John POV
I awoke to a head resting in the crook of my neck, breath softly fanning the hot skin. I had my arms wrapped around them and I took a moment to pray I hadn't been sharing a room with Ronon or Rodney last night. I remember drinking a fair amount, Callum the barkeep, having decided to ply us with alcohol in thanks for taking care of the Wraith. Then I remember escorting Evelyn upstairs because she'd had a bit more than I had, that's right. I breathed a sigh of relief that the warm body beside me was hers. There was a knocking on my door and Ronon shouting through the door that we were losing daylight.
"It's 7am Atlantis time, shake a leg," he yelled and I heard groaning beside me.
"Kill me," Evelyn groaned into my neck. I chuckled.
"You'll be alright," I told her and she snuggled in closer.
"Five more minutes," she whined and I laughed harder.
"Tell that to the Wraith," I replied and she sighed, pushing herself up on the bed with one arm. She sat back on her knees, rubbing her face with her hand. She scowled at me and I smiled, she looked cute with her bed hair and cranky face. She turned and crawled towards the edge of the bed, swinging her legs over the side and standing up. I watched her walk over to the foot of the bed and pick up a pair of pants I didn't know she'd discarded last night and shimmy them back up.
"What's the plan?" she asked, grabbing her over shirt, jacket and vest. She dumped them on the end of the bed, putting them on one by one. I shrugged, sitting up lazily in the bed. Despite having a slight headache, that was actually one of the best night's sleep I'd had in awhile.
"Have Ronon use his skills to track it, kill it, come back to tell the villagers, hope they throw a parade," I told her and she laughed. She walked over to the desk I remembered putting all of our weapons on last night, and went to start hiding all of her gear on her person. I dressed quickly and joined her by the desk where she was perched trying to do her shoelaces.
"Have you thought about putting a notch here?" I asked, lifting her wooden arm up and flipping it over, wrist up. I pointed to the side of her fake thumb. "You can catch the second lace on it and it might make it easier to tie."
"That's a good idea," she said. She handed me a sturdy looking whittling knife, why she had one, I wouldn't know. Or ask. "Do it."
I did as asked and carved a small v shaped divot in the side of her wooden thumb and she moved to tie her shoes. It still took longer than the average person, but it tied much quicker than her other boot.
We headed down the stairs once dressed to find Teyla, McKay and Ronon already there, picking away at some breakfast. Ronon raised an eyebrow at me and Evelyn ignored him completely and sat down. She'd chosen to sit next to McKay, him seemingly out of the dog house, at least for now and then went to start picking away at the food as well.
After breakfast Ronon and I walked a little ahead of the others as we made our way through the now much busier town centre. He kept eyeing me and I could tell there was something he wanted to ask me.
"Did anything.."
"No," I replied.
"Did you want it to?" Ronon asked.
"I wasn't really thinking about it to be honest, I was drunk and wanted to sleep," I explained.
"And this morning?" he asked.
"Takes her longer than average to get ready because of the arm thing," I shrugged. "I didn't want to help because she likes her independence."
Evelyn POV
I stood beside McKay, having decided he's suffered enough, and also something about having a good time hanging out with my team last night really cheered me up. He was fidgeting with something in his hands while a small ginger child lurked behind us. He looked behind us and sighed, deciding ignoring him wouldn't work.
"What?" McKay demanded. The boy took that as a sign to approach.
"Is it true? You're going to hunt the Daimos?" he asked excitedly.
"It looks that way," McKay grumbled, and I smiled at the child, who grinned toothily back.
"We are sweetie," I told him.
"I heard it has two heads, and it can turn you to stone just by looking at you," he said.
"Well, you heard wrong," McKay said, standing up and moving over closer to the others.
"My uncle says it'll come and take me if I don't do my chores," he told us and I smiled softly. Parents will do just about anything to get their kids to behave.
"He said that, huh? Well, then, if we get rid of it, you've got nothing to worry about, you'll never have to do chores again."
"Really?"
"Yes. Look, go away." The little boy ran away past us and the others on Rodney's command and I smacked him upside the head. He cried out in pain. "Ow! What was that for?"
"Do you really have no people skills?" I demanded. "He's a kid Rodney, in a town that never gets any visitors. He thinks you're cool and you were downright rude to him."
"He thinks I'm cool?" Rodney asked and I smacked him again. "Ow! Stop that."
Goran walked out of the tavern we'd stayed in last night and towards us, standing behind John, Teyla and Ronon.
"As far as we know, no one was taken last night, but it will strike, and soon," Goran warned ominously. Ronon loaded his gun.
"We'll kill it before that happens," he promised.
"You must be great at parties," John commented as we walked away and Ronon smirked.
We walked through the forest and I let my P90 bounce lightly on my chest, putting my hand lazily in my pocket. We'd been walking for maybe twenty minutes before McKay started to complain.
"We're talking about a hundred square miles of forest here," Rodney mumbled.
"Be patient. Ronon's been going up against the Wraith one on one for the last seven years. If anyone can track this thing, it's him," John told him as I walked on this other side.
"And how is he going to do that, huh?" McKay said, turning to us as he hid his disbelief from the others.
"It helps to have good hearing," Ronon said from up ahead and I laughed as McKay paled.
"Right," McKay replied, embarrassed. John slapped McKay on the back of the head as he walked past us to catch up to Teyla and I chuckled. "Carry on."
"What about you? You sensing anything?" he asked as I continued to walk with McKay.
"I'm not sure," Teyla said and John looked a little confused.
"What do you mean?" John asked.
"There is a presence here… but it is different. I cannot quite explain it," Teyla told him. Up ahead Ronon held up a hand to stop us and then gestured for us to look ahead.
"It's there," Ronon said and all I was able to catch was a flash of the Wraith running behind a tree. Ronon took off after it and then John took after Ronon.
"Ronon! Damn it." John said and I pushed myself faster, catching up to John and then running a little harder. We chased the Wraith for maybe ten minutes through the forest before we ducked after Ronon around a corner and stopped at a cave mouth.
"It's in there," Ronon said.
"Was it wraith?" John asked and Ronon nodded in confirmation.
"Yeah," he said.
"You see it?" McKay asked.
"No," Ronon replied.
"Well, how do you know?" McKay demanded. What was his big issue with Ronon today?
"Ronon is correct. I can definitely sense it now," Teyla confirmed and I frowned, flicking the light on on my P90. We made our way through the cave and we saw her. "A female." Teyla said, seething and we ran after her when she started up running again.
We came to a door and the Wraith burst through, running up to an old man and sheltering in his arms. I was first in after her and the sight I saw shocked me. She buried her head on his chest, desperate to hide from us. A chicken Wraith? She was quite young too.
"A kid?" I asked, raising a brow.
"Ellia?" the old man asked. He held her protectively, hiding her from us. We all had our guns trained on her, ready to fire at a moment's notice.
"Get out of the way," John ordered.
"No, please. Don't shoot. She's not what you think.. she's my daughter," he said and everyone stared back at him in shock and disgust. "She means you no harm."
"She's a wraith," Ronon said.
"Maybe so, but she's different. I swear to you," the old man said.
"Let me guess, Wraith with a heart of gold?" John asked.
"She doesn't feed. She's never taken a human life," the old man assured us and I raised a brow. Could Wraith do that?
"How is that possible?" Teyla asked.
"Please, lower your weapons, and I'll explain it to you," he said and I dropped my P90 immediately. I wanted to hear this story, even if it was a ruse. I saw the others do the same, following Sheppard's lead when he'd done it.
"It's alright," he soothed the Wraith.
"Father," Ellia said worriedly.
"No, I won't let them hurt you," he told her. He turned to us. "I raised her as my own."
"You live here, together?" Teyla asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
"This was part of a mine before the last culling. It's not much to look at, I know, but we don't have much choice. The people of the village would not understand," the guy explained to us.
"Gee, I wonder why," Sheppard said sarcastically.
"The villagers told us there was a Wraith in the forest. It came here in a crashed ship ten years ago," Teyla said.
"Ten years ago? Ellia was just a child. Do you really think that she could have been responsible for the deaths that happened immediately after the crash?" the old man told us.
"So you know about that, then?" McKay asked.
"I was there, I helped kill the survivors," he explained. "But when I found a young female lying unconscious some distance from the crash…I couldn't bring myself to hurt her. I brought her here to this cave to hide her from the others. To this day, the people of the village don't know, and you must promise not to tell them. She's not responsible for what's been happening."
"Then who is?" Ronon demanded.
"I believe another Wraith survived the crash. An adult. That's who you should be out looking for," he said and I rolled my eyes.
"If she does not feed, how does she live?" Teyla asked.
"At first I fed her as you would any child and that seemed to suffice. But then something began to change," he explained, McKay chose that moment to start wandering around looking at the alchemy stuff on the table.
"The food no longer gave her any sustenance. There was a hunger growing in her that would not be satisfied. I heard the stories of the other creature, what it did to survive, and I was afraid that was what Ellia would become. And so I… started to experiment. I have extensive knowledge of the chemical properties of various medicinal plants that grow in this forest. Are you interested in science?"
"I'm not sure that's what I would call this, but yes," McKay said and I wanted to smack him for being arrogant again but he was too far away.
"Ellia's hunger was growing stronger every day, and I wasn't sure that I could do anything for her. But eventually… I came up with this," he said, holding up a flask. It had a dark red almost purple liquid in it that almost looked like wine.
We all exchanged glances before we started a group huddle. Teyla, McKay and I were to stay here while Sheppard and Ronon would go back to Atlantis to discuss what we'd learned and if it was even possible. I for one was fascinated. This was my first, real life encounter with a Wraith, everything else I'd seen of them was either in reports or ships. And she was completely different to everything else we thought we knew about them.
I was standing beside Zaddik, as he'd introduced himself, and Ellia as they made up the serum as a demonstration for us. I decided to get up close and personal with everything, I looked at the vials, watched the process, poked stuff Ellia was using which made her laugh,
"Remember the leaves must be dried and finely ground," Zaddik said to Ellia as she ground some herbs with a mortar and pestle. She held the bowl out to him as she ground the herbs for approval.
"Like this?" she asked.
"A little more," he told her as he walked around the bench. The various vials were bubbling and it was just like something out of an old scifi movie. "Now, why is distillation an important step?" She bit her lip as she thought about the answer, acting like any other teenage girl I'd ever seen.
"To remove the toxins from the Ferassin root?" she asked and he beamed.
"Precisely. We wouldn't want the serum to send you into paralytic shock, now, would we?" he said playfully. She smiled and rolled her eyes at him.
"No, father," she said. It was amazing, the Wraith female I'd heard about were vicious, ruthless queens who treated everyone like the scum of the earth. This one was a giggly teenage girl, she was practically human.
"I like your fingernails, why are they pink?" Ellia asked me. I smiled at her.
"I painted them this colour with nail polish," I explained. "It's a custom some of my people practice. Would you like me to do yours?"
She nodded eagerly. I looked at Zaddik for approval and he smiled warmly at me, giving me the nod. We went to a bench with seats in front of it and took one each. I dug into my pocket for the nailpolish I'd borrowed from Cadman and meant to give back before I went on this mission. I'd been insistent I didn't need it, and that I wouldn't be able to paint my nails ever again but Cadman was insistent and I managed to do it by taping the brush to my porus prosthetic and practicing.
I put the lid of the bottle in my mouth and twisted the bottom part until it opened. I took her hand and rested it on top of my wooden one, using it to hold her hand up to my face. I picked up the brush in my right hand and started gently painting her green fingernails a baby pink colour. She giggled excitedly as each nail was transformed. I moved on to her second hand and she looked down at my wooden one.
"Do you mind if I ask.."
"What happened to my hand?" I asked, smiling softly. I was used to this by now. She nodded bashfully. "I was in an accident. There was a fire and I needed to have part of my arm removed in order to save my life."
"I'm so sorry," she said and I smiled softly.
"No, sweetie, that's not on you," I told her. "It's alright, I'm still here, aren't I?"
"I know, but I wish you didn't have to go through that," she said and I smiled. I was impressed at the level of empathy Ellia was capable of feeling and portraying.
"There," I said. "All done. But these are still drying so be careful what you touch, otherwise half your dad's lab will be pink."
I heard the radio go off and Sheppard's voice come through. I picked up one of Ellia's hands and showed her how to blow on her nails to dry them faster. I was only half listening, still fascinated by the very gentle and kind Wraith that was sitting across from me. I held her feeding hand in mine and she hadn't even thought about using it on me.
"We just got back with Beckett. Ronon's going to take him up to the cave. I'm going to check in with the villagers," John said.
"What are you going to tell them?" Teyla said. It came through my radio so she must have been speaking very softly as I didn't hear her in person.
"I'm still working on that," John replied.
Maybe 10 minutes Ronon and Beckett wandered through the door with a bunch of crates. I smiled at Beckett from my spot with Ellia who had been chatting away with me about all the stuff her father had taught her. Once her nails were dry she hopped up off the stool to make some tea for her guests. I hated to say it but she was almost cute.
"This equipment's remarkable. Where did you get it?" Zaddik asked, fascinated by all the medical hardware Beckett had brought.
"Oh, here and there. Let's start by analysing that drug of yours, shall we?" Beckett said.
"Oh, yes. Of course," Zaddik said, sounding excited. Ellia went over and Beckett seemed taken aback, seeing her up close for the first time. She held a tray of terracotta cups and went around the room offering them to people.
"Would you like some tea?" she asked him and her father.
"Oh, thank you," Zaddik replied and eagerly took a cup. Beckett was shocked but then politely refused. She handed a cup to McKay who was also baffled but reluctantly took it. I grabbed one off the tray, helping myself and she grinned at me.
"Would you like some?" she asked Ronon who glared at her.
"No."
"Are you sure? It's very good," Ellia said and he nearly bit her head off. If looks could kill.
"I said no," he told her and she looked disheartened. I shot her a sympathetic look. She went over to a table in the kitchen to put down her tray of tea and instead went around with biscuits. She bounced up to Ronon, determined to make friends.
"Maybe some biscuits? I baked them myself," Ellia said, offering him the plate. He slammed the plate out of her hand, knocking everything to the floor, absolutely furious with her.
"Stay away from me!" he yelled at her and Ellia let out a scream in a Wraith voice. Ronon pulled his gun and aimed it at her. Teyla threw up her hand, stopping him in his tracks.
"Ronon!" She scolded.
Ellia rushed out of the cave and Zaddik chased after her. I felt bad. Ronon was clearly uncomfortable in this situation and I couldn't blame him. He'd been tortured and hunted by the Wraith for 7 years and before that he grew up in a community constantly being culled by the Wraith. But he wasn't being skirty or even just a little brash, he was being outright rude to someone who was clearly different to the rest.
"Was that really necessary?" Teyla asked Ronon.
"You can dress her up and teach her table manners but it's not going to change who she is," Ronon replied angrily.
I bent down to pick up the plate and clean up the biscuits. I moved them back to the kitchen before I sighed. I wanted to go outside, speak to Ellia but at the same time, her father was already there, and he knew her a lot better than I did. I took a sip of the tea she'd made. It was very good. I put my cup down and walked out of the cave, finding her sitting in Zaddik's arms sobbing.
"Hey," I said softly. Zaddik and Ellia looked up at me. "I thought you might want a girly chat, is that okay?"
"Ellia?" Zaddik asked and she nodded. I walked over and sat down at her other side, smiling softly at her. Zaddik got up and left to go back inside.
"First I want to apologise for how Ronon is treating you. He's brash and a little rough around the edges, but with good reason. The Wraith he knows killed all his people on his home world and then as one of the last survivors he was taken captive and hunted for sport for the last 7 years. It's no excuse for the way he's treating you but it's not really you he's upset with. He's having trouble separating you from the people who hurt him," I explained and she nodded. "But I wouldn't worry, he'll either come around or he wont. You don't need everyone's approval to have a happy life. You already have someone who loves you, your father."
"I suppose so," Ellia said.
"Now, how about something that always cheers me up when a boy's mean to me," I said and pulled a candy bar out of my jacket pocket. I held it out to her.
"What is this?" she asked.
"This, is chocolate," I told her and tore the silver foil open. I snapped off a piece and gave it to her, next taking one for myself. I bit into it and chewed and she copied my motions. She gave a pleasant hum as she tried it and like it.
"I like chocolate," she told me happily and I laughed. I gave her the rest of the bar and sat with her outside in the cave for a minute.
After a little convincing, Ellia came with me back inside and we went to her bedroom to hang out. This way, I could keep an eye on her and make sure she really wasn't responsible for killing those villagers, but it was on her home turf where she would feel safe. I was pretty convinced she was different from other Wraith but it didn't change the fact she did have a feeding hand and could use it any time she wanted.
John POV
I got back to the cave and gave my report to Zaddik, hoping he might be able to give us a little more to go on than another Wraith is out there. At the very least I needed to get Ronon and use his tracking skills to hunt the damn thing down.
"You see? I told you she wasn't responsible for the killings. The serum makes it unnecessary for her to feed," Zaddik told me. I looked over at Beckett who was behind his computer, working away.
"Can you confirm that?" I asked.
"Not yet. It'll be a while before I can complete my analysis," Beckett responded.
"All right. Well in the meantime, there's another Wraith out there," I said and then glanced around the room. I furrowed my brow. "Where's O'Neill?"
"She's in there playing make believe with that thing," Ronon said. Zaddik and I both shot him a look for being so distasteful, although Zaddik's was much more severe.
"I believe Ellia may be able to help us find it," Teyla said, stepping in before we had another fight on our hands.
"How?" Zaddik asked.
"May I speak with her?" Teyla asked and he nodded, allowing her to go off to the Wraith girl's bedroom.
"All right," he said.
I didn't like the idea of Evelyn spending so much time with this Wraith girl. This was her first encounter with one and I didn't want it warping her view of them. I also didn't like the idea this Wraith might snap at any time and try to eat her. I glanced towards the slightly ajar bedroom door where the three women were and sighed.