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The Testing of Wills.

Ch. 15

It had been three weeks since Kedawen's return and acquisition of amnesia, and she had since had flashes of her life before. She had told them to Carson over their games of chess, which she always won. Small memories here and there, mostly of her robot family. A smile, a laugh, a drink shared between two friends (Yes...they drink).

"I had another vision." she said, lazily taking Carson's queen.

"Really?" he asked, studying the chessboard for a moment.

"Mm. It was different. None of the same characters."

Kedawen had developed a skewed sense of reality. Memories were visions or dreams. She spoke mostly in riddles, and she only half understood some concepts, such as trust, the circle of life, and certain feminine biologistics.

"Oh? Who was in it this time?"

"You. Rodney. Elizabeth...brother John." she said, as he moved his rook into check.

"Check." he said. "Wha' was happenin'?"

"John was yelling. He was very angry." she answered, not bothering to save her king but moving her bishop three spaces away from Carson's king. "Checkmate."

"Aw, ye wicked..." he half cursed. She giggled and he started resetting the pieces. "Wha' else?"

"There was a wall between me and John. A green..." she searched for a word. "...electric wall."

Carson froze, looking at Kedawen, halfway through resetting the pieces. His look was that of someone unsure whether to be happy or cautious.

"Like a force field?"

She nodded slowly. Carson remembered the first time Kedawen had ever met John. It had been brash and, for John, very painful. She had shut off the containment field and there had been a scuffle between the two of them, resulting in a three day visit to the hospital for John.

She was looking at him now, and he wondered what she was thinking.

"Wha' is it?"

"Chess. So many games, before and after..."

--- "So, doctor...what exactly is it about my beating you at chess that you love so much?" laughter. ---

--- "What do you think of Major Sheppard?"

"John? What, you mean aside from the fact that he's gone totally gaga for Teyla?" a chuckle. "He's like an older brother. Loveable, but annoying, and he never lets ya have any fun." ---

"Keda?" asked Carson. She blinked at him and then sat up straight.

"I have twenty-eight siblings." she said, and Carson blinked, floored by that statement. "Brother John isn't one of them."

Carson groaned, knowing that this was going to be a long night, full of explanations.

0000000000000000000000000

McKay sleepily opened his door in his pajamas to see Kedawen standing there, holding a rather sizeable cake and looking extremely upset.

"K-Keda?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"I'm sorry I turned on the lights!" she blurted, moving past him.

"Lights?" Rodney watched her, still confused, and then looked back to see Carson standing there, also watching her. He seemed more bemused and slightly tired, than anything. McKay abandoned all hopes for sleep and waved him in, noticing that although Carson was covered in flour, eggs and other baking goods, Keda was impossibly clean, as usual.

He looked up at the ceiling, where the lights were still off. The only light in the room came from a lamp that he had brought with him.

"There's no lights on. Carson what is she talking about?"

"She remembered tha' John's no' her real brother, so then she wanted me to explain everything. I go' as far as when she paralyzed ye when she decided she needed t' apologize." sighed the doctor. McKay let this information infiltrate his brain and then looked at the cake that Keda was cutting into slices.

"Is that...chocolate?" he asked, and Keda nodded absently, taking the plates that Carson was carrying. Rodney sat down at his little table and let the smell of freshly baked cake waft to him. Then he thought of something. "Wait...we have MRE's, where's you find the materials to make a cake this big?"

"The computer told me how." was his response, and when he looked at Carson, the doctor held up his hand and looked meaningfully at Keda. She still didn't realize that nobody else could interface with Atlantis the way she could. He nodded, picking up the fork that Keda sat down next to him.

She watched him studiously as he carefully maneuvered the fork with his right hand. The one that was missing the pinky. He had told her that he'd reached under a knife for a vegetable, and she'd bought it, but he knew that sooner or later, she'd be back in the right state of mind to know that it hadn't happened like that.

"Oh, wow." he said, leaning back a little with this goofy little smile on his face. "Oh yeah. Carson, have you tried this?"

"I had some batter when she wasn' lookin'." nodded the doctor. Keda looked at him and scowled a little. Not angrily, just because of that little revelation (besides, she saw him do it).

"Here, have some fully cooked." he offered, reaching for another plate. Keda looked confused.

"But.." she started, and he froze. She looked confused. "I made it for you."

"Well, yes, of course, Keda, I realize that. But this is just too good not to share. Half the fun of having a cake this size is sharing it with a couple of close friends. Come on, you can have some too. Gotta keep your energy levels up."

Carson tilted his head and made a cooing noise.

"Aw, tha's very touchin' Rodney." he said. Rodney smiled.

"Thank you Carson." he replied, but Carson wasn't finished.

"I take i' your Tahitian twins couldn' visi'?" he asked, mockingly, nodding to the calendar on Rodney's wall. Rodney rolled his eyes and gave a mock laugh.

"Very funny."

"I though' so." Carson retorted as Keda set a piece of cake down in front of him and served herself some as well.

They talked well into the morning, mostly about what happened from the time that Keda arrived to the time that she lost her memory, and she listened intently, eating, and only inputting when she felt it appropriate.

And as Carson and Rodney watched her eat piece after piece of a really tasty chocolate cake, the reason for the size of it became apparent. It was quite possible that, subconsciously she realized that they'd be sharing the cake at some point.

So, she was smart...way smarter than they would ever be. She was pretty, and even though she'd lost her mind, she was still pretty damn appealing. And, realizing that each other was thinking the same thing, Carson and Rodney knew it was only a matter of time before they started competing over the simplest things.

Like school children after the Swedish foreign exchange student.

They sighed, deciding to enjoy this little time of peace while they could. It was going to get very unfriendly for a while.

A/N: THE END!!! That's right! I'm finished!! HA!!! Everybody stay tuned for future installments, And I'll let you know what they're called. Until next time.