Chapter 37

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"Montgomery let you out after all," Lucas said with a wide grin that made his eyes crinkle.

Grace scoffed as she entered the armoury where her team was already assembled. "Took some convincing, but yeah." She reached for her TAC vest and slipped it on. She wasn't entirely sure her father didn't have anything to do with it, but she was grateful she didn't have to stay put in the infirmary or the quarters she had to share with Ferretti.

"Good to see you back on your feet, Lieutenant," Miller said and Grace nodded appreciatively. The Major had visited her the previous evening after a day of patrolling the surrounding area.

"Thanks, Ma'am."

Miller smiled at her briefly and waited until Grace had all her things ready. "Off we go, then." She led the way out of the armoury, Ferretti beside her and Grace fell into step with Lucas.

"How's Torren?"

"Okay," Grace answered, checking again that the safety on her P-90 was on. These things had been in commission for decades now and though the model itself had been updated slightly, it was still one of the most reliable weapons out there. "He's back in the village now, talking to some of the Athosians." He was still nervous about being here, but that didn't stop him from going out and exploring. "Josh and Caleb went with him, if you want to know," she kept looking ahead, but Lucas didn't comment. Maybe because he didn't want to. Or maybe because they'd reached the elevator where Miller and Ferretti were already waiting for them, Grace didn't know.

He couldn't believe the brilliance of his idea. The plastic covering not only the table, but the area underneath it as well had been a stroke of genius, and he was fairly confident the plastic chairs would be alright, too once he got them outside to hose them down.

Evan had only left the room for ten minutes to talk to Ellen on the phone, and when he returned to the kitchen, he saw that Grace and Caleb hadn't wasted a second playing with the acrylic colours he'd put out for them.

"This is your own fault," Evan said quietly to himself, reaching for the ancient apron before he even dared approach the two colourful goblins sitting at the long kitchen table.

They immediately turned to look at him, grinning widely. The yellow streak on Grace's forehead was identical in colour to the paint on Caleb's brush and Grace's fingers were just as blue as the handprint on Caleb's cheek and lower lip. How had they managed that?! They had the table between them!?

"Having fun?" he asked, hands on his hips and fighting hard not to return his childrens' smiles.

"Daddy, look what I drawed!" Grace held up a painting on canvas. Despite the obvious smudges of paint on the table, the floor, herself and her brother, she'd used colour only sparingly unlike Caleb, whose canvas was covered with the stuff, swirls of red and green, blue and purple and red methodically smeared over it.

"What did you draw?" Evan asked, hesitating for just a moment before he sat on the chair next to Grace's which only sported a bit of yellow paint on the backrest.

The edges of the canvas were covered in Grace's dark blue handprints and he put it carefully down on the plastic to look at the drawing of five people around a house with a long stretch of grass beneath the house.

"It's us!" Grace exclaimed but before she could elaborate, Caleb interrupted her:

"Dad, can I have another canvas?"

Evan looked up and smiled at him. "Sure." And enthusiastically Caleb reached for another square canvas. "This one's beautiful," he said, pointing at Caleb's picture.

Caleb merely nodded and, avoiding Grace's protests, Evan quickly said: "Yours is beautiful, too!" he said, looking at the five people, four of which had blond hair and the fifth black, spiky hair.

"I drawed you and Mommy, and Caleb and me and Nora."

Evan's heart stumbled at the name, though he had expected it. He fought for a moment to keep smiling, then leaned in to kiss his daughter's forehead. Ever since Caleb and Grace had heard the story of their lost sister, they had secretly kept making up stories about her. They were careful not to let Evan and Alex know about them, but he had heard them whisper about Nora quite often. "It's a good picture," he said.

"Can I stop now?" she asked, her eyes trailing over to the stack of puzzles at the other end of the table.

"Wash up and change first, okay?" He really should ask Grace to tidy up as well, but he saw little use with Caleb still painting. "And take the puzzle to the living room."

Grace nodded, slipped off her chair and slowly made her way to the staircase with Hagrid right on her tail. The tiny yorkie had joined their little family just before Alex had to leave for her mission to Gaia.

The loud squelching sound turned his attention back to Caleb. The boy added a large blob of pink on a new paper plate, his face contorted with concentration. "What are you making now?" Evan asked, only just realizing that he'd used his mother's tone of voice. Maybe he should have been an art teacher after all, he thought as he leaned in.

"Rainbow," Caleb said, his brow furrowed as he dipped the brush into the glass to clean it of the remnants of blue.

"Hang on," Evan said, getting to his feet and moving around the table. He reached for a paper towel on the way and sat next to Caleb. "Okay, look, don't squish the brush at the bottom. Not if you want to keep using it."

Caleb looked at him with an extra wide grin and Evan had to laugh despite himself.

"Want me to show you something?"

The nod was all he needed as he reached for the smallest canvas on the table, dipped a semi clean brush into the pink blob on Caleb's plate and applied it to the canvas. He then put the brush into water, wiped it on the paper towel, but only enough for it to stop dripping and there was still plenty of water water on it, before he started spreading the paint. "The more water you use," he said, "the more fluid the paint gets, and the easier it mixes with other colours." Once more he put the brush into the water, cleaned it, wiped it dry and dipped the brush into the remnants of red on the edge of Caleb's plate. "See?" Out of the corner of his eye he saw Caleb nod and he only touched the still liquid paint and they both watched the red start to bleed slowly into the whitish pink, darkening the streak. "Want to try? Might be useful for a rainbow."

"Sure!" Caleb exclaimed enthusiastically. "Can I use yours to practice?"

"Absolutely," Evan said, ruffling Caleb's hair and getting to his feet when he heard the doorbell and Hagrid started barking.

"I'll get it!" Grace shouted, her small feet running down the stairs at breakneck speed. They kept hammering on the wooden steps in a tempo that made his heart stop, but she was at the door before him, safe and sound, and opened the door. "Cam!" she squealed, throwing her not-so-clean hands into the air while Hagrid sniffed enthusiastically at Mitchell's pants.

"What a hubbub!" Mitchell laughed, bending down and picking up Grace before she had a chance to complain. "Hey, Princess!" he grinned.

"I'm not!" she insisted, but graciously allowed Mitchell to kiss her cheek. "Okay. Look at what I drawed!"

Evan sighed and smiled at Grace. "Will you let Cam catch his breath?" He looked up at Mitchell and when he saw the earnest expression beneath his smile, his heart sank.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Mitchell said, pointing over his shoulder at his car, which was parked, not in the driveway, but at the sidewalk, leaving Evan's car free to leave at any time.

"Sure," Evan said. "Go set up the puzzle, honey."

Grace started pouting, but one look from Evan was enough to send her back into the kitchen, past Caleb who was standing in the doorway with a worried expression on his face. "Hi, Cam!" he said and Mitchell waved at him. "I'll be with you in a sec, buddy."

Evan reached for his jacket and followed Mitchell outside. "What is it?" Evan asked, shivering in the icy wind as he slipped on the jacket. "What's wrong?"

The worst thing wasn't that Mitchell didn't try to appease him. It was the way he looked at the house. "Listen," he said, that word was enough to make Evan's insides churn. There was a short pause and Mitchell looked at him again. "You should get to base."

"Is she hurt?!" Evan burst out, his hands shaking.

"Probably not," Mitchell said, "but she missed the last two check-ins. We dialled the Gate twice and got no response from her, just from the Nox. Murdoch's team is getting ready as we speak."

"Why didn't anyone call me?" A question. It was better than the scream building up inside his chest. Alex had been gone for four days now. She should be getting back by now!

"I told them not to," Mitchell looked back at the house, "I told Landry I'd come and get you. The Nox didn't reveal too much, so they'll be sending the MALP in about an hour. You should be there. I'll watch the kids"

Evan nodded once. That was all he needed to know and the sense of dread that was filling him was slowly but surely fading away as it was replaced by the need for action. He needed to go. Now. "Thanks," he breathed, brushing a hand through his hair. There was no questioning it. No time for doubts. "And-"

"Don't worry. If it gets too boring, I'll ask Vala to come along and help."

"What are your plans, then?" Guide said, showing them into a spacious room with a large table placed in its centre.

Evan still wasn't entirely comfortable and he was glad he had his gun on him at least. The Wraith hadn't made it a requirement for him or Carter to relinquish their weapons when they beamed onboard, and that alone should put his mind at ease. But it didn't. Not even with this being the second meeting they'd had with the Wraith leader.

A Hive full of Wraith was more than enough to overwhelm two elderly humans within seconds, no matter how many weapons those humans brought along.

"Regarding…" Evan prompted as Guide gestured to two of the massive high-backed chairs. He couldn't remember ever being inside a room like this on a Hive. Was it used for eating? If so, then it was clearly reserved for the highest-ranking officers.

Carter sat down first, her eyes never leaving Guide who took a seat opposite her.

"Regarding your further actions in this galaxy," Guide said. "It'd be nice to know whether we have to fear another attempt at genocide from you."

Evan bit on his tongue to hold back a vicious remark, because he knew Guide wasn't wrong. The Tau'ri had first tried eradicating the Wraith, then they'd tried changing them so they wouldn't be a danger anymore. By Earth's standards each and every member of the Atlantis expedition should have been brought before the Council of Human Rights, him included.

But before either he or Carter could speak, Guide laughed bitterly. "No matter. Your attempts-"

"I believe you contributed quiet a bit," Carter interrupted him with a severe frown on her face. "Helping us with the experiments and all."

Guide nodded in agreement. "I did. But none of this matters anymore. The Wraith are no longer a threat to human lives because they do not need to be. What we need to discuss now is what you are going to do next."

"You said," Evan said, "the Furlings are gone."

Guide nodded.

"How?"

"We do not know. All we can say is that a large portion of this galaxy's Stargate Network is not working anymore. That the city you called Atlantis is no longer on the planet where you set it down and that no other planet has been attacked by the Furlings."

Nothing new there. Evan leaned forward, his hands on the table as he returned Guide's stare. "Well, I suppose with this new information, we could figure out a way to relaunch an expedition to Pegasus." It might be enough, at least, to secure badly-needed funds for the SGC if there was enough of an incentive there. "If we're wanted," he added, fully aware that, even though the Wraith had to deal with massively diminished numbers, they still basically ruled this galaxy.

Guide laughed, throwing back his head and shaking his head. It was a truly unsettling sound and when the laughter had subsided, he looked first at Carter, then at him with a glint in his eyes. "I suppose, if you wanted to come back to explore Ancient artefacts, but leave us and those who follow us alone, we wouldn't mind. Especially not if you were willing to share."

Evan exchanged a glance with Carter, wishing for a moment alone with her. He wasn't entirely sure he was ready to strike a deal with the Wraith.

"What do you want?" Carter asked bluntly and Guide cocked his head slightly, fixing his fierce stare on her now.

"We are a dying species," Guide said, all mirth gone from his voice, "surely you appreciate what that means?"

Caleb's head whipped around when he heard Lucas' laugh. Grace saw him blush once his eyes met Lucas' and he quickly returned his attention to Josh who was listening intently to what one if the Athosian girls was saying and taking notes all the while.

Grace looked up at Lucas and nudged him in Caleb's direction. The four others were sitting on a couple of low benches outside the pub, where the few meetings had taken place.

"Mom's in there, in case you're wondering," Caleb said, pointing at the door and decidedly ignoring Lucas sitting down next to him, while the girl told Josh about some ruins several clicks away from here. Ruins which, apparently, her mother had explored and catalogued long ago. But Josh was still eager to hear more. From her, apparently. Not that mother of hers.

Grace eyed him curiously, as he talked to the girl with the long, dark hair. She didn't seem to smile a lot, but there was a certain rough grace to her. Torren was looking at her and Josh, too, though Torren barely seemed to listen to what they were saying. He seemed distant. Deep in thought. When she joined him in his quarters the previous night, he's barely talked to her either.

"We could go take a look before you leave," the girl said cautiously, as though she wasn't entirely used to being careful with suggestions.

"Torren, are you okay?" Grace asked, keeping herself from telling Josh that it wasn't at all likely he'd be allowed to go after what had happened to her and Torren.

Torren almost flinched at her touch and looked up at her. "Yeah," he said, clearing his throat. "Yeah, I'm fine." But Grace didn't quite believe him. Not at all. She stroked his neck, completely at a loss of how she could cheer him up, when the door opened and two women stumbled out, arms around each other's shoulders and giggling madly.

Her mouth completely dry, Grace stared at her mother as she whispered something into the other woman's ear and the two of them started giggling.

"Mom!" Grace exclaimed, but hers wasn't the only voice. The dark-haired girl had jumped to her feet, though she sounded more resigned than Grace.

"Yep," the girl's mother said, struggling to get out of Alex's grasp. "I think that's enough for today."

"For today," Alex agreed with a nod. "Though I'll probably regret this tomorrow, so it'll have been the last time." She patted the other woman's cheek and proceeded to stumble into Grace's arms. Somehow, when she was even slightly drunk, her accent came through even more, though it sounded far less sophisticated, the consonants sharper and more slurred at the same time. Who could tell how she did that.

"Mom…" Grace shook her head, disbelievingly.

"Yep. I'm so glad you're okay, babe."

Grace swallowed hard, looking pleadingly to Caleb, who stood up slowly.

"She's a total lightweight, that one," the other woman said, faking a British accent and making Caleb laugh.

"She is, Emma. She really is." he agreed, tapping his mother on the shoulder. "Mom, do you want to lie down for a bit?"

Let's just hope she can make it back to the ship without drawing too much attention to her.

"Hm, maybe," Alex mumbled and turned to look around at the woman called Emma. "Nice talking to you! Let's do this again sometime."

"You bet, Alexandra. I'll come by and bring some tea."

"Urgh." Alex waved her off and nearly fell over. What the hell had she been drinking?! "Right… time for some coffee, huh?" Alex muttered and kissed Caleb's cheek.

A/N: Wow, a friend called Alex and Emma „wine moms" in this chapter. Isn't she right? Alex is really bad at drinking and Emma had years of practice, not only back on Earth, but also with Ronon… I wanted this chapter to be a bit lighter, even though Torren is still a bit weird. Any idea what might be going on with him?

And we're also right in the middle of that flashback episode of Alex being stuck with the Nox. What do you think happenedthere?

Anyway, thanks for reading! I'll see you again on Sunday. Maybe.