Chapter Ten

"We're pinned down here," Sheppard said as he reloaded the mag on his P90. Ronon and Major Lorne and the rest of his team were flanking him, providing cover fire, but they were not making any dents in their adversaries. They were definitely outgunned up against these new Asgard. They had lost contact with Rodney and Teyla and Perkins a while ago. Their coms were on the frits. This rescue mission had gone all to hell. They still had no idea where the Asgard were holding Layna and it didn't look like they were getting any closer to finding her.

They still had no idea why the Asgard had come to Atlantis and taken her away in the first place. Maybe Teyla had been right and they had taken her to study human reproduction in action to see if they could figure out a way of reversing their own issues in that area. If that was the case there was no telling what kinds of things they were subjecting Layna and the baby to.

Or maybe it had something to do with where Layna came from, wherever that was. Maybe the Asgard were the reason she had been on that planet where she had been found in the first place. But still, the real question was why?

John realized that he had no answers. But it didn't matter, as long as he found Layna. He would move heaven and earth to find her and he would never stop until he knew she was safe, until they were both safe. Both Layna and their baby. He prayed that they were both all right, that whatever the Asgard wanted from her, she wasn't being harmed. He would wage an entire war with them if his family were harmed.

As they continued to exchange weapons fire, all he could do was hope that Rodney and the others were faring better than they were. That maybe they had found Layna and she was making her way back to him as he fought off the remaining Asgard. His mind was reeling as he thought about her. The Asgard had gone to great lengths to kidnap a pregnant woman. It was Teyla all over again, and yet this was even worse. He only hoped this situation ended as well as that one had two years ago. He had fought endlessly to rescue his friend from Michael's clutches. But now it was his family that had been taken. He would fight to his last breath to save them. He could not fail them.

Ronon tapped John's shoulder and drew his attention down the hall behind the Asgard. It was where they had been trying to get through to for the last few minutes. The team that they had been out of contact with was now closing in behind the Asgard forces. He watched as Teyla and Perkins set up to take them out from their new position. It was exactly what they needed and Teyla couldn't have found them at a better time. Within seconds, the Asgard that had been blocking them were disabled and no longer a threat, and they were finally free to continue their search for Layna.

Teyla and Perkins moved down the corridor towards their position. John noticed that Rodney was nowhere to be found. "What happened?" John asked.

"We lost Rodney," Teyla answered. "We became separated quite a while ago. We've been searching the ship for both he and Layna ever since, but we haven't had any luck. I'm sorry John."

He looked up and down each passageway. His men were all behind him. They wouldn't give up. They would keep going as long as it took to find Layna and now Rodney. They left no one behind.

He tried his com again. "Rodney, where the hell are you?" he hissed over the open line. He was answered by only static again. "Damn it." He turned back to his men. "We keep looking," John said. "Pack and reload," he ordered.

They all did as ordered and within seconds were ready to continue on. They moved in small teams, clearing each corridor and each chamber they came to. Teyla and Ronon were with John, each flanking him. Teyla approached John on his right. "This is about where we lost track of Rodney," she told him when she recognized the junction they were coming to. "We were looking for an access point for their systems when I sensed someone nearing our position. Perkins and I tried to avoid the Asgard thinking that Rodney was right behind us. By the time we realized he wasn't and made it back here, he was gone."

John inwardly cursed the pain in his ass that was Rodney McKay as he signaled to the other teams to spread out and search and they all moved off. Leave it to Rodney to make a difficult rescue mission that much more complicated. John and his team continued forward, Major Lorne and his team took the rear, staying behind the lead team a few meters.

They were coming up on another junction when John thought he heard something. He signaled for the others to stop and they took up positions. He signaled for Lorne and the others to look for another route and they moved off. John and his team turned to face the oncoming threat. Something or someone was headed toward them. It was coming up the corridor they had been heading down. They all braced themselves.

A few seconds later John recognized the butt of a pistol protrude through the darkness in front of them. It was one of their service pistols, and holding it was a pale hand, a human hand. The teams lowered their weapons as Rodney slowly came toward them. He was walking sideways, his back against the bulkhead providing him some cover against enemy fire, his arm extending the gun outward for protection the way John had trained him. Slowly, as he came out of the shadows, they could all make out that he was carrying something protectively in his other arm, clutching it like a football.

Rodney lowered his weapon as he saw his friends. Teyla and Ronon were ahead of John and were able to make out what Rodney carried in his arms before he could. Slowly, the two parted and John had a clear view. A tiny, pink, scrabbling baby was clutched in Rodney's arm, wrapped in an Atlantis jacket. "A girl," Rodney informed them all.

John stared at the baby in the other man's arms. That was the first sight John had of his daughter. She was here. He didn't know how but she had arrived and she looked perfect and healthy. His heart swelled with so much joy at the sight of that tiny bundle. But then he noticed that it was just the two of them. Just Rodney alone, holding the baby. Layna was not with them.

John tore his eyes away from the baby and looked up into Rodney's.

"Layna?" he breathed, the question lingering heavily in the air.

The look in Rodney's eyes told him everything he needed to know. Layna was gone. His life as he knew it had changed forever. His blood boiled over with pure hate. Hate for the Asgard who had taken her away from him. And hate for himself for not being able to protect her. That had been his most important responsibility, as her husband, as her partner, to protect her and keep her safe. And he had failed.

The other teams were making their way back toward their position, weapons fire from the oncoming Asgard chasing after them. Major Lorne approached John's side. "Colonel, the Asgard are closing in on our position. We have to move."

John did nothing to acknowledge the man had spoken. He made no move as a blast from one of the Asgard weapons came within inches of his head and landed on the bulkhead just behind him. The rest of the teams turned to return fire. John stood there immobile, the rage building and building within him. But along with the rage also came the pain, a great immeasurable pain.

"Sir," Lorne called out above the blasts of weapons fire coming from both sides. "We can't hold this position long."

With all the chaos unfolding around him, the world slowed down for John Sheppard. Nothing made sense anymore. Three months ago on that Wraith Hive he'd thought he was about to lose everything. And today he actually had. Layna had become everything to him. And just like all those months ago, he wasn't going to live without her in his life. He knew then what he felt now, he was nothing without her.

What had been the point? Seven years ago why had he sat in that damned chair on the Antarctic base station? Why had he come to Atlantis? Why did the Ancient tech respond to him so much better than others? Why had he survived through so much hell in the Pegasus galaxy where others had not? Why had he been drawn to her on that damned deserted planet? Why had she been brought into his life only for her to be taken away from him so quickly?

It was Teyla who grabbed him and drew his attention to her. She stared him straight in the eye. "John, we have to go," she said calmly. And it was that calmness of her voice, in the midst of all that chaos and confusion that actually got through to him.

He looked from Teyla to the little girl Rodney held in his hands. His little girl. Layna's little girl. Maybe she was the point of it all? Everything that had led him down his path had helped to produce her. Take away any one event of the past seven years of his life here in the Pegasus galaxy and she might not exist at all. Had fate or whatever cosmic force there was out there conspired all these years all so that this little girl was brought into the world? He had to believe that there was a reason.

Every atom in his body screamed at him to go after the Asgard. To slaughter every last one of them for what they had taken from him. But looking at that little baby, he knew he couldn't do that. His job now was to protect her. To keep her safe. He had failed Layna in that. He would not fail their daughter. He had to do everything in his power to get the baby off of that ship. And going through those Asgard was not going to help him do that.

So slowly he gathered himself, pulled back the rage just enough to let sense and reason take control. "Fall back," he ordered his men. "Rodney, find us a way out of here. Ronon, keep him covered."

Rodney handed his pistol over to Ronon who began firing with both weapons at the oncoming Asgard. Rodney dug into his pack and pulled out his tablet and started working. He pulled up the schematic of the Asgard ship he had hacked their systems to find and used to find Layna. As he read it, his heart sank. They were decks away from where they had left the jumper they'd boarded on. Between them and it stood dozens and dozens of Asgard that they would have to go through. They would never make it. They'd have to find another way off the ship.

"Rodney," Ronon growled, kneeling beside him, shielding Rodney and the baby as he returned fire with the Asgard.

"Yeah, I'm trying. Give me a second to figure something out."

"We don't exactly have a second," Major Lorne informed.

Rodney scanned the schematic as quickly as he could, dedicating it to memory. He thought he found an alternate route. It would take that much longer, but as of now it was their only option.

"All right," he started determinedly. "Come on," he said, heading off on the route he had plotted in his mind.

Ronon was right behind him. Major Lorne and his team took up their flank while Teyla and John returned more weapons fire with the Asgard, trying to hold them off as long as possible. The rest of the team was almost out of sight when Teyla looked over to John. "John, we have to go, now."

"You go on. I'll cover you and hold them back a little longer."

She looked at him and read something in his eyes that she didn't like.

She shook her head. "No. We go together."

"Teyla!" he yelled, his frustration growing. He didn't have time to argue with her.

She would not give in. She knew what would happen if she went on without him. That was not how she was going to let his story end. Not if she had anything to say about it. "No John. You don't have to die here. You cannot die here. You have to survive now, for your daughter. Now come on!"

It was all she could do to drag him away, but she finally managed it and they caught up with the others. Rodney was leading them through a complicated maze, winding through one corridor after another. They found a lift a few minutes later and took it to the lower decks. It was all a very roundabout way of getting back to their jumper but Rodney assured them that it was their best option. And with the exception of Sheppard, they all wanted to avoid running into anymore Asgard at all costs.

They reached another junction and Rodney stopped suddenly.

"What now Rodney," Ronon asked.

Rodney consulted his tablet again. The baby in his other arm hadn't made a sound since crying out just after her birth. She was perfectly content, even with the chaos unfolding around her. Rodney, however, was not. He had lost track of where they were and needed to consult the schematic again. He didn't like what he saw on the screen when he did.

"Oh no," he breathed.

"I don't like that sound, Rodney," John said.

"You're not going to like this either."

"What?" Ronon grunted.

"They're everywhere. They found the jumper. There's no way we can get to it now."

"So….," Major Lorne started.

"Yeah," Rodney cut him off. "We have no way off this ship."

"And the news just keeps getting better and better," Ronon said.

Rodney looked to the tablet again. The red dots showing the positions of all the Asgard on the ship were moving closer and closer to the blue dots, them. "And they're closing in on us. Surrounding us on all sides," Rodney informed.

Lorne looked to Ronon. "You just had to say it, right," he said. Ronon rolled his eyes.

"Rodney," John called out. "Get behind me with her. Lorne, you and Michaels take the east corridor. Teyla and Jefferies, take the south. Ronon and Ayala, take the west. Perkins and I will hold them off on the north."

They all took up their assigned positions. Shoulder to shoulder, they stood surrounding Rodney and the baby at their center. Rodney kneeled down between them all and looked frantically at the tablet, searching for some kind of escape for them, but all he could see were the blinking red dots drawing closer and closer to them. The only way out would be through them, he realized.

And then the shooting started. The Asgard were there. John, Ronon, Teyla and the others were holding their own against the superior Asgard forces. But they wouldn't be able to keep it up for very long. And Rodney wondered what would happen then. What would happen when the shooting stopped? To what end would the Asgard go? What had been the point of all this? What did they want? What had all of this been for?

Suddenly, energy blasts and bullets soaring around him, he realized he was holding the answer to his question in his hands. The baby, little Hope. They wanted her. They had done all this, attacked Atlantis and taken Layna and advanced her pregnancy, all to get the child. Layna had said that the baby was important. Had she meant to them or was it bigger than even that?

Rodney watched as Lieutenant Jefferies took a blast in the leg. Teyla, at his side, covered him and kept firing, holding her corridor just a bit longer. Some of the Asgard went down, even with their shielding, but still more came. The Atlantis teams were far outnumbered. Eventually their hold would fail.

And then Rodney heard the strange noise over the weapons fire. It was the same sound he had heard after Layna had passed. He stood up in the middle of all the madness to see the same light he had seen emanate earlier from Layna's body. The firing stopped as everyone else saw it too. It slowly started to form around them. Lorne and his men raised their weapons to fire at it, believing it to be a threat.

"No," Rodney warned. "Wait."

They hesitated, and slowly the light started to swirl around them. They realized, as it did this, that the Asgard weapons could not pass the barrier it had created around them. As it swirled around them it created a sort of force-field, protecting them. The energy began moving faster and faster around them, becoming brighter and brighter. And just as it reached a point where it was almost too bright for them to look at, the energy shot out in a sort of shockwave, away from them in every direction, taking out everything in its path. They all stared in astonishment at the now immobile Asgard forces, their path off the ship no longer blocked.

"Rodney," John said turning to him. "What the hell was that?"

"It's a long story. I'll tell you about it later," the other man said as he began moving away from them, headed toward the jumper. He turned back. "Right now I think we need to keep moving. They might just be stunned and we don't know how long they'll be down. But for now," he said briefly consulting his tablet, "the way to the jumper has been cleared."

Sheppard looked around at his men. Sergeant Ayala was helping Lieutenant Jefferies to his feet after tying a tourniquet to his injured leg. Ronon was bleeding from a glance of the Asgard's weapons to his shoulder. The others were checking the Asgard that were closest to their position. Whatever that shockwave had been it had completely disabled all the Asgard. Through the suits they couldn't tell if they were all dead or not, but it didn't look like they were going to be in any position to stop the two Atlantis teams from leaving the ship.

John looked back to Rodney, and as he did he saw a tiny hand stretch out from the jacketed bundle tucked into the bend in the man's left arm. "Lead the way," John responded.

/

/

The two puddle jumpers each broke through the event horizon one by one, entering the gateroom and then ascending up into the jumper-bay. Sheppard was at the helm of his, Ronon with him in the forward compartment as he docked the jumper. Teyla was secured in the back with Rodney and the baby. John powered down the ship and released the rear hatch.

John was the last to exit their jumper. He stood on the ramp and watched as Major Lorne and Sergeants Michaels and Perkins were packing up gear. Ayala was prepping Jefferies for transport. Rodney sat in the far right corner cradling the baby, looking more and more comfortable as he did. A moment later a medical team rushed into the bay and made their way to them.

They loaded Lieutenant Jefferies onto a gurney and began to transport him to medical to treat his wounds. Ronon was headed with them to get his arm checked out. John stood on the jumper ramp looking out at the scene before him. His team, his friends, they were all moving about with purpose. They all knew what they were doing, what their next move was.

He no longer had that. He no longer knew what was next for him.

"Rodney," he called. Rodney looked up to him. "Take the baby to medical. Get her checked out, please."

"Aren't you coming?" he asked.

"I'll catch up with you. I'm going to gear down first. Give Woolsey a quick debrief."

Rodney looked at him for a moment before nodding his head and then heading off to medical with the baby. Everyone else began clearing out of the jumper-bay as well. Teyla started towards the gear room but turned back when she realized John was not following. She looked to him, concern in her eyes. He unsnapped his weapon from his vest and handed it off to her. "Would you secure this for me?" he asked.

She took it. "And you?" she asked, wondering what he was going to do.

"I just need a minute," he told her.

"John, I…." she began, not knowing exactly what to say to comfort him. He was beyond any comfort she could offer him, she knew. But she was his friend. She wanted to do something. She needed to do something for him, anything.

"It's all right, Teyla. I'll be there in a minute. I promise. I won't do anything stupid."

She stared across the distance at him, unmoving.

"Would you do me favor though and catch up with Rodney. Make sure he doesn't drop the kid," he offered her a small joke.

She couldn't help but to offer him in return a small, sad smile. This was something she could do for him. She could look after his daughter while he took some time to get his head together. So she gave in. She nodded solemnly and turned to go, and John was left alone.

As he stood there in the back of the jumper he had no desire to ever leave the confines of the jumper-bay. Because beyond those doors stood the unknown for him now. Beyond those doors stood a new reality he was not ready to face. A life without Layna. There in the jumper-bay he could pretend that nothing had changed. That the last week of his life had not happened. That Layna was safe in their quarters waiting for him to return from an ordinary mission.

He wished more than anything that that was true. But she wasn't there. Layna was gone and he was left with a baby daughter he had no idea how to raise alone. He never imagined that it would all end up this way.

Had it only been a year? He had known her for a total of fourteen months and he couldn't remember how he had survived all his life before then without her. And he couldn't figure out how he would again now that she was gone.

He left the jumper bay with no idea where he would go, his body on auto-pilot. He took in none of his surroundings, or the people he left behind to stare at him sadly as he walked. He arrived at his quarters unaware exactly how he got there. He took a step inside and the doors whooshed closed behind him.

He stood there staring at the quarters he had shared with Layna for so short a time. These were the quarters they had been preparing to share their lives on Atlantis in, to bring their daughter home to and raise her in for as long as they called Atlantis their home. This place was supposed to be a refuge, their own private sanctuary. Now it only reminded him of what he had lost, and of what would never be.

/

/

They had gotten back to Atlantis hours ago and still John had not found his way to Medical. Teyla found her eyes roaming to the entrance every few minutes, hoping to see him standing there. Dr. Beckett was finishing up surgery on Lieutenant Jefferies' leg. Everyone else had been checked out and cleared by Dr. Keller. But no one had left. They had all stayed behind to ensure that the newest addition to the Atlantis family was in good health.

They had all risked their lives to save the baby and her mother. In the end they had only been able to save one. They all had remorse in their hearts. In losing Layna they had lost a great friend, and an important member of their family. None of them would leave until they were assured that her daughter was safe.

The medical bay was crowded with soldiers and other staff as Dr. Keller examined the small baby. Colonel Sheppard's and Major Lorne's teams stood around the child protectively, as if in an instant she might be taken from them again. It seemed the entire city flocked to the medical wing at one point or another during the time that they were there, to get a glimpse of the baby, to ask after her health, to welcome her home. Everyone, that is, but the child's father.

Jennifer had given the baby a clean bill of health. Even with her early birth and small size she was perfectly healthy. There was an audible sound of relief from the entire room with the good news. And yet still no one left. They were all waiting. Waiting for John Sheppard to walk through the doors. But he never did.

Finally Teyla took the baby into her arms and left the medical bay, the eyes of the entire city on her as she did. She walked the halls of the city, one destination on her mind. She had left him in the jumper bay but she knew she would not find him there. She made her way to his quarters, the one place in the city he was sure to be alone to let his demons overtake him.

She had seen it in his eyes when she'd left him alone in that jumper bay. He was coming undone. In the span of a year he had gained everything and then lost that which he had gained. The life he had thought he was building was stripped away from him in an instant. In all the years she'd known him he had always kept his feelings close to his vest. But Layna had changed all that. With her presence on Atlantis, John had changed into a different man. And now that she was gone there was no telling what would become of him.

She arrived at his quarters and found that the lock had not been engaged. She walked in and found the room completely dark. She moved to the light switch on the wall and engaged them. What she saw when she did made her even more concerned for her friend than she already was. The room was completely trashed. He had destroyed the entire room. The only thing left standing in tact was the baby cradle that John and Layna had had the Daedalus deliver for them from Earth.

She found him sitting on the floor on the far side of the room. His back was to her as he sat up against the overturned bed. She navigated carefully through the debris, the baby securely in her arms as she did, and made her way to him. He was just sitting there, unmoving. He didn't even acknowledge her presence there. She kneeled in front of him.

"John?"

He looked up towards her as if he were coming out of a trance and saw that she was holding the baby.

"She check out okay?" he asked.

"Dr. Keller says she is in perfect health," she informed him.

"Good," he said, resting his head back against the bed at his back. "That's good."

"We waited for you to meet us in medical. When you did not I decided to come and find you. I figured I might find you here. I did not expect to find you in this manner, however," she said eyeing the destroyed room. His eyes followed the path hers had taken.

"Yeah, I decided to do a little redecorating."

The baby stirred in Teyla's arms. John's sight went to the tiny figure and he found he was unable to take his eyes off of her. Teyla eyed him and an idea came to her.

"It occurred to me that you have not yet held your daughter." She made a move to hand the child to him but he shook his head.

"No, I shouldn't," he said.

"She is your child. You are her father. She needs you and right now you need her very much as well. Take her."

She practically forced the baby into John's arms. He held the small bundle with great care. He had never held anything more important. This was a life he had created. This was his child. This was Layna's child. And now she was his greatest responsibility.

The baby stirred, moving her arms about. John reached out his free hand to caress her delicate skin. With her tiny hand she reached out and grabbed ahold of his finger. And when she opened her eyes and looked up at him it was all he could do to keep his composure. She had her mother's eyes. He could not tear his eyes away from the baby. She was the most incredible thing he had ever seen.

"Everyone is already quite taken with her," Teyla informed him. "It's a beautiful name, Hope."

"Hope?" he asked.

"Yes. Rodney said that is what Layna called her before…" she let the rest of the sentence trail off.

Silence fell in the room. "We hadn't really discussed names," John finally told her. "Hope, huh?" he said trying out the name, deciding that he liked it. Teyla nodded. "I think it suits her."

She watched him as he stared at the baby. Hope was what he needed now. She was his tether. She was the key to holding him together now. Teyla had known that. But now she knew something else as well. And she knew that she had to tell John. But she knew that telling him would change everything. She didn't want to tell him. She knew what knowing would lead him to do. It was the same thing she would do in his position. And she knew it would ultimately break him. But he had to know.

"There is something else Rodney said that I think you need to hear."

"What's that?"

"The Asgard. He believes their true target was Hope."

He turned to her, the fear of a father in his eyes. "Why would they want her?"

"I do not know. But there was something else."

"Something else?"

"He said that Layna did not die, exactly. Rodney believes that she ascended. That it was she who saved us from the Asgard in that junction."

And with that information the cogs in his mind began clicking into place. He tore his eyes away from the baby in his arms and looked up to Teyla. "Ascended?"

The silence that passed between them was deafening. Slowly, mindful of the precious cargo in his arms, he brought himself to his feet. Without another word he navigated his way to the door. She chased after him and caught up to him in the corridor as he made his way to the nearest transporter.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Rodney and I need to have a chat."

/

/

It had been five days since their return to Atlantis. Five days since Rodney had told him everything he possibly could about what had happened on that Asgard ship. Five days that he'd had to let it all run through his mind, to piece it all together, to figure out what it all meant. Five days since they'd moved Atlantis to another location to prevent the Asgard from trying another kidnapping. So far there hadn't been another attempt to take Hope. But one day someone would come for her.

She had been in John's care since their return. He fed her, he changed her, he held her, he played with her, he cooed her to sleep. And in all that time she had never so much as let out a whimper of discontent. She never fussed, she never cried, she slept and fed on a regular schedule. It was as if she knew the heartbreaking circumstances under which she had entered the world and she was trying to lessen her father's burden by being the perfect baby. And to him she was.

And as far as Atlantis was concerned she was. She had already won over the entire city. Every time he left his quarters he was accosted by a member of the expedition who wanted nothing more than to hold her or fawn over how adorable and cuddly she was. But the most won over of all was her father.

From the moment he'd looked into her eyes he was a goner. He loved her more than he ever thought he could love another person. He'd thought the same about Layna, but his love for his daughter was different. If he hadn't had her to care for these last few days he was sure he would have lost himself in sorrow over losing Layna.

His daughter meant the world to him. She had saved him. She was what was holding him together. And he didn't know what he was going to do without her. But he was going to find out. Because he couldn't keep her, not on Atlantis, not in the Pegasus galaxy. She was not safe there. She would never be safe there.

Layna had said to Rodney that Hope was important. She was important enough to the Asgard that they had taken Layna before she had given birth. Whatever they had wanted her for then had been stopped by Atlantis' rescue operation. But he was sure that that was not the end. Others would come for her. Because if she was who he now began to suspect she was, then there would be no end to her pursuers. Everyone who knew would want to get their hands on her. Even his own people, particularly the IOA, were not an exception to that.

Hope's safety was of the utmost importance. He had to keep her safe. And right now that meant sending her away. Far, far away. Earth. That was the safest place he could think for her. An entire galaxy away from the Asgard, from the Wraith, and from him.

When Michael had been after Torren he had been relentless in his pursuit of the child. Only Teyla throwing him off of the highest tower in the city had stopped him. John was prepared to eliminate any threat to his daughter, but he knew it would be virtually impossible to fend off the entire galaxy. The best way to keep her safe was to get her as far away as possible. And he would do that, for her.

He would do anything for her. Even sacrifice his own soul, which is what he was doing by sending her away. From the moment he'd first held her in his arms, looked into her eyes, she had become his everything, his entire reason for being. And he would have to lose her in order to save her. And in losing her he would lose himself all over again.

/

/

/

"Unscheduled off-world activation," Chuck alerted from his console in the control room. Lt. Col. Sheppard walked up to stand behind him. It had been six weeks since he'd returned through the gate from Earth. Six weeks since he'd left Hope behind in the care of his brother David and his wife. Six weeks in which he hadn't slept more than an hour or two at a time. Six weeks in which he had walked about the city in an aimless fog. Six weeks without Hope or Layna, and it had left him only a shell of the man he had been with either of them in his life.

Chuck looked up to him a few seconds later with a confused expression on his face.

"What is it?" Sheppard asked.

"It can't be right," Chuck responded.

"Whose IDC is it?" Sheppard asked.

"It's Layna's IDC, sir."

Sheppard's eyes almost popped out of his head. His mouth ran dry, his heart sped up and his pulse pounded in his ears. He dared himself to hope for the impossible.

"Sir, what should I do?" Chuck asked.

"Lower the shield," he ordered before he started to make his way down to the gateroom.

The shield was lowered and a puddle jumper broke through the event horizon as he ordered he signaled some of his men to join him on his way to meet it. As he cleared the gateroom, Major Lorne and two of his men flanking him, Sheppard tried to make out who was in the cabin of the jumper but couldn't get a clear view. He signaled his men to be on the ready and they rounded the gateroom to the back of the jumper as the ramp was being lowered. Cautiously, they boarded.

The cabin was clear and they moved quickly into the control room. Behind the main console sat a dark-haired woman about the size and shape as Layna, and for the slightest second John allowed himself to hope that it was. He remembered what Rodney had told him about Layna's last words. She'd said that she would come back to him somehow. Was the impossible actually happening?

But then the woman turned slowly around in her chair to face him, and that dream went out the window. The woman was beautiful, a bit younger than he was, with long wavy auburn hair flowing down past her shoulders. Setting eyes on her for the first time he had the strange sense that he knew her somehow. She was a stranger with a very familiar face. She was wearing a mission uniform of the Atlantis teams and as he read the name stitched across her breast he lost his breath for the second time in as many minutes. The woman stood up, his men moved with her sudden movement and she raised her hands slowly to show that she was not a threat, her eyes never leaving John Sheppard's. Eyes that were the same unique shade of green as her mother's.

"Colonel Sheppard, it's been a long time," she said.

He just stared speechless at the name on her uniform.

Lt. Col. Hope Sheppard.

Hope had returned to Atlantis.