Chapter 24

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Only Miller, Hernandez and Jebson, Josh's team leader, had been called to the bridge to watch the ceremony along with the crew on duty there. And that meant that there must be twenty people up there already. In a way she was glad she wasn't in that crowded area of the old Earth vessel.

Grace was standing at attention with the rest of her team and everybody else gathered in the main hangar, the doors of which had been opened. The shield was completely invisible, not a single flickering hinted at the chink in the armour. Nothing would let you know it was there, but as it was, it provided them with a view of a thin field of asteroids floating around the system's sun. It was nothing but debris of what had once been the Asgard homeworld.

The military personnel stood in several rows in the centre of the hangar as General Lorne's voice echoed through the cool air. The words had been chosen well, remembering the contribution of the Asgard on the billions of lives in their galaxy. Thanking them for years of friendship and, in the end, the trust they had put into the humans of the Tau'ri to preserve their legacy.

Grace risked a look out of the corner of her eye, to where the civilian members of this small expedition to the Asgard galaxy were standing. Her brother and mother were in the first row, Caleb looking eerily out of place once again. Sometimes Grace couldn't help but wonder whether Caleb revelled in this role of the outsider. She doubted it, though. He'd always been popular and he liked company. Maybe it was just her. Maybe she was the one who thought it weird seeing him here. And yet, somehow, seeing their mother here in the same BDUs as her son, seemed to be more normal. Somehow even Torren, who hadn't been associated with the Stargate Program until four weeks ago, looked more at home here.

Her father ended his speech and, almost as an afterthought, the bright flash several miles outside, signalled the end of the ceremony. These flowers which had been beamed to the place where the core of the planet had once been, would float out there forever, but a bit more space litter probably didn't hurt at this point.

"He doesn't talk to me anymnore," she heard Lucas say and Grace only just kept herself from rolling her eyes. Instead she looked at Ferretti heading over to one of Caleb's team members, a burly, sour-looking sergeant.

"Who?" Grace prompted, digging for the name of the guy Ferretti was talking to, "Mortimer?"

Lucas' elbow hit her side and she managed to throw him a smile. "Your idiot brother."

For a moment she wondered whether she should pretend she didn't know what was going on. Fat chance of that working. Why couldn't these two just work it out already? "Well, I haven't seen you talking to him when you two weren't busy playing that silly boardgame with Josh."

"I-" Lucas broke off and bit his lip, opting to fall silent instead. It wasn't exactly typical of him to stop like this, which meant this thing really seemed to be bothering him. Instead he looked over her shoulder at Caleb and Alex who were already on their way to the exit with most other people gathered in here.

The hangar doors were already starting to close. This thing was really over. Three weeks of travel for a ceremony that lasted half an hour. No big surprise the people from Earth only went on this trip every five years. And it really must be infuriating to her parents. The IOA granted this mission and the money it cost to send so many people in one of their most valuable ships, but they refused to launch a mission to investigate what had happened to their allies in Pegasus. No small wonder her father was doing his best to bend the rules. Especially with the suspicions about Mitchell hanging in the air.

"Look, this is none of my business," she said evasively. She wasn't even sure she could focus on it. The thought of what might have happened to Mitchell still haunted her, and both Caleb and Lucas were old enough to deal with their ridiculous problem on their own. What did they need her for?

"You don't want me for a brother-in-law?"

Grace groaned and shoved him towards the door. They were supposed to be at the reception in a few minutes' time. Not that she wanted to be there, but they'd be expected to show up in the mess. "Shut up, you can't even talk to him without a buffer. You're never getting married."

That made him laugh. And it was a pleasant sound. The one that had always made her feel more at ease, even during tough times at the Academy. Somehow it made her feel a bit lighter now. "Well, maybe not. But just because I'm too damn scared. If this goes wrong-"

"Will you please sort this out? We'll be stuck on this ship for weeks to come and I hate your whining."

"Could you maybe talk to him? Ask him out for me?" He said with a nervous smile that took Grace completely by surprise. With a short grunt, she started walking towards the exit, ignoring that hopeful, fake grin. He had to know that was not going to happen.

"You know," he said, catching up with her, "in Kelowna it was common for that request to be passed on by a friend."

"Oh, it was not!" she burst out, shaking her head. Why the hell was he doing this? He and Caleb were grown men. They should know how to do these things!

"Well, you could at least find out for me if he would be receptive."

"Lucas, you are such a chickenshit."

"She's still so hot…" he said quietly. He was kneeling of the floor in the small bedroom. His hand was on Grace's cheek, his face full of concern. "If the fever doesn't come down in an hour, I'll call for Keller again."

Alex nodded and leaned back against Caleb's bed. Their son was playing with bricks in the next room. He was really good at not needing them all the time. It made taking care of a sick Grace a bit easier. Caleb, Grace, Lucas and Torren had all caught Kirsan Fever on a short visit to the Athosian settlement, and normally that wouldn't have been a problem. They had started treating her with an extract from the Enchuri plant straight away, but five days into this Grace still wasn't feeling any better, while Caleb had felt better after only three.

"The fever isn't rising though." It was high, but not too high. In fact, it had already come down somewhat.

Kirsan Fever wasn't considered a dangerous ailment and mostly children were affected by it. Alex and Evan had both caught it along with the rest of the expedition years ago and with the help of Ronon and Teyla had pulled through. But the days of memory loss and feeling sick still stuck with the two of them. It was the first serious illness their children had ever had to go through, and it was frightening to say the least and within a day their resolution to be calm about this sort of thing had shattered.

Watching a child as it suffered and slept through most of the day, plagued by feverish dreams, was harder to bear than either of them would have expected. Especially if you'd already lost a child.

Evan groaned softly and sat back on his heels. "We should let her sleep, huh?"

Alex nodded tiredly and slowly got to her feet. All in all, it was a good thing that it was Sunday, still the mandatory rest day, so they could spend some time with their children without having to worry about missing work. With the Furlings starting to spread out in this galaxy, they really needed to be reminded to take it slow every once in a while. The problem was that the Wraith had little to throw against the new enemy. Yes, the Wraith were still a major threat, but all things considered, the people of the Atlantis expedition would have preferred just having to worry about life-sucking aliens.

For now though, they had the day to themselves. And as they walked into the living room, they saw Caleb sleeping on the rug in front of the window, snoring softly and holding the cuddly toy which Ronon had brought along after they returned home with their new-born son. Caleb was lying flat in his stomach, the sinking sun reflecting off his blond hair as he lay there, the little Pegasus-bear's face pressed against his.

"Well, this isn't too bad," Evan whispered. "Should I carry him to his bed?"

"No, if you move him, he'll wake up."

Nodding, Evan moved over to the couch, flopped down on it and closed his eyes. He was even more tired than she was and Alex had half a mind to sit down next to him, when the door chime rang through the small living room. With a groan, Evan started to get up, but Alex gestured for him to stay put and opened the door by waving her hand over the inside sensor.

"Hey!" Jonas said with that bright smile of his. He waved over his shoulder at Evan. "D'you have a minute?"

Alex nodded slowly. "Caleb's asleep though," she said in a low voice.

"I'm gonna lie down for a bit," Evan said. "Long night and all." He'd been on missions almost every day without pause for about a month now, and only when their children had fallen sick, had he been granted a short respite to "work on those mission reports", as Woolsey had put it with one of his conspiratory nods. As quietly as he could, Evan went over to Caleb and picked him up, to Alex's surprise without waking him. With an almost triumphant grin, he walked over to their bedroom, Caleb's head resting against his shoulder.

He let the door open so he could hear Grace, should she wake up, and Alex opened the glass door leading out on the balcony. When they sat down in the two chairs there, Jonas let out a sigh. "The kids aren't feeling better, huh?" He looked over his shoulder at the apartment and then focused his gaze out on the ocean. The water below was as quiet as it often was at this time of year on New Lantea. They had moved the city back here about half a year ago. The climate of this world was a lot friendlier than on their previous home world.

Alex shook her head. "No, Caleb's doing much better and Grace isn't getting worse. I guess it'll be all over in a few days."

"Yeah."

"How's Lucas?"

"Oh, he's with Teyla and Amanda and Torren. So, they're all fine."

So Torren as well as Lucas had fully recovered. Alex bit her lip. Well, this was embarrassing. Why hadn't she asked about this before? "That's good to hear."

Jonas nodded once and briefly raised his eyes. He wasn't smiling anymore, and the way he was wringing his hands as he turned to look out on the ocean again made her uneasy to say the least. Jonas wasn't lost for words usually. Not anymore. There'd been a time when he was sullen and miserable. A time when he hadn't been the charming man she'd known at first. But that time was mostly gone. He had a new girlfriend. A child. And no, these things could never replace the things he'd lost, who would know that better than Alex, but it made them easier to bear, didn't it? At least a bit? So where was this coming from?

"Jonas, what's wrong?"

He bent over and ruffled his hair. "Alex, I'm not sure what to do."

"I figured as much," she said, turning to look when she saw a flicker of movement to her right. The apartment door had opened and was closing just as she looked at it. Evan was probably going for a quick run. He did that sometimes before going to bed.

"I was thinking that maybe I should ask Amanda to marry me."

Frowning, she turned to look at Jonas again. "Well, duh…"

"It's … won't she think I'm asking because of Lucas?"

"Jonas, you have a kid. You love her. You have a life together. What's the harm?"

Biting his lip, Jonas turned to look at his hands and Alex could see the self loathing in his eyes before he turned his head so she couldn't see his face. "None, really… I'm just not sure she's gonna say yes." Th
That wasn't it and for the first time in her life she felt like kicking him in the shins. He'd deserve it. Yes, he'd lost his fiancée and child when the Ori attacked his homeworld, but that was no excuse to make him miserable for the rest of his life. Not when he'd been given this incredible chance with Amanda and Lucas. "Jonas, you're such-"

"Is Caleb with you?"

Alex hadn't even seen Evan approach and when she looked up to see Evan's tousled hair, she realized he hadn't been the one to leave the apartment. The slight note of panic in his voice, made her almost choke. Jumping to her feet, she pushed past him and out into the corridor just as the door to the transport at the end of the it closed. Her heart dropped. This place was enormous! How was she supposed to know- She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and took another step into the corridor to follow Caleb.

"Alex, d'you want me to come with you?" Jonas. Evan was standing right behind him with bare feet, his eyes focused on the corridor.

"Evan, stay with Grace, I can figure out where he went. It's okay, Jonas. Really. Just go talk to Amanda, okay?" She almost wished he could come along, but a grumpy Jonas was not the kind of person she wanted around, and, to be fair, this city was safe enough. This planet was safe. How bad could this get, really?

They both nodded and Alex half expected Evan to grab her arm, but he knew that someone should stay with Grace. "Right," he breathed hoarsely as Alex rushed off to the transporter, hoping she could remember what McKay had told her about tracing where the transporter had gone yet while her heart was beating so fast she could hear it in her ears.

A/N: In hindsight Alex and Evan think they've always been cool about raising their kids, when they've been pretty panicked when the kids were sick for the first time. I guess perception changes over time.

Yeah… cliffhanger. Sorry! The next part will be up on Sunday, I hope. I'm sure most of you got the reference to Metamorphosis. Jonas and Sam were such a cool team, but I'm also sure Lucas and Grace are just as cool together. Time Caleb and Lucas pulled themselves together? Well… we'll see. Next chapter I'm gonna go into the history with Torren and the other "kids".