Author's Note: So... since I don't know how "the Storm' is going to end, and I'm not going to wait until then to finish this story, I'm going to have it so that everything that has happened in the first season up until that episode has happened to the people in Atlantis – just so you all know.

OOOOOOOOO

She didn't take a nap. Once she was showered and clean – and she'd stayed under the spray of hot water as long as she could, relaxing muscles she hadn't realized were so tense – Mitchell had poured herself a cup of freshly brewed coffee and had pulled out her laptop. Dressed warmly in a pair of black sweats and a Green Bay Packer sweatshirt, she took up the first disk on the pile that Weir had given her – labeled 'disk one' – and put it into the disk drive of the laptop and started reading about what had been going on around Atlantis since the team had arrived.

She wasn't the only one who was interested. Instead of resting, Talon was reading along with her, the two of them absorbing the information at a rapid pace – although there was a lot of it, and much of it would need to be clarified with extra information from the people involved.

They've had hardships of their own, haven't they?

"Yeah..."

Mitchell rubbed her eyes as she pulled the final disk out of the laptop. She'd saved all of them onto the hard drive, so she'd be able to give them back to Weir and still come back to the information if she needed it. Her memory was good – especially with Talon to help – but it never hurt to have a back up.

"What do you know about these Wraith?" She asked him, softly.

A lot more now than I did, he admitted. I was told of them by my first host, who had heard of them from an ancient people – I don't know if they were your Ancients or if they were just an old race – but he hadn't believed what he'd been told, so I was swayed by that belief.

"You believe, now, though..."

Of course. They must have a weakness, though. Everyone has a weakness. We just have to find it

"This gene therapy thing that the Doctor came up with... you think we can use that so we can access the Ancient's technology?"

One way to find out

She nodded, and set her laptop aside, and headed for the door.

You might want to change, Hot Shot

She looked down at herself, and smiled. Yeah, she probably should. She turned and went for her duffle bag.

OOOOOOOOO

A short time later, dressed in one of her uniforms – not the gray Atlantean ones – and with the zat on one hip and her Beretta on the other, she headed for the infirmary, once more relying on Talon's excellent to get her there. The halls were empty, and she realized when she stopped at one of the huge windows that were all over the place that despite what her watch was telling her, it was nighttime. Of course, since her watch was set for SGC time, it didn't make sense that the two timeframes would match, so she'd probably have to figure that out, too. It brought up another question, though. Everyone was probably asleep, which meant she should be, too. Only she wasn't tired, and she really wanted to talk to Becker.

His name's Beckett, and you know it

She smiled. Yeah; she did know it, now, but she still thought of him as Becker. She wondered why he hadn't corrected her on it.

He did, but you were too preoccupied looking for your gun

Oh.

Ah well. If it annoyed him, she'd make an effort to call him by the correct name.

He's probably sleeping

We'll just sneak a peek into the infirmary. If he's not there, we'll go away until morning – whenever that is.

Fine

When she peeked into the infirmary a few minutes later it was, indeed, empty. Mitchell sighed.

"Can I help you, Colonel?"

She about jumped out of her skin, much to Talon's amusement, and turned to see that Becker was standing behind her, a slightly apologetic look on his face.

"I'm sorry I startled you. I was just going to go for a cup of coffee when I saw you coming, and thought you might be looking for me, so I came back."

"It's okay," she said, shrugging. "And I was looking for you."

I like his accent, too

"What can I do for you?"

"Actually, Dr. Becker, I have a question or two about this gene therapy thing you've been working on."

"It works," he told her proudly, ignoring the mistake on his name once more. She couldn't deny that he had a right to be proud. From what she'd read, he had a lot to be proud of. Mitchell nodded.

"So I read in one of the reports." She replied. "I have a few questions, though."

"Shoot."

"Chances are, I don't have this gene, right?"

"Aye, it's very rare."

"But you can inject it into me?"

"With a little help from a few anti-rejection drugs, I could," he said.

Mitchell shook her head.

"I wouldn't need any of that."

"But that's the only way it'll work, Colonel," he told her. "If you don't have the rejection medication, then it's just going to be attacked by your immune system."

"Talon can take care of all that, Doctor. And he seems to think that he can make it work faster than it worked on Doctor McKay when you did him."

Beckett shrugged. He hadn't actually considered the symbiote, but he supposed she was right.

"It probably could work, then," he agreed. "If your symbiote thinks he can do it, and you're wanting to try it, I'll be happy to do it for you."

She nodded.

"I'm going to need to be able to interface with the technology here, and in order to do that, we think that gene'll come in handy. Especially if I want to use those Puddle Jumpers. And I do."

"Well... it'll take a few hours to get a sample ready for injection, Colonel, but I'll get right on it, if you're-"

"Nah," she held up a hand. "I don't need it this minute, Doctor Becker. I can tell it's late, and everyone's probably in bed. I just didn't realize it until I got out and started looking around. It can wait until morning – or later if you need me to."

"I'll do it first thing in the morning, then," he told her.

"Thank you, Doctor Becker."

"You're welcome." He hesitated. "You know, Colonel... you could call me Carson. That's my given name." And maybe she could get that one right – although he didn't really mind her mangling his last name.

She smiled.

"Thank you, Carson. I'll see you in the morning."

He nodded.

"Good night, Colonel."

"Melony." She corrected.

His smile was surprised, and pleased.

"Melony."

She nodded, and turned back down the hall.