman in BDUs and the other, a far more familiar face sporting his usual Atlantis uniform.
"Is that… that's me!" Mckay cried, staring at the figure now at the bottom of the ramp; his hair was a fair bit thinner but longer and flecked with a suitable amount more grey than Sheppard's was "once again your hair has defied all logic," he accused somewhat moodily.
Sheppard laughed, before tapping the extension and speaking into the intercom, "Lexy-Claire Jackson to the Gate room," he said "there are some people here to see you,"
"On my way," Lexy's voice chimed through.
"Who's that?" Sam asked, gesturing to the young woman.
"That," Sheppard answered "would be Captain Janet Wells,"
"As in…?"
Sheppard nodded. "She's a excellent soldier," he said, turning back to face the 'gate room as the blast doors slid open, "and the closest thing Lexy has to a best friend," he said as the two girls greet one another enthusiastically. "Anyway," he cleared his throat, turning to the team "had breakfast?"
Teal'c raised an eyebrow at him.
"Ok-ay then… why don't we head on up to the briefing room and I'll see if there's anything more to tell you,"
Cam sighed. His patience wearing thing already and they hadn't been in this time period for twenty four hours yet. Words like 'if' and 'can't' were beginning to sound distinctly like 'don't want too' and 'not going to say'; yes he understood that there were some things they couldn't know, or strictly speaking shouldn't because of how it would change the timeline but what could possibly be left in this world that they wanted to preserve? And even so if, if they couldn't say then why did they make such a point of starting the tale before going 'oops, can't say anything more'?
They'd already had two briefings since arriving and both of them had not ended particularly well, what was to say this one would be any better? Not to mention the fact that they had already told the team that two of its members had died almost a decade ago, what could possibly be worse than that? He ignored the rock that had settled in his stomach upon the news that his friend's deaths were far closer than they had originally come to assume for whilst he was, essentially, on Earth's first – and last – line of defence, and the glaring reality of death was all to familiar to him, each time he, or one of his colleagues managed to survive another impossible situation there came the ridiculous notion that they were some how untouchable despite the fact that they were all to aware that they were.
The briefing room was stuffy when they got there, and Cam thought for a moment it might simply be because he was dreading the debates that would follow. It wasn't as fun as he had imagined. That little boy in the back of his mind that had been cheering and shouting about being able to see the future, meet older versions of himself and his friends, seeing the outcomes of their actions had shut up and he was left only with the man. A man who was unnerved by seeing his companions nearly twenty years older, the future was something to fear not to celebrate and what they did… what they did had amounted to nothing; it left him with an overwhelming feeling of defeat.
"So uh…" Daniel began, hoping to break the morbid silence that had befallen the room; "where'd Doctor Mckay and Janet come from?"
Sheppard seemed subconsciously relieved that he was being thrust back into the hot-seat, with scared demands and horrified faces staring him in the eye; "the people on P4S LX9 had some difficulty with their computer mainframe and asked us to help out. Janet volunteered as a military escort,"
Daniel nodded thoughtfully, the gesture, on anyone else, would have seemed as though he were simply placating the other man by feigning interest, but this was Daniel; he meant it.
"Lexy," Vala said stonily, "are we allowed to know anything about her?"
The General suppressed the urge to sigh, his shoulder's tensing up again as the interrogation began once again; "of course… look, I'm sorry but there are certain things-"
"We can't know," Sam chimed in "we understand,"
"No," Sheppard answered swiftly, willing them to understand; "there are certain things I can't tell you,"
Sam frowned. "I just said that,"
Sheppard shook his head. "It's not my business to give you her life story. I can tell you bits and pieces but there are certain aspects of Lexy's life that are hers, no one here has the right to take that away from her," his eyes were dark and his tone almost fiercely protective, the unsaid words behind his proclamation – she's lost too much already – were as loud as anything he had actually vocalised.
"Okay," Daniel said, taking his wife's hand under the table in a firm but gentle hold, "tell us what you can," he almost winced when he felt Vala tense in his hand but he didn't let go and she eventually relaxed, settling for giving him a potent look.
"June 2016, Lorne and his team found an old… warehouse really… belonging to the Ancients, we sent a team of archaeologists and scientist back and they found four ZPMs, one was almost entirely powerless, another only half full as they had been being used to power the plant for so long. The other two seemed like back-up batteries and were fully charged,"
Mckay snorted and went to say something. The combined effects of Teal'c's glare and Sam's boot connecting with his shin left him looking affronted but silent.
Sheppard swallowed imperceptibly. Trying hard not to think of the celebrations and parties that had taken place; the glow that had settled in everyone's hearts. Despite the threat Adria represented hanging over everyone in the Milky Way and Pegasus, it had been wonderful, for a few days, to just bask in the satisfaction of something having gone right. Four days of glory ripped apart by one day, one moment when they had relented; the ecstasy they had felt would forever be associated with despair, the salvation with indescribable loss; "a year later…"
Rodney frowns as he checks the shipment list for what must have been the hundredth time. The lab is dimly lit and his eyes are straining to see the miniscule typing on the SGC printer paper. He glances at his watch, grateful for the light-up digital display, the military-issue contraption supplies; the return trip to Atlantis is a long time coming, in actuality it has only been a week since he had come back to Earth to pay a brief visit to Jeannie and sort out some things he had been putting off for far longer than he should have done but the air inside the mountain is oppressive, it's people walking with a drudging sense of defeat about their shoulders, fighting the good fight because there's nothing else left to do.
"You're leaving," her tone is accusing and he feels a pang of guilt in his chest as she speaks.
He looks up. Lexy is standing in the doorway, her blonde-brown hair tied into neat pigtails just above her ears, the curls tickle her shoulders. The hems of her jeans are scuffed as they catch beneath her sneakers and scrape the floor, she's wearing a hockey jersey Jack must have bought her because he can't imagine anyone else buying her such an item and her arms are folded across her chest in a gesture eerily reminiscent of her father's infamous self-hug. "Yeah," he croaks and clears his throat, "sorry I'm gonna miss your birthday brat," he smiles good-naturedly at her, it does not reach his eyes and she simply stares back at him, expressionless. "I'll bring something back with me next time I see you,"
There is a strange silence and just as it is about to get uncomfortable the girl speaks; "I want to go with you,"
"What?"
Lexy's gaze is piercing; "I want to go to Atlantis with you,"
"I'll uh… see if Sam can organize for you to visit sometime…" he gabbles because he knows precisely what's she asking and it's absurd. He's known this child since she was a baby, he was there when she said her first words and, inexplicably, they have grown close over the years but over the past twelve months it's been all he can do to even look at her.
She's broken. A shell of the bubbly infant who commandeered entire briefings because she wanted help with her math homework, or was unwittingly nearly deemed a National Security threat at the age of five when she had decided to proclaim – rather loudly – during a Nativity play that the star the wise men had followed, was in fact, an Asguard ship coming to fight the evil King Herod. Her report on her weekend activities had concluded with the line 'then me and uncle Cam and Murray waited up 'til eleven-o'clock for mommy and daddy to come home from fighting the aliens.' Thankfully, these ideas had been dismissed as the result of a 'little girl with a very vivid imagination' and for the less naïve it just being 'Doctor Jackson's daughter' therefore 'insanity must be in the genes'. These stories simply helped to augment what Rodney knew from the time he spent with her on his infrequent visits to Earth. Now she was a ghost of that child. That ball of sunshine everyone at the SGC and on Atlantis had fallen in love with, despite better efforts not too, no longer existed and that's more painful than anything else.
He doesn't want to look at her, he can glance, pretend he's seeing her but he's not, he can't, because it hurts too much and he hates the fact that one little girl has that power over him. It's illogical but no matter how many times he tells himself that and he does try and look, his stomach plummets, his head spins and his chest feels so tight he almost forgets to breathe. It's wrong, he knows its wrong but he can't help it.
"I don't want to visit," she spits, "I don't want to live here anymore,"
Rodney looks up from the list, "Sam and Jack-"
"I don't like them," she says and somehow it doesn't sound petulant. "I don't like anyone here any more. They keep asking me stupid questions and nobody listens to me," her voice nearly breaks but she's not crying, in fact, Rodney finds himself wondering, almost panicked, if she even at the funeral; he doesn't think she did. "I want to live with you,"
"Lexy…" he implores, crouching in front of her, despite the protestations his back makes, "Sam and Jack are your guardians, your mom and dad chose them-"
"Mom and dad are dead," she snaps tonelessly, then, eyes widening and he's half considering that she's doing it on purpose, pulling out the puppy-dog eyes because she knows he can't resist but the expression behind them, the tone in her voice says not. "Please Mckay." she begs. "I wanna live with you and Teyla and Ronon," they won't ask stupid questions, they won't ask if she's okay and then ignore her when she replies, they won't treat her any different than before.
She just wants normal, she wants it all back but she's past wishing for things that'll never happen. Mommy and daddy aren't coming home. She knows that; was never stupid enough to think they could but that didn't stop her wishing. Normal died with them, but on Atlantis she knows she might get close enough to be able to pretend again.
"I can't just take you…" and it scares him that he is actually considering this, thinking about kidnapping the little girl standing before him, sweeping her away like the knight in shining armour she seems to think he is. She's one of the most high profile people on the base, somebody's going to notice that she's gone… no, he can't take her, it's unethical, the scare it would cause… but… He's seen the people she's surrounded by, the way they act, talk and move, the military precision, barked orders and the perpetual period of mourning they are all stuck in. Even he, Rodney Mckay, the most anti-social person in two galaxies can see that it's no world for Lexy to grow up in. So other children have too, they don't have a choice, Lexy does, and is it really kidnapping if the victim is willing?
"You can," she replies stubbornly, and the flicker of hope in her eyes makes his stomach flip. "I told Teal'c I was gonna go to bed for a little while," it's as if she knows what he's thinking; "and I can hide in a box until we get through the 'gate,"
He's amazed she has it all planned out, she's nine but she knows what she's doing, has a plan, a tactical plan that's filled from floor to ceiling with flaws and potential problems but she's thought about it. She's serious… she's nine he reminds himself.
Her jaw sets, as if she's detected his disapproval "if you don't take me, I'll just sneak through,"
And the most terrifying thing is that he is under no doubt that she will.
"Fine," he sighs, and he can't believe he's agreeing to this, "fine,"
She flashes him a smile he's pretty sure nobody's seen in a year and throws her arms around his neck in gratitude. A moment later he peels her out of the embrace, becoming uncomfortable with the physical contact before rising to his feet and looking over the shipment they're surrounded by. His gaze lands on the Lexy-sized box in the corner of the room. He picks up the tools from the workbench and sets about drilling holes in the crate. He can't believe he's doing this.
"He did what!" two voices shrieked at once, the blonde and the brunette both stared at Sheppard with wide eyes and sporting astonished expressions, Vala's seemed to be one of bemused disbelief, Sam's one of absolute horror.
"He put her in a box?" Sam cried.
"It had air holes," Sheppard defended and it was a lousy excuse, at the time, when the entire base had been in uproar over the lost child it had been terrifying, in retrospect it was actually sort of amusing, when this did not seem to placate Sam and the others were all sporting a mixture of expressions, rather than deal with them all individually, the General decided to continue. "We called Atlantis not too long after we realised Lexy was missing." He almost grimaced at the memory of the two-and-a-half hour long radio call that had taken place, first starting as a heated disagreement before turning into a personality attack and screaming argument between the legal guardians of the then missing little girl and the man who had essentially kidnapped her.
"She's not happy there!" Rodney exclaims and all doubt has gone from his mind that this was the right thing to do, even if it is just to spite the woman in front of him, the stoic man at her side; "surely you realised that!"
"Of course she's not happy," Carter replies, swallowing, eyes brimming with tears she will not let fall, "her parents are dead," she says and the tone she says it in makes even Rodney shudder, "but that doesn't mean you can just take her away,"
"She was going to come whether I let her or not,"
"You should have told us," Carter sounds hurt and he hates it when she does that because it reminds him of all the things he's lost, "we could have convinced-"
"Her to stay?" he finishes for her, "Sam, she doesn't want to. She's tired of everyone treating her like she's about to break,"
Carter glares at him and for a moment he wishes it wasn't a video feed because she's making this harder than it should be; "we're her legal guardians Rodney," she challenges, referring to herself and Jack, "you don't have the right to make those decision for her,"
"Me?" he cries, "she's the one who said it. Maybe you guys just need a break..."
"You can't just uproot her just because you feel like it! She has school and-"
"She hasn't been too school in weeks!" he answers because she hasn't, her schooling's been haphazard ever since… well ever since. "Tell them you've pulled her out to be home-schooled. We can teach her here,"
"Teach her what exactly?" Carter's voice is cold, "theoretical astrophysics and botanical gardening?" The blow is low and completely petulant, but what Rodney has done is wrong, it's unethical and she could have him hauled in court for this, but she won't because she knows he meant well, even if his acts of compassion are few and far between.
"Sam," he says softly and she finds herself calming, she doesn't want too, she wants to stay angry because anger stops the pain that the knowledge she is such a bad Godmother brings, "please, she needs this,"
"She spent the next five years on Atlantis," Sheppard answered and the pride in his voice is tangible "as you probably saw she's had a fair bit of training,"
"Regular Xena," Cam snorted sarcastically.
Teal'c cocked his head in confusion but no one explained.
"Teyla and Ronon taught her hand to hand combat. Mckay physics, Zelenka math, Beckett biology and history. Lorne taught her military combat, armed and unarmed. Doctor Keller taught her English and everything else was sort of spread amongst them," he's not sure why he told them that, the trivial information but maybe that's what they wanted, the bits and pieces, somehow, that might make it easier, he's not sure how but he hoped that it would.
"Excuse me," Lexy's voice cut through the silence, she tactically avoided looking at anyone other than Sheppard; "evacuation team theta is good to go sir. The return call to Atlantis was a success,"
Sheppard nodded "thank you Lexy," he said, then to the team surrounding the briefing room table "I have to see the group off. You okay to wait here?" he got to his feet.
There was a series of nods and the General left the room.
Next Chapter: When Vala tries another avenue in her attempts to know more about her daughter she is met with a somewhat icy reception, and why exactly are they evacuating the planet? More to the point; how many people now know about the Stargate Program?
