Chapter 54

2008

"Jonas, where the hell are you?" Evan's voice was hoarse from shouting orders and the blood trickling into his eye was making it harder to see.

"Incoming!" Nabi shouted and Evan took cover behind the pillar just in time to avoid the energy blast. The searing heat left an imprint on his skin and he spared a second to look at the clip in his P-90. He was running low and he only had one spare. "Three at least."

Another energy blast and Evan reached for the grenade in his vest pocket. Getting these damn people off their backs was their number one priority. He'd thought he was done dealing with Jaffa weapons fire. He was just about to pull the metal pin and order them all to take cover, when Woeste's voice echoed towards them from his safe position.

"He's down!" Woeste shouted. What the hell?! Why was he still in the corridor?!

Evan threw a look at Nabi, who nodded. Nabi was on the other side of the intersection and Fisherman was right behind him, reloading his gun. Nabi whirled around and Evan quickly stowed the grenade away again and followed his lead, firing into the darkness ahead and listening to bodies collapsing to the ground. The enemy fire ceased for a moment. Long enough for Woeste to pull Jonas out of the niche and behind friendly lines.

"Is he dead?" Evan breathed when the two of them were securely back behind cover. "No, just stunned."

Evan nodded and wiped his brow. His hand came away wet with blood. That knife had certainly been thrown with expertise. "We gotta get back to the Jumper."

Woeste slung Jonas' lifeless form over his shoulders and Evan nodded appreciatively. The Jumper was cloaked and about two clicks away. This was going to get rough.

And suddenly he realized that everything was quiet. There were no more footsteps. No more energy beams being fired at them.

"This is the only way off this cruiser, right?" Fisherman was on edge. This wasn't the first mission he'd accompanied Evan's team on. This time, for the first time, he sounded worried.

"I doubt it," Evan hissed. "Come on, let's go. Do you have the storage device?"

Fisherman nodded and Nabi looked around the corner to make sure there really wasn't anyone there. Not that they could see anything beyond the fog and the darkness. Not even the torches on their guns could penetrate that.

"Okay."

Alex was grateful she didn't have to be Anna right now. Being pregnant was one thing. Thinking about giving birth something completely different. And it was something Alex didn't particularly like thinking about. By the looks of it she wouldn't have to have a C-section, given that Ba'al had healed her well enough. It didn't mean she was looking forward to it, though.

Anna had gone into labour about an hour before Evan and his team had set out on a mission to check up on an abandoned Wraith cruiser. Originally Oliver and Rick had been scheduled to go with him, but given Anna's condition, only Rick had accompanied them. They'd be back in a few hours. But it was clear the planet they'd gone to needed to be thoroughly searched. The Wraith had attacked the Midway Station from there about a week ago. The attack had started about four hours after she and Evan had returned from there and they'd lost Midway shortly after.

She was sitting cross-legged on the floor of her quarters, trying to distract herself with one of the books she'd brought along, but it was no use. No amount of good writing and no matter how incredibly well thought-out this murder mystery was, Alex couldn't concentrate.

Getting to her feet, she wondered what it would feel like not to be able to do this anymore. What it might be like not to be able to function the way she was now. That day was bound to come. Not yet though. She still had several months before she became big again, but still… she wasn't exactly looking forward to it. The bump was barely visible now and she only hoped it wouldn't keep her from working the way it had with Anna. But if it did, she'd find a way to be okay with it. This was their last chance of having a baby. She knew it was. There was just no way a miracle like this would happen again.

And yet, she'd been horrified when Anna had grabbed her arm as they were sitting in the mess hall over breakfast. Oliver had just left for a few minutes to get some more coffee, and somehow Anna's body had decided it wanted to go into labour there and then. The look on Evan's face was still edged into Alex's mind. There'd been a mixture of horror and amazement and he'd jumped up from his chair to fetch Oliver straight away, nearly running him over in the process.

They'd left shortly afterward. Evan, Nabi, Jim and Jonas, along with Fisherman. Just a simple recon mission, but Alex was well aware how quickly those could turn nasty. She'd been in more than one fire-fight herself, when the mission had supposedly only been about meeting new people or doing research. Not that she was terrified of losing Evan on this particular one, but one never knew. And she hated seeing him go now. Anna going into labour had thrown things into a new perspective, and she'd known, just by looking at him, that he felt the same way. But they'd simply have to learn to live with that. If Anna and Oliver could do it, then so could they. And who knew, maybe she'd be determined not to rejoin a team in a month or two as well.

She dropped the book on the bed and grabbed her jacket. If she couldn't concentrate on fiction, then maybe it was high time she started transcribing the interviews she'd conducted with Teyla, Kanan, Halling and other Athosians over a year ago. She'd been meaning to transcribe them early on, but the task had appeared mind-numbing at first, then she'd dreaded re-visiting the stories after the disappearance of Teyla's people. She dreaded listening to those stories now, but it'd been so long since their people had vanished, and somehow, maybe, the stories they'd told her might very well be the last memories the Athosians would ever share with anyone.

Tying her hair back in a ponytail, she straightened her glasses and headed for the door to get to work. Teyla's child would be born in about two months, so it was high time to get this done. Just in case. Even sitting down and listening to those interviews was painful, she wanted to work on that collection for as long as it took Evan to get back, or for as long as it took for Anna's baby to get here. Either way, she needed to do something that would keep her mind busy while making it impossible to think for herself.

Woeste didn't trip or stagger once as he ran towards the cloaked Jumper. He was quickly followed by Nabi and Fisherman and as soon as they were all onboard, Evan closed the rear hatch and fired up the engine. Still nobody was firing at them, but he wouldn't count on things to stay like that. So far they'd gotten lucky and that was it, though he doubted even that to be true.

As usual the Jumper reacted to the slightest touch and they took off just seconds before the ground it had been standing on exploded, throwing what must be tons of dirt and sand into the air. He felt the shockwave slightly shaking the ship, but they were at a safe distance already. Fisherman sat in the co-pilot seat while Nabi and Woeste tended to Jonas. There wasn't anything they could do to help anyway.

"Are we dialling the Gate?" Fisherman asked, pulling up the readings of the sensors around them. Nothing. No energy signatures.

"Not right now, no," Evan muttered. It was very likely the Gate would be well-guarded, and by now they knew that Ba'al's ships had cloaks, too. But then again, nobody had come through the Gate after them, and the initial scan hadn't shown any signs of either Wraith or humans.

"Damn it, how did they know we'd be here."

"They didn't," Evan said, hoping he was right, as he flew close to the treetops to look for a cloud-free area up ahead so they could move up a little higher and get away just in case. "We would've run into them much sooner if they had." We'd be captured if they had. "I'm almost sure they were just investigating the cruiser."

"So, what's the plan, Major?" Nabi asked.

"How bad off is Jonas?"

"Guess he'll be alright."

Evan nodded. There it was. The hole in the cloud cover. He shot straight up and they broke orbit a few seconds after. "We'll have to wait. I doubt they'll be hanging around to watch the Gate forever."

"Do you think they know we have this thing?" Fisherman reached into his vest pocket and produced the Wraith storage device which they'd taken from the cruiser's bridge.

"I guess we'll see." If they did, they'd probably wait as long as it took.

"Did you see the woman who was leading those guys?" Woeste asked, following Nabi into the cockpit. Evan turned around in his seat. They were high above the planet's surface now, overlooking the swirls of clouds covering up most of the greyish brown below. Jonas was lying on one of the benches, still unconscious by the looks of it.

He nodded. "Yeah," he muttered. "We should really talk to Colonel Carter as soon as possible." And it wasn't as though they didn't have enough problems as it was.

She'd sat down with about twenty Athosians, had shown them photographs of the paintings in the caves and each and every one of them had told her the story they knew about it. As she'd expected the main ideas of the stories were the same, but they also varied. Nuances here and there changed with every person who told the story. Accompanying some paintings there were songs. Those didn't change. They remained the same, but Alex was sure, had someone who had lived in another area of Athos sung those songs, the words would have changed as well. It was the way of things. But unfortunately, the Athosians who had come with them to Atlantis were the only ones remaining on that planet. There might be others, other villagers, other tribes, people who had moved away before the final Purge, but Teyla hadn't known about those.

Alex hands flew over the keyboard, hitting the pause button every six words. The program automatically rewound a few milliseconds the moment she hit that button. And she listened to that same voice again. It would take her weeks to transcribe all the interviews, but she didn't mind. At least this way she had something to do.

A hand on her shoulder made her flinch and she whirled around to see Teyla standing right behind her. Again she pressed the pause button. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Yeah," Alex breathed and shook her head straight away. "But it's okay. I should probably take a break." She threw a quick look at her watch. Had she seriously only been at it for two hours? It felt like five.

"What are you working on?" Teyla sat down next to her. Her bump was so big now she had to sit further away from the table as usual.

"Uhm…" Alex cleared her throat and brushed her hand through her hair. She'd abandoned the ponytail about half an hour ago. "The interviews I did with your people. I- I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get started, but-"

"Things have been busy, I understand." Teyla nodded and for a moment Alex wondered whether Teyla's eyes were glistening slightly. "I heard about Anna."
Alex huffed and nodded. "Yes, I needed the distraction." She pulled a face. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that." Teyla's people had gone missing about half a year ago. Talking about them like a past-time wasn't the best way to approach the subject.

"It's alright. I believe it's tedious work."

Letting out a long breath, Alex leaned back. "Yes," she agreed. "How are you doing?"

"I don't sleep much."

"I get that." Alex scratched her cheek. Her skin was changing. It was a lot drier than it used to be and for a moment she wondered why it hadn't been like that last time around. But then again, a lot of things were different now. She was a lot more sensitive to smells, she was sick more often, she was more tired, and now her skin… pregnancy really wasn't doing her any favours. "I bet it's hard to find a good position to sleep in by now?" No need to talk about past experiences with a bump so big you needed help tying your own shoes.

"To say the least." Teyla cocked her head and looked at her inquisitively. "Are you looking forward to it?"

Teyla knew. Of course she did. Practically the whole expedition knew by now. Not necessarily about Nora, but about this child. Alex wasn't going on any more missions and Oliver was looking for a temporary replacement. Alex was barely three months along and already she'd been asked about the baby a million times. She was grateful Teyla was approaching the subject the way she was.

"Mixed feelings. But overall, yes I am." She placed both of her hands on her stomach and shrugged. "How about you? Not long now."

Teyla smiled vaguely. "I needed a distraction as well. I can't bear thinking about poor Anna right now."

"I agree. Let's not think about that."

"Would you like to get some ice cream?"

Alex nodded decidedly. "Absolutely." She closed her laptop and rose to her feet.

Two hours later she and Teyla were still sitting in the mess hall, each with a huge bowl of chocolate ice cream in front of them and both of them holding a couple of playing cards.

"I have never played this game before," Teyla said, putting four kings down on the table, one of each colour. She'd already put down a row of Clubs, ranging from five to nine, while Alex still hadn't managed to pull together enough matching cards for her first strike.

"Yes, the men here prefer Poker," she muttered as she picked up another card and finally got the fourth Queen she needed to star playing properly. "Anna taught me this game back in Germany. We play every now and again. Join us next time?"

Teyla nodded, scowling down at her cards before she picked up a new one.

"When are Sheppard and the rest of your team due back?"

"This afternoon, I believe." Ronon had been on Earth when the Midway Station was destroyed. Sheppard and McKay had been on the Station itself and had just barely managed to escape in a Jumper before the Station blew. "Do you think they will build another one?"

Alex shrugged. "One with a better security system, I hope." She'd never, not for a second suspected the Wraith would manage to hack the macro which McKay and Carter had come up with. But now, with Ba'al in the picture, it probably wasn't the safest idea to set up another one straight away. Not until both McKay and Carter were absolutely sure the system was safe.

Teyla smirked at her over her cards. "That would be preferable, yes. And I hear the interviews with the other senior expedition members have been put on halt?"

"Seems that way. The IOA committee isn't exactly looking forward to spending roughly twenty days just to get here and annoy us. And- oh-" Her mouth was bone dry when she saw Evan entering the mess. He must have just returned. Why hadn't he tried contacting her?! There was a bandage on his forehead and his hair was still slightly damp from the shower he must have taken, as he hurried over to sit next to her. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Hey, Teyla."

"I am- what happened!?" There was always the chance that someone might get injured or even killed during a mission, but the bandage on Evan's forehead was making her heart miss a beat. When would she ever get used to that?! "Evan-"

He shook his head. "I'm alright. Just a scratch." The bandage was right over his eye and by the looks of it, it was a fairly long gash.

"A big one by the looks of it." Well, at least he'd been in the infirmary first thing. And he'd already cleaned up.

Evan nodded and looked at Teyla. "Sorry, how are you doing?"

"I'm alright, Major." She pushed her bowl away and looked at them. "I take it the mission wasn't a success?"

"Depends," Evan said, picking up Alex's spoon and dipping it into her ice cream. "We managed to salvage a Wraith storage device, but the Worshippers were already there."

"Wraith Worshippers?" Teyla raised her eyebrows.

"Yes, the woman who led the village of Worshippers, Ronda, was leading the assault on us. She gave me this," he pointed at his forehead. "Nasty woman."

"No Wraith?" Alex asked suspiciously.

"No Wraith," he said. "But they were there in a cloaked ship. We picked up the signature of a hyperspace window opening before they took off. And they were using Jaffa staff weapons."

"I can't believe the Wraith Worshippers would change allegiance like that," Teyla said.

"I'm only telling you what happened and what I saw. And what I saw were Zat guns, staff weapons and an invisible ship vanishing into hyperspace." He sounded angry.

"Was anyone else hurt?" Alex asked, putting a hand on Evan's arm.

He nodded again and dropped the spoon. "Jonas got hit by a stunner, he was out for a while but he'll be okay. I just came from the infirmary. He's back in his quarters. Has a bit of a headache by the looks of it."

Alex had no idea how she would have felt holding little Josh Murdoch, had circumstances been different. Carefully she placed the boy in Evan's arms and squeezed Anna's hand.

"He's gorgeous!" she said for what must be the hundredth time, because, what else were you supposed to say?

Oliver shrugged. He was sitting next to his wife on the bed, as pale as Anna, but his eyes glowing with pride. "He looks like every kid."

"I didn't know you were that humble," Evan grinned, stroking the tip of his index finger over the child's nose. Josh had been asleep when Evan and Alex had arrived and it didn't look like he was very keen on waking up.

"I'm not. Just saying." Oliver got up and reached for the camera which was sitting on the nightstand next to the bed.

Anna had been allowed to return to their quarters about a day after the birth. She didn't look like she'd slept a whole lot, but that didn't seem to upset her all too much. Not yet anyway. "Suits you," she said, her eyes trained on Evan. "It really does."

"Okay, can I keep him?" Evan was blushing. Alex hadn't seen him like that in forever. But there it was. The sight of him with a bundle in his arms like that, tugged at her heart almost painfully, but she smiled nonetheless. She couldn't help herself.

"Not a chance." Oliver laughed and gave the camera to Alex. "Would you take a picture of us?"

"Sure." Alex turned it on gestured for Evan to hand over the baby again. Josh yawned inaudibly and Anna pulled him close to her chest. She had no eyes for anything but her child. Alex couldn't exactly blame her.

Evan by her side stiffened. He reached for the radio and turned away from them. "Go ahead, Colonel."

Sheppard or Carter? Alex exchanged a quick glance with Oliver.

"Understood." He cleared his throat and turned to face them again. "I gotta go. I'm sorry."

"Something wrong?" Alex asked as he stepped forward and kissed her full on the mouth.

"Teyla needs to go off-world. A lead on her people. My team's accompanying her."

That wasn't too bad, Alex thought. She nodded and kissed him. "Take care," she said, forcing down the memory of two days ago, when he'd come home with a gash right over his eye. "Come back."

He winked at her and stroked Josh's cheek. "You watch over my wife, alright?" he smiled and, after a quick goodbye, hurried out of the room.