A/N: if you didn't read the revised chapter 7, I suggest you do a quick read through


John took a spoonful of orange jello, awkwardly shoveling it in his mouth with his left hand. His dominate right arm was useless in the sling where it had been for a week and a half. Ronon watched in amusement, laughing at the Colonel. Teyla had a five month old Malik sitting on her lap and was spoon feeding him some applesauce. In between spoonfuls, the baby watched John struggle to feed himself.

"You ok, Sheppard?" Ronon asked.

"Do you need me to feed you too, John?" Teyla asked laughing, wiping some applesauce off Malik's chin.

John glared at her, bringing more jello to his mouth. Before he could eat it, it all fell off his spoon and onto his lap. Ronon laughed, his mouth full of food. His laugh caused little Malik to laugh, his whole body shaking from how hard he laughed. Teyla began to giggle from the two boys laughing.

"That's it!" John said getting up from his chair, the jello sliding onto the floor.

"Oh, John, I'm sorry." Teyla apologized.

"Yeah, me too." Ronon said still laughing a bit.

"It's fine; I just never knew how much I relied on my right hand. I guess I'm not eating until I get out of this sling." John said. "I'm going to see what Lydia's up to."

John left the cafeteria and entered the transporter. He pushed the button to take him to the control tower and was instantly taken there in a white flash. After waving to Chuck, he crossed the bridge to enter Woolsey's office.

Lydia sat behind the desk with a tablet in her hand. She rubbed her forehead with the other hand, furrowing her brow. Sighing, she put down the tablet and took a sip from the large cup of coffee next to her. She waved at John as he walked in the room and picked the tablet back up.

John sat down across from Lydia and looked her over. He had never seen her disheveled before. Her usually slicked back hair was still in its usual bun, but a few hairs were sticking out of the bun. Her black military jacket was hanging over the back over chair leaving her only in her black t-shirt. Her eyes seemed droopy, willing to fall asleep at any moment. John couldn't even think of a time he had seen her drink coffee.

"When was the last time you got some sleep?" He asked.

"Last night." She said without looking up from the tablet.

"For how long?"

"A couple hours." She said yawning.

"I think you should get some sleep." John said.

"I'm fine." She said still not looking up from the tablet.

"What are you reading?" John asked, taking the tablet from her with his free hand.

"Hey!" Lydia said grabbing for it.

John quickly pulled it out of her reach and started reading. Lydia sat back in her chair.

"It's from Lorne's report from his mission yesterday." Lydia said. "They found some ruins, but unfortunately no mention of Elior or Adena."

"Oh, well," John said putting the tablet back on the desk, "why do you have to read it?"

"I have to read it before it gets officially filed into records. It's part of my job as temporary leader."

"Yeah? Well I've never seen Woolsey this tired."

"Well there's been a lot more paper work because of the Trust situation. Plus, I'm not used to this much paperwork. I hate paperwork with a passion." Lydia said sighing. "I also think Woolsey loves doing this stuff."

"It wouldn't surprise me." John said laughing, finally making Lydia smile.

Suddenly, the stargate activated. John and Lydia rushed out of the office just as Chuck raised the shield.

"I'm getting a video feed," Chuck said, "should I let it through?"

"Yes." Lydia said.

The screen came to life, Todd's face appearing on screen.

"Todd," John said, "we thought you were dead."

The Wraith smirked. He looked much healthier than the last time they saw him. He wasn't skin and bones, looking like he had a couple of good feedings. His clothes were different. It was still the black, leather that Wraith usually wore, but newer and a different design.

"Why would you think that, Colonel Sheppard?"

"Seeing as you agreed to contact us every month after we let you go and this is the first time you contacted us after three months."

"I had to take some time for the others to trust me. That meant I could not randomly leave."

"Well, you contacting us must mean you have something important to tell us."

"I do," the Wraith said, "but I'm only willing to tell you if you let me through."

Lydia and John looked at each other, knowing he was eventually going to ask this. Lydia didn't want to deal with this, wishing Woolsey was here to make this decision. But Woolsey wasn't here and she knew what the Wraith had to say was going to be extremely important.

"Fine," Lydia said, "you can come through. But I hope you know you'll be under guard the whole time."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Todd said chuckling.

-…-

"Sorry I'm late," Rodney said walking into the conference room.

"It's fine, Rodney," Lydia answered, "just take a seat."

Rodney awkwardly looked around the table; the only seat left being between Todd and Ronon. He reluctantly sat down, hoping Ronon could help himself from lunging at the Wraith. Todd sat across from Lydia from the table, two guards standing behind him. Teyla, John and Lydia had handguns on their belts and Ronon had his gun resting on his lap.

"Alright, Todd, let's get on with this." John said.

"As you know, the Wraith were at war when Atlantis left the galaxy." Todd began. "When they realized the city was gone, they scrambled to gain power and quickly started culling worlds. This made both the war and our food shortage worse. Not long after, a Queen calling herself the Queen Mother began reuniting the Wraith. She preached about a vision she had saying she would eventually find a large population of humans, including Earth. Over the months all Wraith stopped fighting and came under her alliance. She began setting rules, such as rationing food. She assigned different planet to different hives and told them when they were allowed to cull. She has even killed queens and commanders who she deemed too weak and were not good enough to be allowed to feed."

When a hive found me, I was immediately taken to her so she could decide what to do with me. I told her that you had captured me and taken me to Earth to study me. I did have to tell her that you have returned and that I escaped, but I did not tell her what planet Atlantis was on. She was so intrigued by my story that she made me one of her commanders. Although, she could have done this just to keep an eye on me. When the others questioned her, she said I was an important part of her vision."

"You don't seriously believe these visions she has." Rodney said.

"I am not sure. Queen Mother has been alive for over fifty thousand years, one of our oldest queens. She would know how to manipulate other Wraith and I have never heard of a queen having visions. I do know that some of the others do not believe her. They follow her because it was a way out of the war. Some queens follow her so they can try to kill her and take her position. I do not believe this will happen, though. She is too heavily guarded."

"That's not something new." Ronon said. "We've handled guards before."

"I do not think you understand. Her hive ship is almost two times the size of normal one. Warriors line every corridor"

"Is that it, Todd?" Lydia asked.

"I have not gotten to the important part yet." He said.

Lydia sat up and watched him carefully.

"What do you mean you haven't told us the important part yet?" John asked. "That all seem pretty important."

"The Queen Mother knows where Atlantis is." Todd said. "Or she says she does. She took a great interest when I told her you were back. A few weeks later, we lost contact with a hive ship culling a planet close by. When we went to investigate, the ship was destroyed and we all knew it could've only been destroyed by you. A short time later, Queen Mother told me she knew the address of Atlantis. She said she saw it in a vision. When I asked her if we were going to attack, she said it wasn't the right time."

Todd paused. They sat silently; the team letting his message sink in. John knew things were going to be different when they returned, but he never imagined a super queen controlling all of the Wraith.

"She will strike soon. She knows destroying Atlantis will solidify her position. All queens will truly bow to her and no one will question her, even in private. You all should get ready, a war is coming."

-…-

Todd left the city, going back to the planet he had contacted them from. He was going to explain to the Queen Mother that he had been inspecting planets' human populations. Everyone had gone back to their lives, pretending they thought everything was going to be ok. Teyla was going to have to explain things to Kanaan without showing emotion for the sake of her sons. Then she and Ronon would be going to New Athos to advise the high council. Rodney was going to tell Jennifer, who was still on bed rest from the bullet wound in her back.

Lydia was back in the office, writing a new report that will have to be sent to Earth in the next few hours. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, not knowing what to write. Her head pounded, the migraine she had this morning not even comparing to the one she had now. Staring at the screen only made it worse, but she had to get this done. John walked in placed a large slice of pie on the desk.

"I thought you could use a pick me up." He said sitting down. "I would've brought beer, but I only have one hand."

"It's fine, I don't think the IOA would like it if I wrote a drunk report. I don't think my head would like it either."

"Eat then, it'll make you feel better."

What kind of pie?" She asked eyeing it suspiciously.

"Peach."

Lydia pushed the laptop away and picked up a fork on the plate. John picked up the other and the two shared the pie.

"So, what do you think of what Todd said?" Lydia asked.

"I think he's more loyal than I thought he was or he left some things out." John said.

"Yeah, he was instantly given a high position by this queen. Why come back and tell us?"

"I don't know, but something is definitely going on and we have to figure it out before it happens or we're all dead."

"Well, that's a comforting thought." Lydia said with a mouth full of pie.

"You're as bad as Ronon." John said. "I would've thought you'd be more ladylike."

"I guess not." Lydia said shrugging her shoulders and smiling.

John took the last forkful of pie.

"Hey, what if I wanted that?" Lydia asked.

"Oh, well."

John quickly shoved the fork in his mouth, Lydia lunging over the desk after it. He smiled, pulling the clean fork out of his mouth. Lydia glared at him, head and arms dangling over the side of the desk. She looked around at herself and began to laugh. John began to laugh too, happy that he got the woman to smile. Both forgot about life for a moment and laughed with each other.


A/N: sorry it took a while, work was crazy the last couple days. I have school tomorrow, but I'll get 9 out as soon as possible.

"mother, do you think he's dangerous?" - Mother by Pink Floyd (the actual line is "mother do you think she's dangerous", but I changed it to refer to Todd)