Recap:

"Think he'll ever get off his ass?"

Smirking, Lief shook his head. "I vote we lock them in a room for a month. We can take turns watching Torren."

"If Kanaan doesn't come back with us," Ronon agreed darkly. "After I beat him to death with his own arms."

Both brothers burst into laughter, clutching at their sides while tears ran down their faces.

Episode 5 The Story

Sophie's Quarters

Surprisingly, it wasn't any of her family that Sophie woke up to. Not her mother or son, her father or any of her brothers, or the energy projection of her great grandmother. It wasn't someone she would consider a friend, not Teyla or Radek, Sam or Jack or Daniel or Teal'c. Not her partner or boss, in this case, Woolsey. Not even a nurse or a doctor.

It was Rodney.

"Rodney?" The sound of her own cracked voice surprised her. How long had she been out?

The scientist blinked when he looked up from the bright light of his tablet. "McIntyre." Rolling her eyes, Sophie pushed up from her pillow with a groan. Surprising her yet again, Rodney jumped to his feet and helped her, pushing a pillow behind her back.

"Am I dying?" She asked with a snort that ended in a bone-rattling cough.

Eyes blinking in confusion, Rodney retook his seat. "No. Why would you say that?"

"You're being nice." She pointed out, an eyebrow-raising.

"I'm always nice!" Rodney squeaked indignantly. Catching sight of the mirth that twinkled in her eyes, he leaned back, slouching in the cushions. "Oh you're making fun."

Humor drained from her wan face. "No." Sophie corrected. "I never make fun of a person. I tease. There's a difference. One is malicious."

Blinking as he took in her differentiation, Rodney relaxed a micron. "Oh. Well." He picked up his tablet again. "Uh… I'm here because I'm supposed to give final approval on the transfer of your family and I'm not sure if I should."

A tiny knowing smile quirked the corner of her mouth for a moment before she looked around and spotting a pitcher of water on the table next to her bedside with several glasses. She reached for it and once again was surprised when Rodney beat her to it and poured her a glass. "I'm guessing that's my file on your tablet."

"Yours and every other member of your family."

"Even my brothers?" She asked, eyebrows drawing together.

"Considering they are one of the only two in the military with more than a basic knowledge of the sciences, programming, the generators, and the like." The Canadian admitted. "Always a good thing in a pinch. And they seem to be slightly more stable than most."

Smirking at that, Sophie took a sip of water and nearly groaned in pleasure as the cool liquid slid down her throat. "Slightly. Unless you hit their pressure point."

"Which is?"

"That would be cheating, Dr. McKay." She replied, the smile growing even wider. "So did you have any questions? I assume that's why you're sitting here. A sort of informal interview."

"Actually," Rodney began, looking almost smugly pleased with himself. "It's a foregone conclusion that you're qualified for the job of maintaining Atlantis, leaving Zelenka and myself to handle the world-ending problems. You're even qualified for the additional assignment of building a fleet and spaceport that have been rumored. But I want to be absolutely clear that in the chain of command, you are beneath us. As long as we're clear on that I have no problem with you."

She almost wanted to laugh. It was really quite funny. Rodney trying to mark his already defined territory was like a puppy marking a training pad. Like she wasn't already well aware of the limits that her scope and field had. Like she hadn't made a similar statement to a similar effect when O'Neil told her she was transferring to head up the repair teams on Atlantis.

Sophie had no interest in going into possibly hostile territory. She had a son to look after and was his only parent, even though she had a family to fall back on in an emergency, she wasn't willing to take unnecessary risks. The danger would find them just as easily in the city as it had at the SGC anyway. It would even find them just as easily if they lived in the middle of nowhere on earth as civilians.

But leaving the city to go into hostile territory? Not unless her life or her son's or family depended on it.

Instead of laughing, she only smiled. "Rodney," she began, not unkindly, when she saw him settle back nervously during her extended silence. "Let me make something clear to you. I have no interest in being the hero. I just want to do my job and raise my son. You want to handle the multiple apocalypses that seem to hit this city, be my guest. You want to view me as a glorified maintenance man, go for it. But the one problem I do have is that I am not beneath you." She held up a single finger to stall the argument that she knew was undoubtedly forming in his brain.

"Now I realize that chain of commands tends to be a bit fluid, especially in bases that are both military and science. I get it. The apocalypse happens and it's your bailiwick. But normal operations are mine, no questions, and no arguments. And if," she quirked an eyebrow to emphasize her point and repeated. "If that rumor happens to be true, I will be in command of that operation, you go through me and me alone or I will shut you down."

"I respect you, Rodney. I hate how you treat others most of the time." She smirked. "I think you can be a jerk. And an ass."

Jaw-dropping, Rodney looked like he wasn't sure she was real. His eyes nearly bugged out of his head in shock. No one but John would say it. Others may think of it, but they wouldn't say it. They were normally too afraid. After all, he could make life very uncomfortable for someone, not just professionally but personally. Atlantis did have quite a lot of technology he could manipulate. Not that he would. He was a professional after all. But he could.

"But you protect your people and the city." She continued, pushing them past the moment. "And I have to respect that." She smiled. "I even like you. Sometimes. You're like a super annoying cousin that I get into trouble with and we have to figure our way out of it again." Sophie chuckled, a memory springing to life in her mind. After a moment, she shook it away. "So can we just call a truce and work together? Maybe even come to be friends?"

Blinking, Rodney folded his arms over his chest. "I'm not sure how to respond to that."

"Meredith Rodney McKay speechless?" Sophie shook her head, settling back against her pillows more comfortably. "I never thought I'd see the day."

Rodney set his jaw. "Don't get too used to it."

"Won't." She agreed, a laugh tinging her words. "I promise."

Silence reigned for a moment while the two scientists stared at each other. Rodney's eyes clouded with thoughts while he assessed her. Sophie's were clear as a bright sunlit morning, for all exhaustion filled them. Then, as if reaching a decision, Rodney proved his loyalty once more.

"What are your intentions toward Ronan?"

"Not the question I thought you would ask." She admitted, her smile turning into a frown. Her eyebrows drew together while she suddenly found the sheet in her lap very interesting. It was woven, a mixture of cotton and linen from what she could feel. And it wasn't the question Rodney had posed and was awaiting an answer to. "Do you want the starry-eyed school girl answer or the raw and unvarnished version?"

"The truth." He replied. "Whatever that may be. Look, I've heard the rumors." Rodney began with a sigh. It was the sigh he used whenever he thought he would here disappointing news from one of his team. Heavy and tired, put upon even. "I think everyone has."

Biting her lower lip, Sophie stared at the older man, seeming to weigh him as he had weighed her. "Well," she started with a swallow. "You know my policy about asking questions."

"Don't ask what you don't want to know, and be prepared to live with the answer." He smiled wryly, repeating back the warning she told everyone who asked her a question at least once. "Because it may not be what you expect. It may not fit into your assumptions. Or your ego."

With a nod, Sophie sighed. "So the truth." She swallowed. "I don't know what my plans are with him. Other than to get to know him. Because all I know is that he's from Sateda, a survivor of a culling, used to be on the run from the Wraith, a very gifted and fierce warrior, a good friend and a good man." She shrugged. "That's all I know about Ronon Dex. As for what I know about myself, I'm a Furling mother of a harcesis child that I have to protect. I know people think I slept with a Tok'ra after he became a host, slept my way up in the Stargate program to my position." She swallowed.

"And the truth?"

"The truth is, I was married at eighteen to a boy I met on the beach not far from a base. Less than a year later we found out that he had inoperable cancer that was going to kill him and left him sterile." Taking a drink of water, she swallowed hard, forcing the lump that threatened to form in her throat down. Finding Rodney's eyes once more, she ground her teeth together. "This will stay between us, doctor. And if it doesn't I will make sure you are rendered as sterile as my husband was. And I will make sure you are awake for the process."

Gulping, Rodney crossed his legs nervously and nodded. He had no doubt she would follow through with the threat.

"One day he, Travis was his name. You probably read that in the file. Travis had an appointment with his doctor. The doctor told us that there was nothing left to be done, go home, make him as comfortable as possible, and wait for the end. Travis was heartbroken. He had such dreams." A soft smile pulled at her lips as she remembered. "He had been an orphan growing up and wanted a huge family. A huge house filled with ten kids at least, he always said. So when the cancer was found and he was told he was sterile, and then that there was nothing that could be done..."

Shaking her head, she could still see Travis' dark eyes clouding with tears he refused to shed. He would pretend that everything was okay during the day when people were around. But he had let her hold onto him in the dark of their room at night while he buried his face in her hair and cried silently.

"We were newlyweds. It was a strain on us. But he had become my best friend. So quickly." Again she sipped at the water Rodney refilled for her. "After that, two or three days I think, he was called into his CO's office. He went in like he was marching to a firing squad. You have to realize, other than me the air force was his life. That was all he ever wanted to do so he was sure that with his cancer they would be discharging him."

"He even refused to let me go with him that day. He didn't want me to see him that broken." Turning to look out the balcony window behind Rodney, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then smiled. "When he came back it was like the sun had just come out after a hurricane. He was the boy I married again. Happy, determined, full of life and laughter. I didn't know what the CO and he had talked about that day. But within a week we were transferred to Cheyenne Mountain. I was building my aeronautics company and he was working on the base."

"His health improved and he was going on missions again, gone for days at a time."

"He was on an SG team." Rodney guessed. "Did you know anything about the Stargate?"

Sophie shook her head. "At the time no. I had been in contact with Sam, yes. But only ever as a consultant on projects so while I had military clearance..."

"It wasn't high enough to know anything highly classified."

"Not even enough to know that within days of our transfer my husband was implanted with a Tok'ra symbiote." She agreed. "Mal'oc was the Tok'ra's name. Nice guy when I finally met him. He had come to share Travis' desire to be a father. And swore to Travis that it could be done without our child becoming a Harcesis. It was even impossible as I wasn't a Tok'ra or Goa'uld myself."

"He lied?"

"He underestimated his own desires and overestimated his abilities. And didn't know I was a Furling, which had a great deal to do with it. Travis didn't know. He was human so why would I bother telling him something that would never affect his life?" She corrected. "Turns out that his previous hosts, most of them being male as well, had also desired to be fathers and that had," she paused searching for the correct word, "molded Mal'oc's thinking more than he believed. Either way, I got pregnant. Imagine my shock, and terror, when my sterile husband gets me pregnant. Travis tried claiming it was a miracle. I didn't believe it."

Rodney snorted. He may not have been female but he was a scientist. He could only imagine that in her place, he wouldn't have believed it either.

"That was when I found out about the Stargate program. I knew Travis was hiding something, had known for months. I had assumed it was only work as I knew without the shadow of a doubt that he damn well wasn't cheating on me and I surely wasn't on him. We wore each other out too much to even have the energy to think about it. But I had no idea the magnitude of what he was concealing."

"Mal'oc, the Stargate, Teal'c, the Goa'uld, the Replicators, the Ancients, the Nox, the Asgard, I was given clearance for it all." There was another story there, Rodney was sure but now wasn't the time to press the issue.

"Their data on the Furlings is lacking quite a lot but I'm not planning on correcting it." She admitted with a shrug. "Then my husband was sent on a mission and didn't come home."

About to ask for details, Rodney caught himself. He saw the tears that her blue eyes swam in. He heard the raspy catch in her voice. And he saw the muscles of her throat working as she tried to swallow down grief that still had a hold of her.

"So did I sleep with my husband just because he was a Tok'ra?" She addressed after pulling herself together again. "No. Most people think Luka was conceived before then or if they knew Travis was sterile they believe I cheated on him and got pregnant. I did not. Did I sleep with someone just to get an in with the Stargate program? No. As soon as Earth got a hold of the Death Gliders, I was working on Stargate projects. Indirectly and unknowingly of course, at first, as an independent contractor. But I am where I am because of skill, nothing more."

"So if I decide to pursue a relationship with Ronon it will have nothing to do with what I think he or his 'connections' can do for my career and everything to do with me liking him." Answering the original question, Sophie calmed visibly. "If we decide to pursue something serious, it will be because I think we'd make a good family. But I am not going to rush anything and I am certainly not going to toy with the emotions of a good man. He doesn't deserve it and I have too much respect for him, my son, and myself to do that."

She sighed, then admitted. "And I do like him, Rodney. I like how he is with Luka. I like how he treats his friends. I like how he looks at me. I like how honest he is and what I can see of his character. I think he's attractive, I won't lie. I like how he listens. I like how strong he is on every level. But I'm not ready to start writing Mrs. Sophie Dex on the corner of my notes." Humor was back. "I hadn't even allowed myself to think beyond liking him until he asked me to. And that's the god's honest truth, Rodney."