Chapter 36

It was just as frustrating here as it was on Atlantis. There wasn't a single door anywhere he could slam in frustration.

Ronon stormed from the records office at Valdora, his Chapellan cloak sweeping a clean trail in the gathered dust on the entrance steps as he departed. He was hot, tired, and irritated, and if he had to look at one more set of transaction records, he swore he would gouge out his own eyes. The building was a repository for trade records all over Gragoffa, and they had been trawling through them for days now, but all the work had come to nothing.

He stood at the base of the staircase, gazing up at the shimmering waves of highly polished, titanium walls that housed what they had hoped would lead them to the Stargate, and imagined taking a club to it, denting every fluidly shaped and burnished panel until it looked worse than a Birajan transporter.

A street vendor carrying baskets of fruit, but with no social acuity, pestered him to buy something, despite him trying to wave them away. The seller, refusing to take no for an answer, held a piece of something he called slava fruit up near Ronon's hooded face, pushing it into the shadowy folds and telling him he wouldn't find better slava anywhere on the planet, a bargain at one credit for four.

Ronon took hold of the fruit and squeezed it, crushing it until it exploded into tiny pieces, an activity that mildly relieved his anger. 'I said no,' he growled. The little vendor watched as he dropped the crushed remnants of the slava fruit to the dust between them, then hurriedly backed away, saying nothing more.

'Feel better?' he heard Teyla call to him.

He turned to see her slight form, also shrouded in a heavy cloak, descending the stone steps of the records office. He couldn't see her face, but he knew she was angry with him. And she had every right to be. That had drawn attention they could well do without.

'If I have to look through one more set of records…'

'I understand your frustration, but this is the only lead we have to follow at the moment.'

'It's been a week.'

'I know, and I fear for John, too.'

And with those few simple words she had struck right at the heart of the problem. Teyla understood him far better than anyone. His anger was rooted in fear. Fear that Sheppard would think that they had left him behind.

'What's going on in there?' he asked, dipping his hooded head toward the building.

'Lansha and Juroah are asking if there is anyone else we can speak to,' she sighed. 'They will not be long.'

Ronon nodded, accepting that. He moved himself into a patch of shade cast by a tall clock tower. It was almost midday, and the heat from the two suns was building. He didn't know how much longer he would be able to cope in this disguise. He needed to get out of it.

Thankfully, the others all emerged only a few moments later. 'Char Gromer was most helpful,' Juroah grinned. 'We may have just the Chapellan we need to talk to.'

'You said that about the last records keeper we spoke to,' Ronon grumbled. 'Turned out to be a dead end…again.'

'But this time the record keeper is obsessive about Lantean technologies,' Lansha explained 'She has tracked the sale of every known piece of Lantean tech in the galaxy.'

'So, she should know where the Stargate is,' Teyla said. 'It must be considered one of the most impressive inventions of the Lanteans.'

'Indeed. The prize of any collection. We can travel there now if you'd like?''

'Yes, we would like that very much,' Teyla instantly agreed without even consulting Ronon.

'As long as I can get out of this cloak and cool down for a while, I'm up for it,' he grumbled.

'We can cool down and take refreshments on the way,' Juroah grinned. 'I have a good feeling about this one.'

He and Lansha strode away heading for their craft.

Ronon gestured for Teyla to follow on before him so he could watch their six. 'You said that the last time, too,' he muttered, pulling his hood a little lower over his forehead to ensure his face was well concealed. He liked Lansha and Juroah…their hearts were in the right place…but they moved slow and took things way too gently for his liking. If they'd cracked some heads, they might have had better results by now. And he was more than ready to crack some heads.

oooOOOooo

'You are certain it was her?'

Tarrantha looked around at all the yellow eyes that had fixed on her, bright with vigour and anticipation, and nodded. 'I am certain?'

'Do you know where she is?'

That was the most frustrating thing. The contact had been brief…fleeting…a moment of heightened distress that had sent ripples through her developing hive mind. 'I do not,' she confessed. She walked away, taking a seat at one of the stone benches in the meeting hall. 'I only know she was in great pain.'

'She is not Wraith. I will be difficult to connect with her,' Gilthar growled, her flanged voice strong as it echoed back from the stone walls.

Gilthar did not want to locate Oolanae, that much was obvious to Tarrantha. She would have to make it worth her while.

'Oolanae has always been our strongest strategist and worthiest protector. We need her guidance now more than ever to ensure we do not waste what has been so hard earned.'

'We rely too heavily on Oolanae. It is time for us all to learn to stand alone.'

'Alone?' Tarrantha pinned Gilthar with a challenging stare. 'You would have us fighting amongst ourselves before we have even consolidated our position in the galaxy?'

Others rumbled their disapproval. Aware that her view was unpopular, Gilthar immediately backed down. 'No, off course not. I merely meant that we place too much responsibility on Oolanae's shoulders. It is time for each of is to play a role in rebuilding our stronghold over the galaxy.'

Tarrantha didn't believe a word of her protest. Her intent had been clear for anyone willing to look beyond the surface of her words. Oolanae had been right that she shouldn't be trusted, that was why she had ensured that, when the serum had finally been perfected, Gilthar was not the first to be transformed.

'Can you still feel her?' another sister asked.

The whole issue of Oolanae was becoming divisive. Some of them keen to find her, thankful for her loyal protection over the millennia. Others, driven by their own selfish desire for power, were less than enthusiastic, preferring to satiate their desire for life force first. There was an argument that doing so was the best thing to do, as it would give them strength to face up to Akalus. But Tarrantha sensed that if they were allowed to cull and grew more powerful, their desire to save Oolanae would fade into insignificance.

'I know you hunger, Sisters. And I know that the need to feed calls to you, but we must be disciplined,' she began, choosing her words carefully. 'My suggestion would be to start with the Japhalans, a quick, incisive strike, from which we can gain enough strength to seek out Oolanae.'

'If Akalus has not killed her already, what makes you think he will? Why not take our fill of the souls on this planet before we take him on?'

'I cannot be certain of his intentions for Oolanae,' Tarrantha confessed. 'I only know what I felt. Oolanae has been missing for days, and only yesterday could I sense her, despite my own transformation having taken place days ago. Her distress tells me that his treatment of her is growing crueller. He must need her for some purpose…but once that purpose is gone, I believe he will not hesitate to kill her. If we wait too long, we could be too late.'

'We have other priorities…Oolanae would understand.'

'Well, I do not!' She glared at Gilthar a rage burning inside of her that she had not felt for so long she had forgotten how strong she could be. 'Oolanae has guided us and kept us safe at our most vulnerable times. We owe it to her to try to resc—'

'I owe her nothing,' Gilthar hissed. 'She was willing for us to gradually starve, taking only scraps from Akalus' table. She never wanted us to act. She made us weak.'

'Well now she can make us strong,' Tarrantha insisted, raising her voice to force Gilthar into silence. 'Akalus has taken her, and she will lead us to him. Akalus is pure, unimaginable life force energy. Where will we ever hope to find a better feast?'

That silenced Gilthar in an instant. The others, bright-eyed and attentive, hung on her words.

'Akalus is non-corporeal…a being of energy. A creature that under normal circumstance cannot be stopped. But we are uniquely qualified to end his reign in this galaxy. No more will we need to fear angering him. If we mass on him as one, he cannot hope to stop us all. We will overwhelm him and take his life force to fee our own. We will not know hunger for some time.' Tarrantha stood now, and raised her hands to hush the thrum of excitement being voiced by all gathered there. 'Perhaps, if we all reach out, we will find our combined minds strong enough to reach Oolanae. She made contact at a moment of distress, a moment when her body would have responded with high energy, so our energies combined could magnify our contact to her.'

The others approved – some even throwing their heads back and hollering a battle cry of old.

Tarrantha smiled. Returning Oolanae to leadership was imperative. It was her only chance to lead…the others would never ally themselves with her in the long term, but Oolanae had always protected her. Together they would make a formidable partnership to lead the Wraith. With their powers returned, she felt certain they could find her, and then they would make Akalus pay for his humiliation of their kind.

oooOOOooo

'Well, I do recall the sale of the Stargate, yes,' Gavunt, the old Chapellan they had been advised to hunt out told them. 'But I don't recall who sold it to whom.'

'Does that mean it wasn't a recent sale?' Lansha probed, speaking gently to the elderly alien. It had been clear from her stunted walk and fragile, bony hands, that she was very old and frail, and he had no desire to worry her by applying too much pressure.

'Oh, it was certainly a number of years ago now,' she nodded, her face lost in the shadows from the folds of her hood. 'I don't believe it ever came back on the market. I would remember something like that. Do you know how big the Ring of the Ancestors is? You can't pass one of those around quietly.'

Lansha heard Ronon grunt behind him, and could tell he was already tiring of the softly – softly approach.

The room they were in was oppressive and old-fashioned, like one of the legendary libraries of the time before the Wraith transformation, when primitive humans, not permitted to become too advanced, kept libraries of written texts on all nature of things. This room, however, held tomes of only one kind – journals of every transaction ever made regarding Lantean technology since this particular Chapellan had been a very young female. The air felt thick and heavy with a flavour that he didn't recognise, one he assumed came from the books themselves. He swallowed deeply, his parched throat struggling to cope with the musty air.

'Do you vaguely recall the year…give or take?' he ventured.

She fell quiet for a number of minutes, ruminating on the question, then said, 'No.'

Lansha felt his body sag. Finding the Stargate would lead them to his sister. Akalus had gone to ground somewhere, and no one had seen hide nor hair of him in the week since he'd last seen his Mishta. She was instantly recognisable. There was no way anyone could fail to notice her.

He was about to speak again, when Juroah held up his hand, signalling that Lansha should let him speak. 'Is there anything that might aid your memory, Gavunt? A nice cask of hilteth wine? A side of lanchet meat? A few credits to ease your retirement?'

The old female remained hunched at her end of the long table, saying nothing. Lansha looked at Juroah, who eventually tore his gaze from the Chapellan to look his way. The exchange told Lansha that Juroah thought he might have misjudged the situation. Lansha really hoped he hadn't. They couldn't afford any mistakes. The time for Akalus to act was swiftly approaching and he had everything he needed to see his plan through.

Slowly, Gavunt lifted her wizened old arms and pushed back her hood, revealing the grey skin, and pale blue eyes, huge and glistening languid pools embedded in the dark, lined skin, that were familiar to all Chapellans. 'Honesty,' was her simple reply.

Lansha's jaw dropped a little. They had been honest with her. All they wanted was the last known owner of the Stargate. Why did she think they were deceiving her? 'What do you mean?'

'You do not get to be as old as I am without learning a thing or two about this world. And one thing I know without a shadow of a doubt is that those two,' she raised a shaky hand to point in the direction of Ronon and Teyla, 'Are not Chapellans.'

Lansha internally cringed. It had been a risk bringing them in disguised at Chapellans, but Char Gromer had told him Gavunt was infirm and with poor eyesight, so he'd thought they could pull the charade off.

'Nothing to say?' she challenged.

Teyla swept back her hood and stepped forward. 'You are right, Gavunt. We are not Chapellans. We simply felt it was the safest way to move about unnoticed since the Chapellans are so highly respected in these parts.'

Gavunt's jaw slackened, her blue orbs huge in the pale lantern light. 'A human?'

Ronon, too, removed his hood.

'And another!'

'We would not be bothering you, but we are desperate,' Teyla continued. 'Our friend is missing, and we know whoever has the Ancestral Ring also has him. We were told you were very wise and…'

Gavunt had risen from her seat, causing Teyla to stumble on her words. She approached Teyla, took hold of her chin, and turned her face to the light. 'Well, look at you. I have never seen a human up this close…and I never thought I would before the maker claims me.'

Lansha tried to intercede. 'Gavunt…it is very important that we find the –'

'Shhh, youngster. I thought you were an intriguing creature, but let me look on this one a while in peace.' She examined Teyla's face, turning it this way and that, lifted her arm and stroked at her skin. 'So…a female. And this one must be a male.'

She moved as if to grab Ronon's face, but he dodged her touch and grunted, 'Don't.'

'This one has spirit,' she chuckled, hobbling away and returning to her seat at the head of the table. 'They're a handsome pair. Where are you going to trade them?'

'They are not for sale,' Lansha told her. 'They are our friends.'

Gavunt tilted her head as if giving that some thought. 'That's fair,' she nodded. 'Always thought trading humans was cruel anyway. But that was Akalus' style. I always thought he gained far too much pleasure from human suffering.'

'Gavunt, we were told you are wise and could help us locate the Stargate. Are you able to help us?' Teyla pleaded, obviously sensing Gavunt could be reasoned with.

The old Chapellan chuckled again. 'There's no need for flattery, Human. It won't get you anywhere with me. I've seen and heard it all in my time.'

'We have a Lantean craft,' Ronon suddenly announced.

The others all turned to look his way, wondering why he's said that. But the result was instant.

Gavunt leaned in, eager to hear more. 'What type?'

He shrugged his broad shoulders. 'Small one…fits through the gate. Don't know what you'd call them.'

'A Gate Ship? And is it in working order?'

'Yep…flew here in it.'

Now she seemed even more intrigued. 'You can fly it?'

'Not me…a friend. He's waiting in it for us.'

This was the most Lansha had ever heard Ronon speak, particularly to a stranger. He was being honest and direct, and Gavunt was lapping it up.

She sat back now, steepling her fingers as she rested her elbows on her carver chair. 'I think I might just be able to remember where the records for the Stargate sale are if you could arrange a flight in that ship.'

Lansha watched a smirk break out on Ronon's face. Diplomacy only went so far, apparently, sometimes blunt honesty was the way to go.

Lansha checked with Teyla, who gave him a sharp nod. 'Very well, he agreed, dipping his head respectfully. 'It will be here in a moment.'

oooOOOooo

It wasn't that he minded being ignored, Sheppard decided as he watched Akalus work to repair the damage he'd done the previous evening. It was more the fact that the ignorance was being used as yet another form of torture.

His injuries had begun the first stage of healing, blood congealing and crusting over on each of the two dozen or so now thankfully shallow knife wounds. But they were also hot and painful, suggesting infection was taking hold. Not that it mattered; Akalus wasn't going to let him die and would most likely pump more enzyme into him when he was just on the brink of shuffling off his mortal coil. But this was definitely a punishment. There was no other reason to leave him just short of healed in a dirty old facility. Akalus wanted him to think the consequences of his rebellion weren't worth the effort. But he'd learned enough to know that there was a chance to break free of his bonds once the enzyme strengthened him enough. That had to be useful.

He shifted a little, his backside numb from being in the same position for hours. He dared to lift his shirts, his torso a mess of scabs and livid bruising surrounded by hot, red skin. Oh, yeah. He could see what direction this was going in. He was going to suffer for what he'd dared to do.

'The human needs sustenance.'

Akalus actually looked more surprised than Sheppard was by Oolanae's intercession. 'The human will eat when I decide he needs to eat,' he growled, not impressed to be told what was required of him. This morning, Akalus was busy working on a new console he'd dragged through from another part of the underground facility. If he'd known the lunatic had a spare, he wouldn't have wasted time smashing the last one and would have worked on busting them all out of there instead.

'If you will not heal him, you should at least feed him. He will not survive his injuries if you allow him to weaken too much.'

Sheppard was pretty sure his injuries weren't about to kill him in the next day or so, neither was hunger, and had to wonder why Oolanae was being so insistent about it. It occurred to him that, since she had felt a connection to her 'sisters' during Akalus' last assault she might be trying to provoke Akalus into attacking her again. He wasn't sure it would work. Akalus was preoccupied this morning and, until that machine was fixed, Sheppard doubted he would allow himself to be distracted from his task.

But the plan to make him attack again wasn't a bad one. 'Sorry about the machine,' he called over to him. 'Good thing you have a spare.'

Akalus glared at him through Mishta's violet eyes. 'It is not a spare. I am having to adapt this from its primary purpose, thanks to you.'

'Oh…bummer.' It was pathetic, really, but all he had left was words. He didn't even have the energy to stand anymore.

Akalus stopped for a moment and fixed him with an icy glare, 'Neither of you will provoke me to anger today. I have more important things to worry about than your petty attempts to incite me.'

Apparently, they'd both been too transparent in their tactics. That didn't mean he wouldn't continue to try. The very fact that Akalus didn't want to engage told him there was little time left before his plan needed to be implemented. And with no Wraith riding in like a vampiric cavalry, if Sheppard couldn't get the crazy bastard angry enough to kill him, it was going to be over for everyone.

'I don't know…I mean…you've been around a really long time and you know a lot of stuff. Seems to me that a guy like you should be able to multi-task.'

A low-level vibration began in the floor where he was sitting. He could feel it beneath him to begin with, but then it slowly rose into his body – not the facility rattling rage he'd been expecting, but a bone rattling, organ shaking vibration that seemed located uniquely to him. At first, it was little more than irritating, but then the vibration got faster, and the pain began to mount. Soon his injuries had pulled open again, warm wetness soaking through his already blood-stiffened shirt.

'Hmmm, it appears you are right,' Akalus chirped, apparently pleased with himself. 'I can attend to more than one task at a time.'

'Good for you,' Sheppard grunted, trying to tense and reduce his shaking. It did little to help.

'A cheap trick,' Oolanae growled, approaching the bars of her cage. 'You pick on the human because he is weak. I doubt you can do that so effectively with a Reliquiae who has recently fed.'

Now she was trying to divert Akalus' anger away from him to her. Her behaviour had to be about contacting the others, because he seriously doubted that she harboured any great concern for him, even after their brief moment of bonding the previous evening. Although, he kind of liked the idea of Oolanae's little troop of Wraith Queens marching in here and sucking the life out of Akalus, time was short. His newly formulated Plan B, sacrificing himself and hoping that Akalus would abandon his host and she might survive, was beginning to look like it might be his only option.

'You sure you're gonna get that thing fixed in time? I mean, back at Phylacos, before I blew the place up, you had dozens of minions to hel –'

Oh, yeah. That did it. The vibrations wracking through him now were ten-fold the power he'd just endured. He could almost feel himself shaking apert at the seams.

Akalus approached his cell, looking down on him with utter fury. 'You caused the explosions? That was you, not the rebels?'

'Yep…all me,' he lied. Akalus didn't need to know the rebels had given him the explosives.

'You lie!' Akalus growled, watching him squirm through the bars. 'I saw you when you returned to Phylacos. You carried nothing with you.'

'Well, if you'd been able to see it, it wouldn't have been much of a surprise, would it?' he smirked, even as he felt blood begin to trickle from his nose.

Now the whole facility began to shake. Akalus' anger was ignited. It would only take a little more pushing to get him to make a mistake…again.

'Bet you're wishing you'd picked up some other gene bearer right about now, huh?' he taunted. 'Maybe the Wrath Slayer wasn't your best choice.'

A wave of explosive energy emanated from Mishta's body, throwing Sheppard away from his seat at the front of his cell so that he collided with the back wall. His head made hard and fast contact with one of the solid cross rungs and in an instant everything went black.

oooOOOooo

'This is the person who's going to tell us where the Stargate is, huh?' Rodney asked as they followed Gavunt out of the jumper hatch and back toward her ramshackle old repository. 'That wizened old speed demon?'

'Rodney' Teyla snapped. 'Keep your voice down.'

'I've been flying the old hag around for the better part of an hour. I think I'm entitled to at least one complaint.'

'Fine…then you have had it,' she hissed. 'Now please be civil.'

'This is probably a huge waste of time,' he grumbled as he trudged in behind her. 'She probably doesn't even have the records. Just wanted a flight in a jumper.'

Teyla shot him a silencing glance. He'd seen that look enough times to know he should consider it a final warning. Maybe she was right. Moaning wasn't getting them anywhere, but he couldn't help himself. It felt like he was the only one acutely aware of how close they were to Akalus' time to act…that any day now the known universe could begin to collapse in on itself. Maybe it was just him being impatient – he had been told more times than he cared to remember that patience wasn't in his skill set – but it seemed like a bad time to be offering strangers joyrides.

They wandered into the musty old library, Rodney immediately wondering how many different bugs would be breeding in the fusty environment. It wasn't that he was paranoid per se, but since the brain altering parasite had almost ended him a year ago, he had a definite aversion to all of Pegasus' creepy crawlies. The stale air immediately increased his claustrophobia in the dim, over-crowded room. This was really not the way he'd hoped to spend his afternoon.

While Gavunt started inspecting the spines of various books, he slipped his tablet out and checked once again for any sign of a Stargate energy signature. There was none. So, either Sheppard was holding out, or Akalus was biding his time. Whatever the reality, Rodney hoped Gavunt had something that could get them to their friend quickly. He had an awful feeling that the blackhole he'd helped strengthen with his miscalculations on Doranda was about to go quasar, and he really didn't need the guilt of knowing that he had not only destroyed four fifths of a solar system, but helped to destroy the universe itself.

The elderly Chapellan pulled three large volumes from a shelf and carried them to the table, slamming them down and throwing up a cloud of dust that got McKay coughing and seething all over again. He crossed to a window that was slightly cracked open and leaned in for a few cleansing breaths while watching the old female work. Somewhere in the room an annoying alarm sounded. He rubbed his temples and bit his tongue, deciding to keep quiet and let the old creature work uninterrupted to speed up their departure.

'I seem to recall it being sold around twelve years ago. These three books cover that period. If I remember, it was all a bit hush-hush. No official records of the sale exist, just the record I made because someone who knew the vendor saw it in his possession, then noticed it was gone the next time he was checking his wares.'

'So…how do you know who it was sold to?' Rodney asked, truly beginning to think this was a colossal waste of time.

'Because I also have a contact with access to banking records. They told me the vendor received a considerable sum in the period between the two visits, thus suggesting a sale.'

'So, are most if your ledgers full of guesswork?' Rodney sneered, earning himself anther withering look from Teyla.

'No, because most of the sales are public and above board,' Gavunt told him, fixing him with a cold blue stare. 'Very few are as secretive as this one. Ahh, here it is.'

They all shuffled closer, but as Rodney peered over her shoulder the Chapellan writing meant nothing to him. 'What does it say?'

'I'm afraid there is no record of who purchased the item.'

'Well, that's just wonderful,' Rodney sighed, meandering back over to the window. The alarm rang out again, jangling his frayed temper. Why didn't she just turn the damn thing off if she wasn't paying any attention to it?

'But do you have a record of the vendor?' Juroah pushed, keen to seize on any possible lead.

'Oh, yes,' she nodded. 'Not that I should be surprised since he makes most of the larger deals on Gragoffa. It was Hassuran Kaliq.'

Rodney sighed and found a seat to collapse into, the others equally devastated to find their hopeful search leading them back to square one.

'It seems all roads lead to Kaliq,' Lansha said grimly. 'And he has disappeared off the face of the planet.'

'Well, that's because he made a recent sale of a human rumoured to be of Lantean descent,' Gavunt told them, matter of fact. 'He made quite a considerable sum in the hundreds of thousands of credits. I imagine he is taking some time off to enjoy the spoils. I know I would.'

'I know where he'll be!' Marmotah was suddenly buzzing with excitement. 'He used to say if he made enough on a sale, he would go to Langra.'

'The vacation resort on Credassa?' Lansha asked. 'Really? That place costs five thousand credits a day!'

'And he has hundreds of thousands,' Marmotah reminded him.

'Where is this Credassa?' Teyla asked. 'We need to go there.'

'It's three days flight away…and we won't be able to enter the resort without enough credits to pay for a day's entrance.'

'I don't think we have that long,' Rodney said quietly, feeling his panic surge. 'I'm pretty sure from Akalus' calculations that the black hole he's planning to connect to turns quasar in less time than it will take us to get there and back and, and don't think he plans to wait.'

'Is there another way to get there…a quicker one?' Teyla pressed.

'The Kheprian vessel could get us there quicker. Maybe in half the time,' Rodney suggested, 'But that still might not be quick enough.'

'What if we use the time dilation thing?' Mehra offered up. 'That would get us there quicker.'

'Please don't make me explain why that might be a bad thing again!' McKay pleaded.

'Ah…yeah. Right,' she nodded, looking suitably shame-faced.

The alarm sounded again, getting on the very last of Rodney's nerves. 'What is that infernal racket?'

'Oh, that?' Gavunt responded cheerfully, shuffling over to a side table where a device sat flashing and bleeping merrily. 'That's a little hobby of mine. I like to keep track of all things Lantean. And there is one true Lantean on this planet. Akalus.'

Her words were like a punch in the face. 'Akalus…is Lantean?'

'Oh, yes. The story goes that he lost his whole family in the war with the Wraith, and when the others chose to ascend, he was unable to let go of his anger and regret and became caught somewhere between life and ascension. And in that state, he is powerful. This little gadget monitors the seismic activity on Gragoffa. The tectonic plates are mostly stable, very little seismic activity occurs naturally. This,' she lifted the gadget and waggled it in front of him, 'this tells me where he is.'

And at that moment, despite Gavunt's grey, wizened skin and thin straggles of unwashed hair, Rodney was tempted to kiss her.

A/N: Yay! The team and their friends finally have a clue. So now the question is, who will get to Sheppard and Mishta first? Thanks for the reviews. It's lovely to hear your thoughts.