John set his tray down on the table next to Rodney's, sliding into the chair across from Ronon and Teyla. There was an extra tray still mostly full of food and an empty chair between them. Instead of eating with his normal vigor, Ronon was staring towards one of the doorways, occasionally stabbing at his food with his fork. When he let out a low growl and stabbed a piece of fruit extra viciously, John eyed him warily.
"What's the matter with him?" John asked Teyla.
"Ronon is…" Teyla paused to glance at the fuming man next to her, "…He is somewhat anxious this morning."
"Any particular reason?" John unwrapped his silverware, "Or did he wake up cranky today?"
"Some guy came over," Rodney pointed his fork to where Ronon was staring, "Asked to speak to Red privately. Conan's been glaring at them since she agreed."
"Vaughn's out of the infirmary finally?" John followed the fork to where Rodney was pointing, "I don't recognize him. One of the Athosians?"
"Not exactly," Teyla shook her head, "That is Matriarch Otelia's son, Vathek."
"Oh," John looked back to Teyla, "Isn't he the one that…?"
Ronon growled louder and stabbed his fruit again, smashing it onto his tray and sending bits spraying across the table.
"Take it easy, Chewie," John flicked a stray drop of juice from his cheek, "I'm sure he's not stupid enough to try anything in this very public setting, especially after what happened the last time. Vaughn's proven she can handle herself if he is really that dumb."
"Well, maybe not," Rodney shrugged and went back to eating, "She did spend the last two weeks mostly in the infirmary and she's still got one arm in a sling."
Ronon flattened another fruit onto his tray.
"Rodney," Teyla scolded.
"Which still leaves her with one good arm," Rodney added quickly, "I'm sure she can still kick his ass if need be."
"What's he doing in the City anyway?" John started eating his breakfast.
"I believe we are about to find out," Teyla raised her eyebrow as D made her way back to the table.
D was carrying a tan leather-wrapped bundle and a small frown creased her forehead. She sat down in the empty chair between Teyla and Ronon then pushed her tray out of the way to set the bundle on the table.
"What did he want?" Ronon rumbled.
"To apologize for his transgressions, according to him," D pulled the string loose from the bundle, "And to give me this."
"What is it?" Rodney asked curiously.
D unfolded the leather, moving it to the side to expose a set of neatly folded garments. She lifted the first one gently, the thin gossamer fabric in the same shade of pale gray as her eyes sliding through her fingers easily. D spread the garment open in front of her, revealing a long tunic with a rounded collar and loose, flowing sleeves. There were delicate, twisting thorned vines sewn around the collar and cuffs, as well as along the bottom of the tunic, the thread colored a shimmery crimson.
"Oh," Teyla exclaimed reverently, "It is beautiful, D."
"That creepy guy made this?" Rodney eyed the tunic skeptically, "What for?"
"As recompense," D answered quietly, "for what his people consider a serious offense. I don't have a farm, so he made this."
"Farm? What farm?" Rodney questioned, "What are you talking about?"
"The Pulooy people are mainly farmers," Teyla explained, "The crime of sexual assault or rape, attempted or otherwise, carries what they consider to be a severe sentence. The offender labors for the victim's family for two hundred cycles."
"Eighteen years," D translated automatically, running the index finger of her left hand over the vines at the collar, "Each cycle on M59-693 is a little over a month on Earth, around thirty-two days. There are ten cycles in each rotation of the planet around the sun, three hundred twenty-nine days. Two hundred cycles is approximately six thousand five hundred eighty days or a little over eighteen years. Enough time for any child born of the crime to grow to maturity. The offender is forced to pay penance for a child's lifetime, since their actions could have resulted in one. They are little more than a slave for the victim's family, receiving only basic food and shelter and forced to work from sunrise to sunset. They are not allowed to speak directly to, touch in any manner, or make any eye contact with their victim, for any reason. No other crime among the Pulooy carries such a weighty sentence and because of this, it happens rarely – usually only once or twice a generation, if at all."
"Sounds like he got off pretty easy," John replied carefully, "Besides the broken arm."
"And the naquadah knife," Rodney reminded him, "Which led to the small mining operation on that planet."
"On Sateda," Ronon shoved a forkful of food into his mouth, "We castrate men like him. Mark their crime on them forever."
"I've always just slit their throats," D stated absently, still running her finger over the stitching, "Arterial spray can cause a bit of a mess, but it's the only way to ensure they can never do it again."
Rodney's fork clattered to the table and John froze in the act of reaching for his orange juice. Teyla raised an eyebrow as she stared at D, but Ronon only snorted in amusement as he continued to eat.
"What did you just say?" Rodney gaped at D.
"Hmmm?" D looked up to see the three of them watching her.
"Arterial spray?" John questioned warily.
"What?" D's hand stilled, "Who said anything about arterial spray?"
"You did," Rodney continued to stare at D, "Just now."
"No, I didn't," D argued calmly.
"Yes," Rodney insisted, "Yes, you did."
"No," D repeated evenly, "I didn't. You must have heard me incorrectly."
"All four of us heard you wrong?" John narrowed his eyes.
"It seems that way," D turned to give John a cool stare, "I apologize. I'll try to speak more clearly in the future."
"Right," John drawled as he resumed eating, "Lots of hearing problems here in the City."
"Teyla, would you mind re-folding this for me?" D picked up the shirt with her left hand, "I've regained a lot of movement in my right shoulder, but I'm still having trouble gripping things."
"Of course," Teyla accepted the shirt.
"What else could you possibly have said?" Rodney asked incredulously, "What other combination of words sounds like 'slit their throats' and 'arterial spray'?"
"These are actually quite nice," D lifted the second garment, pants several shades of gray darker than the shirt, "The fabric is heavier – sturdier. Do you know if they're made from the same crop?"
"I believe so, yes," Teyla nodded as she folded the tunic carefully, "My understanding is the fine fabrics, such as this shirt, are made by processing the flower of the plant while the stalk is used for heavy material, like the pants you hold. The root of the plant is the part used for food. They call the plant bulvė and it seems to be somewhat similar to the vegetable Dr. Parrish calls a turnip. It is quite tasteful and appears to have many essential nutrients. The Pulooy have become quite adept at using every part of the plants they harvest."
"Seriously?" Rodney huffed, "You're going to talk about alien turnips right now?"
"I take it their crops are growing well on the mainland then," D ignored Rodney as she accepted the folded shirt from Teyla.
"Very well," Teyla nodded, "My people and Otelia's have become great friends. They have shared many of their farming techniques with us and us many hunting techniques with them. With all the additional labor, both groups have been able to increase their crop yields five-fold. I will be escorting several scientists to the mainland later this week to discuss food preservation techniques. If things continue in this manner, we will be able to supplement Atlantis' emergency food stores with the excess crops."
"That's fantastic news," D smiled warmly, "It would be nice to have something other than MREs available in case of emergencies."
"That's very mature," Rodney rolled his eyes as he finally resumed his meal, "Just ignore me like I'm not even here. That'll make me go away for sure."
"I'm not ignoring you, Dr. McKay," D's smile faded as she pulled the leather back around the clothes, "I am choosing not to answer your questions," she picked up the bundle as she stood, "If you'll all excuse me, I need to drop these off in my quarters before I get to work."
Teyla frowned at D's mostly full tray, "You did not finish your breakfast."
"I spent more time than I planned talking with Vathek," D shrugged her uninjured shoulder, "I have reports to look over before Elizabeth's meetings today."
"One of the conditions of your release from the infirmary," Teyla spoke calmly, "was that you eat a full meal with either Ronon or myself three times a day, as well as four smaller snacks with Elizabeth or Marie."
"I'll be fine, Teyla," D smiled politely, "I have two weeks' worth of paperwork to catch up on."
"Dr. Beckett informed me," Teyla continued evenly, "that your body requires more energy than most when you are injured. That you must consume additional…calories, I believe he called them? He gave explicit instructions as to your care."
"Dr. Beckett is a nag," D held the polite smile firmly in place, "And he has a tendency to worry over things that are not important."
"Your health is unimportant?" Teyla raised an eyebrow.
"Skipping part of one meal will not affect my healing," D started to move away, "And if no one here tells Carson, he'll never know. I'll see you at lunch, Teyla."
"Ronon," Teyla prompted.
Ronon pushed his chair back and stood. He plucked the bundle from D's hand and gripped her left arm at the elbow, guiding her back to her chair. He dropped her clothes onto the table next to his tray and pushed her tray back in front of her as they both sat.
"Eat," Ronon finally released D's arm.
D only glared at Teyla as the other woman resumed eating.
"The sooner you finish," Teyla didn't return D's hard stare, "the sooner you will be able to leave."
"Eat, kuahine," Ronon added, nudging D's tray towards her before he resumed eating as well.
"Rodney," D's tone was sickly sweet as she picked up her fork, "Why don't you tell us about the progress you've made with your MTI research while I finish my breakfast? It's a fascinating subject and I'm sure everyone here would love to hear about it."
"You would?" Rodney's whole face lit up with excitement, "This is perfect timing, really, because I had a huge breakthrough just the other day."
John groaned quietly as Rodney started rambling at top speed, barely pausing long enough to shove food into his mouth. D took miniscule bites of her food as she listened, chewing each one thoroughly before she swallowed. Every time Rodney showed signs of slowing down, D would ask him a pertinent question and Rodney got excited all over again.
After only twenty minutes of Rodney's explanation, D's tray was still half full and Ronon had resorted to openly glaring at D. Teyla seemed to remain calm, but John could see the line of her jaw tightening every time D asked a question to renew Rodney's rambling.
"Perhaps you are correct, Dr. Vaughn," Teyla announced tightly as Rodney finally paused long enough to take a drink, "I believe you have eaten enough to satisfy Dr. Beckett's requirements."
"Are you sure, Teyla?" D blinked innocently, eyes wide as she looked down at her tray, "There's still a lot of food on my tray. I wouldn't want to go against my doctor's orders."
Ronon picked up her tray and scraped the remaining food onto his own, slamming the empty tray back down in front of D.
"You're done," Ronon declared firmly.
"I will take care of your empty tray," Teyla nodded, "And I will meet you and Elizabeth at 1230 in her office to take you both to lunch."
"If you insist," D smiled smugly as she stood, "I'll stop by your lab when I'm finished for the day, Rodney, and we can finish our discussion of the MTI. I have a few ideas that might help you in your research."
"Don't bring your hell-beast this time," Rodney pointed his fork at her, "She gets hair in my equipment."
"She does not," D rolled her eyes as she turned to Ronon, "Would you mind taking Nemesis for some exercise this afternoon? I haven't really been able to do much with her the past two weeks and I think she's getting bored."
"Sure," Ronon tugged D down by a light grip on her shirt to press a kiss to her temple, "Have her find me after dinner."
"Thanks, kunane," D smiled warmly as Ronon released her and turned to John, "Colonel, I believe Major Lorne was looking for you this morning. He said something about wanting to adjust the security patrols and something about having you sign a bunch of things."
John winced at the mention of paperwork, "I'll find him later."
"Let me help you with that, Colonel," D smirked and reached up to tap her earpiece, "Dr. Vaughn to Major Lorne. I was able to locate the Colonel for you. He's eating breakfast now, so if you hide his Gameboy and send Cor to fetch him in about five minutes, you should be able to finish that paperwork this morning. You're welcome, Evan."
John pouted at D as she tapped her earpiece off.
"Now that was just mean," John protested, "I didn't even do anything."
"They're your team, Sheppard," D accepted the bundle of clothes from Ronon, "You're responsible for them."
"That's not fair," John complained, "What do you expect me to do?"
"I expect you to do paperwork," D called over her shoulder as she left.
*AM*AM*AM*AM*AM*AM*AM*
"Did you take your pills?" Elizabeth spoke without looking up from her laptop.
"Morning, Elizabeth," D moved in front of Elizabeth's desk, "How are you today? Me, I'm fine. Thank you ever so much for asking."
"Good morning, D," Elizabeth smiled as she looked up from her work, "Did you take your pills this morning?"
"No," D rolled her eyes, "But I did stop by the infirmary to let Marie give me a shot of completely unnecessary antibiotics and change my bandages."
"Carson didn't make you take any painkillers?" Elizabeth questioned.
"I may have waited until Carson was busy with something else before I went," D admitted, "And Marie might be under the impression that I had already taken the pills."
"The mistaken impression?" Elizabeth inquired.
"Yes, but I'm fine, Elizabeth," D insisted, "Really. It doesn't hurt that badly."
"That's all right," Elizabeth rolled her chair over to a filing cabinet and opened the drawer, "Carson gave me a back-up supply to make sure you took them."
Elizabeth pulled out a small medicine bottle and removed the cap to shake two pills out. She recapped the bottle, dropped it back into the drawer, and pushed the drawer closed as she stood.
"Here," Elizabeth held out the pills to D.
"I don't want to take these," D protested as she accepted the pills.
"Here," Elizabeth grabbed her half-full coffee cup from her desk, "It's got cream in it, but I'm sure you can manage."
"Elizabeth," D pouted.
"You can take the pills," Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, "Or I can go with you to the infirmary and watch Carson give you a shot. Your choice."
D sighed heavily as she dropped the pills into her mouth. She took the cup from Elizabeth and took a long swallow before handing it back.
"Do I need to check under your tongue?" Elizabeth asked evenly.
D scowled as she swallowed again.
"Thank you," Elizabeth set her cup back down and picked up a tablet.
"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself," D snatched the tablet from Elizabeth, "I don't need a bunch of baby-sitters."
"If you say so," Elizabeth smiled brightly, "The next meeting is in fifteen minutes. Will that be enough time for you to get caught up?"
"Despite the best efforts of some of the senior members of this expedition," D grumbled, "I have managed to stay updated the last two weeks."
"I'll take that as a yes," Elizabeth laughed as she went back around to sit in her chair, "Remind me to give you another round of painkillers when Teyla comes to get you for lunch."
"I don't need-" D started.
"Remind me," Elizabeth ordered as she went back to typing.
"Yes, ma'am," D huffed, turning on her heel to stomp out of Elizabeth's office.
