Heart followed the doctor's advice and kept her eyes closed as she was wheeled towards the infirmary. Not because she was scared, she reasoned, but to lessen the churning of her stomach and to avoid the dizziness she would undoubtedly feel. While grateful that her limbs were free, she couldn't stop the butterflies in her stomach-whether they came from nerves, lack of food, or the movement of the gurney, she couldn't tell. As they traveled, she heard murmuring, but didn't dare open her eyes to see if the chatter came from her escort or people they met on the way.
"Here we are," Dr. Keller announced quietly as Heart felt the gurney's movement slow and turn. She finally opened her eyes, blinking in the brightness that lit the large room they had entered. As her bed was wheeled to a corner, her gaze took in a line of similar beds, equipment and machines on stands and tables, and shelves full of supplies. At least she wasn't in the center of the room again. "Okay, sweetie, I need you to roll onto your back so we can sit your bed up."
Heart reluctantly obeyed the doctor, fidgeting with the blanket as the back of the bed was raised. She remained tense as items were wheeled to her bedside, and risked a glance around the room finding that, besides those gathering supplies, everyone was watching her intently. Teyla's mental link remained, though she had said nothing to Heart since they left the cell, and the wraith didn't try to sever the connection. Instead, she welcomed the bond as a sense of something familiar in this strange situation.
*What is all that for?* Heart asked, trying to take her mind off her nervousness. She wasn't sure she would be told at all, or if what she was told would be the truth, but the silence was unbearable.
*Why don't you ask?* Teyla countered, nodding towards Dr. Keller with an encouraging smile when Heart glanced up in surprise. Heart shifted and turned her attention to the doctor standing next to her.
"What…what is all that for?" she repeated aloud, frowning when her voice shook. She'd shown so much less fear while held captive by the hive; she couldn't understand why it was different around these humans.
"Are you nervous?" the doctor asked gently as she looked up, and Heart shook her head quickly, frown still in place. The woman smiled, not fooled by the young wraith's denial.
"I can explain it all as we go, if you'd like?" she offered, and Heart nodded gratefully, frown melting away along with a little tension. Despite what Dr. Keller had done to her before, the woman's personality was too kind and genuine for Heart to fully distrust. She slowly held out her left arm as the doctor tied a rubber band around her bicep, watching in fascination as the doctor showed her how the pressure caused a vein to appear in the crook of her elbow.
"You're going to feel a poke when I put the needle in, okay?" she was warned as an alcohol wipe was rubbed over the vein.
Heart held her breath but refused to look away as the needle pierced her flesh, wincing a little at the pain. Dr. Keller then removed the band from her arm, taped the needle in place, and attached a thin tube that ran up to a bag of fluid hanging next to the bed.
"The water goes into my blood?" Heart asked in confusion, looking between the bag and her elbow.
"That's right. It will help you feel better since you haven't had anything to drink in a while," the doctor explained, picking up a wide black strap and wrapping it around her upper arm, telling the girl that it would regularly tighten and loosen, checking her blood pressure throughout the night. "Just like I did before, but it will do it on its own."
"Explain to me again why she wasn't moved to an isolation room," came a commanding feminine voice as a woman with blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail walked into the infirmary, causing Heart to start in surprise. The woman stopped as she spotted the wraith and crossed her arms, looking between the armed guards who saluted, and their charge. "And why she's not restrained."
Dr. Keller stood up, giving Heart a calming smile as she gestured for another woman in a white coat to take her place. She walked away from the bed to stand in front of the new arrival.
"She collapsed from malnutrition. I'm keeping her here at least overnight to monitor her condition and to give her fluids," she explained, but the woman didn't look fully satisfied with the response, looking back at Heart, who lowered her gaze. The young wraith kept her eyes low as she was urged to sit forward, and then lean back onto the pillow placed behind her. She shifted as her shirt was carefully maneuvered to place small, round, sticky patches in various places across her torso.
*Is she your Queen?* Heart mentally whispered, as if afraid the human would somehow hear. Though she already knew the answer-this human had to be their leader-her presence demanded answers. Teyla spared her a glance before turning back to address the woman, along with the colonel.
"She had been refusing food because she believed we planned to perform experiments on her, the way the other wraith did. I thought that if she promised to cooperate, allowing her some freedom would help prove our good intentions," Teyla added to the doctor's explanation. *Not quite. She is the leader here in Atlantis* she replied to Heart without turning around.
Heart's eyes widened in surprise and she took another look around the room, as if seeing it for the first time. Her eyes stopped on Teyla. *You are Lanteans? This is the Ancient city?* she asked, both awe and trepidation in her tone. She looked at the leader again, eyes stopping short of the woman's face as she tried to figure out how she should behave around such a powerful foe of her people. Erring on the side of caution and respect would probably be best, given her situation. *What…what do I call her?*
*Her name is Colonel Carter.*
"And you agreed to this, Sheppard?" Colonel Carter demanded of the man. He glanced back at the girl and nodded, turning back to Carter.
"I've got guards at both ends of the hall, plus two more outside the infirmary and the two here." He gestured to the two men who were stoically watching Heart. Colonel Carter pursed her lips and looked between the three in front of her and the wraith sitting on the bed. "She's behaved so far-even took the IV stick better than some people I know," Colonel Sheppard continued, ending in a conspiratorial tone. Heart wasn't sure what he had expected her to do-it wasn't like she had been given a choice.
Finally nodding, Carter accepted the explanations and stepped forward to stand right in front of Heart, who kept her gaze and head deferentially low.
"You've been made aware of the consequences should you attempt to harm anyone here, correct?" she demanded, and the wraith nodded, trying to decide if a verbal response was necessary. After considering that humans used spoken language more than wraith, she opened her mouth.
"Yes, Colonel Carter." Risking a quick eye flick upwards, she caught the confused expressions of both colonels and wondered what she had done wrong.
"How did you-"
"She asked me how she should address you," Teyla jumped in, causing Carter's serious expression to soften slightly as she studied Heart. The young wraith tried not to squirm under the scrutiny.
"Do you have a name?" Colonel Carter finally asked. Heart paused, wondering if she should respond, then decided that it made little difference if they knew what to call her. It also prevented Colonel Sheppard from assigning a name to her, she thought irritably. She shifted on the bed, trying to find a simple way to verbally communicate her telepathic identity.
"Heart," Teyla said. After a moment, Heart nodded, accepting the moniker.
"Heart?" repeated Colonel Sheppard, looking between the two. Heart felt a touch of annoyance at the disbelief in his tone, and she struggled to find a way to explain.
"It's…who I am," she said slowly, her brow furrowing.
"It would seem that wraith names are more than just a word; it is how they are perceived mentally within the hive mind by other wraith," Teyla added, and Heart nodded again in agreement, grateful to the woman for clarifying what she couldn't find the words for. "I think Heart fits her…'personality' best."
"That makes sense, given how wraith communicate mostly telepathically," Dr. Keller said thoughtfully. Colonel Carter finally looked away from the young wraith, and Heart sighed in relief. The woman stepped back and gave a departing nod to the humans in the room.
"I'll see you all in the morning, then. Keep me posted on her condition, doctor," the colonel ordered before giving Heart a last calculating look. "I hope you feel better," she said to the young wraith, her tone kinder than before, then turned to leave the infirmary.
Teyla and Colonel Sheppard left shortly after Colonel Carter, just as Heart was handed the tray of food that had been prepared for her. Once Dr. Keller had checked to make sure she was connected properly to the medical equipment and had seen Heart take a bite of her food, she had gone into her office, a small room within the infirmary, after promising to check on the young wraith throughout the night.
This left Heart with just the two guards, who had taken up positions at the entrance to the infirmary and were watching her closely, and a couple of what the doctor had called "nurses"-who seemed to be her assistants. The nurses moved throughout the room, counting items, checking computers, and discreetly glancing at their patient from time to time. Heart ate quickly, trying to ignore the attention of the humans.
Once finished, she set the tray at the foot of her bed and laid back. Mindful of the wires connected to her arm and torso, she carefully turned onto her side and pulled her legs up. Hunger mostly sated, Heart began to feel fatigued, and closed her eyes. It seemed like, for the first time since she had been captured by these humans, she could relax just a little.