I never made it to the penthouse game... I was to busy signing my "name" to a legal document making the house mine. It had three bedrooms, two bath, kitchen, and a big living room. Perfect...

I told Bonnie that she might see me around but that I wasn't coming back. I loaded up the duffel bags into the bed of the truck, I found a box that I put the rest of Todd's make-up in, as well as his leather attire. The stunner I just put in my bag, safest place for that to be. Seeing as that was all that actually belonged to me, I pulled into the two car driveway before stepping into my house for the first time. The walls were freshly painted a neutral white, the floors were a dark red wood, the rooms were bare though... I would have to do some shopping tomorrow, but for now a wave of exhaustion enveloped me. I turned to my right and walled down a hallway, at the end I turned left and entered what was to be mine and Todd's room. I dropped the duffel bags and glanced out the sliding glass door at the pitch black yard beyond. Sighing, I walk to the corner to the left of the door and slide down into a relaxed position on the wood floor. I close my eyes and do my best not to think of Todd and the fact that he is who knew where and doing who knows what right now.

Just before the blackness took me, I became aware of movement inside of me. I smile as a new thought occurs to me, I'm not as alone as I think.

My rest is disturbed by the chime of a doorbell, I open my eyes and blink as sunlight blinds me momentarily. I sit up, realizing that I must have slid to the ground completely some time in the night. The chime rings again and I glance out the open door leading to the rest of the house. I push myself up, ignoring the cramps as one of the babies kicks me in protest, as well as the burn in my throat. I walk down the hall to the entrance again, looking out the little window next to the door I see a young man and woman standing on my door step carrying what looks like... a fruit basket?

Sighing, I straighten up and unlock the door before opening it, I force a friendly smile on my face as they beam at me.

" Hello." my voice is hoarse from my throat.

The woman, a dark-haired green-eyed pixie, holds the wicker basket out in offering, " Welcome to the neighborhood. We live next door and just thought we'd introduce ourselves. My name is, Carol, and this is my boyfriend, Justin." she ushers to the straw blond standing behind her.

I blink before getting over the shock that they thought I would be interested, " Um, hi. I'm Faith."

She clasps her hands in front of her, " I love that name. So... you enjoying your new home?"

I shrug, " I probably will once I get some stuff to put in it. It's kinda bare at the moment."

Her eyes light up, " Hey! I have a pristine sectional that I don't want anymore... would you like to take it?"

I have a momentary flash of the day ahead, not having to haul a couch home would make it a little better... " Okay."

She turns around to face Justin, " Why don't you and your brother bring it over while I finish talking with, Faith."

He nods and walk to the left, I know which neighbor they are now.

" So... you have a boyfriend?" she looks unsure.

I feel a pang where my heart is, " Not exactly. He's more a... significant other. We've gone past the 'boyfriend' stage a long time ago."

" That's sounds wonderful. I'm still looking, Justin is great but not really what I'm looking for."

I nod, " Sorry."

Her eyes widen, " No. Don't be. I must say, I enjoy being single. I just want to have a family before I'm forty."

I look behind me, motioning with my free hand I ask, " There's nothing to sit in or anything, but if you wanna come in..."

" Thanks." she steps past me and peek through the door, two men, one Justin, are loaded down with a piece of black couch.

Well, at least I can work with the color...

I turn back inside and set the basket on a bar separating the entrance from the living room. Carol is standing in the room looking out the bay window.

" So where is your significant other?" she has a dreamy hint to her voice, making my pixie example seem even more accurate.

I walk to her and look out the window, " He had to go away on business. I don't know when he'll be back. Hopefully soon."

" That's to bad. You thinking about marrying him?" she glances at my left hand looking for an engagement ring.

I smile at the thought, " I think we're past that stage as well."

She looks at me with confusion, " How can you be past that stage without having done it?"

Absentmindedly, I lower my hand to my stomach and gently rub it, her eyes follow the movement. She exhales when she notices my baby bump.

" That's how." I smile as I say the words.

Carol smiles also, " How long until its born?"

I calculate as best I can, " They'll be born in a couple months."

" They?"

I turn a wicked grin her way, " Twins."

Her eyes light up, " Congratulations!"

Right then I hear a grunt from the door, looking over I see the guys entering with the first section, " Where you want this?" Justin says in a huff.

I point to the corner next to the bay window and watch as they maneuver it into place before heading back for the other.

" You like it?"

Guessing she means the couch, " Ya, I can work with it."

She nods, " Good to hear," she pauses, " Do you know what your having?"

I almost laugh as a snappy comment comes to mind, but it is vampire friendly soooo... " I don't yet, I kinda want to be surprised."

" I see. Does your guy know?"

I smile, " I hope he knows... one, he was there, and two, he only left yesterday."

A huff to my left tells me that the second section is coming in, I look toward them to see them sagging under the weight. I smile again but only at the thought of what would happen if I walked over there and took it off their hands... literally.

The guys position the sections so that they form the sectional, black and flawless, like new. Good deal.

" Oh my gosh." I turn back to Carol, who is staring at a watch on her right wrist, " I'm going to be late for work."

" Where is that?" I suddenly remember that I can't gamble anymore without attracting attention.

" I'm a desk clerk for Treasure Island. Not very glamorous for Vegas, but it pays the bills."

My inner vampire rebels at the thought of being a desk jockey, but it would also be nice to relax when I get further along, " Are they hiring?"

I follow her to the door, the guys already left, " Ya. Starters get $7 an hour. You interested? I could put in a word, I know you want to go and splurge on getting some stuff for your house."

I stop at the doorway as Carol turns to face me one last time, " That would be great. Thanks."

She smiles, " No problem. It would be nice to have a friend at work. A friend period."

Her watch beeps and I watch her scurry to her house with a harassed look. Nice human, I can see myself calling her friend. An impatient kick from inside makes me wince, " Ya, ya, ya. I'll feed you in a second."

I glance around, grab my keys on the bar, and hurry outside while locking the door behind me. My bag is still in the cab, so I don't have to worry about that. I jump up into the drivers seat and start the engine, it roars to life around me with vengeance. I pull out and make my way to the Target that I've gotten rather acquainted with, I smirk when I pull into a slot in front of the doors. I grab my bag and drop my keys inside before pulling the strap over my head. I snag a cart and head to the furniture section, I know that they don't have anything serious but they have recliners and the like.

When I reach the area, I pause as I glance at the selection, only one item is black. Luckily, it was to my liking, so I got the attention of one of the employees and he got a furniture cart and loaded the box on top. I tell him where my truck is parked and I walk toward the miscellaneous stuff. I pick up a couple of wall hangings, some black curtains, and a few other things before picking a table and some bedding. I plan on getting a bed, just not here.

My cart loaded to the brim by now, I enter a line to the only register open. Figures... I tap my thumbs on the handle of the cart in impatience. I glance around me, my throat zings as I see the humans standing around. I close my eyes with a pained sigh before focusing on the cashier, willing her to speed thing up.

Three minutes later, I'm gratefully having my stuff rung up and I watch the screen displaying my total, $279.57. I decline the offer of assistance and wheel my purchases outside, the sun is merciless as it tenderizes my sensitive skin. I push the larger stuff up with the recliner, the bags I put in the back seat.

Now I search for a bed place, I find one a block down, I buy a memory foam mattress and frame for $599. My truck now full of stuff, I head home to drop it off. I carefully carrying everything inside, I spend the next five hours setting the things up. The bed was easy... the desk and table were okay... but the curtains were a pain. Funny how that worked out.

After I had arrived home, I had called Keller to see if she could drop off a full compliment of blood bags. She drove up thirty minutes later. Keller looked around as I stacked the bags inside the super cold fridge. When I return, I find her sitting on the couch while starring at the metal vine wall art that I had bought and placed in between to doors leading off the room. I walk up and slump onto the other side of the couch, Keller glances at me before looking back at the vines.

" Nice place." she sounds nervous.

I nod, " I like it. Still have some stuff I'd like to do with it, but for now..."

She motions with her head toward the doors, " Where do those lead?"

I glance over, " The closest one is a bathroom and the other is a spare room."

She jerks her head in what I'll assume is a nod, " Picked out a place for the babies yet?"

I shrug, " The spare room will probably belong to one of them."

" How you feeling?" she doesn't look at me, if she had she would have seen a flash of annoyance on my face.

" Fine."

An uncomfortable silence fills the room for a good ten minutes before she blurts, " You don't like me."

I pull my gaze away from the window to find her watching me, " Why would you think that?"

She rolls her eyes, " It isn't hard to miss. Like... every time I ask you how you feel or something you, well, you look like your contemplating biting my head off. No pun intended."

I clench my jaw slightly before deciding to tell her the truth, " I have good reason where I come from."

Keller scoots until she is facing me directly from the other corner of the couch, " Tell me what I did."

Sighing heavily, " It is what my Keller did, not you. I was on Atlantis when I had, Emily. Todd wasn't there, he was off trying to broker an alliance with a few other Hives to distract the Replicators. You see, when I go into labor, I enter this trance like thing where I don't respond to barely any outside stimuli. I think I nearly gave Todd a heart attack when I had Alex. Anyway, you weren't ready for any of this because I had thought we would be out of there before she was born. My mistake. John found me in my bed, the sheets drenched in blood, and I was apparently groaning quite severely. You decided that this had to be a complication, so to play it safe you enacted an emergency c-section. Everything went off without a hitch. Emily was well enough except for a small weakness from having her last feeding cut short. I wasn't so lucky. I was low on blood from bleeding during the first stages of birthing, when you messed up my natural way of things my body got confused and continued to bleed out.

You quickly hooked me up to an IV and slowly, my body healed. But not before the pain caused me to sleep longer than intended. Emily was starving by the time I was able to feed her..."

I stopped so as to stop the growl that I wanted so much to emit. The expression on Keller's face was shocked and pained as she took in what I had said.

" I am so sorry."

I nod, " That's what you said to me after I had woken up enough. I hadn't forgiven you yet, but now I have other thing to worry about besides keeping a grudge against you. Just don't expect me to inform you when the time comes."

She nods her head understandingly, but she suddenly freezes and her eyes widen into saucers, " Distract the Replicators? Why?"

I knit my eyebrow together, " To destroy them."

" Your Replicators were destroyed? How?"

" Ah, McKay. He figured out a way to condense them into a solid mass and we blew up the planet."

" Wow. That must have been a happy moment."

I grin at the memory, " You have no idea. Imagine this if you will... two Earth ships, Traveler ships, and six Hive ship fighting together."

" The Wraith joined the battle? How'd you get that to work?"

I shrug, " Easy. Todd."

" The alliance?"

I nod, " Todd is very persuasive. That, and at a chance to rid themselves of the Replicators once and for all, even the Wraith would find a way to get in on it. F-302's and Wraith Darts flew together to help in the final battle. It sure was a sight..." my voice trails off as I remember the battle from Todd's Hive.

" We haven't rid ourselves of them yet."

I stare at her, gaping, " You poor things... do you still have Micheal, too?"

She screws up her face, " Micheal?"

" Ya. Micheal. The Wraith that we used to test Beckett's gene therapy in turning Wraith into humans."

She stares at me, " We called him, Marcus. Who named your, Micheal?"

" Marcus? Different. Although... who named yours?"

" McKay."

I smile, " That explains a lot. John named ours. I always wondered what McKay would name them if we gave him the chance."

" John. Tell me about him. Our died before I could get to know him."

I shrug, " John is... unique. He reminds me of Alexander as far as personality. I love talking to him, he always makes me laugh, or piss me off. Kinda depends. When I first met him, everyone called him Sheppard, or by his rank. He was infected with an imperfect batch of Beckett's virus-"

" What?" her eyes were wide again.

I smile evilly, " Tell me about it. He got severe mood swings, along with bluish-purplish skin. He even had the eyes."

" What happened though?"

" He was turned into Wraith. He was getting close to the feeding stage when they finally figured a way to reverse the damage. But during on of his... fits, he told Teyla to call him 'John when their off the clock'," I smile slightly, " So, when he was better and ever since then, we've all called him John. John, being naturally good natured, took it in stride."

" How'd he react to Todd?"

I grimace, " They met not in the best of circumstances. A Genii named Koyla, had captured Todd sixteen years ago. That why I have such issues with not being with him now. Anyway... Koyla caught John to force Weir to give him Laden Radeen. It didn't work, even when he had a 'captured Wraith' feed from him," Keller gasps, " John went through three sessions of feeding before he and Todd escaped under Koyla's nose. Todd fed one more time to build his strength when the soldiers caught up with them, he fed from them and gave what he had taken back to John."

" They can do that?" she sounded wondered.

" Ya. It's how they reward their most devout worshipers. Its called the Gift of Life."

" Is there anything else about the Wraith that we don't know because of Sheppard's absence?"

I think about it for a moment, " I don't know about his absence, but I know a few things that would surprise you."

" Tell me." she was interested.

" Most Wraith, Todd included, are brilliant scientists. Most don't know this, but when they speak in Wraith I can actually understand them. Todd taught me to speak the older dialect as well, not many Wraith now understand it so we can have private conversations in public. All Wraith are strongly devoted to their Queens-" Keller's phone ringing cut me off.

" Hello?" she's all business.

Her face hardens as whoever on the other end tells her something, " I'll be right in." she snaps her phone shut and looks at me apologetically, " Sorry, duty calls."

" Nothing that you can do about it. Drive safe."

" You look tired."

I shrug again, " Long day."

" I'll leave you to your rest then. See ya."

I watch as she leaves, locking the door before she closes it. The engine of her black company car starts up and I listen to it disappear in the distance. Nothing to do now except lay here.

A nudge catches my attention and I look at my stomach, " What?"

Another nudge followed by a kick, " We really need to work on your communication skills." I let my head fall back onto the couch and I fall asleep with satisfaction for the day.