Evelyn POV
While it had been two days since the storm, the gloom still lingered, making the clouds a fuzzy, light gray. The sunlight struggling to get through illuminated the water vapours covering everything in a harsh, white light. I squinted as I stepped outside and brought a hand up to shield my eyes. Having gone back to my room to change once John and I had finally gotten out of the shower, I was fully dressed in my black Atlantis uniform.
I looked around at the people milling around in front of me. Beyond the team of scientists fiddling around with the Dart there was a different team of people in charge of cleaning up the debris scattered around from the storm. I didn't spot anyone I knew, not right away. I got a glimpse of Zelenka, head right in the ass of the Dart, but no sign of anyone else. John had mentioned something about meeting me here, because he needed to speak to someone. Which had explained his lack of presence. I hadn't asked questions, that was his business, plus, I was too busy trying to convince my jelly legs to pull themselves together and walk straight.
"At long last," McKay bellowed, indignant temperament jolting me from my daze. "Where the hell have you been?"
"What do you mean?" I asked, walking over to where his team was combing through various parts from the Dart. I had to dodge several of the workers that were scurrying around trying to clear all the fly away rubble.
"I sent someone to your room this morning when you weren't in the lab, I figured you'd want to see this," he explained. "After all, you were the one to take out the pilot."
"Don't remind me," I groaned, thinking about all the goo, and how hard it'd been to wash off. "What'd you find out?"
"Hang on, Colonel Sheppard has also decided to make an appearance," Rodney grumbled. "You know he had me manage this because he didn't want to get out of bed? I bet he's been sleeping this entire time. At least you were probably off doing something productive."
"Rodney," John called out, walking over. He turned to me. "Evelyn," he nodded once before looking back at the oversized mosquito McKay was standing in front of. "What do we know?"
"Alright, we know at least how our Wraith got in," Rodney explained. "Whether intentional or not, he was able to use the storm as the perfect cover to fly right in undetected. Between it being the perfect distraction and all of our equipment being thrown out, there was no way, save for it flying directly over the top of someone, that would have known he was even here. And even then it was pretty dark."
"I'll say," John agreed. "O'Neill and I could barely see each other, let alone a three feet in front of us."
"Okay, so why?" I asked. "Why did they come up with such an elaborate plan to get in?"
"Looks like in an attempt at bargaining for their lives they, or at least our mummified friend, managed to convince the Wraith that not only were we still here, but they could help us disable our shields and make us vulnerable to Wraith attack."
"Except they had no idea what they were talking about," I commented. "Too bad, if they'd understood anything about this city, it might have worked." Rodney laughed.
"Well their mistake is our victory," John shrugged next to us. I crossed my arm over my middle and held onto my stump. This was pretty much as close as I could get to crossing my arms without my prosthetic. I leaned back opting to stare at the ship rather than having eyes on the conversation.
"I'm assuming this Genii had only ever heard the story of their attempted coup, and didn't actually know what happened," Rodney explained. "Which I'm also assuming, is why we found the charred bits of uniform and flesh. She probably tried to sabotage the conduits not realising there's a bunch of other live tech under there. It's impressive she managed to cause any real issues at all, let alone set off an experimental alert system that I wasn't sure would even work."
"Well, now we know it does," John said and I smiled.
"Now it's not hard to imagine once the Wraith found out she was bluffing, he decided to return her to her primary function, a snack," Rodney said, finalising his working theory.
"Okay, and do we know if he was working with anyone?" John asked. Rodney shrugged. I raised an eyebrow. All that and now he was stumped? Surely this was actually something he could search for. Weren't there transmission logs on these things? But I supposed Wraith had the telepathy thing so maybe not.
"I don't know if Wraith exile each other, but it looks like this particular one was not welcome back home. Which might be why he agreed to this ludicrous plan," Rodney explained and Sheppard nodded understandingly.
"If he could come back with something significant, show his worth, they might let him back in," John continued and Rodney nodded.
"Exactly," he confirmed. "And what's a bigger gesture than bringing Atlantis, the city that previously caused them so much struggle, to its knees?"
"So, any other Genii or was it just our friend?" I asked, looking back at the two of them and gesturing to the Dart with my head.
"Well that's the bad news," Rodney said, following my gaze to the ship his team was surrounding. "Looks like there's a lot of life signs in there. We can get them out, especially since nothing is damaged like last time but, it would mean having a bunch of Genii on our base."
"Well," John exhaled, glancing over at the alien ship one more time. "We better go and talk to Weir about this."
I nodded beside Rodney and the two of us stood staring at the Dart with a shared look of disdain. While this was an excellent opportunity to learn more about Wraith technology, especially since this Dart is in working condition unlike the last one we had to try and get Cadman out of, it still brought back the memories of trying to get Cadman out. And it would also mean unleashing a bunch of space communists unto the galaxy.
"What are you two just standing there for?" John boomed, startling Rodney and I, making me jump about a foot in the air. John tried to hide his amusement as the two of us turned back around to see him a few feet away from the door leading back inside.
"Huh?" Rodney asked.
"I said, we, didn't I McKay?" John said. "That means the whole team," he jerked his head towards the door. "Come on."
"Right," Rodney nodded and I smiled, offering him a singular nod and a muttered, "Yes sir." to which he took even greater amusement in.
"Sir," John grinned cheekily. "I could get used to that."
"Don't," I rolled my eyes at him.
The three of us set a quick pace, marching towards the nearest transporter. There was a bridging transporter right by the Gateroom which would have us in Weir's office in no time. However if the whole team was invited, it might take Teyla and Ronon a while to catch up, wherever they were. John put his hand to his ear, radioing them to meet us there.
I rolled my stiff shoulder, I wasn't used to sleeping on my side, and my body was making me pay for it. Karmic retribution I thought, what I get for having a secret relationship with my boss.
"Something wrong with your shoulder?" Rodney asked and I waved him off. If only he knew.
"Eh, must have slept funny," I dismissed. He didn't push any further and we walked in silence the rest of the way to the control room.
I walked step for step behind John, and Rodney walked at his side, nervously wringing his fingers. A trait the two of us used to share, it would seem. I stared thoughtfully down at his hands, wondering what could have him so worked up all of a sudden. Weir glanced up from her paperwork as we reached the walkway to her office and smiled at myself and John.
"John, back again so soon, and you've brought.." Weir started just as McKay came into view, walking into her office ahead of us and presenting himself in front of her. "..Rodney.."
"Yes, we've finished our analysis of the Dart," Rodney said, oblivious to Weir's surprise. I however raised a brow and looked between her and John. She looked like she was asking him something and he shook his head at her. He jerked his head towards Rodney and she looked like she had more questions but held her tongue. I had questions of my own, now, but decided to push them to the side for now.
I stepped further into the room and walked right up to one of the chairs she kept in front of her desk for visitors. I slumped into one and leaned on one of my elbows, waiting for the rest of the team.
"Right," Weir nodded in response. She folded her arms over her chest and leaned on her desk, looking up at him expectantly. He was about to start talking again but fortunately Ronon and Teyla chose that moment to show up. Showing little regard to whose office he was in, Ronon strolled right up to the couch along the side wall and flopped down like he was in his own living room. Teyla smiled at me and offered me a nod, sitting down beside me on the edge of my chair.
"Looks like it was a solo mission," John, who had been leaning up against the door jam up until this point, said. He walked further into her office and perched on the corner of her desk, facing everyone in the room.
"Well that's good news, isn't it?" Weir asked.
"It's the only good news," I commented.
"Turns out the Genii body we found yesterday wasn't the only outsider this Wraith brought to our base," John explained.
"So we've got a live cargo loaded right into the dart and nowhere to put them," Rodney said and Weir raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well they're probably Genii and we haven't exactly had the best of luck with them," he told her.
"Are you suggesting we leave them in there?" Weir asked and I shrugged, at least then we'd be able to find out how long humans could survive inside there in a dematerialised state.
"No," Rodney protested, annoyed she'd even suggest such a thing. "But we can't just let them out here. Remember last time they were in Atlantis. Also, as far as we know they lead that Wraith here."
"So we take the Dart to some random planet with a gate and let them out there," Ronon said.
"How? None of us know how to fly that thing," Rodney argued. "Most experience we've had is Evelyn fiddling around with things in the cockpit last time and we all know that didn't exactly go well."
"Hey!" I snapped my head over to him. "I'd have had you out in seconds if the safety protocols hadn't've barred me from doing it. Other than lack of power, I think I did just fine."
"You can't even read Wraith," Rodney countered and I scoffed.
"Well not as well as you can, Dr Smarty Pants, but I understood enough to get you out in the end. Which you still haven't thanked me for, FYI," I pointed out, turning away from him and glaring at the wall.
"Oh thank you for recklessly edjecting me from an alien spacecraft with a second consciousness in my head, I'm so grateful. And let's not forget, some of that was Zelenka," Rodney fired back and I shook my head.
"Typical, the only time you give Zelenka any credit for anything and it's when you're trying to shut me down," I bit back and crossed one leg over the other.
"Regardless," John warned, raising his voice in an attempt at calming the situation down. "If moving the Dart isn't an option, what else can we do?"
"I don't see why we can't just let them out here. With our gate still locked down, it's not like they have many places to go. None of them have the gene necessary to pilot the Jumpers and the only place from there to go is to the mainland. They could go to space but they wouldn't be able to get back to their planet for centuries," I said.
"Let them out here and then what?" John asked.
"Boot them back through the gate to their own place," I shrugged. "It's not like the Genii don't already know we're still here. We can't hold them prisoner, even if we did have enough space and manpower to keep them, it'd be a waste of resources. What else can we do with them?"
"Killing them is out?" Ronon asked, leaning forward on his knees.
"Ronon!" Teyla scolded, looking back at him with a glare.
"Well yeah, we kind of lose the moral high ground if we go around murdering everyone we disagree with," I said and he smiled at me, amused.
"We need to find out if they were all working with the Wraith or if it was just that one woman," Weir said. "Once we establish they're not going to contact other Wraith once we release them, O'Neill is right, we should just send them home."
"Well, alright," John nodded, looking around at all of us, checking to see if we were all in agreement. "Guess we free them and get some answers."
"All right, keep me in the loop," Weir agreed and then dismissed us.
Teyla and Ronon headed off without another word, Rodney following after them, storming down the stairs into the gateroom, still seething from our minor disagreement. Looks like when I said I wished things were back to the way they used to be I should have been more specific. Now things looked like they were back to when he and I first met.
I caught Weir and John exchanging more secret glances, wordless conversation going on between them and I internally sighed. I'll know when it's my business to know and no sooner. I pushed myself up out of the armchair and headed out of her office, walking past Chuck in the control room and offering him a smile and a wave before heading down the stairs.
"Hey," John called from the top of the landing. At the bottom of the flight I looked back up at him, pausing in my tracks. He was leaning over the railing to grab my attention and I folded my arms, waiting for him to say more. "Hold up, I'll walk with you."
He pushed off the railing and hurried around the side, taking the stairs two at a time until he reached me. He smiled softly before we started up pace again and walked in a comfortable silence until we were someplace more private.
"So, what was that just now with McKay?" he asked and I shrugged.
"Something's bothering him, he was ringing his hands earlier," I said. "It might not have anything to do with me, he's just taking it out where he can."
"You can tell he's nervous just from that?" John asked and I shrugged again.
"There's been other things, subtle movements and expressions, when you're around him as often as I am, you pick up on his little Rodney-isms," I explained. Unable to keep to my plan of minding my own business I looked over at him. "Hey, what was that back there with Weir?"
"What do you mean?" John asked, playing the ignorance card.
"Don't act dumb, John," I said, annoyed. "She's been looking at me weird since we walked into her office and the two of you have been sending each other looks the whole time. What don't I know?"
"It's nothing," he said and I didn't much believe him.
John POV
Earlier…
Walking through the control room, I spotted Weir through her office window. She was going over some papers behind her desk and looked deep in thought. Evelyn raised a good point earlier, how long could Beckett keep things to himself? So what was probably against her wishes, I wanted to put some feelers out, gage what Elizabeth would say before the two of us came clean about seeing each other.
I knocked on the frame and Eizabeth glanced up at me. She smiled warmly at me and waved for me to come inside.
"John," she greeted. "Have a seat.'
I followed her invitation and sat in one of the armchairs across from her. I didn't exactly know how to go about this, I hadn't planned this and maybe I should have. I didn't want to actually say anything had happened yet, Evelyn would kill me. Or worse, dump me.
"What can I do for you?" Weir asked.
"Well, I don't know there's actually anything you can do for me, not yet," I answered and she looked at me, slightly amused.
"Alright, then why are you here?" she asked and I smiled.
"What, I can't visit?" I joked and she shook her head. "Alright, hypothetically," I started and she put her papers down on her desk, leaning back and giving me her full attention.
"Hypothetically," she confirmed.
"Say I had feelings for someone in the expedition," I said. "Would that be a problem?"
"Will this interfere with your job?" she asked and I shook my head. "Well then John, you're human, if you're interested in someone I can't ask you not to. Just be advised if it does start interfering, I'm putting a stop to it."
"Hypothetically," I said and she nodded.
"Hypothetically," she repeated and paused for a moment. Her expression changed from firm to excited and she scooted closer in her chair. "So, does this hypothetical person reciprocate?"
"I'd say so, yeah," I replied casually, I knew that much at least. Evelyn might not want to go public, or use labels but I knew at least she liked me. "So you really don't have a problem with me seeing someone on this expedition, even though I'm, say, the military leader?"
"Are you planning on using your position in order to get this hypothetical person?" Weir asked, raising a brow. I shook my head.
"No," I replied. "That would be an abuse of power."
"Good," she said. "Then no, I don't have a problem. You're allowed to date, John. So long as Atlantis doesn't suffer because your priorities have shifted, you having a girlfriend doesn't pose an issue."
"Alright," I replied. "Well that's that then."
"Just come back when you're ready and let me fill out the declaration forms and mark them for approval," she told me and I nodded.