{011}

Midnight seemed like the perfect hour to unpack; at least for me it did. My body didn't seem to want sleep. Not that I could blame it. Pulling a weeks-worth of the sleeping beauty had left me wide awake sipping on a cup of coffee as I stared at the blank walls of my room. The meeting with Elizabeth had been exhausting. The rest of the day continuing along the same lines.

Most of the day was spent roaming the cleared sections of the city before delving into my new workspace. Working long into the night preparing assignments and charters for my co-workers had kept my mind busy. Surprisingly, McKay had done a good job managing the department resources while I slept away. I was glad to see that he had kept the larger assignments for me to do personally.

One by one I meticulously attached department members to different Gate Teams. Making sure that personality and work ethics matched one another. Having a well-oiled team was important; especially out here. Sheppard had given his input on assignments and for the most part I honored his requests.

The Major had also left me several missions reports to look over in order to catch myself up. McKay had done something similar with recent technological finds and Teyla had thoughtfully written out some of the Athosian history and customs. I hadn't realized how much I had missed. Not just the missions or spectacular finds; there was always more of that.

I had missed out on the comradery. Sure, I had spent the better part of a year with the team on Earth, but people tend to bond differently in chaotic and near-death situations. For the first time in a long time I felt—alone. I had thought that delving into my work would provide a distraction from the ugly realities that shadowed my every step.

I was wrong.

Now, as I sat looking at my room of unpacked totes, there was no escaping the stale bite of loneliness.

The room was cozy for not having been lived in for ten-thousand years. A full-size bed dominated the main wall, on it, a small pile of Athosian blankets and a wall hanging from Teyla and Halling interrupted their pale surroundings. Picking one up, I ran my hand over the intricate craftsmanship of intersecting patterns and colors. They reminded me of the Abydos blankets Skaara had given me when Daniel had introduced us.

Letting out a heavy sigh, I set the blanket down, turning to stare at my surroundings. My totes were stacked in a corner near one of the closets. A small smile inched across my face as I read the note from Major Sheppard stating that he was not my bellhop and I owed him big time.

One by one I began to empty the totes around me. Meticulously placing my new belongings in their new home. No one would have been more excited to help me unpack than my father. Even in the years of our disagreement and silence he had always been there to help me move into my new apartments. Tote by tote would have been unpacked with is help, quietly lecturing me on my horrible packing habits as he put my things away in a military fashion knowing full well that I would rearrange everything when he was gone.

I had always like to call those moments our peace ground. Pulling the lid off the final tote, I felt my heart stutter as the familiar scent of aftershave and spice filled the space around me.

Inside were my father's belongings from home. Those that he was allowed to take with him, and a large bottle of Scottish Whiskey. Gulping back the tears, I picked up a small hand carved box sitting at the top. It was one of the last gifts I had made for my mother before she passed away. Its contents were simple: his dog tags, a few magazine articles, and several family photos.

One of the pictures was at a gala event at the Smithsonian when I had been recognized for one of my discoveries of a WWII wreck in Europe. I hadn't even known he had been there. The magazine articles were all about me and my work.

Found this box among your father's off world gear. Thought you might want it. –Bates

Sinking to the floor, I laughed through my sobs, clutching the box tight to my chest. Why couldn't I stop crying? I had stood in Elizabeth's office unable to cry after she told me the news of his death. Part of me knew there was something wrong. Even if I couldn't remember it.

But now, holding what little I had left of him, the tears refused to cease. Even at the sound of my door opening, I still couldn't seem to control myself. For a moment I thought it might be Connor. Hoped it would be. Instead, I found myself face to face with Major Sheppard whose look of awkward concern elicited the urge to cry even more.

He knelt down in front of me, taking a few silent moments, before he made himself comfortable on the floor to my right. It was obvious he didn't know what to do. It wasn't hard to see that Sheppard wasn't any good at comforting people. His presence was enough for me. The feeling of being alone had begun to seep into my mind and his steady warmth next to me reminded me that I was not alone.

My breathing hitched when I felt his arm around my shoulder, dragging me into his side. Sighing, I curled into his warmth, letting him take some of the burden that haunted me.

I was not alone.

Groaning, I swiped irritatingly at my alarm clock. The incessant beeping disturbing my sleep. Six in the morning was far too early to be out of bed. The alarm refused to cease its shrill tone despite the fact that I had hit it several times in frustration. Raising my head from the comfort of my pillow; I sighed when I realized that it was in fact my radio, not my alarm, that was dredging me from sleep.

"Moore." My voice was groggy with a bit of an edge when I realized that it was only five in the morning.

"This is Grodin, Ma'am," The cheerful voice drifted over the radio waves. Die Grodin. You and your morning cheerfulness.

"Go ahead." My feet hit the floor, hand sweeping over my face in frustration.

"You are needed in the conference room in ten."

"On my way."

Somehow, I managed to sleepily stumble my way into a pair of standard black tactical pants and a plain black shirt without falling over. Praise be for minor miracles. I threw my copper strands into a messy bun and threw on my boots as I sprinted out the door looking more than a little silly.

No one on Atlantis batted an eyelash as I dodged in and out of scientists five minutes later with a steaming cup of hot coffee in my hand. Trying my best not to spill the precious liquid, I made my way up to the conference room, slightly more awake. Slightly. It had only been a few weeks since I had woken up in sick bay, but things had begun to fall into place.

Out of breath, I threw myself down into one of the chairs between Connor and Sheppard. The first sip of my coffee warming my body against the chill of the room.

"Didn't bother to bring us any?" Sheppard feigned hurt. "If you're gonna be late for a meeting you should at least bring your CO some coffee." I gave him an impish grin as I took another long sip of my heavenly beverage and heaved a sigh of contentment. God, this coffee was better than porn. Especially since we were rationed to one cup a day.

"Rub it in." He scowled. Connor faked a yawn, trying not to laugh at his CO pouting.

We hadn't really decided where we were at. True to his word, Connor hadn't pressured me about the dinner. The man hadn't brought it up once since his initial request. Part of me still felt like I had fallen into a parallel universe. I'm still waiting for McKay to become humbler…hasn't happened.

The two of us had fallen into a rhythm. Once you got him going, he was rather talkative. An aspect I liked about his personality. Sure, there were still the moments of silence, but it was less awkward than it had been before.

"Good morning everyone," Weir greeted as she entered the room. "As you know Rodney and Alex have decoded parts of the Ancient database that relate to where we might locate some ZPMs."

"Finally." Sheppard winked at me. I bit back a laugh, shaking my head in amusement. The man was trying to get a rise out of McKay.

"Finally?" McKay took the bait. He always did when his ego was involved. Maybe I wasn't in a parallel universe…or maybe all McKay's are the same across all of them. Yep, I could certainly believe the latter. "Do you know how many gate addresses we tried? The long nights we put in scouring the database for references to ZPMs? Especially since the Ancient's didn't call them ZPMs?"

Sheppard beamed, pleased with his success. McKay was currently a frustrated shade of red as he continued his tirade on how tirelessly he worked. Forgetting entirely altogether that I was also a part of this project. I felt like the kid in class who did all the work but got none of the credit.

"Can we get back on track, please?" One cup of coffee was not enough for me to listen to McKay babble on about how great he was. Weir nodded in agreement and McKay's babbling egocentrism stopped.

"We isolated the frequency on which ZPMs operate. We believe that we can locate them without having to do a blind search," I informed the group. "McKay and Radek were able to assemble a device to not only attach to the Jumper for flyovers but a handheld one to locate them on the ground."

"The Jumper's device will allow for us to narrow the search radius down to a few miles," McKay stepped in. "Now, I won't go into the specifics of how it works because none of you will understand, but I'll go through and show you how to troubleshoot it in case anything was to go wrong."

The next hour passed like a sloth trudging through molasses. Rodney's quick troubleshooting guide, which I already knew the specifications on, turned into a heroic tale of how he managed to put the device together with scraps of ancient technology. Finally, when he was done, the room of people whose eyes had glazed over, were now restless and hungry.

"Great!" Sheppard beamed as he stood up from the table. "We'll do two teams. McKay will go with Ford and Teyla. Alex will be with Geraghty and myself."

Who say what now? I looked up from the empty coffee cup I had been playing with surprised. Did I need to get my hearing check?

"What am I doing?" I asked curiously. "Cause it sounded a lot like you said I was going somewhere." Over my dead body. As quickly as the room had come together that morning; it was emptied. Just me and Sheppard.

Cowards.

Sheppard knew how I felt about going off world again—as in I wouldn't be. So far, I had managed to dodge mission after mission by sending equally qualified if not overly qualified colleagues in my place without incident. The look on Sheppard's face told me I was going to have to turn on my inner Ronda Rousey for this one.

"The surface area we need to cover is large," Sheppard states, leaning against the edge of the table. "This means two teams."

"You don't need an archaeologist on this Sheppard," I pointed out, eyes narrowing at him. "You are looking for a ZPM on an uninhabited planet."

"We both know that you had just as much input on how those devices operate as McKay did," Sheppard challenged. Damn. He was right. "I need you there in case something goes wrong."

Radek could help fix it. Hell, any of McKay's team could learn to fix it with ease. Opening my mouth to rebuttal, Sheppard beat me to it.

"And before you say that someone else can fix it," He stared at me knowingly. Damn he was good. "I don't want someone who needs to follow a fix-it manual. I need someone who knows the mechanics of it and unless I clone Rodney, that person is you."

Ha, he thought there was a fix-it manual.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, I stared the Major down, my blue eyes boring into his. Instead of arguing, I turned on my heels and marched from the room like a petulant child, ignoring the amused look of the CO.

"That looked like it went well."

Sheppard shook his head wryly as he watched the red head leave. He had known that she wasn't going to like the idea of going off world. She had been avidly avoiding it. The archaeologist had honored every match that he had purposed for off-world teams. All but one. Sheppard had wanted her on his team from the start. She was smart, dedicated, and most importantly could follow Rodney on his tirades when no one else had a hope to understand him.

Every time he put forth a request—she denied it.

"Went better than I thought it would." Sheppard smirked at Connor. He like the man and was glad when the Marine had accepted the offer to be his second in command. Ford was the only other one that met rank qualifications, but Connor had more time in the Corp.

"I was expecting her to start yelling at you," Connor admitted with a small smile. "Or slug you." Sheppard's boyish laugh echoed through the empty room. He wouldn't have been surprised if she did.

"She's scared." The Major pointed out the obvious. If anyone knew the red head better than him, it was Connor. It wasn't obvious to everyone, but he could see the way pair looked at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking. Connor was a private man. Much like Alex's father, he didn't wear his emotions out for everyone to see. Not like Alex did. There was hardly a time when you couldn't tell what the girl was thinking or feeling. She wore her heart on her sleeve.

"Not surprising," Connor murmured. "Didn't go so well the last time." Sheppard nodded, the gears in his head turning. It was understandable. The death of her father had affected her more than she was willing to admit. No matter how much she insisted she was fine; she wasn't. Quiet sobs and fitful dreams filtered through their shared bedroom wall. Part of him was hoping that a successful mission would help her get her head out of the sand.

"Keep an eye one her," Sheppard smirked at his second in command. "Not that I have to tell you to do that." Connor shook his head at his CO before playfully flipping him off as he headed out the door. Sheppard laughed. Yeah, he was definitely glad he had chosen the Marine as his second.

Now, he just had to work on Alex. He was going to bring back that fiery red headed personality whether she liked it or not. Even if it meant he had to pull her along kicking and screaming.

A/N: Loving the reviews and support! Thank you guys so much! Please enjoy this chapter!

Till next time..